Author: Leonardo Boff Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN: 172523064X Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 192
Book Description
Why the furor over this book? Why was Church: Charism and Power the subject of a Vatican inquiry? The reason, ironically enough, has little to do with its alleged use of Marxist thought, but rather with its critical understanding of the church in the light of the gospel. Church: Charism and Power is a provocative, devastating critique of the ways in which power, sacred power, is controlled and exercised in the Roman Catholic Church. It is a militant book, a radical book, but it is by no means defective in orthodoxy. In fact, with all its criticism it offers a brilliant defense of the historical claims of Roman Catholicism. Its central thesis argues that since the fourth century the church has fallen victim to a kind of power that has nothing to do with the gospel and everything to do with the dynamics of power with all of its inevitable abuses. This historical reality, enshrined in the monarchical model of the church, was undermined at the Second Vatican Council and replaced by that of the church as people of God. This 'laical' model is closely allied in Boff's exposition with the notion of the church as sacrament of the Holy Spirit: the church as "sign and instrument of the now living and risen Christ, that is the Holy Spirit." A pneumatic ecclesiology such as this would lead the church back to its primitive dynamics of community, cooperation, and charism. It would create a church in which everyone shared equally and where flexible and appropriate ministries conformed to needs as they arose. Is such a church possible? Is it not simply the utopian dream of idealists and sectarians down through the ages? No, says Father Boff, given the incredible growth throughout Latin America of comunidades eclesiales de base, base communities, where the people express and achieve their desire for participation and where the hierarchy divests itself of its titles and ecclesiastical baggage, creating a common desire for community and equality. This model of the church has acquired an unexpected historical possibility: the new church is in the process of being born. This church, the church being born from the faith of the poor, has rediscovered for itself--and for the church universal--the living presence of the dangerous memory of Jesus Christ.
Author: Leonardo Boff Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN: 1610978315 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 193
Book Description
Why the furor over this book? Why was Church: Charism and Power the subject of a Vatican inquiry? The reason, ironically enough, has little to do with its alleged use of Marxist thought, but rather with its critical understanding of the church in the light of the gospel. Church: Charism and Power is a provocative, devastating critique of the ways in which power, sacred power, is controlled and exercised in the Roman Catholic Church. It is a militant book, a radical book, but it is by no means defective in orthodoxy. In fact, with all its criticism it offers a brilliant defense of the historical claims of Roman Catholicism. Its central thesis argues that since the fourth century the church has fallen victim to a kind of power that has nothing to do with the gospel and everything to do with the dynamics of power with all of its inevitable abuses. This historical reality, enshrined in the monarchical model of the church, was undermined at the Second Vatican Council and replaced by that of the church as people of God. This 'laical' model is closely allied in Boff's exposition with the notion of the church as sacrament of the Holy Spirit: the church as sign and instrument of the now living and risen Christ, that is the Holy Spirit. A pneumatic ecclesiology such as this would lead the church back to its primitive dynamics of community, cooperation, and charism. It would create a church in which everyone shared equally and where flexible and appropriate ministries conformed to needs as they arose. Is such a church possible? Is it not simply the utopian dream of idealists and sectarians down through the ages? No, says Father Boff, given the incredible growth throughout Latin America of comunidades eclesiales de base, base communities, where the people express and achieve their desire for participation and where the hierarchy divests itself of its titles and ecclesiastical baggage, creating a common desire for community and equality. This model of the church has acquired an unexpected historical possibility: the new church is in the process of being born. This church, the church being born from the faith of the poor, has rediscovered for itself--and for the church universal--the living presence of the dangerous memory of Jesus Christ.
Author: David Emerton Publisher: Baker Books ISBN: 1493447475 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 285
Book Description
Types of Ecclesiology introduces the study of the doctrine of the church. It illuminates the breadth of contemporary ecclesiological thought by articulating five approaches to ecclesiology. Avoiding denominational alignments, David Emerton charitably elucidates the logic and concerns driving each type. He argues that ecclesiology must account theologically for the unique nature of the church before considering its activities. We must ask what the church is before asking what the church does. Professors will find a valuable orienting text, students will grasp the stakes of contemporary debates, and scholars surveying ecumenical ecclesiology will discover an illuminating structural framework. Doing the work of the church requires discerning its essence, and this timely volume insightfully examines what is at the heart of the body of Christ.
Author: Phillip Berryman Publisher: Temple University Press ISBN: 9780877224792 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 250
Book Description
In the chaos that is Latin American politics, what role does the Catholic church play with regard to its clergy and its members? How does the church function in Latin America on an everyday, practical level? And how successful has the church been intervening in political matters despite the fact that Latin American countries are essentially Catholic nations? Philip Berryman addresses these timely and challenging issues in this comprehensive.Unlike journalistic accounts, which all too frequently portray liberation theology as an exotic brew of Marxism and Christianity or as a movement of rebel priests bent on challenging church authority, this book aims to get beyond these cliches, to explain exactly what liberation theology is, how it arose, how it works in practice, and its implications. The book also examines how liberation theology functions at the village or barrio level, the political impact of liberation theology, and the major objections to it posed by critics, concluding with a tentative assessment of the future of liberation theology. Author note: Phillip Berryman was a pastoral worker in a barrio in Panama during 1965-73. From 1976 to 1980, he served as a representative for the American Friends Service Committee in Central America. In 1980, he returned from Guatemala to the United States and now lives in Philadelphia.
