"This book will make a profound difference for the church in this moment in history." — The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry Sometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and call us home to God. It’s not surprising that a global pandemic and once-in-a-generation reckoning with white supremacy—on top of decades of systemic decline—have spurred Christians everywhere to ask who we are, why God placed us here and what difference that makes to the world. In this critical yet loving book, the author explores the American story and the Episcopal story in order to find out how communities steeped in racism, establishment, and privilege can at last fall in love with Jesus, walk humbly with the most vulnerable and embody beloved community in our own broken but beautiful way. The Church Cracked Open invites us to surrender privilege and redefine church, not just for the sake of others, but for our own salvation and liberation.

The drawing, Christ of the Breadlines, by Fritz Eichenberg (1953) probably says all that this book wants to say about being church. The church is a space in this world where heaven and earth reach out to each other. It is a space in the world, but not of the world, as it is touched by heaven. Christ is in the breadline, yet one can recognise Him as He stands out in the breadline. One can recognise him, because of the hallow that surrounds him. He is the incarnation within reality and through the incarnation the place within reality becomes holy, not sacred as in separated, but sanctified as differentiated offering an alternative within reality. He brings a space that is marked, not by the darkness and the vicious cycles of the world which dominate and enslave creation, such as poverty, but a space that breaks into this darkness with light as it is hallowed in hope. What more can the church hope for than to be allowed to be a space of hallowed hope in the vicious systems of death in a postmodern and post-Christian world? This book would like to propose that it does not really matter if you start with theory (Scripture and tradition) or with context and practice because theology is circular or spiral, and therefore there is no starting point as the two continually influences each other, or one could even say the one interprets the other. So for this book the best place to start is with where we are now ? the now of experience as this now of experience includes both theory and praxis. There is no such thing as experience pure and simple, as experience is always interpreted-experience and the interpretation is done through the theory that has shaped and formed us. Thus, in this book we work with ?theory-laden practice?.

During the height of the crack epidemic that decimated the streets of D.C., Ruben Castaneda covered the crime beat for the Washington Post. The first in his family to graduate from college, he had landed a job at one of the country's premier newspapers. But his apparent success masked a devastating secret: he was a crack addict. Even as he covered the drug-fueled violence that was destroying the city, he was prowling S Street, a 24/7 open-air crack market, during his off hours, looking for his next fix. Castaneda's remarkable book, S Street Rising, is more than a memoir; it's a portrait of a city in crisis. It's the adrenalin-infused story of the street where Castaneda quickly became a regular, and where a fledgling church led by a charismatic and streetwise pastorwas protected by the local drug kingpin, a dangerous man who followed an old-school code of honor. It's the story of Castaneda's friendship with an exceptional police homicide commander whose career was derailed when he ran afoul of Mayor Marion Barry and his political cronies. And it's a study of the city itself as it tried to rise above the bloody crack epidemic and the corrosive politics of the Barry era. S Street Rising is The Wire meets the Oscar-winning movie Crash. And it's all true.

The book is a reading of numerous contemporary continental philosophers (Badiou, Deleuze and Guattari, Laruelle and Derrida amongst others) and bringing them into conversation with each other around various ethical and political challenges of living in capitalist worlds. What can contemporary continental philosophy offer with regards to the questions of decolonial thinking, the challenges of identity politics, the formation of political identities in response to the dominant norms in the context of the struggles of victims of these norms?

If you feel caught between the traditional church and the emerging church, read Jim Belcher. He paints a picture of an alternate, "deep" church--a missional church committed to both tradition and contemporary culture, valuing innovation in worship, arts and community but also adhering to creeds and confessions.

