General Theological Seminary

Abstract As same-sex marriage has become legal in many places, churches have struggled with their response. Authorized rites for all couples for both lifelong covenants and marriage are available in a few Anglican Provinces, but many others still limit the church’s pastoral response to same-sex couples. This chapter argues that, while broad changes in cultural understanding regarding marriage are the primary factor in acceptance and authorization of same-sex marriage in many Anglican Provinces, there is a developmental pattern in the Book of Common Prayer in Provinces such as the Episcopal Church (U.S.) that has aided in adopting a more inclusive theology of marriage as well as new and adapted rites in places where marriage equality is available.

Many people are generous in their praise and gratitude for a good sermon. But as many a deacon, priest, or bishop will agree, one of the clearest signs of a sermon that has affected someone deeply is when that sermon is remembered. The words “I've been thinking about that sermon you preached last month on …”, or something similar, are therefore even more welcome than “thank you for that great sermon today!” This article considers sermons that meet this criterion: most have been remembered for centuries. They are clear, striking, and thoughtful, in many different ways, and they were (as we shall see) relevant in their own eras, yet are still relevant today. In the words of the Book of Common Prayer, every one of these sermons “proclaims the Gospel … and [speaks] the truth.”

This study examines the text transmission of the figure of Martha of Bethany throughout the Fourth Gospel in over one hundred of our oldest extant Greek and Vetus Latina witnesses. The starting point for this study is instability around Martha in our most ancient witness of John 11–12, Papyrus 66. By looking at P66’s idiosyncrasies and then comparing them to the Fourth Gospel's greater manuscript transmission, I hope to demonstrate that Martha's presence shows significant textual instability throughout the Lazarus episode, and thus that this Lukan figure may not have been present in a predecessor text form of the Fourth Gospel that circulated in the second century. In order to gain the greatest amount of data on the Fourth Gospel's text transmission, I rely on several sources. Occasionally these sources conflict in their rendering of a variant; I have tried to make note of these discrepancies and look at photographs of witnesses whenever possible. Although this study is primarily focused on Greek and Vetus Latina witnesses, an occasional noteworthy variant (e.g., from a Syriac or Vulgate witness) may be mentioned when relevant to the subject at hand. The work of many established redaction critics, who have already hypothesized that Martha was not present in an earlier form of this Gospel story, will also be addressed.

Teach Us How to Pray: A Review of New Books by Episcopal WomenWearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God. By Lauren F. Winner. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015. 286 pp. $24.99 (cloth).A Lot of the Way Trees Were Walking: Poems from the Gospel of Mark. By Cynthia Briggs Kittredge. Eugene, Ore.: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015. xv + 100 pp. $15.00 (paper).Learning to Walk in the Dark. By Barbara Brown Taylor. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2014. 200 pp. $24.99 (cloth).Grounded: Finding God in the World-A Spiritual Revolution. By Diana Butler Bass. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015. 323 pp. $26.99 (cloth).In Lukes Gospel, in the days when Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem and has begun to tell his that he must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the religious leaders and be killed and then on the third day be raised, his closest circle of followers ask him to teach them how to He had just gone off by himself to a certain place to pray, alone with God, as was his spiritual practice. His followers notice, and when Jesus finishes praying, they confess to him their need to pray as he did: Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples (Luke 11:1).I like to think that, in that moment, Jesus learned something about his vocation. From the earliest days of his public ministry, Jesus had understood the purpose of his life and ministry to be about healing and proclaiming good news. After his discernment in the wilderness, he had returned to his hometown of Nazareth and stood up in the synagogue, full of the Holy Spirit, to reveal his mission. He would teach about the reign of God, what it was like and what it could be like on earth. He would proclaim that it was coming and already very near, especially for those most in need of it, the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the oppressed. He would help to bring about the reign of God by his preaching and by his healing of lepers and paralytics, blind and deaf people, and those possessed by demons. He would also help to usher in the reign by suffering and dying. But it may not have been until this moment of expressed need, desire, and perhaps some gentle critique by his of his leadership compared with that of his cousin John the Baptist that Jesus realized his mission also was to be a teacher of prayer.He himself was a man of prayer, in close relationship with God his Father. It is no coincidence that, in Luke's Gospel, Jesus is praying in the moment of his baptism, when the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descends upon him. His prayer and his power in the Spirit for mission are interwoven. His prayer emboldens and strengthens him for proclaiming and healing. But when he commissions his also to go forth into the villages to bring the good news and cure disease of every kind, Jesus may not have realized that they needed instruction in prayer for this ministry. They needed to know how to pray as he did. They needed a relationship with God as intimate as his. When his begin to learn that the mission of Jesus also will involve suffering and death, they become more aware of their need for prayer and beg Jesus to instruct them in nurturing intimacy with God. Lord, teach us to pray. And so Jesus does, starting with the suggestion that they address God with a name of tender endearment, one used by beloved children. Abba.Because Jesus instructed others in the art of prayer, teaching people how to pray is arguably one of the mission responsibilities of the Christian community. Not everyone within the community can be a teacher of prayer, for the Holy Spirit gives gifts for all kinds of different ministries. But some are so called.Interestingly, from the veiy earliest days of Christianity to now, women as well as men have significantly participated in this mission of Jesus, from the desert mothers and fathers, to Christian mystics of the medieval age, to spiritual directors and teachers of prayer in more recent times. …

