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In To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, James D. Hunter offers an alternative to prominent Christian strategies to change the world and the theologies and theories of cultural change that support them. Rather than seeking to change the world, a goal Hunter considers misguided, Hunter's proposal for “faithful presence” seeks to honor God by “being fully present” to “each other…to our tasks…within our spheres of influence” (243–247). This review essay places this proposal in conversation with political theologies on the margins, noting important points of convergence and divergence. It argues that engagement with feminist theologies would alleviate a residual church/world dualism that persists in Hunter's reflections on culture; attention to feminist and womanist critiques of redemptive suffering would allow Hunter to more thoroughly embrace his concern for “the least privileged” and the “most disadvantaged” (271); and attention to King would allow Hunter to preserve an appropriate place for politics as Christian praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The following is a panel discussion between four theologians about their recent theological work at the intersection of trauma and Christian theology. This conversation highlights the ways in which current (or recent) studies in trauma have impacted and reshaped the classic questions of Christian faith: Where is God in the suffering? Does God will suffering? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the emerging field of theology and disability studies, beginning with an introduction to disability studies before moving on to consider what significance a disability perspective may have for theology. The author argues that in the same way disability studies critiques cultural ideals of autonomy and self-sufficiency it can likewise critique theology's participation in these cultural ideals. Using the theological term "image of Christ" and a case study of the L'Arche communities, the author shows in particular how relationality, and not autonomy, more rightly defines what it means to be human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the redemptive significance of the patience of Jesus. It examines how the patient suffering of Jesus is uniquely manifested in Jesus' life of obedience, crucifixion, and burial, in order to shed light on how God brings about redemption in a world marked by great suffering and evil. The article uses two novels, Peter De Vries's The Blood of the Lamb and Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety, in order to examine how it is precisely the patience of Jesus that provides the possibility for redemption in the midst of awful situations of suffering and grief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]