Theological Education for the 21st Century
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Table of Contents
Future Church and Outreach
Questions of Context: Reading a Century of German Mission Theology
by John G. Flett and Henning Wrogemann
The gospel is for every tribe, tongue, and nation (Revelation 7:9), but there is no single biblical or theological model for the relationship between the gospel and these diverse cultures. Indeed, every suggested approach carries its own range of philosophical and theological commitments that all too often remain unexamined. Contextualization is fraught with challenges-yet wrestling with questions of context is essential for how we understand mission, theology, and the embodiment of the Christian faith. German missiology has engaged these questions in a variety of ways that can both inform and critique Anglo-American traditions.
Available from:
Soul, Self, and Society: A Postmodern Anthropology for Mission in a Postcolonial World
by Michael Rynkiewich
“Globalization and urbanization are twin forces that are powerfully shaping economics, politics, and religion in the world today. Traditional anthropological theories are inadequate to recognize and analyze trends such as global migration, diasporas, and transnationalism. New departures in anthropology and the social sciences seeking to address these and other phenomena can help us critique and reshape the theology and practice of Christian mission.”
Available from:
Mixed Ecology: Inhabiting an Integrated Church
By Ed Olsworth-Peter
“A vibrant exploration of one of the three priorities of the Church of England’s new vision and strategy: that ‘mixed ecology is the norm.’”
Available from:
SPCK Publishing
Preaching and the Church
Prophecy and Passion: Essays in Honour of Athol Gill
Edited David Neville
Athol Gill–teacher, community-builder, advocate of justice, peacemaker, Christian gadfly! When he died a decade ago, the Australian church lost a creatively subversive native son who combined a tough-minded vision of radical discipleship with tenderhearted compassion for those whom Athol described as ‘society’s nobodies’. Athol Gill sought to show that participation in community was integral to Christian discipleship. He recognized that individuals do not have the spiritual or material resources to maintain a lifestyle consistent with the radical teaching of Jesus. Athol made the words and actions, death and resurrection of Jesus the touchstone for all areas of life (including the social, political and economic), not merely private spirituality. His logic was simple, but it had profoundly disturbing implications: If Jesus is the human expression of God’s love and purpose for humanity, his instruction in word and deed–not the values, norms and assumptions of society–should provide the church with its vision and direction. As is clear from the content of each paper in this volume, all contributors learned something pivotal from their association with Athol Gill. Not everyone shared his fanatical support for Carlton Football Club, and no one considers that he spoke the definitive word on any theological or social issue. Yet all recognize that he made an extraordinary contribution to the life of the church in Australia and beyond–as visionary, community-leader, biblical scholar and agent of justice in the prophetic tradition.
Check secondhand book dealers (listed above) for availability
Theology and Pastoral Care
Raging with Compassion: Pastoral Responses to the Problem of Evil
by John Swinton
Can we defend God’s love, goodness, and power in a world scarred by violence and suffering? Do we need to? Traditional attempts to explain the problem of evil have mostly seen it as a philosophical and theological task. In this book John Swinton reminds readers that the experience of evil and suffering precedes pontification on its origin. Raging with Compassion seeks to inspire fresh Christian responses and modes of practice in our broken, fallen world.
Available from:
Koorong
Embracing Prodigals: Overcoming Authorative Religion by Embodying Jesus’ Nurturing Grace.
by John E. Sanders
Do you wonder why some people you know hold theological and political views that blow your mind but they find quite reasonable? Today, Christians are at odds over how to understand the Bible, atonement, and salvation of non-Christians. They are also polarized over issues such as same-gender marriage, income inequality, and health care. Two social science models, Nurturant and Authoritative, explain this divide.
Available from:
Boomerang Books
Women and Christian Feminism
Grounded in the Body, in Time and Place, in Scripture: Papers by Australian Women Scholars in the Evangelical Tradition
Edited by Jill Firth and Denise Cooper-Clarke
In my bibliographies there are no women in the evangelical tradition, and no Australian women scholars.” This unique volume addresses this gap, with eighteen biblically rich and academically rigorous chapters by established and emerging Australian women scholars in the evangelical tradition. The authors consider our relationship with the land and Indigenous peoples, neighborhood, embodiment, (dis)ability, abortion, leadership, work, architecture, the media, Song of Songs and domestic violence, and Jeremiah and weaponized rape, and demonstrate recent methodologies such as a social identity reading of Exodus, sensory readings of Psalms and John’s Gospel, and discipleship readings of Mary and Martha and the woman at the well.
