How does Christianity change the way we view the natural world? In this addition to a critically acclaimed series, renowned theologian Norman Wirzba engages philosophers, environmentalists, and cultural critics to show how the modern concept of nature has been deeply problematic. He explains that understanding the world as creation rather than as nature or the environment makes possible an imagination shaped by practices of responsibility and gratitude, which can help bring healing to our lands and communities. By learning to give thanks for creation as God's gift of life, Christians bear witness to the divine love that is reconciling all things to God. Named a "Best Theology Book of 2015," Englewood Review of Books "Best Example of Theology in Conversation with Urgent Contemporary Concerns" for 2015, Hearts & Minds Bookstore

The philosophies of French thinkers Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault form the basis for postmodern thought and are seemingly at odds with the Christian faith. However, James K. A. Smith claims that their ideas have been misinterpreted and actually have a deep affinity with central Christian claims. Each chapter opens with an illustration from a recent movie and concludes with a case study considering recent developments in the church that have attempted to respond to the postmodern condition, such as the "emerging church" movement. These case studies provide a concrete picture of how postmodern ideas can influence the way Christians think and worship. This significant book, winner of a Christianity Today 2007 Book Award, avoids philosophical jargon and offers fuller explanation where needed. It is the first book in the Church and Postmodern Culture series, which provides practical applications for Christians engaged in ministry in a postmodern world.

How do the arts inform and cultivate our service to God? In this addition to an award-winning series, distinguished philosopher Bruce Ellis Benson rethinks what it means to be artistic. Rather than viewing art as practiced by the few, he recovers the ancient Christian idea of presenting ourselves to God as works of art, reenvisioning art as the very core of our being: God calls us to improvise as living works of art. Benson also examines the nature of liturgy and connects art and liturgy in a new way. This book will appeal to philosophy, worship/liturgy, art, music, and theology students as well as readers interested in engaging issues of worship and aesthetics in a postmodern context, including Christian artists and worship leaders.

According to the Christian faith, Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation not only of the nature of God the Creator but also of how God the Creator relates to the created order. The New Testament explicitly relates the act of creation to the person of Jesus Christ - who is also a participant within creation, and who is said, by his acts of participation, to have secured creation's ultimate redemption from the problems which presently afflict it. Christian theology proposes that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word and Wisdom of God, the agent in whom the Spirit of God is supremely present among us, is the rationale and the telos of all things - time-space as we experience and explore it; nature and all its enigmas; matter itself. Christology is thus utterly fundamental to a theology of creation, as this is unfolded both in Scripture and in early Christian theology. For all this, the contemporary conversation about science and faith tends, to a remarkable degree, to neglect the significance of Jesus Christ, focusing instead on a generic "God of wonder" or "God of natural theology." Such general theism is problematic from the perspective of Christian theology on many levels and has at times led to a more or less deistic theology: the impression that God has created the world, then largely left it to itself. Such a theology is far removed from classical Christian renderings of creation, providence, redemption, and eschatology. According to these, the theology of creation is not just about remote "beginnings," or the distant acts of a divine originator. Rather, the incarnate Jesus Christ is himself - remarkably - the means and the end for which creation itself exists. If we would think aright about our world, study it and live within it wisely, we must reckon centrally with his significance. What might such a bold claim possibly mean, and why is Jesus Christ said by Christian theology to be so important for understanding God's overall relationship to the created order? What does this importance mean for science? Christ and the Created Order addresses these questions by gathering insights from biblical scholars, theologians, historians, philosophers, and scientists. This interdisciplinary collection of essays reflects on the significance of Jesus Christ for understanding the created world, particularly as that world is observed by the natural sciences. Contributors to Christ and the Created Order include Marilyn McCord Adams, Richard Bauckham, Deborah Haarsma, Paul Moser, Murray Rae, James K. A. Smith, Norman Wirzba, N. T. Wright, and more.

