Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-146) and index.

Introduction: A bright sorrow / Justin E. Crisp -- Christianity: a religion of joy / Jürgen Moltmann -- Reflections on joy in the Bible / Marianne Meye Thompson -- Joy: some New Testament perspectives and questions / N. T. Wright -- Toward a theology of joy / Charles Mathewes -- Calling and compassion: elements of joy in lived practices of care / Mary Clark Moschella -- The crown of the good life: a hypothesis / Miroslav Volf.

Joy is crucial to human life and central to God's relationship to the world, yet it is remarkably absent from contemporary theology and, increasingly, from our own lives! This collection remedies this situation by considering the import of joy on human flourishing. These essays--written by experts in systematic and pastoral theology, Christian ethics, and biblical studies--demonstrate the promise of joy to throw open new theological possibilities and cast fresh light on all dimensions of human life. With contributions from Jurgen Moltmann, N. T. Wright, Marianne Meye Thompson, Mary Clark Moschella, Charles Mathewes, and Miroslav Volf, this volume puts joy at the heart of Christian faith and life, exploring joy's biblical, dogmatic, ecclesiological, and ethical dimensions in concert with close attention to the shifting tides of culture. Convinced of the need to offer to the world a compelling Christian vision of the good life, the authors treat the connections between joy and themes of creation, theodicy, politics, suffering, pastoral practice, eschatology, and more, driven by the conviction that vital relationship with the living God is integral to our fullest flourishing as human creatures.