The Provocative Church

The Provocative Church PDF

Author: Graham Tomlin

Publisher: SPCK

Published: 2014-03-20

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 0281071306

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Sometimes Christians assume that people 'out there' are eager to listen to what the Church has to offer. But why should those we try to evangelize want to hear the gospel? Surely people will only be intrigued by Christian life and community when they see something provocative or attractive. Then they will want to know what's going on. The Provocative Church offers a liberating understanding of evangelism as a corporate activity, in which all the gifts needed to enact the life of the kingdom - to stir people into asking, 'What does this mean?' - are spread throughout the whole Church. It encourages the development of a theology of conversion that sees beyond 'becoming a Christian' to bring each individual life increasingly under the rule of God. 'The Provocative Church is about an evangelism that begins with the kingdom, not the Church. Graham Tomlin helps us see that the New Testament, while not saying much about evangelism itself, does have an awful lot to say about new life in Christ. The work of the Church is to demonstrate what this new life looks like. This in turn will provoke a response, and it is in the dialogue that follows that real evangelism takes place. [This volume] is one of the best, most honest, most theologically grounded and therefore most practically helpful books on evangelism to have come out in recent years.' Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford 'A refreshingly honest book from a theologian who clearly knows that most of society doesn't think the way the church does, and wants to do something about it.' Church of England Newspaper

An Unchosen People

An Unchosen People PDF

Author: Kenneth B. Moss

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2021-12-14

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0674245105

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A revisionist account of interwar EuropeÕs largest Jewish community that upends histories of Jewish agency to rediscover reckonings with nationalismÕs pathologies, diasporaÕs fragility, ZionismÕs promises, and the necessity of choice. What did the future hold for interwar EuropeÕs largest Jewish community, the font of global Jewish hopes? When intrepid analysts asked these questions on the cusp of the 1930s, they discovered a Polish Jewry reckoning with Òno tomorrow.Ó Assailed by antisemitism and witnessing liberalismÕs collapse, some Polish Jews looked past progressive hopes or religious certainties to investigate what the nation-state was becoming, what powers minority communities really possessed, and where a future might be foundÑand for whom. The story of modern Jewry is often told as one of creativity and contestation. Kenneth B. Moss traces instead a late Jewish reckoning with diasporic vulnerability, nationalismÕs terrible potencies, ZionismÕs promises, and the necessity of choice. Moss examines the works of Polish JewryÕs most searching thinkers as they confronted political irrationality, state crisis, and the limits of resistance. He reconstructs the desperate creativity of activists seeking to counter despair where they could not redress its causes. And he recovers a lost grassroots history of critical thought and political searching among ordinary Jews, young and powerless, as they struggled to find a viable future for themselvesÑin Palestine if not in Poland, individually if not communally. Focusing not on ideals but on a search for realism, Moss recasts the history of modern Jewish political thought. Where much scholarship seeks Jewish agency over a collective future, An Unchosen People recovers a darker tradition characterized by painful tradeoffs amid a harrowing political reality, making Polish Jewry a paradigmatic example of the minority experience endemic to the nation-state.

Homo Deus

Homo Deus PDF

Author: Yuval Noah Harari

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2017-02-21

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 0062464353

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Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods. Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda. What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

The Invention of the Jewish People

The Invention of the Jewish People PDF

Author: Shlomo Sand

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-08-04

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1788736613

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A historical tour de force that demolishes the myths and taboos that have surrounded Jewish and Israeli history, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a new account of both that demands to be read and reckoned with. Was there really a forced exile in the first century, at the hands of the Romans? Should we regard the Jewish people, throughout two millennia, as both a distinct ethnic group and a putative nation—returned at last to its Biblical homeland? Shlomo Sand argues that most Jews actually descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered far across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The formation of a Jewish people and then a Jewish nation out of these disparate groups could only take place under the sway of a new historiography, developing in response to the rise of nationalism throughout Europe. Beneath the biblical back fill of the nineteenth-century historians, and the twentieth-century intellectuals who replaced rabbis as the architects of Jewish identity, The Invention of the Jewish People uncovers a new narrative of Israel’s formation, and proposes a bold analysis of nationalism that accounts for the old myths. After a long stay on Israel’s bestseller list, and winning the coveted Aujourd’hui Award in France, The Invention of the Jewish People is finally available in English. The central importance of the conflict in the Middle East ensures that Sand’s arguments will reverberate well beyond the historians and politicians that he takes to task. Without an adequate understanding of Israel’s past, capable of superseding today’s opposing views, diplomatic solutions are likely to remain elusive. In this iconoclastic work of history, Shlomo Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel’s future.

Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism

Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism PDF

Author: Dennis Prager

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1986-04-21

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 0671622617

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If you have ever wondered what being born Jewish should mean to you; if you want to find out more about the nature of Judaism, or explain it to a friend; if you are thinking about how Judaism can connect with the rest of your life -- this is the first book you should own. It poses, and thoughtfully addresses, questions like these: Can one doubt God's existence and still be a good Jew? Why do we need organized religion? Why shouldn't I intermarry? What is the reason for dietary laws? How do I start practicing Judaism? The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism was written for the educated, skeptical, searching Jew, and for the non-Jew who wants to understand the meaning of Judaism. It has become a classic and very widely read introduction to the oldest living religion. Concisely and engagingly, authors Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin present Judaism as the rational, moral alternative for contemporary man.

Healthy Recipes and Provocative Worldviews

Healthy Recipes and Provocative Worldviews PDF

Author: Tiffany Twain

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2013-01-24

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1300851627

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This is a cookbook that contains some of the healthiest recipes ever invented, and they create food that is delicious! In addition, this collection of essays provides figurative recipes for our nation to create a better world through an embrace of holistic, fair-minded and farsighted perspectives with a deep appreciation of feminine vision and common sense fairness. The provocative worldviews included with these recipes include some advice to the Tea Party and Occupy Movements, and there are also several compendiums of prescriptions for how we could improve our societies by fairly fixing our Social Security and healthcare systems, and by advancing a progressive agenda for a more sane humanity. These ideas would help guide us forward toward achieving goals that are in best interests of almost everyone now alive, and all in future generations.