**3 Emergent Theology Response Books in 1!** Includes best selling books: Reimagining the Kingdom: The Generational Development of Liberal Kingdom Theology from Schleiermacher to McLaren The Gospel of Brian McLaren: A New Kind of Christianity for a Multi-Faith World Reimagining the Christian Faith: Exploring the Emergent Theology of Doug Pagitt, Peter Rollins, Samir Selmanovic, and Brian McLaren On February 8, 2010 pastor and theologian Jeremy Bouma did something he thought he'd never do: He said "Goodbye, Emergent"! Once upon a time he was enamored by the "I-am-not-a-movement-but-a-conversation" known as the Emerging Church after entering a period of faith deconstruction and reconstruction nine years ago. Like many young adults, for the first time he was taking his faith in Jesus Christ seriously and asking a whole lot of questions along the way-which the Emergent Church helped foster and nurture. But then something happened: He came to realize the Emerging Church is a form of Christianity other-than the versions that currently exist but mirror those that have already existed, mainly the false theology of theological liberalism. Understand Emerging Church Theology is a bundle of three books representing his best selling work as a former Emergent insider and historical theologian. He offers it to help empower other interested Christians to respond to the foreign theology of the Emerging Church and do what Jude urges the Church to do: "contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people." (Jude 3)

The purpose and aim of this book is to develop an appropriate leadership model for missional churches. This implies a positioning of this book within the broader theology of mission and a consensus on the theology of the Missio Dei, originating at the 1952 conference of the International Missionary Council in Willingen, Germany. In this approach to the theology of mission, mission is understood as the work of the Trinitarian God, and the church is privileged to participate in God’s mission. It is against this background that the growing consensus on missional ecclesiology challenges leadership models developed for a different time and a different kind of church (with less or no emphasis on the missional character of the church). The aim is to reflect theologically on the role of leadership in the missional church. What kind of ideas about power, authority and leadership are appropriate for a missional church? New missional challenges demand new ideas about missional leadership. Church organisation and leadership reflects a theological position – there is a strong relation between ecclesiology and church organisation. The nature of the church provides the framework to understand the character of the church. What the church is determines what the church does. The church organises what it does and agrees on rules that regulate ministries and organisation. Issues such as the way the church organises and governs what it does, and thus church leadership, need to be answered against this background and understanding. Church polity and organisation, as well as leadership, must reflect the identity, calling, life and order of the church. This book, therefore, addresses life in the Trinity, participation in the Missio Dei and contours of the missional church as the point of entry to develop leadership insights. It contributes towards the development of an appropriate model of leadership for missional churches, because although recent developments in the theology of mission comprehensively addressed the area of missional ecclesiology, there is a gap in the development of a leadership model based on the concept of authority in the missional church.

Global conflicts, civil unrest, fallen leaders, health crises, financial meltdowns—the world is ripe with strife. When we face unexpected personal crises or when society around us seems to be collapsing, we wonder: Why is this happening? Can God be trusted? Who can I trust to help me follow Jesus through this current crisis? When the Universe Cracks is a sweeping, multifaceted look at the role of crisis in the life of faith from an esteemed gathering of pastors, faith leaders, and experts. You’ll find honest and realistic reflections to help you navigate a present trouble or anticipate changes. Inspired by a global pandemic, these writers examine the whole history of God’s people and offer a fresh perspective for every time the universe cracks. Scholar and church leader Angie Ward facilitates this energizing and fascinating discussion. Thought leaders Jo Anne Lyon, Efrem Smith, Christine Jeske, D. A. Horton, Kyuboem Lee, Marshall Shelley, Matt Mikalatos, Sean Gladding, Catherine McNiel, and Lee Eclov each contributed a chapter. When the Universe Cracks is the first in a series of Kingdom Conversations, books that bring together experts and faith leaders to address the most urgent and perplexing challenges of our time in resonant and redemptive ways for each of us and all of us.

Offers wisdom and guidance for Christians to strengthen their faith, discussing how God speaks to individuals, how Jesus' death on the cross paid for sins, who the Holy Spirit is, and more.

Crack Capitalism, argues that radical change can only come about through the creation, expansion and multiplication of weak points, or "cracks" in the capitalist system. John Holloway's previous book, Change the World Without Taking Power, sparked a world-wide debate among activists about the most effective methods of resisting capitalism. Now Holloway rejects the idea of a disconnected plurality of struggles and finds a unifying contradiction -- the opposition between the time we spend working as part of the system and our excess "doing" where we revolt and refuse to be subsumed. Clearly and accessibly presented in the form of 33 theses, Crack Capitalism is set to reopen the debate among radical scholars and activists seeking to break capitalism.