Theology Books

From generation-to-generation there has been an anguished cry from preachers about preaching – there is no imagination! The Scriptures present the wondrous hope and vision of “Kingdom Come” and yet contemporary preaching can often be mute and blind by comparison. This book explores what is possible when the Scripture to be preached is prayed through the agency of two ancient prayer disciplines: lectio divina and Ignatian Gospel Contemplation. Through the experiences of eight vocational pastor-preachers this study tracks the difficulties, discoveries and delights as they commit to utilizing these prayer disciplines as part of their regular sermon preparation.

The Seed and the Soil explores the power of the Bible that brings about God’s transforming and liberating purposes, as well as its power as an often oppressively misused text. Characterised by a wide variety of storytelling, this book is accessible to all that read it.

Those who long to walk close to God are often keenly aware of their shortcomings. This was as true for the apostles as it is for today’s Christian leaders and Christian students. In this book, the author sets out to answer the following questions: What lies behind these inner conflicts? What are the implications of such conflicts for Christians? How does one successfully handle these conflicts? How useful is a rational mind to the Holy Spirit? This book offers deep spiritual insights interlaced with down-to-earth illustrations that make it easily accessible and relevant.

Within the pages of this book, an international group of Methodist scholars are united in the belief that another church and another world are not only necessary but possible. Holiness traditions, even though at times addressing matters too narrowly and at other times to triumphantly, are in agreement that the status quo in both church and world can be improved upon significantly. The question is not whether but how does this happen and how far does it go.

Several of the ways and cultures that the Bible privileges or denounces slip by unnoticed. When those–the privileged and the denounced–are not examined, they fade into and hide in the blind spots of the Bible. This collection of essays engages some of the subjects who face dispersion (physical displacement that sparks ideological bias) and othering (ideologies that manifest in social distancing and political displacement). These include, among others, the builders of Babel, Samaritans, Melchizedek, Jezebel, Judith, Gomer, Ruth, slaves, and mothers.

What does believing mean in the face of empire and militarization? These essays articulate the critical and liberating consciousness shared by oppressed peoples across the world, arising from a faith in the God of the oppressed, expressed in radically diverse ways, and resisting the imperialist deities of materialism (read: economic growth), racism, and militarization that falsely appear as the saviors of humanity.

Church and Human Sexuality by Joshua Arvind Theodore is the fourth book of the series “Re-imagining Church as Event: Perspectives from the Margins”. Who defines desire, pleasure and love? Must sex and sexuality be defined by negations? How can the privileged audit themselves in order to practice respect, mutuality and just love? What role must the church play in eliminating sexual injustice? These questions not only shape this book but demand our attention.

In American seminaries today, there is a very limited amount of time available to most students for language study. And yet, a working knowledge of the original language of the New Testament is imperative for informed exegesis of the biblical texts. Written with this difficult situation in mind, Read It in Greek offers a concise, one-semester introduction to the Greek language of the New Testament.

This book is a gift to all. consumers looking for a way out of their addiction. Those of us (myself included) who know our excessive consumption is causing ecological and economic disasters should read Professor Moe-Lobedas new book. It is the best one-volume analysis of our moral dilemma I know of and, even better, it suggests principles and practices to help deal with it.

The book tries to initiate discussions on the imperial desires and designs deployed in Christian doctrines in the early period of the church to this day. It tries to discuss the need to reshape Christian theologies and doctrines in a postcolonial sensibility.

‘Koyama’s relaxed confidence, extending from the chapter titles to the homely to-ing and fro-ing between the author’s own world and the deepest themes of theology make this is truly stimulating book … One of the rare books of theology one can unreservedly recommend with full sincerity.’ What The Tablet said about Waterbuffalo Theology is even more true of Three Mile an Hour God – which is perhaps a still better book. Its setting is the world of South-East Asia – and beyond.

Beginning Christology not from above or below but from within the Disciple’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, Fuller constructs a powerful Open and Relational Christology. At the heart are three pairings of contemporary thinkers who share a thematic center with distinct trajectories. Fuller weaves each into a vision of God’s self-investment in history and the person of Jesus.

This essential volume explores intersections of imperialism and research – specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as ‘regimes of truth.’ Concepts such as ‘discovery’ and ‘claiming’ are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research methods will help to reclaim control over indigenous ways of knowing and being.

This book celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the PTC with historical reflections and personal reminiscences in the Pacific region at the backdrop of theological studies. Stimulating the various island churches and missions to confer regarding questions facing the churches on the neo-colonialism and communities in which each denomination and mission found itself.

Decolonisation begins with our mind. I recall gratefully changing a sentence in my thesis: We live in one of the most isolated land masses in the world, to: We live in the most interconnected land mass in the world. Mahalo Epeli! That changed everything. Thus began my hermeneutic awakening.

This book explores several significant theological positions and religious actions that determine the sociopolitical involvement of the members of the Church of South India. It subsequently offers possible guidelines to construct and promote alternative and more creative approaches in training to address the sociopolitical contexts in South India today.

In recent years religion has received a good deal of attention in the discourse on globalization. Christianity in its Pentecostal – charismatic, evangelical and fundamentalist forms seem to have thrived in the globalization climate.

We proclaim in church services that “God is good all the time . . . All the time God is good,” but there are often times when we feel that life is just unfair and ask God, “Why?” The uplifting songs and victorious testimonies of our church gatherings are frequently difficult to identify within the midst of the suffering and hardship of people’s daily lives, yet there is all too often no room for our “not-OK” experiences in our Christian communities. This is especially true for pastors and leaders who are required to always be strong and OK all the time.