Rereading the Biblical Text: Searching for Meaning and Understanding deals with problems scholars face in translating Hebrew words and sentences into contemporary English. Modern readers have many choices when selecting a translation of the Bible for personal use. Translators seek to convey to today's readers the message the biblical writers tried to communicate to their original readers. At times, however, what the original authors tried t ...
What is Jesus like? What kind of a person is he? Is he emotional or stoic? Is he proud or humble? Is he aloof or friendly? This book attempts to answer these types of questions. After demonstrating that Jesus is the promised Christ and that he is both divine and human, this book examines Jesus' personal characteristics as they are displayed in the four Gospels. The four Gospels are clearly not a typical biography of Jesus. Nonetheless, they ...
As a dominant voice in our society, Western Christianity (including fundamentalism) is dying despite the growing tendency of people to identify as spiritual but not religious. In the face of this reality, churches continue to preach the same message of sin, judgment, guilt, in order to be saved, or in the case of more progressive churches, feel-good messages. No wonder Western Christianity is failing. If it is ever to regain its viabili ...
It seems that nearly everyone is talking about missional change for congregations. As a result, many church leaders are attempting to drive that kind of change for the ministries they lead. Some succeed. But many others hit a wall of considerable frustration as they find that congregations resist the very change that is so needed. The reasons for this resistance are many, and they are explored in this volume. What is required to move a ...
We are, at our base, humus-beings. Our lives are dependent upon the soil and we flourish when we live in this reality. Unfortunately, we have been a part of a centuries-long push to build a new tower of Babel–an attempt to escape our basic dependence on the dirt. This escape has resulted in ecological disaster, unhealthy bodies, and broken communities. In answer to this denial, a habit of mind formed from working close with the soil offers us a ...
What is God doing about a world marked by conflict and division? What about a world in which our technologies promise great good but also threaten our existence? What is God doing in a world where the demands for accumulation and acquisition create division and despair? Can Christians hope to be of positive influence in a world that does not always support, reflect, or even understand Christian commitments? Christian ethics often raises ...
Creative Ways to Build Christian Community is exactly what its title says it is: a very personal, practical response to the present and future prospect of isolation, a treasure trove of examples and suggestions about how to accomplish the Great Commission from community builders telling how, over the years and the ministries, they have implemented creative ways to build up churches and organizations to develop more intensive Christian fellowship ...
Results May Vary addresses the unspoken assumptions and unquestioned expectations about what it means to be a Christian woman in a complex world. Far from offering a simple checklist or selling advice, this collection of essays weaves together a rich variety of voices–from women of different ages, backgrounds, professions, disciplines, and life choices–speaking honestly about the unexpected yet grace-infused twists and turns of life that exude t ...
The book is about showing different ways of doing ethics, highlighting a kind of methodological pluralism. This book attempts to relate the difference in methodology and perspective to difference in identity, focal point of analysis, or projects of persuasion. Difference matters ultimately because pluralism matters. This book is a tutorial in ethical analysis and reasoning. Seminarians and graduate students will be brought into the finer points ...
