Christianity in the United States is in crisis. Liberalism is declining, evangelicalism is splintering, increasing numbers of Christians are slipping away from churches, and more and more young people are for various reasons finding Christianity as they conceive it (a metaphysical thought system, or society of science-deniers, or an ideology for oppressors) not just implausible but repellent. At the same time, Christians across denominational and ideological divides are rediscovering a moral core, especially in the Jesus of the Gospels, that reactivates and unites them, and this kind of faith appeals to many who consider themselves averse to all traditional organized religion. But any revitalized Christian faith is going to need to understand its rootedness in, and interpretation of, Christianity’s foundational texts and traditions. Noted theologian Douglas F. Ottati steps in to offer a theology for this new era. Combining deep learning in texts and traditions with astute awareness of contemporary questions and patterns of thought and life, he asks: what does it mean, in our time, to understand the God of the Bible as Creator and Redeemer? Distilling the content of Christian faith into seventy concise propositions, he explains each in lucid, cogent prose. A Theology for the Twenty-First Century will be an essential textbook for those training for ministry in our current climate, a wise guide for contemporary believers who wonder how best to understand and communicate their faith, and an inviting and intelligent resource for serious inquirers who wonder whether the way of Jesus might help them grasp the real world while remaining open to the transcendent.

In this compact collection of essays on contextual theology, the reader is offered fresh voices from the United States, Latin America and Oceania. The inclusion of diverse cultural voices is one of the book's strengths: these voices emphasize the significance of contextual theology for our twenty-first century. The proposal of the book is to address new ways of doing theology, opening up new and fresh topics for our theological agenda.

This edited volume brings Ahn Byung-Mu's minjung theology into dialogue with twenty-first-century readers. Ahn Byung-Mu was one of the pioneers of Korean minjung theology. The centerpiece of his minjung theology is focused on the Greek word ochlos, understood as the divested, marginalized, powerless people. Part 1 introduces readers to his life and theological legacy. Part 2 includes four important writings of Ahn Byung-Mu: "Jesus and Minjung in the Gospel of Mark," "Minjung Theology in the Gospel of Mark," "The Transmitters of Jesus Event Tradition," and "Minjok, Minjung, and Church." Part 3 contains a collection of articles from international scholars who evaluate and engage Ahn's ochlos/minjung theology in their own fields and formulate critical readings of minjung theology. Responses include postcolonial, black theology, and feminist perspectives.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. Perhaps no other theologian of the second half of this century has shaped theology so profoundly as has Jürgen Moltmann. He appeared on the world theological scene with his Theology of Hope (1964) and took most of its capitals by storm. His subsequent works have kept him at the forefront of the modern theological enterprise, and the power of his vision and the originality of his method have inspired a host of new theologians. In terms of fecundity, Moltmann's opus remains unmatched among his generation of theologians. More than 130 dissertations written so far on his thought -- most of them in the past decade -- testify eloquently to its continued attractiveness. In honor of Moltmann's 70th birthday, twenty-six of the world's leading theologians -- his friends, colleagues, interlocutors, and former students -- have contributed to this volume on the future of theology. Moltmann himself has always sought to be both contemporary and future-oriented: his theology can be viewed as an exercise not only from the perspective of God's future but also toward a new human future. Thus, a book on the future of theology takes up an aspect of "his" theme and "his" concern. Yet this volume also makes a significant contribution to theology in its own right, seeking as it does to address the present crisis of theology. As Miroslav Volf writes in his introduction, "On the threshold of the third millennium, the presumed queen of sciences has grown old and feeble, unable to see that what she thinks is her throne is just an ordinary chair, uncertain about what her territories are, and confused about how to rule in the realms she thinks are hers, seeking advice from a quarrelsome chorus of counselors each of whom thinks himself the king, and ending up with a divided, even schizophrenic, mind." The essays in this volume attempt to revitalize theology as it confronts a difficult future. Despite the formidable obstacles that threaten the very survival of theology in the next century -- religious and cultural plurality; the marginalization of theology in public discourse; increasing abstraction in the practice of theology; pressing issues of gender, race, poverty, and ecology; the seemingly archaic voice of theology in post- Christian societies -- the contributors to this volume all believe in the future of theology as a vibrant discipline. The Future of Theology is organized in three parts. "Challenges" deals with the external or internal problems that theology is facing. "Perspectives" offers proposals on how to meet the challenges. "Themes" concentrates on various issues that need special attention today. Together, these essays succeed in setting the theological agenda for the future of theology, and thereby serve as a fitting tribute to this volume's esteemed honoree. Contributors: Stanley Hauerwas Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel John B. Cobb Jr. James H. Cone D. Lyle Dabney Ingolf U. Dalferth Gustavo Gutiérrez Douglas John Hall Ellen T. Charry M. Douglas Meeks Johann Baptist Metz Konrad Raiser Wolfhart Pannenberg Paul Ricoeur John Howard Yoder Dietrich Ritschl Dorothée Sölle Jon Sobrino Elsa Tamez Geoffrey Wainwright Rosemary Radford Ruether Miroslav Volf Michael Welker Nicholas Wolterstorff Catherine Keller Huns Küng

