We want to live good lives, but determining what a good life is isn't easy, especially if we want the lives we lead to be ours, rather than somebody else's. Tom Kennedy helps us see why it is hard to find our way when it comes to living well and what we can do about that. Finding our way requires knowing who we are, understanding ourselves, and Christians, because of their experience with God, will understand themselves differently than others in at least some ways. Kennedy explores that understanding and discovers that Christian encounters with God lead to beliefs about God, human nature, forgiveness, values, and loving well that have important implications for what we do and feel, for how we should live. In clear and familiar language, and with probing questions, he helps us think more carefully, and deeply, about our identities and what it should look like for us to live well.

Why go to church? What happens in church and why does it matter? The Empty Church presents fresh answers to these questions by creating an interdisciplinary conversation among performance studies, theater directors, and Christian theologians. The result is a compelling depiction of church as a performative relationship with Jesus Christ, mediated by Scripture, in hope of the Holy Spirit.

"Folksy, eclectic, disarmingly humble, and astonishingly wide-ranging, Hauerwas offers us a provocative reading of Bonhoeffer that, not surprisingly, assimilates him closely to John Howard Yoder. At the same time, Hauerwas replies to recent criticisms of his work by Jeffrey Stout. Contending that truth depends on performance far more than on theory, Hauerwas steps forward as a pacifist gadfly for a more truly faithful church and a more recognizably democratic society." --George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary "This book shows how lively and fecund Hauerwas's thought remains. A dazzling performance, capable of entertaining and instructing professional theologians as much as those who think the world might be a better place without theologians in it." --Paul J. Griffiths, University of Illinois at Chicago "Stan Hauerwas has done it again! He is able skillfully to blend into his book the passion for truth and justice of two of his greatest influences, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and John Howard Yoder. He takes these heroic advocates for peace into his own present-day struggle for the soul of the American nation. Hauerwas, an admirable Christian pacifist himself, dares Christians to be the 'Jesus people' they claim to be and to follow Jesus into the gospel path of nonviolence." --Geffrey B. Kelly, author of Liberating Faith: Bonhoeffer's Message for Today "Never totally predictable. Always a fresh perspective. And yet once again in these essays--on narrative, politics, Bonhoeffer, and the church--we hear the engaging, discerning, and brilliant voice we have come to know as Stanley Hauerwas." --Mark Thiessen Nation, Eastern Mennonite Seminary "Contending with and learning from the witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose life is often thought to provide a Christian alternative to pacifism, Hauerwas deepens the account of Christian nonviolence he has been articulating for decades. His theology is strengthened and clarified by his encounter with the exemplary figure of Bonhoeffer." --Alan Jacobs, Wheaton College "Without loss of the provocative edge that has made him a vital and distinctive Christian voice, Hauerwas's Performing the Faith allows him to cast a retrospective eye on his work. At the same time, in a brilliant essay under the title of the book, he develops a profoundly important description of faithfulness." --Dennis O'Brien, University of Rochester

Delving into fresh insights from Jesus’ parables, author and speaker Becky Harling directs you to leave behind a life dependent on the accolades of others and go on a grace-filled journey of seeking God’s applause alone. The 12 lessons feature discussion-provoking questions and exercises for personal or group study.

The essays in this volume focus on philosophical, theological, and structural aspects of contemporary Buddhist-Christian dialogue in an effort to assess its potential as a source for the renewal and transformation of both traditions. Writing from differing assumptions, academic disciplines, and religious world views, the nine Christian and two Buddhist contributors are nevertheless agreed that interreligious dialogue can contribute meaningfully to our understanding of some of the profound issues arising out of modern self-consciousness. Believing that the human community and its survival are threatened everywhere by secularism, they seek to show that the dialogue between Buddhists and Christians can provide not only insights but a conceptual framework for authentic living in the present age of religious pluralism. Each writer shares the conclusion that Buddhist-Christian encounter is vitally important for a larger understanding of contemporary issues of self-identity, evil, communication, and fulfillment.

The six volumes of General Messages are taken from volumes 37 and 38 of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee. These books contain miscellaneous messages given by Brother Watchman Nee between 1934 and 1942. Some are words of exhortation and comfort; others are short expositions. Most of these messages were subsequently published in a Chinese series entitled Twelve Baskets Full: "Burden and Prayer"; "The Key to Prayer"; "Satan’s Wearing-out Work"; "Words"; "The Protection, Restriction, and Supply in the Body of Christ"; "Holding the Head"; "The Breastplate of Judgment"; "Living by the Law of Life"; "God Speaking through the Environment."

Recent decades have seen major shifts in our understanding of Christian identity. This timely book explores contemporary theological theory in asking what makes a Christian in the twenty-first century. Engages with developments in contemporary theological thought, assessing the work of leading figures Rowan Williams, John Milbank, and Kathryn Tanner Challenges accepted ideas of Christian identity by revealing largely unexplored perspectives on how sin affects its formation Contributes to vexed debates about Christian identity at a time when Christianity is expanding in some regions, yet in decline in many parts of the Western world

Taking a fresh look at the interconnections between medieval images, texts, theater, and practices of viewing, reading and listening, this explicitly interdisciplinary volume explores various manifestations of performance and meanings of performativity in the Middle Ages. The contributors - from their various perspectives as scholars of art history, religion, history, literary studies, theater studies, music and dance - combine their resources to reassess the complexity of expressions and definitions of medieval performance in a variety of different media. Among the topics considered are interconnections between ritual and theater; dynamics of performative readings of illuminated manuscripts, buildings and sculptures; linguistic performances of identity; performative models of medieval spirituality; social and political spectacles encoded in ceremonies; junctures between spatial configurations of the medieval stage and mnemonic practices used for meditation; performances of late medieval music that raise questions about the issues of historicity, authenticity, and historical correctness in performance; and tensions inherent in the very notion of a medieval dance performance.

Have you ever asked yourself “Is this all there is?” Is there something missing from your life that you can’t quite put your finger on? For many of us, something, or someone is missing from our lives and cries out to us, beckons us, calls us to keep searching In this timely book, J.G. Marking reveals that there is indeed a "Voice" calling each of us to come and experience the daily the touch of the Living God. This book examines the penetrating question that all people face, “Why can’t I find true fulfillment in my life?” Marking provides each reader with the opportunity to take an in-depth look into what their life is all about and then delivers a biblically-based remedy for the incomplete life. A Voice is Calling guides and equips you to pursue an authentic and overflowing relationship with Christ through the every-day application of twelve spiritual disciplines from the Word of God; each designed to draw you into intimate communion with Christ.