What’s the Good of Humanity?

Victor Lee Austin and Joel C. Daniels, eds.

From a Christian perspective, it could well be said that humanity, a good gift of God, is being undermined by the technology and thought-patterns and practices of contemporary Western culture. In response to what is seen as an attack, many books have been written on the harm of these technologically driven practices. These articles and books focus on what is wrong: with euthanasia, with surrogate motherhood, with the denial of the male-female difference, and so forth. Yet to make a compelling cultural witness, it is more important for Christians to know what is right, and essential that they be able to articulate the positive. Why do babies matter? What is the goodness embedded in being made male and female? How can one approach death in a godly manner? We need, in other words, to be able to give an account of God's "Yes" (2 Cor 1:20), the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15). In this collection of essays, an ecumenical group of scholars, of diverse perspectives, discuss these and other important questions, in order to help discern what is good for humanity.

Repentance and Forgiveness

Matthew E. Burdette and Victor Lee Austin, eds.

Reconciliation is at the heart of the Christian faith. It is what God accomplishes by the incarnation of his Son, by Jesus' cross, resurrection, and exaltation: that all people be drawn to God in Christ, and, in being so drawn, drawn into fellowship with one another. The good news of reconciliation is, therefore, also a call to repent and to receive forgiveness, and then, concomitantly, to forgive.
The present volume endeavors to reexamine these most fundamental Christian claims. These essays, which were first presented at the 2017 annual Pro Ecclesia conference, return to the biblical sources to help us understand reconciliation afresh. The authors raise questions about repentance and forgiveness from various perspectives: Jewish, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. They also consider our present-day context, what has been called the "technoculture," as well as the practice of repentance and forgiveness.

The Emerging Christian Minority

Victor Lee Austin and Joel C. Daniels, eds.

An increase in secularization throughout the Western world has resulted in Christian communities finding themselves in a new context: emerging as a minority group. What does this changing landscape mean for existing Christian communities? Are there biblical or historical precedents for this situation? What should we expect in the future? These were the issues taken up by the speakers at the 2016 conference, “The Emerging Christian Minority,” sponsored by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.

Remembering the Reformation: Commemorate? Celebrate? Repent?

Michael Root and James J. Buckley, eds.

In 1517, Martin Luther set off what has been called, at least since the nineteenth century, the Protestant Reformation. Can Christians of differing traditions commemorate the upcoming 500th anniversary of this event together? How do we understand and assess the Reformation today? What calls for celebration? What calls for repentance? Can the Reformation anniversary be an occasion for greater mutual understanding among Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants? At the 2015 Pro Ecclesia annual conference for clergy and laity, meeting at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, an array of scholars--Catholic and Orthodox, Evangelical Lutheran and American Evangelical as well as Methodist--addressed this topic. The aim of this book is not only to collect these diverse Catholic and Evangelical perspectives but also to provide resources for all Christians, including pastors and scholars, to think and argue about the roads we have taken since 1517--as we also learn to pray with Jesus Christ "that all may be one" (John 17:21).

Life Amid the Principalities

Michael Root and James J. Buckley, eds.

We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness” (Eph. 6:12). So Paul warns his Ephesian readers. And yet Paul also says that these principalities and powers were created in and for Christ (Col 1:16) and cannot separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38). What are the principalities and powers of our time? How do we understand them as created, fallen, and disarmed? How does the Christian today engage these powers? These are the questions speakers and participants addressed at the 2014 Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.

Heaven, Hell,… and Purgatory?

Michael Root and James J. Buckley, eds.

What is our destiny? The final end of humanity and the universe is a subject of perennial interest, especially for Christians. What are we promised? Will anyone finally be left out of God’s intentions to bless humanity? What sort of transformation will be needed to enter the presence of God? These questions have been at the heart of Christian teachings about last things.

The 2013 Pro Ecclesia Conference of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology focused such issues on the theme “Heaven, Hell … and Purgatory?” The six essays in this volume cover a range of topics of interest to Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox theology.

What Does It Mean to “Do This”? Supper, Mass, Eucharist

Michael Root and James J. Buckley, eds.

Jesus’ best-known mandate–after perhaps the mandate to love God and neighbor–was given at the Last Supper just before his death: “Do this in memory of me.” Indeed, a case can be made that to “do this” is the source and summit of the way Christians carry out Jesus’ love-mandate. Of course, Christians have debated what it means to “do this,” and these debates have all too often led to divisions within and between them–debates over leavened and unleavened bread, reception of the cup, real presence and sacrifice, “open” or “closed” communion, this Supper and the hunger of the world. These divisions seem to fly in the face of Jesus’ mandate, causing some to wonder whether this is “really” the Lord’s Supper we celebrate (compare 1 Corinthians 11). Everything turns on just what it means to “do this.” The purpose of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology’s 2012 conference was to address at least some of the many aspects of this question–to address them together, as Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox pastors and theologians, and all participants in the Supper.

Sharper Than a Two-Edged Sword: Preaching, Teaching, and Living the Bible

Michael Root and James J. Buckley, eds.

Keen insight for preaching and teaching Scripture are to be found in these pages. Several respected scholars here discuss how to read and live the Bible theologically in our contemporary context. How to read the Bible theologically for the sake both of faithful mission and the Christian life stands at the center of the authors’ concerns.

Mary, Mother of God

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

Since the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431), orthodox Christianity has confessed Mary as “Theotokos, “Mother of God.” Yet neither this title nor Mary’s significance has fared well in Protestant Christianity. In the wake of new interest in Mary following Vatican II and recent ecumenical dialogues, this volume seeks to makes clear that Mariology is properly related to Christ and his church in ways that can and should be meaningful for all Christians. Written with insight and sensitivity by Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant scholars, these seven studies inquire into Mary’s place in the story of salvation, in personal devotion, and in public worship.

