Saving Fear in Christian Spirituality

Saving Fear in Christian Spirituality
Author: Ann W. Astell
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
Total Pages: 539
Release: 2019-11-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0268106231

Hailed in Sacred Scripture as the “beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111:10), the “fear of the Lord” is seldom mentioned and little understood today. A gift of the Spirit and a moral virtue or disposition, the “fear of the Lord” also frequently entails emotional experiences of differing kinds: compunction, dread, reverence, wonderment, and awe. Starting with the Bible itself, this collection of seventeen essays explores the place of holy fear in Christian spirituality from the early church to the present and argues that this fear is paradoxically linked in various ways to fear’s seeming opposite, love. Indeed, the charged dynamic of love and fear accounts for different experiences and expressions of Christian life in response to changing historical circumstances and events. The writings of the theologians, mystics, philosophers, saints, and artists studied here reveal the relationship between the fear and the love of God to be profoundly challenging and mysterious, its elements paradoxically conjoined in a creative tension with each other, but also tending to oscillate back-and-forth in the history of Christian spirituality as first one, then the other, comes to the fore, sometimes to correct a perceived imbalance, sometimes at the risk of losing its companion altogether. Given this historical pattern, clearly evident in these chronologically arranged essays, the palpable absence of a discourse of holy fear from the mainstream theological landscape should give us pause and invite us to consider if and how—under what aspect, in which contexts—a holy fear, inseparable from love, might be regained or discovered anew within Christian spirituality as a remedy both for a crippling anxiety and for a presumptive recklessness. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Christian spirituality, theology, biblical studies, religious studies, and religion and literature. Contributors: Ann W. Astell, Pieter G. R. de Villiers, Donna R. Hawk-Reinhard, John Sehorn, Catherine Rose Cavadini, Joseph Wawrykow, Robert Boenig, Ralph Keen, Wendy M. Wright, Ephraim Radner, Julia A. Lamm, Cyril O’Regan, Brenna Moore, Maj-Britt Frenze, and Todd Walatka

Ancient Wisdom for the Good Life

Ancient Wisdom for the Good Life
Author: Ralph Hawkins
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2023-12-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 149646592X

In Ancient Wisdom for the Good Life, Ralph K. Hawkins turns our attention to the Bible’s Wisdom Literature (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs) and how it can correct us, train us in righteousness, and ultimately empower us for successful living. These are some of the most inspired writings on the Good Life the world has ever known, in which ancient Israel’s sages wrote about how to live stable, harmonious, productive, and joyous lives. Together, they interlock to cover the entire field of wisdom, providing contemporary readers with the tools to develop a unified world view with God at the center. Ancient Wisdom for the Good Life culls out the guidance of ancient Israel’s sages for a modern society that has been cut adrift from its moorings. Full of wisdom and practically written, this book could be used as a supplementary text in an undergraduate or seminary course in the Wisdom Literature, and it would certainly be useful for pastors in their sermon preparation or even just general reading. Table of Contents: Winning and the Wisdom Literature A Mindset of Integrity A Mindset of Community A Mindset of Communication A Mindset of Cause-and-Effect A Mindset of Goal-Setting A Mindset of Work A Mindset of Health A Mindset of Abundance A Mindset of Joy About the Author Ralph K. Hawkins (PhD, Andrews University) is professor of religion and director of the Program in Religion at Averett University. He is co-director of the Jordan Valley Excavation Project (JVEP) and the author of several books, including The Iron Age I Structure on Mt. Ebal: Excavation and Interpretation (Eisenbrauns), How Israel became a People (Abingdon Press), and Discovering Exodus: Content, Interpretation, Reception (SPCK/Eerdmans). An Anglican priest, Hawkins has also written pastoral books, including While I Was Praying: Finding Insights about God in Old Testament Prayers (Smyth & Helwys), and Leadership Lessons: Avoiding the Pitfalls of King Saul (Thomas Nelson).

When God Talks Back

When God Talks Back
Author: T.M. Luhrmann
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2012-11-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0307277275

A New York Times Notable Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 A bold approach to understanding the American evangelical experience from an anthropological and psychological perspective by one of the country's most prominent anthropologists. Through a series of intimate, illuminating interviews with various members of the Vineyard, an evangelical church with hundreds of congregations across the country, Tanya Luhrmann leaps into the heart of evangelical faith. Combined with scientific research that studies the effect that intensely practiced prayer can have on the mind, When God Talks Back examines how normal, sensible people—from college students to accountants to housewives, all functioning perfectly well within our society—can attest to having the signs and wonders of the supernatural become as quotidian and as ordinary as laundry. Astute, sensitive, and extraordinarily measured in its approach to the interface between science and religion, Luhrmann's book is sure to generate as much conversation as it will praise.

Accountability to God

Accountability to God
Author: Andrew B. Torrance
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2023-05-04
Genre:
ISBN: 019887393X

The word 'accountability' is often used without much thought being given to what precisely it means. It is especially common in Christian circles, where there is frequent talk about being accountable to God, yet, still, without a clear grasp of this word. Accountability to God proposes, develops, and analyses two concepts of accountability as both a condition and a virtue. It also engineers these concepts to make them particularly apt for thinking about (1) accountability to God and (2) other relationships of accountability that exist under God. In its first part, the book builds a theological and general case for its particular views of accountability. In its second, it engages in the constructive work of developing a theology of accountability in relation to the doctrines of the Trinity, participation in Christ, the Fall, the fear of God, reconciliation, baptism, repentance, faith, and conversion. In developing this theology, Torrance interacts with a number of major theologians, such as the Apostle Paul, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Karl Barth. He also extensively engages with contemporary work in analytic philosophy, systematic theology (including analytic theology), biblical studies, and psychology. By bringing a diverse range of scholarship into discussion, Accountability to God is the first book to focus specifically on what it means to be accountable to God. It thereby proposes a more positive, constructive, and theologically apt way to think about accountability.

