Andrew Root

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  Church In An Age Of Secular Mysticisms

  $28.99

  Post-Christian life and society do not eliminate a desire for the transcendent; rather, they create an environment for new and divergent spiritual communities and practices to flourish. We are flooded with spiritualities that appeal to human desires for nonreligious personal transformation. But many fail to deliver because they fall into the trap of the self.

  In the last book of the Ministry in a Secular Age series, leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows the differences between these spiritualities and authentic Christian transformation. He explores the dangers of following or adapting these reigning mysticisms and explains why the self has become so important yet so burdened with guilt–and how we should think about both. To help us understand our confusing cultural landscape, he maps spiritualities using twenty of the best memoirs from 2015 to 2020 in which “secular mystics” promote their mystical and transformational pathways. Root concludes with a more excellent way–even a mysticism–centered on the theology of the cross that pastors and leaders can use to form their own imaginations and practices.

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  Church After Innovation

  $27.99

  Churches and their leaders have innovation fever. Innovation seems exciting–a way to enliven tired institutions, embrace creativity, and be proactive–and is a superstar of the business world. But this focus on innovation may be caused by an obsession with contemporary relevance, creativity, and entrepreneurship that inflates the self, lacks theological depth, and promises burnout.

  In this follow-up to Churches and the Crisis of Decline, leading practical theologian Andrew Root delves into the problems of innovation. He explores where innovation and entrepreneurship came from, shows how they break into church circles, and counters the “new imaginations” like neoliberalism and technology that hold the church captive to modernity. Root reveals the moral visions of the self that innovation and entrepreneurship deliver–they are dependent on workers (and consumers) being obsessed with their selves, which leads to significant faith-formation issues. This focus on innovation also causes us to think we need to be singularly unique instead of made alive in Christ. Root offers a return to mysticism and the poetry of Meister Eckhart as a healthier spiritual alternative.

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  Churches And The Crisis Of Decline

  $29.99

  Congregations often seek to combat the crisis of decline by using innovation to produce new resources. But leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows that the church’s crisis is not in the loss of resources, it’s in the loss of life–and that life can only return when we remain open to God’s encountering presence.

  This new book, related to Root’s critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age project, addresses the practical form the church must take in a secular age. Root uses two stories to frame the book: one about a church whose building becomes a pub and the other about Karl Barth. Root argues that Barth should be understood as a pastor with a deep practical theology that can help church leaders today.

  This book pushes the church to be a waiting community that recognizes that the only way for it to find life is to stop seeing the church as the star of its own story. Instead of resisting decline, congregations must remain open to divine action. Root offers a rich vision for the church’s future that moves away from an obsession with relevance and resources and toward the living God.

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• 

  End Of Youth Ministry

  $22.99

  What is youth ministry actually for? And does it have a future? Andrew Root, a leading scholar in youth ministry and practical theology, went on a one-year journey to answer these questions. In this book, Root weaves together an innovative first-person fictional narrative to diagnose the challenges facing the church today and to offer a new vision for youth ministry in the 21st century.

  Informed by interviews that Root conducted with parents, this book explores how parents’ perspectives of what constitutes a good life are affecting youth ministry. In today’s culture, youth ministry can’t compete with sports, test prep, and the myriad other activities in which young people participate. Through a unique parable-style story, Root offers a new way to think about the purpose of youth ministry: not happiness, but joy. Joy is a sense of experiencing the good. For youth ministry to be about joy, it must move beyond the youth group model and rework the assumptions of how identity and happiness are imagined by parents in American society.

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• 

  End Of Youth Ministry

  $66.65

  What is youth ministry actually for? And does it have a future? Andrew Root, a leading scholar in youth ministry and practical theology, went on a one-year journey to answer these questions. In this book, Root weaves together an innovative first-person fictional narrative to diagnose the challenges facing the church today and to offer a new vision for youth ministry in the 21st century.

  Informed by interviews that Root conducted with parents, this book explores how parents’ perspectives of what constitutes a good life are affecting youth ministry. In today’s culture, youth ministry can’t compete with sports, test prep, and the myriad other activities in which young people participate. Through a unique parable-style story, Root offers a new way to think about the purpose of youth ministry: not happiness, but joy. Joy is a sense of experiencing the good. For youth ministry to be about joy, it must move beyond the youth group model and rework the assumptions of how identity and happiness are imagined by parents in American society.

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• 

  Christopraxis : A Practical Theology Of The Cross

  $65.00

  Contents:
  Part 1
  1. A Theobiographical Starting Point
  2. Setting The Terrain
  3. Concrete Lived Cases Of Ministerial Encounters With Divine Action
  4. Dominant Models Of Practical Theology
  Part 2
  5. A Christopraxis Practical Theology Of The Cross
  6. Practical Theology Into Nothingness
  7. The Concurring Of The Divine With The Human
  Part 3
  8. Critical Realism And Practical Theology
  9. Human Action And Interdisciplinarity In Light Of A Critical RealistChristopraxis Practical Theology

  Additional Info
  Finding practical theology not always able to present frameworks for understanding concrete and lived experience with divine action, Andrew Root seeks to reset the edifice of practical theology on a new foundation. While not minimizing its commitment to the lived and concrete, Root argues that practical theology has neglected deeper theological underpinnings.

  Christopraxis seeks to create a practical theology that is properly and fully theological, post-postmodern, post-Aristotelian, and that attends to doctrines such as divine action and justification.

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• 

  Relational Pastor : Sharing In Christ By Sharing Ourselves

  $23.99

  When is the last time you asked yourself hard questions about why you were pursuing certain relationships in your ministry? Could it be that the end game for many of us is not relationship per se but loyalty, adherence, even submission? The sheep in our flock become the means to our end: pastoring becomes less about the people of God and more about maintenance of the status quo-and, if we are willing to recognize it, the elevation of our pastoral status. Here practical theologian Andy Root dissects relational ministry as we have come to understand it and searches for the seed of a more wholesome, more pastoral understanding of the relationships for which God has prepared the church: the place where, when two or more are gathered in his name, Christ is present.

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• 

  Relationships Unfiltered : A Handbook For Youth Workers Volunteers Pastors

  $19.99

  Is youth ministry ready for truly relational youth ministry? No strings attached? Author Andrew Root examines the motivations and outcomes of what youth ministry has called relational ministry and provides new thoughts and tools for youth ministry volunteers and veterans.

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