A Church Drawing Near Spirituality and Mission in a Post-Christian Culture

by Avis, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780567089687
• ISBN10: 0567089681
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark

Summary

By first defining the core taks (or mission) of the Church in biblical and theological terms, Paul Avis then goes on to ask how these tasks can best be carried out in the conditions of modernity and post-modernity. Avis describes and evaluates contemporary expressions of spirituality, drawing on many empirical studies; the functions of the Church's "occasional offices" or rites of passage; the ways in which the Church and its ministers can engage constructively with the community and with civil society; the pastoral method in mission and its practical, policy consequences. Throughout the book Avis urges the imperative for the Church and its ministers to break out from the privatization of Christian values into full participation in contemporary social issues and public life. This book is an authoritative and interdisciplinary study of theology and practice: a much needed applied theology of mission and ministry for today.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgements	xii
Beyond The Privatization of Faith	1	(18)
For the Healing of the Nations	19	(31)
Modernity and Secularization	50	(32)
Post-modernity and Fragmentation	82	(27)
Spirituality and Mission	109	(22)
Transformations of Being	131	(24)
The Cross in the Community	155	(25)
The Primacy of the Pastoral	180	(21)
References	201	(16)
Index of Subjects	217	(6)
Index of Names	223