Beyond an occasional sports-inspired sermon illustration, sports are generally regarded as having little relevance to the Christian faith. More often, they are viewed as a welcome and safe reprieve from politics and religion. Quietly, however, as they avoid the discerning eye of the church, sports are slowly overtaking families and overwhelming parents. Under the labels «elite,» «select,» and «travel,» a new experience of sports has taken root i ...
Christianity is one of the world's great religions, with more than two thousand years of history and over two billion adherents worldwide. But what is Christianity? Where did it come from? How did it develop to its current forms? What doctrines do Christians affirm? What ethical norms do they endorse? What relationships between church and state do they champion, and why? What changes have transpired for the faith over the centuries? And wha ...
In Paul's angry letter, everything is magnified. His obstructers have insidious motives, their Galatian victims are dense and on the brink of spiritual peril, and the law itself is outmoded and a malevolent taskmaster. How do we read beneath the rhetoric? Writing on the Edge surveys ancient Greco-Roman and modern linguistic sources on hyperbole and demonstrates that it is possible to separate out the effect of Paul's edgy rhetoric on h ...
The story of the raped and murdered woman of Judges 19 and the civil war and mass marriage that ensue in chapters 20-21 are hardly favorite tales of the Hebrew Bible. The chapters have often been dismissed as little more than an anachronistic epilogue, an awkward amalgamation of earlier stories or a «text of terror,» proof of patriarchal oppression. This book argues that, far from being a clumsy collage, Judges 19-21 is a carefully narrated tale ...
Transmitting the Spirit in Missions: The History and Growth of the Church of Pentecost discourses on how Pentecostalism in general has been involved in the current growth, mission, and changing face of global Christianity. It argues that African Pentecostals particularly are an integral part of the global expansion of Christianity in this century. Specifically, this book engages the history and growth of the Church of Pentecost, an African Pente ...
In this work Susann Liubinskas provides a coherent reading of Paul's letter to the Romans in light of ancient ethnography. Paul, like his contemporaries, harnesses the apologetic power of this genre in order to fortify the members of the Roman house churches to maintain their distinctiveness by arguing for the historical legitimacy of the Christ movement's laws, customs, and way of life. When the law-faith dichotomy is considered withi ...
In recent years, Paul has become the subject of renewed interest among political philosophers. These philosophers deploy Paul as a means to deconstruct late modern political issues such as liberalism, biopolitics, and sovereignty. However, these philosophers ultimately truncate Paul's message to fit nontheistic, materialist ends. Such an approach polarizes interpreters, often leading either to a full endorsement or full rejection. In this w ...
The complex nature of Christian communion with a personal God requires a nuanced expression. Since its inception, the early church affirmed God's unknowable nature and also participation in God through Christ. The church fathers employed the language of theosis in talking about union with God and human transformation in the likeness of God. However, the term theosis or deification is a broad category and requires precise explanation to avoi ...
This is the story of a young lad who loses his pa at the age of eleven and takes on the responsibility of the family farm. Charlie always tries to remember his father's counsel and follow it by doing right for others. However, his sixteenth birthday finds him overwhelmed with the arrival of a card containing a strange poetic message. This ordeal has Charlie in a state of confusion. Along with his pa's example, the help of Father Flan ...
