Michael Niebauer provides an engagement with theories of moral cognition to help pastors understand the processes by which Christians might grow in virtue.
Moral Cognition and the Development of Christian Virtue
Jesus, the Law, and the Hermeneutic of Love
Venturing into the world of cuneiform law, Michael LeFebvre suggests that ANE writings give insight into Jesus’s law hermeneutic and in doing so, invite us to “re-engage with the Torah as a textbook on love.”
Virtue Ethics and Protestant Discontent: A Brief Outline
David Hunsicker reflects on the emergence in the twentieth century of virtue ethics through the writings of MacIntyre and Hauerwas, explores the concerns Protestant theologians have historically expressed regarding the concept, and argues that rethink- ing the role of catechesis in the life of the church might be the answer to the question of what it means to truly love God and neighbor.
Imitating the Virtue Ethic of Jonathan Edwards and William Ames
Through his intriguing “mash-up” of the thoughts and practices of philosophical- theologian Jonathan Edwards and the philosophical-psychologist William James, Joseph Cochran argues that both approaches offer useful material for mimesis in order to foster virtue.
The Pursuit of Love in 1 Corinthians 12–14
Justin Allison explores how Paul’s “vision for love formation” in 1 Corinthians 12–14 relates to the commonly used theoretical framework offered by the psychological sciences known as dual-process theories of cognition.
”To Love the Souls of the People”: Andrew Fuller and the Virtue of Love in Pastoral Ministry
In highlighting the legacy of the Particular Baptist pastor theologian Andrew Fuller, Paul Sanchez points the reader towards Fuller’s view of love as the essential virtue for pastoral ministry, arguing that the training of pastors should give more attention to the formation of love as a virtue.
"All You Need Is Love": The Old Testament Background of the Greatest Commandment of the Law
Joshua Philpot examines the Old Testament background of the Greatest Commandment to assert that “the injunction of love for God and neighbor is the guiding principle” around which a healthy church is built, helpfully reminding us that “love is a principle of action.”
Race and Virtue: The Virtuous Mean as Vehicle for the Integrated Church
Paul J. Morrison continues the discussion around issues of racial injustice and conflict, arguing that a transformation of the heart through the employment of virtue is the best answer for “lasting societal reformation.”
Pastoring in the Age of Anger
Focusing on the struggles pastors face shepherding their flocks in “the Age of Anger,” Joel D. Lawrence asserts that helping congregations reshape their common objects of love will in turn reshape their communities to be more effective witnesses to peace.
No Greater Love: A Christian Approach to Friendship and Race
Moving to issues of racial conflict, Robert S. Kinney explores historical conceptions of love to conclude that a “biblical understanding of friendship, expressed in the Christian virtue of love, is essential to improving discussions of race and ethnicity in this complex moment of our history.”
Getting My People to Church on Time: Reflections on the Importance of Historical Liturgy, Experiential Worship, and 'Spiritual Romance'
Recognizing the frequent dichotomy set up between the heart and the mind in the context of those services, Gerald Hiestand urges pastors to incorporate a balance between liturgy, cognition, and “spiritual/romantic experience” in order to facilitate the fullness of Christian growth in their congregations.
On Power and Fragility: Reflection of John Paul II's Theology of Bodily Womanhood
Owen Strachan expounds a theology of womanhood that pays close attention to the meaning of the female body.
Power, Sex, and the Self: Notes on Ephesians 5:21–33
Man and Woman He Created Them: Same Sex Desires, Gender Trouble, and Gay Marriage in the Light of John Paul II's Theology of the Body
Matthew Mason examines what Theology of the Body might have to say on issues of same-sex sexuality and contemporary gender confusion.
A Biblical Theological Approach to Premarital Sexual Ethics: Or What Saint Paul Would Say about ‘Making Out’
Naked Church: A Trinitarian Ecclesiology of the Body
Christopher Bechtel explores the metaphor of church as body to consider how John Paul’s spousal anthropology might inform our ecclesiology.
Seeking a Free Church Theology of Economics: An Exercise in Avoiding Oxymorons
Writing from the perspective of historical theology, Matthew Ward (CPT Second Fellowship) considers how historical Anabaptist texts could inform (one type of ) consistent Free Church economics.
A Christian Antidote to 'Affluenza': Contentment in Christ
Gary Schultz (CPT Second Fellowship) exegetes Philippians 4:10- 13 and 1 Timothy 6:6-10, finding in Paul’s call to contentment a powerful theological antidote to the contemporary malaise of “affluenza.”
Theology and Economics in the Biblical Year of Jubilee
Michael LeFebvre (CPT Second Fellowship) offers a rich exploration of the biblical Year of Jubilee, in the hope of encouraging and contributing to deeper reflection on how the Mosaic Law might be used to inform contemporary economic theory. LeFebvre persuasively argues that Moses has much to say here, and pushes back against the near exclusive Greco-Roman focus of contemporary economic theorists and historians.
In Defense of Having Stuff: Bonhoeffer, Anthropology and the Goodness of Human Materiality
Joel Lawrence (CPT First Fellowship) offers a corrective to the current popularity of “radical” Christianity that calls on Christians to abandon attachments to the world. These “radical” voices often cite Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous call to costly discipleship. Lawrence, himself a Bonhoeffer scholar, situates Bonhoeffer’s call within the wider context of Bonhoeffer’s theological anthropology. Lawrence shows how Bonhoeffer affirms the material constitution of humanity and the goodness of creation, and so the consequent goodness of “having stuff.”
