Calvin Shorts

Sport is something we do, an experience that is hard to describe because it captures our whole selves. Sport draws us in and brings us back, day after day, season after season. We love to play-and yes, to win. Sport can train us, educate us, change us for better or for worse, but that is really not the point. First and foremost, sport is part of a truly abundant human life that Jesus Christ offers for those who love to play. God's world includes the myth-like space where sport resides, where we celebrate our humanness, our desire to be excellent, and our need to belong. Sport at its best points us toward a future of play and delight. And God is there with us, in every leap, backflip, tackle, spike, and slap shot. We need to play sport the way we live life: depending on our Creator in every moment and in every action. That means learning how to love God and neighbor better, how to turn away from thoughts and actions that dishonor God and harm ourselves and others, how both to be wary of our own desires and to delight in the good things that God has made. God does delight in this world-including sport. As we experience sport, we participate in that delight by authentically competing, giving ourselves wholeheartedly to the game, testing our abilities, and tasting the pleasure of organized play.

"Diversity" is not a new, foreign element in American life. It goes back to the earliest roots of the nation, when five distinct regions emerged along the Atlantic shore in the 17th century. This book explains how and why that happened, and with what consequences. Each region was, marked by a different geography and economy, a different mix of people, and different sets of social expectations. Religion and politics varied sharply from one area to another. In each case, the blend of ingredients also bore lines of tension that built up to a point of crisis: the Salem witch-craze in New England, for instance, or the Stono Rebellion of enslaved Africans in the Lower South. Out of these crises came reforms that set the five regions on their course to converge, eventually, in a new nation. But, many of the old differences came along, making the young United States a rambunctious, often uneasy place, filled with quarrels and culture wars. That is, the United States today shows some remarkable similarities to times far away and forgotten. This book brings those, times back to life in the hope that clearer memories might help us live better today.

This book offers a concise and highly-readable explanation of the dramatic changes that took place during the Reformation and helps readers understand the deeper impact of the Reformation beyond its own time period. Changes in theology and in worship, in the status of lay people and clergy, and in the relations between church and state reshaped Christians' views of themselves. Early modern Christians had to rethink their relationship with God and with other Christians based on these new realities. As contemporary Christians grasp the Reformation's dramatic impact in its own time, they will find resources for understanding and responding to challenges and conflicts today.

Encountering cultural differences in the classroom, in the workplace, in the church, and in the public square is an everyday part of contemporary life. The chances that we will live our lives interacting only with those who share our cultural identity and ways of thinking are shrinking. Understanding culture and how cultural difference affects how we understand one another and live well together is no longer just for travelers. It has become a basic life skill. Past Christian ways of thinking about cultural difference as most important for missions to faraway places do not harmonize with today's realities. This book offers a brief, critical overview of how Christians have been rethinking their relationship to cultural difference. Creation and fall, the image of God, the body/temple that is the church, neighbor ethics, the trinity, the incarnation and cross of Christ, and the call to welcome strangers — each of these offers distinct challenges to think in Christian ways about how we deal with differences. Exploring the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches, this book provides a concise guide to current Christian discussions of otherness. It points to rich ways in which Christians can responsibly and graciously embrace cultural difference.

Is it possible to work in international development without hurting those we are trying to help? Over the last few decades, evangelical Christians in the United States have moved from an open embrace of development work (e.g. short term missions, poverty alleviation strategies like microenterprise, child sponsorship) to a more critical assessment (e.g. When Helping Hurts, Serving with Eyes Wide Open, Poverty Inc.). These strategic shifts are not new. Scholars writing within the field of international development have entertained these debates for quite some time, but evangelical Christians have recently gotten very interested in the conversation. The problem is that the two sides in the debate do not capture well the reality or the prospects of international development. In this Calvin Short, Roland Hoksbergen and Tracy Kuperus review the field of international development from both secular and Christian perspectives. They explain why this debate has developed and then provide a more, balanced picture. A core theme is that development work should and can be done, but it must be done wisely and well if it is to be truly constructive.

Disability and Inclusive Communities intends to help readers learn how to build communities that fully include people with disabilities. Often our social practices unintentionally exclude those with disabilities by making it difficult for them to fully participate in the community. These practices hurt those whom we exclude. But they are also bad for our communities as a whole. Our communities-from our churches to our schools to our workplaces-are worse off when we exclude those with disabilities. We miss out on the opportunity to learn from complex, complete human beings who experience life in different ways. We miss out on becoming the Body of Christ in all its fullness. But our communities become better places for everyone when we pursue policies and practices of inclusion. Good intentions aren't enough. We need good social practices to make our communities more inclusive. For when we do that, all of us are better off.

Congregational community engagement is so widespread in the United States that it is best, described as a congregational norm. Both congregational leaders and attenders, in fact, expect to be involved in community activities simply as a matter of course. Moreover, people in need assume aid from congregations is natural and normal. Beyond that, most congregations want to be involved in their communities, they see neighborhood participation as a natural product of their mission. And congregational social activity, also tends to spur other action: studies show that individuals who attend congregations in which there is a strong and clear priority on community care are more likely than others to be civically engaged outside the congregation. In other words, congregational activity has ripple effects that are hard to even measure. Congregations interested in community engagement, though, should prepare to accurately, assess both their limits and capacities in addressing community issues. There exists no step-by-step formula for congregational engagement that simply translates to all communities/neighborhoods. This book, however, offers a brief overview to stimulate congregational thinking about community engagement in a manner that includes insights regarding social science and local context.