Romans Disarmed

Romans Disarmed PDF

Author: Sylvia C. Keesmaat

Publisher: Brazos Press

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 149341836X

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Globalization. Homelessness. Ecological and economic crisis. Conflicts over sexuality. Violence. These crisis-level issues may seem unique to our times, but Paul's Letter to the Romans has something to say to all of them. Following their successful Colossians Remixed, Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh unpack the meaning of Romans for its original context and for today. The authors demonstrate how Romans disarms the political, economic, and cultural power of the Roman Empire and how this ancient letter offers hope in today's crisis-laden world. Romans Disarmed helps readers enter the world of ancient Rome and see how Paul's most radical letter transforms the lives of the marginalized then and now. Intentionally avoiding abstract debates about Paul's theology, Keesmaat and Walsh move back and forth between the present and the past as they explore themes of home, economic justice, creation care, the violence of the state, sexuality, and Indigenous reconciliation. They show how Romans engages with the lived reality of those who suffer from injustice, both in the first century and in the midst of our own imperial realities.

Colossians Remixed

Colossians Remixed PDF

Author: Brian J. Walsh

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2015-05-27

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0830899936

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Have we really heard the message of Colossians? Is this New Testament book just another religious text whose pretext is an ideological grab for dominating power? Reading Colossians in context, ancient and contemporary, can perhaps give us new ears to hear. In this innovative and refreshing book Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat explain our own sociocultural context to then help us get into the world of the New Testament and get a sense of the power of the gospel as it addressed those who lived in Colossae two thousand years ago. Their reading presents us with a radical challenge from the apostle Paul for today. Drawing together biblical scholarship with a passion for authentic lives that embody the gospel, this groundbreaking interpretation of Colossians provides us with tools to subvert the empire of our own context in a way that acknowledges the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

Romans

Romans PDF

Author: Michael J. Gorman

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2022-03-03

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1467464007

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“Above all, Romans is a letter about Spirit-enabled participation and transformation in Christ and his story, and thus in the mission of God in the world.” This commentary engages the letter to the Romans as Christian scripture and highlights the Pauline themes for which Michael Gorman is best known—participation and transformation, cruciformity and new life, peace and justice, community and mission. With extensive introductions both to the apostle Paul and to the letter itself, Gorman offers background information on Paul’s first-century context before proceeding into the rich theological landscape of the biblical text. In line with Paul’s focus on Christian living, Gorman interprets Romans at a consistently practical level, highlighting the letter’s significance for Christian theology, daily life, and pastoral ministry. Questions for reflection and sidebars on important concepts make this especially useful for those preparing to preach or teach from Romans—the “epistle of life,” as Gorman calls it, for its extraordinary promise that, through faith, we might walk in newness of life with Christ.

Naming Neoliberalism

Naming Neoliberalism PDF

Author: Rodney Clapp

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2021-07-20

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1506472664

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Neoliberalism is the reigning, overarching spirit of our age. It consists of a panoply of cultural, political, and economic practices that set marketized competition at the center of social life. The model human is the entrepreneur of the self. Though regnant, neoliberalism likes to hide. It likes people to assume that it is a natural, deep structure--just the way things are. But in neoliberalism's train have come extreme inequality, economic precariousness, and a harmful distortion of both the individual and society. Many people are waking up to the destructive effects of this order. Anthropologists, economic historians, philosophers, theologians, and political scientists have compiled considerable literature exposing neoliberalism's pretensions and shortcomings. Drawing on this work, Naming Neoliberalism aims to expose the order to a wider range of readers--pastors, thoughtful laypersons, and students. Its theological base for this "intervention" is apocalyptic--not in the sense of impending doom and gloom, but in the sense of centering on Christ's life, death, and resurrection as itself the creation of a new and truer, more hopeful, and more humane order that sees the principalities and powers (like neoliberalism) unmasked and disarmed at the cross. The book carefully lays out what neoliberalism is, where it has come from, its religious or theological pretensions, and how it can be confronted through and in the church.

