James, Brother of Jesus, and the Jerusalem Church opens fresh ground in our understanding of Christian origins through an exploration of the role of James in the founding of the church. Based on the author's doctoral research, that first Christian church, with its roots in the Baptist movement, is shown to be part of the broad contemporary Judaic movement for the restoration of Israel. The events surrounding the death of Jesus (their leader ...
Current research shows what many in the Christian community already know: young people are leaving the church. This raises important questions: Why are young people leaving? How can the church respond? Some have responded to this issue out of a posture of fear and anxiety, trying to find new ways to strengthen doctrinal beliefs or practices of faith formation and discipleship. What if the best response isn't to strengthen our theology or ti ...
Against the individualism and abstractionism of standard modern accounts of justification and epistemic merit, Wolterstorff incorporates the ethics of belief within the full scope of a person's socio-moral accountability, an accountability that ultimately flows from the teleology of the world as intended by its creator and from the inherent value of humans as bearers of the divine image. This study explores Nicholas Wolterstorff's theo ...
If we are being honest, many of us would admit that we spend practically no time praising God when we pray. We confess and thank and ask, but we don't do so well with the praising part of prayer. It is not that we don't think God worthy of our praise, nor is it because we don't desire to praise God for his greatness and goodness. We simply do not know how to do it! Admiring and Applauding God is a practical and simple tool that he ...
Does the Bible allow us to deceive? Is it ever right to lie? These are perennial questions that have been discussed and debated by theologians for centuries with little consensus. Entering this conversation, Just Deceivers provides a fresh analysis of this important topic through a comprehensive examination of the motif of deception in the books of Samuel. While many studies have explored deception in other Old Testament texts–especially the pat ...
Is it possible for orthodox, creedal Christianity to change its views on matters of sexuality and gender? In order to do so, must it simply incorporate elements of the secular world that are foreign to it? In That We Might Become God, Andy Buechel argues that many of the basic insights of queer theory are not only deeply amenable to the wider Christian tradition, but that they allow us to see that tradition with fresh eyes. The churches that are ...
But will it teach? The only good answer to this question often asked about a Christian theology is to teach it, which is to say, to teach according to it, to what it indicates, reflectively and critically, valid Christian teaching ought to be. This volume of selected courses and seminars documents a career-long attempt to do exactly that. Concerned at once to be faithful to the Christian witness and to speak intelligibly and credibly to ...
When your faith no longer works, and the catch phrases and Christianese that got you to where you are cannot take you past your current crisis, what do you do? Is doubt okay? Is it okay for Christians to struggle with what they believe? Is it okay to question God? This book takes an honest and in-depth look at faith crises experiences from interviews with sixty people, and five biblical narratives, addressing head-on the issues of doubt and ti ...
In this mature work of scholarship, Edwin Good brings his capable talents to translating, interpreting, and commenting on the rich work of the Song of Songs. Known as one of the earliest biblical exegetes to have opened the door to sophisticated literary criticism, he brings this decades-long praxis to opening the great poem's depth. The volume is concluded by an Afterword by Anita Sullivan, the author's wife, who is a poet and transla ...
