Home and Away: Contextual Theology and Local Practice

Synopsis: Home and Away provides new vantage points in contextual theology. An initial stream looks at the significance of postcodes as a way of mapping local areas as situations for pastoral ministry and theological reflection. A second but not ancillary stream of essays considers the local within a range of glocal and global dynamics. The essays do not unfold a single trajectory of thought about context and at various points they indirectly question and challenge each other. The pieces meld into an international and ecumenical conversation about contemporary Christian ministry. It includes voices from North America Europe and Austral/Asia. Although open ended and constantly crisscrossing questions from one context to another the collection is emphatic in its common conviction that attention to very local circumstance is crucial for Christian ministry just as are wider views of a localitys position in broader flows. Endorsements: Home and Away details why global needs local and away is anchored in home. Ten essays show why the local postcode-zipcode is an essential starting point for theological reflection that matters. --Dean Drayton School of Theology Charles Sturt University Author Biography: Stephen Burns is Research Fellow in Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University Australia. His publications include Liturgy (2006) Worship in Context (2006) Exchanges of Grace (coeditor 2008) The Edge of God (coeditor 2008) Christian Worship in Australia (coeditor 2009) Presiding Like a Woman (coeditor 2010) and Christian Worship: Postcolonial Perspectives (with Michael N. Jagessar 2011). Clive Pearson is Head of the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University Australia. His publications include Faith in a Hyphen (editor 2004) Thirty Years of Korean Ministry in Australia (coeditor 2004) Scholarship and Fierce Sincerity (with Allan Davidson and Peter Lineman 2007) and Out of Place (coeditor 2011).