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Virus as a Summons to Faith by Walter Brueggemann Pdf
Why bother with the interpretive categories of biblical faith when in fact our energy and interest are focused on more immediate matters? The answer is simple and obvious. We linger because, in the midst of our immediate preoccupation with our felt jeopardy and our hope for relief, our imagination does indeed range beyond the immediate to larger, deeper wonderments. Our free-ranging imagination is not finally or fully contained in the immediacy of our stress, anxiety, and jeopardy. Beyond these demanding immediacies, we have a deep sense that our life is not fully contained in the cause-and-effect reasoning of the Enlightenment that seeks to explain and control. There is more than that and other than that to our life in God’s world!
‘Superbly written, utterly Bible based. . . Do not hesitate!’ Archbishop Justin Welby What are we supposed to think about the coronavirus crisis? Some people think they know: ‘This is a sign of the End,’ they say. ‘It’s all predicted in the book of Revelation.’ Others disagree but are equally clear: ‘This is a call to repent. God is judging the world and through this disease he’s telling us to change.’ Some join in the chorus of blame and condemnation: ‘It’s the fault of the Chinese, the government, the World Health Organization...' Tom Wright examines these reactions to the virus and finds them wanting. Instead, he invites you to consider a different way of seeing and responding – a way that draws on the teachings and examples of scripture, and above all on the way of living, thinking and praying revealed to us by Jesus.
Beloved and respected by scholars, preachers, and laity alike, Walter Brueggemann offers penetrating insights on Scripture and prophetic diagnoses of our culture. Instead of maintaining what is safe and routine, A Gospel of Hope encourages readers to embrace the audacity required to live out ones faith. This must-have volume gathers Brueggemanns wisdom on topics ranging from anxiety and abundance to partisanship and the role of faith in public life.
A noted author and activist brings his critical acumen and rhetorical skills to bear in this polemic against the dark side of religion. Unlike some popular works by stridently outspoken atheists, this is not a blanket condemnation of all believers. Rather the author's focus is the heartless exploitation of faithful followers by those in power, as well as sectarian intolerance, the violence against heretics and nonbelievers, and the reactionary political and economic collusion that has often prevailed between the upper echelons of church and state. Parenti notes the deleterious effects of past theocracies and the threat to our freedoms posed by present-day fundamentalists and theocratic reactionaries. He discusses how socially conscious and egalitarian minded liberal religionists have often been isolated and marginalized by their more conservative (and better financed) coreligionists. Finally, he documents the growing strength of secular freethinkers who are doing battle against the intolerant theocratic usurpers in public life. Historically anchored yet sharply focused on the contemporary scene, this eloquent indictment of religion’s dangers will be welcomed by committed secular laypersons and progressive religionists alike.
Explore the Book is not a commentary with verse-by-verse annotations. Neither is it just a series of analyses and outlines. Rather, it is a complete Bible survey course. No one can finish this series of studies and remain unchanged. The reader will receive lifelong benefit and be enriched by these practical and understandable studies. Exposition, commentary, and practical application of the meaning and message of the Bible will be found throughout this giant volume. Bible students without any background in Bible study will find this book of immense help as will those who have spent much time studying the Scriptures, including pastors and teachers. Explore the Book is the result and culmination of a lifetime of dedicated Bible study and exposition on the part of Dr. Baxter. It shows throughout a deep awareness and appreciation of the grand themes of the gospel, as found from the opening book of the Bible through Revelation.
In these several pieces I have worked to trace out possible interfaces between specific scripture references and matters at the forefront of our common social life. It is my hunch that, almost without fail, such an interface creates a very different angle of vision for any element of our common social life, because it situates such a topic in the context of the biblical narrative that is occupied by the holy agency of God. Such an alternative angle of vision helps to defamiliarize us from our usual discernment according to the master narrative of democratic capitalism that is most widely shared across the spectrum of conservatives and progressives. Because our common angle of vision shared by progressives and conservatives has a very low ceiling of human ultimacy, we (all of us!) easily come to think that our particular reading of social reality is absolute and beyond question, even if dominated by a tacit ideology. It is my bet that an interface with biblical testimony can and will deabsolutize our excessive certitude and permit us to look again at the social “facts” that are in front of us. I do not think and do not suggest that such interfaces with scripture are inevitable; they are rather suggestive, impressionistic, and fleeting, the kind of linkage that is available in the matrix of faith that is not fixed on certitude.
