Grounded in the Gospel

Author: J. I. Packer
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1441207597
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
Historically, the church's ministry of grounding new believers in the essentials of the faith has been known as catechesis--systematic instruction in faith foundations, including what we believe, how we pray and worship, and how we conduct our lives. For most evangelicals today, however, this very idea is an alien concept. Packer and Parrett, concerned for the state of the church, seek to inspire a much needed evangelical course correction. This new book makes the case for a recovery of significant catechesis as a nonnegotiable practice of churches, showing the practice to be complementary to, and of no less value than, Bible study, expository preaching, and other formational ministries, and urging evangelical churches to find room for this biblical ministry for the sake of their spiritual health and vitality.

Grounded in the Gospel

Author: J. I. Packer
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 9780801068386
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful

Author: Gary A. Parrett
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830884351
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 463

Book Description
With the decline of traditional Sunday school and education programs in recent years, many Christians have not learned the fundamental doctrinal content of the faith. In this text Gary Parrett and Steve Kang set forth a thoroughly biblical vision for intentional teaching of the Christian faith that attends to both the content and process of educational and formational ministries.

Almost Christian

Author: Kenda Creasy Dean
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199758662
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Book Description
Based on the National Study of Youth and Religion--the same invaluable data as its predecessor, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers--Kenda Creasy Dean's compelling new book, Almost Christian, investigates why American teenagers are at once so positive about Christianity and at the same time so apathetic about genuine religious practice. In Soul Searching, Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton found that American teenagers have embraced a "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism"--a hodgepodge of banal, self-serving, feel-good beliefs that bears little resemblance to traditional Christianity. But far from faulting teens, Dean places the blame for this theological watering down squarely on the churches themselves. Instead of proclaiming a God who calls believers to lives of love, service and sacrifice, churches offer instead a bargain religion, easy to use, easy to forget, offering little and demanding less. But what is to be done? In order to produce ardent young Christians, Dean argues, churches must rediscover their sense of mission and model an understanding of being Christian as not something you do for yourself, but something that calls you to share God's love, in word and deed, with others. Dean found that the most committed young Christians shared four important traits: they could tell a personal and powerful story about God; they belonged to a significant faith community; they exhibited a sense of vocation; and they possessed a profound sense of hope. Based on these findings, Dean proposes an approach to Christian education that places the idea of mission at its core and offers a wealth of concrete suggestions for inspiring teens to live more authentically engaged Christian lives. Persuasively and accessibly written, Almost Christian is a wake up call no one concerned about the future of Christianity in America can afford to ignore.

Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity

Author: Robin M. Jensen
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1441236279
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
What can we learn from early Christian imagery about the theological meaning of baptism? Robin Jensen, a leading scholar of early Christian art and worship, examines multiple dimensions of the early Christian baptismal rite. She explores five models for understanding baptism--as cleansing from sin, sickness, and Satan; as incorporation into the community; as sanctifying and illuminative; as death and regeneration; and as the beginning of the new creation--showing how visual images, poetic language, architectural space, and symbolic actions signify and convey the theological meaning of this ritual practice. Considering image and action together, Jensen offers a holistic and integrated understanding of the power of baptism. The book is illustrated with photos.

#Occupy the Bible

Author: Susan Thistlethwaite
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625644728
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 155

Book Description
Jesus of Nazareth said and did a lot about money and power in his own time. But Jesus wasn't a "free market capitalist," despite what some conservative Christians would like us to believe in the twenty-first century.--Jesus occupied the Temple in Jerusalem--effectively the national bank of his time--and threw out those who were exploiting the poor.--Jesus organized fishermen whose industry had been wrecked by the Roman Empire.--His followers included powerful "women of means," who were last at the cross, first at the tomb, and who went on to become missionaries.--Jesus taught "in the streets," preaching that God's "side" is not that of the wealthy and powerful and that all believers need to confront inequality now.#Occupy the Bible is an eye-opening, no-holds barred look at the real message of Jesus, using the Scriptures that are foundational for the Christian faith. #Occupy the Bible is also a practical "how to" guide for potential Christian "occupiers"--people sincerely committed to confronting the rising poverty and economic inequality in the United States using the powerful, unvarnished message of Jesus of Nazareth.

Exploring Ecclesiology

Author: Brad Harper
Publisher: Brazos Press
ISBN: 1587431734
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
This evangelical and ecumenical ecclesiology survey text provides a comprehensive biblical, historical, and cultural perspective and addresses contemporary issues in church life.

Unconditional Dad

Author: Chris Rader
Publisher: Xulon Press
ISBN: 9781613793787
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description

Liturgy and Learning Through the Life Cycle

Author: John H. Westerhoff, III
Publisher: Harper San Francisco
ISBN: 9780866839808
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Book Description
An examination of the role of liturgy from the Episcopalian and the Methodist point of view.

Educating People of Faith

Author: John H. Van Engen
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802849366
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Book Description
A much-needed addition to the emerging literature on the formative power of religious practices, "Educating People of Faith" creates a vivid portrait of the lived practices that shaped the faith of Jews and Christians in synagogues and churches from antiquity up to the seventeenth century. This significant book is the work of Jewish, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant scholars who wished to discover and describe how Jews and Christians through history have been formed in religious ways of thinking and acting. Rather than focusing solely on either intellectual or social life, the authors all use the concept of practices as they attend to the embodied, contextual character of religious formation. Their studies of religious figures, community life, and traditional practices such as preaching, sacraments, and catechesis are colorful, detailed, and revealing. The authors are also careful to cover the nature of religious education across all social levels, from the textual formation of highly literate rabbis and monks engaged in Scripture study to the local formation of illiterate medieval Christians for whom the veneration of saints' shrines, street performances of religious dramas, and public preaching by wandering preachers were profoundly formative. "Educating People of Faith" will benefit scholars and teachers desiring a fuller perspective on how lived practices have historically formed people in religious faith. It will also be useful to practical theologians and pastors who wish to make the resources of the past available to practitioners in the present. Contributors: John C. Cavadini Anne L. Clark Lawrence S. Cunningham Joseph Goering RobertGoldenberg Stanley Samuel Harakas Robert M. Kingdon Blake Leyerle Michael A. Signer Philip M. Soergel David C. Steinmetz John Van Engen Lee Palmer Wandel Robert Louis Wilken Elliot R. Wolfson