Three's a Crowd brings together the three dialogue partners of Pentecostalism, hermeneutics, and the Old Testament. Previous attempts by Pentecostal academics to define a distinctive Pentecostal hermeneutic have focused on issues and application to the New Testament, consequently estranging the Old Testament from the conversation. This book engages the hermeneutical practices of Pentecostal and Charismatic groups in reading the Old Testamen ...
In those hasty moments when a child can no longer stand the insanity of the grown-up world and the only way to properly react is to cry, there is nothing like a good story to help wind them back in. Stories bring us together. These days, families fall apart because they lack a common story. Nation rises up against nation because we've traded shared stories for individual ideals. What is the antidote for the decay and erosion of our societ ...
If you sit in a pew, Sunday by Sunday, you will hear parts of Matthew's Gospel read. But you might never have read it yourself from start to finish. And if you are not a churchgoer, you might not think to read any of it. Yet it has been, and continues to be, an important part of our heritage. This book considers a group of people who meet, week by week, to try to untangle what Matthew is about. A complete text of the Gospel is include ...
Biblical scholars often read the Bible with their own interpretive interests in mind, without associating the Bible with the concerns of laypeople. This largely undermines the contributions laypeople can offer from reading the Bible in their own contexts and from their own life experiences. Moreover, such exclusively scholarly reading conceals the role of biblical texts in dealing with current social problems, such as HIV/AIDS-related stigmatiza ...
While most scholars focus on the character of Cornelius as a model Gentile, Bonnie Flessen argues that Cornelius is also a model male figure for Luke's audience. When analyzed closely, the characterization of Cornelius reveals a multifaceted rhetorical strategy regarding both gender and empire. This strategy lifts up a rather surprising portrait of an exemplary man who represents the Roman Empire and yet nevertheless manifests the virtues o ...
Is much of Christian education in America distinctly Christian? Ron Hoch and David Smith say, «No.» Instead it is guilty of having adopted an ideology and methodology that strips it of the right to call itself Christian and the ability to fulfill a truly Christian mission. The authors claim that the fundamentally humanistic ideology of the West conditions and controls much of what is labeled «Christian» education. By talking about the need to in ...
Did the Jesus of St. Luke's Gospel come to heal the brokenhearted (4:18)? Did Mark's Jesus call his disciples to prayer and fasting (9:29), and did he cry from the cross, «My God, my God, why have you persecuted me?» (15:34). Did St. Paul write to the Romans that God works all things together for good for those who love him (8:28)? Did the author of Hebrews declare that Jesus died apart from God (2:9)? These statements are found in th ...
The goal of this book is for readers to experience a personal encounter with the wisdom of Jesus found in Matthew 5-7. The Sermon on the Mount has grown out of pastor James Mayfield's study and struggles across the years as person, marriage partner, parent, pastor, teacher, and writer. The primary guides for this book have been John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Because the ...
Education has contributed enormously to the Scottish national character. The emphasis has always been on making a good education available to all and on giving those with talent every opportunity of advancement. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, it was clear that the provision of schooling was failing to meet the needs of an expanding population and the growth and diversification of the economy. In 1824 the Church of Scotland ...
