Michael Welker's newest book opens new vistas on the theology of creation and challenges reigning notions of nature, transcendence, revelation, and life in biblical studies, philosophy, and theology. Based on his Warfield Lectures at Princeton, the volume probes the classical creation accounts of Genesis 1 and 2. Welker exhumes a more dynamic, concrete, pluralistic sense of creation, with accents on interdependence, unrest, and the text's "astounding potential for critique of deeply ingrained conceptions and ways of thinking." Welker then sketches surprising and creative interpretations of the text's most perplexing features: the angelic, world, the image of God in humans, dominion, sin and the "fall."

God revealed himself in Jesus Christ! Christian faith has confessed and proclaimed this message for nearly two thousand years. But what does it really mean? In God the Revealed Michael Welker delves into this declaration and shows how it offers genuine insight into Christian faith. He asks Who is Jesus Christ for us today? and approaches the answer from five different angles -- the historical Jesus, the resurrection, the cross, the reign of Christ, and eschatology. Uniquely, Welker argues for the need to place historical Jesus research in a Christology and proposes a Fourth Quest for the historical Jesus.

From the 2019/2020 Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh In God’s Image describes how centering our culture on the human and divine spirit can revitalize four universally acknowledged characteristics of a thriving human existence: justice, freedom, truth, and peace. Inspired not only by religious sources but also by scientists, philosophers, economists, and legal and political theorists, Michael Welker develops the idea of a “multimodal” spirit that generates the possibility of living and acting in the image of God. Welker’s new approach to natural theology explains why the human and the divine spirit cannot adequately be grasped in simple bipolar relations and why the human spirit should not be reduced to the rational mind. Addressing the question What is the calling of human beings? in the context of late-modern pluralistic societies, he aims at explaining to believers and nonbelievers alike what it means to be persons created in the image of God, moved by a spirit of justice, freedom, truth, and peace.

This book is the result of intensive, multiyear international and interdisciplinary cooperation. From many perspectives, the book's contributors address themes of freedom and slavery; self-determination and concepts of freedom; God-given and imprinted freedom; freedom as an ethos of belonging and solidarity; and relations between freedom, human rights, and theological orientation.

All the large churches in the world agree on this: communion is the highest expression of the church unity. Yet it is exactly the act of communion that historically has given rise to vehement controversies among the churches. This new book not only explores the meaning of holy communion but also marks a turning point on the way to common understanding. Welker gives a clear explanation of holy communion based on the biblical tradition and evaluates the ecumenical discourse on communion of the past thirty years. In the process he answers such often posed questions as "What do we mean when we say that Christ is present in communion?" "How are Christ's body and blood connected with bread and wine?" "What is the difference between the Christian Supper and the Jewish Passover meal?" and "Are children allowed to share in communion?"

Using the theological work of Karl Barth as a resource for present-day inquiry, the contributors in this volume discuss the complex interconnections between the religious and the political designated by the term theo-politics. Speaking from various political and cultural contexts (Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China) and different disciplinary perspectives (Protestant Theology, Political Sciences, and Sociology), the contributors address contemporary challenges in relating the religious and the political in Western and Asian societies. Topics analyzed include the impact of diverse cultural backgrounds on given theo-political arrangements, theological assessments of political power, the political significance of individual and communal Christian existence and the place of Christian communities in civil societies. In their nuanced discussions of these topics, the contributors neither advocate for a privatized, apolitical understanding of the Christian faith nor for a religious politics seeking to overcome modern processes of differentiation and secularization. Critically engaging Barth’s theology, they examine the Christian responsibility in and for the political sphere and reflect on the practice of such responsibility in Western and Asian contexts.

In this book John Polkinghorne and Michael Welker explain how they understand faith in the living God. Between them, they offer a "binocular vision from [their] twin perspectives to yield helpful insight in relation to the important issues." Part of the fascination of this book is how two people with such different backgrounds approach central theological questions relating to the faith they both share. Their concerns are truth rather than polemics, reliability rather than simple certainty. They seek to anchor their thought in concrete particulars rather than abstract generalizations. They ask the questions that trouble the inquiring mind, and meet head-on the challenge as well as the reassurances of belief. This second edition provides a new Preface and updated bibliographies.

J rgen Moltmann's distinctive insights in trinitarian theology - especially about the relations within God and God's presence in creation - are revolutionary for theology and set the stage for these further explorations. The esteemed group of contributors in this volume probes new ways of understanding the triune character of God.Among the contributors are: Nicholas Constas Sarah A. Coakley Harvey G. Cox Jr. Lyle Dabney David Fergusson David H. Kelsey Daniel Migliore Gerald O'Collins John Polkinghorne William Schweiker Dirk Smit Bryan D. Spinks Kathryn Tanner Ronald F. Thiemann Miroslav Volf John Webster Nicholas Wolterstorff

Peter Lampe's work has covered a wide range of fields, the common denominator being his interest in contextualizing belief systems. Mirroring his multifaced work, the authors pursue his interest from different interdisciplinary angles, addressing the interdependence between religious expressions and their situations or contexts. The application of theoretical models to texts examples flanks the inspiring theoretical – epistemological and methodological – reflections. Studies in socio-economic and political history adjoin archaeological, epigraphic, papyrological and iconographic investigations. (Social-)psychological interpretations of texts complement rhetorical analyses. The hermeneutical reception of biblical materials in, for example, the Koran and Christian Chinese or Orthodox contexts, as well as in religious education and homiletics, rounds off the volumes.