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Contents
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v Contents Foreword by Tony Jones vii Preface ix Introduction: Getting Clear on What You (Really) Believe 1 A Prophetic Challenge to Academic Theology n Toward the Rebirth of Theology Part One: Theology for an Age of Transition 1. Things Have Changed, or “Toto, We’re Not in Kansas Any More” 11 Religion in America Fifty Years Ago n The ‘60s and ‘70s n American Religion in the Early Twenty-First Century 2. Do Christians Have to Hate Change? 16 3. Why the Answers Must Be Theological (and What That Means) 19 A Theology Is a World-and-Life-View n Sources for Christian World-and-Life-Views 4. Postmodernity Makes Theologians of Us All 27 What Were the Assumptions of “Modernity?” n Transition to a Postmodern World 5. Postmodern Believing 34 Three Last Gasps of Late Modernity n Doubt Is Not Sin n Return to a Thinking Faith n Belonging, Behaving, Believing n Always Already on the Way 6. “Everything Must Change” 43 Parallels with the Fall of Rome n Changes in the Structure of Congregations n Changes in the Structure of Denominations 7. Managing Change 49 An Urgent Call to Church Leaders Part Two: Theologies That Can Transform the Church 8. Don’t Give Up on the Church! 57 9. Transformative Theologies 61 Two Warring Camps n Returning to “Big Tent” Christianity n Don’t Just Talk about It; Do It! n Learning from Experience vi | Contents 10. Learning to Find Your Theological Voice 69 Make Your Beliefs Conscious n Examples to Get You Started n The Seven Core Christian Questions n Building Church Programs from Your Theology Outward n Imagine Martin Luther in the Twenty-First Century 11. Theology as Telling the Story 79 Telling Theological Stories at the Personal Level n Telling Theological Stories at the Congregational Level—and Beyond 12. Theologies in Action 85 Put Your Thought Where Your Heart Is n Try This Experiment in Your Local Church n Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff n Viewing Theologies as Complementary, Not Mutually Exclusive 13. A Theology of Self-Emptying for the Church 94 The Christ Hymn in Philippians 2 n Living the Christ Hymn n Recognizing the Faces of Power and Prejudice n Self-Emptying in Christian Congregations n Uniting Proclamation with Self-Emptying n Self-Emptying Theologies Part Three: Theologies That Can Transform Society 14. New Partnerships in Christian Activism 115 The Obama Effect n Postmodern (Pragmatic) Idealism 15. Time to Leave behind Old Liberal/Evangelical Battles 118 It Looks like “Liberal” Won’t Do It n Finding a Term that Splits the Difference n Making a Difference with the Difference 16. From Church Ministries to Missional Churches 125 How Things Used to Be n How Things Are Now n Rethinking Theology of Mission from the Ground Up n Features of Missional Churches 17. Social Transformation without “Us versus Them” 132 Our Plural Identities n Theology in an Age of Interlocking Identities n A Call to Retrieval, Renewal—and Radical Transformation 18. Constructing Theologies of the Community for the Community: The Six Steps 138 The Excitement Principle n Identifying with a Missional Community n Why Real Community and Missional Christianity are Inseparable 19. Toward a Progressive Theology for Christian Activism 146 Why Is It Controversial for Christians to be Boldly Progressive? n Social Transformation in Luke 4, Luke 6, and Matthew 25 n Working with God for the Salvation of the World Part Four: Conversations Worth Having Conversation 1: Choice, Convictions, and Connections 161 Conversation 2: Barriers to Belonging 164 Conversation 3: Toward a Progressive Missiology 170 Notes 175 For Further Reading 181 ...