Bøger i World of Theology serien

Manfred Kohl has served in many senior roles in theological education, and holds the distinction of having personally visited more theological institutions than anyone else in history (495). He has published over 120 books and articles and has received numerous awards and honorary doctorate degrees. He founded World Vision, the well-known Christian Humanitarian Organization, in several European Countries; Re-Forma., which has set a global standard for non-formal theological education; the Galilean Movement, calling for annually an additional 1 million women and men for biblical ministry and co-chairs the Integrity Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance and the Lausanne Movement. In this festschrift, more than 30 scholars from around the world pay tribute to this remarkable man, by each contributing an article focused on the areas of his career where he has made telling contributions. As theological educators, theologians, Christian leaders and students read this book, it will not only result in his legacy living on, but will make a significant contribution to theological education, both in the formal and non-formal sectors.

1. God is the first missionary.God was the first missionary. He spoke of judgment, but also of grace. Immediately after the Fall of man, when humanity's history already appeared doomed, God did not leave things as they were. Rather, in his grace he himself came into the Garden of Eden to search for Adam and Eve and to ask, ""Where are you?"" (Genesis 3:9). Like every good missionary, God was not deterred by the fact that humanity did not want to hear the good news. He proclaimed judgment to them, and then he proclaimed the coming redemption (Genesis 3:14-21).If a missionary is someone who brings the message of judgment and God's gracious answer for that judgment to people, not all of whom want to hear it (John 1:11: ""He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him""), then God himself is and was the first missionary."" (Thesis 1)Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, ThD, DD (born 1960), serves the World Evangelical Alliance [networking 600 million Protestants] as Associate Secretary General for Theological Concerns (responsible for Theology, Intrafaith and Interfaith Relations, Religious Freedom and Persecution) and as Chair of its Theological Commission. As President of the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights (with sections in 55 countries), and as Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo, Sao Paulo), Schirrmacher is one of the leading experts on human rights worldwide and regularly testifies in parliaments and courts worldwide, the OSCE and the UN in Geneva and New York. Schirrmacher is visiting professor of the sociology of religion at the state University of the West in Timisoara (Romania) and Distinguished Professor of Global Ethics and International Development at William Carey University in Shillong (Meghalaya, India). He is president of 'Martin Bucer European Theological Seminary' (Bonn, Berlin, Prague, Istanbul, Sao Paulo), where he teaches ethics and comparative religions. His has authored and edited 102 books, which were translated into 17 languages, his newest dealing with 'Suppressed Women' (2015), 'Corruption' (2014), 'Human Rights' (2012), 'Human trafficking' (2011), 'Fundamentalism' (2010) and 'Racism' (2009).

- The Humanisation of Slavery in Old Testament Lawby David L. Baker- Slavery, Human Dignity and Human Rightsby John Warwick Montgomery- Slavery in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and Todayby Thomas SchirrmacherThree scholars discuss slavery in the Old Testament and a Christian view of slavery. They argue, that slavery in the OT had not much in common with Roman- Greek, Muslim or modern European slavery, as the slaves where protected by the legal system. They believe that there is a road from the humanisation of slavery in the OT through the soft opposition against slavery in the New Testament to the abolition of slavery by Christians and in Christian nations.The last essay contains a longer section on ""The Role of Evangelicals in the Abolition of Slavery"", that summarizes the research of the last decades showing that the uncorrupted oppositions by pious people and the power of the masses without direct political influence changed history, the first major human rights campaign of history.

Two world religions - two books which span the globe: the Bible and the Koran. Both have been and still are disseminated in the millions every year. And the contents of these two books continue to write world history. Still, in their origin, style, and message the two books could hardly be more different. This study of the two books does not have its center in the dogmatic differences of the two religions. Rather, it has to do with different understandings respecting Holy Scripture as 'God's Word.' It is from different understandings of how God reveals himself that most other differences between the two religions originate. With that said, this book also makes an important contribution to understanding the problem of fundamentalism in both religions.Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, ThD, DD, is professor of the sociology of religion at the State University of the West in Timisoara (Romania), Distinguished Professor of Global Ethics and International Development at William Carey University in Shillong (Meghalaya, India), as well as president and professor of ethics at Martin Bucer European Theological Seminary and Research Institutes with branches in Bonn, Berlin, Zurich, Innsbruck, Prague, Istanbul and Sao Paolo. Schirrmacher has held guest professorships and has given special lectures at universities on all continents.Schirrmacher is chair of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo) and Ambassador for Human Rights of WEA; the WEA represents churches with 600 million members altogether. He also is a member of the board of the International Society for Human Rights.Schirrmacher regularly testifies in the German parliament and other parliaments in Europe, as well as in the EU in Brussels, the OSCE in Vienna and other international bodies. His has written 102 books; three of his newest books are Fundamentalism, Racism, and Human Trafficking. He has earned four doctorates, in missiology and ecumenical theology, in cultural anthropology, in ethics, and in sociology of religion, and received two honorary doctorates from the USA and India.