Available from:
Wipf and Stock
New Testament
Paul, Community, and Discipline: Establishing Boundaries and Dealing with the Disorderly
By Adam G. White
“In this book, Adam G. White examines Paul’s practice of community discipline in light of similar practices in the broader Graeco-Roman context and argues that what we see in Paul’s communities is both similar and unique to contemporary practices.”
Review:
“Dr Adam White’s book Paul, Community, and Discipline is a long overdue study on church discipline in the New Testament era. Not only does it fill a gap in the academic study of discipline and expulsion in early church communities, it also fills a lacuna in practical knowledge for the contemporary local church as it seeks to reflect the standards described in the New Testament. Particularly helpful is the insight that churches expelled members for behaviours that both endangered the continued functioning of the Christian community and brought them into disrepute among their pagan neighbours. In an era, particularly in Australia, where church disciplinary practices have been brought under the public spotlight, this book gives much needed insight into how the early church dealt with significant and damaging problems.” — Lyn Kidson
Available on Kindle
Available hardcopy
Booktopia
Old Testament
Hear Her Voice: Preaching the Women of the Bible
By Christine Redwood
“How does our gender impact our preaching? Can women express anger in a sermon? Why use a first person narrative sermon structure? After preaching for several years Christine Redwood realized both her preaching role models, and her theology, had come predominantly from men, so she spent the next six years researching feminist scholars and their readings of stories from the book of Judges. In this accessible book she shares what she has learnt including sample sermons and exercises for preachers wanting to grow in their craft. This is essential reading for preachers wanting to amplify marginal voices!”
Available from:
Wipf and Stock
Bible, Borders, Belonging(s): Engaging Readings from Oceania
In this collection of essays, scholars from Oceania open a new dialog regarding the vast, complex, and slippery nature of the Bible and the fluid meanings of borders and belongings. From belonging in a place, a group, or movement to belongings as material and cultural possessions, from borders of a text, discipline, or thought to borders of nations, communities, or bodies, the authors follow the currents of Oceania to the shores of Asia and beyond. Scholars contributing essays include Jeffrey W. Aernie, Merilyn Clark, Jione Havea, Gregory C. Jenks, Jeanette Mathews, Judith E. McKinlay, Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon, David J. Neville, John Painter, Kathleen P. Rushton, Ruth Sheridan, Nasili Vaka‘uta, and Elaine M. Wainwright. Michele A. Connolly, David M. Gunn, and Mark G. Brett provide responses to the essays.
Check secondhand book dealers (listed above) for availability
Sex and Sexuality
The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended
By Sheila Wray Gregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, Joanna Sawatsky
“Based on a groundbreaking in-depth survey of over twenty thousand women, The Great Sex Rescue pulls back the curtain on what is happening in Christian bedrooms and exposes the problematic evangelical teachings that wreck sex for so many couples–while pointing couples to what they should have been told all along.
Experience the relief of knowing that you are not broken! Elusive pleasure, mismatched desires, perpetual sexual temptation–that doesn’t need to be your story any longer.
The Great Sex Rescue is a long overdue corrective to church culture, helping couples awaken the kind of intimacy and passion God intended.”
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She Deserves Better: Raising Girls to Resist Toxic Teachings on Sex, Self, and Speaking Up
By Sheila Wray Gregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, Joanna Sawatsky
“You want your daughter to thrive–to be strong, confident, and equipped to step into the life God has for her.
But what if the church is setting your daughter up to be small?
Armed with data from an all-new survey of over 7,000 women, the authors of The Great Sex Rescue reveal how experiences in church as teens affect women’s self-esteem and relationships today. They expose common evangelical teachings that can backfire–the purity emphasis that can cause shame rather than good choices, the dating rules that can prime your daughter for abuse, and the one overarching belief that can keep her from setting healthy boundaries.
Instead, the authors advocate biblically grounded, freeing messages that are more about the dos andless about the don’ts. By reframing (and sometimes replacing) common evangelical messages to teen girls, this book will equip you to raise a daughter who can navigate the tumultuous teenage years while still clinging tightly to Jesus.
You can raise your daughter with the discernment to resist toxic teachings. Because she deserves better than a faith that keeps her small.”
Available from:
Entrust Training 