"From the author of City Poet, the biography of Frank O'Hara, now comes an account of thriving forms of spirituality in what is being called a "post-denominational" age." "As the nineties were drawing to a close, Brad Gooch set out on a journey to explore traditional and nontraditional forms of spirituality that took him across America and to India. Gooch's quest - partly personal and partly investigative - took him to Chicago to read the mysterious Urantia Book; to Goa and La Jolla to experience the talks and treatments of Deepak Chopra; to Ganeshpuri and South Fallsburg, New York, to listen to the charismatic leader Gurumayi Chidvilasananda; to Bardstown, Kentucky, to observe the quiet solitude of the Trappists and to Dubuque, Iowa, to see the Trappistines; to Dallas to worship with the members of the gay congregation of the Cathedral of Hope; and to New York to talk with Muslims and Sufis. As Gooch proceeded on this unique spiritual odyssey - from fringe to mainstream - he witnessed diverse movements and religions and their strong appeal to a broad spectrum of followers." "Brad Gooch has written a revealing, richly detailed document of our time. In Godtalk, character, dialogue, and setting come together in an irresistible, fast-paced narrative that is both engaging and informative about the unexpected nature of spirituality in America today."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

From the halls of Harvard to the aisles of bookstores to the kitchen tables of Main Street, Americans are developing a new grammar of God that is fresh and rooted in history. Phyllis Tickle shows us snapshots of religion in America from the 1930s to the present. God-Talk in America argues that there is an emerging new understanding of who and what God is, and of what religion must do. As always, religion is being created in the streets and cafes and bedrooms and kitchens of real America rather than in the seminaries or cathedrals. Phyllis Tickle listens in those ordinary places and shows why a sea-change in religion, theology and spirituality is underway. Her book is both map of the present and compass to the future.

2011 Winner of the Book Awards Contest in the Discipline of Theology Presented by Alpha Sigma Nu The apostle Paul wrote that "All of you are one in Christ Jesus." Given Paul’s vision of God’s kingdom defined by the breakdown of all distinctions and relationships of domination—no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female—how do we make sense of ethnic particularity within the church’s theological formulations? Racism and God-Talk explores the biblical and religious dimensions of North American racism while highlighting examples of resistance within the Christian religious tradition. Social historians have seldom analyzed the problematic of race from a primarily theological perspective. This volume undertakes a critical examination of explicitly theological and confessional perspectives for understanding and transforming North American racism. Rosario Rodriguez offers insights from Latino/a theology for broader scholarly and social discussions concerning racism, borders, and immigration. The first to analyze race and racism from a Latino/a theological perspective, the volume makes use of a broadened conceptualization of "mestizaje," or mutual cultural exchange, to challenge the church to recognize the effects of racial and ethnic particularity in all theological construction.

In this refreshing account of the faith lives of adolescent girls and the roles parents play in shaping that faith, 50 girls from 12 different denominations tell deeply personal stories about what it means to be young, female, and Christian.

he book has a genuine unity, and I can think of no better introduction for theological students to the variety of problems about language which confront the contemporary theologian. Analytical philosophy, existentialism, the problems of biblical criticism and those of continental neo-Protestant theology are allowed to contribute to a single argument in which Macquarrie is able to pose the problems of man's likeness to God and of anthropomorphism with a welcome degree of precision. Macquanle's strength is that he is straightforwardly writing from within theology. His exposition of Saint Athanasius on the Incarnation propounds squarely the claim that Christianity entails empirical judgments, that in principle at least it is refutable by the facts, if they are of one kind rather than another' (Alasdair MacIntyre in The Guardian). 'He lucidly explains the issues raised for Christian belief both by empiricist analytical philosophy and by existentialist hermeneutics. The hermerteutical question is brilliantly illuminated by an exposition of Athanasius's De Incamatione, and all the problems of mythology, symbolic language, analogy and paradox are carefully sorted out' (Alan Richardson in Theology). 'Following the lead of the later Wittgenstein, Macquarrie holds that we must allow each linguistic form to disclose its own logic. The dominant characteristic of all religious and theological language is its obliqueness. It speaks in terms of myth, symbol and analogy. Macquarrie . makes it plain that existentialist interpretation cannot exhaust the meaning of theological language. He clearly sees that if theology can be totally interpreted in this way, then it is reduced to anthropology. We must progress through existential interpretation to ontology--to talk about the transcendent Being of God.... The book does not finally solve the problems which it raises and does not claim to. But it develops a very promising manner of tackling them. Above all it is a very timely counter-poise to those over-facile analyses of the logic of theology which result in a kind of Christian atheism. John Macquarrie seems to me to grow in both spiritual and intellectual stature with every book he writes' (The Expository Times).

This thoughtful book offers a fresh theological interpretation for the ways people talk about God in times of crisis. A Theology of God-Talk: The Language of the Heart probes the meaning behind phrases like "It must have been God's will" and "The Lord took Uncle Harry." Bringing together psychology, theology, and narrative theory, this insightful and sensitive book offers new ways of looking at this common reaction to crisis. Book jacket.

Use this common coping mechanism to help people respond to crises! This thoughtful book offers a fresh theological interpretation for the ways people talk about God in times of crisis. A Theology of God-Talk: The Language of the Heart probes the meaning behind phrases like “It must have been God’s will” and “The Lord took Uncle Harry.” Though many caring professionals dismiss such talk as insensitive or irrational, these phrases offer powerful clues to the speaker’s personal religious feelings. A Theology of God-Talk demonstrates the ways that God-talk moves the sufferer through the grief and doubt of the crisis. By recognizing the ways God-talk resembles myth, apocalyptic tale, tragedy, story, and even prayer--all literary categories--the caregiver can begin to help sufferers rewrite their personal narratives in the wake of tragedy. A Theology of God-Talk examines the crucial issues of God-talk, including: common false assumptions about it the theology of God-talk interpretations and misinterpretations how to glean counseling insights from God-talk differing stances for sufferers and survivors of tragedy Bringing together psychology, theology, and narrative theory, this insghtful and sensitive book offers new ways of looking at this common reaction to crisis. A Theology of God-Talk is an instant classic and an essential resource for pastors, chaplains, therapists, grief counselors, and theologians.