Reframing Theology and Film
Robert Johnston
obert Johnston has drawn together more than a dozen scholars who regularly write and teach on the topic in Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline; their contributions explore how the discipline of theology and film can flourish and mature. The book also emphasizes the overlooked and undervalued aspects of theology and film. Borne out of a three-year consultation and funded by the Luce Foundation, this project is divided into six parts. Each section concentrates on a particular theme, such as broadening the scope of films to study and engaging the perspective of film viewers and their meaning-making process.
Emerging Churches
Eddie Gibbs & Ryan K. Bolger
Across the religious landscape, profound changes are creating new spiritual maps and reconfiguring churchgoing constituencies. These changes are taking place in the United Kingdom and the United States as a growing number of frontier churches successfully take root. Whereas many traditional denominations are losing young people, these emerging churches are successfully recapturing nonpracticing Christians and the never-churched.
ChurchNext
Eddie Gibbs
While new church models have sprung up to meet these challenges, they each have strengths and limitations. Eddie Gibbs, a well-known church strategist and practitioner, candidly analyzes these models while proposing nine areas in which the church will need to transform to be biblically true to its message and its mission to the world.
Leadership Next
Eddie Gibbs
Our culture is constantly changing, often faster than we can adapt to it. Christian leaders struggle not only to acquire new skills and insights but also to unlearn what they already know. As both the church and the world change, so too must Christian leaders and their very notions of leadership.
After McDonaldization
John Drane
The decline in church attendance continues in the US and Europe, yet increasing numbers of people are turning to ‘spirituality’; the continuing impact of globalization and consumerism has been joined by a post-9/11 culture of fear and a search for truth.
In this sequel to the hugely influential The McDonaldization of the Church, John Drane considers what must come next for the Church. He presents the case for a more ‘practical theology’, a reinvigorated style of ministry and the restatement of classic Christian beliefs for the 21st century; not just as ‘things to believe’ but ‘values to live by’.
The McDonaldization of the Church
John Drane
John Drane believes that the Churches have become stereotyped structures offering uninventive pre-packaged worship to a dwindling minority. But there are exciting opportunities for growth, he argues – if only they can rediscover their creativity and flexibility.
Do Christians Know How to be Spiritual?
John Drane
After a century or more of convincing ourselves that intelligent people should be ‘secular’, it is now trendy to be ‘spiritual’. Why the sudden change? And what do we mean by being ‘spiritual’? John Drane presents a whirlwind tour of the phenomenon of cultural change as it is being experienced in the West, identifying the challenges and opportunities this presents to the Christian church. He examines the question of whether human beings are intrinsically programmed to be ‘spiritual’, offers theological reflection on the ‘New Age’ phenomenon and focuses on how the Christian community can connect with spiritual seekers in today’s world.
Entertainment Theology: New-Edge Spirituality in a Digital Democracy
Barry Taylor
Taylor envisions Christianity's future as "spirituality over religion" and believes Christians must rethink the sacred in a democratized world. Taking snapshots from numerous fields--including theology, cultural studies, sociology, and pop culture--he explores the broad spectrum of factors affecting religious life today.
A Matrix of Meaning: Finding God in Popular Culture
Barry Taylor and Craig Detweiler
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From the glittering tinsel of Hollywood to the advertising slogan you can't get out of your head, we are surrounded by popular culture. In contrast to some traditional Christian responses, which have been to shun aspects of popular culture, Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor offer an insightful treatise on its value in A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture. Rather than offering a theology for pop culture, as some recent commentators have, the authors create a constructive theology out of pop culture. Instead of passing judgment on popular culture the authors analyze its elements and ask "What are they doing?"What do they represent?" and "What do they say about the world in which we live?" Rather than deciding whether Bono, Britney, and the cast of "Friends" deserve our admiration, Detweiler and Taylor ask what the phenomena of celebrity idolization means. They do not examine whether Nike's "Just do it" campaign is morally questionable; instead, they ask what its success says about our society. |