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This book takes a narrative-critical approach to the meaning and function of debate in the Gospel of Mary. The debate scene in the Gospel of Mary has been interpreted with the assumed framework of the Gnostic-orthodox conflict and feminist biblical studies’ particular interest in the gender issue. When approached narrative-critically, the portrayal of the debate is fundamentally concerned with the narrative’s rhetoric of persuasion. The function of the debate scene is meant to make truth-authority claims by appealing to the authority of divine revelation and the authority of the shared knowledge about Mary, the Savior’s favorite, according to the two models of authority, which were widely used in antiquity (i.e., revelatory authority and literary authority). Scholars and students who are interested in early Christian texts and methods of interpretation could use this book to gain a new look into the meaning of the texts, especially the roles of the interactions among the characters.

The last volume of Baur's church history, based on lectures delivered during the 1850s, covers the nineteenth century. They were edited and published by Eduard Zeller after Baur's death. Since the lectures devote equal attention to theological and ecclesiastical matters, the title in English is Church and Theology in the Nineteenth Century. Baur provides critical analyses of the philosophers and theologians of the nineteenth century (Herder, Schiller, Goethe, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Jacobi, Schleiermacher, Marheineke, Neander, Mohler, Hegel, Strauss, Feuerbach, and many others), as well as details about European Catholic and Protestant church history from 1800 to 1860. What he produces is a «participant history,» written by a scholar very much engaged in the issues of his time. Ferdinand Christian Baur was a professor of theology at the University of Tubingen from 1826 to 1860. He is known for his path-breaking studies in New Testament literature and historical theology. Recent translations of his work by Brown and Hodgson include History of Christian Dogma and Lectures on New Testament Theology.

Coming Out of Egypt is an exodus out of idolatry–the idolatry of ancient Egypt and the idolatry that permeates the church today. Its goal is to make the exodus come alive for the reader–not to just read about the exodus but to experience the exodus, not to just read about the Passover but to experience the Passover, to catapult the reader back through time like a time traveler entering a time portal. The goal of Coming Out of Egypt is to experience redemption, not just to read about redemption, to experience redemption from Pharaoh at the Reed Sea, and witness Yeshua's resurrection.

David Bosch (1929-1992) was one of the foremost mission theologians of the twentieth century, at once a prolific scholar, committed church leader, and active participant in the global conciliar and evangelical mission movements. Less well known is Bosch's distinctive role in the South African church's struggle against apartheid. After reviewing Bosch's background and exploring key themes in his understanding of mission and evangelism, Livingston explores Bosch's legacy from the perspective of the missionary nature of the church. The church is God's kingdom community, acting as a witness to and instrument of the coming reign of God. The church is God's alternative community, simultaneously set apart from the world but also for the sake of the world, exemplifying the radical implications of Christ's new community. The church is God's reconciled and reconciling community, serving as a sign and embodiment of God's love in Christ. For those acquainted with Bosch only as the author of his magisterial Transforming Mission, Livingston shows how Bosch integrated his theology and practice in a faithful, contextually relevant way within South Africa and the global church.

It is hubris to claim answers to unanswerable questions. Such questions, however–as part of their burden and worth–must still be asked, investigated, and contemplated. How there can be a loving, all-powerful God and a world stymied by suffering and evil is one of the unanswerable questions we must all struggle to answer, even as our responses are closer to gasps, silences, and further questions. More importantly, how and whether one articulates a response will have deep, lasting repercussions for any belief in God and in our judgments upon one another. Throughout this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary work, Peter Admirand draws upon his extensive research and background in theology and testimonial literature, trauma and genocide studies, cultural studies, philosophy of religion, interreligious studies, and systematic theology. As David Burrell writes in the Foreword: «. . .[T]he work's intricate structure, organization, and development will lead us to appreciate that the best one can settle for is a fractured faith built on a fractured theodicy, expressed in a language explicitly fragmented, pluralist, and broken.»

How is the Christian mandate to love your neighbor as yourself to be applied in business, economics, and politics? In what way does God want people to act within their jobs, their businesses, and their business transactions; treat tenants, other businesses, subordinates, and their employees; market their products and services and set prices; monitor the quality and safety of their products and services, and so on? Christian Economics promotes justice, fairness, balance, cooperation, and mutual respect within business, economics, and politics, and is based on three principles: good is to be done and promoted and evil is to be avoided; love your neighbor as yourself; and treat each and every human being with absolute dignity. Every business strategy, every business policy, and every business transaction needs to be based on these three principles.

The essays in this volume, which are written by friends, colleagues, and former students, are dedicated to Gary B. McGee as a memorial to his life, work, and service. As a professor with a clear calling to teach, he modeled this passion at the Open Bible College (Des Moines, Iowa), Central Bible College (Springfield, Missouri), and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (Springfield, Missouri). He exuded the understanding that quality teaching, superior scholarship, a genuine Pentecostal spirituality, and an irenic spirit can and should go together. Within the title of this volume, A Light to the Nations, two aspects become clear. First, each person is called to be «a light to the nations,» as Gary McGee modeled. Second, and foundational to the first, is the reality that Jesus Christ is the ultimate light, and our energies, study, discussions, and life in general should rely on this fact. As a reflection of Gary McGee's life and ministry, these two aspects are focused through three lenses, which are the three sections of this volume: Ecumenism, Missions, and Pentecostalism. The essays represent a diversity of subjects and denote various explorations by colleagues and friends of Gary B. McGee.