“This is a time when the fragile form of this world is felt. The seemingly solid foundations are shaking. The question we should be asking is, Do we have a Rock under our feet? A Rock that cannot be shaken—ever?” —John Piper On January 11, 2020, a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) reportedly claimed its first victim in the Hubei province of China. By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization had declared a global pandemic. In the midst of this fear and uncertainty, it is natural to wonder what God is doing. In Coronavirus and Christ, John Piper invites readers around the world to stand on the solid Rock, who is Jesus Christ, in whom our souls can be sustained by the sovereign God who ordains, governs, and reigns over all things to accomplish his wise and good purposes for those who trust in him. What is God doing through the coronavirus? Piper offers six biblical answers to that question, showing us that God is at work in this moment in history.
The Pivotal Moments in the Old Testament Series helps readers see Scripture with new eyes, highlighting short, key texts—"pivotal moments"—that shift our expectations and invite us to turn toward another reality transformed by God's purposes and action. The book of Exodus brims with dramatic stories familiar to most of us: the burning bush, Moses' ringing proclamation to Pharaoh to "Let my people go," the parting of the Red Sea. These signs of God's liberating agency have sustained oppressed people seeking deliverance over the ages. But Exodus is also a complex book. Reading the text firsthand, one encounters multilayered narratives: about entrenched socioeconomic systems that exploit the vulnerable, the mysterious action of the divine, and the giving of a new law meant to set the people of Israel apart. How does a contemporary reader make sense of it all? And what does Exodus have to say about our own systems of domination and economic excess? In Delivered out of Empire, Walter Brueggemann offers a guide to the first half of Exodus, drawing out "pivotal moments" in the text to help readers untangle it. Throughout, Brueggemann shows how Exodus consistently reveals a God in radical solidarity with the powerless.
Praying the Psalms, Second Edition by Walter Brueggemann Pdf
In this thoroughly revised edition of a classic in spirituality, Walter Brueggemann guides the reader into a thoughtful and moving encounter with the Psalms. This new edition includes a revised text, new notes, and new bibliography. "The movement and meeting of God with us is indeed a speech-event in which new humanness is evoked among us. Being attentive to language means cultivating the candid imagination to bring our own experience to the Psalms and permitting it to be disciplined by the speech of the Psalms. And, conversely, it means letting the Psalms address us and having that language reshape our sensitivities and fill our minds with new pictures and images that may redirect our lives." --from Chapter 3 "I am so glad to see this second edition of Praying the Psalms. In it Walter Brueggemann reveals the ways in which the Psalms teach the mother tongue of biblical speech by inviting us to the risk of daring candor with God.The contemporary church in North America regularly suffers collective amnesia in the face of the languages of techno-speak, market share and sentimental cliche that shape the world we inhabit. Praying the Psalms offers a surprising antidote to this chronic forgetfulness. It invites us to recover our ancient memory and true identity by learning again to pray the Psalms. I know of no better book for introducing a congregation to the Psalms than this one." --Edwin Searcy, Pastor, University Hill Congregation, United Church of Canada, Vancouver, BC "'The Psalms just don't speak to me.' Anyone who has ever felt this way should read Brueggemann's book. . . . He shows how these ancient prayers can lead us from the disorientation of our chaotic lives into a reorientation of transformation. His treatment of both the post-Holocaust Christian use of these very Jewish prayers and the troublesome call for vengeance is most timely. This book shows how the Psalms can indeed speak to us." --Dianne Bergant, CSA author of Preaching the New Lectionary ." . . Brueggemann pushes me and other readers to recognize the full gamut of passions reflected in the Psalms: joy and exultation but also disappointment, sorrow, anger, resentment, even the desire for vengeance. . . . I am grateful to Brueggemann for making me more alert to what the Psalms are saying about our common human relation to God and more honest about my own feelings as I pray the Psalms every day as part of the Liturgy of the Hours." --Joseph A. Bracken, SJ coauthor of Self-Emptying Love in a Global Context "Few persons have so lived in and with the Psalms as Walter Brueggemann. Here he takes us into their depths, which are so clearly the depths of our human existence. The piety of the Psalms is strong medicine. Brueggemann bids us take it for the cure of our souls." --Patrick D. Miller author of Interpreting the Psalms and They Cried to the Lord Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is the author of numerous works including Theology of the Old Testament, Inscribing the Text, Prophetic Imagination, and David's Truth.
