Bøger udgivet af Chalice Press

This revised and expanded introductory text introduces students of the Bible to the layers of meaning that can be uncovered by serious study of the synoptic gospel texts. Included are two new chapters introducing ideological exegetical approaches to the gospels and a concluding chapter that helps the student synthesize the exegetical discoveries they have made using the methods taught in the book.

In Mitch Albom's popular novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Hyperion 2003), Albom presents a vision of heaven and the afterlife, but the novel is not just about what happens after we die. It also offers some pretty important insights into the lives we lead in the here and now. Using the Wisdom Traditions of the Bible as their backdrop, Gilvin and Godsey bring us into a discussion of what, as Albom suggests in his novel, might truly be important in life. Wisdom Literature, says Gilvin and Godsey, expresses the way individuals experience life. Illustrating biblical concepts with examples from Albom's novel, Wisdom from the Five People You Meet in Heaven parallels each of the characters of The Five People You Meet in Heaven with the themes and insights from a particular selection from Wisdom Literature. For individual reading or group discussion, each of the six chapters offer questions for reflection or as discussion starters.

Many resources are availabe on what and how to preach, but this unique collection addresses the why of preaching. What is the purpose of preaching? What should a good sermon accomplish? What is at stake in the church's preaching for individuals, religious communities, and the world? This collection of ten essays by noted homileticians offers a range of answers to these questions. Each essay addresses the question of the purpose of preaching and what preaching must do in order to live up to its potential. The contributors also comment on what homiletics must do in the years ahead in order to strenghten the resources available for the church's preaching.

In the spring of 2013, seventeen people gathered at the North Carolina state legislature to protest extreme legislation passed by the General Assembly attacking health insurance, unemployment insurance, labor, and voting rights. The ministers, labor, and human rights activists began praying, singing, and chanting, and were ultimately arrested. That group grew into crowds of thousands at successive "e;Moral Mondays"e; rallies, and by summer's end nearly 1,000 people had been arrested, making this sustained moral protest one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in U.S. history. The effort grew out of seven years of organizing with more than 160 groups. Rallies continued in 2014, with a "e;Moral March"e; of 80,000 people in February. Rev. Dr. William Barber II, a pastor and president of the North Carolina Conference of the NAACP, now the largest in the South, became one of the architects of the Forward Together Moral Movement. In a new book, Forward Together, Rev. Barber tells the story of a new fusion civil rights movement, a "e;big tent,"e; in which black and white, gay and straight, rich and poor, old and young, Republicans and Democrats are all welcome. Rev. Barber's sermons/speeches at the protests, many of them collected in Forward Together, became the inspiration and rallying cry for a new civil rights movement. North Carolina today is at the epicenter of the political and spiritual crisis affecting 21st-century America. What happens here, says Barber, can shift the center of gravity in the American political discourse. Similar movements are now growing in states around the country. Forward Together captures the essence of what it means to preach in the public square.

Boundaries are healthy and necessary parts of life and ministry. Staying in Bounds provides straight-talk guidance to ministers and other leaders of churches and faith-based organizations on the what, why, and how of relational boundaries. Provides guidance on identifying, implementing, and enforcing healthy boundaries, with a special focus on ministry settings. The author develops the concept of boundaries from psychological and theological perspectives, discusses the benefits of boundaries, and then explains the importance of healthy boundaries in the church.

On January 6, 2011, 128 young preachers from across the country gathered in Louisville, Kentucky, for the second annual National Festival of Young Preachers. Ranging in age from 14 to 29, they came from 26 states, 25 denominations, and 65 different high schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries. Add 40 advertisers and exhibitors, 66 mentors, 32 sermon evaluators and conveners, dozens of volunteers, and hundreds of spouses, family members and friends, and you have the most unique, ecumenical, and inspirational event in American Christianity today. For three days these young people captivated, encouraged, challenged, enlightened and blessed those who had ears to hear. The Word, through their own words, continues to go forth in Waking to the Holy, a book unlike any other you will ever take and read.

