What happens when Christians die? Some conclude that purgatory–a place of final purging and purification–is what awaits most believers after death in order to prepare for them to eventually fully enjoy God in heaven. But is purgatory what the Bible teaches? What are the theological implications of purgatory? Is purgatory, as some claim, a rational conclusion based on human freedom and moral transformation? In this introductory consideration to t ...
In response to a contemporary cultural situation in which human dignity is gravely threatened, Christian Friendship proposes a recovery of friendship as a new way of re-establishing the interpersonal communion that characterizes the human person created in the image of God. The author seeks to recover a genuine understanding of friendship by exploring ancient philosophy and the Catholic theological tradition. By examining the writings of Plato, ...
Messy, raw, and real aren't the words most of us use when we say what's good about our churches. But what if they were? Author Lee Schott found out, serving a beautiful church inside the Iowa women's prison. A lifelong church person, she discovered more church, and greater faithfulness, in this most unlikely setting, with room for people the church has often overlooked. She shares the lessons she has learned there, with the hope t ...
The missio Dei concept has shifted missiological thinking from an anthropocentric view of mission to the understanding that the church and persons are participants in the missio Dei. A Wesleyan perspective of grace and the means of grace inform the development of a theology of participation in the missio Dei that overcomes the repetitive articulations of mission as simply being human action or divine action. Through the means of grace, ...
Breakfast with Barth: Daily Devotions provides extracts from the writings of theologian Karl Barth. The short devotion that follows explains the meaning of Barth's quotation in light of his overall writings. It also explores the meanings of Barth's thought for contemporary Christian living. The goal is to introduce readers to Barth's theology so it can be readily understood and also to see ways Barth's theological insights–ex ...
The Fourth Gospel is a political document. Although it has often been interpreted primarily as a «spiritual gospel,» it has much to offer readers engaged in the difficult task of negotiating life lived under the dominion of empire, whether in the first or twenty-first century. This book gives careful attention to the political dimensions of the Gospel's Passion Narrative, including the arrest scene (18:1-12), the Roman show trial (18:28–19: ...
Nigeria, a country under a military regime for several years, transitioned to a civilian regime in May 1999. Since this change, violent conflicts between Christians and Muslims have continued to erupt. They constitute one of the gravest dangers facing Nigeria, a country with a population of 189 million people. What have Nigerian religious leaders done about this situation, especially in educational circles? Have they received formal educational ...
The text of the Torah includes not only its words, but also various atypical scribal features. Prime among these are the dots over certain letters, various letters written either large or small, and the exceedingly odd placement of two inverted Hebrew letters surrounding one passage. What are these features doing there? How old are they? Do they carry meaning? How have they been interpreted over the years? James Diamond brings the reader on the ...
Within the Christian theological tradition there has always been a variety of perspectives on hell, usually distinguished according to their views about the duration of hell's torments for the damned. Traditionalists maintain that the suffering of the damned is everlasting. Universalists claim that eventually every person is redeemed and arrives in heaven. And conditional immortalists, also known as «conditionalists» or «annihilationists,» ...
