Ecologies of Grace

Ecologies of Grace
Author: Willis Jenkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2013-02-12
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0199989885

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Christianity struggles to show how living on earth matters for living with God. While people of faith increasingly seek practical ways to respond to the environmental crisis, theology has had difficulty contextualizing the crisis and interpreting the responses. In Ecologies of Grace, Willis Jenkins presents a field-shaping introduction to Christian environmental ethics that offers resources for renewing theology. Observing how religious environmental practices often draw on concepts of grace, Jenkins maps the way Christian environmental strategies draw from traditions of salvation as they engage the problems of environmental ethics. He then uses this new map to explore afresh the ecological dimensions of Christian theology. Jenkins first shows how Christian ethics uniquely frames environmental issues, and then how those approaches both challenge and reinhabit theological traditions. He identifies three major strategies for making environmental problems intelligible to Christian moral experience. Each one draws on a distinct pattern of grace as it adapts a secular approach to environmental ethics. The strategies of ecojustice, stewardship, and ecological spirituality make environments matter for Christian experience by drawing on patterns of sanctification, redemption, and deification. He then confronts the problems of each of these strategies through critical reappraisals of Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth, and Sergei Bulgakov. Each represents a soteriological tradition which Jenkins explores as an ecology of grace, letting environmental questions guide investigation into how nature becomes significant for Christian experience. By being particularly sensitive to the ways in which environmental problems are made intelligible to Christian moral experience, Jenkins guides his readers toward a fuller understanding of Christianity and ecology. He not only makes sense of the variety of Christian environmental ethics, but by showing how environmental issues come to the heart of Christian experience, prepares fertile ground for theological renewal.

Evocations of Grace

Evocations of Grace
Author: Joseph Sittler
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2000
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0802846777

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"Evocations of Grace" gathers ten major writings by pioneering ecological theologian Joseph Sittler. Foundational to the field, these essays argue powerfully for the vital connection between Christian theology, ethics and the natural world. They provide the necessary perspective for thinking seriously about the earth and believers' responsibility to it.

Habitat of Grace

Habitat of Grace
Author: Carolyn M. King
Publisher: ATF Press
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2002
Genre: Environmental degradation
ISBN: 9780958639989

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In 1990 the Worldwatch Institute in Washington estimated that humankind had forty years to make the transition to an environmentally stable society. If we have not succeeded by then, it concluded, environmental deterioration and economic decline are likley to be feeding on each other, pulling us into a downward spiral of social disintegration. Worldwatch is no millenarian cult, but a sober and careful organisation whose annual summaries of world affairs have become the planet's unofficial environmental health reports. Its pronouncements are cautiously worded, influential and worth attnedning to, even if the timing is hard to predict. This book uses the issues raised in these reports to look at biology, the envrinomental crisis and theological response to it all by developing a new theology of creation. Based on her scientific background in the bilogical sciences, King brings together biology and theology. It covers sciecne, religion and environment, human nature and develops a theology of creation. The author teaches at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

Environmental Science and Theology in Dialogue

Environmental Science and Theology in Dialogue
Author: Russell A. Butkus
Publisher: Orbis Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2011
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 157075912X

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This work demonstrates how understanding environmental science and theology can provide new resources for sustaining the Earth. With sidebars, discussion questions, and recommended readings, the book provides students with a text that nurtures both critical thinking and ethical action.

Bonhoeffer's Christocentric Theology and Fundamental Debates in Environmental Ethics

Bonhoeffer's Christocentric Theology and Fundamental Debates in Environmental Ethics
Author: Steven C. van den Heuvel
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2017-05-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 149829619X

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There is widespread understanding of the close connection between religion and the ecological crisis, and that in order to amend this crisis, theological resources are needed. This monograph seeks to contribute to this endeavor by engaging the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His theology is particularly suitable in this context, due to its open-ended nature, and to the prophetic and radical nature of the questions he was prepared to ask--that is why there are many other attempts to contextualize Bonhoeffer's theology in areas that he himself has not directly written about. In this monograph, Steven van den Heuvel first of all addresses the question of how to translate Bonhoeffer's theology in a methodologically sound way. He settles on a modified form of the general method of correlation. Then, secondly, van den Heuvel sets out to describe five major concepts in Bonhoeffer's work, bringing these into critical interplay with discussions in environmental ethics and eco-theology. In making the correlations he thoroughly describes each concept, situating it in the historic and intellectual background of Bonhoeffer's time. He then transposes these concepts to contemporary environmental ethics, describing what contribution Bonhoeffer's theology can make.

