Paul R. Hinlicky

Ambassadors in Chains

History & Biography

“Putting modern scholarly history to work for purposes of Christian theological anthropology, Richard Steele examines in four case studies an ecumenical cross-section of Christian conscience at work in the world. Christian conscience is understood as convictions of personal identity. Convictions so profound that to abandon them would constitute the moral disintegration of the person. To sustain them enables further conviction about the way this identity is to be enacted in challenging circumstances. Not only a solid contribution to the doctrine of humanity, but highly recommended reading for our challenging times!”

Christology

Theology

“Ralf Wustenberg has given us a text on Christology that signals the new situation of Christian theology in Euro-American post-Christendom. It fairly breathes with the contested, pluralistic, postmodern environs of the Free University in Berlin. It achieves a new conception of tolerance: 'tolerance from out of faith,' where faith is taken radically as gift, never as achievement. As such, it recommends itself as an introductory text wherever teachers want to embrace pluralism critically by attesting with Luther and Bonhoeffer the truth claim of classical Christianity: Jesus Christ the Savior of the world.”

From Isolation to Community

Christian Living

“Through much of the modern period, Christianity adapted itself to succor the needs of atomized individuals at the mercy of profound social change. Unwittingly, this accommodation took the state of isolation as given, and thus isolation ironically repeated itself in the solutions on offer. Whether in conservative-reactionary or liberal-progressive forms, modernized Christianity modeled identity either as the self’s assertion of sovereignty or the self’s absorption into a collectivity. But according to Werntz’s welcome construction of a theological alternative inspired by the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian gospel is essentially about the formation of community in Christ, which interprets the state of isolation as the consequence of sinful alienation from God the Creator. Resolving this spiritual alienation, community in Christ cascades out into the world in a series of joyful exchanges on the trajectory of beloved community.”

God Hides

Theology

“Continuing his explorations into the new shape of 'natural theology' after the death of the God of pious self-seeking, Wisnefske's analysis uncovers the contemporary experience of natural life under global threat. With help from Kant, he explicates the corresponding moral imperative to preserve, protect, and defend life, and with help from Luther, he just as incisively exposes our helplessness to do what we ought.”

Justification and the Gospel

Theology

“The new debate on justification is getting interesting! Allen provides a lucid scholarly guide to the controversies. He intervenes in the debate on behalf of divine immutability and forensic imputation. How little the classic fault lines still apply! How much less can the matter of justification be regarded as passe.”

The Morally Divided Body

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“It is a historical fact that moral disagreement has divided the church. This is not possible unless certain kinds of moral disagreements are, in fact, doctrinal disagreements . . . and other kinds of moral disagreements are, in fact, tolerable divergences owing to context and judgment. The offerings in this excellent collection go a long way toward recognizing this difference and sorting it out for us today.”

Time and the Word

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In the figural reading of the Bible, the Figure that bridges the two Testaments configures readers into creatures created to love Him and enjoy Him forever. . . . In this welcome study Ephraim Radner delivers the Chief Figure speaking again from the Scriptures as the mighty, ever-seeking, ever-finding Lord of time.”