Testing the Spirits

by Keifert, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9780802807403
• ISBN10: 0802807402
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-15
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co

Summary

In this volume seven scholars provide a helpful map for charting a number of the shifts at the intersection of theological education and congregational development, offering readers keen insights into how to navigate their complexities. Theological educators, seminary students, pastors, and denominational officials and staff will find in these pages substantive biblical and theological perspectives that help to frame specific approaches to moral deliberation and decision-making within congregations and through congregations for the sake of the world. / Contributors: Ronald W. Duty, Pat Taylor Ellison, David Fredrickson, Donald Juel, Patrick Keifert, Lois Malcolm, Gary Simpson.

Author Biography

Patrick Keifert is professor of systematic theology at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. His other books include Welcoming the Stranger: A Public Theology of Worship and Evangelism and But Is It All True? The Bible and the Question of Truth (Eerdmans).

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Contributing Authors	p. ix
Introduction
Framing the Agenda for Testing the Spirits	p. 1
Developing A Theological Approach For Studying Congregations	p. 11
The Return of the Congregation to Theological Education	p. 13
The Bible and Theological Education: A Report and Reflections on a Journey	p. 27
Congregations, Democracy, and the Action of God in Philippians 1-2	p. 48
God, Civil Society, and Congregations as Public Moral Companions	p. 67
Developing A Theological Approach For Congregational Moral Discernment	p. 89
Word-Dwelling, Deep Listening, and Faith-Based Moral Conversation in Congregations: A Nested Vision for Learning New Habits	p. 91
Discerning the Will of God: Congregational Use of Scripture through the Lens of the Cross	p. 109
Scripture, Christian Imagination, and the Testimony of Experience in Moral Conversation	p. 132
Doing Faith-Based Conversation: Metaphors for Congregations and Their Leaders	p. 159
Epilogue
The Dialectic of Idolatry and Profanation: On Discerning the Spirit in Congregational Studies	p. 180
The Use of Scripture in Congregational Research	p. 200
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