How can we live together in the midst of our differences? This is one of the most pressing questions of our time. Tolerance has been the bedrock of political liberalism, while proponents of agonistic political thought and radical democracy have sought an answer that allows a deeper celebration of difference. Kristen Deede Johnson describes the move from tolerance to difference, and the accompanying move from epistemology to ontology, within political theory. Building on this 'ontological turn', in search of a theological answer to the question, she puts Augustine into conversation with recent political theorists and theologians. This theological option enables the Church to envision a way to engage with contemporary political society without losing its own embodied story and practices. It contributes to our broader political imagination by offering a picture of rich engagement between the many different particularities that constitute a pluralist society.

Tolerance has been the bedrock of political liberalism, while proponents of agonistic political and radical democracy have sought an answer that allows a deeper celebration of difference. Kristen Deede Johnson describes the move from tolerance to difference and the accompanying move from epistemology to ontology, within recent political theory. Building on this "ontological turn," in search of a theological answer to the question, she puts Augustine into conversation with recent political theorists and theologians. This theological option enables the Church to envision a way to engage with contemporary political society without losing its own embodied story and practices.

Called to live in the world, but not to be of it, Christians must maintain a balancing act that becomes more precarious the further our culture departs from its Judeo-Christian roots. How should members of the church interact with such a culture, especially as deeply enmeshed as most of us have become? In this award-winning book -- now in paperback and with a new preface -- D. A. Carson applies his masterful touch to that problem. After exploring the classic typology of H. Richard Niebuhr with its five Christ-culture options, Carson offers an even more comprehensive paradigm for informing the Christian worldview. More than just theoretical, Christ and Culture Revisited is a practical guide for helping Christians untangle current messy debates about living in the world.

Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Managing Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary

These essays reflect possibilities and practices of radical democracy and radical ecclesia that take form in the textures of relational care for the radical ordinary. Hauerwas and Coels point out political and theological imaginations beyond the political formations, which seems to be the declination and the production of death. The authors call us to a revolutionary politics of 'wild patience' that seeks transformation through attentive practices of listening, relationship-building, and a careful tending to places, common goods, and diverse possibilities for flourishing.

Ulrik Nissen addresses the difficulty that contemporary theology faces in trying to find a way to maintain both all the shared goods we cherish as political beings, and the call for Christians to be a particular people in the world and bear witness to Christ. Nissen stresses that Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christological ethics allows for a polemical unity between the reality of the world and the reality of God, reconciled in the reality of Christ. Based on a series of case studies that provide a point of departure for a robust reshaping of Christian humanism and responsibility, Nissen reads Bonhoeffer's ethics in the light of both his Lutheran heritage and contemporary challenges, highlighting the importance of his thought for political theology. By demonstrating the significant influence of Lutheran and Chalcedonian Christology in contemporary ethics, Nissen provides a robust argument for a love of the common reality we share as human beings, and a call for Christians to bear witness to Christ in the public world.

This book provides a sustained, critical and theological engagement with arguably the most crucial aspect of contemporary society - its diversity. The author finds in the social theory of Isaiah Berlin a number of fruitful ways to reframe the debate over these questions, and to contribute to a more positive conversation regarding our fundamental differences. The book focuses particularly on Berlin's critique of monism and idealistic utopianism, arguing that pluralism does not represent a failure in the nature of human society, but a superabundance of possibilities in a created world grounded in the character of God. Bringing Berlin's thought into conversation with other social theorists, philosophers and Christian theologians, the book provides leaders and members of faith communities with a viable model to move beyond tolerance as mere forbearance to a grace which consists of respect and radical acceptance of others.