Tragedies and Christian Congregations

Tragedies and Christian Congregations PDF Author: Christopher Southgate
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135105077X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
When tragedy strikes a community, it is often unexpected with long-lasting effects on the people left in its wake. Too often, there aren’t adequate systems in place to aid those affected in processing what has happened. This study uniquely combines practical theology, pastoral insight and scientific data to demonstrate how Christian congregations can be helped to be resilient in the face of sudden devastating events. Beginning by identifying the characteristics of trauma in individuals and communities, this collection of essays from practitioners and academics locates sudden trauma-inducing tragedies as a problem in practical theology. A range of biblical and theological responses are presented, but contemporary scientific understanding is also included in order to challenge and stretch some of these traditional theological resources. The pastoral section of the book examines the ethics of response to tragedy, locating the role of the minister in relation to other helping agencies and exploring the all-too-topical issue of ministerial abuse. Developing a nuanced rationale for good practical, pastoral, liturgical and theological responses to major traumas, this book will be of significant value to scholars of practical theology as well as practitioners counselling in and around church congregations.

Tragedies and Christian Congregations

Tragedies and Christian Congregations PDF Author: Christopher Southgate
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135105077X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Get Book

Book Description
When tragedy strikes a community, it is often unexpected with long-lasting effects on the people left in its wake. Too often, there aren’t adequate systems in place to aid those affected in processing what has happened. This study uniquely combines practical theology, pastoral insight and scientific data to demonstrate how Christian congregations can be helped to be resilient in the face of sudden devastating events. Beginning by identifying the characteristics of trauma in individuals and communities, this collection of essays from practitioners and academics locates sudden trauma-inducing tragedies as a problem in practical theology. A range of biblical and theological responses are presented, but contemporary scientific understanding is also included in order to challenge and stretch some of these traditional theological resources. The pastoral section of the book examines the ethics of response to tragedy, locating the role of the minister in relation to other helping agencies and exploring the all-too-topical issue of ministerial abuse. Developing a nuanced rationale for good practical, pastoral, liturgical and theological responses to major traumas, this book will be of significant value to scholars of practical theology as well as practitioners counselling in and around church congregations.

Tragedy in the Church

Tragedy in the Church PDF Author: A. W. Tozer
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 1600663559
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 107

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Book Description
In this collection of 12 profound sermons, A. W. Tozer points out why so many Christians and churches today are weak. But he doesn't leave us without hope. He uplifts our spirits and helps us recognize what God wants to do in and through each and every one of us. These sermons deal directly with the subjects of the Christian church and the spiritual basis for its varied and continuing ministries. They display A. W. Tozer's love, appreciation, and concern for the church, which motivated him to so consistently issue caution. Tozer always yearned to reveal to the Christina and Missionary Alliance a desire for each church member to reach their full potential for honoring the Lord Jesus Christ, and this book represents that yearning well.

This Tragic Gospel

This Tragic Gospel PDF Author: Louis A. Ruprecht, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470374357
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
This Tragic Gospel suggests that the "Gospel" of John intended to supplant the first three gospels and succeeded in gaining undue influence on the early churches. This study focuses on the tragic moment when Jesus prays for deliverance from his impending death in the garden of Gethsemane. Ruprecht contends that John rewrote this scene in order to convey a very different dramatic meaning from the one reflected in Mark's gospel. In John's version, not only did Jesus not pray to be spared, he actually mocked this prayer, embracing his imminent demise with godlike confidence. Ruprecht believes that this dramatic reinterpretation undermined the tragedy of Jesus's death as Mark imagined it and so paved the way for the development of a kind of Christianity that focused far less on compassion in the face of human suffering. John's Jesus offers the faithful food so that they will never hunger, water so that they will never thirst, and the promise of a world in which no faithful person ever sheds a tear. Mark's Christians do suffer, but they witness to suffering and death differently...with compassion. Mark's Christ suffers, like all Christians after him, but he embodies a tragic hope in the promise of a faith shored up by love and compassion.

Life after Tragedy

Life after Tragedy PDF Author: Michael W. Brierley
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 0718895347
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Much has been written on the centenary of the First World War; however, no book has yet explored the tragedy of the conflict from a theological perspective. This book fills that gap. Taking their cue from the famous British army chaplain Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, seven central essays--all by authors associated with the cathedral where Studdert Kennedy first preached to troops--examine aspects of faith that featured in the war, such as the notion of "home," poetry, theological doctrine, preaching, social reform, humanitarianism, and remembrance. Each essay applies its reflections to the life of faith today. The essays thus represent a highly original contribution to the history of the First World War in general and the work of Studdert Kennedy in particular; and they provide wider theological insight into how, in the contemporary world, life and tragedy, God and suffering, can be integrated. The book will accordingly be of considerable interest to historians, both of the war and of the church; to communities commemorating the war; and to all those who wrestle with current challenges to faith. A foreword by Studdert Kennedy's grandson and an afterword by the bishop of Magdeburg in Germany render this a volume of remarkable depth and worth.

