Embodied Holiness


Book Description

What Does the Body - Physical & Social - Have to Do With Holiness? Modern Western Christianity has too often seen holiness and growth in Christian character as exclusively an individual and "spiritual" (or non-physical) matter. Centered on a suggestive proposal about "the sanctified body" by Stanley Hauerwas, the essays in this provocative volume argue contrary to that tendency, insisting that any genuine Christian holiness is vitally related to our physical and social bodies. Along with way, the essayists trace crucial confusions in ecclesiology, prayer and social action to the distorted nonbodily understanding of sanctification. Essays and authors include "The Sanctified Body" by Stanley Hauerwas "The Human Person as Intercessory Prayer" by Craig Keen "Tacit Holiness" by Rodney Clapp "Holiness as the Renewal of the Image of God in the Individual & Society" by Theodore Runyon "Paying Attention: Holiness in the Life Writings of Early Methodist Women" by Joyce Quiring Erickson "The Once & Future Church Revisited" by Michael G. Cartwright "'And He Felt Compassion': Holiness Beyond the Bounds of Community" by Michael E. Lodahl "A Contribution to a Wesleyan Understanding of Holiness & Community" by Samuel M. Powell




Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism


Book Description

No single word conjures up religion, spirituality, or the sacred more than holiness. Yet its meaning in Christian theology, and application in Christian practice, has been greatly misunderstood. Few Quakers today of any persuasion would recognize the mystical depth of meaning the concept had for Quakers down through the centuries. Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism recovers the essential place of holiness theology in three centuries of Quaker history. It explores how Quaker spirituality was shaped in its inception by the experience of union with God, otherwise known in the Christian tradition as perfection, and examines selected figures from Quaker history who represent different emphases of holiness in the context of their time and culture.




Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament


Book Description

Throughout the biblical story, the people of God are expected to embody God's holy character publicly. Therefore, holiness is a theological and ecclesial issue prior to being a matter of individual piety. Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament offers serious engagement with a variety of New Testament and Qumran documents in order to stimulate churches to imagine anew what it might mean to be a publicly identifiable people who embody God's very character in their particular social setting. Contributors: J. Ayodeji Adewuya Paul M. Bassett Richard Bauckham George J. Brooke Kent E. Brower Dean Flemming Michael J. Gorman Joel B. Green Donald A. Hagner Andy Johnson George Lyons I. Howard Marshall Troy W. Martin Peter Oakes Ruth Anne Reese Dwight Swanson Gordon J. Thomas Richard P. Thompson J. Ross Wagner Robert W. Wall Bruce W. Winter




Holiness


Book Description

Stephen Barton has commissioned social scientists, philosophers of religion, feminists, biblical scholars, historians, moral theologians and systematic theologians - international experts from a wide range of theological and related disciplines - to reflect on "holiness."The book is divided into four parts: the idea of holiness, holiness and scripture, holiness and Christian tradition, and holiness and contemporary issues. The contributions are inter-denominational and inter-religious. There is nothing comparable on "holiness" available at present, so this collection fills a significant gap in the literature. Its comprehensive range and its interdisciplinary style will make it an important resource for students and scholars in theology, church history, ethics and religious studies.




Becoming Whole and Holy


Book Description

How does Christian formation happen and what are its moral implications? This book brings into conversation three disciplines that are crucial for Christian formation--social science, biblical studies/hermeneutics, and ethics--to present a cohesive, dynamic vision of human wholeness and spiritual holiness. The authors weave together insights from their respective fields to address the relationship between personal and communal formation, moral development, and the interpretation of Scripture. Revealing the process as well as the fruits of interdisciplinary dialogue, this book offers a fresh approach to understanding human formation. The final chapter, a case study on immigration, demonstrates the authors' integrative method.




Renovating Holiness


Book Description

This book is a call for change. Even more, it calls for open conversation about change. For too long, many in the Church of the Nazarene have considered the doctrine of holiness off limits, a sacred cow, impervious to all forces of cultural modification and theological renewal. It's time for a real change, because the church needs renovation! These 100+ essays from Millennial and Xer leaders explore how holiness might be understood and lived today.




1 and 2 Thessalonians


Book Description

A distinctively theological interpretation of the Thessalonian letters In this commentary Andy Johnson engages with the developing interpretive framework of missional hermeneutics to present a theological interpretation of 1 & 2 Thessalonians that aims to help the church more fully participate in the life and mission of the triune God. After a verse by-verse commentary, Johnson closely examines the theology of the two epistles, focusing especially on the topics of eschatology, holiness, and election in light of his missional reading of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. In his exegetical and theological analyses, Johnson considers canonical concerns, doctrinal commitments, ecclesial practices, proposals from contemporary systematic theology, and insights gleaned from the field of neuroscience regarding personal and community formation, all of which help to clarify and enrich readers' understanding of various passages.




Embodied


Book Description

We rarely give thought to our bodies until faced with a physical challenge or crisis. We have somehow internalized the unbiblical idea that the immaterial aspect of our being (our soul or spirit) is inherently good while the material aspect (our body) is at worst inherently evil and at best neutral--just a vehicle for our souls to get around. So we end up neglecting or disparaging our bodies, seeing them as holding us back from spiritual growth and longing for the day we will be free of them. But the thing is, we don't have bodies; we are our bodies. And God created us that way for a reason. With Scripture as his guide, theologian Gregg Allison presents a holistic theology of the human body from conception through eternity to equip us to address pressing contemporary issues related to our bodies, including how we express our sexuality, whether gender is inherent or constructed, the meaning of suffering, body image, end of life questions, and how to live as whole people in a fractured world.




The Holy Spirit and Christian Formation


Book Description

This volume discusses the importance of a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach to Christian formation based upon godly love and the imago Dei (Latin, image of God). Grounded biblically and theologically, this interdisciplinary collection offers perspectives drawn from spirituality, ethics, philosophy, psychology, counselling, ecclesiology, physical health sciences, and leadership studies. Contributors address spiritual, emotional, and psychological formation, while highlighting how suffering has the potential to draw one closer to God and others. The book also details vocational development, appropriate stewardship of the physical body, and the ways in which the Eucharist sacramentally contributes to the process of formation. The book concludes with a call for further exploration of additional research trajectories, not the least of which is how Christian formation contributes to the missio Dei, the mission of God.




The Message of Holiness


Book Description

Derek Tidball surveys the Scriptures for a comprehensive biblical understanding of the elusive mandate from God to "be holy as I am holy." The triune God of glory, he contends, sets us on paths that lead us through encounters with God, ourselves, our enemies and our companions to our ultimate destination, where we discover that we have been reshaped by God into his own image.




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