Polarization and the Healthier Church

Polarization and the Healthier Church PDF Author: Ronald Wayne Richardson
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781475006094
Category : Church group work
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Polarization is endemic in North American society. We see its effects in nearly every political, cultural, theological, and social issue. The polarized issues that exist today are not new; they have existed for all time, and some may never be resolved. What is different today, though, is the intensity of anger and hatred we experience. Society seems unable to deal with the problems and move forward. The approach Ronald Richardson describes here promotes neither a left nor right political agenda. Building on many of the strategies offered in his earlier book, Creating a Healthier Church, the practical strategies presented here are based on his own successful approach to guiding church leaders, congregations, and community groups from conflict to understanding and cooperation. Once again, the application of Bowen family systems theory to the work of church leadership provides them with effective approaches to resolving divisive issues before they do irreparable damage to the church community.

Polarization and the Healthier Church

Polarization and the Healthier Church PDF Author: Ronald Wayne Richardson
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781475006094
Category : Church group work
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Polarization is endemic in North American society. We see its effects in nearly every political, cultural, theological, and social issue. The polarized issues that exist today are not new; they have existed for all time, and some may never be resolved. What is different today, though, is the intensity of anger and hatred we experience. Society seems unable to deal with the problems and move forward. The approach Ronald Richardson describes here promotes neither a left nor right political agenda. Building on many of the strategies offered in his earlier book, Creating a Healthier Church, the practical strategies presented here are based on his own successful approach to guiding church leaders, congregations, and community groups from conflict to understanding and cooperation. Once again, the application of Bowen family systems theory to the work of church leadership provides them with effective approaches to resolving divisive issues before they do irreparable damage to the church community.

The Church's Mission in a Polarized World

The Church's Mission in a Polarized World PDF Author: Fr Robert Aaron Wessman
Publisher: Magenta
ISBN: 9781565485495
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A book to show how polarization is affecting, or has the potential to affect, the Church, and how the Church might respond in light of her call to live as Jesus' followers in this world.

Polarization in the US Catholic Church

Polarization in the US Catholic Church PDF Author: Mary Ellen Konieczny
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0814646905
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
It is no secret: the body of Christ in the United States is broken. While universality—and unity amid diversity—is a fundamental characteristic of Roman Catholicism, all-too-familiar issues related to gender, sexuality, race, and authority have rent the church. Healthy debates, characteristic of a living tradition, suffer instead from an absence of genuine engagement and dialogue. But there is still much that binds American Catholics. In naming the wounds and exploring their social and religious underpinnings, Polarization in the US Catholic Church underscores how shared beliefs and aspirations can heal deep fissures and the hurts they have caused. Cutting across disciplinary and political lines, this volume brings essential commentary in the direction of reclaimed universality among American Catholics.

The Church and the Crisis of Polarization

The Church and the Crisis of Polarization PDF Author: James Ray Reed
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church and social problems
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description


Polarization in the US Catholic Church

Polarization in the US Catholic Church PDF Author: Mary Ellen Konieczny
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0814646654
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book Here

Book Description
It is no secret: the body of Christ in the United States is broken. While universality and unity amid diversity is a fundamental characteristic of Roman Catholicism, all-too-familiar issues related to gender, sexuality, race, and authority have rent the church. Healthy debates, characteristic of a living tradition, suffer instead from an absence of genuine engagement and dialogue. But there is still much that binds American Catholics. In naming the wounds and exploring their social and religious underpinnings, "Polarization in the US Catholic Church" underscores how shared beliefs and aspirations can heal deep fissures and the hurts they have caused. Cutting across disciplinary and political lines, this volume brings essential commentary in the direction of reclaimed universality among American Catholics."

When the Center Does Not Hold

When the Center Does Not Hold PDF Author: David R. Brubaker
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506453066
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Over the past forty years, congregations, businesses, other organizations, and communities across the United States have become increasingly divided along political and ideological lines. In When the Center Does Not Hold, David R. Brubaker, with contributions by colleagues Everett Brubaker, Carolyn Yoder, and Teresa J. Haase, offers relevant, practical mentorship on navigating polarized environments. Through easily accessible stories, they provide tools and processes that will equip leaders to both manage themselves and effectively lead others in highly polarized and anxious systems. Coaching includes guidance on key characteristics of effective leadership in times of polarization: refusing contempt, honoring dignity, broadening binaries, seeking first to understand, inviting disagreement, and staying connected. With years of combined experience in the fields of conflict transformation and organizational and leadership studies, Brubaker and his colleagues offer hope. Here, readers learn from leaders and communities that continue to renew the covenants that bind them, courageously address deeper needs that drive conflict, and hold on to a moral center while navigating the storms of polarization.