The Holiness Manifesto

The Holiness Manifesto
Author: Kevin W. Mannoia
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2008-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802863361

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Does the concept of holiness hold any relevance for Christians in the twenty-first century? Or is it rather a relic of the past, with little to offer in today's postmodern world? The contributors to this book firmly insist that holiness is indeed relevant, no matter the age in which we live. Moreover, it is essential to following Christ in the twenty-first century. The essayists are all members of the Wesleyan Holiness Study Project, a gathering of scholars and leaders who have met since 2004 to explore the mission of the churches of the Holiness movement. The book begins with two compelling ecumenical statements articulating the holiness message for today's church: "The Holiness Manifesto" and "Fresh Eyes on Holiness." These are followed by a dozen penetrating essays grouped in three parts: (1) the understanding of holiness in Scripture, (2) holiness in historical and theological perspective, and (3) holiness in relation to various practical aspects of ministry. The book concludes with appendixes offering five considered descriptions of holiness. The fastest-growing segments of the church worldwide have their roots in the Wesleyan Holiness tradition. Catholic, Orthodox, and other Protestant denominations are discovering its relevance to their own traditions and practices. The Holiness Manifesto offers an ideal overview to those wishing to understand more about this extremely influential movement. Contributors: Jim Adams Barry Callen Lisa L. Dorsey Roger Green Jon Huntzinger Cheryl Bridges John Craig Keen David W. Kendall William Kostlevy Diane Leclerc Kevin W. Mannoia James Earl Massey George McKinney Thomas A. Noble Jonathan S. Raymond C. Stevens Schell Howard A. Snyder Don Thorsen Lynn Thrush Kenneth L. Waters Sr.

The Future of Ethics

The Future of Ethics
Author: Willis Jenkins
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2013-10-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1626160171

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The Future of Ethics interprets the big questions of sustainability and social justice through the practical problems arising from humanity’s increasing power over basic systems of life. What does climate change mean for our obligations to future generations? How can the sciences work with pluralist cultures in ways that will help societies learn from ecological change? Traditional religious ethics examines texts and traditions and highlights principles and virtuous behaviors that can apply to particular issues. Willis Jenkins develops lines of practical inquiry through "prophetic pragmatism," an approach to ethics that begins with concrete problems and adapts to changing circumstances. This brand of pragmatism takes its cues from liberationist theology, with its emphasis on how individuals and communities actually cope with overwhelming problems. Can religious communities make a difference when dealing with these issues? By integrating environmental sciences and theological ethics into problem-based engagements with philosophy, economics, and other disciplines, Jenkins illustrates the wide understanding and moral creativity needed to live well in the new conditions of human power. He shows the significance of religious thought to the development of interdisciplinary responses to sustainability issues and how this calls for a new style of religious ethics.

Lived Theology

Lived Theology
Author: Charles Marsh
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2017
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0190630728

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The lived theology movement is built on the work of an emerging generation of theologians and scholars who pursue research, teaching, and writing as a form of public discipleship, motivated by the conviction that theology can enhance lived experience. This volume--based on a two-year collaboration with the Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia--offers a series of illustrations and styles of lived theology, in conversation with other major approaches to the religious interpretation of embodied life.

Eco-Reformation

Eco-Reformation
Author: Lisa E. Dahill
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2016-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498225470

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In 2017 Christians around the world will mark the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation. In the midst of many appeals for reformation today, a growing number of theologians, scholars, and activists around the world believe Reformation celebrations in 2017 and beyond need to focus now on the urgent need for an Eco-Reformation. The rise of industrial, fossil fuel-driven capitalism and the explosive growth in human population endanger the fundamental planetary life-support systems on which life as we know it has evolved. The collective impact of human production, consumption, and reproduction is undermining the ecological systems that support human life on Earth. If human beings do not reform their relationship with God's creation, unspeakable suffering will befall many--especially the weakest and most vulnerable among all species. The conviction at the heart of this collection of essays is that a gospel call for ecological justice belongs at the heart of the five hundredth anniversary observance of the Reformation in 2017 and as a--if not the--central dimension of Christian conversion, faith, and practice into the foreseeable future. Like Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, this volume brings together critical biblical, pastoral, theological, historical, and ethical perspectives that constructively advance the vision of a socially and ecologically flourishing Earth.

Sustaining Grace

Sustaining Grace
Author: Scott J. Hagley
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2020-06-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532687613

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Sustaining Grace explores the dynamic between new faith communities and denominational systems through the lens of stewardship and sustainability. As a collection, these essays suggest that to facilitate ecologies for innovation in our current era, established congregations and new faith communities must model the sustaining grace of God to one another in creative ways. Thus, problems of sustainability are not for church planters to solve alone, but rather are related to the theologies of stewardship and the ecclesial system to which they belong. Issues of vision are not for denominational systems to theorize alone, but are given shape on their historic foundations in the creative and prophetic structures practiced in new faith communities. This book speaks to a central tension in the growing movement of church planting--the mutual need of and the mutual frustration between establishment leaders and innovators, conservators and risk takers. Standing at the contact point of that tension in one of the wealthiest mainline denominations, 1001 New Worshipping Communities and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary engage the question of faithful stewardship with voices reflecting and strategizing on each side of the tension, broadening the conversation to include those beyond the Presbyterian Church, and bringing both the academy and practitioners from church judicatories, church plants, and traditional church communities to offer a theologically grounded, practical, and generative conversation.