The Cross and Human Transformation

The Cross and Human Transformation
Author: Alexandra R. Brown
Publisher:
Total Pages: 216
Release: 1995
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

In our time the cross is often more a source of controversy than a sign of peace. While aware of differing points of view, Alexandra Brown shows that Paul's proclamation of the cross was an inclusive and empowering word of liberation, peace, and reconciliation. In 1 Corinthians Paul strikes at the heart of schism in the church. Against the barriers of ego and ideology that divided believers in Corinth, he proclaims a liberating message. This book explores the way the word of the cross in 1 Corinthians invades the perception of its hearers, liberating them from the old world with its enslaving system of convictions and ushering them into the new creation revealed by the cross.

The First Epistle to the Corinthians

The First Epistle to the Corinthians
Author: Anthony C. Thiselton
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 1488
Release: 2000
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780853645597

A new examination of a classic Christian text begins with the Greek text of the Corinthians and outlines the most important theological, ethical, and socio-historical issues surrounding this seminal book.

Simul Sanctification

Simul Sanctification
Author: Jeff McSwain
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2018-08-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532641095

Why do we see so much fruitful good in unbelievers and so much evil in believers? What could it mean for a believer that the old is "gone," especially when it doesn't feel that way? What does it mean for humans who are simul iustus et peccator (simultaneously righteous and sinner) to be transformed in Christ and by his Spirit? We typically think of sanctification as pertaining to humans being conformed to Jesus, but what could it mean when Jesus speaks of himself as being sanctified for our sakes (John 17:19)? Jeff McSwain mines the theology of Karl Barth to engage such questions. In looking "through the simul," he concludes with Barth that universal human transformation is a reality before it is a possibility, and that, despite our contradictory state, we may live Spirit-filled lives as we participate in Christ's true humanity that determines ours--a humanity which never gets old.

The Cross and the Lynching Tree

The Cross and the Lynching Tree
Author: James H. Cone
Publisher: Orbis Books
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2011
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 160833001X

A landmark in the conversation about race and religion in America. "They put him to death by hanging him on a tree." Acts 10:39 The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning. While the lynching tree symbolized white power and "black death," the cross symbolizes divine power and "black life" God overcoming the power of sin and death. For African Americans, the image of Jesus, hung on a tree to die, powerfully grounded their faith that God was with them, even in the suffering of the lynching era. In a work that spans social history, theology, and cultural studies, Cone explores the message of the spirituals and the power of the blues; the passion and of Emmet Till and the engaged vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.; he invokes the spirits of Billie Holliday and Langston Hughes, Fannie Lou Hamer and Ida B. Well, and the witness of black artists, writers, preachers, and fighters for justice. And he remembers the victims, especially the 5,000 who perished during the lynching period. Through their witness he contemplates the greatest challenge of any Christian theology to explain how life can be made meaningful in the face of death and injustice.

The Human Condition

The Human Condition
Author: Thomas Keating
Publisher: Paulist Press
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2014-05-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1616433574

These reflections on contemplative life were delivered at Harvard University in 1997 in a lecture series endowed by Harold M. Wit. (Inside front cover).

Interpretation of Tongues and Prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12-14, with a Pentecostal Hermeneutics

Interpretation of Tongues and Prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12-14, with a Pentecostal Hermeneutics
Author: Jeon Ahn Yongnan
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2019-05-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004397175

Bringing “spiritual experience” into the domain of biblical hermeneutics, this book will certainly stimulate current debates within this field, among both Pentecostals and Christians of other traditions. The author also applies a Pentecostal hermeneutical methodology to Paul’s teaching on tongues and prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12–14, opening possibilities to a Pentecostal pneumatology that tends instead to focus on the Lukan narrative. Paul’s texts are reconsidered not as doctrinal or situational documents but as dynamic communication within a living community.

