Paul's understanding of holiness stems from the holiness of God as revealed in the Old Testament. Using varied terminology, Paul describes the holiness that should characterize the believers as the people of God. God expects moral integrity of his people, because he has provided believers with his Holy Spirit to enable them to live exemplary, Christlike lives in this present world, though polluted, as they prepare for the world to come. Bel ...
The message of Jesus Christ is timeless, and has never been more relevant than in our own day. Jesus' life, ministry, and teachings have inspired billions of people throughout the ages to follow him. The Gospel of Mark was the first gospel written, and presents the story of Jesus in a way that is dynamic, exciting, and profound. In thirty-one brief, accessible chapters, pastor and theologian S. H. Mathews reflects on the most significant pa ...
In this book Michael Di Fuccia examines the theological import of Owen Barfield's poetic philosophy. He argues that philosophies of immanence fail to account for creativity, as is evident in the false shuttling between modernity's active construal and postmodernity's passive construal of subjectivity. In both extremes subjectivity actually dissolves, divesting one of any creative integrity. Di Fuccia shows how in Barfield's s ...
Receiving a letter from Paul was a major event in the early churches. Given the orally oriented culture of the time, a letter was designed to be read out loud in front of an audience. The document was an intermediate state for the local transport of the message, but the actual medium of communication was the performance event. This event was embedded in the written text in a manner comparable to a theater script. After careful preparation becaus ...
At this time of climate crisis, here is a practical Christian ecospirituality. It emerges from the pastoral and theological experience of Reverend Robert Shore-Goss, who worked with his congregation by making the earth a member of the church, by greening worship, and by helping the church building and operations attain a carbon neutral footprint. Shore-Goss explores an ecospirituality grounded in incarnational compassion. Practicing incarnat ...
Do you ever find yourself drowning in secularization and commercialization, being pulled under as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas intermingle and fly by in a frantic blur? Have you ever wondered if there is any way to reclaim the true meaning of such seasons as Advent and Lent, and be helped to live more intentionally and meaningfully the other Christian celebrations? Reasons for the Seasons makes that possible in a delightfully e ...
The centenary of America's declaration of war in 1917 is a fitting time to examine afresh the reaction of the American churches to the conflict. What was the impact of the war on the churches as well as the churches' hoped-for influence on the nation's war effort? Commenting on themes such as nationalism, nativism, nation-building, dissent, just war, and pacifism, this book provides a window into those perilous times from the view ...
Does God truly love all persons? Most Christians think the obvious answer to this question is, «Yes, of course he does!» Indeed, many Christians would agree that the very heart of the gospel is that God so loved the whole world that he gave his Son to make salvation available for every single person. This book shows that one of the most popular and resurgent theological movements in the contemporary evangelical church–namely, Calvinism–cannot co ...
This book will be a welcome addition to the libraries of those who are engaged in planning and leading worship. It provides thoughtful, expressive prayers that may be used during traditional worship services and also at retreats, at church events, and for the many occasions in life that call for a prayerful response. Encompassing many categories of prayer, the selections included will be a helpful resource for pastors, chaplains, worship leaders ...