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

This book argues that we have been mistaken about the fundamental assumption that Christianity is the key to understanding the “Christian” martyr. Examining martyrdom in early Christian history, Matt Recla argues that the violent deaths of martyrs, real and imagined, were appropriated for Christian institutional life. Through deconstructing martyrdom and appreciating the complexity of the martyr, we recognize martyrdom not as a socio-historical phenomenon inherent to particular ideologies, and not as a religious “identity” but as the institutional co-optation of violence. The Christian apologist Tertullian argued that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church, but while the seed may be the key to martyrdom, the blood is the key to the martyr. The book shows how martyrs exceed the bounds of institutional narrative. Centering analysis of martyrdom first around the martyr's existential difference and the complex biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors that lead to willing death, this book sheds new light on the motivations of martyrs, our fascination with them, and the parasitic relationship of religion to violent death. In challenging long-held beliefs about the praiseworthiness of martyrdom, this book is of interest to scholars of religion as well as those concerned about the relationship between religion and violence.

The evangelical Mongolian church has experienced significant growth since the country opened to the world in 1990. Despite the growth and emergence of the evangelical church in Mongolia, relatively little has been written on the church from the perspective of the leaders themselves. This ethnographic study seeks to express the experience of male, evangelical, Mongolian church leaders in their own words. The book focuses specifically on the leaders’ experiences of conversion, discipleship, navigation of Mongolian culture and traditions, and theological education. Readers will hear from evangelical church leaders why they became Christians and what their experience with discipleship was like for them. The issue of contextualization for evangelical Christians is also a central focus. In particular, the translation of the term for God in Mongolian and the perspective of the church leaders are explored. This book will be of interest to those exploring Christianity in Asia and post-socialist contexts as well as seeking to better understand contemporary Mongolian culture.

In the English-speaking Western world alone, thousands of men and women begin formal training for Christian ministry each year, or informally, seek to equip themselves for pastoral ministry. Over the past fifty years, the ancient world of virtue ethics has been reimagined as a means of forming people of character and morality today, and in this book, it is used as the framework to understand what we are doing as we form Christian ministers now, and how we might strengthen that formation by more consciously linking the practices of ministry with the person, spirituality, and wisdom of the practitioner. Writing out of the context of a lifetime of pastoral ministry and the oversight of ministers in the Baptist Union of Great Britain, Paul Goodliff explores what pastors do and who they are called to be, using a mixture of theological and pastoral inquiry, reflections upon art, and personal story. This book will be of interest to those who are charged with forming the next generation of ministers; but anyone starting out on that journey of formation for ministry will also find this vision of ministry challenging and inspiring.

Drawing on empirical research exploring mainstream religious belief and identity in Euro-American countries, Abby Day explores how people 'believe in belonging', choosing religious identifications to complement other social and emotional experiences of 'belongings'.

Although asserting one's ethnic identity is not morally wrong, the manner in which one ethnic group construes or relates to the ethnic other(s) can obliterate the bond of togetherness and create the insecurity of life. Ethiopia, which is home to anthropologically diverse ethno-linguistic groups, exhibits a proclivity to ethnic-based hostilities and conflicts. As a result of such hostilities, Ethiopia had suffered recurrent small- and large-scale deaths, and in the last half decade only millions have been internally displaced and live in dire conditions. In dialogue with perspectives from a wide range of disciplines such as history, law, sociology, philosophy, theology, and political thought, this multi-authored book aims at generating Christian moral resources for peaceful multiethnic togetherness. This interdisciplinary engagement is meant to buttress the task of interpreting ethnic diversity and national unity within both contemporary and historical Ethiopia, and articulating a Christian moral response to the crisis of togetherness ensuing from the malpractices of affirming ethnic identity and enacting national unity.

Given increasing global migration and the importance of positive cross-cultural relations across national borders, this book offers an interdisciplinary and intercultural exploration of identity formation. It uniquely draws from theology, psychology, and sociology--engaging narrative and identity theories, migration and identity studies, and the theologies of identity and migration--and builds on them in an unprecedented study of international migrants to construct an initial theology of Christian identity in migration. New sociological research describes the social construction of religious, ethnic, and national identities among non-North American evangelical graduates who entered the United States to pursue advanced academic studies from 1983 to 2013. It provides an intercultural account of Christian identity formation in the context of migration, transnationalism, and globalization. It ultimately argues that an integral component of Christian identity-making involves the concept of migration, of movement, toward a transformation.

The centre of gravity of contemporary Christianity has shifted to the southern hemisphere. However, except in South America, almost all Christians in the southern hemisphere are minorities in their home countries. This book uses the concept 'double transformation' as a guideline in the description of the genesis of this theology.

The main point of emphasis in the book is that approaching the Christian movement's early history through investigating its identity helps us to understand how the followers of Jesus developed from an intra-Jewish messianic renewal movement into a new religion with a major Gentile membership and major differences from its Jewish matrix - all in only a hundred years. Identity is not simply a collection of beliefs that was agreed upon by many first-century Christians. It is embedded, or rather, embodied in real life as participation in the founding myths (narrativized memory of and accepted teaching on Jesus), in cults and rituals as well as in ethical teaching and behavioral norms, crystallized into social relations and institutions. This is a dynamic feedback process, full of conflicts and difficulties, both internal and caused by the surrounding society and culture. The authors explore different aspects of identity, such as how the Gospels' narrativization of the social memory shapes and is shaped by the identity of the groups from which they emerge, how labels such as "Jewish" and "Christian" should and should not be understood, the identity-forming role of behavioral norms in letters, and the interplay between competing leadership ideals and the underlying unity of different Christian groups. They also show that identity formation is not necessarily related to innovation in moral teaching, nor averse to making use of ancient conventions of masculinity with their emphasis on dominance.

Contains abstracts of missiological contributions, book reviews, and articles.