Conformed to the Image of His Son

Conformed to the Image of His Son PDF

Author: Haley Goranson Jacob

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2018-07-17

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 0830885773

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With its soaring affirmations and profound statements of salvation in Christ, Romans 8 is a high point in Pauline theology. But what does Paul mean when in 8:29 he speaks of being "conformed to the image of his Son"? Remarkably, there has been little scholarly attention awarded to this Pauline statement of the goal of salvation. And yet in Christian piety, preaching, and theology, this is a treasured phrase. Surprisingly, its meaning has been variously and ambiguously expressed. Is it a moral or spiritual or sanctifying conformity to Christ, or to his suffering, or does it point to an eschatological transformation into radiant glory? In Conformed to the Image of His Son, Haley Goranson Jacob probes and reopens a text perhaps too familiar and a meaning too often assumed. If conformity to the image of the Son is the goal of salvation, a proper understanding is paramount. Jacob points out that the key lies in the meaning of "glory" in Paul's biblical-theological perspective and in how he uses the language of glory in Romans. For this investigation of glory alone, her study would be valuable for the fresh understanding she brings to Paul's narrative of glory. But in introducing a new and compelling reading of Romans 8:29, this is a study that makes a strong bid to reorient our understanding of Paul's classic statement of the goal of salvation.

Ephesians and Empire

Ephesians and Empire PDF

Author: Justin Winzenburg

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2022-07-19

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 3161611837

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While recent publications have explored the relationship between New Testament texts and early Roman imperial ideology, Ephesians has been underanalyzed in these conversations. In this study, Justin Winzenburg provides an original contribution to the field by assessing how matters of the disputed authorship, audience, and date of Ephesians have varied consequences for the imperial-critical status of the epistle. Previously underexplored elements of the Roman context of Ephesians, with a focus on maiestas [treason] charges, imperial cults, and Roman imperial eschatology are examined in light of the two major theories of the date of the epistle. The author concludes that, while there are limitations to an imperial-critical reading of the epistle, some of the epistle's speech acts can be understood as subversive of Roman imperial ideology.

Partnership as Mission

Partnership as Mission PDF

Author: Kenneth Gray

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-11-10

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1666779342

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This uniquely Canadian volume tells stories of Ellie Johnson, missiologist and director of Partnerships at the Anglican Church of Canada from 1994 to 2008. More than that, this book tells of God’s mission, and how the Anglican Church of Canada participated in that mission with our ecumenical partners. Since the Anglican Congress of 1963, through the years of the ecumenical justice coalitions of the 1970s and 1980s, through the drastic organizational restructuring of General Synod in the first decade of the 2000s, change in the church has been continuous and relentless. Ellie’s skill in managing this change remains inspirational today. In standing with residential school survivors, identifying systemic racism, seeking peace and ecojustice, and contributing to global conversations about mission priorities and practices, Ellie shared her experience and insight widely and effectively. Through personal memories and tributes, through detailed historical storytelling, friends, family, and colleagues describe their own rich experience working with Ellie. Others raise questions about the face and context of mission today, recalling Ellie’s favorite dictum: all mission is local. The collection concludes with some of Ellie’s own unpublished words. There is so much to appreciate about this deeply spiritual person, whose legacy lives on, as we draw on her legacy to find resilience and strength for today’s demanding ecojustice journey.

Might from the Margins

Might from the Margins PDF

Author: Dennis R. Edwards

Publisher: MennoMedia, Inc.

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 1513806033

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God has empowered marginalized Christians to transform the church. The power of the gospel is often most visible among those who have been the least respected, including racial or ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, women, and people who have been displaced from their homeland. Yet in many faith communities, these are the same people whose leadership gifts are least likely to be recognized. But the power of the gospel comes from God, not from other humans. This book is a passionate affirmation of the power already present among marginalized Christians and a call to recognize and embrace this power for the sake of helping the church become more like Christ. Marginalized Christians are already changing the face of the church. Will we embrace their power to change the church’s heart?