Discerning the body : searching for Jesus in the world / Jason Byassee ; foreword by Martin E. Marty.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Byassee, Jason, author.

Contributor:

Marty, Martin E., writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christian life.

Christianity.

Christianity and culture.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 244 pages ) illustration ;

Place of Publication:

Eugene, Oregon : Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Where in the world is the church? These articles, essays, opinion pieces, and blog posts gather around that question. If we quit on the question in despair, we are lost. If we answer it too quickly, we are not digging deeply enough. But if we hunt hard with the help of the Holy Spirit, we'll find Christ's body alive, active, working, growing, and making things new. In ''Discerning the Body'', Jason Byassee goes hunting for the church guided by a singular conviction God has promised there will be a church until Christ s return. So it s out there, it's just slightly hard to find. Where is a batch of Jesus disciples, gathering around his Word and Sacraments, living out his mission in the world? Byassee spends time among Catholics, evangelicals, mainliners, and a few non-Christians looking for signs of Christ's body. He also looks in less likely places: among athletes, in institutions, in popular culture, in the craft of writing. It is very hard to 'expect' to be surprised. Doesn t the expectation ruin the surprise? Yet it's Jesus who surprises us in the church. Every time we find him, we have to expect to be surprised to find him anew in some counterintuitive guise. This book is about the author s learning to expect to be astounded anew by Christ.

Contents:

Pt. 1. Searching for Jesus in local congregations. Emerging model: a visit to Jacob's Well

The church downtown: strategies for urban ministry

Africentric church: a visit to Chicago's Trinity UCC

Synchronized worship: the rise of the multicampus church

It's simul justus, not the tattoos: a profile of Nadia Bolz-Weber and House for All Sinners and Saints

pt. 2. Searching for Jesus in popular evangelicalism. The new monastics: alternative Christian communities

Be happy: the health and wealth gospel of Joel Osteen

En-raptured: will we be "Left Behind"?

Dinosaurs in the garden: a visit to the Creation Museum

Jeremiah Wright, evangelicals' brother in Christ

The almost formerly important: lessons of the old mainline for the new mainline

pt. 3. Searching for Jesus in the church in Africa. Perilous presence: Christians in Uganda

Holy space in Uganda

How the church grew in South Sudan

Surprises in Sudan: reading the Bible with Southern Sudanese Christians

The muse of church revival in Sudan

Why haven't they left? Stability in the church of Sudan

University presidents in the Congo: how to stop a war

Leadership as dancing the dance of all your people

pt. 4. Searching for Jesus among Roman Catholics. What about Mary? Protestants and Marian devotion

On the grace-filled life

Santuary: Mary, Methodists, and immigration

Joseph: stepfather to God

Mass appeal? Attending a Latin liturgy

Dare to discipline? John Kerry and Communion

Going Catholic: six journeys to Rome

Fathers and sons at the beach

pt. 5. Searching for Jesus in popular culture. What you're looking for: worship at the U2charist

Saint Lebowski

Messge of light: an interview with Seth Avett

The banjo lesson: the Carolina Chocolate Drops

The difficulty and glory of collaboration

pt. 6. Searching for Jesus in sports. Holy hoops: the quasi-religious basketball rivalry between Duke and North Carolina

Duke basketball: you are what you do regularly, excellently

Invisible, sticky leaders

The last guy on the bench: Casey Peters

Duke football: how to react to a failure that's not your fault?

Marathons: straining toward holiness: together

Marathons as grace or heresy?

pt. 7. Searching for Jesus in Christian institutions. Hierarchy of holiness

Outrageous ambition in East Africa

Campuses of the kingdom

Cells in the body of Christ

Luring a campus into the faith

Academic diversity through church affiliation

pt. 8. Searching for Jesus amidst the task of writing. Why religious journalism is boring

Paying attention

Abounding in hope

Joining the communion of saints and writing the unwritable word.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781621898788

1621898784