What in the world is postmodernity? Is it the dominant reality today? If it is, what does it mean to be a church in a postmodern world? It seems that the church had a difficult time coming to terms with a modern world, an era ruled by the claims of scientific certainty. Having done so, more or less, it is now confronted by the claims of postmodernity, which seem to reverse the whole equation, to say that certainty and objectivity are chimeras. What is truth?" Pilate asked, and postmodernity 'at least as caricatured by its opponents 'responds: "There's no such thing." Gerard Mannion, in Ecclesiology and Postmodernity, addresses the situation of the church in a postmodern world. The fundamental changes in human society and culture wrought by the twentieth century require the church to consider its response in the twenty-first century. What is the church's moral Vision, how does its practice look, what is the nature of its aspiration toward holiness in our times? Mannion believes that since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has been in a kind of limbo, awaiting a Vision of its own life for the future. Rather than focusing on specific controversies, Mannion offers concrete suggestions about how the church can create a better harmony between its own self-understanding, its ecclesiological Vision, and its day-to-day life, its ecclesial practice. Gerard Mannion, PhD, educated at King's College, Cambridge University and New College, Oxford University, is Associate Professor of Ecclesiology and Ethics in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Liverpool Hope University, UK. He is also the director of Church In Our Times: Centre for the Study of Contemporary Ecclesiology, co-director of the Applied Ethics Initiative at Liverpool Hope, co-chair of the AAR (American Academy of Religion) Ecclesiological Investigations Program Unit and co-ordinator of the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network. Mannion is the author of Schopenhauer, Religion and Morality and co-editor of Readings in Church Authority 'Gifts and Challenges for Contemporary Catholicism, both published by Ashgate in 2003, and co-editor of the forthcoming volumes The Routledge Companion to the Christian Church andCatholic Social Justice: Theological and Practical Explorations. "

This introductory 2003 guide offers examples of different types of contemporary theology and Christian doctrine in relationship to postmodernity.

A rich collection of fifteen articles by European, North American and Asian theologians, concerned with the concept, life, unity and future of the church.

Ecclesiologists and other experts from around the world address various forms of exclusion in the Catholic Church. These essays address the many forms of exclusion in churches around the world, with a major focus on the Roman Catholic Church but also addressing exclusion in other churches. Topics included are exclusion of marginal people, exclusion and racial justice, exclusion and gender, exclusion and sacramental practices, and exclusion and ecumenical reality. Contributors include Paul Lakeland, Gerard Mannion, A. E. Orobator, Bryan Massingale, Phyllis Zagano, Neil Ormerod, Bradford Hinze, Mary McClintock Fulkerson, and Susan K. Wood, among others.

This Companion provides a definitive collection of essays on postmodern theology, drawing on the work of those individuals who have made a distinctive contribution to the field, and whose work will be significant for the theologies written in the new millennium. The definitive collection of essays on postmodern theology, drawing on the work of those individuals who have made a distinctive contribution to the field. Each essay is introduced with a short account of the writer's previous work, enabling the reader to view it in context. Discusses the following desciplines: Aesthetics, Ethics, Gender, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, Heideggerians, and Derrideans. Edited by Graham Ward, one of the most outstanding and original theologians working in the field today.

These original essays address the many forms of exclusion in churches around the world. While the primary focus is on the Roman Catholic Church, they also address exclusion in other churches, Topics covered include the exclusion of marginal people, exclusion and racial justice, exclusion and gender, exclusion and sacramental practices, and exclusion and ecumenical reality.

This provocative addition to The Church and Postmodern Culture series offers a lively rereading of Charles Sheldon's In His Steps as a constructive way forward. John D. Caputo introduces the notion of why the church needs deconstruction, positively defines deconstruction's role in renewal, deconstructs idols of the church, and imagines the future of the church in addressing the practical implications of this for the church's life through liturgy, worship, preaching, and teaching. Students of philosophy, theology, religion, and ministry, as well as others interested in engaging postmodernism and the emerging church phenomenon, will welcome this provocative, non-technical work.