Bøger udgivet af Augsburg Fortress Publishers

According to new research from the Public Religion Research Institute, there are over 35 million consistently progressive Christians in the United States. Majorities of American Christians support reproductive justice and LGBTQ+ rights. Yet they''re erased from our public narrative--only mentioned as outliers to the fundamentalist norm.In Just Faith, progressive Christian activist and writer Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons explains how a strong religious left has accompanied every major progressive advance in our society, and he resurrects the long but forgotten history of progressive Christianity in the United States that can and must link arms with progressive Muslims and Jews to make the moral case for pluralism, human dignity, and the common good. Graves-Fitzsimmons provides a blueprint for this type of resurrection based on his advocacy work at the intersection of religion and American politics. Graves-Fitzsimmons creates a rallying cry for a bold progressive Christianity that unapologetically fights for its values to impact the biggest political battles of our time--from immigration and economic fairness to LGBTQ+ rights and abortion rights--so that progressive Christians will stop lowering their voices when they identify as Christians. ""What kind of Christian are you?"" they''ll be asked. And they''ll even be understood when they reply with a smile, ""The good kind.""

Cliff Edwards, a well-known Vincent van Gogh author and scholar, explores Van Gogh''s second gift--the surprising written works of Van Gogh in letters to his brother, fellow artists, and friends. Edwards illuminates Van Gogh''s vision and creative process for readers as a way of living and creating more deeply. Van Gogh''s Second Gift gives us another side of Van Gogh, whose poetic, creative, and original mind opened up startling insights on the creative process. A perfect book for creatives and those who want to understand more about one of the world''s most beloved artists, the genius creator of works like Starry Night. Focusing on more than 40 letter excerpts, Edwards offers clear background and insights into Van Gogh''s life and creative ideas, as well as suggestions for reflection and personal engagement. Van Gogh sketches are scattered throughout the book.

"Loneliness has reached epidemic proportions, according to many sources. In an age of mobility and fraying civic life, we are all susceptible to its power. In The Great Belonging, writer and spiritual director Charlotte Donlon reframes loneliness and offers us a language for the disquiet within. Ultimately, Donlon claims, we can find connection that emerges from honesty, and she offers tools, resources, and practices for transforming loneliness into true belonging."--Provided by publisher.

Fear of death is nearly as inevitable as death itself, so we have used modern medicine and the funeral industry to create an ever-increasing distance between us and our mortality. But these interventions have stripped death of its mystery and mysticism. Taking readers on a journey through history, guided by the mystics, Awakened by Death shows us how our psychological and spiritual relationship to death has changed over time, and helps us to reclaim a healthy engagement with our own mortality. Ultimately, readers will gain a deeper understanding of how facing the fear of death, and embracing rather than eschewing its mysteries, can help us live richer, fuller lives.

"Monsters may look and act scary, but deep down they're not so different from you and me"--

Illustrations and easy-to-read text capture a child's perspective while towering over a baby, a butterfly, and a seashell, feeling dwarfed by a giraffe, a waterfall, and the universe, and feeling just the right size.

"Expert advice and encouragement are paired with exercises to help you face down your fears, let go of expectations, stop comparing yourself to others, and make your art with courage"--

When you''re expecting a baby, all the focus seems to be on the external trappings of pregnancy--baby showers, doctor appointments, setting up the nursery, learning about baby''s development. But amid all that preparation, your own emotional and spiritual journey is also taking place. You''re not just growing a baby; you''re becoming a mother.In Expecting Wonder, Brittany L. Bergman dives into this identity transformation with wit and grace, offering a heart-level guidebook for women in the season of pregnancy. Bergman shares stories of wrestling with fear, learning to trust God''s goodness, and making space physically and emotionally for both her baby and her changing identity. By sharing her own honest journey of fear, change, and hope, Bergman offers the reader a picture of the miracle that God is working not just in the reader''s body, but also in her soul.

On the surface Liz Petrone looks as if she has it all: a family, a budding writing career, a successful marriage. But, like so many women, she is desperately lonely. She''s also dealing with the life and death of her alcoholic mother and the ghosts of her own suicidal past.The Price of Admission takes us on a journey with Liz from loss into renewed life. Raw, unflinchingly honest, and surprisingly funny, Liz writes from a universally understood place of struggle, whether that is the deep darkness of grief or the hazy, yet joyful, dimness of demanding everyday lives spent caring for ourselves and our families.Through a combination of personal narrative and common truths, Liz provides a timeless reminder to world-weary readers that, just as birth follows death, light does indeed follow darkness; and that, often, it is because of our pain--and not despite it--that we grow, survive, and--yes--thrive.