Their Blood Cries Out

Their Blood Cries Out PDF Author: Paul Marshall
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 1418535540
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Today more than 200 million Christians around the world suffer imprisonment, abuse and even death because of their faith. Yet most Americans never hear their stories. In Their Blood Cries Out, Paul Marshall reveals the reality of this present-day persecution, revealing what we can do to help these brothers and sisters in Christ.

Resilience in a VUCA world

Resilience in a VUCA world PDF Author: Annette Potgieter
Publisher: AOSIS
ISBN: 1779952384
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
This book sheds light on how humans deal with adversity, especially in uncertain and turbulent times, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Resilience theory has become popular in scholarly discourse, and the term is difficult to define as so many opinions exist. This book aims to engage critically with resilience theory as a scholarly debate from the unique vantage point of the world of social work as well as theology. This specific aspect of originality contributes to the generation of new knowledge in the broad field of social sciences and humanities. The inception of the book stems from an interdisciplinary conference held at Hugenote Kollege, Wellington, where scholars from social work as well as theology engaged in a discourse on resilience. Professor Adrian van Breda, a specialist in resilience theory and from the social work department of the University of Johannesburg, was one of the keynote speakers, inspiring scholars to understand what is meant by resilience. Professor Yolanda Dreyer from the University of Pretoria and a seasoned theologian and prolific writer on trauma and resilience, was also a keynote speaker, providing insights from a theological perspective. The collaboration between these two fields of thought is unique and rendered new insights into engaging with resilience. Different methodologies and perspectives from researchers are prevalent as contributors are from different scholarly fields. The book ranges from linguistical, liturgical, philosophical, practical, autoethnographical, anthropological, sociological, and online methodological approaches contributing to ways to deal with traumatic, turbulent and trying times. The book is divided into four main themes that stood out from the results obtained at the conference, namely, (1) religious imagination and resilience, (2) communities and resilience, (3) online teaching and resilience, and (4) the resilience of philosophical questions.

The Transformations of Tragedy

The Transformations of Tragedy PDF Author: Fionnuala O’Neill Tonning
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004416544
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
The Transformations of Tragedy explores different Christian influences, from the Early Modern to Modern periods, upon the development of post-classical Western tragedy.

Tragedy in the Church

Tragedy in the Church PDF Author: Aiden Wilson Tozer
Publisher: Christian Publications
ISBN: 9780875092157
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description


Trust and Tragedy

Trust and Tragedy PDF Author: Thomas Nelson
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1418554545
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
With articulate words, Tommy Tenney helps lead us past tragedy to that place of trust. After reading this book, you will know what to do and know what to say. Most people-including Christians-avoid brokenness and personal failure at all costs. They will deny the truth to avoid pain. Yet tragedy visits every generation; hardship touches every life. The only question, then, is how will we respond. God promises to be near the brokenhearted. As Tenney puts it, "God is waiting to meet us on our way home from the funeral. The One who said, 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,' fully intends to comfort us personally if we make the effort to detour from our road of grief to search for Him." Many believers first turned to God in the moment of crisis. Trust and Tragedy shows them how to find Him there again. For "whenever there is earthly brokenness, there is always heavenly openness."

Christianity, Tragedy, and Holocaust Literature

Christianity, Tragedy, and Holocaust Literature PDF Author: Michael R. Steele
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Discusses the relationship (or the lack of one) between Holocaust literature and theories of tragedy, and examines Christianity's influence on tragedy and tragic theory, as well as the impact of Christianity on the reading of Holocaust literature. Focuses, especially, on the incongruence between Western tragic literature and the literature of atrocity (the Holocaust). Delineates five key components of the theories of tragedy - e.g. necessity, destiny; redemptive knowledge; suffering, innocence, guilt; human affirmation; characteristics of the tragic hero - and raises questions regarding their applicability to Holocaust literature, focusing on works by Elie Wiesel, Tadeusz Borowski, Jerzy Kosinski, and Rolf Hochhuth. Notes that tragedy is an integral part of the West's cultural and philosophical history; it is also imbued with Christian theological views of transcendence. Christianity's claims regarding its supersession of Judaism helped prepare the conditions that were necessary for Jews to become the victims of the Nazis. Therefore, Christians must reassess their theological views in order to confront the Holocaust and its literature.