Brian J Walsh

Creatively bringing the songs, prayers, and poetry of Leonard Cohen into conversation with Scripture, this book deeply grounds Cohen's work in the landscape of the biblical imagination, paying special attention to Jesus together with the prophetic and priestly voices of Scripture. What emerges is a compellingly lyrical work of theology that deepens our understanding of both Cohen and biblical faith. Leonard Cohen has undoubtedly been a liturgist for our time, a cantor singing for all those clothed in rags of light, a prophet in the ruins, and a priest who greets us "from the other side of sorrow and despair."

Envision a future beyond homelessness. The rise in homeless encampments. The destruction of our planet. The disconnection from place caused by capitalism and technology. Beyond the unavailability of housing, our culture is experiencing a devastating loss of home. In Beyond Homelessness, Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh illuminate the relationship between socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural homelessness. Bouma-Prediger and Walsh blend groundbreaking scholarship with stirring biblical meditations, while enriching their discussion with literature, music, and art. Offering practical solutions and a hope-filled vision of home, they show how to heal the profound dislocations in our society. In this fifteenth-anniversary edition, the authors return to their work with a new postscript, in which they discuss the evolution of their ideas and share true stories of home and community built anew. This revitalized classic is a must-read for any Christian committed to social justice--and anyone longing for home.

Globalization. Homelessness. Ecological and economic crisis. Conflicts over sexuality. Violence. These crisis-level issues may seem unique to our times, but Paul's Letter to the Romans has something to say to all of them. Following their successful Colossians Remixed, Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh unpack the meaning of Romans for its original context and for today. The authors demonstrate how Romans disarms the political, economic, and cultural power of the Roman Empire and how this ancient letter offers hope in today's crisis-laden world. Romans Disarmed helps readers enter the world of ancient Rome and see how Paul's most radical letter transforms the lives of the marginalized then and now. Intentionally avoiding abstract debates about Paul's theology, Keesmaat and Walsh move back and forth between the present and the past as they explore themes of home, economic justice, creation care, the violence of the state, sexuality, and Indigenous reconciliation. They show how Romans engages with the lived reality of those who suffer from injustice, both in the first century and in the midst of our own imperial realities.

O se cache le christianisme ? Notre soci t est enthousiasm e par les avanc es scientifiques, technologiques et conomiques. Il est d plorable que ces avanc es soient toutes r alis es sans tenir compte des valeurs chr tiennes. Le christianisme devrait impr gner les structures de notre soci t jusqu' influencer sa culture. Des tudes universitaires la politique, du monde des affaires la vie familiale, la vision chr tienne peut transfigurer notre monde. Pour initier un tel renversement, les auteurs analysent notre poque troubl e, expliquent savamment comment ces troubles sont apparus et nous proposent une solution. Leur espoir s'enracine dans une compr hension claire de la vision chr tienne du monde. Recommandations Ce livre lance un cri pressant aux chr tiens dans l'espoir qu'ils s'unissent d'un m me coeur et d'un m me esprit, et qu'ils reconnaissent que J sus-Christ est Seigneur de la vie sous toutes ses formes. Lisez-le comme une analyse incitative de ce qui emp che une telle unit de coeur et d'esprit. Parcourez-le aussi comme un imp ratif ... nous soumettre un seul Ma tre. - Nicholas Wolterstorff, professeur m rite en th ologie philosophique, Universit Yale

Where is Western culture going? What should Christians think about it? Those who already ask these questions often come up with confused answers. Those who do not are, arguably, living in a fool's paradise (or a fool's hell.) In this second edition of Subversive Christianity, Brian Walsh returns to the themes of cultural discernment that he unpacked more than twenty years ago. In a new Postscript, Walsh revisits Francis Fukuyama, Bruce Cockburn, and the prophet Jeremiah and asks, Where are we now? In light of 9/11 and the world economic crisis of 2008, how do we discern the times, and what does that discernment tell us about the calling of the church? ""Brian Walsh tackles the central issues head on in this powerful little book. He is well-equipped to do so. On the one hand, he has studied contemporary culture--and a wide range of Christian discussions of it--in great depth. We are here given, in easily accessible form, the fruits of many years of patient academic work. He has also drunk deeply from biblical theology, and provides clear and creative exegesis of several passages in a way which breathes new life into them. Walsh brings together the Bible and the modern world in a way which is as original as it is compelling."" --From the foreword by N. T. Wright, University of St. Andrews. Brian Walsh is a Christian Reformed campus minister at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Kicking at the Darkness: Bruce Cockburn and the Christian Imagination, and coauthor of Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement (with Steven Bouma-Prediger), Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire (with Sylvia Keesmaat), and Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be (with J. Richard Middleton).

For forty years, singer and songwriter Bruce Cockburn has been writing beautifully evocative music. Bestselling author and respected theologian Brian Walsh has followed Cockburn's work for years and has written and spoken often on his art. In this creative theological and cultural engagement, Walsh reveals the imaginative depth and uncompromising honesty of the artist's Christian spirituality. Cockburn offers hope in the midst of doubt, struggle, failure, and anger; indeed, the sentiment of "kicking at the darkness" is at the heart of his spirituality. This book engages the rich imagery of Cockburn's lyrics as a catalyst for shaping and igniting a renewed Christian imagination.

Have we really heard the message of Colossians? Is this New Testament book just another religious text whose pretext is an ideological grab for dominating power? Reading Colossians in context, ancient and contemporary, can perhaps give us new ears to hear. In this innovative and refreshing book Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat explain our own sociocultural context to then help us get into the world of the New Testament and get a sense of the power of the gospel as it addressed those who lived in Colossae two thousand years ago. Their reading presents us with a radical challenge from the apostle Paul for today. Drawing together biblical scholarship with a passion for authentic lives that embody the gospel, this groundbreaking interpretation of Colossians provides us with tools to subvert the empire of our own context in a way that acknowledges the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

Langdon Gilkey's theological method distinguishes three stages of the theological enterprise, namely, prolegomenon, constructive theology and theology of culture. In this book the author employs this threefold division as an organizing principle for the exposition and evaluation of Gilkey's thought. Walsh proposes further, however, that the whole project is best understood if seen primarily in terms of the third stage. Consequently the book focuses on Gilkey's theology of culture and interprets his prolegomenon and constructive theology in terms of their foundational relevance to his theology of modernity in decline. Interpreted in this way the project as a whole displays a coherent interrelatedness. That coherence also means, however, that ambiguity and weak arguments in both the prolegomenon and constructive theology are reflected in the theology of culture. These deficiencies notwithstanding, Gilkey's theology of culture provides us with an analysis and diagnosis of modernity that plumbs to the religious depths of that culture. Such analysis is necessary for all cultures but especially for cultures in decline. Co-published with the Institute for Christian Studies.

Science, technology and economic growth motivate our society. Each is carried on with little regard for Christian concerns. Brian Walsh and Richard Middleton yearn for change. They long to see Christianity penetrate the structures of society, reforming and remolding our culture. From scholarship in the universities to politics, business and family life, the Christian vision can transform our world. To stimulate such change the authors analyze our troubled age, show us how it got that way and suggest a solution. Their clear presentation of a Christian world view forms the basis of their hope.