Freedom in Resistance and Creative Transformation

Freedom in Resistance and Creative Transformation PDF

Author: Michael St. A. Miller

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0739173529

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In Freedom in Resistance and Creative Transformation, Michael Miller addresses the concept of freedom that is central to the grammar of Christian faith and important in a wide range of religious and nonreligious settings across the globe. He confronts the fact that despite the claimed importance of freedom there continues to be interpersonal, socio-political, and religious power hierarchies that keep some people dominant and others subjugated. The book suggests that often these hierarchies are informed by Christian teachings that deny freedom to human beings on the basis of their humanity per se. Having classified humanity as fallen, we are instructed that freedom is experienced by disparaging our humanity as we actually experience it, seeing ourselves as our own worst enemies and accepting bondage to God--the bondage reflected in the character of relations with those seen as God's special representatives in the world. Miller presents a case against this understanding of the human situation, and in the process he critically engages the Old and New Testaments along with ideas of significant representatives of Christian orthodoxy. As an alternative he promotes freedom that is finite, realistically libertarian, and relational as most compatible with the character of human beings that are partially self-creating and self-determining. Contributing to this position is the view that an infinitely temporal God, by character and desire, participates in human life in a way that ensures the requisite space for authentic decision making, from which emerges genuinely novel possibilities for human life. This dynamic has implications for the continued development of the human species and the quality of life in the cosmos as a whole.

Closer to Freedom

Closer to Freedom PDF

Author: Stephanie M. H. Camp

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2005-10-12

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0807875767

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Recent scholarship on slavery has explored the lives of enslaved people beyond the watchful eye of their masters. Building on this work and the study of space, social relations, gender, and power in the Old South, Stephanie Camp examines the everyday containment and movement of enslaved men and, especially, enslaved women. In her investigation of the movement of bodies, objects, and information, Camp extends our recognition of slave resistance into new arenas and reveals an important and hidden culture of opposition. Camp discusses the multiple dimensions to acts of resistance that might otherwise appear to be little more than fits of temper. She brings new depth to our understanding of the lives of enslaved women, whose bodies and homes were inevitably political arenas. Through Camp's insight, truancy becomes an act of pursuing personal privacy. Illegal parties ("frolics") become an expression of bodily freedom. And bondwomen who acquired printed abolitionist materials and posted them on the walls of their slave cabins (even if they could not read them) become the subtle agitators who inspire more overt acts. The culture of opposition created by enslaved women's acts of everyday resistance helped foment and sustain the more visible resistance of men in their individual acts of running away and in the collective action of slave revolts. Ultimately, Camp argues, the Civil War years saw revolutionary change that had been in the making for decades.

Jazz and Christian Freedom

Jazz and Christian Freedom PDF

Author: Bradley K. Broadhead

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2018-12-21

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1532649614

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Contemporary Western society has a strange relationship with freedom. Unbridled subjective liberty and narrow fundamentalism pull away from each other in mutual loathing while sociological forces seek to manipulate both sides. The church needs to recover and reconstruct a theology of freedom to navigate between the perils of both extremes and to avoid being manipulated by these forces. Just as biblical figures are taught through parables and metaphors, this book uses jazz improvisation as an analogy for Christian freedom. Just as jazz improvisation relies on successfully navigating constraints such as the history and traditions of jazz, jazz theory, and musical instruments, so Christian freedom also relies on constraints such as the biblical canon, church history, theology, and the church itself. Through understanding the freedom jazz musicians enjoy in making music together, we can better understand how Christian freedom might be enacted in daily life. If Western churches discover and enact Christian freedom in a meaningful way, the songs that they improvise will be as siren calls to people in chains.

