This book critically engages contemporary environmental ethics and provides Christians with a theological foundation for appropriately relating to the world they call God's creation - a creation ethic. It is refreshingly and thoroughly Scriptural. However, what the Bible says may shock many people who often read Scripture with conservative or liberal presuppositions already in mind. Author Data Gale Heide grew up on a farm/ranch in Montana giving him insight into the beautiful and sometimes forceful movements of God in creation. He also learned a great deal during the three years he worked...

Description: System and Story is intended to develop a means for bridging the gap between critics of system and those who may find value in doing systematics from a Biblically oriented context. Narrative theologians have rightly identified and critiqued the development of system in academic theology. Unfortunately, they have not identified the ways in which systematic elements have always played a role in theological knowledge. This study demonstrates the inherent systematic tendencies that still exist in narrative approaches to theology, while at the same time acknowledging the...

Domesticated Glory critically examines the marriage between Evangelicalism and American politics. The study begins by engaging popular political pundits who wish to transform Christianity into an arm of the state. It then moves to examine some of the theological foundations proposed as support for the church's propping up of American political ideology. Finally, the study provides a more robust politics of the church by outlining how the church might act as a politics in itself. Thus, the church may gain a political voice as church in such a way as to make the world know it stands in need of...

Description: ""What is the purpose of theology for the church?"" Systematic theology provides an inroad into this question by offering both a method for doing theology and an explanation for the purpose of that method. However, ""system"" is itself the product of a specific understanding of knowledge grounded in rational demonstration of facts. This study attempts to address the historical debate over when systematic theology began. Much of the debate is centered on the definition of system and revolves around the use, or lack thereof, of external philosophical categories or language....