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Descubre un mundo infinito de historias

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Bruce G Epperly

Can you imagine reading the Lord’s Prayer as a gateway to adventure?

Bruce Epperly, who has introduced process theology to the masses through concise, readable guides, presents this well-known prayer through a vision of a relational, open-spirited, profoundly personal, always creative, and forward-looking God, who invites us to be companions in the holy adventure of healing the earth.

This is not your routine book on the Lord’s Prayer. Instead, it is an invitation to to holy adventure through sharing in the prayer of Jesus. Each short chapter includes a section titled “Living the Prayer of Jesus.” In the back, there are a series of questions for conversation.

This book is short (only 35 pages of text besides the questions) and concise, but it is also challenging. It would make a good church wide or small group study, and is suitable for individual reading.

Energion Publications

Topical Line Drives

One World: The Lord's Prayer from a Process Perspective

This concise book, the sixth short guide on process theology and its practical implications by Dr. Bruce Epperly, applies process thought to the calling and activities of pastoral ministry.

Short and to the point as are all books in the Topical Line Drives series, this text will provide pastors and others involved in caregiving ministries a new and adventurous way of thinking about and meeting the challenges of their vocation. God is already present in the hospital room and even the funeral home. You have the opportunity to experience the vision of what can happen when we discover that God is always opening up new possibilities, empowering us to partner with God in healing the world, and strengthening us for and comforting us in the difficult times of life.

Learn to connect more closely to the divine and the human, to see more clearly, and to participate more completely, as God does.

A practical, deeply theological, and challenging guide to the adventure of pastoral care.

Process and Pastoral Care

Chris Eyre

A pastor says, "If you think you understand the trinity, you've probably fallen into heresy." An expert in biblical studies says, "The trinity is one of the best ways ever invented to say, 'We don't have a clue!'" Many people say the trinity is not found in the Bible, so what is it doing as a doctrine?

This lively and challenging book asks you to think about the trinity, what it means, how it came to be, and what value it might have in Christian conversation today. If you don't want to have your thinking challenged, or you'd rather just go on saying, "I believe in the trinity," without knowing what you're saying, then definitely stay away from this book!

To the rest of you, "Enjoy!"

A Holy Mystery: Taking Apart the Trinity

Allan R. Bevere

At Easter, major magazines and blogs will publish articles claiming to tell us who Jesus was. Every few weeks we see a new book making similar claims. Is it possible to know?

In Who Is Jesus?, Allan Bevere addresses this question from the point of view of a person of faith who takes seriously the gospels and early Christian tradition as documentation of events and of serious theological reflection on those events. According to Bevere, Christian theology was neither an invention, nor a set of random speculations unrelated to reality. Rather, they were the response of early Christianity to the experience of Jesus and the historical pictures as presented in the canonical gospels.

From a discussion of the Old Testament record piecing together the puzzle of biblical messianic prophecy through illumination of the christological controversies of the first five centuries of Christian history, and then back to the four portraits of Jesus given to us in the canonical gospels, this book provides a clear description of how orthodox Christian scholarship can bring together the varied evidence in order to present a coherent theological picture of the Jesus of history. As Bevere contends, history and theology are not easily separated, but are two threads that create an interwoven tapestry in which events have meaning.

This book is good for individual reading, or could easily provide readings and an outline for a small group study.

Who Is Jesus?: The Puzzle and the Portraits of a Divine Savior

Elgin Hushbeck, Jr.

Christian apologetics suffers from a reputation for loud arguments, canned answers, and a fascination with technical details.

Some Christians avoid apologetics because they are either concerned about offending people, or because they are afraid they will be unable to answer technical questions.

These concerns and fears are unnecessary. Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. , unapologetic Christian apologist points the way toward a Christian witness that is positive, and is possible for everyone. In fact, Hushbeck maintains, all Christians testify to their faith, simply by bearing the name "Christian" and living. By emphasizing listening, respect, and most importantly, a realization that the fruit of our endeavors are God's responsibility, he invites all of us to apologetics that is centered in our own testimony and in building genuine relationships.

This is a short but powerful book. It will help you approach your witness without fear or worry. Anyone can read the book quickly. It won't give you all the answers, but it will reassure you that you don't need all the answers. Nobody else has all the answers either. But what you can do is pursue conversations and depend on relationships within the church to help you."I don't know, " is a valid answer.

This is a book for every Christian, but it will be especially helpful to those who teach in the church. Have a few copies on hand, and when people ask you how they can be a witness, hand them a copy. It's a short read, but it can change forever how each person carries out the gospel commission.

