The Distinctive Identity Of The Church

Author : David A. Roozen
Publisher : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780802828194
Total Pages : 678 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Church, Identity, and Change written by David A. Roozen and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2005-05-02 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since colonial days, religious work in American has happened through denominations. At least since the start of the twentieth century, these religious bodies consisted of a fairly tight, intra-denominationally connected system of congregations, regional judicatories, and national offices. This system was the product of more than two centuries of consolidation among Americanbs historic immigrant and indigenous churches. The vast majority of these structures are still in place, retain some semblance of internal coherence, have considerable social and religious significance, and will be with us for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the stresses upon them today clearly indicate that they are entering an unsettled period of transition. The purpose of this book is to examine the national structures of eight diverse Protestant denominations as a part of that shift. The frame of this study is the relationship between the theological and organizational nature of national denominational structures as they adapt to the changing situation of the twenty-first century.

Author : Jeppe Bach Nikolajsen
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 149820208X
Total Pages : 243 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Distinctive Identity of the Church written by Jeppe Bach Nikolajsen and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2015-03-20 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An increasing number of theologians believe that the Western world has moved from an era of Christendom to an era of post-Christendom. This book goes to the heart of the debate related to this shift, asking, How are we to understand the distinctive identity of the church with special reference to its role in a post-Christendom society? It then presents an analysis of the work of the English Reformed theologian Lesslie Newbigin and the American Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder, both of whom reflect on how we should understand this important question. At the end of The Distinctive Identity of the Church, the charge of sectarianism is discussed. It is argued that a missionary God sends the church to the world and, consequently, this sending should fundamentally determine its existence in the world. The book argues that the task that lies before the church in the Western world is not to bypass its distinctiveness with accusations of sectarianism, but to recapitulate an understanding of its own distinctiveness that should be seen as a precondition for its engagement in society. Such an ecclesiological position holds important potential for an understanding of the role of the church in pluralistic Western cultures.

Author : Jeppe Bach Nikolajsen
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1498202071
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Distinctive Identity of the Church written by Jeppe Bach Nikolajsen and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2015-03-20 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An increasing number of theologians believe that the Western world has moved from an era of Christendom to an era of post-Christendom. This book goes to the heart of the debate related to this shift, asking, How are we to understand the distinctive identity of the church with special reference to its role in a post-Christendom society? It then presents an analysis of the work of the English Reformed theologian Lesslie Newbigin and the American Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder, both of whom reflect on how we should understand this important question. At the end of The Distinctive Identity of the Church, the charge of sectarianism is discussed. It is argued that a missionary God sends the church to the world and, consequently, this sending should fundamentally determine its existence in the world. The book argues that the task that lies before the church in the Western world is not to bypass its distinctiveness with accusations of sectarianism, but to recapitulate an understanding of its own distinctiveness that should be seen as a precondition for its engagement in society. Such an ecclesiological position holds important potential for an understanding of the role of the church in pluralistic Western cultures.

Author : Avery Dulles
Publisher : Image
ISBN 13 : 0385505450
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Models of the Church written by Avery Dulles and published by Image. This book was released on 2002-05-14 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is today a dramatic reexamination of structure, authority, dogma -- indeed, every aspect of the life of the Church is held up to scrutiny. Welcoming this as a sign of vitality, Avery Dulles has carefully studied the writings of contemporary Protestant and Catholic ecclesiologists and sifted out six major approaches, or "models," through which the Church's character can be understood: as Institution, Mystical Communion, Sacrament, Herald, Servant, and, in a recent addition to the book, as Community of Disciples. A balanced theology, he concludes, must incorporate the major affirmations of each. "The method of models or types," observes Cardinal Dulles, "can have great value in helping people to get beyond the limitations of their own particular outlook and to enter into fruitful conversation with others... Such conversation is obviously essential if ecumenism is to get beyond its present impasses." This new edition includes a new Appendix and Preface by the author.

Author : William S. Campbell
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0567184242
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Paul and the Creation of Christian Identity written by William S. Campbell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2008-04-03 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the dominant interpretation of the Antioch incident Paul is viewed as separating from Peter and Jewish Christianity to lead his own independent mission which was eventually to triumph in the creation of a church with a gentile identity. Paul's gentile mission, however, represented only one strand of the Christ movement but has been universalized to signify the whole. The consequence of this view of Paul is that the earliest diversity in which he operated and which he affirmed has been anachronistically diminished almost to the point of obliteration. There is little recognition of the Jewish form of Christianity and that Paul by and large related positively to it as evidenced in Romans 14-15. Here Paul acknowledges Jewish identity as an abiding reality rather than as a temporary and weak form of faith in Christ. This book argues that diversity in Christ was fundamental to Paul and that particularly in his ethical guidance this received recognition. Paul's relation to Judaism is best understood not as a reaction to his former faith but as a transformation resulting from his vision of Christ. In this the past is not obliterated but transformed and thus continuity is maintained so that the identity of Christianity is neither that of a new religion nor of a Jesus cult. In Christ the past is reconfigured and thus the diversity of humanity continues within the church, which can celebrate the richness of differing identities under the Lordship of Christ.