This book offers the rare opportunity to assess, within a single volume, the leading schools of thought in contemporary philosophy of religion. Their exponents seek to meet objections made to their point of view and to relate it to the other schools represented. Further discussions between adherents of the different schools make it an ideal text for assessing the deep proximities and divisions which characterize contemporary philosophy of religion. The schools of thought represented are: Philosophical Theism, Reformed Epistemology, Wittgensteinianism, Postmodernism, Critical Theory and Process Thought.

Thoughtful and original contributions from twenty-one of the world's foremost missiologists, in a volume dedicated to Fuller Seminary's former dean Paul E. Pierson, outline an agenda for mission education that will provoke lively discussion for years to come. Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World Mission is the locus of some of the most creative thought and scholarly reflection on Christian mission in today's world. Edited by the School's dean and two professors, a score of authors respond to the question: How should missiological education be carried out to prepare men and women to work in the twenty-first century? Contributors: -Andrew F. Walls -Gerald H. Anderson -Paul G. Hiebert -Kenneth Mulholland -L. Grant McClung -Jerald D. Gort -Mary Motte -Michael James Oleksa -Tite Tienou -Samuel Escobar -Ken R. Gnanakan -Wilbert R. Shenk -Darrell Whiteman -Roger S. Greenway -Philip C. Stine -Stuart Dauermann -Ralph D. Winter -J. Dudley Woodberry -Viggo Sogaard -Charles Van Engen -Edgar J. Elliston

'Because the Sacred Liturgy is truly the font from which all the Church's power flows...we must do everything we can to put the Sacred Liturgy back at the very heart of the relationship between God and man... I ask you to continue to work towards achieving the liturgical aims of the Second Vatican Council...and to work to continue the liturgical renewal promoted by Pope Benedict XVI, especially through the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis...and the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum... I ask you to be wise, like the householder...who knows when to bring out of his treasure things both new and old (see: Mtt 13:52), so that the Sacred Liturgy as it is celebrated and lived today may lose nothing of the estimable riches of the Church's liturgical tradition, whilst always being open to legitimate development.' These words of Robert Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, underline the liturgy's fundamental role in every aspect of the life and mission of the Church. Liturgy in the Twenty-First Century makes available the different perspectives on this from leading figures such as Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Abbot Philip Anderson, Father Thomas Kocik, Dom Alcuin Reid, and Dr Lauren Pristas. Considering questions of liturgical catechetics, music, preaching, how young people relate to the liturgy, matters of formation and reform, etc., Liturgy in the Twenty-First Century is an essential resource for all clergy and religious and laity involved in liturgical ministry and formation. Bringing forth 'new treasures as well as old,' its contributors identify and address contemporary challenges and issues facing the task of realising the vision of Cardinal Sarah, Cardinal Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and the Second Vatican Council.

