How does an almighty and all-loving God respond to his beloved human creatures, who are made in his image and yet implicated in sin and suffering? What is the origin of human suffering? Is it sin or the limitations of human beings? Is God moved by our suffering? If he sympathizes and co-suffers with us, can he deliver us out of our miseries? Thousands and perhaps millions of people have asked these questions and are searching desperately for their answers. Two major views have been advanced in the history of Christian theology to describe God’s response to the suffering of the world: divine impassibility and divine passibility. More recently, a third, mediating position between impassibilism and passibilism has arisen which affirms both the impassibility and the passibility of God. This position can be identified as modified classical theism, an approach that grasps the perfect and relational nature of God. Following this mediating position, this book sets out its own constructive understanding of a mediating position with the help of a new way of understanding the way in which the eternal actions (and corresponding passions) of the divine persons condition one another—the dynamic reciprocity model.

This collection engages the challenges and opportunities for doing theology in the context or age of media. The intersection of media with theology is reciprocating: media boosts theology in its functions to inform, connect and educate; theology humbles the globalizing media with a reminder – media is in mediation but not in domination. Media and theology thus intersect at mediating (negotiating, interceding, resisting, protesting) and they should avoid the temptation to colonize. The essays are presented in two overlapping clusters: Mediascapes (intersection of media and a selection of land- and sea-scapes) and Mediations (implications of mediating theology for interrogating hegemonies). The topics addressed include social media and #tag cultures, the fourth industrial revolution and artificial intelligence, homiletics, social resistance, Palestine, Latin America, climate change, and Covid-19. Dieser Sammelband betrachtet die Herausforderungen und Chancen für die Ausübung von Theologie im Medienzeitalter. In ihren Berührungspunkte bedingen Medien und Theologie einander: Medien unterstützen die Theologie bei ihrer Aufgabe zu informieren, zu verbinden und zu bilden. Theologie wiederum erdet die globalisierten Medien, indem sie daran erinnert, dass Medien eine Vermittlerrolle ausüben und keine Herrschaftsrolle. Diesen Vermittlungsaspekt haben Theologie und Medien gemeinsam (Verhandeln, Intervention, Widerstand, Protest), weshalb sie der Versuchung widerstehen sollten, überheblich zu werden. Die vorliegenden Beiträge sind in zwei Bereiche unterteilt: Medienlandschaften und Vermittlung. Die besprochenen Themen beinhalten Social Media, Hashtag-Kultur, Industrie 4.0, KI, Homiletik, sozialer Widerstand, Palästina, Lateinamerika, Klimawandel und Covid-19.

"To make sense of the contemporary nature of the Church we must understand the way that encounter with God is mediated by cultural expression. Through participation in expression the contemporary Church is both a lived in 'culture' while it is also 'in-dwelt' by the Trinitarian God. Participation and Mediation explores the cultural and theological nature of the contemporary Church." "The book divides into three parts. The first discusses modern theology, mission studies and practical theology as part of a converging on the cultural. It sets Practical Theology within a wider theological discussion within modernity and a turn to 'culture'. The second part argues for a theological approach to Practical Theology based on a theology of participation and mediation. The relationship between theology and the operation of media is discussed. Part Three deals with the Liquid Nature of the Church based around the Christian Culture industry, commodification and identity."--BOOK JACKET.

How might a distinctively Pentecostal and charismatic theological perspective inform and enrich the discourse of academic practical theology? In order to address that question, Mark Cartledge in this book probes the relationship between Scripture, experience, and the Holy Spirit by means of the concept of mediation -- that is, how the divine is experienced in the world. An expert in both Pentecostal theology and practical theology, Cartledge offers a unique intervention into practical theology through the lens of the Holy Spirit. He presents an original reading of Pentecost and the Spirit-reception texts in the book of Acts and engages with current literature in both Pentecostal studies and practical theology. Further, Cartledge places his whole discussion within a broader Protestant theological framework, and he interrogates an existing congregational study to provide a real-life example of theological intervention.