For centuries the apostle Paul has been invoked to justify oppression ? whether on behalf of slavery, to enforce unquestioned obedience to the state, to silence women, or to legitimate anti-Semitism. To interpret Paul is thus to set foot on a terrible battleground between spiritual forces. But as Neil Elliott argues, the struggle to liberate human beings from the power of Death requires "Liberating Paul" from his enthrallment to that power. In this book, Elliott shows that what many people experience as the scandal of Paul is the unfortunate consequence of the way Paul has usually been read, or rather misread, in the churches.In the first half of the book, Elliott examines the many texts historically interpreted to support oppression or maintain the status quo. He shows how often Paul's authentic message has been interpreted in the light of later pseudo-Pauline writings.In Part Two, Elliott applies a "political key" to the interpretation of Paul. Though subsequent centuries have turned the cross into a symbol of Christian piety, Elliott forcefully reminds us that in Paul's time this was the Roman mode of executing rebellious slaves, a fact that has profound political implications.

Every church has far more work than any one person can do. Even a team of professionals is not enough. The New Testament solution was for every member to be a minister. Though the priesthood of all believers was a key idea in the Reformation, it is little practised today. Following secular models, churches usually organize around the clergy, who are paid by the laity to do the ministry. Paul Stevens argues that, according to Scripture, the primary task of a Christian leader is not to do the work but to equip the saints to do it. Exploring new options for pastors, tentmakers and laypeople, this book provides structures and strategies to best equip all the saints for ministry.

John Temple Bristow’s What Paul Really Said About Women challenges the traditional understanding of St. Paul's epistles and sexism in the modern church. Attempting to reconcile the Apostle Paul’s scripture about women being submissive to men in Ephesians 5 with his words in Galatians 3 that there is no male or female and everyone is “one in Christ Jesus”, John Temple Bristow uncovered differences between Paul’s original Greek Ephesians writings and the English version translation that indicates a deliberate alteration of the text’s meaning in favor of men. Provocative and revelatory, Bristow’s book explores not only What Paul Really Said About Women, but the history and culture of the church that misinterpreted his message. “A convincing case for equality of the sexes based on the very passages that are all too often used as proof texts to uphold male dominance and female subordination. . . . For any person who reveres scripture but who struggles with traditional interpretations of passages concerning women and who fears that a desire for equality between the sexes is a violation of biblical principles, this book is a must.” —Letha Dawson Scanzoni, co-author of All We’re Meant to Be “Bristow acquits Paul of misogyny and restores him to his rightful stature as a great architect of human liberation. Even more importantly, Bristow urges contemporary churches . . . to follow the radically egalitarian vision of the apostle Paul.” —Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, author of Women, Men, and the Bible “Cuts through much misguided rhetoric to display the actual enhancement of women’s status in early Christian culture.” —Timothy L. Smith, author of Called Unto Holiness

How can we know today what was happening in the minds and hearts of Paul and the first Christians so long ago? By getting below the surface of Paul's theology, the consistent key elements of early Christian experience are revealed in a way that throws li

