The Bond of Peace: Exploring Generous Orthodoxy
Ebook
Overview
Churches vary a great deal - but can we see past all their differences to what underlies them?
‘Generous orthodoxy’ is a phrase that describes a Christianity both broad and deep, rooted in the historic creeds and embracing different expressions of Christian faith. The Bond of Peace is a ground-breaking, creative and practical exploration of what generous orthodoxy really means, and how expressing it might bring about a sense of unity in the church that is badly needed in our fractured and polarised world.
Drawing together leading theologians from the UK and the USA - including David Ford, Katherine Sonderegger, Willie Jennings, Tom Greggs, JKA Smith and Jane Williams - The Bond of Peace offers reflections on how generous orthodoxy can be expressed through everything from worship and preaching to biblical theology, the arts and more.
Based around a series of lectures held at St Mellitus College, and sponsored by the McDonald Agape Foundation, this timely book is essential reading for anyone interested in how the Christian Church can bridge the gap between denominations to negotiate the challenges of our 21st century world in a united manner. It will leave you, not only with a deeper understanding of generous orthodoxy, but the practical confidence to celebrate and embrace the differences in Christian denominations so we can all live together more joyfully - through the transforming and renewing work of the Holy Spirit.
The Bond of Peace looks at the meaning of generous orthodoxy and encourages us to embrace different expressions of Christian faith to deepen a sense of unity in the Church.
Contents
List of contributors ix
List of abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
Graham Tomlin
1 Jesus: Reliably surprising, generously orthodox 7
David F. Ford
2 Creeds: Boundaries or paths? 21
Jane Williams
3 The art of hope: Imagining another world in a world that
breaks our hearts 33
James K. A. Smith
4 Christ’s mystery 48
Katherine Sonderegger
5 By the word worked: How a speaking God tells us who he is 62
Fleming Rutledge
6 Cosmic reconciliation in Christ as the basis for generous
orthodoxy 76
Steve Smith
7 For God and for the world: A generously orthodox Church 89
Tom Greggs
8 Lessons from the mechanics of early orthodoxy 105
Simon Cuff
9 Liturgy, generosity and the mystery of worship in the Spirit:
Towards a theology of worship 121
Michael J. Leyden
10 Devotional dogma and dogmatic worship 137
Lincoln Harvey
11 Remembering we were Gentiles: A generous orthodoxy from
the margins 152
Willie James Jennings
12 Blessing the other: Jesus, Elijah, Elisha and generous orthodoxy 164
Mark Scarlata
13 Rooted and sent: Generous orthodoxy as an expression of
God’s mission in the world today 177
Hannah Steele
- Title: The Bond of Peace: Exploring Generous Orthodoxy
- Authors: Graham Tomlin, Nathan Eddy
- Publisher: SPCK Publishing
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Pages: 208
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780281082841, 9780281082834, 0281082839, 0281082847
- Resource ID: LLS:9780281082841
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-09-12T10:50:39Z
The Rt Revd Dr Graham Tomlin is Bishop of Kensington and President of St Mellitus College. He served as Chaplain of Jesus College Oxford and Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, where he taught within the Theology Faculty of the University on Historical Theology. He was the first Dean of St Mellitus College and is the author of many books and articles, including The Power of the Cross: Theology and the Death of Christ in Paul Luther and Pascal, Looking through the Cross (the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book for 2014), The Widening Circle - Priesthood as God's Way of Blessing the World and Luther's Gospel: Reimagining the World