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God's Wider Presence

God's Wider Presence PDF Author: Robert K. Johnston
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1441246282
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 365

Book Description
What are we to make of those occasional yet illuminating experiences of God's presence that occur outside both church and Scripture? We may encounter God's revelatory presence as we experience a beautiful sunset, the birth of a child, or a work of art, music, or literature. While theologians have tended to describe such experiences abstractly as mere traces or echoes, those involved often recognize such moments of transcendence as transformative. Here senior theologian Robert Johnston explores how Christians should think theologically about God's wider revelatory presence that is mediated outside the church through creation, conscience, and culture. The book offers a robust, constructive biblical theology of general revelation, rooting its insights in the broader Trinitarian work of the Spirit. Drawing in part from the author's theological engagement with film and the arts, the book helps Christians understand personal moments of experiencing God's transcendence and accounts for revelatory experiences of those outside the believing community. It also shows how God's revelatory presence can impact our interaction with nonbelievers and those of other faiths.

God's Wider Presence

God's Wider Presence PDF Author: Robert K. Johnston
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1441246282
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 365

Book Description
What are we to make of those occasional yet illuminating experiences of God's presence that occur outside both church and Scripture? We may encounter God's revelatory presence as we experience a beautiful sunset, the birth of a child, or a work of art, music, or literature. While theologians have tended to describe such experiences abstractly as mere traces or echoes, those involved often recognize such moments of transcendence as transformative. Here senior theologian Robert Johnston explores how Christians should think theologically about God's wider revelatory presence that is mediated outside the church through creation, conscience, and culture. The book offers a robust, constructive biblical theology of general revelation, rooting its insights in the broader Trinitarian work of the Spirit. Drawing in part from the author's theological engagement with film and the arts, the book helps Christians understand personal moments of experiencing God's transcendence and accounts for revelatory experiences of those outside the believing community. It also shows how God's revelatory presence can impact our interaction with nonbelievers and those of other faiths.

God's Presence

God's Presence PDF Author: Frances Young
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107038375
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 489

Book Description
Explores how teachings of the church fathers can be applied today, despite the differences in our intellectual and ecclesial environments.

How God Becomes Real

How God Becomes Real PDF Author: T.M. Luhrmann
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691211981
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faith How do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people—as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn’t easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort—by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others—helps to explain the enduring power of faith. Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more. A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits—but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.

The People of God's Presence

The People of God's Presence PDF Author: Terry L. Cross
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1493417967
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
In an age when the church is sometimes viewed as irrelevant and inauthentic, leading Pentecostal theologian Terry Cross calls the people of God to a radical change of structure and mission based on theological principles. Cross, whose work is respected by scholars from across the ecumenical landscape, offers an introduction to ecclesiology that demonstrates how Pentecostals can contribute to and learn from the church catholic. A forthcoming volume by the author, Serving the People of God's Presence, will focus on the role of leadership in the church.

The Illusion of God's Presence

The Illusion of God's Presence PDF Author: John C. Wathey
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1633880745
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 464

Book Description
An essential feature of religious experience across many cultures is the intuitive feeling of God's presence. More than any rituals or doctrines, it is this experience that anchors religious faith, yet it has been largely ignored in the scientific literature on religion.Starting with a vivid narrative account of the life-threatening hike that triggered his own mystical experience, biologist John Wathey takes the reader on a scientific journey to find the sources of religious feeling and the illusion of God's presence. His book delves into the biological origins of this compelling feeling, attributing it to innate neural circuitry that evolved to promote the mother-child bond. Dr. Wathey argues that evolution has programmed the infant brain to expect the presence of a loving being who responds to the child's needs. As the infant grows into adulthood, this innate feeling is eventually transferred to the realm of religion, where it is reactivated through the symbols, imagery, and rituals of worship. The author interprets our various conceptions of God in biological terms as illusory supernormal stimuli that fill an emotional and cognitive vacuum left over from infancy. These insights shed new light on some of the most vexing puzzles of religion, like the popular belief in a god who is judgmental and punishing, yet also unconditionally loving; the extraordinary tenacity of faith; the greater religiosity of women relative to men; religious obsessions with sex; the mysterious compulsion to pray; the seemingly irrepressible feminine attributes of God, even in traditionally patriarchal religions; and the strange allure of cults. Finally, Dr. Wathey considers the hypothesis that religion evolved to foster reproductive success, arguing that, in an age of potentially ruinous overpopulation, magical thinking has become a luxury we can no longer afford, one that distracts us from urgent threats to our planet.Deeply researched yet elegantly written in a jargon-free and accessible style, this book presents a compelling interpretation of the evolutionary origins of spirituality and religion.

God’s Praise and God’s Presence

God’s Praise and God’s Presence PDF Author: Gabriele G. Braun
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532655088
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
The main aim of this book is to provide an answer to the question: is there a connection between God's people's praise and God's presence? The central argument is that Scripture in both Testaments testifies to a correlation between human praise and divine presence. This hypothesis has been investigated in the light of contemporary Christian worship culture and the ensuing need for further biblical studies, which represents the background for this investigation. The study achieves the above aim by applying biblical theology as a discipline and canonical and intertextual models as a method.

Wide Welcome

Wide Welcome PDF Author: Jessicah Krey Duckworth
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 0800699394
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 138

Book Description
Jessicah Krey Duckworth presents the stark differences between the established congregation, which cares for current members and congregational identity, and the disestablished one, which gains purpose and identity in the task of relating to the newcomer. By allowing the questions, insights, and experiences of newcomers to reverberate through the entire congregation, both they and the church are changed. Wide Welcome does far more than point out the faults and weaknesses in current practice. Duckworth intentionally lays out possible designs for newcomer welcome that are local and particular. Book jacket.

Presence, Power and Promise

Presence, Power and Promise PDF Author: David G. Firth
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830839577
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 417

Book Description
From the first verses of Genesis, the Spirit of God makes a dramatic appearance in the Bible. However, despite the importance of the Spirit in the Old Testament, it has been the focus of surprisingly little scholarship. In response, this volume assemblesa host of premier Old Testament scholars to address various aspects of the subject. Major thematic essays and studies of relevant biblical texts are arranged in eight main sections: orientation of the Ancient Near Eastern context; the Spirit and its relation to creation, wisdom, creativity, prophecy, leadership and the future, and finally the Spirit at Qumran.

Into God's Presence

Into God's Presence PDF Author: Richard N. Longenecker
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802848833
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Book Description
One cannot fully understand the New Testament without grasping the importance of prayer throughout its pages. "Into God's Presence" offers a comprehensive look at the nature and use of prayer in the life and ministry of Jesus, in His teachings, and among His earliest followers.

A Critical Examination of the Doctrine of Revelation in Evangelical Theology

A Critical Examination of the Doctrine of Revelation in Evangelical Theology PDF Author: Carisa A. Ash
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498201938
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Book Description
How God reveals himself is an important matter for Christians, especially evangelicals. For too long, Carisa Ash contends, evangelicals have rightly affirmed that God reveals through the created world, but then they functionally neglect such revelation. In this monograph Ash offers a corrective to this practice by presenting a theology of revelation that explores the commonalities between various forms of revelation (world, written and spoken word, and Incarnate Word). Particularly aimed at theologians interested in theological method, Ash's study will also benefit people interested in faith and learning or interdisciplinary integration. Ash argues that evangelicals must strive to align more closely their affirmations and their practice. Her critique of current practices in theological method and integration, along with the proposed theology of revelation, are designed to help move the conversation forward.