Representing the culmination of years of exhaustive research, it is the purpose of these conclusive volumes to keep alive the growing interest in Wesleyan studies for the entire Christian church. -- Amazon.com.

The word koinonia has gained prominence in recent ecumenical discussions. In this original and substantial work Lorelei Fuchs proposes the theological idea of koinonia, commonly translated as "communion" or "fellowship," as the key to moving fractured churches toward a future unity. Fuchs challenges churches to move beyond mere dialogue and to apply ecumenical insights at the local level. She begins by relating the exegetical meaning of koinonia to its ecumenical meaning, tracing the place of koinonia both within the churches and between the churches. She then examines the concept of koinonia in the extensive and fruitful dialogues that have taken place between Lutherans, Anglicans, and Roman Catholics, finally articulating a "symbolic competence for communionality" that provides a rich and workable way forward for church unity at all levels. Encompassing the latest in ecumenical thought, Koinonia and the Quest for an Ecumenical Ecclesiology provides a broad, thoughtful framework for realizing Christ's prayer "that all may be one . . . so that the world may believe."

Representing the culmination of years of exhaustive research, it is the purpose of these conclusive volumes to keep alive the growing interest in Wesleyan studies for the entire Christian church. -- Amazon.com.

This book employs a global history approach to John Wesley’s (1703–1791) political and social tracts. It stresses the personal element in Wesley’s political thought, focusing on the twin themes of ‘liberty and loyalty’. Wesley’s political writings reflect on the impact of global conflicts on Britain and provide insight into the political responses of the broader religious world of the eighteenth century. They cover such topics as the nature and origin of political power, economy, taxes, trade, opposition to slavery and to smuggling, British rule in Ireland, relaxation of anti-Catholic Acts, and the American Revolution. Glen O’Brien argues that Wesley’s political foundations were less theological than they were social and personal. Political engagement was exercised as part of a social contract held together by a compact of trust. The book contributes to eighteenth-century religious history, and to Wesley Studies in particular, through a fresh engagement with primary sources and recent secondary literature in order to place Wesley’s writings in their global political context.

Short-term mission trips are commonplace in American church life. Yet their growth and practice have largely been divorced from theological education, seminary training, and mission studies. Consuming Mission takes important steps in offering a theological assessment of the practice of STM and tools for subsequent mission training. Using relevant academic studies and original focus-group interviews, Haynes offers important insights into this ubiquitous practice. While carefully examining the biblical and historical foundations for mission, Consuming Mission engages more contemporary movements like the Missio Dei, Fresh Expressions, the Emergent Church, and Third-Wave Mission movements that have helped shape mission. The unique role of United Methodist mission is illustrated through its historical roots and contemporary expression in the ubiquitous STM movement in the United States. Haynes uses original field research data to gather the implicit and explicit theologies of lay and clergy participants. Cultural influences are significantly influencing STM participants as they use their time, money, sacrifice, and service, applied in the name of mission, to purchase a personal growth experience commonly sought by pilgrims. The resulting tensions from mixing mission, pilgrimage, and tourism creates are explored. Haynes offers important steps to move the practice away from using mission for personal edification.

There has been a distinct tendency in modern scholarship to underestimate Luther's teaching on love by overemphasizing his teaching on justification. Calling this tendency into question, this volume advances the thesis that Luther's teaching on faith and love operates as the overriding thematic pair in the dynamics of Christ and the law--structurally and conceptually undergirding the 1535 Galatians commentary. The research situates itself in the landscape of Luther scholarship via a special attention to Finnish Luther scholars and scholarship.

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is the best-known repository of the teachings of Jesus and one of the most studied. Amid the considerable erudition expended on the Sermon, however, Jack R. Lundbom argues that it has proven too easy to deflect or disregard the main thrust of the Sermon, which he characterizes as a mandate to holy living and a greater righteousness. Through careful attention to the structure of Matthews Gospel and the place of the Sermon within it, keen sensitivity to the patterns and themes of Israelite prophecy, and judicious comparisons with other Jewish and rabbinic literature, Lundbom elucidates the meaning of the Sermon and its continuity with Israels prophetic heritage as well as the best of Jewish teaching. By deft appeal to Christian commentators on the Sermon, Lundbom brings its most important themes to life for the contemporary reader, seeking always to understand what the greater righteousness to which the Sermon summons might mean for us today.