February 3, 2014
Aikin, Wm. Carter (Author)
Moved by God to Act
An Ecumenical Ethic of Grace in Community
Imprint: Cascade Books
ISBN 13: 978-1-61097-520-9 / 262 pp. / $29.00 Retail / Trade Paper
Publication Date: 1/3/14
Main Category: THEOLOGY
Author Bio
Wm. Carter Aikin is Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy and Director of the Center for Vocation, Faith, and Service at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska
Synopsis
Moved by God to Act offers a fresh description of Christian moral action as a moment of connection between divine and human agency. Through an ecumenical consideration of a variety of resources, this book gives an accessible description of the work of God's grace not only in individual Christian agency but also within the dynamics of Christian community. Moved by God to Act brings the contemporary theological ethics of community into dialogue with the pneumatology of Thomas Aquinas. The ethic emerging from this dialogue lifts up the centrality of God's grace in Christian community while at the same time offering a detailed articulation of the human being as naturally and beautifully drawn into cooperation with God's grace in the ethical life. The book concludes by showing how Aquinas stands in substantial harmony with the contemporary authors discussed, offering a proper description of God's agency in individual Christian human agency and the dynamics of the “body” of the Christian community to which the contemporary discourse so rightly points. Moved by God to Act is an attempt to speak to the work of God in the life and day-to-day action of Christians and Christian communities as moved to act by the Holy Spirit.
Endorsements
“In this first-rate study of ecumenical theology, Carter Aikin shows how Aquinas’ doctrine of grace offers a resource for Protestant theology. He develops Aquinas’ key insights in light of distinctively Protestant commitments to a confessing community, shaped by and answerable to Scripture, as the proper context for receiving and acting out of divine grace. This book offers a valuable contribution to an ongoing ecumenical conversation about the relevance of Aquinas for contemporary theology and moral and pastoral practice.”
—Jean Porter
John A. O'Brien Professor of Theological Ethics, University of Notre Dame
Author of Ministers of the Law: A Natural Law Theory of Legal Authority (2011)
“[A] rich, highly original, utterly engaging, and genuinely charitable scholarly work. Aikin brings contemporary theologians Stanley Hauerwas and Reinhard Hutter into conversation with Thomas Aquinas to explore the intimate relationship between God’s agency and human agency in the Christian moral life. . . . Aikin beautifully delineates the new way of being and acting made possible not only for individual Christians but indeed for the church. Moved by God to Act is a compelling, captivating, and gratefully very hopeful investigation of what it means to live in Christ and be moved by the Spirit.”
—Paul J. Wadell
Professor of Religious Studies, St. Norbert College
“In his lucid book on grace and human action, Aiken offers a much-needed contemporary contribution from the field of moral theology/Christian ethics to this too-often-neglected topic. He establishes the need in contemporary theology for the sophistication and precision of St. Thomas Aquinas’ thought on grace, and also draws on contemporary thinkers (Stanley Hauerwas and Reinhard Hütter) to extend the communal emphasis of the Angelic Doctor’s work. Aiken’s book is one of the first in an impending deluge of studies augmenting recent work on virtue with more detailed attention to the relationship between God’s grace and human action.”
—William C. Mattison III
Associate Professor of Moral Theology, Catholic University of America
Author of Introducing Moral Theology: True Happiness and the Virtues (2008)
“Aikin’s accomplishment is most impressive. Conversant with certain influential contemporary discussions of Christian moral agency, Aikin also knows his Aquinas very well, making intelligent use of Aquinas on grace and the Holy Spirit to depict more fully the working of God in the Christian moral life, both individually and communally. God’s acting is not at the expense of human agency; God’s intimate involvement in human acting, depicted in its ecclesial setting, is genuinely empowering. Aikin’s project is ecumenical and charitable in the best sense, and his careful, thoughtful, uplifting analyses show convincingly how Aquinas and Hauerwas and Huetter, can be mutually enriching.”