The Church in Transition

The Church in Transition PDF Author: Ronald W. Richardson
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781547080175
Category : Bowenian family therapy
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description
We have all been in transit from the time of our birth. Life is one transition after another. We move from one way or form of life to another. There are a number of normal life cycle transitions that all individuals and families go through as they have children and raise them. Churches also go through certain predictable life cycle transitions as they grow and shrink and change. Sometimes, these changes goes smoothly, but at other times they can be very difficult and upsetting for those involved. I gave the three lectures in this little book on the occasion of a Lutheran Synod dealing with the retirement of one bishop and the installation of a new one. Everyone involved knew there would be transition issues related to this change. They invited me to speak on transitions from a Bowen family systems theory perspective. That is the substance of this short book. Bowen family systems theory offers concrete ideas around how to understand what makes transitions difficult and how to go through them in ways that are productive for all involved. In these lectures, I address specific examples in our own lives. I also relate how Bowen theory illuminates a significant transition in the life of the early church as de-scribed in the Book of Acts and in Galatians.

The Leader's Journey

The Leader's Journey PDF Author: Jim Herrington
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 149342212X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This book helps pastors and church leaders understand the role their personal transformation as Jesus's disciples plays in effective congregational leadership. It shifts the focus of leadership from techniques and charisma to spiritual transformation and developing emotional maturity so leaders can effectively lead congregations to embrace change. End-of-chapter discussion questions are included. The first edition sold more than 20,000 copies and has been regularly used as a textbook over the past fifteen years. The second edition has been revised throughout and includes a greater emphasis on Bowen Family Systems Theory.

Why We're Polarized

Why We're Polarized PDF Author: Ezra Klein
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476700397
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022 One of Bill Gates’s “5 books to read this summer,” this New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller shows us that America’s political system isn’t broken. The truth is scarier: it’s working exactly as designed. In this “superbly researched” (The Washington Post) and timely book, journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us—and how we are polarizing it—with disastrous results. “The American political system—which includes everyone from voters to journalists to the president—is full of rational actors making rational decisions given the incentives they face,” writes political analyst Ezra Klein. “We are a collection of functional parts whose efforts combine into a dysfunctional whole.” “A thoughtful, clear and persuasive analysis” (The New York Times Book Review), Why We’re Polarized reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics. Over the past fifty years in America, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together. Klein shows how and why American politics polarized around identity in the 20th century, and what that polarization did to the way we see the world and one another. And he traces the feedback loops between polarized political identities and polarized political institutions that are driving our system toward crisis. “Well worth reading” (New York magazine), this is an “eye-opening” (O, The Oprah Magazine) book that will change how you look at politics—and perhaps at yourself.

The Calling of the Church in Times of Polarization

The Calling of the Church in Times of Polarization PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004527656
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
In many societies all over the world, an increasing polarization between contrasting groups can be observed. Polarization arises when a fear born of difference turns into ‘us-versus-them’ thinking and rules out any form of compromise. This volume addresses polarizations within societies as well as within churches, and asks the question: given these dynamics, what may be the calling of the church? The authors offer new approaches to polarizing debates on topics such as racism, social justice, sexuality and gender, euthanasia, and ecology and agriculture in various contexts. They engage in profound theological and ecclesiological reflection, in particular from the Reformed tradition. Contributors to this volume are: Najib George Awad, Henk van den Belt, Nadine Bowers Du Toit, Jaeseung Cha, David Daniels, David Fergusson, Jan Jorrit Hasselaar, Jozef Hehanussa, Allan Janssen, Klaas-Willem de Jong, Viktória Kóczián, Philipp Pattberg, Louise Prideaux, Emanuel Gerrit Singgih, Peter-Ben Smit, Thandi Soko-de Jong, Wim van Vlastuin, Jan Dirk Wassenaar, Elizabeth Welch, Annemarieke van der Woude, and Heleen Zorgdrager.