A Rebellious Faith
Cycle C Sermons Based on Second Lessons for Lent and Easter
Published on 9. October 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
130 pages
978-0-7880-2926-4 (ISBN)
Description
"Go against the grain."
This is what Mark Ellingsen wants your church to hear in A Rebellious Faith. It isn’t merely odd or contradictory in the eyes of the world to live a Christian life. It is offensive.
To go against the grain – by discounting our accomplishments, carrying no shame in the light of grace, considering no one outside of God’s love – is to sometimes make people who worship hard work, the quest for perfection and exceptionalism deeply uncomfortable.
And that is a very good thing.
Ellingsen begins with the irrevocable truth that the ashes we put on our living bodies at the beginning of the Lenten season represent the death we all deserve. From there, he leads your congregation through the brazenly offensive, un-American ideas presented in the New Testament.
Confession does not shame and isolate us, it liberates us. Bearing the cross of our sin is not a burden, but a blessing in the knowledge the Lord has paid the ultimate price for our sin. The Resurrection does not make anyone exceptional. It unites us all whether or not we are ready to enter Heaven together.
A Rebellious Faith reminds us thatthe war is already won, and we are to live as brave sinners whose Savior cannot be overcome.
Sermons include:
Lent 1: "A Protestant (and Catholic) Way to Confess" (Romans 10:8b-13)
Good Friday: "Look What Happened on the Cross! God Burns Away All Our Pettiness" (Hebrews 10:16-25)
Easter: "Easter Makes Us One!" (Acts 10:34-43)
The Ascension of Our Lord: "The Triumph of God’s Grace" (Ephesians 1:15-23)
Mark Ellingsen, a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), has been a professor of Church History at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, since 1993. He graduated magna cum laude from Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania) and Yale University, from which he received three master's degrees in divinity, arts, and philosophy, as well as his Ph.D. He has authored eighteen books including Sin Bravely: A Joyful Alternative to a Purpose-Driven Life (Continuum) and The Integrity of Biblical Narrative (Wipf and Stock). He and his wife have three grown children. When he is not writing or teaching, Ellingsen enjoys discussing politics, sports, and playing guitar.
More details
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 7 mm
Weight
174 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7880-2926-4 (9780788029264)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Mark Ellingsen is a recently retired professor at the largest historic Black seminary in the nation, the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. With a Yale Ph.D., he has taught there for over 3 decades after extensive international experience as a theological and social-ethical researcher and as a liaison for interdenominational relations. The son of Norwegian immigrants, Ellingsen is the author of 28 books and hundreds of articles, many dealing with political and social issues on topics like how the Christian view of Original Sin is crucial to our Constitutional system, how the various religious bodies address social issues, and how white Christianity came to be associated with Republican politics. He has also written on abortion as well as gay rights and faith. Most recently, he co-authored a book on racism with a young Civil Rights leader who knows the political ropes (a former student) titled "Wired For Racism? How Evolution and Faith Move Us to Challenge Racial Idolatry," showing us how the combination of faith, insights drawn from the Theory of Evolution, and best practices in dealing with racism advocated by the leading Civil Rights organizations might challenge white hegemony. This book establishes his expertise in dealing with Civil Rights issues. With his rich background, radio and TV channels have called on Ellingsen often over the years to comment on topics related to this book and other subjects. In view of his background and years of study and teaching on the subjects of this book along with his immersion in Black realities, who else but a scholar of Ellingsen's breadth and rich inter-cultural experience could write an effective volume like this one to clarify for the public a lot of the myths about Critical Race Theory? Ellingsen recently relocated to South Carolina in retirement, but during his years in Metro Atlanta he resided in Cobb County, the district served by Newt Gingrich and the bastion of the State's resistance to Critical Race Theory, he lives and works with both sides on this explosive issue, knows how to communicate and be fair to both Right and Left.