In this provacative book, a prominent theological and a leading Christian editor speak to all Christians who have grown mistrustful of the church's involvement in "religio-political power-plays" and are seeking the way home.

People of the Truth: The Power of the Worshiping Community in the Modern World

Webber, Robert E.

Clapp, Rodney

Religion & Spirituality

Harpercollins

Holiness and hedonism. Lonesomeness and community. Tradition and progress. Highly regarded commentator on Christianity and popular culture Rodney Clapp argues that these great tensions form the bedrock of American history and our current culture. Utilizing the life and music of Johnny Cash to illustrate these and other American contradictions, he probes these phenomena with sharp theological questions--seeking the language and knowledge that will enable us to reach across political and cultural divides and encourage a more graceful and constructive negotiation of current contradictions.

Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction: Christianity and the Battle for the Soul of a Nation

History

World

Westminster/John Knox Press

People of the Truth: A Christian Challenge to Contemporary Culture

Morehouse Pub Co

Product Description 
Neoliberalism is the reigning, overarching spirit of our age. It consists of a panoply of cultural, political, and economic practices that set marketized competition at the center of social life. The model human is the entrepreneur of the self. Though regnant, neoliberalism likes to hide. It likes people to assume that it is a natural, deep structure--just the way things are. But in neoliberalism's train have come extreme inequality, economic precariousness, and a harmful distortion of both the individual and society. Many people are waking up to the destructive effects of this order. Anthropologists, economic historians, philosophers, theologians, and political scientists have compiled considerable literature exposing neoliberalism's pretensions and shortcomings. Drawing on this work, Naming Neoliberalism aims to expose the order to a wider range of readers--pastors, thoughtful laypersons, and students. Its theological base for this "intervention" is apocalyptic--not in the sense of impending doom and gloom, but in the sense of centering on Christ's life, death, and resurrection as itself the creation of a new and truer, more hopeful, and more humane order that sees the principalities and powers (like neoliberalism) unmasked and disarmed at the cross. The book carefully lays out what neoliberalism is, where it has come from, its religious or theological pretensions, and how it can be confronted through and in the church. 
 Review 
"Rarely are critiques of neoliberalism followed by beautiful, constructive proposals for alternative ways to live. By giving us both, Clapp offers this book as a gift to the church. The converse is also true: it is important not only to identify the life-affirming work churches are called to do but also to help congregations name and understand the dominating power of our age. Only when we are clear about what the gospel frees us from and frees us for, Clapp well argues, may the church be a relevant witness against the power and principality of neoliberalism that opposes God's reign." -- Jennifer M. McBride, author Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel,associate professor of theology and ethics, McCormick Theological Seminary 
"This concise and accessible analysis takes us beneath the fear, inequality, war, hunger, and environmental devastation of the present age and shows us how they operate. Rodney Clapp unpacks the ideologies that try to convince us that the world must be so, and then offers resources from the Christian tradition to enact a more livable world. No one is more skilled at bridging the scholarly and pastoral contexts than Rodney Clapp." -- William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University 
"Let's be honest. As pastor of a politically split church, I am not looking for ways to introduce more politics into congregational life. In an age of tweets and squawking, I thirst for the Peace of Christ. But after reading Rodney Clapp's Neoliberalism, I also see how hungry and lonely I have been, while wandering in this desert of culture wars, for some weight and wisdom from a spiritual tradition that is older, larger and deeper than I am. Somehow, Clapp uses a hot button topic to model how to have a cool Christian conversation, across the aisles of politics or pews. I would gladly introduce this book to my church members, for its sense of perspective but most of all for its contagious hope for a church where God is still speaking louder and more lovingly than the pundits." -- Lillian Daniel, senior pastor of First Congregational Church of Dubuque, Iowa and author of Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don't Belong to. 
"Rodney Clapp has written a profoundly pastoral book that prophetically unmasks neoliberalism not only as a rival ethic to the church but as a rival theology. By telling the story of how neoliberalism came to seem not only plausible but necessary, Clapp empowers the reader to perceive where alternative community responses can be cultivat

Naming Neoliberalism: Exposing the Spirit of Our Age

Fortress Press

New Creation introduces readers to the thrilling, biblically-based vision of a whole world created by and to be redeemed by God. Written at an eminently accessible level, it shows how endings (or eschatologies) animate our lives. It rehearses the biblical story from an eschatological angle, emphasizing that Christian eschatology entails a politics. It then delves into how eschatology affects the priesthood of all believers, peace-making, prayer, and creation (including the rocks and trees, dogs and bees, and maybe even sex). With a light hand, it provides biblical cultural background where needed. Throughout, it connects theological groundings to present-day life, Christian discipleship, and contemporary issues. Here is a view of eschatology that bypasses escapist Rapture theology and puts forward a robust, exciting life now and in the age to come, very different from New Yorker cartoons featuring the afterlife as a bland, boring affair of strumming harps on clouds.

