In this fallen world, Christians often suffer due to no fault of their own. Imagine a loving spouse who suffers the pains of marital unfaithfulness, or loving Christian parents who suffer the loss of their child. Now, imagine that you can overcome the pain and instead experience a «joy unspeakable» (1 Pet 1:8). That is the message of this book. It teaches that to experience righteous suffering is to «fellowship with Christ in his sufferings» (1 ...
Have you ever wondered what Jesus saw, heard, and did during his so-called «silent years» between his birth in Bethlehem, after his trip to Egypt, and before his baptism at the Jordan River? The only mentioned event in the Gospels from that time frame was being forgotten in Jerusalem by his parents at the age of twelve, as recorded by Luke. Barry Blackstone takes you on an imaginative journey, an inspiring jaunt into those days of Jesus as he re ...
Are our pains and sufferings preordained and fixed by God, or are they the consequences of man's actions? Can the immutable Lord ever change his mind in response to our prayers? This dilemma of God's sovereignty and man's free will has been a quandary for the church for nearly two thousand years. Previous solutions (Calvinism, Arminianism, Molinism, and Open Theism) have not been successful in deciphering the enigma. The problem i ...
In 1054 CE, the Great Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity occurred, and the official break of communion between the two ancient branches of the church continues to this day. There have been numerous church commissions and academic groups created to try and bridge the ecumenical divides between East and West, yet official communion is still just out of reach. The thought of St. Maximus the Confessor, a saint of both churches, provides ...
John's portrait of Jesus is breathtaking yet bewildering. In the first verse he's called «God.» At the climax of the book he's worshiped as Lord and God (20:28). On the other hand, he says he can't do a thing without the okay of his Father (5:19, 30). How are we to understand this profound yet puzzling figure? Uniquely equipped as both a New Testament scholar and engaging pastoral communicator, Randy Rheaume shows ho ...
Israel's election, calling, and history make up a big part of Scripture. It could be said that they belong to the «DNA of the Bible.» But why is it then that the Christian narrative about the Messiah, Israel, and the nations, often seemed to have and sometimes even still has a different «genetic structure»? Does Israel–together with its election and promises–leave God's stage through a side door, when Jesus appears on stage? Does a ch ...
Today, we live in a world where we are less exposed to violence than at any other time in history. However, we also know that violence can come knocking on our door at any moment. Preparing for this possibility means more than physical safety; it means being clear with ourselves about the ethics of violence. Can violence be justified? When should we fight? How should we fight? And in situations when things have gone badly, may we kill? ...
What does it mean, as a person of faith, to maintain and even strengthen one's physical body? What does it mean to «glorify God in your body» (1 Corinthians 6:20) in a time when bodily perfection is popularly defined by advertising firms, while food degradation has led to the worldwide obesity epidemic? This work addresses those questions and many others through theological engagement with fitness and sport, offering a critical examination ...
Few Christian writings have had the world-changing impact of St Paul's epistles to the churches, and yet from the very beginning these works proved themselves to be tricky texts. The Second Letter of Peter, commenting about them, says: «There are some things in them that are hard to understand» (2 Pet 3:16). Indeed! To this day many issues of their interpretation remain highly contested. In this book, Anthony Thiselton grasps the nettle and ...