What causes us as a people of faith to think and act the way we think and act? Are we motivated by whatever is most practical, by a particular understanding of Scripture, by the influence of the culture around us, or by something more profound? On the premise that Pentecostalism does have much to contribute to the study of ethics, this book explores how one group, the American Assemblies of God, has wrestled with issues of racism, women in ministry, and Christian involvement in war. In the process, readers are invited to examine the connection–or disconnect–between what we believe and how we live out our faith.

In 1843 the Church of Scotland split apart. In the Disruption, as it was called, those who left to form the Free Church of Scotland claimed they did so because the law denied congregations the freedom to elect their own pastor. As they saw it, this fundamental Christian right had been usurped by lay patrons, who, by the Patronage Act of 1712, had been given the privilege of choosing and presenting parish ministers. But lay patronage was nothing new to the Church in Scotland, and to this day it remains an acceptable practice south of the border. What were the issues that made Scotland different? To date, little work has been done on the history of Scottish lay patronage and how antipathy to it developed. In A Great Grievance, Laurence Whitley traces the way attitudes ebbed and flowed from earliest times, and then in the main body of the book, looks at the place of Scottish lay patronage in the extraordinary and complex period in British history that followed the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The book examines some of the myths and controversies that sprung up and draws some unexpected conclusions.

A leading scholar of ascetical studies, Richard Valantasis explores a variety of ascetical traditions ranging from the Greco-Roman philosophy of Musonius Rufus, the asceticism found in the Nag Hammadi Library and in certain Gnostic texts, the Gospel of Thomas, and other early Christian texts. This collection gathers historical and theoretical essays that develop a theory of asceticism that informs the analysis of historical texts and opens the way for postmodern ascetical studies. Wide-ranging in historical scope and in developing theory, these essays address asceticism for scholar and student alike. The theory will be of particular interest to those interested in cultural theory and analysis, while the historical essays provide the researcher with easy access to a significant corpus of academic writing on asceticism.

In the broad context of Christianity as it developed over two millennia, and with special reference to the last three centuries, this discussion finds that Evangelicalism has repeatedly offered a reduced and distorted understanding of the faith. The evangelical outlook is much less scriptural than evangelicals generally assume. When it comes to appreciating the order of creation, our calling to develop integral Christian thinking and living, the religious significance of culture, and the coming of the kingdom, reductionist Evangelicalism struggles with its only rarely acknowledged deficiencies. As a result, we have all too often ended up with a Christianity shorn of its cosmic scope and wide cultural implications, and restricted to institutional church life and the cultivation of private spiritual experience. The consequences are frequently enervating and corrosive. Without disregarding what is important in the past, evangelicals are here challenged to take the Bible much more seriously, and thereby transcend the limitations of their habitual reductionism. Evangelicals are encouraged to embrace an integral and full-orbed understanding of Christian discipleship that will equip the faithful to address the deep and complex challenges of the twenty-first century.

Is the Abrahamic blessing of Genesis 12:1-3 still active in the world today? Does God still extend his blessing to the nations through his people? The author found the answer to these questions in one of the most isolated regions of the world, Papua New Guinea. In this book Sarita D. Gallagher compares the missional nature of the Abrahamic blessing motif in Scripture to a national revival that took place in Papua New Guinea. By identifying the shared missional patterns, she illustrates the continued fulfillment of the Abrahamic blessing through the Old and New Testaments and the contemporary Papua New Guinean Church. The significance of this research is multifaceted: the text contributes new insights to the global Church's understanding of the missio Dei, records an unexplored chapter of Melanesian indigenous mission history, and impacts the foundational motivations and methodology of contemporary mission praxis.

As a historical inquiry and synthesis, this intellectual history is the first study to apply the ideal-type or model-building methodology of Otto Hintze (1861-1940) to Western historical thought or to what R. G. Collingwood called «The Idea of History,» for it contains succinct and useful models for seeing and teaching classical, Christian, and modern professional historiography. Religion and the Rise of History is also the first work to suggest that, in addition to his well-known paradoxical, simul, and/or «at-the-same-time» way of thinking and viewing life, Martin Luther also held to a way that was deeply incarnational, dynamic, and/or «in-with-and-under.» This dual vision and «a Lutheran ethos» strongly influenced Leibniz, Hamann, and Herder, and was therefore a matter of considerable significance for the rise of a distinctly modern form of historical consciousness (commonly called «historicism») in Protestant Germany. Smith's essay suggests a new time period for the formative age of modern German thought, culture, and education: «The Cultural Revolution in Germany.» This age began in the early 1760s and culminated in 1810 with the founding of the University of Berlin, the first fully «modern» and «modernizing» university. This university first became the recognized center for the study of history, however, through the work of Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886). Here the story shows how a young Ranke derived his individualizing way of thinking and viewing life mainly from Luther, how his life-work is the best example in Western literature of the rise of history from a calling to a profession, and how the three-way discussion between Troeltsch, Meinecke, and Hintze concerning the nature of modern historical thought was of central importance for the reorientation of Western social-historical thought in the twentieth century.

