This volume presents a wide-ranging selection from the writings of a leading contemporary philosophical theologian, Vincent Brümmer. In his many books and articles Brümmer has demonstrated how the tools of philosophical analysis are not only fruitful but also essential for dealing with the central issues of systematic theology. The title of this volume, Meaning and the Christian Faith, highlights two characteristic themes that recur throughout the many writings of Vincent Brümmer. Much of his work has been devoted to exploring the meaning of the Christian faith, and especially of its central claim that God is a personal being whose fellowship believers may enjoy. On the other hand, Brümmer has also shown that religious belief should not be understood as an explanatory theory but rather as a way in which believers understand the meaning of their lives and their experience of the world and direct their lives accordingly. Thus in the Christian tradition believers claim that their lives are meaningful because they seek to attain ultimate happiness in the love of God. In the introductory sections throughout this volume Vincent Brümmer describes how he came to pay attention to the various themes dealt with in his writings and explains why he came to deal with them in the ways he did.

This volume presents a wide-ranging selection from the writings of a leading contemporary philosophical theologian, Vincent Brummer. In his many books and articles Brummer has demonstrated how the tools of philosophical analysis are not only fruitful but also essential for dealing with the central issues of systematic theology. The title of this volume, Meaning and the Christian Faith, highlights two characteristic themes that recur throughout the many writings of Vincent Brummer. Much of his work has been devoted to exploring the meaning of the Christian faith, and especially of its central claim that God is a personal being whose fellowship believers may enjoy. On the other hand, Brummer has also shown that religious belief should not be understood as an explanatory theory but rather as a way in which believers understand the meaning of their lives and their experience of the world and direct their lives accordingly.

Throughout his life, the apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela (Madiba), maintained, 'In the darkest moment there is always hope. We must never give up'. Hope as a mode of the courage to be (Paul Tillich), points to what the Sociologist Peter Berger calls: signals of transcendence. Wholeness in Hope Care explores the rich tradition of hope in wisdom, philosophy and Christian theology. It connects non-hope/un-hope (Gabriel Marcel: inespoir) to a theology of compassion in soul care (cura animarum). Resurrection hope (theologia resurrectionis) points to the healing of life (cura vitae) and the preservation of land (cura terrae). In order to describe the helping and healing dimension in pastoral caregiving, the term 'promissiotherapy' has been coined. Daniel Johannes Louw was Dean of the faculty of theology at the University of Stellenbosch (2001-2005), President of the International Academy of Practical Theology (IAPT) (2003-2005) and President of the International Council for Pastoral Care and Counselling (ICPPC) (2011-2015). (Series: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Healing) (Series: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Healing - Vol. 3) [Subject: Pastoral Studies, Religious Studies, Christianity]

Religious believers understand the meaning of their lives and of the world in terms of the way these are related to God. The conceptual models whereby this relationship is described therefore play a key role in the conceptual designs which theologians produce to express the faith of the community of believers. Vincent Brümmer examines the implications of using the model of love in this context and looks at a number of the most significant views of the nature of love: exclusive attention (Ortega y Gasset), ecstatic union (nuptial mysticism), passionate suffering (courtly love), need-love (Plato, Augustine), and gift-love (Nygren). All these views are shown to interpret love as an attitude rather than as a relation between persons. In the final chapters a relational concept of love is developed, and it is shown how all the various attitudes discussed in the previous chapters have a role to play. Finally, the implications are addressed of using the model of love as a key model in theology.

This short work, written by an influential philosopher of religion, shows how systematic theology is itself largely a philosophical enterprise.

Vincent Brümmer's classic book on prayer from 1984 provides a comprehensive philosophical analysis of central issues regarding the nature and practice of prayer.This new edition has been substantially revised and updated. Serving as a valuable core text for students, this book also contributes to a number of current debates in theology and philosophy of religion: the debates on realism and religious belief, on the rationality of faith and the nature of theology, on the relation between religious belief and morality, on the relation between science and religion and the lively debate among evangelical Christians in America on the 'openness of God.'