A theological and practical exploration of ministry formation in the church today.

Critique, Action, and Liberation is an original work in critical social theory that develops an approach to and method for social and political science. Drawing on the work of Habermas, Marcuse, Adorno, Offe, Marx, and David Harvey, Marsh develops an ethics and a social phenomenology of the self as communicative subject. He then advances an interpretation and critique of modernity, late capitalism, and state socialism.

The growth of the Pentecostal movement is often most evident among the poor and disenfranchised of society, as, for example, among the Hispanic-American community. As this community continues to develop, will Pentecostal theology be able to incorporate into its hermeneutics those issues that especially concern it? Solivan looks at relevant issues to this debate from a Hispanic-American perspective, presenting an overview of Hispanic diversity, and its common roots and struggles. He talks of four critical issues in Hispanic theology (religious experience, suffering, the work of the Holy Spirit and the importance of language and culture) and other issues including acculturation and assimilation. He shows how a community's suffering and oppression can be transformed by the Holy Spirit into a liberating life, full of hope and promise.

Liberation (mukti) is a central concern in Hinduism, particularly in Advaita (nondual) Vedanta, perhaps the best known school of Hindu thought. There has been vigorous debate and analysis about the possibility and nature of liberation while living (jivanmukti) in Advaita from the time of Sankara, the school's founder, to the present day. While the general conclusion seems to be that one can achieve living liberation, members of the Advaita tradition also regularly express reservations about, or describe limitiations to, full liberation while embodied. Jivanmukti in Transformation examines the development and transformation of the concept of jivanmukti from the Upanisads to the modern era. It gives the most thorough treatment of the scholastic Advaita tradition on liberation while living, makes the novel argument for a distinct "Yogic Advaita" tradition found in the Yogavasistha and Jivanmuktiviveka, and explores the modern "neo-Vedanta" view of jivanmukti, which has been influenced by modern Western concepts like global ecumenism and humanistic social concern for all. The book includes analysis of the views of modern Hindu figures such as Swami Vivekananda, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Ramana Maharshi, and Sankaracaryas of Kanchi and Sringeri, and considers these thinkers in the context of current academic discussions about the encounter of India and the West.

How can India--a land of intense poverty as well as unparalled spirituality--be liberated? Where do the sources for its liberation lie? Leave the Temple brings together writings that weigh the practical and theoretical problems of hermeneutic pre-understandings of the socio-political situation in South Asia. Is the challenge of social transformation and human liberation one in which people must leave the temple to embrace the freeing insights of secularization? Or does leaving the temple--to find God in the world of suffering humanity--provide a richness and empowerment that secular models of the human future cannot replace? Contributors include Walter Fernandes, on a socio-historical perspective for liberation theology in India and on bhakti; Yvon Ambroise on oppression and liberation in Indian society; Ignatius Puthiadam on trends in Hindu thought; T. K. John on liberation theology and Gandhian praxis; George M. Soares-Prabhu on the liberative pedagogy of Jesus; Xavier Irudayaraj on interiority and liberation; Samuel Rayan on caste; Sebastian Kappen on social crisis and liberation; Michael Amaladoss on liberation as an interreligious project; and Felix Wilfred on the Catholic Church's participation in the liberation of India.

Theologians on the margins reflect how their experience of ethnic and racial minority has influenced their theology and how this relates to the American Dream.

This book counters postmodernist critiques of liberation discourses by drawing on the contributions to hermeneutics made by Paul Ricoeur and Jürgen Habermas. Ultimately, its defense of liberation discourses relies on the concept of transculturation as developed by Fernando Ortiz. A Study of Liberation Discourse extends this concept in the light of contributions to the theory of ideology by such authors as Valentin Volosinov, Michel Pecheux, Terry Eagleton, and Norman Fairclough.

Liberation and political theologies have emerged powerfully in recent years, interrupting the way in which First World Christians both experience and understand their faith. Through an analysis of the cultural and ecclesial contexts of these theological movements, as well as a critical examination of four of their principal exponents--Gustavo Gutierrez, Johann Baptist Metz, Jose Miguez Bonino, and Jurgen Moltmann--the author demonstrates that political and liberation theologies represent a new model of theology, one that proffers a vision of Christian witness as a praxis of solidarity with suffering persons.

How far are the real lives of millions of poor women really catered for in liberation and feminist theologies? Vuola argues here that traditional liberation theology's notion of praxis (as in L .Boff and E. Dussel) is limited by its essentialist notion of 'poor' and its neglect of the issue of poor women's reproductive rights. Classical feminist theologies, on the other hand, are fraught with their own essentialist notions ('women's experience'). Both discourses are inadequate to deal with poor women's suffering: widespread maternal mortality, high rates of botched, illegal abortions, and an overall lack of reproductive rights. As a response to this lack, Vuola nurtures a form of Latin American feminist liberation theology that addresses directly the suffering and death of these millions of women.