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Cutting-edge social science research into what young adults want out of a faith community Purpose and meaning, healing and growth, community and fellowship—these values have traditionally been found in church. Though young adults are leaving the pews in droves, they are still seeking these spiritual benefits. How can churches entice them to return? Jeffrey F. Keuss thinks that’s the wrong question to ask. Instead, his multigenerational team of scholars investigated how faith communities can make themselves more hospitable to the next generation of Christians. Backed by five years of qualitative and quantitative research, the Pivot NW research team offers practical recommendations for involving young adults in the community, including: • loosening demands for church membership • involving young adults in leadership earlier • addressing the economic difficulties of millennials • understanding religious trauma Defiant Hope, Active Love encourages church leaders to let go of nostalgia for old ecclesiological norms and embrace something new, inclusive, and authentic. With thorough research and incisive analysis, this groundbreaking book contains a wealth of resources to promote the health of faith communities.
The best writings from George W. Bush’s speechwriter Michael Gerson, a pioneer of the compassionate conservative movement, a champion of Christian engagement, and an eloquent defender of the poor and the marginalized. It is not an exaggeration to say that Michael Gerson possessed one of the most important consciences of his generation. As the chief speech writer for George W. Bush, he wrote the words that rallied and ennobled the nation after September 11th. He helped design and champion Bush’s PEPFAR program, which saved upwards of 20 million lives as HIV ravaged Africa. His famous line defending public education was to say that failure would amount to “a soft bigotry of low expectations.” He became one of the nation’s most eloquent columnists, who was never content to do political horse race punditry but devoted himself to the most essential causes of the time, pushing back on the authoritarianism of Donald Trump and pushing for the kind of compassionate conservatism that he dedicated his life to designing. Defiant Hope is his writings about the things he loved—humanity, God, his dog, and his boys. Essays feature the immensely complicated sadness when you drop your children off at college for the first time. Another is about his public battle of depression. He also includes chapters about men and women who formed this great procession of Christian Reformers—John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, William Wilberforce, and Olaudah Equiano—and the great causes to which they were devoted, from abolitionism to civil rights. What lingers is his gracious voice across all the roles that he played, as David Brooks writes in the introduction. What you hear is “a prophet lamenting iniquity, a father and a friend capable of great bursts of gratitude and appreciation, a Christian who is sometimes buried under sadness and close to despair, but who never loses sight of that distant illuminating beacon of hope.”
We all spend a lot of energy reaching for happiness, but we're never quite able to hang on to it. Real life happens, and our circumstances take us on an emotional rollercoaster. Oftentimes, the Bible's call to "be joyful always" seems out of reach--but it doesn't have to be. We are called to live. And, miraculously, to live with joy. Join bestselling author Stasi Eldredge as she shows us how to choose a joy that stands against the tides of life's real and often overwhelming pain. Defiant Joy reminds us that a joy that is defiant in the face of this broken world was meant to be ours. This joy isn't simply happiness on steroids, it's the unyielding belief that sorrow and loss do not have the final say. It's the stubborn determination to be present in whatever may come and interpret both goodness and grief by the light of heaven. Defiant Joy will give you the encouragement you need to: Finally experience daily joy Learn how to have a posture of holy defiance when circumstances threaten to weigh down your soul Find new perspectives on the painful circumstances you've faced In Defiant Joy, Stasi invites us with courage, candor, and tender vulnerability to a place beyond sadness or happiness, leading the way as we learn how to maintain a posture of holy defiance that neither denies nor diminishes our pain but dares to live with expectant, unwavering hope.
The place of Mary in Christian theology has been a contested one, ever since the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century and also the advent of feminist theology in the twentieth century. Protestantism challenged much of the Mediaeval piety surrounding Mary in the West, along with her intercessory role and that of the saints more generally. Feminist thinking has questioned the portrayal of Mary as the demure and passive virgin-mother, a portrayal that places her beyond the ken of ordinary women. In all this turmoil of questioning and dispute, including effects on the ecumenical front to find common ground in the figure of Mary (ARCIC), Anthony Kelly has produced a very fine and moving series of reflections on the person and theological significance of Mary. Writing from a Roman Catholic perspective, Fr Kelly points to Mary's role in elucidating the core doctrines of the faith: the Trinity, the church, the sacraments (particularly the Eucharist), and eschatology. He sees Mary's role in the life of the church, from beginning to end, as pervasive. Her presence weaves through every point in the church's existence, in its origins, its ongoing ministry and mission, and its final goal.
Matustík presents a bold new way of dealing with one of humanity's most intractable problems.
