Ways to help Episcopalians articulate and feel comfortable about speaking of their faith with others. Today, in a rapidly changing religious landscape, the structures of Christendom—which once almost automatically instilled faith in generation after generation of believers—are gone. For faithful Episcopalians, it has become essential to learn how to “tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love.” This is especially important for those generations born after the Baby Boom, which are experiencing the rapid rise of the “nones”—people who have lost their faith, or who have no faith at all. The time to speak, to share our faith, is now. Kit Carlson offers a road map for those who want to learn to speak about the faith that lives within them. Speaking Our Faith will help them put words to their own experiences of God, create their own statements of belief, and to begin to have compassionate, caring conversations with other people about spirituality, belief, and Jesus Christ.

A delightfully-written exploration of faith for those who are searching and for those who are settled What if we stopped trying to find the perfect church in the right Christian tradition and intentionally explored our faith with all our Christian brothers and sisters? Can Christians embrace God fully by exploring other faith traditions? In Not All Who Wander, we discover that we do indeed find Jesus in a church, and traces of him in our everyday lives as well. Not All Who Wander walks readers through the author’s faith journey, and how her experience with churches in a number of traditions has left her longing for more of Jesus than any one church offers. It also presents stories from other believers to give readers a sense of how alike, and different, our spiritual experiences can be. Rhoades has developed a passion for discovering all the ways we worship Jesus and invites readers to join her. With utter delight, she’s discovered no matter which traditions she worships with, Jesus meets her there.

In this volume, highly esteemed scholar Kevin Vanhoozer introduces readers to a way of thinking about Christian theology that takes the work he began in the groundbreaking 2005 book, The Drama of Doctrine, to its next level. Vanhoozer argues that theology is not merely a set of cognitive beliefs, but is also something we do that involves speech and action alike. He uses a theatrical model to explain the ways in which doctrine shapes Christian understanding and forms disciples. The church, Vanhoozer posits, is the preeminent theater where the gospel is "performed," with doctrine directing this performance. Doctrines are not simply truths to be stored, shelved, and stacked, but indications and directions to be followed, practiced, and enacted. In "performing" doctrine, Christians are shaped into active disciples of Jesus Christ. He goes on to examine the state of the church in today's world and explores how disciples can do or perform doctrine. Written in an accessible and engaging style, Faith Speaking Understanding sets forth a compelling vision of what the church is and what it should be doing, and demonstrates the importance of Christian doctrine for this mission. Disciples who want to follow Christ in all situations need doctrinal direction as they walk onto the social stage in the great theater of the world. The Christian faith is about acknowledging, and participating in, the great thing God is doing in our world: making all things new in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Doctrine ministers understanding: of God, of the drama of redemption, of the church as a company of faithful players, and of individual actors, all of whom have important roles to play. In an age where things fall apart and centers fail to hold, doctrine centers us in Jesus Christ, in whom all things hold together.

A thought-provoking, original appraisal of the meaning of religion by the host of public radio's On Being Krista Tippett, widely becoming known as the Bill Moyers of radio, is one of the country's most intelligent and insightful commentators on religion, ethics, and the human spirit. With this book, she draws on her own life story and her intimate conversations with both ordinary and famous figures, including Elie Wiesel, Karen Armstrong, and Thich Nhat Hanh, to explore complex subjects like science, love, virtue, and violence within the context of spirituality and everyday life. Her way of speaking about the mysteries of life-and of listening with care to those who endeavor to understand those mysteries--is nothing short of revolutionary.

Dr Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, is one of the world's leading scientists, working at the cutting edge of the study of DNA, the code of life. Yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God. How does he reconcile the seemingly unreconcilable? In THE LANGUAGE OF GOD he explains his own journey from atheism to faith, and then takes the reader on a stunning tour of modern science to show that physics, chemistry and biology -- indeed, reason itself -- are not incompatible with belief. His book is essential reading for anyone who wonders about the deepest questions of all: why are we here? How did we get here? And what does life mean?

This Leader Guide offers five session plans designed to bring the process described in Kit Carlson’s book, Speaking Our Faith, to small groups of adults in a congregational or school chaplaincy setting, in order to help them learn how to speak and share their faith. Guidance for the leader in how to facilitate each conversation is given, noting issues that tend to arise in each of the sessions. Homework assignments continue the work from week to week and are provided as well. The time to speak, to share our faith, is now. Through the sessions provided, participants will learn how to put words to their own experiences of God, create their own statements of belief, and begin to have compassionate, caring conversations with other people about spirituality, belief, and Jesus Christ.