Doing Apologetics

Robert D. Cornwall

The doctrine of the trinity is probably the most complex and mysterious topic in Christian theology, yet it impacts our understanding of many other doctrines.

Pastor/Theologian Robert D. Cornwall brings his knowledge of church history to the task of examining this doctrine, looking at how it developed and what justifies its presence in Christian theology. He uses the history of his own Disciples of Christ tradition as one of the expressions of the Stone-Campbell movement, which avoids creeds very effectively in examining how we distinguish between the statements and events of scripture and our theological reflections on them.

Can a doctrine not mentioned in scripture be of value? Are creeds necessary or even useful? Cornwall threads a careful course between the value of the creeds, and within them the doctrine of the trinity, in defining our ecumenical relationships and task on the one and, and on the other the danger of having creeds as a test of fellowship and faith. While rooted in his own denomination's traditions, this is very valuable to other denominations and movements as we examine what defines us while at the same time seeking freedom in non-essentials.

This book is especially strong in examining the history of the development of this doctrine and connecting this to our ongoing reflection on scripture and what our tradition and experience provides.

This short volume is valuable to all those who seek to understand the trinity not just as an element in a doctrinal system, but as it aids us in thinking about elements of our faith.

The Triune Nature of God: Conversations Regarding the Trinity by a Disciples of Christ Pastor/Theologian

Hannelore Hushbeck

There are few topics where good advice is more needed than that of Christian marriage. At the same time there are few topics about which the answers given are as scattered and unclear.

In this short but comprehensive volume, Elgin Hushbeck, Jr., tackles one of the most disputed passages in the New Testament, Ephesians 5, and its discussion on Marriage. On the one hand, this passage tends to scandalize some liberals, and, on the other, gets interpreted in a very patriarchal way by some conservatives. Hushbeck puts this passage into its literary and historical context to see what Paul was saying to his immediate audience, and how that message can apply to modern Christians. His clear exposition of structural and rhetorical factors is especially helpful.

His analysis will open the eyes of many as to how this verse presents a challenge to both the conventions of Paul's time and of ours, as it goes to the heart of Christian Marriage.

This book is suitable for individual reading, but could also be valuable for a small group study or as the basis for a sermon series.

To Love and Cherish: Ephesians 5 and the Challenge of Christian Marriage

Bruce G. Epperly

How can we respond spiritually when a pandemic hits our nation? How can our faith help us to face our fears, going beyond panic and denial, to hopeful and courageous action?

The Coronavirus is changing everything in our society. It can provoke isolation and self-interested individualism. It can also inspire kindness, generosity, patience, and compassion. Facing the pandemic with God as our companion will deepen our sense of agency as well as peace and move us from self-interest and nation-first to planetary loyalty.

This text provides a theological, pastoral, and spiritual pathway to help you, your family, and congregation find your way through the wilderness of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Faith in a Time of Pandemic

Terrell Carter

Is heaven a place, somewhere we go? Is it a future goal, attainable only after this life ends?

Pastor and educator Dr. Terrell Carter looks at this issue with a pastor’s heart and a scholars precision, looking at what the Bible teaches us and how this might relate to how we live, act, and worship today. In the process, he introduces readers to such theological terms as Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God. Why a kingdom? Read this book to find out.

In each chapter of this book you’ll learn something new about how the Bible speaks about heaven and the afterlife. You’ll read the parables of Jesus on this topic with a new vision. You’ll find things in the book of Revelation that you might have been missing. And you’ll find all this in an easy to read style.

This book is a good, quick read for those who are in hurry for an introduction, and it provides a sound basis for a short study on heaven, the afterlife, and life on earth in the meantime for a small study group.

The Only Thing That Matters Is Heaven: Rethinking Sin, Death, Hell, Redemption, and Salvation for All Creation

Jay D. McDaniel

John B. Cobb, Jr.

How do our spiritual beliefs and practices link to our ethics and our care for the natural world around us?

John B. Cobb, Jr. and Jay McDaniel join together to provide a view of life that is refreshing, challenging, and expansive. It could even be called all-encompassing. Rather than looking just at how human life can be preserved, with the world itself and the universe beyond as a sort of backdrop, they look at life and divinity in all things, and ask us to look for a way of life that affirms God’s presence everywhere.

As a result of such an affirmation we may need to change not just our practices, but our very goals. We may need to allow our ambitions to be tempered by the needs of others, not just other human beings, but other living creatures, and all nature.

If you would like to develop and consider a world where humanity fits with the web of all life, if you would like to find a way of living non-destructively, if you would like to find a God who suffers with you while working with you to heal and prevent suffering, this book is for you.