Flies are the most ubiquitous of insects: buzzing, minuscule, and seemingly insignificant, they've been both plagues and minor annoyances for millennia. Rather than ignore these incredibly mundane and seemingly insignificant creatures, poets spanning centuries--from the seventeenth to the twentieth--and continents--from North America to Asia--have found that these ordinary bugs in fact illuminate deep spiritual mysteries. In this revelatory book, Robert Hudson considers seven poets, each of whom wrote a provocative poem about a fly. These poets--all mystics in their own way--ponder the simple fly and come to astounding conclusions. Considering Emily Dickinson, William Blake, and several other poets, The Poet and the Fly brings together the poetry, the flies, and the poets' own lives to explore the imaginative, and often prophetic, insights that come from the startling combination of poetry and flies. Ultimately, the message each poet offers to us through the fly is as relevant today as it was in their own time: the miracle of existence, the gift of mortality, the power of the imagination, the need for compassion, the existence of the soul, the mystery of everything around us, and the sacramental, grace-giving power of story.

Winner of a 2019 Foreword INDIES Award Silver MedalDonald Trump, a thrice-married, no-need-of-forgiveness, blustery billionaire who rarely goes to church, won more Evangelical Christian votes than any candidate in history on his way to winning the 2016 US presidential election. Veteran journalist Angela Denker set out to uncover why, traveling the United States for a year, meeting the people who support Trump, and listening to their rationale.In Red State Christians, readers will get an honest look at the Christians who gave the presidency to the unlikeliest candidate of all time. From booming, wealthy Orange County megachurches to libertarian farmers in Missouri to a church in Florida where the pastors carry guns to an Evangelical Arab American church in Houston to conservative Catholics on the East Coast--the picture she paints of them is enlightening, at times disturbing, but always empathetic. A must-read for those hoping to truly understand how Donald Trump became president.

While Little Mole is bringing home a beautiful mushroom as a Christmas gift for his mother, he encounters woodland friends in need and shares the mushroom with them.

"In St. Thomas and India, renowned scholars trace the historical, religious, and cultural connections link India's Syrian Christian community with St. Thomas the Apostle. They use modern historiographical methods that seek to corroborate the ancient tradition that tells of St. Thomas's missionary journey to India in the middle of the first century, in which he established seven churches in some of the major commercial centers of Malabar. From this first churches, Christianity spread throughout the region. It also examines the legacy of ancient Christianity on the St. Thomas Christian community in India today, as well as explores the various cultural and religious connections between the Syrian church in Indian and other ancient churches in the east."--

Journalist and pastor Mark Wingfield describes how the congregation he serves undertook a detailed study of how the church should respond to the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender members. The study was conducted by a nineteen-member blue-ribbon task force that included wide representation of the church's various constituencies. The author served as a staff liaison, recording secretary, and resource to the study group, keeping meticulous notes of the process and the aftermath of the study.Why Churches Need to Talk about Sexuality is written for clergy and lay leaders in Protestant congregations of all kinds who need a helpful guide to conversations about human sexuality within congregations. The book also has in mind anyone who wants to understand the controversial debates about human sexuality and the Christian church today and who desire to follow a process to discuss the topic and make decisions about how congregations and individuals will respond to matters of ministry and sexuality.This book not only details the process used at Wilshire but also tells the human story of why the study was undertaken and what happened to the lives and faith of real people inside and outside the church. The author's hope is to provide a resource to other clergy and church leaders to understand why this issue must be addressed, how difficult it is to address, and what to expect along the way. As the title indicates, even though this is a difficult conversation to have, churches must have the conversation anyway.

Rural contexts are often over-looked, treated as "flyover land." But because everyone must eat, rural communities and their work in food production are vitally important to the whole of society. Mark Yackel-Juleen spent many years in rural ministry and is the founder and executive director of Shalom Hill Farms, and so offers valuable insight on the present issues of food production and environmental sustainability, and connects it in profound and practical ways to the biblical and theological tradition. The result is a clear set of powerful and actionable tools for rural leaders and ministers to help them address issues of sustainability and land use in their ministry. Everyone Must Eat masterfully shows how one can integrate the sociology of community, the secular realities of economics and public policy, and the powerful presence of God's word in order to practice faithful leadership.

