Christian Humanism


Book Description

Tom Drake-Brockman's provocative and scholarly book, Christian Humanism, challenges Christianity at its most basic level. It spurns traditional worship practices and offers an alternative that may potentially rescue Christianity from the verge of extinction and with it, our tormented planet as it lurches towards disaster. Historian, teacher and author, Tom Drake-Brockman explains, 'If Christ were here today, he would be too actively involved with issues like Aboriginal child protection and crimes against humanity in places like Syria and the Congo, to waste time with the passive futility of church services. Jesus did not want to be worshipped. He did not come to save us. He came to show us how to save ourselves'. Christian Humanism, a highly original, pertinent and thought-provoking book, draws on a raft of recent historical research to validate the Judaic humanism of Jesus of Nazareth. Tom states that the demise of Christianity is happening slowly in the US and rapidly in Australia and Europe. He uses key historical facts and commonsense logic to argue that Christianity's negative dogmas and fossilized hierarchies prevent the religion from fulfilling the radical, humanist mission that Jesus envisaged. Tom continues, 'The book is so much more than just another anti-religious rant. On the contrary it seeks to reinstate Christianity as the spiritual and ethical bastion of the Western world. The book does not preach or upset fellow Christians, rather, it opens our eyes using well-researched historic facts about Jesus and how the Church leaders have distorted His message.'




Readings in Christian Humanism


Book Description

The legacy and power of Christian humanism- "True Christian humanism is the full flowering of the theology of the Incarnation. It is rooted in a totally new concept of what it means to be human that grew out of the mystery of the union of God and humanity in Christ." -Thomas Merton From biblical times to the present day, the massively influential and engaging tradition of Christian reflection on the value of being human is presented here. With its primary documents, carefully selected and edited by a team of experts, Readings in Christian Humanism fully represents the variety and vitality of the humanistic tradition found in historic Christianity. Bringing together highlights from the almost unlimited gallery of Christian humanist thinkers as stimulants to our own imaginations, this anthology also boldly sets claim to a ground for Christian humanism today. "An invaluable resource for students concerned with human dignity and sovereignty under God." -George H. Williams, Harvard University "A splendid, wide-ranging, ecumenical collection." -Theodore M. Hesburgh, University of Notre Dame "Christians and non-Christians alike will profit from the stimulus of people who enjoy being part of the race that God honored by choosing to dwell in it." -Martin E. Marty, University of Chicago The research and editorial development of this volume was directed by: Joseph M. Shaw, Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota; R. W. Franklin, Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota; Harris Kaasa, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa; and Charles W. Buzicky, College of Saint Catherine, Saint Paul, Minnesota.




Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christian Humanism


Book Description

Jens Zimmermann locates Bonhoeffer within the Christian humanist tradition extending back to patristic theology. He begins by explaining Bonhoeffer's own use of the term humanism (and Christian humanism), and considering how his criticism of liberal Protestant theology prevents him from articulating his own theology rhetorically as a Christian humanism. He then provides an in-depth portrayal of Bonhoeffer's theological anthropology and establishes that Bonhoeffer's Christology and attendant anthropology closely resemble patristic teaching. The volume also considers Bonhoeffer's mature anthropology, focusing in particular on the Christian self. It introduces the hermeneutic quality of Bonhoeffer's theology as a further important feature of his Christian humanism. In contrast to secular and religious fundamentalisms, Bonhoeffer offers a hermeneutic understanding of truth as participation in the Christ event that makes interpretation central to human knowing. Having established the hermeneutical structure of his theology, and his personalist configuration of reality, Zimmermann outlines Bonhoeffer's ethics as 'Christformation'. Building on the hermeneutic theology and participatory ethics of the previous chapters, he then shows how a major part of Bonhoeffer's life and theology, namely his dedication to the Bible as God's word, is also consistent with his Christian humanism.




The Case for Christian Humanism


Book Description

"Christian humanism is an aspect of the gospel showing new signs of life. Long neglected and often misunderstood, Christian humanism is nothing other than the traditional message of Christianity with the accent on how the coming of Christ into the world implies God's loving care for human creatures and all that affects our well being. . . . 'The Case for Christian Humanism' will have fulfilled its purpose if readers discover that the mainstream of traditional Christianity offers magnificent resources to anyone desiring a fully human life." - from the Introduction. "Franklin and Shaw provide a convincing case for the essential computability of humanism and the Christian faith. Careful definitions and learned historical inquiry clear the ground for substantial commentary on the 'humanism' (properly understood) of the Bible, worship, and theology. The arguments give pause, and then illuminate a set of fruitful conjunctions too often abandoned by partisans of a non-Christian humanism or an anti-humanistic Christianity." - Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame.




The Year of Our Lord 1943


Book Description

By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear that the Allies would win the Second World War. Around the same time, it also became increasingly clear to many Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic that the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. A war won by technological superiority merely laid the groundwork for a post-war society governed by technocrats. These Christian intellectuals-Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others-sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world. In this book, Alan Jacobs explores the poems, novels, essays, reviews, and lectures of these five central figures, in which they presented, with great imaginative energy and force, pictures of the very different paths now set before the Western democracies. Working mostly separately and in ignorance of one another's ideas, the five developed a strikingly consistent argument that the only means by which democratic societies could be prepared for their world-wide economic and political dominance was through a renewal of education that was grounded in a Christian understanding of the power and limitations of human beings. The Year of Our Lord 1943 is the first book to weave together the ideas of these five intellectuals and shows why, in a time of unprecedented total war, they all thought it vital to restore Christianity to a leading role in the renewal of the Western democracies.




Christian Humanism


Book Description

In Christian Humanism, John Bequette articulates the principles of the Christian humanist worldview and reflects upon contemporary culture in light of these principles. Writing from the perspective of the Catholic faith, Bequette focuses on the healing and restorative dimensions of Christianity in relation to academics; literature; economics; Christian-Jewish relations; gender issues; human life issues; and political life.




God's Plenty


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God in Us


Book Description

God In Us is a radical representation of the Christian faith for the 21st century. Following the example of the Old Testament prophets and the first-century Christians it overturns received ideas about God. God is not an invisible person 'out there' somewhere, but lives in the human heart and mind as 'the sum of all our values and ideals' guiding and inspiring our lives. This new updated edition includes a foreword by Bishop John Shelby Spong and an afterword from the author.




Christianity


Book Description




Christian Humanism


Book Description

It is a misconception that Christianity and Humanism are in any way in conflict with each other. The present book shows that through many centuries, and especially in the Renaissance, the two stood in a relation that was mutually complementary. The contributions in this volume treat aspects and manifestations of this cultural symbiosis, and they throw new light on authors and texts both more and less familiar. The subject-areas discussed include: religion, history, philosophy, literature and education. The age of Renaissance and Reformation is the central focus, but earlier and later periods are also featured. The contributions comprise a Festschrift for Professor Arjo Vanderjagt, whose work deals centrally with both Christianity and Humanism. Contributors are Fokke Akkerman, Istv n P. Bejczy, Alexander Broadie, Chris-toph Burger, Marcia L. Colish, Albrecht Diem, Stephen Gersh, Berndt Hamm, Volker Honemann, Adrie van der Laan, Alasdair A. MacDonald, Peter Mack, Zweder von Martels, Matthieu van der Meer, Hans Mooij, Simone Mooij-Valk, Just Niemeijer, John North, Willemien Otten, Jan Papy, Detlev P tzold, Rob Pauls, Marc van der Poel, Burcht Pranger, Peter Raedts, Han van Ruler, Rudolf Suntrup, Jan R. Veenstra, and Ronald Witt.