The powers of death are closer than we thought. Their perils appear in the forms of increased gun violence, racism, economic disparity, and global warming, to name but a few. Faced with these threats, Christians in this self-absorbed culture tend to use their faith as a kind of palliative comfort that protects them from the truths of what these powers are doing to us as a human community, and the sufferings they are inflicting on others, particularly the poor and the disenfranchised. Moreover, it is used to shield them from responding to the gospel's call to leave survival for vocation. Using Luther's theology of the cross and the instruction he imparts in his Large Catechism, this book asserts that in the face of the sufferings in which we are situated, the gospel news of Jesus's resurrection is a call to stand in its hope and power to resist these devastations and the dehumanization, exploitation, and domination they inflict. The hope of God's life-giving creativity in the face of the powers of death is given witness when Christians leave survival modes of existence to be in their baptismal vocation of loving neighbors as themselves.
The Great Coronavirus Pandemic and Messages from the Prophets by Doman Lum Pdf
As we witness the mounting illness and death toll of the coronavirus, the messages of the Old Testament prophets offer comfort and truth. They call us to repentance and affirm God's faithfulness. Doman Lum crafts twenty-one sermons which preach the good news of God's love. The story of the great pandemic involves the impact of COVID-19, President Donald Trump, the murder and killings of African Americans, and the 2020 presidential election. The Old Testament prophets and contemporary biblical theologians share spiritual insights, faith, and trust. Lum encourages the reader to become involved in the public response, the public health programs, and government responsibility to cope with this health crisis as citizens of the United States. This book features the reading of Scriptures, profound and thoughtful sermons, and pastoral prayers. It is for the individual, family, community, and nation who seek spiritual counsel in the midst of the pandemic.
Faith Seeking Understanding, Fourth ed. by Daniel L. Migliore Pdf
An authoritative and beloved textbook, updated for the current generation of theology students. Daniel L. Migliore’s classic theology textbook returns in a new edition, revised and supplemented with fresh material. Faith Seeking Understanding covers fundamental topics for budding theologians, from biblical hermeneutics to the incarnation to the life of faith. As in previous editions, the material culminates in four imaginative dialogues between prominent thinkers to illustrate major theological debates. In addition to updates throughout the text, the fourth edition also includes a new introduction and an additional chapter on Christology. Students will appreciate the textbook’s accessible style, comprehensive reading recommendations, and glossary of theological terms.
World Christianity and Covid-19 by Chammah J. Kaunda Pdf
This volume explores how Christians around the world have made sense of the meaning of suffering in the context of and post-COVID-19. It interrogates the question of God, suffering, and structural injustice. Further, it discusses the Christian response to the compounded threats of racial injustice, climate injustice, wildlife injustice, gender injustice, economic injustice, political injustice, unjust in the distributions of the vaccine and future challenges in the post-COVID-19 era. The contributions are authored by scholars, students, activists and clergy from various fields of inquiry and church traditions. The volume seeks to deepen Christian understanding of the meaning of suffering in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. It explores the fresh ways the pandemic can contribute to reconceptualizing human relations and specifically, what it means to be human in the context of suffering, the place of or justifications of God in suffering, human place in creation, and the role of the church in re-articulating the theological meanings and praxes of suffering for today.
Neighbor Love through Fearful Days by Jason A. Mahn Pdf
Neighbor Love through Fearful Days is a reflection on pandemics--the Covid-19 pandemic, the accompanying economic collapse, a summer of climate chaos, and the pandemic of white supremacy--as well as on the calling to "serve thy neighbor" and work toward the common good, even and especially in times of crisis. Mahn's real-time reflections begin with an entry dated March 17, 2020, after the college where he teaches moved online and his family began sheltering in place; they end with an entry dated August 31, 2020, when the college reopened for an unprecedented fall term. Through the intervening entries, he reflects on perennial questions about purpose, faith, and vocation as they take on a newfound urgency as cities lock down, economies reopen and close again, and our fractured country teeters on the edge of civil war. Each entry grapples with the anxieties and opportunities, the suffering and sense of being summoned, that characterize that same period. Jason A. Mahn's evocative narrative is a story about living through a time when the world as we know it is being leveled by pandemics--and it is also a deeply philosophical exploration of what it means to live well. In the pages of this book, Mahn invites readers to muse on the difficult balance between self-care and other-care; _the role of love in social justice, and how white privilege might be atoned for; and how, amid intense suffering, to practice a faith that is not escapist, but embraces a hope more durable than optimism and a public, strategic love more fierce and enduring than previously imagined. Ultimately, these reflections acknowledge the immense challenge of living a purposeful life in the middle of crisis but invite readers to the shared hope that from the ashen stillness, we may just hear new callings to imagine healing, cultivate hope, and love neighbors in creative ways.
A Gospel for All Ages helps ministry practitioners craft messages to foster faith in people of all ages. It explores several strategies for proclaiming the gospel among intergenerational faith communities, including meaningful conversation, vibrant worship, and experiential education. Reflection questions and practical advice from experts included.