Choosing Life: Ecological Civilization as the World's Best Hope

Patricia Adams Farmer

Is it possible to think of God as beautiful?

We tend to think of God with superlatives, such as omnipotence, omniscience, and infinity. By their very nature, these words tend to also make us see God as distant. It seems almost sacreligious to speak of God in the terms we might use for any other person. Very few would think to call God beautiful. In this book, theologian and pastor Patricia Adams Farmer looks at God in precisely those terms, inviting us to move beyond limiting ways we have of speaking of God. She sees God as both beautiful and the ongoing author of beauty. God invites us in living a vision, and that vision is not just “good” in some abstract sense. It is attractive. It draws us in. It is active. It challenges us.

Learn to think about and experience God in a new way as you bring process and beauty together. The journey is worth it!

Beauty and Process Theology: A Journey of Transformation

Does process theology have something to say about political and social issues and our response to them?

In this short book, Bruce Epperly says that it has much to say, and can shape not just the ethics and policies of a better world, but also the way in which we debate and decide those policies. Process theology invites discussion and even guides us toward acceptable and positive compromises.

No major political issue of the western world is excluded from this discussion. From immigration to criminal justice, from abortion to reproductive health, from the environment to economic development, process thinking can help guide examination, shaping, and implementation of solutions for a troubled world.

This book is suitable for individual reading by anyone who wants to take a fresh look at policy from an open-minded, progressive point of view. It can also be helpful in group studies for those who want to study how to apply prophetic proclamation to daily living.

Process Theology and Politics

Timothy Dwyer

The book of Colossians is often seen as standing apart from other letters attributed to Paul, even by those who affirm Paul as the author. Does Colossians relate the same story of the gospel message as Galatians and Romans?

In The Gospel in Colossians, Timothy Dwyer explains that the gospel message is found throughout Colossians in a clear, deep, and majestic form. Working from creation through covenantal history, to the kingdom of God in the present and future, he believes Paul develops an understanding of the gospel rooted in the supremacy, majesty, and greatness of Jesus Christ.

The 44th volume in the Topical Line Drives Series, this volume is a short, but powerful and comprehensive examination of the way in which this one letter presents the gospel and upholds Jesus as the one and only savior. One important feature of the book is the presentation of the relationship of concepts in a variety of texts that come together in forming the theology of Colossians.

This book will be of benefit to those serious about developing their understanding of biblical theology, for pastors preparing sermons from the text of Colossians, and for anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of the foundation of the gospel message.

The Gospel in Colossians

Lisa Antoniotti

Amber Mattingly

How can a spiritual practice from one spiritual tradition be used wisely, respectfully, and effectively in another?

In this 46th volume in the Topical Line Drives series two authors, one ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and one a Christian Church/Disciples of Christ minister combine their talents, their passion, and their desire to serve by looking at one practice from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and how it might be practiced by Christians.

They examine both the theoretical, theological, and religious aspects of responding positively to the possibilities in this sharing. At the same time, they are careful to respect one another’s faith traditions so that this sharing can be building and healing.

Books in this series are by nature short and to the point. This is an introduction. But it is a powerful and helpful introduction, one that may lead the reader into new adventures of faith and spiritual life.

A Leap of (Inter)Faith: Finding treasures through

What might Jesus say to you today about your political decisions? Would he care?’

With his gift for making Scripture and theology clear and very relevant, Dr. Bruce Epperly looks at the Sermon on the Mount and suggests to us what Jesus might be saying about our own politics and social ethics. Point by point he brings the topics Jesus covered home to a modern audience, especially in America.

With topics such as “all-embracing love,” intercessory prayer,” and “bringing the light,” almost anyone will find something here to think about. Perhaps God is asking something more of us in the social and political sphere than we might have imagined. Are we called to be Jesus in public forums and the halls of government?

The book closes with a series of conversation starters, several for each chapter, which makes this an ideal book for a small group study. It can also be read individually, and will perhaps give you both the impetus and some of the ideas that will help you change our world.

Talking Politics with Jesus: A Process Perspective on the Sermon on the Mount

Are you afraid of the Holy Spirit being active in your church? Are you willing to admit it?

The Holy Spirit has been a kind of third-rate member of the trinity in the theological writings of mainline and progressive Christians. It seems that the Spirit brings disorder to communities, spiritual arrogance to those who claim to “have the Spirit,” and frequently doctrinal confusion. We’d rather not have something in our churches that goes where it wants, and doesn’t give account for where it’s coming from and where it’s going.

