Our Concern With The Theology Of Crisis

"The lectures--and this book--are intended only for those who are inclined to feel a 'concern' for the present crisis of Society and of the Church. The aim is missed if the hearer or reader retains the aloof attitude of a spectator, and does not come to realize that the crisis is his personal concern, the crisis of the individual." --From the preface

"The lectures--and this book--are intended only for those who are inclined to feel a 'concern' for the present crisis of Society and of the Church. The aim is missed if the hearer or reader retains the aloof attitude of a spectator, and does not come to realize that the crisis is his personal concern, the crisis of the individual." --From the preface

When we speak of the “environmental crisis” facing the planet, we reduce the coming catastrophe to a physical problem. In Rediscovering Our Home, Joshtrom Kureethadam seeks to extend the current understanding of what is truly an ecological crisis to include ethical and spiritual perspectives, arguing that the crisis is not merely an environmental problem, but is truly 'eco-logical' (a discourse about our common home - oikos) in nature. In its careful incorporation of the latest science around issues such as environmental degradation, pollution, climate change, and food production, this book also enters into dialogue with various disciplines in understanding the contemporary ecological crisis, adding to this theological meditation a depth of vision that yields up profound insights about our present milieu and future home.

As we are faced with recurring crises--financial, migration, climate, etc.--there is a need to reconsider public theology as both a practice and a field of study. By discussing public statements made by Christians faced with different kinds of crisis, this book contributes to the development and understanding of public theology. The public statements addressed are three kairos documents: The Kairos Document from South Africa in the mid-1980s; The Road to Damascus document from authors in developing countries, issued in 1989; and the Palestinian Kairos Document from 2009. The discussion is structured around three problems of public theology: social analysis, politics and ethics, and language and voice. Fretheim suggests a constructionist understanding of public theology--a public theology that interrupts current debates and expands the imagination of the public sphere. As public theology is concerned with public life and social issues, Interruption and Imagination will be of interest to scholars and students of theology, political science, sociology, and religious studies, as well as practitioners, policymakers, and professionals in the public sector, civil society, churches, and Christian organizations.

"In this book Douglas Hall presents the outline of a Canadian theology. . . . People hope that things will get better and better. . . . Douglas Hall contrasts this cultural optimism with Christian hope. . . . He argues that the divine promises do not assure us of progress in history; what they offer us instead is a qualitative transformation of society . . . hope for Canada." --Gregory Baum

Walter W. Bryden was Principal of Knox College, Toronto, after the Second World War, and one of the leading Presbyterian theologians of the period from the 1920s to the 1950s. In The Neo-Orthodox Theology of W.W. Bryden, John Vissers makes an important contribution by analysing Bryden's thought, placing it in the context of contemporary European and American theology. Vissers emphasises in particular Bryden's role in introducing and popularising the ideas of Karl Barth in North America prior to the translation of Barth's Commentary on Romans into English, and his Neo-Orthodox theology owed much to Barthian ideas. In his most important work, The Christian's Knowledge of God, Bryden challenged the modernist emphasis on the rational, arguing for a Christocentric doctrine of Revelation. Vissers brings a wealth of scholarship and research to his subject, revealing Bryden's pivotal role in the development of neo-orthodoxy within the Protestant tradition in North America, a role that previous studies have often failed to explore.