Theological Reflection across Religious Traditions

Theological Reflection across Religious Traditions PDF Author: Edward Foley
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442247207
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
Theological reflection — connecting real life, ministry, and religious traditions — is a core component of most pastoral training. It is also a hallmark of practical theology and a common spiritual exercise among ordinary Christians trying to discern how their beliefs might influence daily living. Yet, our society is increasingly pluralistic, with growing numbers of people from varying belief systems — from Islam to Buddhism — as well as an increasing number of atheists. In this book, Edward Foley reimagines theological reflection in interfaith contexts and with those of no faith tradition. The book addresses and celebrates diverse beliefs, and envisions the practice of theological reflection in such contexts. Theological Reflection Across Religious Traditions introduces readers to the basics of traditional forms of theological reflection, then considers how it might be reconceived in different contexts — from interfaith ministers working together to reduce poverty and homelessness to people of diverse or no faith traditions strategizing to secure the dignity of undocumented immigrants. Beyond suggestions for collaborative social action, the book offers tools for productive interfaith conversation through a process Foley calls “reflective believing.” This is a groundbreaking rethinking of theological reflection for today’s world, proposing that people across the religious landscape can participate in reflective believing for personal and communal benefit without sacrificing their own integrity.

Theological Reflection across Religious Traditions

Theological Reflection across Religious Traditions PDF Author: Edward Foley
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442247207
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 181

Get Book Here

Book Description
Theological reflection — connecting real life, ministry, and religious traditions — is a core component of most pastoral training. It is also a hallmark of practical theology and a common spiritual exercise among ordinary Christians trying to discern how their beliefs might influence daily living. Yet, our society is increasingly pluralistic, with growing numbers of people from varying belief systems — from Islam to Buddhism — as well as an increasing number of atheists. In this book, Edward Foley reimagines theological reflection in interfaith contexts and with those of no faith tradition. The book addresses and celebrates diverse beliefs, and envisions the practice of theological reflection in such contexts. Theological Reflection Across Religious Traditions introduces readers to the basics of traditional forms of theological reflection, then considers how it might be reconceived in different contexts — from interfaith ministers working together to reduce poverty and homelessness to people of diverse or no faith traditions strategizing to secure the dignity of undocumented immigrants. Beyond suggestions for collaborative social action, the book offers tools for productive interfaith conversation through a process Foley calls “reflective believing.” This is a groundbreaking rethinking of theological reflection for today’s world, proposing that people across the religious landscape can participate in reflective believing for personal and communal benefit without sacrificing their own integrity.

Practicing Theology

Practicing Theology PDF Author: Miroslav Volf
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802849311
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
In a time when academic theology often neglects the lived practices of the Christian community, this volume seeks to bring balance to the situation by showing the dynamic link between the task of theology and the practices of the Christian life. The work of thirteen first-rate theologians from several cultural and Christian perspectives, these informed and informative essays explore the relationship between Christian theology and practice in the daily lives of believers, in the ministry of Christian communities, and as a needed focus within Christian education. Contributors: Dorothy C. Bass Nancy Bedford Gilbert Bond Sarah Coakley Craig Dykstra Reinhard Hütter L. Gregory Jones Serene Jones Amy Plantinga Pauw Christine Pohl Kathryn Tanner Miroslav Volf Tammy Williams

Learning from Other Religious Traditions

Learning from Other Religious Traditions PDF Author: Hans Gustafson
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9783319761077
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book brings together academic scholars from across various religious traditions to reflect on the beauty they find in traditions other than their own. They examine these aspects and reflect on how they inform and constructively assist with rethinking their own religious worldviews and practices. Each scholar investigates the various implications, questions, insights, and challenges that are generated in the process of doing so. Traditions discussed include Ásatrú Heathenism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, LDS Mormon Christianity, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Sikhism, Sufism, Western Buddhism, and Zen Mahāyāna Buddhism. Instead of focusing only or primarily on the theory and practice of interreligious dialogue, this book presents living examples of learning from other religious traditions, identities, and persons.

Method in Ministry

Method in Ministry PDF Author: James D. Whitehead
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9781556128066
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Theological Reflection and Christian Ministry James & Evelyn Whitehead Topics ranging from Tradition and the minister to the broad concerns of theology in conversation with culture.

Theological Reflection and Education for Ministry

Theological Reflection and Education for Ministry PDF Author: John E. Paver
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317011228
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
A major and continuing problem for theological education and the practice of Christian ministry is how to best achieve a genuine integration between theory and practice, theology and experience. The key claim of this book is that theological reflection, beginning with experience, is a method of integration and that pastoral supervision is a vehicle for theological reflection. In establishing this claim, John Paver demonstrates that the model and method have potential to be a catalyst for reform within theological colleges and seminaries. Three different theological reflection models are developed and critiqued in this book, and their capacity to be developed in particular contexts is explored. This book does not stop at ministry, cultural and personal integration, but is bold enough to make recommendations for structural integration within the theological institution.

Making Faith-sense

Making Faith-sense PDF Author: Robert L. Kinast
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 9780814625132
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
Making faith-sense is a new term for an ancient practice. It is what the early Christians called mystical or wisdom theology: understanding life in the light of God's participation recorded in the Gospels, recognizing the signs of God's presence in everyday events and shaping one's life accordingly. In Making Faith-Sense, Robert Kinast shows all who seek to unify their life experience around their belief in God how to follow that ancient practice. Drawing upon the award-winning process he has used with students for the ministry, Father Kinast explains how to make sense of family, work, and cultural experience from the perspective of Christian faith. Each chapter contains numerous real-life examples and practical guidelines that can be used privately or with a group.

