Using Scripture in a Global AgeFraming Biblical Issues Institute of Mennonite Studies Occasional Papers, No. 24 |
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How should one read that ancient book called the Bible these many centuries after its formation? How can its instructions to civilizations of three and four thousand years ago be relevant to our modern technical age? This book wrestles with such questions. Each chapter, a whole in itself; addresses some aspect of how the Bible may speak today as Kraus engages a variety of major issues, including christology, hermeneutics, peace, sexuality, creationism, miracles, social justice, and spiritual reality. Several concluding autobiographical chapters also set the larger book in the context of the author’s long experience as a teacher of the Bible and theology in many different cultures.
"I remember vividly, the wash of relief I felt my first day in C. Norman Kraus' class in Christian Faith at Goshen College in 1967. "Oh," I thought, "I can think and believe." Norman's careful and loving address of the issues of the faith and life, something I found so nurturing then, returns here in a coherent set of essays that reflect a lifetime of his ministry of ideas in the church. His clarity is always helpful and sometimes astonishing. I am convinced that attention to these essays will help us as a church be more loving, more understanding, more faithful as we dialogue with each other on the issues that matter most." -- Mary Schertz, Professor of New Testament, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
"In this era of specialization, few can so competently use and integrate the disciplines of biblcal studies, historical theology, Anabaptist studies, missiology, and North American church history. Kraus, drawing on his decades as teacher, missionary, scholar, and churchman, challenges Anabaptists with the necessity of contextualization in the multiple cultures of the twenty-first-century church. He then models contextualization of the Bible and Anabaptist theology throughout this book." -- Mark D. Baker, Associate Professor of Mission and Theology, Mennonite Brethren Seminary
About the Author
C. Norman Kraus, Harrisonburg, Virginia, has been a teacher and scholar, including in many cross-cultural settings; peace and justice advocate; historian of theology; civil rights activist; and church leader. He was Goshen College Professor of Bible and Religion for 30 years and during part of that time Director of Goshen College Center for Discipleship, which he helped found. Among the many books Kraus has written or edited, recent titles include An Intrusive Gospel? (Intervarsity Press, 1998) and To Continue the Dialogue (Pandora Press U.S., 2001).