Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface / Michael Gulker -- Introduction / James K.A. Smith -- Part 1. Creating a community for the conversation : ecclesiology and worship -- The church as church : practicing the politics of Jesus / Rodney Clapp -- Friends of God and friends of God's friends / Samuel Wells -- Friendship and the ways to truth / David Burrell -- Worship is our worldview : Christian worship and the formation of desire / James K.A. Smith -- Common prayer / Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Enuma Okoro -- Part 2. Putting on Christ : formation in virtue -- The master argument of MacIntyre's After Virtue / Brad Kallenberg -- The nature of the virtues / Alasdair MacIntyre -- The church as a community of practice / Jonathan R. Wilson -- Resistance to the demands of love : on sloth / Rebecca DeYoung -- Cultivating gratitude : pray without ceasing / Paul Griffiths -- Why Christian character matters / N.T. Wright -- Part 3. Come let us reason together : tradition-based rationality -- The rationality of traditions / Alasdair MacIntyre -- Aquinas and the rationality of tradition / Alasdair MacIntyre -- The epistemic priority of Jesus Christ / Robert Barron -- Reading scripture with the Reformers / Timothy George -- Part 4. All things hold together in Christ : exploring God's world -- Come and see : a christological invitation for science / Mark Noll -- Encountering God's world : curiositas vs. caritas / Paul Griffiths -- The religious path to exclusive humanism : from deism to atheism / James K.A. Smith -- Natural theology, or a theology of creation? / Stanley Hauerwas -- Science, stories, and our knowledge of the natural world / Alasdair MacIntyre -- Science for the church : natural sciences in the Christian University / Jonathan R. Wilson.

As Christians engage controversial cultural issues, we must remember that "all things hold together in Christ" (Col. 1:17)--even when it comes to science and faith. This anthology is an invitation to find resources for faithful, creative thinking in the riches of the church's theological heritage and its worship traditions. Reflecting "the Colossian Way" this book offers a vision that will help congregations pursue the truth in love. Top Christian thinkers show how attending to the formation of virtue through the practices of worship creates the hospitable space we need to deal with difference and disagreement in the body of Christ. -- ‡c From publisher's description.