This text explores how it is that the traditional Jewish way of life is intelligible, deep, persuasive, and worth sustaining. It draws upon the work of Mordecai Kaplan in articulating the strategy of religion as an anthropological necessity and upon Abraham Herschel for the strategy the religious life as artful experience. It links the art of the religious life with the art of depicting the religious life.

Piety is often regarded with a pejorative bias: a "pious" person is thought to be overly religious, supercilious even. Yet historically the concept of piety has played an important role in Christian theology and practice. For Abraham Heschel, piety describes the contours of a life compatible with God's presence. While much has been made of Heschel's concept of pathos, relatively little attention has been given to the pivotal role of piety in his thought, with the result that the larger methodological implications of his work for both Jewish and Christian theology have been overlooked. Grounding Heschel's work in Husserl, Dilthey, Schiller and Heidegger, the book explores his phenomenological method of "penetrating the consciousness of the pious person in order to perceive the divine reality behind it." The book goes on to consider the significance of Heschel's methodology in view of the theocentric ethics of Gustafson and Hauerwas and the post-modern context reflected in the works of Levinas, Vattimo, Marion and the Radical Orthodoxy movement.

Introduction : religious toleration and the Reformation of the refugees -- Religious refugees and the rise of confessional tensions -- Calvinist discipline and the boundaries of religious toleration -- The strained hospitality of the Lutheran community -- Surviving dissent : Mennonites and Catholics in Wesel -- The practice of toleration : religious life in Reformation-era Wesel.

Many Christian colleges promote worldview formation as part of their purpose and learning objectives. An institution teaches a worldview with intentionality, enculturates it through community life, reinforces it through human interaction, and passes it on through symbols and stories. Accreditation standards often require colleges to demonstrate how their programs support the development of a biblical worldview. This requirement necessitates a search for teaching and assessment approaches that can best serve this essential goal. In this book, the author reports on qualitative research with Bible colleges and offers a pedagogical theory for supporting students’ lifelong development of worldview. This theory shows how college teachers can clarify their goals, set relevant objectives, employ effective teaching strategies, and design helpful assessment methods.

Learn to set priorities and have the courage to take reasonable risks. Church leaders know how to think reactively. They know how to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and identify their opportunities and threats. They react to any number of emerging situations. What they don't do is think ahead to sustain effective ministries.They know how to plan strategically. They know how to choose new curricula, tap new sources of funding, recruit committees, and manage time. Church leaders often do not know how to think strategically, looking around and ahead to keep pace with society. Five year plans become irrelevant after five weeks. Strategies generated from leadership retreats collect dust in closets. In Strategic Thinking, Tom Bandy provides step-by-step plans to guide church leaders to set boundaries, align resources to visions, and hold church leaders and members accountable for integrity and purpose. In this book, you will learn how to reliably and regularly research the community surrounding your church, discern divine presence, and assess effectiveness. You'll find tools to help you set priorities and have the courage to take reasonable risks. It is possible for church leaders to think strategically. Do not unnecessarily throw up your hands in despair, react to whatever happens next, or surrender to some authority (individual or institutional) that will tell you what to do. The methods in this book provide a way to make good decisions and timely adjustments to get measurable results.

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