Beyond Theological Tourism

Beyond Theological Tourism PDF Author: Susan Thistlethwaite
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1592444156
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
Since the early days of liberation theology, Northern Hemisphere theological education has used the phrase "solidarity with the oppressed" to denote the religiously and morally appropriate response to situations of violence and oppression. Yet efforts to inculcate solidarity of heart and mind often devolve into a kind of "theological tourism" wherein professors and students visit oppressed communities without truly participating as subjects in the subjectivity of the marginalized. 'Beyond Theological Tourism' shows how one group of theological teacher-mentors and students attempt to overcome the limits of visits as "tourists of the revolution" to exotic locations. Starting from the challenge of Robert Evans of the Plowshares Institute, a group of Chicago-based Christians struggled with new modes of education for prospective ministers. The editors and contributors--Claude Marie Barbour, Clinton E. Stockwell, Anthony J. Gittins, C.S.Sp., Eleanor Doidge, Yoshiro Ishida, Heidi Hadsell, Dow Edgerton, Kathleen Billman, Peggy DesJarlait, and Depaul Genska, O.F.M.--have put together a book of active collaboration, insightful debate, and self-critical analysis. Theological tourism, they find, is counterproductive and may give the wrong lessons. An immersion that respects the subjectivity and cultural integrity of the persons among whom middle-class trainees work and live can be marvelous experiences for both host communities and their visitors . . . but successful immersion is dauntingly difficult to do.

Beyond Theological Tourism

Beyond Theological Tourism PDF Author: Susan Thistlethwaite
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1592444156
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 183

Get Book

Book Description
Since the early days of liberation theology, Northern Hemisphere theological education has used the phrase "solidarity with the oppressed" to denote the religiously and morally appropriate response to situations of violence and oppression. Yet efforts to inculcate solidarity of heart and mind often devolve into a kind of "theological tourism" wherein professors and students visit oppressed communities without truly participating as subjects in the subjectivity of the marginalized. 'Beyond Theological Tourism' shows how one group of theological teacher-mentors and students attempt to overcome the limits of visits as "tourists of the revolution" to exotic locations. Starting from the challenge of Robert Evans of the Plowshares Institute, a group of Chicago-based Christians struggled with new modes of education for prospective ministers. The editors and contributors--Claude Marie Barbour, Clinton E. Stockwell, Anthony J. Gittins, C.S.Sp., Eleanor Doidge, Yoshiro Ishida, Heidi Hadsell, Dow Edgerton, Kathleen Billman, Peggy DesJarlait, and Depaul Genska, O.F.M.--have put together a book of active collaboration, insightful debate, and self-critical analysis. Theological tourism, they find, is counterproductive and may give the wrong lessons. An immersion that respects the subjectivity and cultural integrity of the persons among whom middle-class trainees work and live can be marvelous experiences for both host communities and their visitors . . . but successful immersion is dauntingly difficult to do.

Pilgrimage beyond the Officially Sacred

Pilgrimage beyond the Officially Sacred PDF Author: Michael A. Di Giovine
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100004906X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Pilgrimage beyond the Officially Sacred: Understanding the Geographies of Religion and Spirituality in Sacred Travel examines the many ways in which pilgrimage engages with sacredness, delving beyond the officially recognized, and often religiously conceived, pilgrimage sites. As scholarship examining the lived experiences of pilgrims and tourists has demonstrated, pilgrimage need not be religious in nature, nor be officially sanctioned; rather, they can be 'hyper-meaningful' voyages, set apart from the everyday profane life—in a word, they are sacred. Separating the social category of 'religion' from the 'sacred,' this volume brings together a multidisciplinary group of scholars employing perspectives from anthropology, geography, sociology, religious studies, theology, and interdisciplinary tourism studies to theorize sacredness, its variability, and the ways in which it is officially recognized or condemned by power brokers. Rich in case studies from sacred centers throughout the world, the contributions pay close attention to the ways in which pilgrims, central authorities, site managers, locals, and other stakeholders on the ground appropriate, negotiate, shape, contest, or circumvent the powerful forces of the sacred. Delving ‘beyond the officially sacred,’ this collective examination of pilgrimages—both well-established and new, religious and secular, authorized and not—presents a compelling look at the interplay of secular powers and the transcendent forces of the sacred at these hyper-meaningful sites. Providing a blueprint for how work in the anthropology and geography of religion, and the fields of pilgrimage and religious tourism, may move forward, Pilgrimage beyond the Officially Sacred will be of great interest to an interdisciplinary field of scholars. The chapters were originally published as a special issue in Tourism Geographies.

Faith Beyond Belief

Faith Beyond Belief PDF Author: Margaret Placentra Johnston
Publisher: Quest Books
ISBN: 0835630455
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Faith Beyond Belief gives a much-needed voice to the “good” people who have left their church but whose spirituality continues to mature. Johnston uses first-person stories as well as known spiritual authorities in describing various stages of religious growth. Some of these real-life accounts are by nonbelievers; others are by those among the growing numbers of the “spiritual but not religious.” All are thoughtful people with too much integrity to live what they consider a lie. The stories of the nonbelievers-including an ex-Catholic, a former Mormon, and a clandestine Muslim apostate who left his community after the attacks of 9/11-show how complete confidence in human reason can lead away from literal religious interpretation. But, while that step is a necessary one on the spiritual path, it is only intermediate. Her second set of stories are of people at the “mystic” level who can tolerate paradox and see truth and reality as multidimensional. Johnston’s book will help doubters to see things in a new light as well as those who are struggling to clarify their own spiritual vision. It also points beyond the atheist/believer controversy wrecking such divisive havoc in our culture today.

