The cross carries the polar memories of history. One memory is the terrible violence imposed on Jesus, and the other is the memory of faith in the midst of the deepest abyss in human history. A theology of the cross contextualizes the dangerous combination of these memories in the present reality of life and death. A theology of the cross is thoroughly preoccupied with the agency of God, but not in a way that deals with the systematic apologetics of the knowledge of God. It deals with the knowledge of God before it becomes knowledge. It is the matter of the living and dying of our life. This book explores theologians of the cross in a global flow and proposes an intercontextual perspective of theology.

Asians, Christian as well as Buddhists and Hindus, are beginning to feel that Western Christianity has both preached and lived a Christianity without the Cross. Jesus did not carry his cross as a businessman carries his briefcase, or as Christians symbolically carry a well-filled lunch box. Even more seriously, Asians have experienced Christ crucified as crucifying them: This, concludes Koyama, is the most serious missiological problem facing the Church today. With vivid imagery that marked his Waterbuffalo Theology, Dr. Koyama, one of the most engaging of modern theologians, offers a meditation on Christianity from South East Asia which has much to offer the more formalized life of the Western churches.

The book presents a theological basis for theological education based on the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) within the context of Asia. The first part of the book asserts that theological education that is sound and biblical fulfills the purpose of the Great Commission by making disciples of all nations. The second part of the book considers the key text on discipleship in Matthew 16:24, emphasizing that suffering is an essential aspect of following Jesus. Discipleship and a theology of suffering must feature prominently in theological education. These crucial aspects of the Christian life are often missing in the teaching of pastors and churches today. Therefore, there is an urgent need in theological education to highlight and to remedy these deficiencies. The book also contains three appendices that are valuable for theological educators: a set of graduate attributes for theological students, a code of professional ethics for ministers, and a statement on spiritual abuse. The book provides invaluable reading for theological educators, church leaders, elders, pastors, and teachers.

Dennis Ngien places Luther within the context of the medieval Church, the early Church's discussion of the suffering of God and the modern discussions of the essential Apathy. Luther accepts the Old Church's Theopaschitism, but he rejects Patripassianism, a heresy of the Old Church. This study breaks new ground by taking Luther a step further arguing that only a trinitarian theology of the cross is genuine Christian theology, and that the suffering of Christ touches the immanent Trinity as well as the economic Trinity.