Beck explores the theology of Johnny Cash by investigating a dozen of Cash's songs. In reflecting on Cash's lyrics, and the passion with which he sang them, readers gain a deeper understanding of the enduring faith of the Man in Black.

How is comedy relevant to the global crises of late modernity and the theological critiques that respond to them? For an earlier generation of theologians, whose experiences were shaped by war, tragedy was the literary paradigm for ethical and theological understanding. By contrast, this work draws upon recent philosophical, anthropological, and psychoanalytic studies of humor to develop a theology of comedy. By deconstructing secular accounts of comedy, Marcus Pound argues that comedy is a participation in the divine. As such, it should inform our thinking about liturgical, sacramental, and ecclesial life, especially if theology is to respond to postmodern capitalism's ideological imperative to "have fun." --

Using the annual lectionary as his guide, Christian Piatt has developed a devotional that allows us to read through major parts of the Old and New Testaments. Every week has four Scripture readings, glossary terms, deeper thoughts, and a closing prayer. Use it as an in-depth study guide or a daily devotional.

Between the Sea and the Sky is an inquiry into the religious world of a traditional fishing community on the Southwest coast of India. It explores the vital role religious and spiritual beliefs play in sustaining people in such a precarious, even deadly occupation. Despite periodic natural calamities and the extreme challenges that accompany their everyday lives, a remarkable spirit of resilience is evident in this coastal community. Using the concept of 'lived religion, ' Mathew explores the theological, religious, and spiritual contours of this remarkable community, and draws from them broader insights into the nature of belief.

"Managing with Integrity challenges the readers to explore different perspectives on and conceptions of corporate ethics. It is situated within the broader context of the emerging interests of the people of India to eradicate corporate unethical conduct. The massive protest against corporate unethical conduct and public opinion puts leaders, top managers and employees under strong social and political pressure. This book aims at articulating arguments for the necessity of incorporating personal integrity formation along with codes of ethical conduct to reduce unethical corporate activity more steadily and effectively. This book is an ethical guide for managers, employees, politicians, clergy, candidates for priesthood, and business students, equipping them to eradicate corporate unethical conduct from all spheres of life."--Publisher's description

"This book situates public theology within the genre of political theology. Drawing upon the distinct strands of political theologies identified by Daniel M. Bell, Jr., Gnana Patrick treats public theology as the form of political theology for our contemporary era and takes special care to relate these strands of political theologies to the Indian context, thereby opening up the theological horizon for Indian public theology. Further, Public Theology dwells upon certain prominent features of our contemporary global world and discerns the human need for experiencing transcendence today. Taking faith to be the catalyst for this experience of transcendence, it points to civil society as the interstice through which faith can be imparted to the contemporary world. And, it argues for the relevance of public theology for that work."-- Back cover.

This book looks at how Christians can think about their own theology in a manner that will allow them to not only be more open to interfaith dialogue but also to see that conversation as essential to what it means to be a Christian. For much of history, Christian theology has been used to undergird and justify imperial power. This has required a theological construction that advances a vision of belief that stands above and against the world and other faiths, or at the very least acts as the one vision under which all the others must unite. Empire and the colonizing enterprise do not lend themselves well to plural ways of understanding Christian faith, let alone a plurality of religious faiths. To take plurality seriously, we need a Christian theology that sees itself as a participant in that plurality.

With Courage and Compassion celebrates the contributions of women to nations, societies, churches, and the ecumenical movement. Through creative forms of resistance and daring theological exploration, women have enriched and advanced theological discourse and called for transformations in within human relationships with one another and with the earth. The World Council of Churches (WCC) has, since its inception in 1948, responded to the call of women for recognition of their leadership and theological gifts with efforts at affirmation and inclusion. However, all is not well. Structures and processes that permit many forms of exclusion and even violence against women in societies in the church and the ecumenical movement persist. This book analyses what lies at the heart of the struggle women go through and why the vulnerability of women continues to be exploited. It calls for a new theological vision and political imagination to transform unjust attitudes and systems that still exist, particularly in the ecumenical movement.

This work offers a series of theological explorations into questions of both contemporary and enduring interest in the Hindu tradition. These reflections build dialogical bridges with other religious traditions around matters of shared concern, including the nature of theology, vocation, social justice, nationalism, and violence and non-violence. In exploring these issues, Rambachan draws deeply from authoritative Hindu sources and offers an interpretation of the Hindu tradition to meet the challenges of the modern world.

Series numbering from series preface, page xiv.