Author Anna M. Madsen's book is a fresh and challenging look at the legacy of Martin Luther and the new reformation that is calling people of faith to action today. This book is born out of the conviction that at least two gods are currently competing for our collective trust: nationalism (and its many sub-manifestations) and quietism. Both make a case for and a claim on our allegiance, each by way of different motivations of self and institutional protection. Madsen looks at today's modern context and asks: Where will the church stand in a day that is marked by globalization, polarization, racism, bigotry, and debates about justice for humanity and for the earth itself. While the Reformation church was built on the foundation of justification by grace, Madsen calls people of faith to a new reformation that will focus on standing for justice in the world. Madsen delves into who Jesus was, and how our claim that he died and was raised establishes our faith and impacts the way we live it out. She pays attention to Luther's theology and juxtaposes it with our present context. She explores recent examples of Nazi resistance, liberation theology, black and womanist theology, and feminist theology, each of which come at social justice in their unique ways, with a common conviction that justice work is central to the Christian life. She speaks of how our faith grounding and our faith history weave together and entwine themselves into our present moment, offering both warnings and encouragement. And last, a case is made that justice, anchored in justification, is our new Reformation moment, one not inconsistent with Luther's theology, but weighted differently to address the different weighty concerns of our day. A study guide is included to encourage group conversation and action.
Sitting in the pew at her husband's funeral, author Anna Madsen heard the last verse of the great Reformation hymn: "Were they to take our house, goods, honor, child, or spouse, though life be wrenched away, they cannot win the day. The kingdom's ours forever!" Reflecting on this experience, Madsen realized that death takes victories when its power appears to be greater than life. And she defiantly refused to cede death any more wins: "Not my spirit, not my strength, not my joy, and certainly not those of my children." The challenge is to acknowledge death in its manifold forms and own one's indignation and grief, and yet transcend it so that even if we are angry, we do not become anger. This book names the tension between grief and hope, acknowledges the reality of both, and defines a path forward to a life of joyful defiance. That path runs through Holy Saturday, a day that has one foot in the fear, grief, and death of Good Friday while the other is in Easter, a day of hope, freedom, life, and joy. Christians are not immune from experiencing anxiety, anger, exhaustion, and grief--emotions and effects arising from personal and communal trauma, including the trauma of death. Yet, the accompanying angst and pain, while real, are not the last word for people of faith. This book is written particularly for advocates, caregivers, and those who suffer in any number of ways, among them chronic illness, chronic injustice, and chronic exhaustion. Despite facing grief, anger, fear, and fatigue, readers will be encouraged not just to cope but to embrace hope and joy again, and then to plow them back into the ground of the wider world for the sake of their neighbors.
The theology of the cross is indisputably a trendy concept today. Numerous seminars, books, and dissertations tackle the topic. But The Theology of the Cross in Historical Perspective demonstrates that theology of the cross is no passing fancy. Theologies of the cross appear at the beginnings of the church, in the sixteenth-century reformations of the church, and in the more contemporary modernization of the church. Without theologies of the cross, what the church is called to be and to preach becomes unclear. So then, what is the theology of the cross? Anna Madsen surveys the theology of the cross in the thinking of Paul and Luther. She also outlines several important twentieth-century contributions to the subject. On the basis of her analysis, Madsen suggests that the theology of the cross reveals God to be found even in death. In death, after all, boundaries disappear. The theology of the cross assures Christians that God is present in the death of sin and in the realities of suffering and uncertainty. Given that it announces God's presence, the theology of the cross is ultimately a theology of grace, freedom, and trust.
Author Anna M. Madsen's book is a fresh and challenging look at the legacy of Martin Luther and the new reformation that is calling people of faith to action today. This book is born out of the conviction that at least two gods are currently competing for our collective trust: nationalism (and its many sub-manifestations) and quietism. Both make a case for and a claim on our allegiance, each by way of different motivations of self and institutional protection. Madsen looks at today's modern context and asks: Where will the church stand in a day that is marked by globalization, polarization, racism, bigotry, and debates about justice for humanity and for the earth itself. While the Reformation church was built on the foundation of justification by grace, Madsen calls people of faith to a new reformation that will focus on standing for justice in the world. Madsen delves into who Jesus was, and how our claim that he died and was raised establishes our faith and impacts the way we live it out. She pays attention to Luther's theology and juxtaposes it with our present context. She explores recent examples of Nazi resistance, liberation theology, black and womanist theology, and feminist theology, each of which come at social justice in their unique ways, with a common conviction that justice work is central to the Christian life. She speaks of how our faith grounding and our faith history weave together and entwine themselves into our present moment, offering both warnings and encouragement. And last, a case is made that justice, anchored in justification, is our new Reformation moment, one not inconsistent with Luther's theology, but weighted differently to address the different weighty concerns of our day. A study guide is included to encourage group conversation and action.
This book examines the problems that a “laissez faire” attitude from managers can create in the workplace, as well as the ensuing illness such problems may cause among employees. The book offers new ideas for dealing with these problems and proposes the use of cultural experiences as an active component in leadership development programmes for managers. It presents the findings from a randomized trial to show how cultural experiences can be deployed, and what the effect on employees is. The book discusses health-promoting leadership and key components in cultural activities for the benefit of workplaces from several points of view, offering a historical, social, psychological, biological, educational and organizational perspective. Finally, it presents new theories on empathy in managers, and on employee effects of good/bad changes in manager behaviour.
Translational research connects science and clinical medicine from "the bench to the bedside." In Sleep, Epilepsies and Cognitive Impairment, the authors look back from the bedside to the brain function underlying clinical symptoms and reveal mechanisms explored by contemporary neuroimaging and signal analysis in the overlapping fields of sleep and epilepsy. This book will help the reader to see epilepsy from a new viewpoint. The common pathophysiology binding together the diverse manifestations of epilepsies is the exaggeration of plastic functions of the brain involving the hippocampus, the non-specific thalamocortical system and the perisylvian cognitive network. Epileptic derailment seems to be the price for the latest achievements of the mammal and human brain; namely the highly developed ability to change and learn. The contemporary results of sleep research provide new viewpoints to explain why sleep and epilepsy are bedfellows. Converging evidence supports the concept that one of the most important biological roles of NREM sleep is the renewal of synaptic balance ensuring learning ability from one day to the next and consolidation of new memories. Epilepsy and NREM sleep use overlapping structures and functions, therefore epilepsy beginning in early childhood may interfere with sleep plastic functions. NREM sleep, which affects original learning and memory, may become the hidden source of chronic cognitive impairment when epilepsy occurs during sleep and blocks the plastic processes. Sleep, Epilepsies and Cognitive Impairment abandons the academic classification of epilepsy by following the system epilepsy concept, binding major epilepsies with structures and functions of physiological brain systems. It tries to show within this system the close interrelationship between sleep, epilepsy and cognition. Neuroscientists, clinical epileptologists and neurologists interested in brain processes underlying brain plasticity, sleep and epilepsy will find this book thought provoking. It offers good "brain-gymnastics" for reconsidering the ideas on epilepsy. It provides contemporary knowledge about the neurophysiological and functional anatomical background of major epilepsies Treats major epilepsies as system epilepsies of brain networks Reveals the interrelationship of sleep, epilepsy and cognitive impairment showing how epileptic manifestations became facilitated in NREM sleep and interferes with sleep plastic functions
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.