—Joseph Wawrykow
Associate Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
Author of The Westminster Handbook to Thomas Aquinas (2005)
Aikin, Wm. Carter ~ Moved by God to Act
February 3, 2014
Byassee, Jason (Editor)
Pastoral Work
Engagements with the Vision of Eugene Peterson
Imprint: Cascade Books
ISBN 13: 978-1-62564-022-2 / 222 pp. / $24.00 Retail / Trade Paper
Publication Date: 1/15/14
Main Category: THEOLOGY
Author Bio
Jason Byassee is senior pastor at Boone United Methodist Church in North Carolina and a Fellow in Theology and Leadership at Duke Divinity School.
L. Roger Owens is associate professor of leadership and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Synopsis
Eugene Peterson may be the most influential theological writer in the church today. Yet because most of his career has not been in academia there is not much critical engagement with his work. Here some of the finest scholar-pastors we have describe the way Peterson has inspired and infuriated on the way to (hopefully) more faithful pastorates.
Endorsements
“For those who knew Eugene Peterson only through his idiomatically rendered Bible, The Message, his memoir, The Pastor, was a revelation. But only a partial one. For the full 360-degree refraction, read Pastoral Work . . . which collects the very lively thoughts of sixteen noted scholar-pastors addressing ‘Pastor Pete’s’ influence on them and their calling.”
—David Van Biema, former chief religion writer, Time magazine
“These engagements with Eugene Peterson will be valuable to anyone who cares about pastoral ministry. Like Peterson’s own work, they are informed by long obedience and patient reflection, and they are refreshingly free of cant, hype, and prattle.”
—John Wilson, editor, Books & Culture
“Here is a book that will deepen, challenge, inform, enrich, and renew ministry in just the same way and to just the same degree as the work of its subject, Eugene Peterson. Peterson’s legacy will not finally be in the written word but in the reflective practice of his countless disciples, shaping communities in ways inspired by his words and example. To read this book is to feel encouraged, hopeful, and moved to prayer and service; and relieved to rediscover that one’s ministry is not a lone quest but a shared joy.”
—Sam Wells, Vicar, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London
Byassee, Jason ~ Pastoral Work
February 3, 2014
Clark, Ron (Author)
Jesus Unleashed
Luke’s Gospel for Emerging Christians
Imprint: Cascade Books
ISBN 13: 978-1-61097-989-4 / 230 pp. / $25.00 Retail / Trade Paper
Publication Date: 1/3/14
Main Category: BIBLICAL STUDIES
Author Bio
Ron Clark is the minister for the Agape Church of Christ and faculty at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Freeing the Oppressed and The God of Second Chances.
Synopsis
Luke’s narrative of Jesus was presented to Christians who had already heard and read stories of Jesus and the birth of this new movement, Christianity. Luke seemed to rewrite the story of Jesus similar to ancient epics of the history of a nation, a movement, and the tale of a hero. Jesus and the church emerged in occupied Judea, a nation that was not only oppressed but was in exile. Occupied Judea, however, struggled for power and honor and in turn, for marginalized people who needed God. Jesus, the epic hero, journeyed to earth and Jerusalem to free those on the margins of society. This epic story lives on today in a church that also has heard the story of Jesus, but has forgotten that the friend of sinners calls Christians to also reach those who are marginalized by our occupied culture. Luke invites Christians to emerge as a movement that seeks and saves those ostracized by our communities.
Endorsements
“Those who have loved the Bible all of their lives, and those who are coming to it afresh, will find here the sweet aroma of the Holy Spirit wafting through the broken places of our world and reviving all of God’s children, both inside and outside traditional churches. The third evangelist’s work of introducing Jesus to all comers continues in this valuable work.”
—Mark Hamilton, Author of The Transforming Word
“Ron Clark’s new book invites us to abandon the sanitized religion of Christianity that we have practiced for too long. In Jesus Unleashed, he shows how Luke’s Gospel presents a Christ who insists that we eschew the static, comfortable, easy forms of religion we have substituted for the cross-shaped, shalom-bringing friendship with sinners that he modeled for us.”
—Michael Frost, Author of The Road to Missional
“I deeply admire Ron and Agape, the community he leads, as they embody the principles Ron highlights from his study of Luke. Jesus Unleashed presents not only solid exposition of Scripture but a practical challenge for Christ’s followers. I have great hope for the future of the church as we reach out to the marginalized people in our society today.”
