John B. Cobb Libros

What would Jesus do? This is an old question that Christians of each successive generation have had to pose anew if they want to be faithful disciples. In other words, what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus today? A simple answer that has served Christians for centuries is to do as he did. To turn that simple prescription into a plan for living, many have turned the socio-economic emphasis discerned in the gospels into a contemporary ethic of justice. Less discernable, however, has been the political reality of Jesus’s teaching and the existential stakes behind it. In this book, Cobb argues that Jesus’s mission was to save his people from their bent toward a violent, military-style attempt to overthrow their Roman occupiers. Jesus believed this attempt would be self-destructive, so his mission was to teach the way of nonviolence. Saving his people from Rome and from themselves was the most inclusive mission possible at that time. To follow Jesus today is to adopt the most inclusive mission of our day. That is, our mission must be to save the world from its self-destructive path to climate chaos and to establish instead an ecological civilization.

A distinguished thinker ponders the meaning of Wesley's theology.John B. Cobb, Jr., draws on the historical, critical, and literary work that has characterized Wesley studies in recent years, but moves beyond them to propose one way of reconstructing and reappropriating essential elements of Wesley's thought in service of the church's life and mission.

Injured in an automobile accident, Jennifer has been in a coma for three months. When her friends learn that she is near death, they search for a way of coping with the tragedy and finally turn to prayer. Their journey into the nature and mystery of intercessory prayer begins with their first anguished words, ÒDear God, please don't let Jennifer die.Ó When Jennifer's condition improves for a time, then stops short of complete recovery, her friends begin to ask questions: What is intercessory prayer? Can we really influence God's actions? Why are some prayers answered and others seemingly ignored? Why does God allow evil to exist in the word? As Jennifer's friends continue their experience with intercessory prayer, they seek counsel from their pastor and others. In the process, they learn to assess different theological viewpoints. Praying for Jennifer is a fictional account centered around students and those to whom they turn for guidance: a church education leader, two pastors, a workshop leader, and a teacher. The probing questions the group deals with are common to all who search for an understanding of intercessory prayer.

The book argues for a transformative approach to interfaith dialogue, particularly between Christianity and Mahayana Buddhism. It critiques traditional Christian reflections on other religions, advocating for mutual respect and genuine exchange that allows both faiths to evolve. The author, John Cobb, emphasizes that understanding and benefiting from each other's truths can lead to a deeper, shared spiritual experience. This exploration calls for Christians to engage authentically with other traditions, fostering a relationship where both can contribute to each other's growth.

Process Theology is an introductory exposition of the theological movement that has been strongly influenced by the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne. It offers an interpretation of the basic concepts of process philosophy and outlines a "process theology" that will be especially useful for students of theology, teachers of courses in contemporary philosophy, ministers, and those interested in current theological and philosophical trends.

In the fifty years since its initial publication, Is It Too Late? has proven its prescience in ways both significant and dire. As the first book-length philosophical and theological analysis of the environmental crisis, this work introduced a generation to the key elements of crisis while suggesting ways that religion can be a force for hope rather than an instrument of despair. Covering an ambitious range of issues--from deforestation to abortion, from religious views of the natural world to the need for technological innovation to avoid nature's destruction--John Cobb moves deftly from philosophical to theological to scientific learning and integrates these interdisciplinary insights into a compelling vision for what he calls "a new Christianity." Comprehensive in scope, non-technical in expression, and concise in length, Is It Too Late? provides the scholar and the student alike with a readable and compelling orientation to the philosophical and theological stakes of ecology. This Fortress edition includes a new preface in which Cobb reflects on the current situation, the specific promises and perils we now face, and how his own thinking on matters theological and ecological has evolved in the last half century.