For Every Fear a Promise

For Every Fear a Promise
Author: Dr. Brad Hicks
Publisher: WestBow Press
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2012-12-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1449777635

Real people face real fears! Dr. Hicks inspires you to discover that God has designed a way to help you cope with the fears in your life. There are many statements in Scripture that either explicitly or implicitly teach us not to fear. What you may not have discovered is that for every one of those there is a promise from God to help you overcome the fear. With each devotional you will find a fear not and a promise from Scripture. As you discover and appropriate those promises, your fears should begin to subside. You will find yourself identifying with the stories that illustrate Bible truths about fear; be encouraged as you discover a blend of the spiritual and the therapeutic in coping with fear; and confront your personal fears and discover Gods overcoming promises through each Scripture-rich, life-applied devotional.

The Fear Factor

The Fear Factor
Author: Akeem Shomade
Publisher: Bridge Logos Foundation
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2008-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780882705019

Fear has become a way of life in todays world. We are under a constant barrage of threatening news and the dread of sickness, violence, hate, and social instability. The Fear Factor shows how fear develops, ex-poses its roots, and provides biblically based solutions to our deepest anxieties. Using 1 John 4: 18, the author admonishes readers to allow perfect love to cast out fear in our lives. Readers will learn to identify causes of fear in their lives, including: Fear of Failure Fear of Death Fear of Change Fear of Man

Meditation as Spiritual Therapy

Meditation as Spiritual Therapy
Author: Matthew McWhorter
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2024
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0813238005

Christian persons today might seek spiritual development and ponder the benefit of mindfulness exercises but also maintain concerns if they perceive such exercises to originate from other religious traditions. Such persons may not be aware of a long tradition of meditation practice in Christianity that promotes personal growth. This spiritual tradition receives a careful formulation by Christian monastic authors in the twelfth century. One such teaching on meditation is found in the treatise De consideratione written by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) to Pope Eugene III (d. 1153). In textual passages where St. Bernard exhibits a clear concern for the mental health of the Pope (due to numerous ongoing ecclesial, political, and military problems), St. Bernard reminds Eugene III of his original monastic vocation and the meditation exercises associated with that vocation. The advice that St. Bernard gives to Eugene III can be received today in a way that provides a structure for Christian meditation practice which is relevant for personal development, spiritual direction, and civil psychotherapy that integrates a client's spirituality into the course of treatment. St. Bernard thus might be interpreted as a teacher of a kind of Christian mindfulness that can benefit both a person's mental health as well as a person's relationship with God. Meditation as Spiritual Therapy examines the historical context of Bernard's work, his purpose for writing it, as well as the numerous Christian sources he drew upon to formulate his teaching. Bernard's teaching on the course of meditation itself is explored in depth and in dialogue with his other treatises, letters, and sermons. Lastly, a contemporary summary of Bernard's teaching is provided with reflections concerning the relationship of this teaching to contemporary spiritual direction and spiritually integrated civil psychotherapy.

Nineteenth-Century Salesian Pentecost, The

Nineteenth-Century Salesian Pentecost, The
Author: Boenzi, Joseph, SDB
Publisher: Paulist Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2023-01-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1587685760

In the wake of the French Revolution and other upheavals, Don Bosco (1815–1888) and other nineteenth-century founders and spiritual leaders contributed to the development of spiritual practices and perspectives on the Christian life that have been described as the “Salesian Pentecost.” Here are translations of and commentaries on the little-known spiritual writings of Don Bosco, his collaborators, and his contemporaries involved in the Salesian Pentecost. These diverse persons, fully engaged in apostolic ministry or occupied with the demands of ordinary life as lay women and men, were at the same time engaged in conscious spiritual practices that sought the interior exchange of the heart of Jesus for the human heart.

Jesus through Medieval Eyes

Jesus through Medieval Eyes
Author: Grace Hamman
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2023-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310145848

C.S. Lewis noted that the church has a problem: Whenever Christians are brainstorming together about who Jesus is and who we are, we go out and read mostly people who agree with us, or who live in our same time and place. It's hard to separate the cultural wheat from the chaff. But what happens when we do read people's answers to Jesus's question from the past lives and places of the church--people who may be wholly unlike us? Who is Jesus? What is he like? And who am I, encountering Jesus? The answers will surprise you. Jesus through Medieval Eyes, by Grace Hamman, looks to the Christians of the Middle Ages, to a time and culture dissimilar to our own, for their answers to these questions. Medieval Europeans were also suffering through pandemics, dealing with political and ecclesial corruption and instability, and reckoning with gender, money, and power. Yet their concerns and imaginations are unlike ours. Their ideas, narratives, and art about Jesus open up paradoxically fresh and ancient ways to approach and adore Christ--and reveal where our own cultural ideals about the Messiah fall short. In thoughtful and accessible chapters, medievalist scholar Grace Hamman explores and meditates upon medieval representations of Jesus in theology and literature. These representations of Jesus span from the familiar, like Jesus as the Judge at the End of Days, or Jesus as the Lover of the Song of Songs, to the more unusual, like Jesus as Our Mother. Through the words of medieval people like Julian of Norwich, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Margery Kempe, and St. Thomas Aquinas, we meet these faces of Jesus and find renewed ways to love the Savior, in the words of St. Augustine, that "beauty so ancient and so new."