Books

This collection of essays provides samplings of a theological engagement of culture that Paul Louis Metzger has been developing over the years in his work as founder and director of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins at Multnomah Biblical Seminary of Multnomah University. Metzger espouses an incarnational over against a predominantly worldview-oriented or market-driven theological approach to engaging culture, and situates his work in Trinitarian communal and co-missional thought forms. This volume of biblically and theologically framed and compassion-driven essays addresses such themes as postmodernity, structural evil, cultural genocide, sexuality, HIV/AIDS, the prison system, the global slave trade, and the arts. It will be welcomed by those analyzing and developing theological-cultural paradigms and engaging key issues in the contemporary setting.

Reflecting on globalization, ethics, and religion, social theorists and theologians consider answers to this pivotal question. In their ecumenical, interdisciplinary dialogue, capped off by five local case studies from around the world, they contemplate a globally inclusive social vision unbounded by national and ethnic borders and examine the ongoing relationship between civil society and the church that worships a Trinitarian God.

Why another commentary? After all, there are hundreds of wonderful resources available for studying Scripture. What makes this one different?

While most commentaries take a left-brained approach to studying scripture, Resonate comes at the ancient texts from a right-brained, big picture perspective that takes into account the context of the biblical book and the cultural context of the reader. Instead of a close verse-by-verse reading, Resonate volumes highlight major themes, drawing out the stories and insights of each book to bring them into conversation with contemporary voices of hope and lament—the cultural messages we interact with on a daily basis. The Scriptures become a meeting ground where God speaks to the pressing concerns of our day, and we are confronted in turn with a fresh experience of God’s truth.

As one reviewer put it, “It’s Oswald Chambers and Max Lucado meet Entertainment Weekly and the New York Times. The result is an engaging, intelligent, modern-day study.”

In short, Resonate is:

Biblical

Theological

Cultural

Personal

Written by pastors responding to the needs of pastors who are engaged in on-the-ground ministry, Resonate has an all-star lineup of contributors in the queue including pastor/practitioners like Paul Louis Metzger, Dan Kimball, Matt Woodley, Tim Keel and Soong-Chan Rah. This exciting new form of organic “commentary” we call Resonate is poised to become a standard for years to come.

Many Americans think that race problems are a thing of the past because we no longer live under the Jim Crow laws that once sustained overt structures of segregation. Unfortunately, says Paul Louis Metzger, today we live under an updated version of segregation, through the subtle power of unchallenged norms of consumer preference.

Consumerism affects and infects the church, reinforcing race and class divisions in society. Intentionally or unintentionally, many churches have set up structures of church growth that foster segregation, such as appealing to consumer appetites. Metzger here argues that the evangelical Christian church needs to admit this fault and intentionally move away from race, class, and consumer segregation.

Challenging the consumerism that fosters
ethnic and economic divisions and distorts evangelical Christianity, Consuming Jesus puts forth a theologically grounded call to restructure the church’s passions and practices, transforming the evangelical imagination around a nobler, all-consuming vision of the Christian faith.

Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology is a multi-authored exploration of systematic theology from a Trinitarian perspective. Its aim is to show how the doctrine of the Trinity sheds light on other key doctrines-from prolegomena to eschatology and theological ethics. To borrow a phrase from Robert Jenson, the doctrine of the Trinity ‘is not a separate puzzle to be solved but the framework within which all theology’s puzzles are to be solved’. Given the scarcity of systematic theologies done ‘trinitarianly’, this collective project suggests a path to follow in the formulation of each particular doctrine represented in the volume. Trinitarian Soundings promises to become an important work given its unique presentation of major themes of systematic theology in their classical order, yet from a Trinitarian point of view. Its contributors include veteran theologians as well as younger scholars who are energetically employing this Trinitarian focus. The contributors represent various theological traditions and geographical locations, which surely bring richness to the theological inquiry. Dedicated to the memory of a pioneer in the resurgence of Trinitarian theology, the late Prof. Colin Gunton, this collection represents a distinctive treatment of systematics, intent on showing the vitality of approaching all aspects of the faith from a self-consciously Trinitarian perspective.

This beautifully constructed work by Paul Louis Metzger explores what Karl Barth, the theological giant of the twentieth century, had to say about the relation of Christianity to modern culture.

Working from an intimate knowledge of all of Barth’s writings, Metzger shows how Barth’s theology offers a constructive synthesis of Christ and culture. Metzger first analyzes Barth’s formative theological period and what it contributed to his thinking about the world. He then focuses on how Barth’s unique doctrine of the Word enabled him to relate Christ to culture in inseparable terms while yet maintaining a distinction between them. The final section of the book traces the way Barth framed culture within his theological model even as he continued to champion the secular domain.

In this introduction to ecclesiology, respected scholars Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger offer a solidly evangelical yet ecumenical survey of the church in mission and doctrine. Combining biblical, historical, and cultural analysis, this comprehensive text explores the church as a Trinitarian, eschatological, worshiping, sacramental, serving, ordered, cultural, and missional community. It also offers practical application, addressing contemporary church life issues such as women in ministry, evangelism, social action, consumerism in church growth trends, ecumenism, and the church in postmodern culture. The book will appeal to all who are interested in church doctrine, particularly undergraduates and seminarians.