I’ve long believed that market need and competency must have the catalyst of passion if a company is to have a competitive advantage. Omar Khan and Paul B. Brown practice what they preach and tear into the liberation of passion with raw gusto and exhilarating energy. Reading this book gives leaders the opportunity to improve the power of their assets several-fold without a penny of capital investment. If that doesn't impassion you, nothing will. Alan Weiss, Ph.D. Author, Million Dollar Consulting Finally, a solid business book with practical advice to produce life-changing and profit-making results. Liberating passion by strengthening relationships throughout an organization has been one of the most neglected areas in business literature. But no more! As the authors state, passion IS natural and when it is liberated, outstanding results soon follow. The business world today is so thoroughly global, you need ideas and inspiration from vast global experience. Omar Khan and Sensei International are world-class in helping leaders and teams emotionally engage each other, releasing productive passion and focusing it for powerful results. If you want to upgrade your leadership and uplift your team, this is the book to show you how. Ron Kaufman Author, UP Your Service! Chairman, UP Your Service! College Omar Khan and Paul B. Brown bring clarity and focus to the issue that many businesses overlook—people. Any business without its people would cease to exist. Time and again, I have seen otherwise great leaders brought down by poor leadership development skills. Here Omar draws on his experience in engaging leaders and teams across the world and in collaboration with the ever insightful Paul Brown distills the essence of the real value behind great teams, great talent and great leadership. In an otherwise abstract genre, they bring transformative and skillfully applicable ideas straight into the executive and management suite. Sam Moon CEO, DNMstrategies Limited Managing Director, Asia Pacific, BusinessWeek Events The tools described in this timely book create powerful impact for global teams. You’ll read here about fostering appropriate intimacy and emotional maturity through removing unhelpful defensiveness, about the creative capacity of dialogues conducted in a World Cafe format, of brave conversations, of creating “bold courageous steps” to bring strategy vividly to life, and to giving future-based requests to each other that simultaneously affirm and challenge our potential as leaders. I heartily recommend that you not only read about these methodologies, but then passionately apply them. You’ll be very glad you did! Shonaid Jemmett-Page Global Senior Vice-President, Home and Personal Care, Finance and Information Unilever People and organizations can be dramatically transformed by authentic conversations, a true sense of common purpose and community and removing the “masks” that hide real feelings and beliefs. If the leader can show the courage to liberate the suppressed passion of his team and unleash the often hidden energy, it can deliver incredibly powerful results. It is only through genuine engagement with all stakeholders that this process can start. Removing the “passion killers” is a great beginning. I hope that reading Liberating Passion will be a catalyst for many of you to move your teams from first into fifth gear. Fred Combe Managing Director, NATUS

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Where do you work? We may answer this question with a physical location... but increasingly that is either only a partial truth, impossible to answer or just irrelevant. In this fascinating, highly personal investigation into work, Paul Miller challenges us rethink how and where we work today. Blending his own working career experiences, with those of organizations, Miller says it is the 'digital' in the workplace that now defines and shapes our working lives. Building on compelling stories from well-known organizations, Miller explains in a powerful narrative how every aspect of work is being transformed. This is an essential exploration of modern and future work that we can all relate to personally. Addiction, disappointment, liberation, slavery, speed - 'The Digital Workplace' is a captivating manifesto for work that lingers in the head and the heart. Paul Miller is a technology and social entrepreneur. He is CEO and Founder of the Digital Workplace Forum and the Intranet Benchmarking Forum and has been at the heart of the work and technology revolution for the last decade. He is the host of IBF Live, a monthly intranet media show, and Executive Producer and host of the annual IBF 24, which features 24 hours of the world's best intranets plus thought-provoking discussion on how work is being redesigned through technology. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, and wrote the best-selling book Mobilising the Power of What You Know. After an early career as a business journalist and speech writer, he published the influential WAVE magazine in 1990 and established The Empowerment Group in 1992, pioneering new approaches to communication within major organizations. In 1993, he co-founded the Ideas Cafe, a regular innovation event, shaped along social software lines during the early days of the web. Paul was one of the leaders of the innovative 'Fathers and Daughters Weekends'. He lives in London and has two daughters.

Spanning the continents, three internationally respected theologians demonstrate how the thought and legacy of Martin Luther can serve in an ecumenical and interfaith context as a resource for a radical critique of global economics and culture. Lutheran Christianity originated in its own era of economic and cultural crisis. One of the great misinterpretations of Martin Luther has considered his heritage as fundamentally reactionary, seeking to preserve the political status quo. Instead, set free by the biblical message of liberation, this book wields Luther's theology to engage the reality of poverty, hunger, oppression, and ecological degradation caused by an imperial capitalism as the most urgent theological issues in the contemporary world. The volume demonstrates the liberating possibilities of theology done out of a biblical and Lutheran perspective for the economic and cultural crises facing the church in the present century.

Theological reflections explore the genuine role of the Catholic laity, leading to proposals for a "lay liberation theology" and structural reform of the Catholic church. "Throughout, Lakeland does an admirable job of balancing his style to make the work useful for both general and specialized readers. Lakeland surveys the contributions of an impressive number of historical and contemporary writers on the laity."QWilliam A. Clark, "Catholic Books Review."Continuum Books

Mark Strom unveils Paul in his original context and invites us to engage with him in new terms. He courageously draws Paul into vital conversation with contemporary evangelicalism. This book is for anyone who wants to learn how the church can be an attractive community of transforming grace and conversation.