Cross Narratives

Cross Narratives
Author: Neal J. Anthony
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2010-06-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1606086545

Luther's radical interpretation of the two natures of Christ, and specifically its expression through the ubiquitous presence of the humanity of Christ, is a fundamental, integral expression of that same theology. This expression of Luther's theology of the cross, Anthony asserts, provides both a fuller elaboration and an important and creative corrective with reference to recent signal expressions of the theology of the cross. As contemporary theologians of the cross have articulated (most notably Douglas John Hall and the late Alan E. Lewis), the theology of the cross, through a transformation of the divine attributes that honors the integrity of created beings, is preeminently a theology of redemption from within (within-redemption). In the process of outlining and analyzing these theologies of within-redemption, Anthony exposes an impasse created by these theologies regarding the relationship of within-redemption to individual human narratives. It is through Luther's radical interpretation of the two natures of Christ, Anthony contends, that complete within-redemption can be expressed. Anthony also evaluates the Christology of Karl Barth from the perspective of his findings. Not only is Anthony's work an innovative and fresh application of Luther's Christology for contemporary discussions of the theology of the cross, but it places Luther's Christology at the cutting edge of contemporary discussions regarding the theology of the cross and its within-redemption.

Stumbling over the Cross

Stumbling over the Cross
Author: Joni S. Sancken
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2016-04-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1625647867

It has never been easy to preach about the cross and resurrection of Jesus, but difficulties today are particularly challenging. Hearers ask tough questions of the church and the Christian faith, and they are not satisfied by formulaic answers. People are often suspicious of doctrine and are attracted to a broad but vague or pluralistic spirituality rather than the classical claims of Christianity. In this climate, preachers often see preaching on the central events of the Christian story, the crucifixion and resurrection, as more of a problem than a possibility, more of a burden than a joy. They wonder not only how to preach the "old, old story" of cross and resurrection but whether they should preach these themes at all. This book addresses these concerns and shows preachers how to preach the cross and resurrection in fresh, culturally relevant ways that deepen Christian discipleship. Each chapter shows the relevance of preaching the cross for addressing a particular congregational concern. What has ironically become a stumbling block in the pulpit, the stone that preachers often reject--preaching on the cross and resurrection of Jesus--can serve as the cornerstone for building up the congregation for discipleship in our world.

The Promise of Hermeneutics

The Promise of Hermeneutics
Author: Roger Lundin
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 280
Release: 1999
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780802846358

This work presents an engaging interdisciplinary study of the nature and scope of interpretation, one of the most important areas of inquiry in today's postmodern world. The three authors, all acknowledged experts in the field, bring the resources of the Bible, Christian tradition, and intellectual history to bear upon contemporary hermeneutical disputes. Representing a complete revision of The Responsibility of Hermeneutics (1985), this substantially expanded volume has been brought up to date with recent work in hermeneutics and sets forth an important new perspective that shifts the interpretive focus from the past to the promise of the future. Making use of the best insights from current theories about language, interpretation, and the nature of the self, The Promise of Hermeneutics demonstrates how an encounter with contemporary interpretive theory can deepen the church's own hermeneutical practices. The authors also show how the Christian faith can help move us beyond the many impasses created by postmodern thought.

A Transformative Reading of the Bible

A Transformative Reading of the Bible
Author: Yung Suk Kim
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2013-04-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1620322218

In A Transformative Reading of the Bible Yung Suk Kim raises critical questions about human transformation in biblical studies. What is transformation? How are we transformed when we read biblical stories? Are all transformative aspects equally valid? What kind of relationships exists between self, neighbor, and God if transformation is involved in these three? Who or what is being changed, or who or what are we changing? What degree of change might be considered "transformative"? Kim explores a dynamic, cyclical process of human transformation and argues that healthy transformation involves three kinds of transformation: psycho-theological, ontological-theological, and political-theological transformation. With insights gained from phenomenological studies, political theology, and psychotheology, Kim proposes a new model for how to read the Bible transformatively, as he dares to read Hannah, Psalm 13, the Gospel of Mark, and Paul as stories of transformation. The author invites Christian readers, theological educators, and scholars to reexamine the idea of transformation and to engage biblical stories from the perspective of holistic human transformation.