The book is a unique stocktaking, by a leading international group of theologians, social scientists and other scholars, on issues facing public theology at the beginning of the 21st century. It combines retrospect and prospect, in that it reflects on the issues and approaches that have characterized public theology in the 20th century, especially its latter half, and attempts to anticipate those which will or should come to the fore in the 21st century, seeking to discern continuities and changes. Three opening chapters deal with the overall theme of public or political theology, with Jurgen Moltmann giving a critical historical account from the Second World War onwards, Raymond Plant relating such theology to cultural pluralism, and Andrew Morton illustrating it from the work of Duncan Forrester. These are followed by pairs of contributions relating public theology to more specific topicsr: History; Technology and Creation; Globalization; Spirituality; Punishment and Forgiveness; Medical Ethics; Tolerance and Human Rights; Social Exclusion and Equality.

In this volume some of the outstanding Christian scholars of our day reflect on how their minds have changed, how their academic fields have changed over the course of their careers, and the pressing issues that Christian scholars will need to address in the twenty-first century. This volume offers an accessible portrait of key trends in the world of Christian scholarship today. Christian Thought in the Twenty-First Century features scholars from Great Britain, Canada, the United States, and Switzerland. The contributors represent a wide variety of academic backgrounds--from biblical studies to theology, to religious studies, to history, English literature, philosophy, law, and ethics. This book offers a personal glimpse of Christian scholars in a self-reflective mode, capturing their honest reflections on the changing state of the academy and on changes in their own minds and outlooks. The breadth and depth of insight afforded by these contributions provide rich soil for a reader's own reflections, and an agenda that will occupy Christian thinkers well into the twenty-first century. Content and Contributors: Historical Perspectives on the Christian Tradition 1. Jesus and The Gospels, by Craig A. Evans 2. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs: Medieval Church History Today, by Dennis D. Martin 3. Reflections on Medieval English Literature, by Denis Renevey 4. Reflections of an Historian of Early Modern German Protestantism, by Douglas H. Shantz 5. Making Historical Theology, by Margaret R. Miles 6. Eastern Orthodoxy in the Twenty-First Century, by James R. Payton Jr. 7. Religion's Return, by Lamin Sanneh Philosophical and Theological Issues 8. The Christian Philosopher Today, by Terrence Penelhum 9. Christian Thought: An Agenda for the Future, by Clark H. Pinnock 10. Process Theology in Process, John B. Cobb Jr. 11. Christian Theology in a post-Christendom World, by Douglas John Hall Encounters with Religious Pluralism and the new Science 12. A New Way of Being Christian, by Paul F. Knitter 13. Comparative Theology, Keith Ward 14. Science and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, by John Polkinghorne 15. Bioethics: A Forum for Finding Shared Values in a Twenty-First Century Society, by Margaret Somerville The Academy and the City 16. "But have you kept the faith of your Ancestors?" Musings on the writing and teaching of the history of Christianity in a Secular Canada, by Marguerite Van Die 17. The Spiritual Quest, Christian Thought, and the Academy: Challenges, Commitments, and Considerations, by Charles Nienkirchen 18. Ecstatic Nerve: Fiction, Historical Narrative, and Christian theology in an Academic Setting, by Peter C. Erb 19. Athens and Jerusalem: Facing Both Ways in Calgary, by Alan P. F. Sell 20. The City and the Church, by Wesley A. Kort Approaches to English Literature and Film 21. Reflections on Literary Theory and Criticism, by Susan Felch 22. A Time of Promise and Responsibility: Teaching English Literature in the Christian Academy, by Arlette Zinck 23. Thomas Merton: Retrospect and Prospect, by Bonnie Thurston 24. Thomas Merton's Divinations for a Twenty-First Century Christian Reader, by Lynn Szabo 25. Christianity and the Cinema: An Interreligious Conversation, by Anne Moore Index