Author : Joe Heschmeyer
Publisher : Our Sunday Visitor
ISBN 13 : 1681923289
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Who Am I, Lord? Finding Your Identity in Christ written by Joe Heschmeyer and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question "Who am I?" is on the minds and hearts of people of all ages. And for good reason: The answer is important! Who we are - or who we think we are - drives our actions and shapes our relationships. While we are asking the right questions about identity, the world is busy feeding us the wrong answers: We are our political party, job title, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity - and the list goes on. But until we know why we were created, by whom, and for what purpose, we can never be truly satisfied. In Who Am I, Lord?, author and speaker Joe Heschmeyer tackles the question of identity by asking two even more important questions: Who is Jesus? Who does he say you are? Only when we understand who Christ really is can he show us who we are. Our identity in Christ opens us to the promises he has made us and leads us to the freedom to be who we were created to be. Who Am I, Lord? will answer the question of your identity in a way that will transform your life. Click here to register for the related webcast ABOUT THE AUTHOR Previously a litigator in Washington, D.C., and a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Joe Heschmeyer now works as an instructor for the Holy Family School of Faith Institute, helping people to grow in friendship with Jesus Christ and with one another through ongoing one-on-one discipleship, small gatherings, and large group formation. His writing has appeared in Catholic Answers Magazine, the Washington Times, Word on Fire, First Things, and Strange Notions. In 2014, he was named one of FOCUS' "30 Under 30." He cohosts The Catholic Podcast weekly and has run the blog Shameless Popery since 2009.

Author : Richard Lints
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 0830898492
Total Pages : 197 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Identity and Idolatry written by Richard Lints and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2015-08-10 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Desiring God's Top 15 Books "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) Genesis 1:26-27 has served as the locus of most theological anthropologies in the central Christian tradition. However, Richard Lints observes that too rarely have these verses been understood as conceptually interwoven with the whole of the prologue materials of Genesis 1. The construction of the cosmic temple strongly hints that the "image of God" language serves liturgical functions. Lints argues that "idol" language in the Bible is a conceptual inversion of the "image" language of Genesis 1. These constructs illuminate each other, and clarify the canon's central anthropological concerns. The question of human identity is distinct, though not separate, from the question of human nature; the latter has far too frequently been read into the biblical use of image. Lints shows how the "narrative" of human identity runs from creation (imago Dei) to fall (the golden calf/idol, Exodus 32) to redemption (Christ as perfect image, Colossians 1:15-20). The biblical-theological use of image/idol is a thread through the canon that highlights the movements of redemptive history. In the concluding chapters of this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume, Lints interprets the use of idolatry as it emerges in the secular prophets of the nineteenth century, and examines the recent renaissance of interest in idolatry with its conceptual power to explain the "culture of desire." Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson, aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.

Author : Charles Erlandson
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1532678274
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Orthodox Anglican Identity written by Charles Erlandson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-04-28 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the postmodern world we inhabit is highly fragmented, contested, and conflicted, we all have one thing in common: we are experiencing identity crises. Religious traditions are not immune to these crises, and orthodox Anglicans have been experiencing their own issues with identity since the 2003 consecration of an openly homosexual man. Orthodox Anglicans want to say who they are as both orthodox and Anglican, but they are also finding it difficult to articulate a clear and coherent identity, especially an Anglican one. This orthodox Anglican pursuit of a renewed sense of self in a complex and fragmented world is a microcosm of our postmodern context, and an examination of their quest holds enticing clues to our own urgent searches for meaning and identity. Think of this book as a kind of story: the story of a worldwide church who, when its identity was threatened, took counsel together to renew and revitalize its sense of self. In the process, it not only faced many dangers and difficulties but also learned much about who it was and who it wanted to be.

Author : Daniel Donovan
Publisher : Paulist Press
ISBN 13 : 080913750X
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.03/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Distinctively Catholic written by Daniel Donovan and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Catholicism...is a living community of faith, a community with its own distinctive rituals and structure, its own patterns of individual and collective religious life, " writes distinguished theologian Daniel Donovan. What is unique about the Catholic experience of Christianity? What features set it apart from other Christian religions? Donovan explores these questions and more here, offering readers the fruit of his experience from a lifetime of theology and teaching.In eight chapters, Donovan draws attention to certain emphases and characteristics of Catholicism which have influenced and continue to influence the way in which Catholics experience and think about their faith. These include: sense of community; the historical dimension of Catholicism; the objective nature of faith; liturgy and sacraments; ordained ministry; and tension between universal and particular. A final chapter reflects on all the themes and relates them to the concrete experience of individual Catholic believers.

Author : Michael Barkun
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469611112
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Religion and the Racist Right written by Michael Barkun and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to Michael Barkun, many white supremacist groups of the radical right are deeply committed to the distinctive but little-recognized religious position known as Christian Identity. In Religion and the Racist Right (1994), Barkun provided the first sustained exploration of the ideological and organizational development of the Christian Identity movement. In a new chapter written for the revised edition, he traces the role of Christian Identity figures in the dramatic events of the first half of the 1990s, from the Oklahoma City bombing and the rise of the militia movement to the Freemen standoff in Montana. He also explores the government's evolving response to these challenges to the legitimacy of the state. Michael Barkun is professor of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is author of several books, including Crucible of the Millennium: The Burned-over District of New York in the 1840s.