White Soul examines the social, political, and religious foundations of country music as the soul music of white, working-class Americans.
Country music gives voice to an economically battered subculture of hard-living and hard-working people who find self-expression in the music of honky-tonks and heartaches. It celebrates the "wild side of life" as a form of populist anarchism and escapist festivity. This unusual medley of sociology, theology, and country music history is also a compelling critique of the elitism of "good taste" in the dominant culture.
Tex...
White Soul examines the social, political, and religious foundations of country music as the soul music of white, working-class Americans....
Although other books discuss how to involve multi-media elements in worship, The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World is the first to explore how electronic culture shapes people's perceptions and expectations of what worship is.
The new electronic culture, explains Tex Sample, is a culture that involves fundamentally different ways of experiencing and knowing the world. It is also a culture that holds tremendous challenges for all areas of the life of the church, none more so than its worship. Sample points out that if we hope to reach the generations that have grown up with television...
Although other books discuss how to involve multi-media elements in worship, The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World is the first to explore how ele...
No issue more polarizes American Protestants today than the church's stance on homosexuality. In recent years, a number of denominations have engaged in prolonged and divisive debates on the subject, and it appears that these debates will continue to occupy their attention. The contributors to this volume call for the formation of a "loyal opposition" that is serious in its commitment to the difficult process of reconciliation and forgiveness. Faithfulness to the gospel, they remind readers, requires nothing less than that Christians will be committed to the full inclusion of all persons...
No issue more polarizes American Protestants today than the church's stance on homosexuality. In recent years, a number of denominations have engag...
This book, says the author, is "a testimony of narratives where a] strange God appears. Such appearances supply the mystical states that have come to shape my life. I am not helped much by conventional approaches to spirituality. I find it almost impossible to do 'devotions.' Daily Bible study in the sense of devoting twenty to thirty minutes a day never worked for me. I cannot get around to scheduled times for prayer on my knees with head bowed. I find labyrinths and prayer beads boring. I am ever and again distracted in silent meditation. I simply cannot sustain a spirituality based in...
This book, says the author, is "a testimony of narratives where a] strange God appears. Such appearances supply the mystical states that have come to...
Challenging the church to break the yoke of middle-class captivity and join with Christ who lives among the poor and marginalized, Tex Sample addresses exactly what kind of worship, preaching, and Christian education meet the needs of hard-living people.
Sample presents a revealing look at the church and its interactions and motivations for involvement with hard-living people. It also provides practical, positive steps that will help you minister to them more effectively.
Challenging the church to break the yoke of middle-class captivity and join with Christ who lives among the poor and marginalized, Tex Sample addre...
Description: This book approaches the future of John Wesley's theology in terms of a preferred future by looking back to the Apostle Paul. In a comparison of Wesley's theology with the writings of St. Paul, Tex Sample maintains that Wesleyans tend to read Paul through Wesley, but that in the future we need to read Wesley through Paul. Key issues between Wesley and Paul are considered in this book: justification by faith, sanctification, the faith in/of Christ, the powers, the individual/social concept in Wesley that is absent in Paul, and, finally, the issue of a justice of the common good....
Description: This book approaches the future of John Wesley's theology in terms of a preferred future by looking back to the Apostle Paul. In a compar...
About the Contributor(s): Tex Sample is the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at the Saint Paul School of Theology (Kansas City). Author of ten previous books, his most recent is The Future of John Wesley's Theology (Cascade, 2012). He is a freelance speaker and workshop leader in the United States and overseas and is active in broad-based organizing in Phoenix, Arizona.
About the Contributor(s): Tex Sample is the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at the Saint Paul School of Theolog...
Do Christians bring a unique, scriptural understanding of social justice to bear on the ills of society? Would such an understanding reshape the way Christians engage and partner with others working to create a more just world? Much of the modern conversation around creating justice focuses on ideas that too often reduce justice to human rights, procedural justice, and even the consumerism of the contemporary culture/economy. While the priorities of human rights and due process are necessary for fashioning a just world, the Christian understanding of the common good is much richer and...
Do Christians bring a unique, scriptural understanding of social justice to bear on the ills of society? Would such an understanding reshape the way C...
Conventional wisdom is that leaders are born, not made. In reality, that is one small piece of the leadership puzzle. The fact is, approximately 10% of church leaders are naturally-gifted leaders who actually don't need any help. Another 10% of church leaders do not have the capacity to lead nor learn to lead with the skill set needed for the 21st century church. This means approximately 80% of church leaders have the possibility of becoming a more effective church leader. This book is for them.
The Necessary Nine contains nine simple axioms for effective pastoral and lay...
Conventional wisdom is that leaders are born, not made. In reality, that is one small piece of the leadership puzzle. The fact is, approximately 10...
