Authentic Transformation

Authentic Transformation
Author: Glen Harold Stassen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 310
Release: 1996
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

The study of Christian ethics in North America has been profoundly influenced during this century by the work of H. Richard Niebuhr. That influence is felt nowhere as keenly as in the widespread use of his classic text, Christ and Culture. Yet certain central flaws exist in Niebuhr's work on Christ and culture, particularly in its lack of concrete norms for the church's transformative engagement with the world. Scholars have long realized that further work must be done in this area if the church is to speak the word of the gospel adequately in the midst of a pluralistic and changing culture. In this book, Glen H. Stassen, D. M. Yeager, and John Howard Yoder push Christian ethical reflection beyond Niebuhr by offering an analysis and critique of Niebuhr's well-known fivefold typology of the relation of Christ to culture. They wrestle with the issue of how the actual, working church goes about being an agent of the transformation of culture. Unlike Niebuhr, whose description of the transformationist ideal had little grounding in the concrete existence of the church, the authors reflect on those practices through which congregations seek both to embody faithfulness to Jesus Christ and to be the church in their culture. As a prologue to this analytical and constructive task, the volume contains a previously unpublished essay by H. Richard Niebuhr, "Types of Christian Ethics", in which he laid out the framework of the typology he would later expand in Christ and Culture.

Metanoia

Metanoia
Author: Adam Ellwanger
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2020-02-25
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0271086785

Western culture is in a moment when wholly new kinds of personal transformations are possible, but authentic transformation requires both personal testimony and public recognition. In this book, Adam Ellwanger takes a distinctly rhetorical approach to analyzing how the personal and the public relate to an individual’s transformation and develops a new vocabulary that enables a critical assessment of the concept of authenticity. The concept of metanoia is central to this project. Charting the history of metanoia from its original use in the classical tradition to its adoption by early Christians as a term for religious conversion, Ellwanger shows that metanoia involves a change within a person that results in a truer version of him- or herself—a change in character or ethos. He then applies this theory to our contemporary moment, finding that metanoia provides unique insight into modern forms of self-transformation. Drawing on ancient and medieval sources, including Thucydides, Plato, Paul the Apostle, and Augustine, as well as contemporary discourses of self-transformation, such as the public testimonies of Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal, Ellwanger elucidates the role of language in signifying and authenticating identity. Timely and original, Ellwanger’s study formulates a transhistorical theory of personal transformation that will be of interest to scholars working in social theory, philosophy, rhetoric, and the history of Christianity.

Beginning Well

Beginning Well
Author: Gordon T. Smith
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2001-08-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830822973

Gordon T. Smith contends that a chief cause of spiritual immaturity in the evangelical church is an inadequate theology of conversion. Surveying Scripture, spiritual autobiographies and a broad range of theologies of conversion, he seeks to foster in the Christian community a dynamic language of conversion that leads to spiritual transformation and mature Christian living.

Yearning

Yearning
Author: Robert Hendrickson
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2013-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0819228699

One of the first books of its kind addressing how young adults are living in an intentional community in the Episcopal Church. Young adults (18-30) are searching for a church that demands their involvement, whether it is in mission, worship, theology, or daily life. They want a church that is relevant and offers a vision of the Divine. This book places the church in context with consumerism, freedom of choice, war and terror, and the impact of technology now dominating the worldview of young adults. Drawing upon the proven success at St. Hilda s House in New Haven, CT, this book provides stories and narratives from young adult interns, who are involved in its mission and ministry."

Authentic Peace

Authentic Peace
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-07-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9780578940519

Authentic Peace is the debut memoir by Anne-Marie Zanzal, M.Div. It tells the honest and real-life account of a married woman, in mid-life, who experiences a physical and emotional awakening that opens her eyes to her sexuality and sensuality, which had long been ignored. Authentic Peace is for those who are in similar transitional stages in life, whether leaving a marriage or a relationship. This is a story of embarking on the journey of finding your true, authentic self and the book includes topics of sexuality and sensuality, marriage, parenting, parental relationships, divorce, grief, racism, politics, spirituality, religion, and more. This book continues Anne-Marie's work, which includes online coaching and support groups for people coming out later in life. Anne-Marie has dedicated her life to building community and helping people overcome societal restrictions to find and claim their authentic, true selves despite all odds.

