This book penetrates the assumptions of Western technological society and exposes the powers that govern it. The contributors argue that it is a mistake to think that religion and belief have been relegated to the private sphere and are no longer important in the public and political domains. They assert that the twenty-first century has a set of new godsthe powers of globalization, technology, the market, and military mightthat reign alongside those of traditional religions. These are the forces to which the modern era has granted ultimacy. This book looks at how major religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism play an important role in politics and society on both the global and local levels. The new gods of technology, globalization, and war are shown to exacerbate the existing cultural divisions and religious strife that mark our time. By understanding the importance of that which is held sacred, whether traditional belief or modern practice not acknowledged as belief, the contributors help us to comprehend our present situation and challenges.

The basis of this collection of essays is the reading of a common topic from different perspectives. Half of the book is devoted to the comparative study of religions and the courses are offered by religion professors. The other half is shaped by social science approaches and the seminars are given mainly by social science professors. We aim to compare and contrast not only positions, but also methods of learning. We examine theories of the just war in diverse cultural contexts and their disciplinary settings. Space is devoted to the study of papers prepared for this project by specialists in various disciplines, mainly but not exclusively faculty of Bard College and the United States Military Academy at West Point.

In this book, Johnson avoids the standard approach of many apologetic works that seek to "prove," in systematic fashion, that Christianity is true. Rather, he takes the position of orthodox Christianity and looks at various challenges that have been raised against it. For example, should the horrors of the Holocaust force Christian thinkers to alter their view of God's goodness? Is Christianity inherently anti-Jewish for claiming that Jews must embrace Jesus as Messiah? Are revived "hallucination theories" about Christ's resurrection tenable explanations of the birth of the Christian movement? Is the "presuppositional" approach of certain Reformed thinkers useful for doing Christian apologetics? These and similar questions are addressed in this book.

Argues that the Fourth Gospel has “political dimensions” which offer both meaning and challenge to contemporary Christians.

This collection of essays is a celebration of the work of Timothy Gorringe. Like his theology, it is animated by a delighted and critical engagement with the diverse facets of human social life, and by a passionate concern to wrestle with the Bible and the Christian tradition in pursuit of human flourishing. The built environment, politics, education, art: these essays by leading Christian theologians ask what it means for Christian theology to concern itself with, to immerse itself in, and to risk critical commentary on, each of these and more. The collection follows the same rhythm that animates Gorringe's work: insistent attention to the Christian tradition in the light of the particular contexts where human flourishing is imagined, fought for, embodied and betrayed; and a critical, constructive and celebratory examination of those contexts in the light of the Christian tradition. The contributions are very diverse, touching on everything from city life to human curiosity, poverty to genocide--but they are united by a passion to make theological sense of human flourishing.

This collection of essays explores the legacy of Lesslie Newbigin's classic work, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, critically analyzing the nature of Western pluralism and discussing the influence of Newbigin's work on the field of missiology. By looking backward, this volume advances a vision for Christian witness in the pluralistic world of the twenty-first century.

As debate over the manipulation of human genes rages in the public sphere, James Peterson offers an informed Christian defense of genetic intervention. In Changing Human Nature he pointedly reminds us that the question we need most to consider is not whether our genes will undergo change but whether we will be conscious of and conscientious about the direction of that change. Drawing from the biblical tradition, Peterson argues that human beings have a unique capacity and calling to tend and develop the natural world - including themselves, their bodies, and their genes - as God's garden. While carefully addressing legitimate religious concerns, Peterson's theologically grounded yet jargon-free discussion puts forth clear and specific guidelines for the proper use of genetic intervention to help people. Distinctive for its nuanced approach, Changing Human Nature will fill the need for a thoughtful, positive Christian perspective on this timely topic. Book jacket.

The format of the new The Bible in the 21st Century series reflects an international dialogue between experts and graduate students. In this book, experts on Bible translations present essays on the practices of translating the Bible for the present and the future, through Christian and Jewish approaches, in Western Europe and North America as well as in the former Eastern Bloc and in Africa. Each paper is paired with a response. The international contributors here include Adele Berlin, John Rogerson, Robert Carroll, Mary Phil Korsak, Everett Fox, Jeremy Punt and Athalya Brenner, and the debate is prefaced with an introduction by the Editors.

It has long been thought that Edwards's polemical arguements were aimed against Arminianism -- a doctrine that denied the Calvinist idea of predestination. In this book, Gerald McDermott shows that Edwards's real target was a larger and more influential one, namely deism -- the belief in a creator God who does not intervene in His Creation. To Edwards's mind, deism was the logical conclusion of most, if not all, schemes of divinity that appropriated Enlightenment tenets. McDermott argues that Edwards was an inclusivist who came to realize that salvation was open to peoples beyond the hearing of the Christian gospel.

Many congregations today are beset by fears, whether over loss of members and money, or of irrelevancy in an increasingly pluralistic society. To counter this, many congregations focus on strategy and purpose-what churches "do"-but Cheryl Peterson submits that mainline churches need to focus instead on "what" or "who" they are-to reclaim a theological, rather than sociological, understanding of themselves. To do this, she places the questions of the church's identity and mission into a conversation with the primary ecclesiological paradigms of the past century: the neo-Reformation concept of the church as a "word event" and the ecumenical paradigms of the church as "communion." She argues that these two paradigms assume a context of cultural Christendom that no longer exists-focused on the church that is gathered-rather than the missional church that is sent out.