Author: Don Clifton Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1595620028 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 272
Book Description
"Living Your Strengths" shows readers how to use their innate gifts to enrichtheir faith communities, how to identify and affirm their talents, and how touse them for growth and service.
Author: Constant Leke Ngolefac Publisher: Echter Verlag ISBN: 3429052904 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 481
Book Description
Charism is a hot contemporary issue. The growing interest in the charisms is one of the significant religious developments of our time. Opinions on charisms vary to a remarkable degree. Unfortunately, in some cases, diverse viewpoints have led to confusion among Christians. On the positive side though, this developing interest in charisms has contributed to spiritual renewal and stimulated biblical research in this most important area of the Church's life. The exponential growth of the Charismatic/Pentecostal Movement throughout the world and especially in Africa urged led to choice of this topic on charisms. In the Charismatic/Pentecostal Movements the issue of charisms is very vital and extremely important. It is at the centre of its spirituality and practice. This Movement has spread to almost all major Christian confessions/denominations and continues to attract many followers. This work is unique among the many studies written on the charisms. Even though the subject of charisms has received some scholarly attention, most have not delved into the role of the charisms in the Church from Pauline perspective as this study does. The following observations and reasons demonstrate that it is still meaningful and worthwhile to study charisms in Pauline letters.
Author: Margaret Bald Publisher: Infobase Publishing ISBN: 0816071489 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 465
Book Description
Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds, Revised Edition profiles the censorship of many such essential works of literature. The entries new to this edition include extensive coverage of the Harry Potter series, which has been frequently banned in the United States on the grounds that it promotes witchcraft, as well as entries on two popular textbook series, The Witches by Roald Dahl, Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran, and more. Also included are updates to such entries as The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie and On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.
Author: Nicholas Afanasiev Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess ISBN: 0268074674 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 352
Book Description
The Church of the Holy Spirit, written by Russian priest and scholar Nicholas Afanasiev (1893–1966), is one of the most important works of twentieth-century Orthodox theology. Afanasiev was a member of the “Paris School” of émigré intellectuals who gathered in Paris after the Russian revolution, where he became a member of the faculty of St. Sergius Orthodox Seminary. The Church of the Holy Spirit, which offers a rediscovery of the eucharistic and communal nature of the church in the first several centuries, was written over a number of years beginning in the 1940s and continuously revised until its posthumous publication in French in 1971. Vitaly Permiakov's lucid translation and Michael Plekon's careful editing and substantive introduction make this important work available for the first time to an English-speaking audience.
Author: Leonardo Boff Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN: 1597524883 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 251
Book Description
'Liberating Grace' is an important book on God's presence to human life that relates the new liberationist perspective to the best of the great theological tradition. The author unfolds the meaning of Christian grace in the light of the Latin American experience of dependency and exploitation. He shows that the turn to political involvement does not produce a detachment from the religious roots.--Gregory BaumMcGill UniversityLeonardo Boff's 'Liberating Grace' is a remarkable work. Against the background of traditional interpretations which may have fit the medieval or ancient world, Boff insists that grace must be understood within history and in terms of the kinds of experience we have today. Grace is no longer thought of as a substance but is discovered in the experience of relationships. God's liberating presence in the world permeates both personal and social relations, and this points to the political and economic arenas as keys to understanding God's free gift of love for humanity. Theology from Brazil has the aroma, flavor, and stimulation of something genuine, a grace which permeates all aspects of personal and social experience within the natural world. Boff works this view into various aspects of doctrine, including views of the Incarnation, Holy Spirit, and the Trinity. Chiefly, however, he makes 'grace' into a relevant doctrine for twentieth century living in the Third and other worlds.--Randolph Crump MillerHorace Bushnell Professor of Christian NurtureYale University Divinity School
Author: John Mark Robeck Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 1978710399 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 183
Book Description
This book outlines a Pentecostal theology of praxis while also providing a concrete example of how such a theology is fleshed out. By investigating various elements of Pentecostal and Liberation theologies and highlighting various similarities and differences between the two camps, John Mark Robeck constructs a framework through which a Pentecostal theology of praxis might be observed. Taking a step further, he offers a case study of three Pentecostal churches in El Salvador as an example of how such a theology is lived out. Robeck examines the lives of the pastors of these congregations, the engagement of these congregations in activities of social engagement that serve to bring about various forms of liberation, as well as the participation of the congregations and their communities in transformative actions which serve to bring about real change.
Author: Leonardo Boff
Author: Leonardo Boff
Author: David Emerton
Author: Phillip Berryman
Author: Don Clifton
Author: Constant Leke Ngolefac
Author: Margaret Bald
Author: Nicholas Afanasiev
Author: Leonardo Boff
Author: John Mark Robeck