What is “Embracing” from Church Publishing?

The Embracing Series is a unique collection of adult studies on important topics of interest to today’s Christians, offering engaging and discussion-rich sessions for small groups. Each study is led by a popular teacher and deals with a thought-provoking subject.

Each study uses a DVD featuring the host’s presentations and interactions with a “live” group of adults. For each topic, there is also a Participant’s Workbook for your group participants to follow along, adding notes and reflections. By watching the video, your small group will be inspired to continue the discussion, responding to the leader’s presentation.

Ideal for use in adult and young-adult small groups, in church settings, and homes. Christian educators, clergy, and ministry directors will find the Embracing Series to be a useful resource for adult education.

Building Faith’s Take

The Embracing series is very rich. Here are some of the strengths:

• Appealing topics that will spark interest
• Workbooks provide several discussion options for each session. The group can choose which discussion to pursue.
• The videos show a group of adults conversing with the expert presenter.
• Video segments are of varying length; segments can be split up, combined, etc.
• Easy to use. Once you buy the DVD and workbooks, most of the content work is done for you.
• Videos could be used for a Sunday morning adult forum.

Other Notes:

• This series would be good for a more academic group, looking for spiritual and theological insight.
• The presenters on the videos generally represent a progressive-leaning theology.
• Be sure to preview the DVD and note the lengths of the video segments. They differ for each study.

Topics Available

View and preview all topics here.

Embracing Forgiveness – Barbara Cawthorne Crafton on What It Is and What It Isn’t

1: Seventy Times Seven: Really?
2: You Have Heard It Said
3: Chipping Away 4: How to Start
5: Why Forgive?

Embracing an Alternative Orthodoxy – Richard Rohr on the Legacy of St. Francis

1: Atonement Theology
2: Eco-Spirituality 3: The Cosmic Christ
4: Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxy
5: Mysticism over Moralism

Embracing Spiritual Awakening – Diana Butler Bass on the Dynamics of Experiential Faith

1: Waking Up
2. Believing
3: Behaving
4: Belonging
5: Awakening

Embracing Interfaith Cooperation – Eboo Patel on Coming Together to Change the World

1: Interfaith Cooperation in American History
2: Interfaith Literacy
3: The Science of Interfaith Cooperation
4: The Art of Interfaith Cooperation
5: The Role of Colleges, Seminaries, and Houses of Worship

View and preview all Embracing titles here

Embracing a Life of Meaning – Kathleen Norris on Discovering What Matters

1: Belief Matters
2: The Bible Matters
3: Community Matters
4: Place Matters
5: We Matter

Embracing the Prophets in Contemporary Culture – Walter Brueggemann on Confronting Today’s “Pharaohs”

1: Moses, Pharaoh, the Prophets, and Us
2: The Prophets as Uncredentialed Purveyors of Covenant
3: Moral Coherence in a World of Power, Money, and Violence 4: The Shrill Rhetoric that breaks Denial
5: The Grief of Loss as Divine Judgment
6: The Promissory Language that breaks Despair

Embracing an Adult Faith – Marcus Borg on What it Means to Be Christian

1: God
2: Jesus
3: Salvation
4: Community
5: Practice

Embracing Emergence Christianity – Phyllis Tickle on the Church’s Next Rummage Sale

1: Emergence 101
2: Where now is the Authority? 3: The 20th Century and Emergence
4: Gifts from Other Times
5: How Then Shall We Live?
6: Hallmarks of Emergence

The Embracing Series

About Church Publishing Incorporated (CPI). With a religious publishing heritage dating back to 1918 and headquartered today in New York City, CPI is an official publisher of worship materials and resources for The Episcopal Church, plus a multi-faceted publisher and supplier to the broader ecumenical marketplace.