The author claims that the gospel of Mark is a speech or sermon. To prove this he shows how Mark used many of the elements of Aristotle's rhetoric. Literary critics noticed these rhetorical features in Mark, but remained with a literary critical model of that gospel instead of a rhetorical view that the evidence called for. They continued to translate the first word of Mark, arche, as «beginning» to provide Mark's story of Jesus with a ...
The church doesn't need to be more spiritual. It needs to become more human. Since God decided becoming human was right, so must the church. Jesus' language was consistently understood by nonreligious people. Elitist in-house church language may never reach the growing number of Americans without a religious background who have given up on God. This book views the church as a unique people-group and the reader as an anthropologist. Em ...
In a day when rules are being rewritten, guilt has come up with a bad rap. Many parents rush to emancipate their children from such troubling apprehensions–and the results are telling. This coming-of-age memoir traces the challenges of a fatherless boy growing up amidst the folly of his peers and the ever-present predators who cannot be wished away. Faced with the reality of evil, the theological concept of Original Sin looms large. This book ...
This book is a collection of short reflections on mentoring and discipleship in honor of Scott M. Gibson. Gibson says: «The missing ingredient in the Church today is discipleship.» This book casts a vision for all believers for what mentoring and discipleship can look like in the local church, in Bible colleges and seminaries, and in Christian friendships. We hope that you will be inspired by Scott M. Gibson's example to be selfless and int ...
The lexicon of the church is confusing to those who are not a part of the culture. Given the great commission and our call to «make disciples» (Matt 28), I have thought a lot about how to explain some of the terms long time church attenders are very familiar with in a way that invites new believers into the conversation that has been going on for centuries. This devotional includes definitions of words often used in Scripture and church ...
The foundation of a good biblical sermon is the biblical text. Take Up and Preach is a helpful guide for the preacher in how to approach a biblical text with the intention of preaching its life-giving message. Blayne Banting uses memorable images and careful instructions to aid the preacher through the process of understanding a theology of preaching, selecting and interpreting a preaching text right up to the point of producing the sermon outli ...
This study offers a creative combination of methodologies to provide grounded intertextual procedure for the apocalyptic genre with impact on understanding Revelation 15. Along with the analysis on narrative elements (to prove the similarity in the scenery background) and examinations of the designation and context of the songs, this research reveals thematic parallels in the contents of the songs in Exodus 15:1-18 and Revelation 15:3-4, not arg ...
This book offers a challenging spirituality for a world filled with uncertainty and emotional struggle. Drawing from the work of ancient and contemporary thinkers, the author constructs a path to understanding oneself and understanding God in new and profound ways. This end is pursued by the use of spiritual exercises, mental practices which make changing one's way of life a real possibility. Further, by engaging directly with nothingness, ...
Whether or not we are aware of it, everyone is being «baptized.» While the church baptizes people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the culture in which we live is baptizing us into the trinitarian values of consumption, production, and acquisition. The respective baptism we choose to immerse ourselves in is consequential for the type of people we are becoming. Wade In the Water alerts us to the presence of these formative forces, ...
