Adults in your church, small group, or other Christian organization are silently suffering the tragic consequences of having been sexually abused as children or youth. Why aren't they coming forward for help? Their reluctance may be related to wounds given by the faithful–religious people they trusted, who said things like «well, it wasn't rape» or «it's been thirty years–why is this such a big deal?» Such responses from people wi ...
This book explores the doctrine of the church among English Calvinistic Baptists between 1640 and 1660. It examines the emergence of Calvinistic Baptists against the background of the demise of the Episcopal Church of England, the establishment by Act of Parliament of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and the attempted foundation of a Presbyterian Church of England. Ecclesiology was one of the most important doctrines under consideration in t ...
In John's Gospel Jesus enters as an adult and issues an invitation: «Follow me.» Those who accept the call find themselves on the journey of a lifetime. Disciples complain about not knowing the destination; they fret about finding the way. But place and path come together in a person, who identifies himself in a series of sayings distinctive to this gospel. Over time and in community, disciples take on the identity of the one whom they foll ...
Mountaintop Theology invites the reader to revisit biblical events that occurred on the slopes or summits of mountains. Employing the disciplines of historical geography and biblical theology, Helyer probes the theological truths underlying these mountaintop experiences. The intent is to gain a fresh perspective on the defining doctrines of evangelical faith. ...
Missionaries go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, while monks live cloistered in a monastery and focus their lives on prayer and studying Scripture–correct? Not exactly. When we study the history of Christian mission, especially from around 500 to 1500 CE, the key missionaries that we constantly encounter are monks. In fact, if we don't have monks in this period then we have very little in the way of Christian mission. O ...
This sweeping survey is the first complete account of nearly 150 years of Protestant missions in Shanxi Province, China. Beginning with the arrival of the Protestant missionaries during the 1878 North China Famine and the fiery test of the 1900 Boxer Uprising and subsequent martyrdom of hundreds of Shanxi Christians, this important book brings together the historical accounts of the spread of Christianity in the province all the way up t ...
How would ordinary African Christians interpret the figure and book of Job–the quintessential biblical book on suffering–from contexts of extreme poverty, tropical disease, and rampant suffering? How do African Christians culturally understand issues of theodicy and the nature of evil? What role does the devil play in African Pentecostalism? How does the biblical lament empower faith and foster hope for people living with HIV/AIDS? In what way d ...
Thinking beyond the absolutes Christians and other religious persons increasingly find «deabsolutized» in our modern thought world, Swidler reflects on the ways we humans think about the world and its meaning now that increasingly we notice that there are other ways of understanding the world than the way we grew up in. In this new situation we need to develop a common language we can use together both to appreciate our neighbors and enrich ours ...
Is Christian mission even possible today? In «a secular age,» is it possible to talk about the goodness of God in a compelling way? How should the church proceed? Carolyn Chau explores the question of Catholic mission in a secular age through a constructive interpretation of the work of two celebrated Catholic thinkers, philosopher Charles Taylor and theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, arguing that Taylor and Balthasar together offer a promising ...
