Redemption and Relationship is an edited collection of essays written by Wycliffe College faculty, originating as homilies within the morning prayer chapel service. Each meditation follows the narrative in the book of Exodus, centering on two principal aspects of Israel's experience with Yhwh during this significant period in its national life: their redemption from Egypt and their discovery of Yhwh's identity through their relationshi ...
The church's witness to the world falters in an age of doctrinal uncertainty, emerging experiments of life forms and behavior norms, and consequent cultural pressures. Against the disturbing influences that result, two questions demand response as the church's relation to conflicting intellectual fashions is brought under scrutiny. First, on the level of belief foundations, what is to be understood as the deposit of truth that has been ...
The «summer sermons» have been delivered in the Presbyterian Church of Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania, over a period of fifteen years. When someone first arrives in Eagles Mere for the summer, people ask how their «winter» has been–winter meaning the whole time that has elapsed since the previous summer. In the author's case, «winter» means Nashville, Tennessee, where he has lived since 1965 when he joined the faculty of Vanderbilt Divinity Scho ...
This book explores the deep and abiding human need for contemplation, for coming to terms with and standing in awe of the nature and character of the God revealed in the Scriptures. When so much is wrong in the world, when our lives are troubled by so many threats, both real and imagined, we must learn to look to God and to see all things, including ourselves, in the light of who he is. A life of faithful contemplation begins to free us from the ...
God is clearly at work today. There is a cultural, political, and religious metaphorical tsunami gathering power under the surface of ordinary world events, and when it is fully released, it will turn the world as we now know it upside down. Thousands upon thousands of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and nominal Christians become followers of Jesus Christ every day and the effects are enormous. The premises of this book are: There is a God and ...
Preachers often think of prophetic preaching in the caricature of the prophet as the lonely outsider confronting the congregation, often angrily, with the congregation's complicity in social injustice and with a bracing call for repentance. The twenty-seven essays and sermons in this book offer a different perspective by viewing prophetic preaching specifically–and ministry, practical theology, and theological education more broadly–as past ...
The purpose of this book is to reach out to people and offer them something from the often long and heavy experience of psychotherapy that they can use immediately in relation with their spiritual self and with others. I want the reader to be able to apply metaphors that clarify and define different ways of looking at their lives. Whether it is psychological or spiritual is up to the reader. I hope that you are able to understand your life from ...
PART 1: EXAMINING TEXTS 1. Social Drama in the Psalms of Individual Lament 2. Kingship in the Book of Psalms 3. Abusing the Bible: The Case of Deuteronomy 15 4. Do not Fear What They Fear: A Post-9/11 Reflection(Isaiah 8:11-15) 5. The Expropriated and the Expropriators in Nehemiah 5 6. How Do Extrabiblical Sociopolitical Data Illuminate Obscure Biblical Texts? The Case of Ecclesiastes 5:8-9 [Heb. 5:7-8] 7. On the Alleged Wisdom of Kings: ...
"God will never be mad at you!" Although the Bible assures us that God's essential nature is love, how seldom one hears such encouraging words in church. Maybe you are one of the many people who have dropped out of the church because of its prevalent portrayal of God as an unfriendly old man who is always angry with those who don't shape up and, worse yet, plans to punish those who don't believe and behave correctly with eter ...