Crucified Wisdom

Crucified Wisdom PDF Author: S. Mark Heim
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823281256
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Winner of the Frederick Streng Book Award for Excellence in Buddhist-Christian Studies This work provides the first systematic discussion of the Bodhisattva path and its importance for constructive Christian theology. Crucified Wisdom examines specific Buddhist traditions, texts, and practices not as phenomena whose existence requires an apologetic justification but as wells of tested wisdom that invite theological insight. With the increasing participation of Christians in Buddhist practice, many are seeking a deeper understanding of the way the teachings of the two traditions might interface. Christ and the Bodhisattva are often compared superficially in Buddhist–Christian discussion. This text combines a rich exposition of the Bodhisattva path, using Śāntideva’s classic work the Bodicaryāvatāra and subsequent Tibetan commentators, with detailed reflection on its implications for Christian faith and practice. Author S. Mark Heim lays out root tensions constituted by basic Buddhist teachings on the one hand, and Christian teachings on the other, and the ways in which the Bodhisattva or Christ embody and resolve the resulting paradoxes in their respective traditions. An important contribution to the field of comparative theology in general and to the area of Buddhist–Christian studies in particular, Crucified Wisdom proposes that Christian theology can take direct instruction from Mahāyāna Buddhism in two respects: deepening its understanding of our creaturely nature through no-self insights, and revising its vision of divine immanence in dialogue with teachings of emptiness. Heim argues that Christians may affirm the importance of novelty in history, the enduring significance of human persons, and the Trinitarian reality of God, even as they learn to value less familiar, nondual dimensions of Christ’s incarnation, human redemption, and the divine life. Crucified Wisdom focuses on questions of reconciliation and atonement in Christian theology and explores the varying interpretations of the crucifixion of Jesus in Buddhist–Christian discussion. The Bodhisattva path is central for major contemporary Buddhist voices such as the Dalai Lama and Thích Nhât Hanh, who figure prominently as conversation partners in the text. This work will be of particular value for those interested in “dual belonging” in connection to these traditions.

Disruption and Hope

Disruption and Hope PDF Author: Barbara G. Wheeler
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781481308175
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
During times of rapid social and religious change, leadership rooted in tradition and committed to the future is the foundation upon which theological schools stand. Theological education owes itself to countless predecessors who paved the way for a thriving academic culture that holds together faith and learning. Daniel O. Aleshire is one of these forerunners who devoted his career to educating future generations through institutional reforms. In honor of Aleshire's decades of leadership over the Association of Theological Schools, the essays in this book propose methods for schools of various denominational backgrounds to restructure the form and content of their programs by resourcing their own distinctive Christian heritages. Four essayists, former seminary presidents, explore the ideas, doctrines, and ways of life in their schools' traditions to identify the essential characteristics that will carry their institutions into the future. Additionally, two academic leaders focus on the contributions and challenges for Christian schools presented by non-Christian traditions in a rapidly pluralizing landscape. Together, these six essays offer a pattern of authentic, innovative movement for theological institutions to take toward revitalization as they face new trials and possibilities with faithfulness and hope. This volume concludes with closing words by the honoree himself, offering ways to learn from and grow through Aleshire's legacy. Contributors: Barbara G. Wheeler, Richard J. Mouw, Martha J. Horne, Donald Senior, David L. Tiede, Judith A. Berling, Daniel O. Aleshire

Models of Contextual Theology

Models of Contextual Theology PDF Author: Stephen B. Bevans
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1608330265
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Stephen B Bevans's Models of Contextual Theology has become a staple in courses on theological method and as a handbook used by missioners and other Christians concerned with the Christian tradition's understanding of itself in relation to culture. First published in 1992 and now in its seventh printing in English, with translations underway into Spanish, Korean, and Indonesian, Bevans's book is a judicious examination of what the terms "contextual theology" and "to contextualize" mean. In the revised and expanded edition, Bevans adds a "counter-cultural" model to the five presented in the first edition -- the translation, the anthropological, the praxis, the synthetic, and the transcendental model. This means that readers will be introduced to the way in which figures such as Stanley Hauerwas, John Milbank, Lesslie Newbigin, "and (occasionally) Pope John Paul II" need to be taken into account. The author's revisions also incorporate suggestions made by reviewers to enhance the clarity of the original three chapters on the nature of contextual theology and the five models.

Circling the Elephant

Circling the Elephant PDF Author: John J. Thatamanil
Publisher: Fordham University Press
ISBN: 0823288536
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Christian theologians have for some decades affirmed that they have no monopoly on encounters with God or ultimate reality and that other religions also have access to religious truth and transformation. If that is the case, the time has come for Christians not only to learn about but also from their religious neighbors. Circling the Elephant affirms that the best way to be truly open to the mystery of the infinite is to move away from defensive postures of religious isolationism and self-sufficiency and to move, in vulnerability and openness, toward the mystery of the neighbor. Employing the ancient Indian allegory of the elephant and blind(folded) men, John J. Thatamanil argues for the integration of three often-separated theological projects: theologies of religious diversity (the work of accounting for why there are so many different understandings of the elephant), comparative theology (the venture of walking over to a different side of the elephant), and constructive theology (the endeavor of re-describing the elephant in light of the other two tasks). Circling the Elephant also offers an analysis of why we have fallen short in the past. Interreligious learning has been obstructed by problematic ideas about “religion” and “religions,” Thatamanil argues, while also pointing out the troubling resonances between reified notions of “religion” and “race.” He contests these notions and offers a new theory of the religious that makes interreligious learning both possible and desirable. Christians have much to learn from their religious neighbors, even about such central features of Christian theology as Christ and the Trinity. This book envisions religious diversity as a promise, not a problem, and proposes a new theology of religious diversity that opens the door to robust interreligious learning and Christian transformation through encountering the other.