New Creation: A Primer on Living in the Time Between the Times

Christian Books & Bibles

Cascade Books

New Creation introduces readers to the thrilling, biblically-based vision of a whole world created by and to be redeemed by God. Written at an eminently accessible level, it shows how endings (or eschatologies) animate our lives. It rehearses the biblical story from an eschatological angle, emphasizing that Christian eschatology entails a politics. It then delves into how eschatology affects the priesthood of all believers, peace-making, prayer, and creation (including the rocks and trees, dogs and bees, and maybe even sex). With a light hand, it provides biblical cultural background where needed. Throughout, it connects theological groundings to present-day life, Christian discipleship, and contemporary issues. Here is a view of eschatology that bypasses escapist Rapture theology and puts forward a robust, exciting life now and in the age to come, very different from New Yorker cartoons featuring the afterlife as a bland, boring affair of strumming harps on clouds.

New Creation

Wipf and Stock

The usual modern assumption is that Christians are supposed to leave explicitly Christian convictions and practices behind when they engage public affairs and popular culture. In this fascinating book, Rodney Clapp rejects that assumption and trespasses onto secular territory--from global corporations to Winnie-the-Pooh, from family values to The X-Files, from consumerism to Hank Williams and John Coltrane.

Border Crossings

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Baker Publishing Group

Tortured Wonders shows how orthodox Christian spirituality "never gives up on the body." Rodney Clapp begins by addressing the incarnation of Christ and the resurrection of the body, and the place of sacraments in Christian spirituality. Then he takes up the likes of Elvis and Bambi to explore the spiritual consequences of our contemporary obsession with celebrity and the fear of death. He calls us to embrace our creatureliness through a string of irresistible topics: Is there sex in heaven? What is the most "biblical" posture for prayer? Can we learn anything from non-Christian spiritual traditions? Pastors, counselors, and anyone interested in Christian spirituality will appreciate this lucid and insightful book.

Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Angels

Brazos Press

A 2004 Publishers Weekly Book of the Year; 2004 Quills Award Nominee Tortured Wonders shows how orthodox Christian spirituality "never gives up on the body." Rodney Clapp begins by addressing the incarnation of Christ and the resurrection of the body, and the place of sacraments in Christian spirituality. Then he takes up the likes of Elvis and Bambi to explore the spiritual consequences of our contemporary obsession with celebrity and the fear of death. He calls us to embrace our creatureliness through a string of irresistible topics: Is there sex in heaven? What is the most "biblical" posture for prayer? Can we learn anything from non Christian spiritual traditions? Pastors, counselors, and anyone interested in Christian spirituality will appreciate this lucid and insightful book.

Albert Simmel lives in the Age of the Descent. Roads and other infrastructure have fallen into utter disrepair. The petroleum supply has basically petered out. The constituents hold all political and economic power. Beneath them struggle the subs, of which Al is one. Al has lost the love of his life, Valerie, in a terrible accident. He passes his days with his work as a tutor to constituents, and in the dull pain of his loss. Then comes shocking news that changes his life and leads him on a journey across what is now called Old America. Along the way he will encounter a buffalo stampede, attacks of bandits and pirates, the violent practices of a scapegoating religion, the so-called meta-Indians, the last movie in a gentle small town, and a host of colorful characters. Throughout his arduous travels he intriguingly ruminates on the riches--and challenges--of a life of faith. At once science fiction, a western, a comedy, a love story, and a novel of ideas, The Second Baptism of Albert Simmel is filled with suspense and vivid scenes, and takes the reader on an unforgettable journey.

The Second Baptism of Albert Simmel: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Clapp, Rodney. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Clapp, Rodney

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Clapp, Rodney. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

People of the Truth: The Power of the Worshiping Community in the Modern World

Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction: Christianity and the Battle for the Soul of a Nation

People of the Truth: A Christian Challenge to Contemporary Culture

Naming Neoliberalism: Exposing the Spirit of Our Age

New Creation: A Primer on Living in the Time Between the Times

New Creation

Border Crossings

Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Angels

Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Angels

The Second Baptism of Albert Simmel: A Novel