Grace Order Openness And Diversity

In this highly accessible, passionately argued and scholarly book, Ian Bradley presents fundamentalism, born a hundred years ago in the United States of America, as the great twentieth-century heresy and aberration. He identifies and seeks to reclaim for the twenty first century a liberal theological tradition existing in Christianity, Islam, Judaism and the other major world faiths. This liberal heart is found in their scriptures and was often to the fore in their foundational stages but has more recently been overlaid with conservative reaction, fundamentalism and fear. He defines this liberal theology in terms of the four values of grace, order, openness and diversity which he suggests can be read by Christians as key attributes of the three persons of the Trinity and of God in Trinity as a whole. This book counters the growing influence of narrow, exclusive judgemental religious conservatism with a powerful reassertion of the liberal gospel of God's grace, goodness and generosity.

Examines the idea that new atheism and Protestant fundamentalism have the same historical origin, and share a range of surprising beliefs.

Against many expectations, religion has not vanished from Western culture. People are troubled and fascinated in equal measure by this new visibility and are unsure whether it is right to (re)incorporate the vocabulary of faith into our common life. This unprecedented co-existence of religion and secularism is sometimes termed the “postsecular,” and in this book Elaine Graham considers some of its implications for the public witness of Christianity. She argues that everyone, from church leaders, theologians, local activists, and campaigners, needs to learn again how to “speak Christian” in these contexts. They need to articulate credible theological justifications for their involvement in public life and to justify the very relevance of their faith to a culture that no longer grants automatic privilege or credence. This entails a retrieval of the ancient practice of apologetics, in order to encourage and equip Christians to defend and commend their core principles and convictions in public. This “new apologetics” involves discerning the actions of God in the world, participating in the praxis of God’s mission and bearing witness in word and deed. Rather than being an adversarial or argumentative process, this is an invitation to dialogue and to the rejuvenation of our public life.

The interrelationship of music and theology is a burgeoning area of scholarship in which conceptual issues have been explored by musicologists and theologians including Jeremy Begbie, Quentin Faulkner and Jon Michael Spencer. Their important work has opened up opportunities for focussed, critical studies of the ways in which music and theology can be seen to interact in specific repertoires, genres, and institutions as well as the work of particular composers, religious leaders and scholars. This collection of essays explores such areas in relation to the religious, musical and social history of nineteenth-century Britain. The book does not simply present a history of sacred music of the period, but examines the role of music in the diverse religious life of a century that encompassed the Oxford Movement, Catholic Emancipation, religious revivals involving many different denominations, the production of several landmark hymnals and greater legal recognition for religions other than Christianity. The book therefore provides a valuable guide to the music of this complex historical period.

In Religion, Migration and Identity scholars from various disciplines explore issues related to identity and religion, that people - individually and communally -, encounter when affected by migration dynamics; the volume foregrounds methodology as its main concern.

At a time of heightened neoliberal globalisation and crisis, welfare state retrenchment and desecularisation of society, amid uniquely European controversies over immigration, integration and religious-based radicalism, this timely book explores the role played by faith-based organisations (FBOs), which are growing in importance in the provision of social services in the European context. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the contributions to the volume present original research examples and a pan-European perspective to assess the role of FBOs in combating poverty and various expressions of exclusion and social distress in cities across Europe. This significant and highly topical volume should become a vital reference source for the burgeoning number of studies that are likely follow and will make essential reading for students and academics in social policy, sociology, geography, politics, urban studies and theology/ religious studies.

"Can't you hear those little bells tinkling? Down on your knees! They're bringing the sacraments to a dying God," wrote Heinrich Heine in 1834. It took a while but today it is happening. Across the Western world the traditional picture of God is dying, and institutional religion collapsing. Today we are trying something never done before, living with no agreed narrative that tells us who we are and with a materialist view of life. It isn't enough. An idea of God may have died but the mystery of our human life is of an inner depth which is not simply physical or material. Marvel, mystery, wonder, beauty, love, the numinous, the mysterium tremendum, remain the essence of who we are. What I am trying to do is describe this experience in such a way that those who have not had it can get a glimpse of it from inside and understand how it can give a life meaning and purpose. This is explored through a liberal Christian tradition committed to social justice and honest exploration. Scripture is vital to this but so are art, poetry, music, and beauty. When most people are looking the other way, we must keep the rumor of God alive.

Paul Tillich (1886–1965) is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. By bringing his thought together with the theology and practices of an important contemporary Christian movement, Pentecostalism, this volume provokes active, productive, critical, and creative dialogue with a broad range of theological topics. These essays stimulate robust conversation, engage on common ground regarding the work of the Holy Spirit, and offer significant insights into the universal concerns of Christian theology and Paul Tillich and his legacy.