The book honours the Rev. Dr. Robert A Kolb, retired Director of the Institute for Mission Studies and Missions Professor in systematic theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and perhaps the leading authority on the development of "Wittenberg Theology" in the English-speaking world. At the same time, his teaching and writing, which continues without flagging, has emphasized the importance of translating and retranslating the historic Lutheran faith in terms that address contemporary issues and contemporary people. In this volume, colleagues and co-workers address and push forward Kolb insights into the history of the Reformation era and on the impact of those Reformation issues (and quarrels) on the life of the church in the world today. With contributions by Charles Arand, L'ubomir Batka, Amy Nelson Burnett, Irene Dingel, Mary Jane Haemig, Scott Hendrix, Erik Herrmann, Werner Klän, David Lumpp, Mark Mattes, Daniel Mattson, Richard Muller, Paul Robinson, Robert Rosin, and Timothy Wengert.

Common Places in Christian Theology invites readers to discover the rich and complex world of Christian theology. Sponsored by the journal Lutheran Quarterly and written by some of the finest contemporary Lutheran theologians, this collection of essays helps Christian teachers understand and explain the grammar and inner logic of faith. Exploring everything from scriptural authority to salvation and justification and the last things, these writers provide a unique and compelling introduction to Lutheran theology. As you receive the essentials of each topic, you will also consider contemporary concerns, whether in theology, or from the natural sciences, social sciences, political theories, or hermeneutics. Whether you are a seasoned preacher looking to sharpen your understanding of faith or a curious Christian seeking to better articulate your relationship with God, Common Places in Christian Theology will challenge and inspire you to think through your faith and share it with others.

Collecting essays from prominent scholars who span the globe and academic disciplines, Practicing with Paul speaks into the life of the church in ways that inspire and edify followers and ministers of Jesus Christ. Each contribution delves into the details and historical contexts of Paul's letters, including the interpretation of those texts throughout church history. Meanwhile, each author interprets those details in relation to Christian practice and suggests implications for contemporary Christian ministry that flow out of this rich interpretive process. By modeling forms of interpretation that are practically-oriented, this book provides inspiration for current and future Christian ministers as they too attempt to incarnate the ways of Christ along with Paul.

This book contends the text of the Noachian deluge narrative categorically underscores all God did to preserve life in spite of the disaster. Despite the picture of devastation that the narrative depicts, the prominent emphasis of the text is on deliverance and redemption, i.e., salvation, not judgment. The focus of the Genesis flood is acutely bent towards God’s salvific rather than punitive purposes. The arc of salvation within the flood narrative can be broken down into two main ideas. Firstly, God’s intention for creation is not thwarted, and, secondly, God commits himself to his intentions of creation. God’s intention for creation can be stated thus: the establishment of order via covenant showing the sanctity of human life and the upholding of all life. This involves, in particular, humanity as his image bearers, including the lex talionis (life-for-life) principle.

In Participation and Covenant: Contours of a Theodramatic Theology, Moes develops a theological framework that has participation in the life of God in Christ through the Spirit as its integrative center. In doing so, he enters into conversation with covenant or federal theology, particularly as it has been presented by Michael Horton, in which the integrative center is the concept of the covenant. He argues that God's fundamental relationship with humanity does not entail a covenant ontology--a fundamentally legal and ethical relationship to God, as we find in Horton's presentation--but rather an ontology of participating in God's loving presence in Christ through the Holy Spirit. For this relationship we were created, and this participation is therefore natural to us. Accordingly, a theodramatic framework that incorporates a reframed understanding of divine-human covenants and that has participation in the life of God in Christ by the Spirit as its integrative center is better able to give direction for clearly communicating the gospel in our secular culture and for properly shaping our Christian identity and practice--in the face of the secularism that affects the church, too--than Horton's framework of covenant theology.

The present volume searches for different biblical perceptions of the wild, paying particular attention to the significance of fluid boundaries between the domestic and the wild, and to the options of crossing borders between them. Drawing on space, fauna, and flora, scholars investigate the ways biblical authors present the wild and the domestic and their interactions. In its six chapters and two responses, Hebrew Bible scholars, an archaeobotanist, an archaeologist, a geographer, and iconographers join forces to discuss the wild and its portrayals in biblical literature.The discussions bring to light the entire spectrum of real, imagined, metaphorized, and conceptualized forms of the wild that appear in biblical sources, as also in the material culture and agriculture of ancient Israel, and to some extent observe the great gap between biblical observations and modern studies of geography and of mapping that marks the distinctions between “the wilderness” and “the sown.” The book is the first written product presented on two consecutive years (2019, 2020) at the SBL Annual Meetings in the Section: “Nature Imagery and Conceptions of Nature in the Bible.”