This study of Song of Songs uncovers many patterns related to the numerical value twenty-six and related numbers for the divine name YHWH. Patterns are so unique that they clearly show authorial intent. They involve the numerical value of root forms of words, their sequences, and their totals in the book. The beloved man is highlighted by special patterns, which indicate that a typology for God is intended. Deer names in the refrain have number patterns that confirm intention for being circumlocutions for divine names. The disputed presence of the divine name YH in 8:6 is confirmed by the value of its full word. One of the most striking patterns found with the help of a computer is that the totals of root words are all arranged to point to theological numbers in a beautiful intricacy. Besides describing these patterns, this study discusses numerical competence within a proposed Hebrew literary circle, and what steps they might have gone through to create these amazing phenomena. These theological numbers confirm intentionality for allusions to the Hebrew Bible and support a hermeneutic of spiritual applications. A literary analysis of each poem focuses on the use of numbers among other features of prominence.

Here is a vivid, poetic, and evocative story of the painter Vincent van Gogh's struggle to become his true self. The author listens in on Vincent's most intimate, frequently startling thoughts on a host of topics, drawn from three volumes of his correspondence and his 900 extant paintings. What emerges is the portrait of an artist whose spiritual vision was borne of an agonizingly prolonged experience of the «dark night of the soul» through which his art dared to envision the triumph of joy over sorrow, of resurrection over suffering and death. Readers will discover that in many ways Vincent's story is as much about us as about him. Tracing van Gogh's pilgrimage from being an apprentice art dealer to being called to minister, in self-renunciation and misery, among destitute coal miners, the narrative follows his winding, tortuous path into adulthood as he struggles with family, associates, lovers–and with himself. Constantly evidenced in Vincent's own eloquent words and paintings is his tussle with the mysterious presence and maddening absence of God. Vocation unveils as a process of summoning and birthing his own self, through an attempt to imitate Christ, calling forth van Gogh's extraordinary creative powers from deep within. Adding choice supplies from other observers, Davidson here weaves his own exact, artful tapestry of interpretation, producing a suspenseful excursion into the life of van Gogh that offers profound meaning at every turn.

Does human life have any significance? The statements below have become widely accepted in the Western world: –Life is the accidental product of random events. –The laws of physics are totally deterministic. –Science does not accept a connection between physical matter and human consciousness. –Atheism is a conclusion from evidence while faith is speculation. –Science and faith are incompatible. –Suffering contradicts the existence of a loving, omnipotent God. –Jesus was a compilation of pagan mythologies or a human teacher who was deified. But do these statements represent eternal truths? Are they logical conclusions based on established facts or merely opinions? What is the evidence? To investigate these and other questions of existence and faith, a skeptical academic objectively explored relevant aspects of philosophy, mythology, history, archaeology, cosmology, quantum physics, biochemistry, and various faiths that finally led to investigation of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures (including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the gnostic gospels). The findings of this research not only challenge many modern assumptions but also have significant implications for our understanding of reality. Written with minimum technicality for general readership, this book presents a wide range of interesting and carefully confirmed facts relevant to the above questions. Whether you are an atheist or an agnostic, a Christian, or a follower of another faith, or have simply not been interested, this investigation provides valuable and surprising insights into the nature of the universe and our place in it.

It is difficult to be hopeful in the midst of daily news about the effects of climate change on people and our planet. While the Christian basis for hope is the resurrection of Jesus, unfortunately far too many American Protestant Christians do not connect this belief with the daily witness of their faith. This book argues that the resurrection proclaims a notion of hope that should be the foundation of a theology of creation care that manifests itself explicitly in the daily lives of believers. Christian hope not only inspires us to do great and courageous things but also serves as a critique of current systems and powers that degrade humans, nonhumans, and the rest of creation and thus cause us to be hopeless. Belief in the resurrection hope should cause us to be a different sort of people. Christians should think, purchase, eat, and act in novel and courageous ways because they are motivated daily by the resurrection of Jesus. This is the only way to be hopeful in the age of climate change.

Most ecotheologies build their arguments on the Bible's creation-story and resurrection-narrative in the hope to save the ecology through spiritual meditation, reforming capitalism, and/or deliberative democracy. However, based on a Chinese Christian social scientist's perspective, this book argues that few of these ecotheologies are theologically and empirically valid. Instead, it proposes a neuro-institutional post-ecology theology that builds on the major themes of the Last Judgment to refocus ecotheology toward evangelism and to adapt ecotheology to capitalism and democracy in order to embrace the «already but not yet» impacts of the inevitable total destruction of the ecology in the near future. The vanities in current ecotheologies are divided into religious, economic, and political categories. Among the major ones discussed in this book are the vanities of ecological meditation theology, leftist and rightist economic theologies, as well as ecotheologies of green authoritarianism and deliberative democracy. Even if these ecotheologies work perfectly as they were intended to, global ecological crises have passed the point of no return (i.e., post-ecology) and rendering all of them a global vanity. Based on a Chinese Christian social scientist's perspective, this book proposes a moderate course of ecological spirituality, economic behaviors, and democratic actions, but with a radical devotion to crisis management and evangelism in preparation for the Doomsdays. This book is unique in its balanced interdisciplinary composition, employing theories from cognitive science, Christian theology, economics, and political science.