Under the Oak Tree

Under the Oak Tree PDF

Author: Ronald J. Allen

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2013-11-06

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1620321920

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Two trends in the early twenty-first-century intersect to give this volume immediate relevance: 1) The emerging postmodern ethos in North America is calling into question many things we have taken for granted, including the purposes of the church; and 2) our time is increasingly fractious as groups with distinct worldviews become polarized and often antagonistic. Eleven noted contributors join a growing current that sees conversation as an image to refresh our thinking about the nature and purpose of the church, and as a process in which individuals and communities with different perspectives come together for real understanding. Under the Oak Tree employs the image of Sarah and Abraham greeting three visitors under the Oaks of Mamre as an image for the church as a community of conversation, a community that opens itself to the otherness of the Bible, voices in history and tradition, others in the contemporary social and ecological worlds. Furthermore, the book shows how conversation can lead the church to action. The book takes a practical approach by exploring how conversation can shape key parts of the church's life. Topics include preaching, worship, formation, evangelism, pastoral care, mission and ecumenism, social witness, and the relationship of Christianity to other religions. Foundational chapters consider God as conversational, the church as community of conversation, and the minister as conversation leader. "

Human Development and Faith (Second Edition)

Human Development and Faith (Second Edition) PDF

Author: Felicity Kelcourse

Publisher: Chalice Press

Published: 2015-07-28

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0827214952

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Updated with the latest research, this second edition approaches human development from a multidisciplinary perspective. Uniquely inclusive of the moral and faith dimensions of the life cycle, 'Human Development and Faith' examines the interplay of mind, body, family, community, and soul at every stage of development. (Back cover).

Power and Practices

Power and Practices PDF

Author: Jeremy Bergen

Publisher: MennoMedia, Inc.

Published: 2009-08-18

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 0836198158

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A new generation engages the theology of John Howard Yoder. These essays wrestle with questions of power and its implications for social practices including policing, nonviolence, sexism, governmentality, dialogue, political critique, theological construction, and the work of “inheriting” a theological tradition. The authors and their approaches to Yoder’s work are diverse. They bring a wide array of backgrounds to the task, from activism and church leadership to advanced studies and the professorate. What each has in common is an instinct to place Yoder’s work into new conversations and to examine it through new lenses. Authors include Chris K. Huebner, Nekeisha Alexis-Baker, Paul Martens, John C. Nugent, and Paul C. Heidebrecht.

Beyond Resistance

Beyond Resistance PDF

Author: Robert Fletcher

Publisher: Nova Publishers

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9781600210327

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This thought-provoking book is divided into two parts, each of which contains four chapters. In Part I, titled "Rethinking Resistance", contributors assert that "resistance" continues to hold utility as both an analytic concept and mode of action in the world, and therefore demands renewed engagement. Part II contains essays that offer novel frames for addressing progressive social change that might serve to replace "resistance" entirely, and thus is entitled "Thinking Beyond".

More Will Sing Their Way to Freedom

More Will Sing Their Way to Freedom PDF

Author: Elaine Coburn

Publisher: Fernwood Publishing

Published: 2015-12-01T00:00:00Z

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1552667812

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

More Will Sing Their Way to Freedom is about Indigenous resistance and resurgence across lands and waters claimed by Canada. Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors describe and analyze struggles against contemporary colonialism by the Canadian state and, more broadly, against the global colonial-capitalist system. Resistance includes Indigenous survival against centuries of genocidal policies and the on-going dispossession and destruction of Indigenous lands and waters. Resurgence is the re-invention of diverse Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing in politics, economics, the arts, research and all realms of life. The underlying argument of More Will Sing Their Way to Freedom is that colonial-capitalism is a historical fact but not an inevitability. By analyzing and detailing various forms of Indigenous resistance and resurgence, the authors here describe practices and visions that prefigure a possible world where there is justice for Indigenous peoples and renewed healthy relationships with “all our relations.”

Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict

Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict PDF

Author: Cynthia Cohen

Publisher: New Village Press

Published: 2011-12-27

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1613320000

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Acting Together volume II continues where the first volume left off, presenting more inspiring examples of peacebuilding performances in conflict-ridden regions. Where the first volume emphasizes theater and ritual's potential for resistance and catharsis in the midst of direct violence and in the aftermath of mass violence, the second volume focuses on performance's ability to bridge gaps and create inclusion in the more subtle context of structural violence and social exclusion. Drawing examples from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe, this volume also includes practical recommendations for policy makers, a toolkit for practitioners, and a wealth of resources for artists and educators.

Lanterna Rally - Theme by Grace Themes