Global theology represents one of the most important trends in theology today. What does it mean to do theology in a global context? How can Christian theology be understood as a conversation between different parts of the world and various streams of Christian history? This concise introduction explores the major issues involved in rethinking theology in light of the explosion of world Christianity. Combining the voices of a Western and a non-Western theologian, it integrates Western theological tradition with emerging global perspectives. This work will be of interest to theology and missiology students as well as church leaders and readers interested in the changing face of world Christianity.

The series of essays in Theology without Borders explore Peter C. Phan's groundbreaking work to widen Christian theology beyond the Western world, providing a welcome overview for anyone interested in Phan's career, his body of work, and its influence.

The twenty-first century has opened with a rapidly changing map of Christianity. While its influence is waning in some of its traditional Western strongholds, it is growing at a phenomenal pace in the global South. And yet this story has largely eluded the corporate news brokers of the West. Layered as it is with countless personal and corporate stories of remarkable faith and witness, it nevertheless lies ghostlike behind the newsprint and webpages of our print media, outside the camera's vision on the network evening news. Miriam Adeney has lived, traveled and ministered widely. She has walked with Christians in and from the far reaches of the globe. As she pulls back the veil on real Christians--their faith, their hardships, their triumphs and, yes, their failures--an inspiring and challenging story of a kingdom that knows no borders takes shape. This is a book that coaxes us out of our comfortable lives. It beckons us to expand our vision and experience of the possibilities and promise of a faith that continues to shape lives, communities and nations.

While the modern world has largely dismissed the figure of the saint as a throwback, we remain fascinated by excess, marginality, transgression, and porous subjectivity—categories that define the saint. In this collection, Françoise Meltzer and Jas Elsner bring together top scholars from across the humanities to reconsider our denial of saintliness and examine how modernity returns to the lure of saintly grace, energy, and charisma. Addressing such problems as how saints are made, the use of saints by political and secular orders, and how holiness is personified, Saints takes us on a photo tour of Graceland and the cult of Elvis and explores the changing political takes on Joan of Arc in France. It shows us the self-fashioning of culture through the reevaluation of saints in late-antique Judaism and Counter-Reformation Rome, and it questions the political intent of underlying claims to spiritual attainment of a Muslim sheikh in Morocco and of Sephardism in Israel. Populated with the likes of Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, and Padre Pio, this book is a fascinating inquiry into the status of saints in the modern world.

Theological dictionaries are foundational to any theological library. But until now there has been no Global Dictionary of Theology, a theological dictionary that presumes the contribution of the Western tradition but moves beyond it to embrace and explore a full range of global expressions of theology. The Global Dictionary of Theology is inspired by the shift of the center of Christianity from the West to the Global South. But it also reflects the increase in two-way traffic between these two sectors as well as the global awareness that has permeated popular culture to an unprecedented degree. The editorial perspective of the Global Dictionary of Theology is an ecumenical evangelicalism that is receptive to discovering new facets of truth through listening and conversation on a global scale. Thus a distinctive feature of the Global Dictionary of Theology is its conversational approach. Contributors have been called on to write in the spirit of engaging in a larger theological conversation in which alternative views are expected and invited. William A. Dyrness, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Juan F. Martinez and Simon Chan edit approximately 250 articles written by over 100 contributors representing the global spectrum of theological perspectives. Pastors, theological teachers, theological students and lay Christian leaders will all find the Global Dictionary of Theology to be a resource that unfolds new dimensions and reveals new panoramas of theological perspective and inquiry. Here is a new launching point for doing theology in today's global context.

Though the makeup of the church worldwide has undeniably shifted south and east over the past few decades, very few theological resources have taken account of these changes. Jesus without Borders — the first volume in the emerging Majority World Theology series — begins to remedy that lack, bringing together select theologians and biblical scholars from various parts of the world to discuss the significance of Jesus in their respective contexts. Offering an excellent glimpse of contemporary global, evangelical dialogue on the person and work of Jesus, this volume epitomizes the best Christian thinking from the Majority World in relation to Western Christian tradition and Scripture. The contributors engage throughout with historic Christian confessions — especially the Creed of Chalcedon — and unpack their continuing relevance for Christian teaching about Jesus today.

This work models a creative exercise in ecclesiology based on a Latino/a practical theology of the Spirit, which designs theological discourse based on its encounter with the Spirit in human culture. Hence, it is a theology appreciative of and attentive to the multiple matrices and intersections of the Spirit with cultures. Garc'a-Johnson offeres an appreciative and critical analysis of the uses of culture among Latino/a theologians, followed by the proposal for a postmodern Spirit-friendly cultural paradigm based on the narratives of the cross and the Pentecost. He develops a practical theology for a Latino/a postmodern ecclesiology based on three native Latino/a theological concepts: mestizaje, accompaniment, and ma–ana eschatology. The resulting ecclesial construct-The Mestizo/a Community of Ma–ana-reflects a transforming ma–ana vision and models the visible cruciform community in which the transforming praxis and historical transcendence of the Christ-Spirit works from within. The work sets forth practical guidelines for implementation of the ecclesial construct in the urban context of devastated communities and offers suggestions for further development in Latino/a theology.

Award of Merit, 2019 Christianity Today Book Awards (History/Biography) More than forty years ago, conservative Christianity emerged as a major force in American political life. Since then the movement has been analyzed and over-analyzed, declared triumphant and, more than once, given up for dead. But because outside observers have maintained a near-relentless focus on domestic politics, the most transformative development over the last several decades--the explosive growth of Christianity in the global south--has gone unrecognized by the wider public, even as it has transformed evangelical life, both in the US and abroad. The Kingdom of God Has No Borders offers a daring new perspective on conservative Christianity by shifting the lens to focus on the world outside US borders. Melani McAlister offers a sweeping narrative of the last fifty years of evangelical history, weaving a fascinating tale that upends much of what we know--or think we know--about American evangelicals. She takes us to the Congo in the 1960s, where Christians were enmeshed in a complicated interplay of missionary zeal, Cold War politics, racial hierarchy, and anti-colonial struggle. She shows us how evangelical efforts to convert non-Christians have placed them in direct conflict with Islam at flash points across the globe. And she examines how Christian leaders have fought to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa while at the same time supporting harsh repression of LGBTQ communities. Through these and other stories, McAlister focuses on the many ways in which looking at evangelicals abroad complicates conventional ideas about evangelicalism. We can't truly understand how conservative Christians see themselves and their place in the world unless we look beyond our shores.

More Christians live in the Majority World than in Europe and North America. Yet most theological literature does not reflect the rising tide of Christian reflection coming from these regions. Bringing together theological resources from past and present, East and West, this work engages conversations with leading global scholars on theology, faith, and mission for the enrichment of the entire church.

In Essential Theological Terms, renowned church historian Justo González provides students with accessible discussions of over three hundred theological terms. Each entry in this two-column work gives more detail than those typical of a dictionary, introducing the meaning of the term, its importance, and ways it has been understood in both historical and contemporary theology. These reliable discussions of the most common ideas and concepts encountered in theological studies will make this book indispensable for students in all stages of their education.