This book provides a detailed analysis of the Messiah's bloodline that reveals many important concepts related to the human condition of mankind. The analysis expands our understanding of the scope of God's love for all of mankind. The bloodline includes God's patriarchs, many godly kings, many women who were gentiles, and men who were evil. The Messiah's bloodline reflects a cross section of mankind and fulfills Old Testament prophecies. The bloodline is the introduction to God's only Son, Jesus, and his life, death, and resurrection. God loves and communes with his creation on a daily basis. The only possible way for God to continue his relationship with man beyond death was to send his only Son to act as an escape for the penalty of sin. At no time has the bloodline of the Messiah been more important than now. The worship of idols and the new paganism of today are very dangerous and extremely contagious to all of mankind. 1 Peter 2:9 reads, «But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.»

For decades, post-independence Africa has been marked by conflicts, violence, and civil wars leading to a displacement of civilian populations and numerous humanitarian crises. For example, the Somali war, the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and the Darfur conflict in Western Sudan illustrate this phenomenon. In these situations, protecting the basic human rights of security, subsistence, the liberties of social participation, and the physical movement of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)–particularly women, children, and young people–has been seen as inadequate. This book offers the following: a systematic presentation of the nature and scope of the crises; an evaluative description of the achievements and failures of governments, organizations, and the international community in responding to the crises; a critical analysis of the rationale for such an inadequate response; and a philosophical and theological study of basic human rights that seeks to redress these failures by envisioning an appropriate response and a lasting solution to the conflicts, displacement, and humanitarian crises in Sub-Saharan Africa.

America in the late nineteenth century was undergoing enormous societal shifts. Immigration and urbanization were changing the face of the country. New discoveries and new perspectives on old verities stretched its mind and stirred its soul. The recently concluded Civil War left America bloodied, its self-confidence bruised, and its capacity for controversy weakened. American churches responded to these upheavals in different ways with long-lasting consequences. The reaction of one small branch of American Protestantism rooted in the broader stream of Methodism opens a window into these troubled times. This book explores how the American holiness movement navigated the societal maelstrom and the role the Bible played in charting its course. The holiness movement's response illustrates the interaction between the Bible and culture. It sheds light on the development of the movement's younger cousin, Pentecostalism. It also adds texture to the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, an important struggle that marked the early decades of the twentieth century and continues to shape America today.

Churches often find themselves in the middle of conflict. These conflicts can exist between people within the church, between the leaders and congregation, or even between churches themselves. Leaders often turn to Scripture for guidance in resolving these conflicts. However, the Bible does not outline or even discuss conflict management. In fact, various biblical figures–from ancient Israelite kings to New Testament apostles–all uniquely approach conflict. Does the Bible have a «theory of conflict management»? In Conflict Management and the Apostle Paul, the authors explore how Paul approached conflicts with his close associates like Barnabas and Peter, and with his mission churches like those in Galatia and Corinth. Conflict Management and the Apostle Paul distinctively sketches how various theories of conflict management used today shed light on Paul's own approaches to conflict while also evaluating the conflicts themselves. The authors in this volume are pastors and church workers who themselves bring their own experiences with conflict into play as they seek wisdom from the New Testament.

Current conflicts in both national and international arenas have undermined the natural, organic concept of nationhood as conventionally espoused in the nineteenth century. Conceiving a Nation argues that the modern understanding of the nation as a contested concept—as the product of a fluid and ongoing process of negotiation open to a range of livable solutions—is actually rooted in the Bible. This book draws attention to the contribution that the Bible makes to political discourse about the nation. The Bible is particularly well suited to this open-ended discourse because of its own nature as a text whose ambiguity and laconic quality render it constantly open to new interpretations and applicable to changing circumstances. The Bible offers a pluralistic understanding of different models of political development for different nations, and it depicts altering concepts of national identity over time. In this book, Morgenstern reads the Bible as the source of a dynamic critique of the ideas that are conventionally considered to be fundamental to national identity, treating in successive chapters the ethnic (Ruth), the cultural (Samson), the political (Jotham), and the territorial (Esther). Throughout, she explores a number of common themes, such as the relationship of women to political authority and the “strangeness” of Israelite political existence. In the Conclusion, she elucidates how biblical analysis can aid in recognition of modern claims to nationhood.

At first sight the lives of hermits, living in solitude and committed to a life of prayer and contemplation seems to be a world apart of the active practice of interfaith dialogue. Yet, there is a long tradition of seeking the divine together and thus making a contribution to better mutual understanding and an active contribution to peace between Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism in India. Drawing on his experience of travelling to some of India's holy places, the life and work of writers like Thomas Merton, Charles de Foucauld and Abishaktanda and being himself a Benedictine hermit and Professor of Divinity at the University of St Andrews, Mario Aguilar opens up new possibilities for dialogue between three of the world's major religions in today's world. He shows how his own experience of an eremitic life has brought him into deep communion with pilgrims of other faiths, be it through shared silence or listening to each other's experience, through reading sacred scriptures together, through poetry or interfaith worship that draws on practices and texts from Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity. This is a book for all engaged in interfaith dialogue and seeking to explore how spiritualities of silence, contemplation and prayer can make a contribution to peace and harmony in the world today.

