In Ephraim Radner, Hosean Wilderness, and the Church in the Post-Christendom West, Erickson offers an interpretation and constructive intervention of Ephraim Radner’s oeuvre through a theological interpretation of Hosea. She concludes that a poetic, eschatological posture should dictate the church’s shape today.

The volume of literature in pentecostal theology has quickly become daunting. This brief monograph brings readers up to speed on the characteristics of pentecostal theology in the past and present, as well as its potential in the future.

Desert, Wilderness, Wasteland, and Word features an English translation of a recently discovered and until-now unpublished essay of Jacques Ellul's that examines the significance of the desert from biblical, theological, and ethical perspectives. It also provides an introduction that contextualizes Ellul's piece, and five incendiary essays that critically reflect on Ellul's work. Altogether, this volume offers fresh and provocative insight into the writings of Jacques Ellul during a historical moment that appears to be on its way to, or already in, a desert, wilderness, and wasteland, with many people in it who are desperate for encounters with a new, revitalizing Word.

The hermeneutic contribution of the French theologian and sociologist Jacques Ellul is given new prominence in this striking collection of essays, revealing him to be one of the twentieth century's most creative and insightful interpreters of the Bible. With a breadth of contributors ranging from established biblical scholars and theologians to pastoral practitioners, from top Ellul scholars to emerging voices - and including six first-time English translations of Ellul's own articles - this volume not only provides a detailed overview of Ellul's biblical approach but also constitutes a crucial moment in Ellul's theological reception. The essays gathered here represent a clear demonstration that the full potential of Ellul's theological interpretation of Scripture to rejuvenate and reconfigure contemporary biblical hermeneutics has yet to be seen.

Socio-Anthropological Approaches to Religion: Environmental Hope interprets the fundamental functions of spirituality through the theories and practices of hope and understanding the futuristic aspiration of new religious movements. The book portrays a neutral notion of hope that can be either religious or humanistic in the face of the suffering or despair of present reality. The concept of hope (or hopelessness) is demonstrated in each chapter under the global circumstance of health risk. Part One represents the various theories of hope in Christian history, ecology and climate, the Sabbath and surveillance, and the triune God. The insecure situation that creates the expectation of hope is demonstrated in Part Two, where the case studies of terrorist attacks, immigration, volunteering behavior, religious education, and medieval Islamic tradition indicate social unbalance. The last section illustrates the cultural anthropology of hope through the activities of different native new religious movements including the Moonies’ Unification movement, Yoruba Nigerian indigenous spirituality, and Cosmovisions of Sepik New Guinea. This book examines hope as a crucial element of human’s internal healing beyond medical technology.

The history and theology of figural reading -- Figural history as a question -- The fate of figural reading -- Imagining figural time -- Creative omnipotence and the figures of scripture -- Figural speech and the incarnational synecdoche -- Figural reading in practice -- Juxtapositional reading and the force of the lectionary -- Trinitarian love means two testaments -- The Word's work: figural preaching and scriptural conformance -- Four figural sermons.

Ron Haflidson places the theology of Augustine in conversation with contemporary authors, who warn of the dangers of abandoning solitude for constant (often technological) connection. Haflidson addresses an essential question that has previously been neglected: What difference does it make to the practice of solitude if one believes that even in the absence of any human company, God is always intimately present? For Augustine, solitude is a moral necessity: he recommends that we regularly retreat from the crowd into the depths of our conscience, where we can dwell alone in the company of God, and enter into dialogue before and with God about who we are and how we love. Throughout this book, Haflidson pairs close readings of Augustine with those of noted cartographers of our inner lives, literary greats including Jane Austen, George Eliot, Marilynne Robinson and George Saunders. This book explores what undiscovered possibilities may lie in solitude.