"The contributions for this volume emerged out of an expert seminar on the theme of the Church Fathers and Catholic social thought held in Leuven in 2007." -- p.vii.

What can we know about the everyday experiences of Christians during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries? How did non-elite men and women, enslaved, freed, and free persons, who did not renounce sex or choose voluntary poverty become Christian? They neither led a religious community nor did they live in entirely Christian settings. In this period, an age marked by "extraordinary" Christians--wonderworking saints, household ascetics, hermits, monks, nuns, pious aristocrats, pilgrims, and bishops--ordinary Christians went about their daily lives, in various occupations, raising families, sharing households, kitchens, and baths in religiously diverse cities. Occasionally they attended church liturgies, sought out local healers, and visited martyrs' shrines. Barely and rarely mentioned in ancient texts, common Christians remain nameless and undifferentiated. Unfinished Christians explores the sensory and affective dimensions of ordinary Christians who assembled for rituals. With precious few first-person accounts by common Christians, it relies on written sources not typically associated with lived religion: sermons, liturgical instruction books, and festal hymns. All three genres of writing are composed by clergy for use in ritual settings. Yet they may also provide glimpses of everyday Christians' lives and experiences. This book investigates the habits, objects, behaviors, and movements of ordinary Christians by mining festal preaching by John Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nyssa, and Romanos the Melodist, among others. It also mines liturgical instructions to explore the psalms and other songs performed on various feast days. "Unfinished," then, connotes the creativity and agency of unremarkable Christians who engaged in making religious experiences: the "Christian-in-progress" who learns to work with material and bring something into being; the artisans who attended sermons; and, more widely, the bearers of embodied knowing.

Morality after Calvin examines the development of ethical thought in the Reformed tradition immediately following the death of Calvin, using Theodore Beza's Cato Censorius Christianus (1591) as a point of departure. The book examines the theology that drove the disciplinary activity at Geneva in the latter half of the sixteenth century.

This volume offers the most comprehensive survey available of the philosophical background to the works of early Christian writers and the development of early Christian doctrine. It examines how the same philosophical questions were approached by Christian and pagan thinkers; the philosophical element in Christian doctrines; the interaction of particular philosophies with Christian thought; and the constructive use of existing philosophies by all Christian thinkers of late antiquity. While most studies of ancient Christian writers and the development of early Christian doctrine make some reference to the philosophic background, this is often of an anecdotal character, and does not enable the reader to determine whether the likenesses are deep or superficial, or how pervasively one particular philosopher may have influenced Christian thought. This volume is designed to provide not only a body of facts more compendious than can be found elsewhere, but the contextual information which will enable readers to judge or clarify the statements that they encounter in works of more limited scope. With contributions by an international group of experts in both philosophy and Christian thought, this is an invaluable resource for scholars of early Christianity, Late Antiquity and ancient philosophy alike.

There has been heightened interest and prolific publication by missiologists about contextualization since the term was first coined in 1972. There has been ongoing debate, particularly amongst evangelicals themselves regarding which of these meanings, methods, and models of contextualization are acceptable to use. Much of the debate has been carried out by academics and practitioners whose observations and conclusions have been largely shaped by the social sciences and practical theology. In contrast, the disciplines of biblical studies and Christian thought have not featured significantly in the debate. The purpose of this research is to establish that biblical studies and Christian thought in general (and Scripture and the church fathers in particular) have an essential contribution to make in the contextualization debate and should form part of an evangelical approach to contextualization of the gospel alongside the social sciences and practical theology. Following a review of the literature on contextualization over the past forty years, the research examines the book of Acts as representative of Scripture, and the work of John Chrysostom as a representative church father. Contextual principles that are consistent with an evangelical approach to contextualization of the gospel are drawn from each work, establishing the value of biblical studies and Christian thought in contextualization.

This volume offers some of the richest and cutting edge reflection on the nature of Anglican identity at the beginning of the 21st century. Originating from The Society for the Study of Anglicanism, it includes contributions from leading international scholars, including: Katherine Grieb (Virginia Theological Seminary), Robert Hughes (School of Theology, Sewanee), Thomas Hughson (retired, Marquette University), Gerard Mannion (University of San Diego), Mark Chapman (Rippon College, Oxford), Paula Nesbitt (Graduate Theological Union), Martyn Percy (Rippon College), Philip Sheldrake (Cambridge Theological Federation and University of Wales), Robert Slocum (St. Catharine College, KY) and Simon Taylor (St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol).

An honest and innovative look at our relationship to money. Though theologians of every era have written about money, and scripture and theology provide ample material for a rich discussion of wealth and possessions, we have tremendous difficulty talking about money in the church. Therefore, congregational leaders need to know how to talk about money, and particularly how to lead a theological discussion about it and the anxiety individuals often feel. This series of Little Books on Faith and Money is designed to foster conversations within congregations around certain principles and practices that nurture community and growth in the ongoing life of the church.

Tools for clergy and congregational leaders to lead theological conversations about money. Scripture and theology provide ample material for a rich discussion of money and possessions. Theologians of every era have written about money. Author Brendan Barnicle offers pastoral programs to bring the conversation into contemporary focus by considering personal budgeting and estate planning (personal discipleship), parish budgets and parish investments (communal ministry), and congregational partnering and policy advocacy (global mission).

Winner of the 2016 Grawemeyer Award in Religion Global health efforts today are usually shaped by two very different ideological approaches: a human rights-based approach to health and equity-often associated with public health, medicine, or economic development activities; or a religious or humanitarian "aid" approach motivated by personal beliefs about charity, philanthropy, missional dynamics, and humanitarian "mercy." The underlying differences between these two approaches can create tensions and even outright hostility that undermines the best intentions of those involved. In Beholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights, Susan R. Holman--a scholar in both religion and the history of medicine--challenges this traditional polarization by telling stories designed to help shape a new perspective on global health, one that involves a multidisciplinary integration of religion and culture with human rights and social justice. The book's six chapters range broadly, describing pilgrimage texts in the Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic traditions; the effect of ministry and public policy on nineteenth-century health care for the poor; the story of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as it shaped economic, social, and cultural rights; a "religious health assets" approach based in Southern Africa; and the complex dynamics of gift exchange in the modern faith-based focus on charity, community, and the common good. Holman's study serves as an insightful guide for students and practitioners interested in improving and broadening the scope of global health initiatives, with an eye towards having the greatest impact possible.

This book deals with various manifestations of charity or giving in the contexts of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim societies in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages. Monotheistic charity and giving display many common features. These underlying similarities reflect a commonly shared view about God and his relations to mankind and what humans owe to God and expect from him. Nevertheless, the fact that the emphasis is placed on similarities does not mean that the uniqueness of the concepts of charity and giving in the three monotheistic religions is denied. The contributors of the book deal with such heterogeneous topics like the language of social justice in early Christian homilies as well as charity and pious endowments in medieval Syria, Egypt and al-Andalus during the 11th-15th centuries. This wide range of approaches distinguish the book from other works on charity and giving in monotheistic religions.