This chapter addresses the role and impact of the film industry on the increasing secularization of America. More specifically, it explores how both the content of films themselves and the context of the movie-going experience have in many ways not only entertained, but also met human needs previously fulfilled by traditional forms of religion. The study opens and closes, as it were, with a look at the filmmaking capital itself, once a small town with tree-lined boulevards and no alcohol and within a century, because of the industry that would become synonymous with the place, a “Tinseltown” both reflecting and contributing to the transformation of the entire country. I argue that this transformation has a disconnect with traditional religiosity and contributes to a rise in a secular spirituality. The second half considers both the effectiveness of Hollywood’s messaging using examples of specific filmmakers and genres and the inherent narcissism and spiritual superficiality of the moviemaking culture itself.

This article is an historical and sociological analysis of the rise of the Sunday school movement, the “Southern Baptization” of that movement, and its growth and subsequent decline. Two related points are central to the argument: (a) the irony of the movement’s evolution from nondenominational Protestantism to Southern Baptist denominationalism to nondenominational evangelicalism; and (b) in a context of social and economic transformations that undermine not only the roots of the movement’s growth but also compromise its attendant fruits, the Sunday school’s continued importance for the religious socialization of successive generations. From the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century, denominationalism meant identity and growth, and the Sunday school drove both, first in Great Britain and later in the United States. The decline of the Sunday school for adults and then for children led to the erosion of denominationalism, especially from the 1960s onward. Research suggests that parental involvement in a religious tradition, children’s simultaneous age-graded religious education, and worship together (still) promote religious identity and assure continued church involvement across the lifespan. So what can be done?

For some people, diagnosis with a serious illness or other adverse life events can precipitate a period of religious struggle. While evidence of the harmful effects of religious struggle is accumulating, less is known about its prevalence or correlates. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of religious struggle in three groups of medical patients. Study participants included diabetic outpatients (N= 71), congestive heart failure outpatients (N = 70), and oncology inpatients (N = 97). Participants completed questionnaires which included several measures of religion, including religious struggle, emotional distress or well-being, and demographic characteristics. Half of the total sample (52%) reported no religious struggle, while 15% reported moderate or high levels. In a multi-variate analysis, younger patients (p < 0.001) and CHF patients (p < 0.05) had higher levels of religious struggle. Those with higher levels of positive religious coping also reported higher levels of religious struggle (p < 0.01), while those who attended worship most frequently had lower levels of religious struggle (p < 0.05). Religious struggle was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms and emotional distress in all three patient groups. While further research is needed to help clarify the sources, additional correlates, and course of religious struggle, the findings in this study confirm the association between religious struggle and emotional distress in these three groups of medical patients. Clinicians should be attentive to signs of religious struggle. Where patient's responses indicate possible religious struggle, clinicians should consider referral to a trained, professional chaplain or pastoral counselor.

Journal Article REVIEWS Get access Judith H. Newman Judith H. Newman The General Theological Seminary of Judith H. Newman the Episcopal Church Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Semitic Studies, Volume 48, Issue 1, SPRING , Pages 187–189, https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/48.1.187 Published: 01 February 2003

L'A. commente la structure et le vocabulaire de Contre les heresies 1.1-1.10 d'Irenee de Lyon et presente la these selon laquelle la regle de foi est comprehensible a travers le deploiement de ses descriptions de la gnose et la creation du discours theologique.