Finding Peaks and Valleys in a Flat World

Goodness, Truth, and Meaning in the Midst of Today’s Mad Chase for Prosperity and Instant Feedback

Mark Ellingsen, Interdenominational Theological Center

The flat world of our globalized economic order—with its information technology mandating the need for the labor force to compete globally—has led to turmoil, injustice, and growing unhappiness in our everyday lives. We need a way to find some mountaintops and fulfillment in our flat world, to have a sense that some moments can have eternal significance. Søren Kierkegaard, forerunner of Existentialism, provides us with a vision of life to help us cope and give us joy. Along the way, we’ll see how a lot of his insights connect with cutting-edge findings on brain research about the biological dynamics of joy and fulfillment. Finding Peaks and Valleys in a Flat World will be of interest to undergraduate Philosophy and Religion students as well as Kierkegaard specialists. It will also be a good reference work for people interested in social analyses and theologians of every denominational affiliation.

Technology and Theology

Edited by William H. U. Anderson, Concordia University of Edmonton in Alberta

Technology is growing at an exponential rate vis-à-vis humanity’s ability to control it. Moreover, the numerous ethical issues that technology raises are also troubling. These statements, however, may be alarmist—since Telus would tell us “The Future is Friendly”. The Modernist vision of the future was utopic, for instance Star Trek of the 1960s. But postmodern views, such as are found in Blade Runner 2049, are dystopic. Theology is in a unique interdisciplinary position to deal with the many issues, pro and con, that technology raises. Even theologians like Origen in the third century and Aquinas in the thirteenth century made forays into Artificial Intelligence and surrounding issues (they just didn’t know it at the time). Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Transhumanism raise questions about what it means to be human. What is consciousness? What is soul? What are life and death? Can technology really save us and give us eternal life? Theology is in a unique position to handle these questions and issues. This book also has practical applications in terms of ecclesiology (church) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic—both in terms of what it means to be a church and in terms of the sacraments or ordinances. Is there such a thing as a “Virtual Church” or must we gather physically to constitute one? Are Baptism and Communion legitimate if one is not physically in a church building but are “online”? This book struggles with these and many other questions which will help the scholar or reader make up their own minds, however tentatively.

God, Science, and Society: The Origin of the Universe, Intelligent Life, and Free Societies

Anthony Walsh, Boise State University

“It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion, science offers a surer path to God than religion…science has actually advanced to the point where what were formerly religious questions can be seriously tackled” (Paul Davies, Astrophysicist). Anthony Walsh’s latest riposte to atheistic arguments against God's existence draws on Natural Theology, a knowledge of God based on evidence from both the natural and social sciences. Covering everything from the Big Bang and the origins of life to the mystery of intelligent consciousness, Walsh makes even the most technical scientific writings accessible to the general reader and tackles a question few books on the relationship between science and religion have ever sought to address: how does Christianity positively affect societies, families, and individuals in terms of democracy, justice, happiness, health, and prosperity?

Indigenous People and the Christian Faith: A New Way Forward

Edited by William H. U. Anderson, Concordia University of Edmonton in Alberta and Charles Muskego, Concordia University of Edmonton in Alberta

Indigenous People and the Christian Faith: A New Way Forward provides detailed historical, cultural and theological background and analysis to a very delicate and pressing subject facing many people around the world. The book is “glocal”: both local and global, as represented by international scholars. Every continent is represented by both Indigenous and non-indigenous people who desire to make a difference with the delicate problematics and relationships. The history of Indigenous people around the world is inextricably linked with Christianity and Colonialism. The book is completely interdisciplinary by employing historians, literary critics, biblical scholars and theologians, sociologists, philosophers and ordained engineers. The Literary Intent of the book, without presuming nor claiming too much for itself, is to provide practical thinking that will help all people move past the pain and dysfunction of the past, toward mutual understanding, communication, and practical actions in the present and future.

Jesus and his Two Fathers: The Person and the Legacy

Uri Wernik

Who was Jesus in real life? What inspired his ideas? What did he aim to achieve? What drew his disciples to him? How was he influenced by them? Unlike the many “quests for the historical Jesus”, as a psychologist, Wernik answers these questions from the perspectives of psychology and the social sciences. This book’s central axis is the theme of the father. It looks at the family constellation into which Jesus was born, where he was raised by a stepfather. It also investigates the relationship he develops with God, his father in heaven; and examines how he became a father figure to his disciples and followers. It is hoped that readers will also think about their own father when reading, the one usually called “dad”. Jesus and His Two Fathers sees Jesus’ love of peace and appeasement doctrine, as well as his difficulty with anger control, in the context of his upbringing and family constellation. Wernik offers a solution to the problem of the “missing years” which were unaccounted in the New Testament. He examines the internal conflicts in Jesus’ movement, and the tensions with the religious establishment, which led to his death. Jesus did not see himself as the Messiah, and Wernik shows him in fact as a great reformer of Judaism, who changed the notions of righteousness, the relation of the believers to God, and the status of the commandments. This book will be of interest to scholars, teachers and students in the humanities and social sciences, among others in the fields of religion, especially Christianity and Judaism. It is aimed at interested discerning readers of non-fiction in these areas.