The important term Missio Dei (Mission of God) needs a biblical foundation. The sending of God by God is a foundational motive in the New Testament. Even at the very beginning of salvation history, shortly after creation, God became the first missionary. In Jesus, God is the missionary par excellence, and in the Holy Spirit, God is the most successful missionary. Mission is part of the nature of God, and therefore mission can only be described holistically and in a manner that transforms human mission into the image of God's mission.In three chapters three important themes regarding the Missio Dei are discussed: 1. The recent history of the term in missiology; 2. the biblical and systematic foundations; 3. the debate between the Western and Eastern wings of Christianity over the ""filioque,"" that is the question, whether the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father alone or by the Father and by Jesus, His Son.Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, ThD, DD, is professor of the sociology of religion at the State University of the West in Timisoara (Romania), Distinguished Professor of Global Ethics and International Development at William Carey University in Shillong (Meghalaya, India), as well as president and professor of ethics at Martin Bucer European Theological Seminary and Research Institutes with branches in Bonn, Berlin, Zurich, Innsbruck, Prague, Istanbul and Sao Paolo. Schirrmacher has held guest professorships and has given special lectures at universities on all continents.Schirrmacher is chair of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo) and Ambassador for Human Rights of WEA; the WEA represents churches with 600 million members altogether. He also is a member of the board of the International Society for HumanRights.Schirrmacher regularly testifies in the German parliament and other parliaments in Europe, as well as in the EU in Brussels, the OSCE in Vienna and other international bodies. His has written 102 books; three of his newest books are Fundamentalism, Racism, and Human Trafficking. He has earned four doctorates, in missiology and ecumenical theology, in cultural anthropology, in ethics, and in sociology of religion, and received two honorary doctorates from the USA and India.

This volume reprints essays by seven authors from three continents, including two authors from India, who tell the story of British missionary to India William Carey (1761- 1834), whose famous 'Enquiry', An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens (1792), changed history and made him not only the 'Father of Protestant missions', but also a forerunner of William Wilberforce, fighting against social injustice and preserving historic Indian languages for the people through research and printing. Even though Carey's story has been told often, this volume concentrates on areas otherwise neglected: Carey's theology and vision, Carey's role as a social reformer, and Carey's role as a leading linguist of Indian languages.Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, ThD, DD, is professor of the sociology of religion at the State University of the West in Timisoara (Romania), Distinguished Professor of Global Ethics and International Development at William Carey University in Shillong (Meghalaya, India), as well as president and professor of ethics at Martin Bucer European Theological Seminary and Research Institutes with branches in Bonn, Berlin, Zurich, Innsbruck, Prague, Istanbul and Sao Paolo. Schirrmacher has held guest professorships and has given special lectures at universities on all continents.Schirrmacher is chair of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo) and Ambassador for Human Rights of WEA; the WEA represents churches with 600 million members altogether. He also is a member of the board of the International Society for Human Rights.Schirrmacher regularly testifies in the German parliament and other parliaments in Europe, as well as in the EU in Brussels, the OSCE in Vienna and other international bodies. His has written 102 books; three of his newest books are Fundamentalism, Racism, and Human Trafficking. He has earned four doctorates, in missiology and ecumenical theology, in cultural anthropology, in ethics, and in sociology of religion, and received two honorary doctorates from the USA and India.

