Being Faithful: Christian Commitment in Modern Society
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Hardback
£160.00
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Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9780567389008
Number of Pages: 208
Published: 02/09/2010
Width: 15.6 cm
Height: 23.4 cm
This is a critical assessment of Catholic Faith in the modern world. This book explores how the Christian life is lived in a pluralistic situation where different contexts of belonging give rise to different moral challenges. While it is characteristic of modern life to exist in a postmodern situation where there is an erosion of comprehensive systems of meaning, we still live today in contexts of belonging. We still seek to gather out of the fragments of modern life the sustenance of a network of belonging, belief and practice which comprise a faithful life. The construction of such a life, not only for us, but for others, serves as the framework for our moral commitments. Furthermore, sustaining and transforming social frameworks which shape various aspects of human life form the life task of adult Christians. "Ecclesiological Investigations" brings together quality research and inspiring debates in ecclesiology worldwide from a network of international scholars, research centres and projects in the field.
Part One: Foundations of the Christian Life in the World; Chapter One: Living into a New Paradigm; Chapter Two: Toward a Theology of the World; Chapter Three: Understanding Grace and Sin in the World; Chapter Four: Acting in the World: Finding the Way; Part Two: Developing the Talents of a New Age; Chapter Five: Church and Family: A Spirituality of Engagement; Chapter Six: Groups of Particularity and Profession: Speaking and Hearing the Truth; Chapter Seven: Postmodern Discipleship: Autonomy, Initiative and Mysticism; Chapter Eight: Taking a Position: Advocacy, Identity and Pluralism; Part Three: Toward the Future of the Christian Life; Chapter Nine: A Way Forward: Evangelization, Inculturation and Liberation; Chapter Ten: The Scaffoldings of the Future: Prayer, Community and Engagement.
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\: *{behavior: url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name: "Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-fareast-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: #0400;} 'Building on the best theological, ethical, and social-scientific sources, Dr. Judith Merkle has created a balanced and insightful method for addressing contemporary challenges in three dimensions: the personal, ecclesial, and global. The" "book" "focuses on the virtue of faithfulness in which Christians respond daily to follow Jesus, a calling that impels them to engage in social transformation. The author identifies a pervasive secularity in today's world that challenges the religious belief of individuals, nations, the Church, and moral theology. Other challenges include nuclear war with its links to terrorism, the trafficking of human beings, and the threat of ecological disaster. She delicately balances the treatment of important concepts; for example, being faithful and loving to God and neighbor (the "subject "who is faithful), and being faithful by resisting evil and building just and peaceful structures that enhance the "humanum "(the "object" to which one is faithful). She presents balanced treatments of both grace and sin; personal sin and social sin; and individual conscience and social analysis. The highlight of this book is the author's skilled development of how diverse cultures form the contexts in which moral decisions, ideologies, and public policy are made. Borrowing the four-fold cultural typology from anthropologist Mary Douglas, Merkle interprets how each of the four types has historically shaped the contours of the Church and in doin