The challenges that Western culture keeps posing to the Christian faith are ever new. The goal-posts keep changing. This study guide will equip theology students to understand the culture-shaping beliefs that are driving the kinds of questions it brings to faith. It will be an historical overview of the key stages in the history of Western philosophy with each section carefully tracing the genealogical line of ideas and the Christian responses to them, right up to the present day.

This book is a wide-ranging introduction to Christian ethics that assumes no prior knowledge of the subject. It introduces a range of approaches to Christian moral reasoning and discusses numerous practical ethical issues. Throughout the book, ethical theory and practical ethics are integrated with one another, in order to show how each informs the other. Topics often neglected in Christian ethics are dealt with here, including Christian ethics and science and Christian ethics and pastoral care. Case studies and exercises give readers the opportunity to formulate their own responses to the moral issues discussed in the book, and to reflect on the sources of their own moral deliberation and action. Chapter bibliographies list print and web resources offering more detailed coverage of the topics introduced in the book.

The SCM Studyguide: Biblical Hermenuetics offers entry-level undergraduates a framework for interpreting the Bible. The book goes beyond offering guidance on how to do exegesis, and is intended as a practical tool to help readers develop good interpretative strategies for themselves. As such it features pedagogical tools such as Try-it-Out boxes to assist students to develop a tested and thought - through overall interpretative strategy of their own. This fully updated 2nd edition takes into account the changing church and world context, and the new challenges this context brings as students seek to read the Bible with attentiveness, integrity and faithfulness. Table of contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Where Do We Want to Go? 2. Past Experience and Present Expectations 3. Tools for Exegesis 4. Our Reality 5. Committed Readings 6. Enabling Dialogue with the Text 7. Our Goal: Life-Affirming Interpretations Summary of the Interpretative Process References and Further Reading Index of Biblical References Index of Names Index of Subjects

TheSCM Studyguide: Christian Spiritualityis designed as an introduction to spirituality for students of all religious backgrounds coming to the subject for the first time.

An introduction to the study of the ways the church has evolved in its corporate life since its birth in the first century. Special attention is given to studying its changing relationship and interaction with the surrounding societies in which it has existed. The intended readership will be those training for ministry in English speaking churches, so the studyguide will concentrate on those aspects of this subject of most relevance to this group. This means there will be greater attention to developments in the West than in the East, especially in later centuries, and to topics such as the nature of ministry, the sacraments, places of worship, authority in the church and mission. These will be examined at each period of church history, in each chapter, to provide reference points of comparison throughout the book. Each chapter will also contain a specific case study, presenting extracts of some key documents with notes, commentary and questions for discussion, to allow readers to develop skills in historical research. General discussion questions and reading lists will be provided at the end of each chapter. The final chapter will provide guidance for the study of the history of the student’s own church and community.

What do we need to learn and receive from the other to help us address challenges or wounds in our own tradition? That is the key question asked in what has come to be known as ‘receptive ecumenism’. And nowhere is this question more pressing and pertinent than in women’s experiences within the church. Based on qualitative research from five focus groups, 'For the Good of the Church' expose the difficulties women face when they work in a church – sexism, unfulfilled vocation, and abuse of power and privilege, as well as the wide range of gifts and skills which women bring in light of these. The second part of the book continues to draw on the particular wounds and gifts, which arise in the focus groups. Specific case studies are used to identify gifts of theology, practice, experience, vocation and power. Against negative prognoses of an ‘ecumenical winter’, Gabrielle Thomas reveals how radically different theological and ecclesiological perspectives can be a space for learning and receiving gifts for the well-being of the whole Church.

A step by step guide to learning about preaching and more importantly how to craft and deliver a sermon. It offers a student friendly, jargon-free introduction that requires no prior knowledge of the subject.

Geza Vermes is the greatest living Jesus scholar. In "The Real Jesus", Vermes, best known for his work on the Dead Sea Scrolls, comments on a variety of contemporary religious themes such as "The Da Vinci Code", Mel Gibson's infamous film "The Passion of the Christ", Benedict XVI's book "Jesus of Nazareth" and the "Gospel of Judas". Informed by the work of a world-class scholar, the short articles in this book open to the general reader the findings of some of the major discoveries of the twentieth century such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. This collection of shorter popular pieces, many of which appeared in "The Times" and other newspapers, makes Vermes' research on Christian origins, the Dead Sea Scrolls and most importantly Jesus the Jew accessible to a wider readership.

Spiritual, religious, sacred, or mystical experiences may be broadly defined as subjective human experiences that appear to the person undergoing them, or to others, to convey or imply contact with or knowledge about a transcendent power, presence, or superior reality beyond the realm of the physical. Research has shown that these forms of awareness of ‘something beyond’ are of considerable significance in the ordinary lives of very many people, as well as being elements of signal importance in the origin and development of religion: not least by deepening characteristically spiritual or religious attitudes, emotions, beliefs, values and practices, along with fundamental orientations of life and quests for meaning. This Studyguide provides a succinct and lucid introduction to the subject for those studying religion at both undergraduate and GCE AS/A level. By exploring the key areas of both the empirical and theoretical study of religious and spiritual experience, the Studyguide will serve as an accessible and nonpartisan guide to enable its readers to explore the range of challenging data, debates, approaches, and issues that relate to the study of this widespread and significant phenomenon.

The challenges that Western culture keeps posing to the Christian faith are ever new. The goal-posts keep changing. This study guide will equip theology students to understand the culture-shaping beliefs that are driving the kinds of questions it brings to faith. It will be an historical overview of the key stages in the history of Western philosophy with each section carefully tracing the genealogical line of ideas and the Christian responses to them, right up to the present day. For most theology students, learning abstract philosophical concepts involves literally learning a new language, a language that the initiated converse in with ease but which leaves the uninitiated baffled. Thus, each chapter in this study guide opens with a glossary of terms. Throughout the studyguide students are encouraged to reflect on the ways in which what has been learned might be applied in both explicitly theological and wider cultural contexts - for example, they might be asked to think of a film or book that seems to express elements of existentialism or postmodernism, or to describe how something very like the extreme subjectivity of idealism can sometimes shows itself in Sunday morning worship.