Kirjahaku

Jeff Astley helps readers reflect on critical issues in personal and social morality using the resources of Christian tradition and their own insights and reasoning. Moral issies dicussed include abortion and euthanasia, war and punishment, work and health, sex and society.

Exploring God-talk maps the contours of religious language. It surveys the variety of ways in which religious believers both speak to God and speak about God, and tries to respond to the serious criticisms that have been raised of different aspects of our 'God-talk'. Beginning with an overview of the variety of ways in which language is used in faith and religion, the book moves on to consider the functions of language in religious experience and the religious life, particularly in prayer and worship. Two chapters are the devoted to a consideration of the important area of 'descriptive' God-talk, both figurative and literal. Problems relating to the meaningfulness of religious language and the interpretation of the Scripture are also addressed, and the pastoral and ethical significance of God-talk explored. Illustrations are drawn throughout from both everyday speech and the Christian tradition.

This book is designed to meet the needs of today's teachers and students of theology by bringing together a range of relevant primary texts on the doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ.

The SCM Studyguide Christian Doctrine engages readers by developing theological conversations between his or her own ‘ordinary theology’, on the one hand, and the theological resources of ecclesiastical and academic theology, on the other. Students get a clear view of the wide canvas of Christian doctrine, including a range of different theological positions. This study of doctrine helps those who are seeking a form of Christian thinking and spirituality – and possibly ministry – that is true to their own lives, and takes their own hesitations and doubts seriously. Each chapter is broken up into sections and interspersed with boxes which introduce pertinent extracts from classical and contemporary theologians, together with short exercises or aids to reading these texts, or provide explanations of technical theological terms. Each chapter has questions for reflection and/or discussion, together with suggestions for further reading.

Studying God: Doing Theology provides a general introductory text for theological study. It begins by focusing on the reader's own ways of experiencing and talking about God, before exploring the variety of theological voices associated with the Church and the academy, and the ways in which the texts and teachings of the Christian faith interact with our own theology. Topics include: *you and your theology *doing theology and studying theology *experience, belief, faith and practice *Bible and tradition *theological subjects, skills and methods *classic and contemporary models of theology *language about God *theology and the future.

What do We Believe? Why Does it Matter? provides a general introduction to the basic beliefs of Christian theology; together with their significance for Christian worship, living and thinking, and the intellectual problems they raise.

Spiritual, religious, sacred, or mystical experiences may be broadly defined as subjective human experiences that appear to the person undergoing them, or to others, to convey or imply contact with or knowledge about a transcendent power, presence, or superior reality beyond the realm of the physical. Research has shown that these forms of awareness of ‘something beyond’ are of considerable significance in the ordinary lives of very many people, as well as being elements of signal importance in the origin and development of religion: not least by deepening characteristically spiritual or religious attitudes, emotions, beliefs, values and practices, along with fundamental orientations of life and quests for meaning. This Studyguide provides a succinct and lucid introduction to the subject for those studying and teaching religion at both undergraduate and GCE AS/A level. By exploring the key areas of both the empirical and theoretical study of religious and spiritual experience, the Studyguide will serve as an accessible and nonpartisan guide to enable its readers to explore the range of challenging data, debates, approaches, and issues that relate to the study of this widespread and significant phenomenon.

'Ordinary theology' is Jeff Astley's phrase for the theology and theologising of Christians who have received little or no theological education of a scholarly, academic or systematic kind. Astley argues that an in-depth study of ordinary theology, which should involve both empirical research and theological reflection, can help recover theology as a fundamental dimension of every Christian's vocation. Ordinary Theology analyses the problems and possibilities of research and reflection in this area. This book explores the philosophical, theological and educational dimensions of the concept of ordinary theology, its significance for the work of the theologian as well as for those engaged in the ministry of the church, and the criticisms that it faces. 'Ordinary theology' Astley writes, 'is the church's front line. Statistically speaking, it is the theology of God's church.'