From mission and theology to missional theology -- The Missio Dei: a mission theology for after christendom -- The christological formation of missional practice -- The church as missional community -- The Nicene marks in a post-christendom church -- The missional authority of scripture -- The scriptural formation of the missional community -- The worthy walk of the missional community after christendom -- Missional leadership for the formation of the community's worthy walk -- Missio Dei: integrating theological formation for apostolic vocation -- Missional ecumenism: the vision and the challenge.

Jesus of Nazareth is a perennial subject of interest, and one of the most influential people that ever lived. The religious movement which flowed from him produced the Christian Church in all its various manifestations. Christian believers have in common a regard for Jesus as Lord and God, in some way a bodily appearance revealing the Father of the universe. Christian thinkers down the centuries have continually tried to define and explain who Jesus was and is. This book draws together some of the best modern thinking about the biblical evidence, the beliefs of the first few centuries when “orthodoxy” was being defined, the past two centuries when churchmen have responded to the challenge of modern rationalism, and some of the reactions to Jesus in the world-wide spread of modern Christianity and in Islam. It concludes with an attempt at a simple formula which might provoke and sustain faith in Jesus Christ in the most recent intellectual environment.

More than fifty years ago, Walter Bauer's 'Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity' undercut the traditional views on the making of orthodox Christianity by arguing that in several geographic areas, heresy preceded orthodoxy. Subsequently, the ancient documents discovered at Nag Hammadi proved that early Christianity was tremendously diverse. These influences have given rise to the notion that the various gnostic interpretations are mere alternatives to more traditional interpretations of Jesus and his significance. Using a focused but broad definition of normative Christianity, Hultgren contends that such a tradition originated at the very beginnings of the Christian movements, developed, and came to dominate as the most adequate expression of Jesus' legacy. Normative Christianity - a stream as wide as the New Testament canon - forged a coherence between confession of faith and community ethos that could endure and was the basis for later orthodoxy.

This is a study of Spirit-Christology--a contemporary theological model of the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Del Colle measures this christological model against trinitarian theology and tests its viability. He investigates in particular the development of a Roman Catholic Spirit-Christology, which has arisen from within the modern neo-scholastic theological tradition. Contrary to other interpreters, Del Colle argues that an incarnational christology and a Spirit-Christology are not conflicting but complementary and that this is recognized by the older and deeper tradition. In conclusion, he seeks to demonstrate the productivity of the Spirit-Christological model in reference to three major areas of concern for contemporary systematic theology: cultural pluralism and diversity, emancipation and social praxis, and inter-religious dialogue.

Who was Peter and what was his true stature in the early church? For Protestants at least, Peter seems caught between two caricatures: the rustic fisherman of Galilee and the author of two lesser New Testament letters. And in both cases he is overshadowed by Paul. In The Life and Witness of Peter, Larry Helyer seeks to reinstate this neglected and underestimated apostle to his rightful stature as an early Christian leader and faithful witness to Christ. Reconstructing Peter's life, theology and legacy from evidence in 1 and 2 Peter, the Gospels, Acts, Paul's letters, and texts from the early church, Helyer renders a great service for students of the New Testament. We are introduced to Peter the eyewitness who stands behind much of Mark's Gospel, Peter the preacher who lends deep credibility to the account of Acts, and Peter the letter-writer whose words glow with spiritual intelligence. Along the way we are rewarded with a careful analysis of prominent theological themes in Peter's letters. And we learn much about the traditions, legends and legacy of Peter in the post-apostolic era

Is the Trinity biblical? Is it necessary to affirm God as three persons in one being? Despite a renewed interest in the Trinity in recent years, many Christians, including most evangelicals, either relegate the Son of God to creaturely status or repudiate the personhood of the Holy Spirit. In addition, numerous scholars affirm that the doctrine of the Trinity is not clearly revealed in Scripture. Is the Trinity merely a philosophical construction, or is it essential to orthodox Christianity? Drawing on hermeneutics and biblical and historical theology, Malcolm Yarnell crafts a careful and clear response to these issues through exegesis of pivotal texts from both testaments. He meticulously examines the foundational Hebrew confession known as the Shema, Matthew's great commission, the divine relations in the Gospel of John, Paul's Corinthian benediction, the opening hymn of Ephesians, and the throne room vision of the Apocalypse. Also considered are the relationships of language to revelation and history to metaphysics, along with recent appeals to recover patristic exegesis and the Christian imagination. He also challenges the reader to discern the implications of the Trinity for personal salvation as well as corporate worship.