But the biblical picture of the Spirit is one of action, change, and renewal. Perhaps there is a place for this Spirit in a movement claiming the title of “progressive.”

Bruce Epperly has experienced church from many perspectives. He has sat in conservative churches where too much Spirit might be seen as inciting division and heresy. He’s been in progressive churches where the Spirit is often considered peripheral. He’s a process theologian, and the Spirit, as he points out in this book, is often of tertiary concern. But he has also observed Spirit in action, and he thinks we do well to considered this third element of the trinity.

What does it mean for the Spirit to be active? Is it safe? Can it be controlled? Can you keep it bound by your doctrinal statements? It should be active, and you cannot control it, Epperly argues in this book. You shouldn’t control it. Nor does it coercively control you. But it does drive us to new life, to new adventures, and perhaps to transformed understandings of the universe in which we live.

Are you ready to join in this joyous adventure?

Restless Spirit: The Holy Spirit from a Process Perspective

The word "holiness" has become somewhat unpopular, as people associate it with a holier-than-thou attitude, a judgmental approach to others, or a legalistic approach to Christian life.

But holiness is a word that is used a great deal in scripture and has a long history in Christian theology. Is it possible to talk about holiness as a positive element in living? Can people be called to be holy and in fact called holy?

Dr. Allan Bevere believes so. Working from the Wesleyan tradition, but also examining the broader record of Christian thought and the scriptural witness, he looks at what holiness is and is not. As he does so he finds it helpful and challenging rather than negative and destructive.

Topical Line Drive volumes are intended to point you to the basics and provide a start for deeper study. Individuals and small groups will find this book ideal as a starting point for a study of this important topic. All God's saints (holy ones!) should understand where they stand as they worship a holy God.

Holiness of Heart and Life: Loving God and Neighbor

Theology is a complex subject, with many subdisciplines, and is know for thick volumes with dense prose. This book bucks that trend, but hitting the basics briefly, but carefully.

In this 50th volume of the Topical Line Drives series, theologian and church historian Dr. Robert D. Cornwall provides a clear introduction to the basics. His approach is not to give you a set of beliefs about God, but rather to provide you with an introductory foundation to the way Christians talk about God. Key concepts, such as omnipotence, impassibility, transcendence, immanence, and yes, love, along with many others. The content is brief, but carefully designed as a launching pad for further study.

Read this book in order to make all your other theological reading more profitable. It will keep you from missing out because some of the basic were passed over, or were obscured by extensive discussion.

Besides individual reading, this volume is useful as an introductory reading in theology courses or for small groups in churches who would like to better understand their other curricula and more profitably discuss their ideas about God.

Speaking of God: An Introductory Conversation about How Christians Talk About God

"Revival" has not been a popular word in mainline and progressive circles, but as more and more progressive and open & relational theologians have become open to spiritual and mystical possibilities, interest has grown.

Bruce Epperly, who has previously tackled such controversial issues as angels, miracles, healing, and prayer, now takes on this challenging topic. With renewed discussion as the result of the Asbury Awakening and the release of the movie "Jesus Revolution," his response to revival movements in the church is especially welcome.

Bruce has long been a prominent proponent of process theology for every church member, explaining some of the more difficult concepts in relatable terms for the people in the pews. In this book, he recognizes the need for revival, and asks what this should look like.

Too often "moves of the Spirit" die out as people find it difficult to see a way to live out the divine encounter they have experienced.

This book is addressed both to those hungry for more and to those who have felt the presence of the Divine in various ways and are asking how they can understand and live in the light of that they have experienced.

Process Theology and the Revival We Need

Religious and spiritual healing practices are often seen as a show in which a healer claims to physically cure someone through actions or words. These healings mostly fail.

In this booklet, the third of three that integrate process theology with contemporary spiritual life and activity, Bruce Epperly presents a very different view of healing. He calls for a healing ministry, but one that finds God in all things and uses scientific medicine, healing ritual practices, and prayer in concert, sometimes for spiritual healing but also for a way to live out the challenge of illness, to face death with dignity, and yes, sometimes for a cure that appears miraculous. He applies these healing practices not just to human beings, but to all life and to the planet we live on. Healing is not the province of a few, calling on supernatural forces. Rather, it is a cooperation with the energies God has placed in the universe. Rather than supernatural it is more natural than anything.

Epperly is a specialist in bringing difficult concepts to life for everyone. He combines that skill with the short format of the Topical Line Drives series to present a call for all of us to be healed and to become healers as part of God’s call to life and light.

This book may well be the call you need to hear to find wholeness, Shalom, in your life and your relationships to others and this world.

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