The people of God throughout history have been a people of exile and diaspora. Whether under the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks or Romans, the people chosen by God have had to learn how to be a holy people in alien lands and under foreign rule. For much of its history, however, the Christian church lived with the sense of being at home in the world, with considerable influence and power. That age of Christendom is now over, and as Lee Beach demonstrates, this is something for which the church should be grateful. The ‘peace’ of Christendom was a false one, and there is no comfortable normalcy to which we can or should return.Drawing on a close engagement with Old Testament and New Testament texts, The Church in Exile offers a biblical and practical theology for the church in a post-Christian age. Beach helps the people of God today to develop a hopeful and prophetic imagination, a theology responsive to its context, and an exilic identity marked by faithfulness to God?s mission in the world.
Table of Content
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction: Exile and Life in a Post-Christian World
Part I: A Theology of Exile
1. Exile as a Motif for the Church
2. Exile in the Old Testament
3. Esther as Advice for Exiles
4. Daniel as Advice for Exiles
5. Jonah as Advice for Exiles?
6. Jesus and Exile in the Early Church
7. The Exilic Wisdom of 1 Peter
Part II: The Practices of Exile
8. Leading the Church in Exile: Generating Hope
9. Thinking Like Exiles: A Responsive Theology
10. Holiness: An Exilic Identity
11. Exilic Mission: Engaging the Culture as Exiles
12. Restoration: A New Home for Exiles
Conclusion: Converting the Church
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture Index
About the author
Lee Beach (Ph D, Mc Master Divinity College) is assistant professor of Christian ministry and director of ministry formation at Mc Master Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario. He has pastored for over twenty years with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada.
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