The student edition of the popular A Practical Guide to Culture by John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkle delivers a hopeful message to listeners ages fifteen through twenty-five who live every day with increasing cultural pressure. These young people struggle to navigate contemporary challenges to their Christian faith and values but are encouraged to emerge as leaders. In A Student's Guide to Culture, Stonestreet and Kunkle write in a highly relatable style, sharing insight and experience. Jumping off from the original version, this guide includes all-new discussion questions and stories that remind young listeners that they can live differently and be a light in a culture that sometimes feels overwhelming.

We're meant to live in such ongoing satisfaction in Jesus and transformation by Jesus that others are drawn to Him through us-and all without joining a convent, hauling our sleeping bags to church, or barricading ourselves in the bathroom with our Bibles and prayer journals. The truth is that we can invest in all those religious activities and still be God-starved refugees going through the motions unless we learn how to trust Jesus to do in us what God asks of us. This book gives us permission to stop trying to please God and learn how to live in a pilgrim's delicious irony-being satisfied while hungering for more.

A Guide to Worship Ministry centers on four main areas of worship ministry: preparing for worship ministry, leading the worship ministry, preparing for Sunday, and discipling the generations through worship ministry. The book addresses topics such as discerning your call to ministry, working on a church staff, planning and leading worship services, and equipping your worship teams. A Guide to Worship Ministry looks at the day-to-day work of the worship minister, offering insights and personal stories. It is an important book for those getting started in worship ministry and a refresher for those who have years of experience in ministry.

This book is a work of theological resistance. It is not so much about the presidency of Donald Trump as it is about what his popularity and rise to power reveal about the state of Christianity and the moral character of the evangelical Right in the United States today. More specifically, it is about the threat of white Christian nationalism, which is the particular form that the nationalist populist movement of Trumpism has adopted for itself. The contributors are all fellows from the Westar Institute's academic seminar on God and the Human Future, and include many of the leading figures in theology and Continental philosophy of religion. This volume provides a form of theopolitical resistance based on intersectionality. The authors recognize how the various forms of oppression interrelate to contribute to a vast, dynamic, and seeming impenetrable network of systemic injustice and marginalization. These essays demonstrate that politics need not be played as a zero-sum game with a winner-take-all mentality, and that a critical theology is as urgently needed and as relevant now as ever.

Clinton Bennett reflects on four decades of engagement with Muslims and Christian-Muslim relations as a missionary, scholar, and interfaith activist. Set in the context of his personal story, chapters discuss a series of critical questions to the Christian-Muslim relationship reprising earlier writing. Bennett asks: can Christians appreciate the prophet Muhammad as a genuine messenger from God or is this theological treason? How might Christians respond to the Muslim claim that Jesus was a prophet and is not God incarnate? Can Christians with integrity regard the Qur'ān as a word from God, and is there any possibility of rapprochement on the issue of whether Jesus died on the cross? Focusing on the United States, Bennett also describes church-sponsored Christian-Muslim initiatives and offers suggestions on how Christians can rethink their ideas about Muslims and cooperate with them in peace and justice advocacy, and social and community development. Exploring some of the causes of Islamophobia, Bennett set out to challenge Christians to keep the commandment not to bear false witness against their Muslim neighbors.

The experience of 'hearing voices', once associated with lofty prophetic communications, has fallen low. Today, the experience is typically portrayed as an unambiguous harbinger of madness caused by a broken brain, an unbalanced mind, biology gone wild. Yet an alternative account, forged predominantly by people who hear voices themselves, argues that hearing voices is an understandable response to traumatic life-events. There is an urgent need to overcome the tensions between these two ways of understanding 'voice hearing'. Simon McCarthy-Jones considers neuroscience, genetics, religion, history, politics and not least the experiences of many voice hearers themselves. This enables him to challenge established and seemingly contradictory understandings and to create a joined-up explanation of voice hearing that is based on evidence rather than ideology.

This book prepares the way for the practice of kenarchy: a humanity-loving, world-embracing, inclusive approach to life and politics. It does so by identifying two conflicting streams in Christianity: the love stream that the stories of Jesus portray and many of us desire to follow, and the sovereignty system that much of theology, church, and mission represents. Explaining how the two streams arose in early Western history, The Fall of the Church demonstrates that far from being complementary expressions of Christianity, the sovereignty stream embodies the very system that the Jesus of the gospels opposed. The fall of the church is described in terms of its embrace of the sovereignty system and the subsequent history of the West is explained as the story of the resulting partnership. If transcendence is truly like Jesus, then, rather than abandoning the empire system, God has remained within the church and empire in order to empty it out from the inside. Mitchell argues that this divine strategy has continued throughout the history of the West and is coming to a head, right now, in our contemporary Western world, and that the time is ripe for an incarnational politics of love.

