What if Jesus did not come to die for our sins? What if, instead, Jesus's life and death was intended to provide a way out of our shame? While traditional Christian teachings about the atonement emphasize sin as guilt and transgression against God's will and commandments, Frank Woggon points out that clinical spiritual care reveals that the human condition is predominantly marked by shame rather than guilt. In The Empathic God, Woggon examines myopic readings of the Jesus event that, in turn, have embedded distortions into traditional paradigms of the atonement. In contrast, Woggon mines narratives of the human condition to engage in a critical examination of the Jesus story. As a clinician and ordained Baptist minister, Woggon presents the Jesus event as God's empathic initiative toward humanity and convincingly argues that salvation comes through empathy rather than forgiveness. Woggon's work constructs a clinical theology of "at-onement" from the perspective of clinical spiritual care. The Empathic God calls for a practical response of caring participation in God's ongoing work of salvation through an empathic praxis of spiritual care. Most importantly, The Empathic God takes seriously that lived human experience is the starting point for theological exploration rather than doctrine. This book will help practitioners and students of spiritual care in the Christian tradition to reflect more critically on the intersection of spiritual care practice and theology. The book also will challenge pastors, ministers of pastoral care, chaplains, pastoral counselors, spiritually oriented therapists to interrogate and re-interpret traumatic, shame-filled Christian teachings about the atonement so that they, too, can join in God's ongoing and liberating work of salvation.

A major work from one of today's leading theologians, Divine Empathy attempts to "think the unthinkable," how God comes forth actively and redemptively to meet the human situation. Apologetic but not polemical, Farley's work sympathetically engages yet moves beyond both the classical tradition as well as contemporary anti-theisms in formulating a concept of God that is strikingly original, intellectually honest, and comprehensive. Farley's treatise employs the "facticity of redemption," the actual experience of freedom and empowerment, as the primordial source for our thinking about God (Part 1), God-symbols (Part 2), and God's activity (Part 3), including the figure of Jesus. Farley's astute analysis leads inexorably to a view of divine creativity and empathy that is one of the more profound religious visions of our time.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Echoing Hosea, Jesus defends his embrace of the unclean in the Gospel of Matthew, seeming to privilege the prophetic call to justice over the Levitical pursuit of purity. And yet, as missional faith communities arewell aware, the tensions and conflicts between holiness and mercy are not so easily resolved. In an unprecedented fusion of psychological science and theological scholarship, Richard Beck describes the pernicious (and largely unnoticed) effects of the psychology of purity upon the life and mission of the church.

This collection contains some of the best new work being done on the subject of character from the perspectives of philosophy, theology, and psychology. From creating a virtual reality simulation of the Milgram shock experiments to understanding the virtue of modesty in Muslim societies to defending soldiers' moral responsibility for committing war crimes, these 31 chapters break much new ground and significantly advance our understanding of character. The main topics covered fall under the heading of our beliefs about character, the existence and nature of character traits, character and ethical theory, virtue epistemology, the nature of particular virtues, character development, and challenges to character and virtue from neuroscience and situationism. These papers stem from the work of the Character Project (www.thecharacterproject.com) at Wake Forest University, generously supported by the John Templeton Foundation. This collection is truly unique in featuring the work of many young, up-and-coming voices in their fields with new perspectives to offer. Together their work will significantly shape discussions of character for years to come.

Preachers can find help from many resources to get the text right, the structure right, and the delivery right. Preaching with Empathy aims to help preachers and homiletics students learn to deeply understand and love their listeners, in order to get preaching right. Preachers who profess a love for God, Scripture, and preaching, but who lack loving empathy for the listener, betray their three professed loves and limit their fruitfulness in ministry. This book teaches how to practice preaching in new ways, incorporating a heightened awareness and empathy for the people in the preacher’s community. Author Lenny Luchetti provides immediately useful tools, all based on the foundations of scripture, theology, history, and social awareness. Readers will learn to embody Christ for their congregations, as they empathically love God and humanity. This book is part of the successful Artistry in Preaching series, edited by Paul Scott Wilson. Other books in the series include Preaching as Poetry: Beauty, Goodness and Truth in Every Sermon, by Paul Scott Wilson; Actuality: Real Life Stories for Sermons that Matter, by Scott Hoezee; and Preaching in Pictures: Using Images for Sermons that Connect, by Peter Jonker.

This book analyzes the role that the physical body plays in foundational Mormon doctrine, and claims that such an analysis reveals a model of empathy that has significant implications for the field of Mormon aesthetics. This volume achieves three main goals: It elucidates the Mormonism's relationship with the body, it illuminates Mormonism’s traditional approaches to understanding and appreciating art, and it suggests that the body as Mormonism conceives of it allows for the employment of an aesthetic framework rooted in bodily empathy rather than traditional Christian or Mormon moral values per se. In support of this argument, several chapters of the book apply Mormonism’s theology of the body to paintings and poems by contemporary Mormon artists and writers. An examination of those works reveals that the seeds of a new Mormon aesthetic are germinating, but have yet to significantly shift traditional Mormon thought regarding the role and function of art.

Discover your innate empathic abilities with popular author Cyndi Dale as your guide. With this hands-on training course, you'll learn how to comfortably use empathy for better relationships and healing the self and others. The Spiritual Power of Empathy presents this often-unrecognized ability in accessible ways, allowing you to discover an expanded awareness of what empathy is, how it works, and the myriad ways it manifests. Develop deeper connections with your loved ones, use specialized techniques for screening and filtering information, and gain insights on how to overcome the difficulties empaths often face. With the power of empathy, you'll transform the way you live and connect with the world around you. 2015 IPPY Award Gold Medal Winner in New Age (Mind-Body-Spirit)