A Lover's Quarrel: A Theologian and His Beloved Church

by Joe R. Jones

Overview

Joe Jones, a retired and well-known systematic theologian, confesses he has a lover's quarrel with the church. In wide-ranging writings mostly dating since 2006, he forthrightly argues for a theologically sound understanding of the church. And he pursues a multi-faceted critique of the feckless ways in which actual churches--ministers and laity--balk and betray their rightful calling to witness in word and deed to God. He is especially critical of the practical ways in which congregations become no more than mirror images of their sociopolitical milieu, whether to the right or to the left. Hence the quarrel, trenchantly pursued in major essays, blogs, and spiritual reflections on his own past. But it remains crystal clear to Jones in his learned and profound confession that it is his beloved church with which he quarrels and about which he still has extravagant hopes. A Lover's Quarrel is a book appropriate for ministers and laity, students and professors, and learned skeptics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630871277
Publisher:	Cascade Books
Publication date:	01/07/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	228
File size:	319 KB

About the Author

Joe R. Jones is Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics at Christian Theological Seminary, in Indianapolis, and now living in retirement in his hometown of Oklahoma City. He is the author of the still widely used A Grammar of Christian Faith: Systematic Explorations in Christian Life and Doctrine (2002) and On Being the Church of Jesus Christ in Tumultuous Times (2005).

Table of Contents

Foreword Stanley Hauerwas ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgements xix

Introduction xxi

Part 1 Ecumenical Theologizing with Ecclesial Friends

1 The Shape and Contours of the Christian Life 3

2 On Being the Church of Jesus Christ 14

3 Spiritual Formation and Christian Discourse: The Shaping Power of Christian Discourse 23

4 Salvation: Mapping the Salvific Themes of Christian Faith 37

5 Yoder and Stone-Campbellites: Sorting the Grammar of Radical Orthodoxy and Radical Discipleship 54

6 World Communion Sunday: Why? 77

Part 2 On Being Mugged by Politics but Lifted by Gospel Hope

7 Venturing into Blogging 87

8 Following Jesus and Worshipping Jesus in Rivalrous Times 89

9 Capitalism, Democracy, and Health Care: A Response to Family and Friends 91

10 Narratives: Sociopolitical, Personal, Perhaps Theological? 99

11 How Might We Get On with Politics-but Who Are We? 104

12 A Letter to the Churches After 9/11/2011 107

13 Troublings: Campaign Rhetoric, Voting, Democracy, and Truth-Telling 111

14 Our American Agony 114

Part 3 Fragments from Times Past and Emerging Hopes

15 Spiritual Notes on Growing Up in Oklahoma 119

16 A YDS Reflection: Remembrance of Things Past and Present Discontent 143

17 Spinoza, H. Richard Niebuhr, and Ben and Me 152

18 Owen Died, K. Died, Bodies Age, Madge Writes a Christmas Letter 155

19 In Transition but Hopeful 158

20 On Hearing a Sermon 161

Part 4 Sermons Ventured on Behalf of the Witness of the Beloved Church

21 On Being Identified as Ambassadors for Christ 167

22 Jesus, the Family, and the Summons of the Kingdom 174

23 Behold, the Lamb of God 182

24 Remembering a Friend: Charles E. Jones 189

25 Purity of Heart and the Vicissitudes of Aging 193

26 In Gratitude for Gary Byrkit: Pastor Theologian Par Excellence 197

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Joe Jones writes as he speaks, with passion and light. Addressing issues in church and society, along with probing reflections upon our lives as individuals and members of families, he invites his reader, often with arresting poignancy, to freshly and deeply consider the meaning of God's action in Jesus Christ."
—D. Newell Williams, President and Professor of Modern and American Church History, Brite Divinity School

"Intellectual piety, moral and social passion, and pastoral concern—all informed by a profound sense of the grace of God and conveyed in arresting language—animate these essays, personal memoirs, and sermons. When Jones writes that under the preaching and teaching of his late beloved pastor one gained 'an inescapable sense that we had been lovingly unmasked and forgiven and challenged to live differently,' those words could also be taken to describe the cumulative effect of this book on the reader."
—J. Gerald Janzen, MacAllister-Petticrew emeritus Professor of Old Testament, Christian Theological Seminary

"A Lover's Quarrel is much more than a memoir and summation of Jones' thought; it is a book of theology. Jones' clear description of the discourses and practices that are 'church' is rigorously applied to the American church as a call to faithfulness in all areas of life, including the political arena. Most importantly, this is a book filled with hope—that the church will rediscover its center, its witness, and its very identity."
—Chip Kooi, Professor of Theology, Oklahoma Christian University

Editorial Reviews

"Joe Jones writes as he speaks, with passion and light. Addressing issues in church and society, along with probing reflections upon our lives as individuals and members of families, he invites his reader, often with arresting poignancy, to freshly and deeply consider the meaning of God's action in Jesus Christ."
—D. Newell Williams, President and Professor of Modern and American Church History, Brite Divinity School

"Intellectual piety, moral and social passion, and pastoral concern—all informed by a profound sense of the grace of God and conveyed in arresting language—animate these essays, personal memoirs, and sermons. When Jones writes that under the preaching and teaching of his late beloved pastor one gained 'an inescapable sense that we had been lovingly unmasked and forgiven and challenged to live differently,' those words could also be taken to describe the cumulative effect of this book on the reader."
—J. Gerald Janzen, MacAllister-Petticrew emeritus Professor of Old Testament, Christian Theological Seminary

"A Lover's Quarrel is much more than a memoir and summation of Jones' thought; it is a book of theology. Jones' clear description of the discourses and practices that are 'church' is rigorously applied to the American church as a call to faithfulness in all areas of life, including the political arena. Most importantly, this is a book filled with hope—that the church will rediscover its center, its witness, and its very identity."
—Chip Kooi, Professor of Theology, Oklahoma Christian University

From the Publisher