Liberating the Future

Liberating the Future PDF Author: Joerg Rieger
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 9781451411119
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
In this volume illustrious liberation theologians succinctly map the liberation terrain for the new century. Writing from a variety of standpoints - the African American community, feminist struggles, and social locations in Europe, North America, and Latin America - these leading thinkers reflect on the vastly changed context of and challenges to liberation. Their reflections directly address the new situation, especially the emergence of a global market economy, shifting structures of oppression, and the advent of multiculturalism and postmodernism.

Globalizing Theology

Globalizing Theology PDF Author: Craig Ott
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 9781441201348
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
One of the most powerful forces in the twenty-first century is the increasing phenomenon of globalization. In nearly every realm of human activity, traditional boundaries are disappearing and people worldwide are more interconnected than ever. Christianity has also become more aware of global realities and the important role of the church in non-Western countries. Church leaders must grapple with the implications for theology and ministry in an ever-shrinking world. Globalizing Theology is a groundbreaking book that addresses these issues of vital importance to the church. It contains articles from leading scholars, including Tite Tiénou, Kevin Vanhoozer, Charles Van Engen, M. Daniel Carroll R., Andrew Walls, Vinoth Ramachandra, and Paul Hiebert. Topics covered include the challenges that globalization brings to theology, how we can incorporate global perspectives into our thinking, and the effect a more global theology has on a variety of important issues.

Beyond Homelessness

Beyond Homelessness PDF Author: Steven Bouma-Prediger
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802846920
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
This book is a brilliant use of metaphor that makes clear why the world leaves us feeling so uneasy!

Bordered Bodies, Bothered Voices

Bordered Bodies, Bothered Voices PDF Author: Jione Havea
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 166670766X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Theologies are constructed in and from lived contexts, and contexts are shaped by borders. While borders are barriers, they are also steppingstones for crossing over and invitations for moving further. This book offers theological and cultural reflections from the intersections of borders (real and imagined), bodies (physical, cultural, religious, ideological, political), and voices (that endorse as well as talk back). With and in the interests of natives and migrants, the authors of this book embrace bordered bodies and stir bothered voices. The essays are divided into four overlapping clusters that express the shared drives between the authors—Noble borders: some borders are not experienced as constricting because they are seen as noble; Negotiating bodies: bodies constantly negotiate and relocate borders; Troubling voices: bothered voices cannot be muted or silenced; Riotous bodies: embracing the wisdom in and of rejected and wounded bodies is a riot that this book invites. The authors engage their subjects out of their experiences as migrants and natives. This book is thus a step toward—and an invitation for more work on—migrant and native theologies.

Words Made Flesh

Words Made Flesh PDF Author: Elaine Graham
Publisher: SCM Press
ISBN: 0334048656
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 519

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Book Description
Words Made Flesh draws together a number of Elaine Graham’s shorter writings and essays and thereby maps out the work of a pioneer theological thinker and the development of pastoral and practical theology in the last twenty years. Elaine Graham considers the theological significance of topics as diverse as nativity plays, science fiction, gender, consumerism, cyberspace and urban regeneration. They all share a concern with the way the sources and norms of the Christian tradition can enter into a creative and critical conversation with contemporary experience in order to generate the ‘practical wisdom’ by which the life of the Church can be directed. They reflect Elaine Graham’s fundamental conviction that theology as ‘talk about God-in-the-world’ is always practical and public – and that it begins and ends in the complexities of the human condition: where words become flesh.

Reenvisioning Theological Education

Reenvisioning Theological Education PDF Author: Robert Banks
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802846204
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
A top leadership theorist offers a compelling proposal for renovating the way religious education is practiced today. Christian colleges and seminaries have not been immune from the cultural influences shaping contemporary education. Challenging the conventional wisdom advanced by the educational debate during the last fifteen years, Robert Banks builds an innovative new model of theological education based on how ministry formation took place in biblical times. Banks takes full account of key issues raised by our current educational context and shows how a "missional model" of education is more holistic, inclusive, and practical than recent versions.

God Beyond Borders

God Beyond Borders PDF Author: Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625644582
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
Based on ten years of research, God Beyond Borders is a comprehensive study of interreligious learning in faith communities. The United States is one of the most a diverse countries of the world. Kujawa-Holbrook details the many practices of interreligious learning in faith communities; through interreligious encounters, religious education, shared sacred space, shared prayer, and compassionate action. The book also surveys the field of interreligious learning and investigates some of the more common intentionally interreligious communities--families, clergy groups, chaplaincies, and community organizations. Kujawa-Holbrook combines theory and praxis to make a case for the importance of interreligious learning in all religious organizations.