Sacred Playgrounds explores the wisdom of camping ministry for Christian education and faith formation, examining its rich history and fundamental characteristics with compelling stories, groundbreaking research, and theological grounding. Christian summer camp is an integral part of the ecology of faith formation in North America, though it has received surprisingly little attention in the scholarly community until now. Camping ministry is often dismissed as simple fun and games or a brief spiritual high that does not last. However, camp experiences often serve as deeply relational and immersive faith experiences that have lasting impacts on participants. Five fundamental characteristics combine dynamically in the effective camp experience: participatory, faith-centered, safe space, relational, and unplugged from home. Together, they open the space for participants to consider new understandings of God, to have time for deep self-reflection, and to build intentional Christian community. These camp experiences are essential components in a larger ecology of faith formation, including the home and congregation. The insight and evidence presented in this book demonstrate that the contributions of camping ministry must be taken seriously among scholars, Christian educators, and ministry professionals.

What if the modern American church has its Christian history wrong? According to ex-evangelical Michael Camp, most American believers fail Christian History 101. Drawing on his own historical research and missionary experience, he discovers that most popular Christian views of the Bible, church, sin, salvation, judgment, the kingdom of God, the "end times," and the afterlife--pretty much all religious sacred cows--don't align with the beliefs of the original Jesus movement. Some of them not even close. Camp's Craft Brewed Jesus paves a fascinating journey of a group of disillusioned evangelicals and Catholics. When they decide to meet regularly over craft beers to study the historic foundations of their faith, their findings both rock their world and resolve ancient mysteries. They examine well-documented narratives of the early Jesus saga, Eastern streams of a lost Christianity, and the roots of our modern religious assumptions, all while striving to steer clear of either a conservative or liberal bias. What they uncover is a vital, refreshing spiritual paradigm no longer at odds with reality. Grab your brew of choice and trace this transformational journey based on a true story that will encourage you in your walk of life and faith.

Christ's Call: Follow My Footsteps is a call to higher commitment. In this 41-minute video, K.P. Yohannan challenges us to follow in Christ's footsteps--steps that will deliver us from our self-centeredness and cause us to impact the lost millions in our generation.

"Justin B. Richland continues his study of the relationship between American law and government and Native American law and tribal governance in his new manuscript Cooperation without Submission: Indigenous Jurisdictions in Native Nation-US Engagements. Richland looks at the way Native Americans and government officials talk about their relationship and seek to resolve conflicts over the extent of Native American authority in tribal lands when it conflicts with federal law and policy. The American federal government is supposed to engage in meaningful consultations with the tribes about issues that affect the tribes under long standing Federal law which accorded the federal government the responsibility of a trustee to the tribes. It requires the government to act in the best interest of the tribes and to interpret agreements with tribes in a way that respects their rights and interests. At least partly based on a patronizing view of Native Americans, the law has also sought to protect the interests of the tribes from those who might take advantage of them. In Cooperation without Submission, Richland looks closely at the language employed by both sides in consultations between tribes and government agencies focusing on the Hopi tribe but also discussing other cases. Richland shows how tribes conduct these meetings using language that demonstrates their commitment to nation-to -nation interdependency, while federal agents appear to approach these consultations with the assumption that federal l aw is supreme and ultimately authoritative"--

PART I - The Camp David Process -- First Steps, Harsh Truths -- "A Secluded Northern Castle" -- Back to Square One -- Longing for Hizballah -- Forcing the Leaders' Hand -- A Conceivable Endgame? -- The Promise of an American Steamroller -- Inauspicious Beginnings -- Clinton: "We Have Exhausted the Beauty of this Place" -- A Gamechanger (or so it looked..) -- O Jerusalem (and its lies...) -- Saeb Erakat: "Arafat is Interested in a Crisis" -- Albright's Intermezzo; Clinton's Last Push -- Our Faintest Hour -- Arafat: "Barak Has Gone Beyond my Partner Rabin" -- Making Most of Success -- Moments of Grace on Precipice Edge -- PART II - A Savage War for Peace -- "With Our Blood and Soul We'll redeem Palestine" -- Diplomacy Under Fire -- Trapped in No-Win Conditions -- Neither Inspiring nor Intimidating -- "Take it or Leave It" - The Clinton Peace Parameters -- "A Crime Against the Palestinian People" -- Barak in a Cage of Doves -- Taba: "The Boss Doesn't Want an Agreement" -- Post Mortem -- Part III. 2001-2020: A Story of Promise and Deceit -- The Conversion of the Hawks -- The Impossible Triangle: Obama-Netanyahu-Abbas -- The Geneva Understandings as a Parable -- The Failed Zionization of Palestine -- The International Community - A Broken Reed -- The Occupation's Traits of Permanence -- PART IV. Denouements -- Ominous Unravellings -- Exit Oslo, Enter Madrid -- PART V. Defying the Logic of Conflict Resolution -- Palestine - A Comparative Perspective.

This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.

Publisher description