Money touches everything in our lives. It communicates our values whether we want it to or not, often simultaneously resulting in what we prefer and what we regret. Those who wish to be thoughtful about how they reflect God's image in all things, do well to think through what they believe about earning and using money. This volume walks through a logical progression of how to think and act in regards to money, and provides scores of scenarios for discussion and application.

Change is everywhere in life. God seems to have designed it that way. Whether beautiful or painful, life altering or small, our pages are written with a story of change. If change is everywhere, we are encountering new realities all the time. From our first conversation with a person, to our first kiss, to a new job, to our first experience with loss, newness is all around. When encountering change, we can be hesitant to embrace it, even outright resist it. It's either scary, or hard, or too much, or not as much as we desired, or possibly a combination of these. Because change is constant, it can seem as if we are walking through the same scenarios again and again. We have felt these feelings before, had these conversations before, and walked through these situations before–these painful moments seem to never fade. Even as we journey through the same situation for a second or third or tenth time, it calls for something new, for our story of change to continue in God. Change For the First Time, Again shares the life journey of the author while offering reflections on how to walk through change.

It's almost undeniable that God is working miracles of healing in evangelization today. For theologians, pastors, and evangelists some questions arise: What is the relationship between physical healing and the message of salvation? Should the church really expect God to do healings in evangelization today? Father Thelen answers these questions by examining the relationship between the preaching of the gospel and physical healing in the New Testament. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not simply a message of fact; it is a message of power that is often expressed through the working of deeds that serve as signs of the reality preached: salvation. As signs of the kingdom, healings that accompany the preaching of the gospel play an indispensable role in bringing people to faith throughout the New Testament. The result of this biblical study is a clarion call for the church to renew its faith in God's desire and power to confirm his word through healing. As healing becomes more accepted and frequent in evangelization, a Catholic biblical and theological approach to healing as it relates to evangelization–an approach that can be different from its Protestant counterpart–is necessary. This modest book fits this need.

At the end of the day, what will people say about you? If folks were totally candid, totally honest, how would your epitaph read? In the Talmud it is suggested that to be successful in this life you should plant a tree, have a child, or write a book. This means you should be sure that you have exerted an influence for good in this life that lives on after your days are on earth are done. In each chapter popular author James W. Moore asks the question, “Just how will you be remembered…” as one who knew Christ’s healing love, who celebrated the joy of the journey, who knew the Gift of the Holy Spirit, who knew how to trust the right things, who knew the power of compassion, who knew how to teach children the key things in life, who knew the importance of prayer, who knew right from wrong, who knew the significance of the battle within, who knew the power of words, who knew “that great gettin’-up mornin'', who knew how to be beautifully extravagant? who knew how to be a real friend, who knew how to close the gate? The book’s epilogue provides some valuable insight into how to become that kind of person and is called “Making Every Day Count!” Also included in the book is a study guide.

The stories of Jesus, placed in the context of the familiar and factual, are filled with metaphors that audiences can understand and appreciate. Metaphors not only inform and persuade, but also fire up readers' imaginations and get them involved as participants. Humans are primed to think and feel metaphorically, and so Garden of the Soul aims to metaphorically explore five landscapes that feature prominently in the Bible. Each metaphorical landscape throws light on an aspect of spiritual life. The bountiful garden speaks of growth, the flowing river calls for unceasing prayer, the raging sea mirrors the turbulence of a journey of faith, the barren desert transforms by emptying life's clutter, and the high mountain challenges readers to scale its peak to glimpse a transcendent vision of God. This book will inform, enrich, and challenge readers' spiritual lives throughout their journey from garden to mountain.

During difficult days (days of rain) we need encouragement and reminding of the love, mercy, and power of God from someone who has been through the storm. These poems and essays were written over many years and through many hard times. It is my hope to connect to your heart so you can see that someone else has had doubts and discouragement through the Christian walk and has found hope, a pathway to get through the rain and see the sun again.

The Armenian folk epic David of Sassoun was performed and transmitted orally for over one thousand years before a variant was discovered and transcribed in 1873. The publication of this variant marks the beginning of a long period of discoveries of other variants. The fifty variants collected by1936 are the source of the epic's unified text. The action of the epic is centered on the preservation of the House of Sassoun, or freedom from invaders. The oaths taken by heroes create conflicts of loyalties that work against this central concern. The curse, another form of the oath, leads to the decline of the House of Sassoun. The father's curse, which condemns the son to barren immortality, also puts heroic life in suspension until the eschatological vision is realized.

Many biblical women play critical roles in the drama of God’s salvation. Women of the Bible grew out of a desire to discover how some of the women who made a difference in the Bible can make a difference in our lives today. Join Pastor James A. Harnish as he takes a closer look at the stories of four extraordinary women in Scripture: Deborah, Abigail, Mary Magdalene, and the woman at the well. You’ll be drawn into a fresh awareness of what it means for all of us–men and women alike–to be more faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

Converge Bible Studies is a series of topical Bible studies based on the Common English Bible. Each title in the series consists of four studies on a common topic or theme. Converge can be used by small groups, classes, or individuals. Primary Scripture passages are included for ease of study, as are questions designed to encourage both personal reflection and group conversation. The topics and Scriptures in Converge come together to transform readers’ relationships with others, themselves, and God.