On January 6, 2011, 128 young preachers from across the country gathered in Louisville, Kentucky, for the second annual National Festival of Young Preachers. Ranging in age from 14 to 29, they came from 26 states, 25 denominations, and 65 different high schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries. Add 40 advertisers and exhibitors, 66 mentors, 32 sermon evaluators and conveners, dozens of volunteers, and hundreds of spouses, family members and friends, and you have the most unique, ecumenical, and inspirational event in American Christianity today. For three days these young people captivated, encouraged, challenged, enlightened and blessed those who had ears to hear. The Word, through their own words, continues to go forth in Waking to the Holy, a book unlike any other you will ever take and read.

This book develops a theology of childhood both from a theoretical basis in biblical theology (especially the gospel of Mark) and practical experience in children and youth ministry. Mercer builds on classical theologians such as Augustine, Calvin, Barth, and Rahner as well as modern feminist theologians such as Brock and Russell. She gains insights from pastoral theologians such as Capps and Couture and from contemporary cultural criticism. Mercer challenges approaches to educational and liturgical practices with children in congregations that segregate children from the rest of the church and its key practices of service, mission, worship, care, and learning. She reframes ministries with children as processes through which the church as a "e;community of practice"e; forms children into an alternative identity that resists surrounding consumerist culture and walks in the ways of Jesus. This book offers strategies for educational practices with children in congregations as it seeks to address the question, "e;What might educational practices that welcome children and contribute to their flourishing look like in the context of a faith community where children's learning happens in collaboration with experienced practitioners of faith?"e; Outlining a feminist practical theology of childhood, it explores five basic theological claims: (1) children as gifts and parenting as a religious practice of stewardship; (2) welcoming those who welcome and care for children; (3) children as already fully human; (4) children as part of the purposes of God; and (5) acknowledging and transforming the sufferings of children.

Heather Kirk-Davidoff and Nancy Wood Lyczak believe that the key to nurturing faith lies in two Christian practices: prayer--conversation with God; and evangelism--conversation with others, especially those who are not part of a faith community. In this group resource they combine Bible study, interactive activities, songs, prayers, and discussion to explore what it means to have a vital Christian faith and to share their faith with others. In all classes, Jesus Christ and the Bible are central to the discussion, helping participants to see Jesus as the foundation from which all conversation about Christian faith begins.

This interdisciplinary conversation combines educational theory with Bible scholarship to help teachers of the Bible move beyond conveying information to revealing the transformative power of the scripture.

Exploring theological anthropology, the doctrine of what it means to be human and to be created in God's image, Fernandez argues that our life in the image of God is damaged and frustrated by the systemic evils of society, particularly classism, racism, sexism, and naturism (destructive practices against the ecosystem). At the heart of these four evils are matters of faith and idolatry, idols that demand the sacrifice of our souls, bodies, time, and anything that we cherish most. In response, Fernandez constructs an alternative anthropology that is nonanthropocentric. He proposes an anthropology that seeks connections while respecting the integrity of the individual, that moves beyond patriarchy, and that makes possible the development of an integrated self. His alternative anthropology transgresses class privileges and restores the humanity of all; it is not "color-blind" nor indifferent to difference, but sees difference as a principle of interdependence and life.

The biblical story of Dinah has often been overlooked, until Anita Diamant's The Red Tent (St. Martin's Press, 1997), that is. With equal skill and passion, Sandra Hack Polaski unravels the biblical story of Leah, Rachel, Zil'pah, Bil'hah, and Leah's daughter Dinah, probing aspects of The Red Tent that give us insight into the text and into the lives of women in the ancient Near East. She gives us a glimpse "e;inside the red tent"e; at the families, relationships, encounters, goddesses, and God that defined their lives and that define ours.

This book was written to help congregational leaders, clergy, staff, and laypersons, plan and organize a Christian education ministry from the approach of Christian formation in a community of faith context. This book provides a model for organizing the Christian education leadership committee or team of the church, demonstrates how to use the church year as a framework for planning the Christian education ministry of the church, and gives a model for assessing the effectiveness of the educational ministry of the church and a process to help congregations move toward the Christian Education Formation approach.