Nathan Barczi offers pastoral insight into cultivating hope in an age of AI. In this article, Barczi, who serves as a chaplain at MIT, offers us expert analysis of the growth and impact of AI on our world. Barczi calls us to consider what it means to be human, how reflection on AI can help us to sharpen our understanding of the biblical vision of imago Dei, and how engaging these conversations can shape us as a hopeful people.
Phil Anderas offers a reflection on the formation of a pastor theologian in hope, rooted in his thoughtful engagement of themes from Luther’s theology. Anderas encourages us to see that meditation, prayer, suffering, and bearing the cross are the formative elements of hopeful pastors, far more than degrees and “success.” Ultimately, this is a call to theological formation in hope in its proper object: the word of God that kills and makes alive. All true theologians must pass through this forge and so become hopeful servants of the Lord who has sent his word.
Cory Wilson points to the widespread evidence that evangelical Christianity has failed to create communities that reflect Christ’s character. Wilson looks to Lesslie Newbigin and Paul Hiebert, two figures known for their missiology and visions of the church and culture, to tap into the underutilized resources found in their theological visions for virtue formation. The essay concludes with a timely call for pastors to shepherd their churches to be faithful missionary communities, formed in virtue, living lives that are filled with the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Daniel Slavich reflects on the age in which we live by engaging the fearfulness of our time, drawing on the deep resources of the biblical and theological vision of the Holy Spirit. Reflecting on the traditional naming of the Spirit as both “Love” and “Gift,” Slavich shows that these descriptions are deeply connected to the biblical vision of hope, so grounding our life of hope in our life in the Spirit.
Matt O’Reilly offers a vision of hopeful pastoring in the age of anxiety. Unearthing the roots of our anxious age, the essay ultimately offers pastoral wisdom for shepherding our congregations through these anxious times, making the connection between hopelessness and anxiety, and so painting a vision of communities of Christ followers whose lives are a witness to the hope that is ours in Christ.
Paul Morrison offers a guide through the present state of virtue ethics. Starting with Alasdair MacIntyre, Morrison takes us through the major emphases of virtue formation, as well as highlighting weaknesses in the tradition. Focusing on the communal nature of virtue, Morrison invites pastor theologians to reflect on our work of shepherding a congregation toward Christlikeness.
Martin’s essay explores how Paul has been viewed as “the apostle of individualism,” against the textual evidence that demonstrates that Paul’s vision of the person is rooted in the dynamic of habituation in community with the past, present, and future. Through this, we can see aspects of how hope shapes us as persons, and why our habituation is essential to understanding hope.
Hartin explores the psychological and theological dimensions of hope through the poet Christina Rossetti, focusing on her most celebrated poem “Goblin Market.” Hartin’s essay offers us a vision of hope grounded in the eschatological deliverance of salvation through Christ.
Drawing wisdom from James 2, the social science concept of compassionate love, and his own experiences pastoring, Jim Samra reflects on concrete ways churches can reduce prejudice in their communities and offer hope to a struggling world.
Michael Niebauer provides an engagement with theories of moral cognition to help pastors understand the processes by which Christians might grow in virtue.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
ARTICLE: “The Gospel Terrifies Me”
COLEMAN FORD
PODCAST: Becoming a Pastor Theologian
ED GERBER
ARTICLE: Twice-Told Tales
ANDREW WILLIAMS
NEWS: Announcing Two New Learning Cohorts
CPT NEWS UPDATE
