This publication fills a unique gap in the theological and religious engagement with the issue of human disability in South Africa. Combining the contributions of scholars, practitioners and people living with disabilities, it stands out for the way in which it promotes an interdisciplinary debate on disability and human dignity from a theological point of departure and interest. The end result is a collective effort with a critical approach to the role of religion (and the Christian faith tradition in particular) in the social and life worlds of people living with disabilities. A forceful argument is thus constructed about ways in which religion and the Christian faith tradition should change their own discourses, practices and ideological presuppositions regarding the issue of human disability. - Cobus van Wyngaard, Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, University of South Africa

What is a church? What makes a church a church? What is necessary to have a church? Is membership in a local church really that important? Might a group of people who claim to be Christians become so unlike what a church should be that they should no longer be called a church? Why are there so many churches of different traditions? What is tradition? Are the historical traditions of the church still relevant today? These and many others are questions related to the life and purpose of the church, which every Christian must wrestle with not only for themselves, as disciples of Jesus, but also for others to whom they are called to make disciples. One of the early confessions of the Christian church centers on the catholicity of the church--"we believe in the holy Catholic Church." It was Ignatius who first used the word catholic and rightly identified the church as the Catholic Church: "Where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." This book offers a fresh look at this important mark of the church from an evangelical perspective, and seeks to elucidate the life (being) and purpose (doing) of the church. The author believes that "catholicity is to the church as the Trinity is to God." "We are Catholic" is a confession of our faith in Christ, our commitment to the unity of the church (local and universal)--anchored in the Word and in the Spirit--and our passion for the mission to all the nations as a community of disciples of Jesus Christ.

There is widespread disagreement over what constitutes an experience of empathy. In this study of its value and moral features, Mark Fagiano acknowledges the ambiguity surrounding the term and offers a unified theory of empathy that includes rival definitions. His historical account of the multiple meanings of empathy lays the groundwork for a new philosophical theory. Based on relations, it resolves the problem of conflicting definitions of empathy by distinguishing between the three kinds of empathy: the relations of feeling into, feeling with, and feeling for, each of which has been defined historically as a type of empathy. Fagiano's unique focus on relations, on the modes and manner by which we are connected with things and with people, reveals a transactional account of empathy that can be applied to a variety of different contexts and social circumstances. Grounded in the philosophical tradition of American Pragmatism, Fagiano's approach demonstrates the practical benefits of adopting a broad and pluralistic understanding of empathy as both an idea and a practice. His pragmatic and contextualist philosophy of empathy provides a valuable starting point for answering some of the most pressing questions surrounding empathy today, including can empathy be developed? Is empathy moral? What is the difference between empathy and sympathy?

Hope is not about uncertain possibility. There is a robust sense of hope: something has happened, and it has happened in a certain way. This volume addresses the question: What is the way of Christian hope? What does it mean to act with hope? And in particular, what does it mean to act, to live, with hope in our churches and in society today?

By rejecting older, typically Eurocentric patterns of missions, this volume courageously addresses the new, global context for missions, evangelism, and education.

Mark Oestreicher shares the story of his trip into the desert—literally and figuratively—after a disruptive life event. From there he helps us understand the elusive nature of hope: where it comes from, how we come upon it, how we lose sight of it, how we come back to it and how we hang on to it against all hope.

In the twentieth century, Christian eschatology, the doctrine about the final reality, became a storm center for Christian systematic theologians because of the rediscovery of the eschatological character of Jesus Christ. In the twenty-first century, Christian theologians continue to wrestle with the claims of Christian eschatology because of a postmodern suspicion of eschatological certainty claims about a future that is, after all, objectively unavailable, yet still of great human concern. Human beings live on hope for the future. An Eschatological Imagination recognizes the problem of the future for Christian eschatology. Building on the major theological writings of David Tracy, it offers a revised way of thinking and living eschatologically in the form of an eschatological imagination as a rhetoric of virtue, an exhortation to live in Christian hope in a postmodern world and into an objectively unavailable and uncertain future. Within such a rhetoric, hope becomes action - not mere sentiment - that seeks to create a Christian eschatological future.

Jesus is calling his church to be a multiethnic and missional people who listen and learn from the many voices of world Christianity. Graham Joseph Hill issues a moving call for churches to be missional by being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Hill does this by exploring the thinking of twenty-five Asian, African, Latin American, Indigenous, African American, diaspora, Caribbean, Oceanian, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern pastors and theologians. These are as diverse as Melba Padilla Maggay, Emmanuel Katongole, Lamin Sanneh, Oscar Muriu, Ruth Padilla DeBorst, Pope Francis, Richard Twiss, Lisa Sharon Harper, Willie James Jennings, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Soong-Chan Rah, and Mitri Raheb. These voices show us the future of missional churches in world Christianity. When churches are conformed to Christ they make disciples, heal a broken world, and witness to Jesus and his gospel. Jesus forms us in his image and moves us to be a people of shalom, humility, character, justice, peace, wisdom, prayer, beauty, and witness. The church has had a Reformation but now it needs a Conformation. Hill explores biblical themes and the voices of world Christianity to show that a missional church is conformed to the image of the incarnate, crucified, resurrected, and glorified Christ. Conformity to Christ is the heart of missional ecclesiology and discipleship.

Although bell hooks has long challenged the dominant paradigms of race, class, and gender, there has never been a comprehensive book critically reflecting upon this seminal scholar’s body of work. Her written works aim to transgress and disrupt those codes that exclude others as intellectually mediocre, and hooks’ challenge to various hegemonic practices has heavily influenced scholars in numerous areas of inquiry. This important resource thematically examines hooks’ works across various disciplinary divides, including her critique on educational theory and practice, theorization of racial construction, dynamics of gender, and spirituality and love as correctives in postmodern life. Ultimately, this book offers a fresh perspective for scholars and students wanting to engage in the prominent work of bell hooks, and makes available to its readers the full significance of her work. Compelling and unprecedented, Critical Perspectives on bell hooks is a must-read for scholars, professors, and students interested in issues of race, class, and gender.

This is the second of three volumes in Oliver O’Donovan’s masterful “Ethics as Theology” project. In his first volume -- Self, World, and Time -- O’Donovan discusses Christian ethics as an intellectual discipline in relation to the humanities, especially philosophy, theology, and behavioral studies, and in relation to the Christian gospel. In Finding and Seeking O’Donovan traces the logic of moral thought from self-awareness to decision through the virtues of faith, hope, and love. Blending biblical, historico-theological, and contemporary ideas in its comprehensive survey, this second volume continues O’Donovan’s splendid study in ethics as theology and adds significantly to his previous theoretical reflection on Christian ethics.