Until now theology has hardly paid sufficient attention to the difference between cultures that are primarily guilt-oriented and those that are primarily shame-oriented. Thomas Schirrmacher's work is noteworthy for the way he informs the reader not only as it relates to missionary theology and activity. It goes on to inform the reader on this important topic as it relates to educational theory, ethics, and counseling from the points of view of both cultural anthropological and theology. The work demonstrates that a total contrast between shame and guilt orientations does not correspond to the Biblical message, nor is it derived from the tradition of the Occident and from churches of Reformation origin. Rather, shame was already considered in and integrated into these perspectives. The work is particularly challenging insofar as it calls for closer attention to be paid to the significance of the undisputed differences between shame-oriented and guilt-oriented cultures for the Christian doctrine of sin and also of reconciliation with God through Christ.Prof. Dr. Ulrich Eibach, Professor for Systematic Theology, Bonn, GermanyProf. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, ThD, DD, is professor of the sociology of religion at the State University of the West in Timisoara (Romania), Distinguished Professor of Global Ethics and International Development at William Carey University in Shillong (Meghalaya, India), as well as president and professor of ethics at Martin Bucer European Theological Seminary and Research Institutes with branches in Bonn, Berlin, Zurich, Innsbruck, Prague, Istanbul and Sao Paolo. Schirrmacher has held guest professorships and has given special lectures at universities on all continents. Schirrmacher is chair of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo) and Ambassador for Human Rights of WEA; the WEA represents churches with 600 million members altogether. He also is a member of the board of the International Society for Human Rights.Schirrmacher regularly testifies in the German parliament and other parliaments in Europe, as well as in the EU in Brussels, the OSCE in Vienna and other international bodies. His has written 102 books; three of his newest books are Fundamentalism, Racism, and Human Trafficking. He has earned four doctorates, in missiology and ecumenical theology, in cultural anthropology, in ethics, and in sociology of religion, and received two honorary doctorates from the USA and India.

Evangelicals comprise a movement that spans practically all denominations and even confessions worldwide. Now Evangelicals are found on both sides of the old ditch between established, mainline churches and free churches, between Reformed theology and more recent developments, and between traditional structures and all sorts of revivalist movements. That is reason enough to take the Reformer who already embodied, represented, and unified all of these trends in himself during the 16th century as a role model. Martin Bucer (1491-1551) was a leading illustration of the attempt to use Scripture to find what is common at a time when Christianity was beginning to experience the fragmentation we see today and to win back erring brothers in a friendly and sustainable manner. For a long time Bucer was the least known of the great Protestant Reformers. But in his lifetime he was as well-known as Luther and Calvin. He achieved this status without establishing a denomination or confession, but was forgotten in an age of separatism in Christianity which did not provide space for reformers who loved unity.Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, ThD, DD, is professor of the sociology of religion at the State University of the West in Timisoara (Romania), Distinguished Professor of Global Ethics and International Development at William Carey University in Shillong (Meghalaya, India), as well as president and professor of ethics at Martin Bucer European Theological Seminary and Research Institutes with branches in Bonn, Berlin, Zurich, Innsbruck, Prague, Istanbul and Sao Paolo. Schirrmacher has held guest professorships and has given special lectures at universities on all continents.Schirrmacher is chair of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo) and Ambassador for Human Rights of WEA; the WEA represents churches with 600 million members altogether. He also is a member of the board of the International Society for Human Rights.Schirrmacher regularly testifies in the German parliament and other parliaments in Europe, as well as in the EU in Brussels, the OSCE in Vienna and other international bodies. His has written 102 books; three of his newest books are Fundamentalism, Racism, and Human Trafficking. He has earned four doctorates, in missiology and ecumenical theology, in cultural anthropology, in ethics, and in sociology of religion, and received two honorary doctorates from the USA and India.

""A stimulating discussion of the problems of general revelation--particularly designed for those engaged in the missionary task.""Dr John Warwick MontgomeryProfessor Emeritus,University of Bedfordshire, England""This is a significant book on one of the most important subjects confronting Christians today: How to bring the biblical message to a world that thinks this message is meaningless or dangerous? Thomas Johnson's exposition of Romans 1-2 is a highly needed resource on general revelation, clearly written, eye-opening, compelling. I recommend this book most strongly.""Ron KubschLecturer in Apologetics and Contemporary TheologyMartin Bucer European School of Theology and Research InstitutesThomas K. Johnson received his Ph.D. in ethics from the University of Iowa (1987) after a research fellowship at Eberhard-Karls Universitat (Tübingen). He received a Master of Divinity (Magna Cum Laude) from Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis, 1981) and a BA from Hope College (Michigan, 1977). After serving as a church planter in the Presbyterian Church in America he became a visiting professor of philosophy at the European Humanities University in Minsk, Belarus, 1994-1996. (EHU is a dissident, anti-Communist university, forced into exile by the Belarusian dictator in 2004.) Since 1996 he and his wife have lived in Prague, where he taught philosophy at Anglo- American University (4 years) and at Charles University (8 years). He is now Vice President for Research, Martin Bucer European School of Theology and Research Institutes; Academic Council, International Institute for Religious Freedom (WEA); Professor of Philosophy, Global Scholars, and Senior Advisor to the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance. His wife, Leslie P. Johnson, is director of the Christian International School of Prague.