Ronald P Byars
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English
Description
We in mainline churches are uneasy, maybe even scared. Why are our voices not heard? After all, we are the reasonable Christians, the updated Christians, the respectable ones who have dominated the cultural landscape since colonial times. This book presumes that trying to reverse the loss of our traditional status in society is both futile and beside the point. What's called for when we find ourselves in a state of crisis is to rediscover the big...
Author
Language
English
Description
Regular worshipers may be believers on Sunday but (nearly) atheists by Thursday. The general public, not making fine distinctions, lumps mainline Protestants together with fundamentalists fighting to hold on to a privileged status already lost. Circumstances favor religious skeptics, who find themselves with rising influence. Church members in mainline denominations feel caught between a rock and a hard place. Thus comes the critical question of the...
Author
Language
English
Description
The third volume in the exciting new Interpretation series offers a comprehensive look at the theology of sacraments. For many church people, worship is about preaching and music. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are occasional additions to Sunday services. Recognizing that church-goers are uncertain about the need for sacraments, Ronald Byars describes the possibility that the very doing of worship-the actions observed, the postures assumed, the sound...
Author
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English
Description
Why has there been such an increase in the number of Presbyterian congregations celebrating the Lord's Supper every week? Come and See explores the following causes: generational change, ecumenical convergence, revisiting Reformed roots, heightened interest in spirituality, new perspectives offered by ritual studies, and the postmodern opening to a deeper appreciation of Scripture.
Worship that is a balance of Word and Sacrament is incarnationally...
Author
Language
English
Description
Mainstream American Protestantism is suffering from an identity crisis. We are not fundamentalists, but it is easy to define ourselves in reaction to them. Paralyzed by the shock of a cultural turn toward skepticism, we are tempted to make allies of the skeptics, partly to distance ourselves from the religious right and partly to lay claim to credibility in a milieu in which it is okay to be spiritual but not to be religious. A consequence is that...