Life Together in Christ

Life Together in Christ
Author: Ruth Haley Barton
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2014-10-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830896384

We've all been let down by so-called community. Why is it so hard for us to connect and grow together for the long haul? Veteran spiritual director Ruth Haley Barton helps us get personal and practical about experiencing transformation together. This interactive guide allows us to grow through and by the experience of transforming community.

Christ and Culture

Christ and Culture
Author: H. Richard Niebuhr
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 324
Release: 1956-09-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0061300039

This 50th-anniversary edition, with a new foreword by the distinguished historian Martin E. Marty, who regards this book as one of the most vital books of our time, as well as an introduction by the author never before included in the book, and a new preface by James Gustafson, the premier Christian ethicist who is considered Niebuhr’s contemporary successor, poses the challenge of being true to Christ in a materialistic age to an entirely new generation of Christian readers.

Whole Life Transformation

Whole Life Transformation
Author: Keith Meyer
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2010-06-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830867457

Pastor and professor Keith Meyer writes in a fresh, prophetic voice about his experience of learning spiritual formation through being mentored by Dallas Willard. Drawing from the riches of church history and the experience of contemporary ministry, Meyer then describes how his own life transformation changed how he approached ministry and church leadership.

Universal Human

Universal Human
Author: Gary Zukav
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2022-06-07
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1982169885

"With lucidity and elegance, Zukav explains that we are evolving from a species that pursues power based upon the perceptions of the five senses -- external power -- into a species that pursues authentic power -- power that is based upon the perceptions and values of the spirit. He shows how the pursuit of external power has produced our survival-of-the-fittest understanding of evolution, generated conflict between lovers, communities, and superpowers, and brought us to the edge of destruction. Using his scientist's eye and philosopher's heart, Zukav shows how infusing the activities of life with reverence, compassion, and trust makes them come alive with meaning and purpose. He illustrates how the emerging values of the spirit are changing marriages into spiritual partnerships, psychology into spiritual psychology, and transforming our everyday lives. The Seat of the Soul describes the remarkable journey to the spirit that each of us is on."--Amazon.com.

Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls

Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls
Author: Gary W. Moon
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2009-09-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830876960

In recent years, many Christian clergy, laity and mental health professionals have rediscovered the ancient practices of spiritual direction. Seen as a refreshing alternative to the techniques and limitations of modern psychology, such practices offer new insights for pastoral care. But many remain unclear on what spiritual direction is and whether its methods are applicable to their own clients and parishioners. Spiritual direction is a practice of Christian soul care that is found most notably in the Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopal traditions but is also present in Wesleyan/Holiness, Pentecostal/charismatic, social justice and Reformed communities. Predating modern counseling and psychotherapy movements but sharing key principles and insights for spiritual formation, spiritual direction offers significant resources for today s pastors, counselors, therapists, chaplains and other caregivers attuned to the work of God in people s lives. In this landmark volume, editors Gary W. Moon and David G. Benner, along with a team of expert contributors, provide a comprehensive survey of spiritual direction in its myriad Christian forms. Specific chapters offer careful historical perspective and contemporary analysis of how Christians from various backgrounds have practiced spiritual direction, with particular attention to each tradition s definition of spiritual direction, the process of authentic transformation, the role of the spiritual director, indicators of mature spirituality and other aspects of the spiritual direction process. Chapters also provide psychological and clinical insight into how spiritual direction is similar to, different from and can be integrated with psychotherapy and pastoral counseling to help others experience spiritual transformation and union with God.