Amos Yong has stated that Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen has become “one of the more important theologians to be reckoned with in our time.” This becoming has developed over the course of many decades with prolific contributions in essays, monographs, lectures, and other mediums. The goal of this book, then, is to offer a curated selection of Kärkkäinen’s essays for both new and established reader of Kärkkäinen. This volume offers an accessible introduction to Kärkkäinen’s diverse contribution for readers who are only familiar with his popular survey texts or are new to his work overall. And yet, for those familiar with his theology, this volume provides insights into the journey his theological contributions have taken over the last fifteen years and serves as a kind of intellectual storyboard leading into his five-volume constructive systematics. In sum, this book seeks to offer a wide-ranging taste of Kärkkäinen’s trajectory that will inspire more research into his work and ever more attention to his important constructive contributions to global twenty-first-century theology.

In this volume, an attempt is undertaken to highlight the genesis, progress, and transformation of Asian contextual theology of minjung, introducing its historical point of departure, its development, and its transformation in light of younger Korean and Korean American scholars' endeavors. In this regard, the new Asian contextual theology, which is emerging, strives to integrate both minjung and the wisdom of World Religions into its own framework and direction, assuming the character of a public theology and remaining humble and open before God's mystery while featuring its association with minjung in a holistic way.

Theological Anthropology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium is the third volume of the Theology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium series. Bringing together Catholic and Orthodox scholars of diverse disciplines, this work sheds new light on the question "what does it mean to be a human person?" Beginning with an overview on the state of the discipline in our time, the book brings theological anthropology into dialogue with epistemology, Christology, science, spiritual theology, and pedagogy. It explores how human persons--who are created in God's image and likeness--can come to knowledge of the self and the other, such that the individual person can know, love, and be united to the God and Father of Jesus Christ.

The book aims to revitalise the interdisciplinary debate about evolutionary ethics and substantiate the idea that evolution science can provide a rational and robust framework for understanding morality. It also traces pathways for knowledge-based choices to be made about directions for future long-term biological evolution and cultural development in view of adaptation to the expected, probable and possible future and the ecological sustainability of our planetary environment The authors discuss ethical challenges associated with the major biosocial sources of human variation: individual variation, inter-personal variation, inter-group variation, and inter-generational variation. This book approaches the long-term challenges of the human species in a holistic way. Researchers will find an extensive discussion of the key theoretical scientific aspects of the relationship between evolution and morality. Policy makers will find information that can help them better understand from where we are coming and inspire them to make choices and take actions in a longer-term perspective. The general public will find food for thoughts.

The Holy Spirit who worked on the first Christian Pentecost continues to work in the church and the world today. This being so, the field of pneumatology--the theology of the Holy Spirit--should pique the interest of both the "average" Christian and the academic theologian, perhaps more than it has in recent times. This collection of chapters brings pneumatology into conversation with a wide variety of disciplines, including scripture, patristic and medieval theology, and history. The result is a scholarly monograph that enriches both pneumatology and the fields with which each contributor engages. Furthermore, with its attention on the work of the Spirit in the sacraments and the life of the church, Pneumatology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium will help pastors and catechists in their ministries to understand more deeply the riches of the theology of the Third Person of the Trinity.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the Christian Churches are in a process of renewal. The Roman Catholic Church, since Vatican II, has been in a major stage of renewal. Contemporary globalization, multi-cultural interrelationships, and inter-religious dialogues have presented serious challenges to these renewal efforts. In this volume, I want to offer to the Catholic Renewal and from there to other denominational renewals, a view of the church from the rich tradition of Franciscan philosophy and theology. To date there are a only a few books which include small essays on this theme. This volume presents an in-depth Franciscan approach to ecclesiology.

Kreeft, one of the foremost students of Lewis' thought, distills Lewis' reflections on the collapse of western civilization and the way to renew it. Few writers have more lucidly grasped the meaning of modern times than Lewis. Kreeft's reflections on Lewis' thought provide explorations into the questions of our times. Kreeft and Lewis together provide light and hope in an age of darkness.

The recent rediscovery of the doctrine of the Trinity has left great impact on the thought and life of the Christian Church. With this reinstatement, the Trinity, which was left out for long as an esoteric mystery, has captured the imagination of theologians and elicited remarkable trinitarian formulations from across theological traditions. This contemporary development has forced the church to review its dogma, spirituality, and Christian practices through the lens of this central doctrine of the Christian faith. One of the important and essential upshots of the doctrine has been the reclamation of a theocentric and trinitarian understanding of mission as the missio Dei. In view of the modern renewal of the Trinity and the global expansion of Christianity, this book explores insights and perspectives from the trinitarian thoughts of St. Augustine and the Indian theologian Brahmabandhab Upadhyay that can inform missio Dei theology relevant for the Indian context.

Since the Second Vatican Council the place of Mary in theology and generally in the life of the Church has been at times muted. This is perhaps understandable given the debates concerning Mary's "place" in the documents of Vatican II. In an ecumenical age, it was argued, the church needed a less triumphalist Mariology and piety with a greater focus on Mary as model disciple. In certain respects this has led to a dichotomy between the continued Marian piety of many faithful (and, truth be told, the piety of the post-conciliar popes) and a theological timidity concerning Mary. This collection of chapters seeks to address the current situation of Mariology. Taken as a whole these chapters represent a welcome call for renewal and reawakening in Mariology. The collection is also delightfully eclectic, both in terms of topics covered and in terms of the denominational and academic backgrounds of the authors.

This work is a series of sermons produced by Emeritus Professor Hans Mol, and based on Biblical texts, the Commentaries of John Calvin on these texts, and on Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Mol is Australia's pre-eminent scholar in the sociology of religion, particularly in Australia. His 1971 volume, Religion in Australia, was the first attempt at statistical analysis of religion in Australia, which was also internationally significant. Parallel to Mol's interest in the sociology of religion has been his interest in Calvin. Indeed the theological basis of his life has been as a Calvinist. Here in this volume he brings both of these interests together. His sermons, preached over the years in Canberra, seek to apply the teachings of Calvin to a world-view in which the scientific study of religion, and indeed the wider study of sociology, are of central significance. In these sermons, he succeeds considerably in this. The volume is a substantial contribution to scholarship, in that the combination of these two factors has only rarely been attempted. Thus, the volume has originality and will have enduring value. It is especially appropriate that it should be published at this time, in preparation for the 500th Anniversary of Calvin's birth (1509-2009).