The development and pervasiveness of modern atheism as well as secularization poses an acute challenge to Christian theology. Theologians have either ignored this challenge or have sought to meet it in a variety of ways. Throughout his theological career, Walter Kasper (1933-) has maintained that theology has the mutual tasks of exposition of the Christian faith and of responding to contemporary challenges to this faith. In his seminal work The God of Jesus Christ (1982), he argues that the proper Christian response to modern atheism is the confession of the Trinity. In making this response, Kasper begins to chart a course for all future Christian apologetics, for all efforts to give an account of Christian hope (1 Peter 3:15).

Christberg is a book prompted by Jesus, inspired by Jesus, and revealed by Jesus as a result of the authors constant walk with him for the last forty-five years. Based entirely on biblical words, Christberg will be an eye-opener to readers of all walks of life and all faiths who would like to know why Jesus Christ should be worshipped as our personal savior and the Lord. He came from the heavenly glory and was born as a God-mana God-incarnateand died at Calvary cross for his unfailing love toward all humanity. The structure and the simplicity of language of the book will appeal to Bible-study groups, Sunday school teachers, and to teachers of religious studies in schools and colleges. The book will most certainly be an invaluable tool for any inquiring mind to find the answer to the question, Can Jesus be for me? In order to get to the truth, you simply taste Jesus and measure the depth of his love for you. Feel his care and compassion in his words and measure his unsearchable concern for you. Let yourself immerse in his perfect love. His amazing grace will capture you and make you a new person for ever.

This volume is a first-ever companion to the intellectually and pastorally stimulating work of Louis-Marie Chauvet, one of the most important systematic theologians of liturgy and sacraments in recent times. In this trans-Atlantic venture, pairs of leading thinkers continue the development of sacramental-liturgical theology along six lines of Chauvet's thought: fundamental theology, Scripture and sacrament, ecclesiology, liturgy and ethics, theology and the social sciences, and the theological anthropology of symbolism. Embracing his constant attention to faith is actual practice in history, these francophone and anglophone authors test numerous of Chauvet's insights in the face of new challenges for the church and world, the ongoing mediation of the humanity of God" revealed in the crucified and risen Christ. Louis-Marie Chauvet retired in 2008 from the faculty of theology at the Institute Catholique de Paris, while continuing his work as pastor of Saint-Leu-la-Foret in the Diocese of Pontoise, just outside Paris. He is author of Symbol and Sacrament: A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Christian Existence and The Sacraments: The Word of God at the Mercy of the Body, both published by Liturgical Press. Philippe Bordeyne is professor of theological ethics and dean of the faculty of theology at the Institut Catholique de Paris. Bruce T. Morrill, SJ, holds the Edward A. Maloy Chair of Catholic Studies in the divinity school at Vanderbilt University where he is also Professor of Theological Studies. In addition to numerous journal articles, book chapters, and reviews, he has published several books, most recently Encountering Christ in the Eucharist: The Paschal Mystery in People, Word, and Sacrament (Paulist Press, 2012). His most recent book with liturgical Press is Divine Worship and Human Healing: Liturgical Theology at the Margins of Life and Death Pueblo/Liturgical Press, 2009). "

While German Lutheran theologian Eberhard Jüngel (1934-) has made a number of significant contributions to contemporaneous discussions of sacramental theology, this topic has largely been ignored by interpreters of his thought. This study summarizes and evaluates, through a close reading of primary and secondary source materials, Jüngel's approach to the problem of sacrament. R. David Nelson considers Jüngel's claim that the word of God functions sacramentally as it addresses its hearer, and analyses his assertion that Jesus Christ is the unique and preeminent sacrament of God for the world. Progressing to an exploration of Jüngel's ecclesiology, Nelson reveals Jüngel's interesting approach to the question of the church's sacramentality. The volume concludes with an investigation into Jüngel's doctrines of baptism and the Lord's Supper. The Interruptive Word demonstrates that Jüngel consistently appeals to the category of 'interruption' for describing God's sacramental relation to the world and its actualities, concluding that the hegemony of the category of 'interruption' in Jüngel's theology of sacrament raises important questions concerning its coherence and tenability.

This important work explores the complex relationship between two of the twentieth century’s most formidable Christian thinkers—Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Seizing on a much-discussed criticism that Bonhoeffer made of Barth’s theology in his prison letters—that Barth was guilty of a “positivism of revelation”—Andreas Pangritz challenges scholars who have used this statement, despite being left undeveloped by Bonhoeffer, as a wedge to separate the two theologians. Through a careful study of Barth’s and Bonhoeffer’s works, of their correspondence, and of Barth’s comments and revisions after Bonhoeffer’s death, Pangritz clarifies the close yet sometimes strained relationship between Barth and Bonhoeffer and cautiously makes the case that Bonhoeffer’s criticism has been overemphasized and did not mark a significant breach between the two great theologians. Much more than a study of a disputed discourse in historical theology, this engaging volume also raises concerns of continuing relevance regarding the role of theology in our secular society.

This captivating study engages two of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century: Karl Barth, the Swiss Protestant theologian who constructed his theology "from above" and engaged the powers in the background of Nazi Germany, and James H. Cone, the father of Black Theology in America, who constructed his theology "from below" and confronted white racism--the most intractable issue in America's history. In this three-volume project, Carr employs the aesthetic thinking of the jazz legend Thelonious Monk to reconceptualize, restructure, and advance the theologies of Barth and Cone. This first volume appeals to the Bebop tune "Epistrophy" as the analogical framework for (re)conceptualizing the historical form and hermeneutical backgrounds of Karl Barth and James H. Cone. Monk's mode of musical thinking establishes the aesthetic theological architecture Carr uses to reiterate and reimagine the revolutionary theological contributions of Barth and Cone.

From a Christian perspective, it could well be said that humanity, a good gift of God, is being undermined by the technology and thought-patterns and practices of contemporary Western culture. In response to what is seen as an attack, many books have been written on the harm of these technologically driven practices. These articles and books focus on what is wrong: with euthanasia, with surrogate motherhood, with the denial of the male-female difference, and so forth. Yet to make a compelling cultural witness, it is more important for Christians to know what is right, and essential that they be able to articulate the positive. Why do babies matter? What is the goodness embedded in being made male and female? How can one approach death in a godly manner? We need, in other words, to be able to give an account of God’s “Yes” (2 Cor 1:20), the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15). In this collection of essays, an ecumenical group of scholars, of diverse perspectives, discuss these and other important questions, in order to help discern what is good for humanity. With contributions by: Phillip Cary Donna Freitas Paul Hinlicky Edith M. Humphrey Patrick Lee Gilbert Meilaender Nancey Murphy

What motivates practice of the liturgy and sacramental rites of the church? Does the worship of God begin and end within each ritual enactment, or does the truth and value of sacramental celebration reside in the broader context of Christian life in church and society? For more than two decades, prominent Jesuit sacramental-liturgical theologian Bruce Morrill has explored the promise and problems inherent in the Second Vatican Council's call to renew liturgy's basic purpose--namely, the glorification of God and the sanctification of people. Morrill's fundamental argument is that this ancient Christian principle is of a piece, that divine glory and human holiness are, so to speak, two sides of a single coin. The value of liturgy and sacraments is depleted, if not lost, unless they function within a holistic practice of faith that seeks the upbuilding of ethical lives, personal and social. With numerous real-life examples plus references to current sociological studies, the chapters address both modern challenges to and biblical and traditional resources for the celebration of sacramental rites today.