Experiential Christianity

Experiential Christianity The main objective of this book is to illuminate the experiential arm of Christianity, and by doing so, redefine its devotional arm. The devotional arm may guide but it takes the experiential arm to confirm. By its nature, experiential Christianity can bypass religious borders as it is not a dogma, theology, or a belief, but a state of experiential being. Hence, can connect with, and be beneficial to, everyone regardless of his or her religious affiliation. In this reevaluation of Christianity its ‘living’ essence is revealed. That exposure reveals an experiential pathway that unveils a practical foundation for a moral compass to steer one through the various hazards of daily living. By learning to avoid those hazards your one and only purpose in life is revealed, which is to discover the experiential reality of the statement made by Jesus, that ‘God is within you’. Everything else is secondary. Meaning, that experience is primary as it is used to define ‘how’ one lives, acts, and thinks. Based upon that experience a moral foundation naturally arises providing a cornerstone for ethical stances that cannot be manipulated or twisted by the many and varied seductive ‘playthings’ engendered by self-interest. The depth of understanding released by the actual experiential discovery that ‘God is within you’ changes your life forever: you are truly reborn. However, that experience is not achievable by belief alone. You must be willing to experientially delve into the core of your existence to discover the reality of that statement by Jesus. Meaning, you must experience it and not just believe it. For that journey you will require intellectual knowledge of ‘how’ all the internal components of your existence function and interrelate. Without that knowledge you would easily become bewildered and distressed by the confusing quantity of ambiguous information that can block your pathway, and in despair claim that experience is impossible. Hence, this book outlines all the ‘tools’ you need to survive that internal journey and provides a ‘map’ to begin your search. Using both the ‘tools’ and ‘map’ is a personal decision that another cannot make for you. You either do or do not. There is no in-between. Does a non-material entity, referred to as God, exist? Yes. Is it possible to logically confirm that assertion? Yes. Is a personal connection to that entity possible? Absolutely. That personal connection is not hiding. You are hiding from it. This book provides all the necessary information to realize that connection. When that realization is a ‘living’ reality it transforms belief into actuality, establishing the cornerstone of an indestructible faith, that underpins every thought and action in your life. That experience adds experiential authenticity to your life confirming your eternal career has begun: and that beginning has no end.

In The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience, Simeon Zahl presents a fresh vision for Christian theology that foregrounds the relationship between theological ideas and the experiences of Christians. He argues that theology is always operating in a vibrant landscape of feeling and desiring, and shows that contemporary theology has often operated in problematic isolation from these experiential dynamics. He then argues that a theologically serious doctrine of the Holy Spirit not only authorizes but requires attention to Christian experience. Against this background, Zahl outlines a new methodological approach to Christian theology that attends to the emotional and experiential power of theological ideas. This methodology draws on recent interdisciplinary work on affect and emotion, which has shown that affects are powerful motivating realities that saturate all dimensions of human thinking and acting. In the process, Zahl also explains why contemporary theology has often been ambivalent about subjective experience, and demonstrates that current discourse about God's activity in the world is often artificially abstracted from experience and embodiment. At the heart of the book, Zahl proposes a new account of the theology of grace from this experiential and pneumatological perspective. Focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation and sanctification, he retrieves insights from Augustine, Luther, and Philip Melanchthon to present an affective and Augustinian vision of salvation as a pedagogy of desire. In articulating this vision, Zahl engages critically with recent emphasis on participation and theosis in Christian soteriology, and charts a new path forward for Protestant theology in a landscape hitherto dominated by the theological visions of Barth and Aquinas.

In The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience, Simeon Zahl presents a fresh vision for Christian theology that foregrounds the relationship between theological ideas and the experiences of Christians. He argues that theology is always operating in a vibrant landscape of feeling and desiring, and shows that contemporary theology has often operated in problematic isolation from these experiential dynamics. He then argues that a theologically serious doctrine of the Holy Spirit not only authorizes but requires attention to Christian experience. Against this background, Zahl outlines a new methodological approach to Christian theology that attends to the emotional and experiential power of theological ideas. This methodology draws on recent interdisciplinary work on affect and emotion, which has shown that affects are powerful motivating realities that saturate all dimensions of human thinking and acting. In the process, Zahl also explains why contemporary theology has often been ambivalent about subjective experience, and demonstrates that current discourse about God's activity in the world is often artificially abstracted from experience and embodiment. At the heart of the book, Zahl proposes a new account of the theology of grace from this experiential and pneumatological perspective. Focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation and sanctification, he retrieves insights from Augustine, Luther, and Philip Melanchthon to present an affective and Augustinian vision of salvation as a pedagogy of desire. In articulating this vision, Zahl engages critically with recent emphasis on participation and theosis in Christian soteriology, and charts a new path forward for Protestant theology in a landscape hitherto dominated by the theological visions of Barth and Aquinas.