Broken bones mend. Flesh wounds heal. But where is the emergency room we can rush to when our hearts are broken? Divorce, adultery, spousal abuse, childhood sexual abuse, and addiction to alcohol, drugs, or pornography tear deep, gaping holes in the most tender of organs. There's no bandage and no surgery that will heal these wounds of the soul. However, forgiveness, mercy, and grace become a soothing balm in restoration. Whether you are the victim of a broken heart or the perpetrator of the harm, these poems will assist in your spiritual healing.

7 days of pain is a biblical principle that I discovered through an intensely difficult time in my life. I gravitated toward the stories of David and Job because, in a week, they both seemed to have endured the impossible and were healed through it. I wanted desperately to recover and move past the dark years. I had to ask myself extremely difficult questions in order to heal. Why did this happen to me? What is it going to take for me to be free? Is God torturing me? Why won't He make it stop? David's suffering was brought about by his pride, much like my own. God had to work hard in breaking him down because his pride had crept into every corner of his being. Job took comfort in his unblemished relationship with God, much like I did. He questioned God's judicial right to cause him this pain. All he wanted was for God to explain Himself, just like we do.

There are two types of spiritual pain: self-inflicted, brought about by our own mistakes and growing pains brought about by God. We can examine the biblical stories of King David and Job as models for reacting to suffering. I want this to be as much of a sensory experience as possible. I want you to connect with the Bible characters and get lost in their stories. I want you to be able to overlay their stories with your experiences and find common ground. As you read through this book, you'll notice an uplifting song is linked with each chapter. If you are struggling right now, take the time to listen to each song as your read through each chapter. Read the lyrics to the song and play them at least twice before moving on. Allow the Spirit of God to seep in and scrub away what doesn't belong.

The objective isn't for you to be pain free at the end of this book, although I believe God can do that. The intent is to peel you off the ground and get you up onto your knees in seven days. My pain was still present, but I could feel the warmth of the sun at the end of my tunnel. I would love to hear how God has brought you through your dark shadows.

André Trocmé of Le Chambon is famous for his role in saving thousands of Jews from the Nazis during World War II. But his bold deeds did not spring from a void. They were rooted in his understanding of Jesus’ way of nonviolence – an understanding that gave him the remarkable insights contained in this long out-of-print classic. In this book, you’ll encounter a Jesus you may have never met before – a Jesus who not only calls for spiritual transformation, but for practical changes that answer the most perplexing political, economic, and social problems of our time.

Blue Feather is the true story of a combat veteran who graphically shares his life of sin and the harsh realities of war. Christopher A. Dennis looks back on his life through a Christian lens so that other people who may be facing similar challenges can see that with God, all things are possible.

There is no doubt that the vision and calling Christopher's life is revealing itself as the promises written in this book begin to actually become a reality.

The name Blue Feather is simply a promise that was spoken in a dream. The feather represents peace and blessings and reward after a life of what can only be described as war. Those blessings are replacing every destroyed area of Christopher's life to this very day!

This testimony serves as proof that God loves each one of us, no matter how lost we seem to be.

Fifty-two readings on living in intentional Christian community to spark group discussion. Gold Medal Winner, 2017 Illumination Book Awards, Christian Living Silver Medal Winner, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Award in Religion, Independent Book Publishers Association Why, in an age of connectivity, are our lives more isolated and fragmented than ever? And what can be done about it? The answer lies in the hands of God’s people. Increasingly, today’s Christians want to be the church, to follow Christ together in daily life. From every corner of society, they are daring to step away from the status quo and respond to Christ’s call to share their lives more fully with one another and with others. As they take the plunge, they are discovering the rich, meaningful life that Jesus has in mind for all people, and pointing the church back to its original calling: to be a gathered, united community that demonstrates the transforming love of God.Of course, such a life together with others isn’t easy. The selections in this volume are, by and large, written by practitioners—people who have pioneered life in intentional community and have discovered in the nitty-gritty of daily life what it takes to establish, nurture, and sustain a Christian community over the long haul. Whether you have just begun thinking about communal living, are already embarking on sharing life with others, or have been part of a community for many years, the pieces in this collection will encourage, challenge, and strengthen you. The book’s fifty-two chapters can be read one a week to ignite meaningful group discussion.Contributors include from John F. Alexander, Eberhard Arnold, J. Heinrich Arnold, Johann Christoph Arnold, Alden Bass, Benedict of Nursia, Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, Leonardo Boff, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Joan Chittister, Stephen B. Clark, Andy Crouch, Dorothy Day, Anthony de Mello, Elizabeth Dede, Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jenny Duckworth, Friedrich Foerster, Richard J. Foster, Jodi Garbison, Arthur G. Gish, Helmut Gollwitzer, Adele J Gonzalez, Stanley Hauerwas, Joseph H. Hellerman, Roy Hession, David Janzen, Rufus Jones, Emmanuel Katongole, Arthur Katz, Søren Kierkegaard, C. Norman Kraus, C.S. Lewis, Gerhard Lohfink, Ed Loring, Chiara Lubich, George MacDonald, Thomas Merton, Hal Miller, José P. Miranda, Jürgen Moltmann, Charles E. Moore, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Elizabeth O’Connor, John M. Perkins, Eugene H.Peterson, Christine D. Pohl, Chris Rice, Basilea Schlink, Howard A. Snyder, Mother Teresa, Thomas à Kempis, Elton Trueblood, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