The title of this collection of essays is Thinking Faith: Moods, Methods, and Mystery, and it might need a word of explanation. The aim is to suggest something of what is involved in thinking faith, while indicating examples of my modest contribution over all these years. Given the exuberant data of faith, beliefs, doctrines and tradition, the task of the theologian is always to reflect on what is so richly given, and to communicate in the most telling fashion its meaning. There are certainly moods that colour the way we think, even though theological writing must show an intellectual concentration of some kind. That is quite compatible with a great variety of approaches, sometimes more hopeful, sometimes more sober, defensive and argumentative. There is also the question of methods. The strange thing about a particular theological method or style of thought is that it is seldom an explicit series of procedures. It is something more spontaneous and formed through the practices of many years. Quite clearly, in this collection of writings a number of methods is implied. Whatever the mood, whatever the method, the mystery remains-of God, Christ, and who we are in that light. To this degree, theology is a way of thinking within mystery, not outside it. In this respect, doing theology is humbling for us theologians when confronted with the limited span of our knowledge-and our poor capacities to express it. There always remain infinite expanses of what is not yet given us to see, so to leave theologians, inarticulate, in splendid defeat. And yet so much has been given, even in the most routine life of the Church, in its Scriptures its sacraments, and in the luminous witness of the many who have gone before us, and live now in the light.
In this varied collection of essays, Walter Brueggemann provides a lens into biblical teachings concerning the present age of fake news, lies, and alternate realities. Compiled and edited by Louis Stulman, professor of religion at the University of Findlay, these essays carry a common theme of truth and hope. As Brueggemann writes in the preface, there is no doubt that the prophetic tradition regularly engages in truth-telling in order to expose social reality as a systemic act of falseness that contradicts the purposes of God. The prophetic tradition of Jeremiah, for instance, is preoccupied with truth-telling that exposes falseness. The prophet exposes the deceit of dominant culture. That same prophetic tradition (like many others) turns eventually to the work of hope-telling. Such hope does not doubt that the faithful God can create futures, a way out of no way. The sequence from truth to hope in the book of Jeremiah is characteristic of the prophetic books of the Old Testament. These several prophetic voices (that gave canonical shape to the prophetic books) knew that this sequence is definingly important. There can be no hope until truth is told. Our temptation, of course, is to do the work of hope without the prior work of truth. Readers will find this collection of essays to be theologically rooted in the concept of prophetic tradition as a means of truth-telling. Brueggemann explores that, without God, truth-telling is nothing more than harping, and hope-telling is only wishful thinking.
Explore the Depths of Love Woven Through Sacred StoriesEmbark on a profound journey through time, where age-old tales reveal the very essence of the human heart "By Love Inspired: The Bible's Most Heartfelt Stories" opens the treasury of biblical narratives that have shaped morality, inspired hope, and fanned the flames of devotion for millennia.Feel the first heartbeat of affection as you encounter Adam and Eve in their paradisiacal cradle of humanity. Witness Abraham's unwavering trust as a testament to an immeasurable love for both his God and his son. Traverse through the complexities of human relations and divine symbolism with Ruth and Boaz, and see the foreshadowing of Christ's redemptive affection in the profound concept of a Kinsman Redeemer.The narrative tapestry becomes richer as you immerse yourself in accounts of covenantal friendships and the passionate poetry of Solomon, exploring the depth of royal affections. Defiance in love becomes strikingly clear through the steadfastness of Hosea for Gomer and Esther's brave heart throbbing with allegiance for her people. Witness a mother's indomitable spirit in Jochebed and Hannah, whose stories resonate with every parent's whisper of undying love.Marvel at the prophets who heralded Divine Love, and transition to the New Testament, where the tales of Mary's all-encompassing ardor for Jesus and John's intimate disciplehood draw you closer to the heartbeat of the gospel. Learn from parables and miracles that redefine the expression of love with societal outcasts and those in desperation, culminating in a Last Supper that redefines communion and betrayal.The crucifixion emerges as an ultimate sacrifice, while the resurrection triumphantly heralds love's victory over death. With every chapter, from the nurturing early Church to the wisdom-spilling letters of Paul, you become a part of the narrative--a tapestry woven with threads of reconciliation, healing, inclusivity, and the profound sagacity of love's endurance.Let your spirit be moved by the poignant anecdotes of outsiders embraced by love, the focused dedication of love in adversities, and the prophetic assurance of love's eternal promise. "By Love Inspired" is not merely a recounting of tales--it's an invitation to discover and embrace the cardinal virtue that holds our existence together, beckoning you to find your place in love's enduring story.
Defiance in the Family follows the treatment of childhood and adolescent defiance through therapy, from intake to termination. The authors take a unique view of defiance as an expression of a child's worry for a family that is not working properly and as the child's means of protecting the inner self in the face of family turmoil.