God’s world is full of good things. Ice-cold lemonade. The laughter of children. College football. Scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. A late night with old friends around a blazing campfire. God certainly knows how to give good gifts to his children. But where is the line when it comes to enjoying all the pleasurable things our world affords? In The Things of Earth, professor Joe Rigney offers perplexed Christians a breath of fresh air by lifting the burden of false standards and impossible expectations related to the Christian life—freeing readers to gratefully embrace every good thing we receive from the hand of God. Helping us avoid our tendency to forget the Giver on the one hand and neglect his gifts on the other, this much-needed book reminds us that God’s blessings should drive us to worship and that a passion for God’s glory can be as wide as the world itself.

In three fascinating probes of early Christianity - examining baptism, speaking in tongues, and meals in common - Johnson illustrates how a more wholistic approach opens up the world of healings and religious power, of ecstasy and spire - in short, the religious experience of real persons. Early Christian texts, he finds, reflect lives caught up in and defined by a power not in their control but engendered instead by the crucified and raised Messiah Jesus.

How do we study Christian life and thought? How have political and cultural events influenced the experiences of Christians in different places, at different times? How has the world's largest religion been lived in varied parts of the world? The Christian Experience is the first textbook to unite traditional approaches to Christianity with special attention to art, music, architecture, and lived experiences. The material, individual, and personal sides of Christianity are brought to the fore throughout this chronological survey. Every chapter begins with a "first encounter" in order to bring the subject matter to life for students, mirroring the author's approach in his successful book Experiencing the World's Religions. This book on Christianity features over 100 color images, maps, and diagrams, and each chapter ends by pointing to additional print and electronic resources. Michael Molloy considers practices, insights, and artistic creations of Christians across the centuries. The book shows how Christian belief is being practiced in our own time, and it invites readers to imagine how Christianity might evolve in the future.

What impact does the experience of university have on Christian students? Are universities a force for secularisation? Is student faith enduring, or a passing phase? Universities are often associated with a sceptical attitude towards religion. Many assume that academic study leads students away from any existing religious convictions, heightening the appeal of a rationalist secularism increasingly dominant in wider society. And yet Christianity remains highly visible on university campuses and continues to be a prominent identity marker in the lives of many students. Analysing over 4,000 responses to a national survey of students and nearly 100 interviews with students and those working with them, this book examines Christianity in universities across England. It explores the beliefs, values and practices of Christian students. It reveals how the university experience influences their Christian identities, and the influence Christian students have upon university life. Christianity and the University Experience makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the survival and evolution of religion in the contemporary world. It offers fresh insights relevant to those working with Christian students, including churches, chaplaincies and student organisations, as well as policy-makers and university managers interested in the significance of religion for education, social responsibility and social cohesion.

'Holy Spirit and Religious Experience' seeks to find out how far the centrality of the Holy Spirit in Christian experience during the earliest period of the church was maintained or diminished in the third to the fifth generations (ca. AD 90-200). Three themes are explored. First, the sense of encounter with the divine presence, the numinous, a sense of being caught up into the divine being or being overwhelmed by the One who is beyond us. Secondly, a sense of being illuminated in respect to the truth, given deeper understanding of God's purpose, whether for the individual or the congregation, or guided in decision-making. Thirdly, a sense of ethical empowerment, an awareness of being helped by divine power, assisted in a course of action or development of character, in grappling with temptation, or in the ultimate test of loyalty, martyrdom. This book is arranged geographically, from Syria and Asia Minor in the East to Rome and Gaul in the West, including North Africa and Egypt. Christian authors within these areas are examined chronologically, from the later New Testament writers through the second century to Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian of Carthage, for the evidence they supply. The variegated picture which emerges, it is contended, reflects second-century Christianity.