Living Traditions

How has the Christian movement grown and changed in the last five hundred years? From Luther to Tillich and the Virgin Mary, from Protestant initiatives and Catholic dialogues, from Charles Taylor to progressive Christianity, this book runs the gamut. The urgency of ecology, the sacramentality of foot-washing, the complexities of biblical interpretation, the theology of the cross, and the ongoing work of reformation are all under the microscope. A distinctively ecumenical project, this book presents a variety of perspectives on these pressing questions, drawing together authors from the Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, United Church of Canada traditions, and more. Each contributor provides unique insights into Christianity's ongoing processes of re-forming as contexts and circumstances change. Readers will find resonances of the familiar interwoven with new research about the project of ecumenical Christianity. ""Living Traditions is an apt title for this intriguing collection of voices exploring how the Reformation, for better or worse, continues to shape church and society. This text is both provocative and evocative; it challenges simplistic slogans and is an elixir for historical amnesia. Living Traditions is a finely crafted polyphony of both praise and lament."" --Allen Jorgenson, Martin Luther University College ""This book goes beyond traditional theological categories of reflection on five hundred years of the Reformation, and offers interesting, creative contributions related to the environment, Mariology, trauma studies, and interreligious dialogue. The chapters are short, engaging, and illuminating for many aspects of the life of the church in the years to come."" --Kristin Johnston Largen, United Lutheran Seminary ""'And teach your followers that there are times when dogmas need to make room for human sympathy.' We can still hear the echoes of Rabbi Albert Friedlander's letter to Martin Luther throughout the essays in Living Traditions! Whether it is through the lens of L'Arche, the environment, Mary, or numerous other topics, McNabb and Fennell have gathered together an excellent variety of materials for us to ponder. Truly Luther's rose, after all these years, still has a beautiful fragrance for us to enjoy, in the pages of this book."" --Jeffrey Crittenden, Huron University at Western ""Is there a way to be Christian without the pope and without sola scriptura as a sort of distorted image of the papacy? These essays suggest there is, that we have good news to share from Jesus Christ to the world God loves, stewarded in our traditions, back to the apostles. However you lean liturgically and on authority, and on congregation-based small groups and discipleship, these essays will enlighten, challenge, and delight you."" --Jason Byassee, Vancouver School of Theology, author of Surprised by Jesus Again Kimberlynn McNabb is the pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, the dean of the Atlantic Ministry Area of the Eastern Synod (ELCIC), and a sessional professor at the Atlantic School of Theology. Robert C. Fennell is the academic dean and an associate professor of historical and systematic theology at Atlantic School of Theology, and the author of The Rule of Faith and Biblical Interpretation: Reform, Resistance, and Renewal (Cascade, 2018).