—Kevin Palau, President of Luis Palau Association
Clark, Ron ~ Jesus Unleashed
February 3, 2014
Fischer, Austin (Author)
Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed
Black Holes, Love, and a Journey In and Out of Calvinism
Imprint: Cascade Books
ISBN 13: 978-1-62564-151-9 / 130 pp. / $16.00 Retail / Trade Paper
Publication Date: 1/13/14
Main Category: THEOLOGY
Author Bio
Austin Fischer is Teaching Pastor at Vista Community Church. He and his wife, Allison, live in Temple, Texas. He speaks and writes and you can follow him on Twitter @austintfischer or online at purpletheology.com.
Synopsis
Does it really matter?
Does it matter if we have free will? Does it matter if Calvinism is true? And does what you think about it matter? No and yes.
No, it doesn’t matter because God is who he is and does what he does regardless of what we think of him, just as the solar system keeps spinning around the sun even if we’re convinced it spins around the earth. Our opinions about God will not change God, but they can change us. And so yes, it does matter because the conversations about free will and Calvinism confront us with perhaps the only question that really matters: who is God?
This is a book about that question—a book about the Bible, black holes, love, sovereignty, hell, Romans 9, Jonathan Edwards, John Piper, C. S. Lewis, Karl Barth, and a little girl in a red coat. You’ve heard arguments, but here’s a story—Austin Fischer’s story, and his journey in and out of Calvinism on a trip to the center of the universe.
Endorsements
“Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed fills a gap in contemporary literature about Calvinism. Here is a young, dynamic, evangelical pastor, well-educated theologically, who discovered the fatal flaws in Calvinism and reluctantly shook it off. This is his story, including his well-articulated reasons for that transformation. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, especially to people interested in the ‘new Calvinism’ and why a biblically committed young Christian might bid it adieu.”
—Roger E. Olson, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University
“By sharing his own journey in and out of Calvinism, Fischer provides readers with an honest, interesting, insightful, and very compelling critique of the self-absorbed ‘black-hole God’ of Calvinism. With a disarmingly laid-back style, Fischer crafts a series of clear and astute arguments that demonstrate the unbiblical and irrational nature of each of the central claims of Calvinism. Just as importantly, however, Fischer helps readers discover the humble, other-oriented, self-sacrificial God revealed in Jesus Christ . . .”
—Greg Boyd, Princeton Theological Seminary
“This book tells Austin Fischer’s story, and I hope you read it, and I hope you get a bunch of friends to read it together. Talk about it and ask [the] question, . . . “Is the Calvinist God the God we discover when we look into the face of Jesus, the incarnation of God?” Austin tells his answers to [this question] at the age many need to begin answering [that] question.”
—Scot McKnight, Northern Seminary
“With this book, Austin Fischer brings fresh insights to a very old conversation with a perspective that is at times piercing, at times deeply personal, and always thoughtful and rooted in scripture. He invites readers to wrestle along with him with some tough questions—questions that, no matter where your theological journey takes you, are worth asking with this kind of humility and care.”
—Rachel Held-Evans, Author of Evolving in Monkey Town
Fischer, Austin ~ Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed
February 3, 2014
Heath, Elaine A. (Author)
Missional. Monastic. Mainline.
A Guide to Starting Missional Micro-Communities in Historically Mainline Traditions
Imprint: Cascade Books
ISBN 13: 978-1-62032-624-4 / 144 pp. / $18.00 Retail / Trade Paper
Publication Date: 1/30/14
Main Category: THEOLOGY
Author Bio
Elaine A. Heath is the McCreless Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. She is also the Director of the Academy for Missional Wisdom, a non-degree program that equips clergy and laity to start and lead missional and new monastic communities, and is a program of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. She is the author of The Mystic Way of Evangelism (2008), Naked Faith: The Mystical Theology of Phoebe Palmer (2009), Longing for Spring: A New Vision for Wesleyan Communities (coauthored with Scott Kisker, 2010), We Were the Least of These: Reading the Bible with Survivors of Sexual Abuse (2011), and The Gospel According to Twilight: Women, Sex, and God (2011).
Larry Duggins is Executive Pastor of Emerging Worship at White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas, and is the Executive Director of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. He is the author of Simple Harmony (2012).
Elaine and Larry are both ordained elders in the United Methodist Church.