The life of Jesus is at the heart of the Christian faith, and is one of the great works of Western literature. This book presents the story in a new form, more accessible than ever before. It weaves the four separate gospel accounts into one continuous story. And it presents the story in a new translation: traditional, but clear. Here the reader can find the episodes laid out in an understandable narrative sequence. The nativity at Beth ...
While serving as Interim Pastor in the 1993-1994 church year, Kenneth Vaux announced a year-long sermon series entitled «Intimations of the Sacred.» Building on the concepts of William Wordsworth that the simple items of nature–leaves, songs, snowflakes, and gestures of kindness–hint to us the mysteries of the divine, we assemble here a selection of these «Second Sermons,» which include themes such as Bach and Mozart, Calvin, Wesley and Ghandi, ...
Although a large majority of believers agree that they should share their faith, most report that they, in fact, do not. That's not really all that surprising given today's pluralistic cultural setting. But maybe this same culture's longing for transcendence, community, and a place to call home points to a backstory that makes sense of it all. If such a narrative exists, it deserves a hearing, and those who know and live this stor ...
Can faith be an idol? Can the state grant freedom? What about wealth? No King but God takes up the revolutionary cry found on the lips of Jesus and his contemporaries in the first century to argue that we need the same desire to see God as King in all areas of our lives. From the marginal and prophetic perspective of the Isle of Man, and informed by a decade of pioneering work among the homeless, five contemporary idols are unmasked. The church ...
In an age of decreasing denominational loyalty, questions of identity have become important. Both church members and inquirers wonder what to make of a denomination's core values, mission, and common practices. Because the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was born as a movement of reform on the American frontier during the early nineteenth century, it is marked by the time and place of its birth. The message it offered at the time was ...
During the 1950s, a seven-year-old boy from a church-going family in a Texas suburb has a night-time vision of Jesus. In the morning he tells his parents about it. They immediately call the minister, who visits that very day. Best keep it quiet, the grown-ups all agree. So Jim Strahan nurtured his experience, grew in his faith, and Christian character, but always wondered Why me? What was he supposed to do? Jim didn't go to seminar ...
Luther and Bach on the Magnificat: For Advent and Christmas brings together the gifts of Lutheranism's original and most prominent theologian with Lutheranism's most prominent composer/musician as Martin Luther and Johann Sebastian Bach expound in word and music on the Virgin Mary's song of praise in the Gospel of Luke: the Magnificat. Written in 1521, Martin Luther's Commentary on the Magnificat is a spiritual classi ...
We sometimes say that Muslims and Christians are part of Abraham's family, but while you can choose your friends, you cannot choose your family. In a world filled with conflict, can Christians be friends with Muslims? When it comes to medical ethics, the economy, the environment, media, the arts, the place of women in society, political engagement, do Christians and Muslims have any views in common? Utilizing the writings of respected Musli ...
This book attempts to solve the Samaritan riddle that is the focal point of the Dunn Debate. Dr. James D. G. Dunn's first book, Baptism in the Holy Spirit (1970), claims the New Testament says baptism in the Holy Spirit always occurs simultaneously at conversion-initiation. In contrast, classical Pentecostals contend that Spirit baptism always occurs subsequent to conversion and is evidenced by tongues-speaking. They mostly cite Acts 8:4-25 ...
