The book provides models for theological reflection that include personal and collaborative approaches. It begins by asserting that theological reflection is a conversation that can become dialogical under certain conditions. The notion of dialogue is based on South American educational theorist Paulo Freire's work.Theological reflection is a conversation among participants including God, others and oneself. As the theological models are presented and developed, the impetus of the book is respect for well-known pillars of Christian theological inquiry that include Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience.All four of these aspects of inquiry are used and developed as a means for helping people think theologically. The book includes the use of specific Scriptures as the basis for educational theories presented. In terms of its reliance on Tradition, the practice of Lectio Divina is explained and developed. The book distinguishes healthy from unhealthy reason and outlines the trajectory of reason during the twentieth century that tended to undermine confidence in the role of faith in Christian experience. It also picks out an error made by secular theorists that's at the root of modern assault on the reasonableness of faith.Throughout, the book helps the reader apply personal experience to the practice of theological reflection. In addition, Conversations offers a framework and method for working across cultures to help the reader recognize how Scriptures need to be interpreted in different cultural settings. This culturally-based model and case study invites a reader to reassess taken-for-granted assumptions that populate ordinary experience but that are no longer reliable as one encounters Otherness presented by those who don't share individual, social, family or country of origin experience.In addition, the book introduces a model for collaborative theological reflection that captures the essence what's necessary when people who differ from one another begin to work together as they think theologically and as they actually create dialogical, collaborative reflection based on Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience.

Conversations That Change Us - 2nd Edition: Learning the Arts of Theological Reflection

Christian Books & Bibles

Bellous, Joyce E.

Sheffield, Dan

Christian Living

Tall Pine Press

This book is intended as a resource and training tool for multicultural ministry practitioners and other professional Christians working in an urban ministry context. Along with the growing interest in the intentional development of multicultural congregations there is also a significant lack of practical resources to support such ministry. Dan Sheffield brings a missiologist's perspective to this discussion that has been shaped by experience in North America's multi-ethnic reality, by church planting experience in urban South Africa and by ongoing work with pastors in multi-ethnic megacities as diverse as Manila, Mumbai, and Budapest. The Multicultural Leader specifically deals with the role of congregational leadership in embedding the multicultural vision as a way of "seeing." The author draws from social theory, biblical studies, theological reflection, leadership studies, social research and intercultural communication skills to develop a profile of leaders necessary to initiate and sustain the multicultural congregation. The author's conclusion is that leaders in multi-ethnic congregations must move through a personal development process from ethnocentrism to ethno-relativism in order to truly serve as enablers of multicultural congregations. Dan Sheffield is Director of Global and Intercultural Ministries for the Free Methodist Church in Canada. He has served as a church-planting pastor in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and adjunct lecturer at the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa, where he taught spiritual formation and conflict resolution to a multi-ethnic student body.

The Multicultural Leader: Developing A Catholic Personality

Religion & Spirituality

Clements Pub

Conversations that Change Us: Learning the Arts of Theological Reflection

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

This book is intended as a resource for provoking dialogue on the nature of leadership in multicultural congregations. When the first edition was written, more than a decade ago, there was a limited pool of resources available to help practitioners in the field, even less addressing the Canadian context. Dan Sheffield brought a missiologist's perspective to this discussion that had been shaped by lived experience in North America's multi-ethnic reality and churchplanting experience in post-apartheid, urban South Africa. Over the past decade, however, a proliferation of resources on multi-ethnic, intercultural, multi-racial, multicultural churches have entered the marketplace. Again, almost all written through the lens of the American experience, and often, focused on the mechanics of multicultural community, rather than the challenges specific to the leadership task. With another 15 years under his belt, of working with leaders in multi-ethnic congregations across Canada, USA, Mumbai, Manila, Accra, Bangkok and Budapest, Sheffield brings further reflection on the development of intercultural leadership skills. This second edition of The Multicultural Leader deals with the role of congregational leadership in embedding the multicultural vision as a way of "seeing." The author draws from various disciplines to develop a profi le of leaders necessary to initiate and sustain the multicultural congregation. Sheffield's conclusion is that leaders in multi-ethnic congregations must move through a developmental process from an ethnocentric, monocultural perspective to a multi-ethnic, intercultural approach in order to serve as enablers of multicultural congregations.

The Multicultural Leader: Developing a Catholic Personality, Second Edition

Daniel R Sheffield

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