One of today's leading theologians tackles some of the most significant themes in contemporary theology. Douglas Farrow explores key theological loci such as nature and grace and justification and sanctification; introduces theological giants such as Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, and Barth; and examines contemporary questions about sacraments and unity. Throughout his explorations, Farrow invites readers to consider how to negotiate controversy in Christian theology, especially between Catholics and Protestants, arguing that theology does its best work at the intersection of topics in dispute.

This book argues that relationships between religion and development in faith-based development work are constructed through repeated processes of negotiation. Rather than being a neat and tidy relationship, faith-based development work is complex and multifaceted: an ongoing series of negotiations between theological interpretations and theories of human development; between identities as professional practitioners and as believers; between different religious traditions at local, regional and international levels; and between institutional structures and individual agency. In particular, the book draws on a deep ethnographic study of Christian faith-based development work in the Bolivian Andes. The case study highlights the importance of seeing theological interpretations as being firmly embedded in local religious and cultural systems involved in a constant process of identity construction. Overall, the book argues that religion should not be seen as homogeneous, or either 'good' or 'bad' for development; instead, we must recognise that institutional faith-based identities are constructed in many ways, formal, theological and interpersonal, and any tensions between ‘religious’ and ‘development’ goals must be worked through in an ongoing recognition of that complexity. This book will be of interest to researchers working in development studies and religious studies, as well as to practitioners and policymakers with an interest in faith-based development work.

Old assumptions - rational, objectivist, absolutist - have for the most part given way to new outlooks, which can be grouped under the term postmodern. What does this new situation imply for the church and for Christian proclamation? Can one find in this new situation opportunity as well as dilemma? How can central biblical themes - self, world, and community - be interpreted and imagined creatively and concretely in this new context? Our task, Brueggemann contends, is not to construct a full alternative world, but rather to fund - to provide the pieces, materials, and resources out of which a new world can be imagined. The place of liturgy and proclamation is "a place where people come to receive new materials, or old materials freshly voiced, which will fund, feed, nurture, nourish, legitimate, and authorize a counterimagination of the world". Six exegetical examples of such a new approach to the biblical text are included.

Wrestling with Angels gathers writings by Rowan Williams, spanning the years 1980-2000. It focuses on his engagement with a range of modern theologians and philosophers - Hegel, Wittgenstein, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Balthasar, Simone Weil, Marilyn McCord Adams, and more. Key themes explored in this volume include negative theology, postmodernity, violence, innocence, divine action, and the nature of historical development in theology.--From publisher's description.

'Ordinary theology' characterizes the reflective God-talk of the great majority of churchgoers, and others who remain largely untouched by the assumptions, concepts and arguments that academic theology takes for granted. Astley coined the phrase in his innovative study, Ordinary Theology: Looking, Listening and Learning in Theology, arguing that 'speaking statistically ordinary theology is the theology of God's Church'. Exploring Ordinary Theology presents fresh contributions from a wide range of authors, who address the theological, empirical and practical dimensions of this central feature of ordinary Christian existence and the life of the Church.

.".. slightly revised version of a doctoral dissertation ... Emory University on April 12, 2010" p. [v].