The Ecumenical Future

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

Early in 2003 a group of sixteen theologians from various church traditions published “The Princeton Proposal,” a current and critical statement on the present state and future possibilities of modern ecumenism. The Ecumenical Future, then, illuminates the scholarly studies behind the development of “The Princeton Proposal” in the form of fourteen essays that provide a focused examination of the issues that still divide the church and of the common ground that is still mutually to be discovered.

In One Body Through the Cross: The Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

The Princeton Proposal is a landmark statement on the present situation and future possibilities of modern ecumenism. Drafted by sixteen theologians and ecumenists from various church traditions, who met over a period of three years in Princeton, New Jersey, this document seeks to steer contemporary efforts at church unity away from social and political agendas, which are themselves divisive, and back to the chief goal of the modern ecumenical movement — the visible unity of Christian worldwide, of all those who are reconciled “in one body through the cross.”

Since the study group that produced this statement was instituted and its participants were chosen by an independent ecumenical foundation, the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, their “unofficial” work presents especially profound and creative reflection on the ecumenical task. With this report the study group members do not claim to speak for their churches, but hope to speak to all the churches out of shared concern for the founding ecumenical imperative “that they all may be one … so that the world may believe.”

Signatories of the Princeton Proposal:

• William Abraham

• Mark Achtemeier

• Brian Daley

• John H. Erickson

• Vigen Guroian

• George Lindbeck

• Lois Malcolm

• Bruce McCormack

• R. R. Reno

• Michael Root

• William G. Rusch

• Geoffrey Waniwright

• Susan K. Wood

• Telford Work

• J. Robert Wright

• David Yeago

Jews and Christians: People of God

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

While Christians and Jews have always been aware of their religious connections — historical continuity, overlapping theology, shared Scriptures — that awareness has traditionally been infected by centuries of mutual suspicion and hostility. As this important volume shows, however, theologians and scholars of Judaism and Christianity alike are now radically rethinking the relation between their two covenant communities.

The Last Things: Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Eschatology

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

In modern theology the “last things” of traditional Christian doctrine have largely been ignored or replaced with various metaphysical, psychological, or ethical reinterpretations of Christianity. This volume takes the biblical vision of the future seriously once again, explaining the significance of Christian eschatology for the faith and theology of the contemporary church.

The Strange New Word of the Gospel: Re-Evangelizing in the Postmodern World

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

This volume provides serious theological reflection on Christian missions within postmodern, post-Christian culture. In today’s postmodern culture many people are turning to religion, but they are not necessarily finding their way back to the church. Most unbelievers in America and other Western countries are “post-Christians.” Though baptized and brought up in the church, they no longer believe and practice the Christian faith. In such a time, the great challenge facing the church is re-evangelization.

Sin, Death, and the Devil

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

Sin, death, and the devil, called “the unholy trinity” by Martin Luther, are the classic biblical tyrants. This volume, which takes its cue from John Paul II’s description of Western society as a “culture of death,” unveils the faces of sin, death and the devil in modern culture. Far from being pessimistic, however, these engaging chapters by eight recognized theologians take care to affirm God’s victory over the diabolical forces that oppress humanity — a victory continually realized through the proclamation of the gospel and the sacraments of the church.

Union with Christ: The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

This book introduces the English-speaking world to the new Finnish interpretation of the theology of Martin Luther, initiated by the writings of Tuomo Mannermaa of Helsinki University. At the heart of this Finnish breakthrough in Luther research lies the theme of salvation. Four noted scholars of Mannermaa’s circle contribute supporting chapters in related areas and four American theologians provide critically appreciative responses to the Finnish theologians’ work.

Marks of the Body of Christ

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

Martin Luther once listed seven “marks” of the church, defining ecclesial features whose presence show where the true church is to be found, and without which a community’s claim to be the church must be called into question. Luther’s list reflects Reformation concerns, but it is also ecumenically acceptable and a matter of importance to Christendom at large. This volume brings together essays by Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Orthodox theologians, each analyzing one of the seven traditional marks of the church.

The Two Cities of God: The Church’s Responsibility for the Earthly City

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson

The chapters of this book offer informed perspectives on a “theology of the world,” exploring the question: How does/should the church relate to the secular world? The standard dogma of the 1960s was Let the world set the agenda! Such a perspective has often caused the American church merely to reflect, rather than to inform and lead, the society in which it lives. Surely, say the authors of this volume, it must be the other way around.

The Catholicity of the Reformation

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

As the title of this engaging book suggests, “catholicity” was the true intent of the Reformation. The Reformers did not set out to create what later came to be known as Protestant Christianity. Theirs was a quest for reformation and renewal in continuity with the “one holy catholic and apostolic church” of ancient times. The authors of the essays collected here demonstrate this catholicity of the Reformers and stress the importance of recovering the church’s catholic tradition today.

Either/Or: The Gospel or Neopaganism

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

The contributors to this volume argue forthrightly that neopaganism is not merely an objective threat from outside the walls of the church; in fact, gnostic forms of thought and spirituality permeate the church’s inner life under such guises as “pluralism,” “multiculturalism,” “feminism,” and “hospitality.” Their essays are a direct attack on once-Bible-centered doctrine that is now being mingled with “alternatives” that are inherently hostile to the Christian faith.

Reclaiming the Bible for the Church

Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds.

These essays address the crisis of biblical authority and interpretation in the church, focusing in particular on the inadequacy of the historical-critical method of hermeneutics, addressing from various perspectives the notorious gap between the historical-critical approach to the study of the Bible and the church’s liturgical and dogmatic transmission of biblical faith. The authors, following Childs’ “canonical method” of biblical interpretation, argue that the historical-critical method should not of itself set the agenda for biblical reading.