Making Sense in (and of) the First Christian Century

Making Sense in (and of) the First Christian Century PDF Author: Francis Gerald Downing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567376214
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
The first Christian century must be approached with careful attention to its cultural and linguistic heterogeneity. It should not simply be assumed that this past 'is a different place, they do things differently there'. Downing treats the ways in which early Christians tried to 'make things make sense' within their cultures, noting both the similarities and differences between their ways and contemporary ones and stressing the variety of contexts and influences on first-century communication. Downing brings his renowned expertise to bear in illuminating the cultural features of early Christian society with a range of fascinating and telling examples.

Making Sense in (and of) the First Christian Century

Making Sense in (and of) the First Christian Century PDF Author: Francis Gerald Downing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567376214
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Get Book Here

Book Description
The first Christian century must be approached with careful attention to its cultural and linguistic heterogeneity. It should not simply be assumed that this past 'is a different place, they do things differently there'. Downing treats the ways in which early Christians tried to 'make things make sense' within their cultures, noting both the similarities and differences between their ways and contemporary ones and stressing the variety of contexts and influences on first-century communication. Downing brings his renowned expertise to bear in illuminating the cultural features of early Christian society with a range of fascinating and telling examples.

The First Christian Centuries

The First Christian Centuries PDF Author: Paul McKechnie
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description


Bible Babel

Bible Babel PDF Author: Kristin Swenson
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061728292
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
“Kristin Swenson offers a confident, well-paced, well-informed, and accessible guide to Bible basics and biblical literacy.” — Walter Brueggemann, author of An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible Bible Babel, from author and religious studies professor Kristin Swenson, is a lively, humorous, and very readable introduction to the Bible—what’s in it, where it comes from, and how it is used in our culture today. If you’ve ever wondered about the origin of the Christian fish symbol; the history of the Good Book; how the Bible weighs in on contemporary political issues; or even the biblical source of pop-culture references in WALL-E or Battlestar Galatica, then this is the book for you. Readers of A. J. Jacobs’s Year of Living Biblically and David Plotz’s Good Book will enjoy Bible Babel, a perfect primer for anyone interested in the Bible—secular and believing alike.

Making Sense of God

Making Sense of God PDF Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525954155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

Seculosity

Seculosity PDF Author: David Zahl
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506449441
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
At the heart of our current moment lies a universal yearning, writes David Zahl, not to be happy or respected so much as enough--what religions call "righteous." To fill the void left by religion, we look to all sorts of everyday activities--from eating and parenting to dating and voting--for the identity, purpose, and meaning once provided on Sunday morning. In our striving, we are chasing a sense of enoughness. But it remains ever out of reach, and the effort and anxiety are burning us out. Seculosity takes a thoughtful yet entertaining tour of American "performancism" and its cousins, highlighting both their ingenuity and mercilessness, all while challenging the conventional narrative of religious decline. Zahl unmasks the competing pieties around which so much of our lives revolve, and he does so in a way that's at points playful, personal, and incisive. Ultimately he brings us to a fresh appreciation for the grace of God in all its countercultural wonder.

Christianity After Religion

Christianity After Religion PDF Author: Diana Butler Bass
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062098284
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Diana Butler Bass, one of contemporary Christianity’s leading trend-spotters, exposes how the failings of the church today are giving rise to a new “spiritual but not religious” movement. Using evidence from the latest national polls and from her own cutting-edge research, Bass, the visionary author of A People’s History of Christianity, continues the conversation began in books like Brian D. McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity and Harvey Cox’s The Future of Faith, examining the connections—and the divisions—between theology, practice, and community that Christians experience today. Bass’s clearly worded, powerful, and probing Christianity After Religion is required reading for anyone invested in the future of Christianity.

After Whiteness

After Whiteness PDF Author: Willie James Jennings
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467459763
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
On forming people who form communion Theological education has always been about formation: first of people, then of communities, then of the world. If we continue to promote whiteness and its related ideas of masculinity and individualism in our educational work, it will remain diseased and thwart our efforts to heal the church and the world. But if theological education aims to form people who can gather others together through border-crossing pluralism and God-drenched communion, we can begin to cultivate the radical belonging that is at the heart of God’s transformative work. In this inaugural volume of the Theological Education between the Times series, Willie James Jennings shares the insights gained from his extensive experience in theological education, most notably as the dean of a major university’s divinity school—where he remains one of the only African Americans to have ever served in that role. He reflects on the distortions hidden in plain sight within the world of education but holds onto abundant hope for what theological education can be and how it can position itself at the front of a massive cultural shift away from white, Western cultural hegemony. This must happen through the formation of what Jennings calls erotic souls within ourselves—erotic in the sense that denotes the power and energy of authentic connection with God and our fellow human beings. After Whiteness is for anyone who has ever questioned why theological education still matters. It is a call for Christian intellectuals to exchange isolation for intimacy and embrace their place in the crowd—just like the crowd that followed Jesus and experienced his miracles. It is part memoir, part decolonial analysis, and part poetry—a multimodal discourse that deliberately transgresses boundaries, as Jennings hopes theological education will do, too.

Making Sense of the Cross

Making Sense of the Cross PDF Author: David J. Lose
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishing
ISBN: 9780806698519
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description


Making Sense in (and Of) the First Christian Century

Making Sense in (and Of) the First Christian Century PDF Author: Francis Gerald Downing
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1841271241
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
The first Christian century must be approached with careful attention to its cultural and linguistic heterogeneity. It should not simply be assumed that this past 'is a different place, they do things differently there'. Downing treats the ways in which early Christians tried to 'make things make sense' within their cultures, noting both the similarities and differences between their ways and contemporary ones and stressing the variety of contexts and influences on first-century communication. Downing brings his renowned expertise to bear in illuminating the cultural features of early Christian society with a range of fascinating and telling examples.

Being Christian in the Twenty-First Century

Being Christian in the Twenty-First Century PDF Author: Sam Gould
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498246184
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
Being Christian in the Twenty-first Century was written to help struggling and doubting Christians develop an understanding of Christianity that avoids literalism, creeds, and doctrines--all factors which seem to be driving people away from the church. The book is well suited for individual or group study, complete with a study guide and sample lesson plans. It responds to the call for theological reform advocated by many contemporary clergy and religious leaders. Being Christian does not restate orthodox positions or drift into fundamentalism or sentimentalism. Instead it draws from a broad base of historical, theological, archaeological, and sociological scholarship to place Scripture within its original context, yet present it within a perspective suitable for the twenty-first-century mind. Being Christian is scholarly, yet readable, interesting, and often provocative. One reviewer put it this way, "the book reminds me of a baseball pitcher with a long wind up and a hard fastball getting better in every inning." By building upon progressive thought available today and throughout history, it offers an important resource for Christians and would-be Christians seeking a more fulfilling and thoughtful faith journey.