Søren Kierkegaard’s authorship exhibits two different trajectories concerning the relation of responsible human agency to sovereign divine agency: one trajectory stresses free human striving, while the other trajectory emphasizes the dominance of divine agency. The first theme led to the view of Kierkegaard as the champion of autonomous existential “leaps,” while the second led to the construal of Kierkegaard as a devout Lutheran who trusted absolutely in God’s gracious governance. Lee C. Barrett argues that Kierkegaard, influenced by Kant’s critique of metaphysics, did not attempt to integrate human and divine agencies in any speculative theory. Instead, Kierkegaard deploys them to encourage different passions and dispositions that can be integrated in a coherent human life, making use of literary strategies to foster the different passions and dispositions that are associated with the themes of human responsibility and divine governance. Kierkegaard on God’s Will and Human Freedom: An Upbuilding Antinomy offers an incisive account of what makes Kierkegaard’s conception of theology as a matter of edification rather than speculation so distinctive and enduringly worthwhile.

In this book, Hans Schwarz leads us into the web of Christian theology's recent past from Kant and Schleiermacher to Mbiti and Zizoulas, pointing out all the theologians of the last two hundred years who have had a major impact beyond their own context. With an eye to the blending of theology and biography, Schwarz draws the lines of connection between theologians, their history, and wider theological movements. - Publisher.

V. 1, God, Christ, Mary and Grace; volume 2, Man in the Church; volume 3, Theology of the Spiritual Life; volume 4, More Recent Writings; volume 5, Later Writings; volume 6, Concerning Vatican Council II; volume 7, Further Theology of the Spiritual Life; volume 8, Further Theology of the Spiritual Life 2; volume 9, Writings of 1965-1967 I; volume 10, Writings of 1965-1967 II; volume 11, Confrontations; volume 12, Confrontations 2; volume 14, Ecclesiology, Questions in the Church, The Church in the World; volume 15, Penance in the Early Church; volume 16, EXperience of the Spirit: Source of Theology; volume 17, Jesus, Man, and the Church; volume 18, God and Revelation; volume 19, Faith and Ministry; volume 20, Concern for the Church; volume 21, Science and Theology; volume 22, Humane Society and the Church of Tomorrow; volume 23, Final Writings.

This book analyzes the writings of Karl Rahner, Karl Barth, and Vedanta Desika to disclose how each construes "piety" and "responsibility" as integral to each other. Each theologian expresses a fundamental unity of love of God and love of neighbour. Sheveland explores this unity in ecumenical and interreligious frameworks, showing how these authors privilege theology as practice, enactment, or simply as ethical. He uses the Renaissance genre of musical polyphony as a methodological tool by which to explore the aesthetic quality and the similarity-in-difference of the theological voices being compared. Polyphony's application to comparative theology includes the avoidance of caricature, domestication, and antagonism. In place of these is offered a fundamentally aesthetic paradigm by which to hear theological voices in terms of their unity-in-distinction.

An examination of the practice and philosophy of sacrifice in three religious traditions In the book of Genesis, God tests the faith of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham by demanding that he sacrifice the life of his beloved son, Isaac. Bound by common admiration for Abraham, the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam also promote the practice of giving up human and natural goods to attain religious ideals. Each tradition negotiates the moral dilemmas posed by Abraham’s story in different ways, while retaining the willingness to perform sacrifice as an identifying mark of religious commitment. This book considers the way in which Jews, Christians, and Muslims refer to “sacrifice”—not only as ritual offerings, but also as the donation of goods, discipline, suffering, and martyrdom. Weddle highlights objections to sacrifice within these traditions as well, presenting voices of dissent and protest in the name of ethical duty. Sacrifice forfeits concrete goods for abstract benefits, a utopian vision of human community, thereby sparking conflict with those who do not share the same ideals. Weddle places sacrifice in the larger context of the worldviews of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, using this nearly universal religious act as a means of examining similarities of practice and differences of meaning among these important world religions. This book takes the concept of sacrifice across these three religions, and offers a cross-cultural approach to understanding its place in history and deep-rooted traditions.

This book serves two purposes--to honor the apologist and author Dr. Frank Turek and, in the spirit of his ministry, present reasoned responses to challenges currently facing the church. Every year, for more than one decade, Dr. Turek has hosted the Cross Examined Instructors Academy (CIA) through his Cross Examined Ministries, wherein he leads a group of professors and apologists as they teach and train others in the field of apologetics. Several rising stars within the apologetics community began their ministries because of Dr. Turek and the CIA. The authors of this book were chosen from this ever-widening pool of CIA attendees, past and present, most of whom have gone on to academic instruction or their own successful apologetics ministries. Their contributions broadly address challenges from philosophy and science; challenges against Jesus and the Bible; and even challenges facing parents and the church. Many topics offer new approaches, while others reestablish existing responses, but all seek to provide answers to a skeptical world for the hope that rests within all Christians.

"The Foundations of Social Order was, and remains, the most unique book ever written in the history of Christendom. Nothing like it has been written before, and nothing like it has been written since. Christian and non-Christian historians have generally agreed on at least one thing about creeds and history: they are not connected in any meaningful, comprehensive way. A few non-Christian historians-Harold Berman and his Law and Revolution being a good example-have mentioned that the Christian creeds have been instrumental in shaping the legal views and therefore the legal structure of the West. But a general study of how the creeds formed the West and its unique outlook has always been lacking; the reason being that both Christian and non-Christian authors are eager to constrain the significance of the creeds to the church and the history of theology. Even Philip Schaff in his three-volume work, The Creeds of Christendom, confines their value and use to the church. The view of the creeds has been dualistic; creeds were separated from history, and history was left to follow its own course, independent from the development of Christian theology and the perfection of the faith of the saints.

Divine Eros draws on the latest scientific evidence, including genetics, endocrinology, and psychology, to debunk many key myths about homosexuality and offer alternatives for healing. Following the loss of a friend who was compelled to take his life because of his father's hatred of homosexuals, author Joy E. Corey's pain inspired her to explore the topic. Combining pastoral sensitivity with academic precision, she explores alternatives to simplistic solutions that often characterize discussions of this controversial and provocative topic. Written for those struggling with their own sexuality and their family members, it offers true stories of struggle and victory, pain and healing. "What is fresh about this perspective is its