Uit die Beek is nie net die oudste Bybeldagboek in Afrikaans nie, maar die skrywer van hierdie 89ste uitgawe is ook die kleinseun van die oorspronklike skrywer. Attie van Wijk is ‘n bekende teoloog in eie reg, en hy bied met hierdie boek lesers weer eens die geleentheid om hulle elke dag by die vars water van die Woord te te verfris en voor te berei vir die dag wat voorlê. Dié dagboek is geskik vir persoonlike stiltetyd, en ook om tydens huisgodsdiens te gebruik. Ontdek só dat die Bybel elke dag byderwets, nuut en vars is.

«Let your light so shine before men, that they will see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven» (Matt. 5:16). That is Nancy Petrey's life verse, which provides the title for this, her sixth book. Nancy is a recorded pianist, as well as serving as a church pianist. From age 5 to age 78, her life has been filled with music. One of the major ways she has let her light shine for Jesus is through music, but there is much more to her story than music. Included are ministry times in churches with her husband Curtis and ministry as a «Mizpah for Israel.» Nancy recalls her musical exploits in high school, college, and in her career as a choral teacher in public schools, community musician, church choir director, composer, singer, and pianist. In varied settings, she learned to «bloom where she was planted,» even resorting to comedy routines. Nancy writes about her hearing impairment and the miracles God did for her. At the end of the book are some original musical compositions, all based on the Bible. Nancy lives in Petrey, Alabama. She became a widow two years ago. She and Curtis have four children and 17 grandchildren. This book will be of interest to anyone interested in music, and wants to read about a life lived as a witness for Jesus.

Anthony Acampora knows firsthand the power of Spirit-fueled compassion and the incredible impact the Word of God can have on a broken life. Through Christ he has overcome tremendous suffering and loss. The same kind of straightforward love and counsel he received he now offers to you through The Impact Devotional Series. Anthony also brings to bear years of experience as a chaplain, biblical counselor, ministry director, and spiritual growth consultant in this powerful volume of devotionals meant to be read, not sequentially, but as the Holy Spirit leads you. Let Anthony come alongside you, as he has so many others, to give you hope, encouragement, and determination to face today's trials by the power of the one who leads us through all troubles victoriously–Jesus Christ.

Lama Chopa is a practice of guru devotion special to the Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. In Sanskrit, lama is guru, and chopa is offering, so Lama Chopa translates into English as “offering to the spiritual guide.” In the Gelugpa tradition, there are many guru yoga sadhanas, but Lama Chopa is the most popular and sacred text. A special practice of Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the founder of the Gelugpa School, Lama Chopa was compiled by the first Panchen Lama, Panchen Lozang Chokyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662), who was the teacher of the fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682). Lama Chopa became so popular in Tibet and Mongolia that almost every monk of the Gelugpa tradition had it memorized, and recited it on a daily basis, both in the temple as a group practice, and individually. Lama Chopa is considered to be an Anuttarayoga Tantra or Highest Yoga Tantra practice. As indicated by the opening words, “Arising within the sphere of great bliss, I manifest as a Guru Yidam,” it contains the idea of personal transformationthrough the practitioner merging his or her mind with the guru as the meditational deity. The essence of the practice is to see the guru as an Enlightened Being, a Buddha, and to receive his or her blessings in return. Twenty-five percent of profits from sales of this book go to the Panchen Lama's monastery in exile, Tashilhunpo, in India.

Author Julie Woodley has experienced physical, emotional, and mental trauma, but through a deep trust in the promises of God and transforming experience of the Father's love, she has moved from broken to beautiful. She has embraced a life of joy that defies the expectations of others, but stands as a testimony to the profound healing power of God's grace. Join her on your own journey to wholeness.

Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden?" (Genesis 3:1)

With a seemingly small twist on God's Word, the assault on truth began in Eden. The enduring battle against truth is prevalent today as some argue that there is no inherent truth. Instead, they assert that truth is ever changing and necessary in order to complement the times. Still others pretend to uphold the truth, yet preach a false gospel. They twist the Scriptures in order to propel their selfish and highly flawed agendas, deceiving many.

Truth or Deception? urges believers to examine the Scriptures for themselves in order to be equipped to discern between the truth and the lies. The church that believes and lives in Christ can only experience victory in today's hostile environment if it is founded upon the truth of God's Word. While the world is lost and confused, it ought not to be so with believers.

The Word of God is the owner's manual for mankind. It offers guidance and warns on the dangers of the deceivers. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). But how can one who is deceived truly experience freedom or lead anyone else toward freedom? It's impossible. It is time for God's people to uncompromisingly stand for truth and expose the counterfeits for what they truly are—enemies of God.