Discover the Christian roots of the values we prize in western society. TGC and Christianity Today 2022 Book Award Winner in Evangelism & Apologetics.Is Christianity history? Or is Christian history the deepest explanation of the modern world?Today in the west, many consider the church to be dead or dying. Christianity is seen as outdated, bigoted and responsible for many of society’s problems. This leaves many believers embarrassed about their faith and many outsiders wary of religion. But what if the Christian message is not the enemy of our modern Western values, but the very thing that makes sense of them?In this fascinating book, Glen Scrivener takes readers on a journey to discover how the teachings of Jesus not only turned the ancient world upside down, but continue to underpin the way we think of life, worth, and meaning. Far from being a relic from the past, the distinctive ideas of Christianity, such as freedom, kindness, progress and equality, are a crucial part of the air that we breathe. As author Glen Scrivener says in his introduction: “The extraordinary impact of Christianity is seen in the fact that we don’t notice it".This is a book for both believers and sceptics—giving Christians confidence to be open about their faith and showing non-Christians the ways in which the message of Jesus makes sense of their most cherished beliefs. Whoever you are, you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for the values you hold dear as you discover the power and profundity of Jesus and his revolution.

Overcome and Lead recounts the powerful stories and essential lessons learned from Anne Beiler's time as the founder of Auntie Anne's(R), the world's largest pretzel franchise. As a former Amish girl with an eighth-grade education, Anne had many obstacles to overcome as she transformed into one of the first female founders of an international franchise-the greatest obstacle, however, was herself.With no capital, no formal education, and no business plan, Anne launched Auntie Anne's Pretzels after a series of tragic life events left her broken, traumatized, and in a deep depression. As Anne and her team grew the company, she also grew herself personally and professionally. Join Anne as she takes you on a journey from feeling overwhelmed and inadequate to being an empowered and confident leader.If you want to make a difference in your area of influence, this story is for you. It is for those of you currently leading people-whether at work, home, or in your community and for those aspiring to lead someday. Building Auntie Anne's was a journey that required Anne to bring her whole self-both the gifts and the broken bits-to build something bigger than she ever imagined. Overcome and Lead will help you to do the same.

A Masterpiece of Satire on Hell’s Latest Novelties and Heaven’s Unanswerable AnswerC.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the unique vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to “Our Father Below.” At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the wordly-wise devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation—and triumph over it—ever written.

With half a million copies in print, How to Read a Book is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader, completely rewritten and updated with new material.A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It's masterfully done.” –Farheed ZakariaOriginally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text.Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science works.Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests you can use measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension, and speed.

The authoritative, unforgettable biography of Martin Luther, the great religious leader, who entered a monastery as a youth and who, as a man, shattered the structure of the medieval church. Luther spoke out against the corrupt religious practices that then existed. His demanded that the authority for doctrine and practice be Scriptures, rather than Popes or Councils, echoed around the world and ignited the Great Reformation. Accused of heresy and threatened with excommunication and death, Luther maintained his bold stand and refused to recant. In his crusade to eliminate religious abuses, he did more than any other man to establish the Protestant faith.

Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit (Apologetics & Evangelism)Critics outside the church often accuse the Old Testament God of genocide, racism, ethnic cleansing, and violence. But a rising tide of critics within the church claim that Moses and other "primitive," violence-prone prophets were mistaken about God's commands and character. Both sets of critics dismiss this allegedly harsh, flawed, "textual" Old Testament God in favor of the kind, compassionate, "actual" God revealed by Jesus. Are they right to do so?Following his popular book Is God a Moral Monster?, noted apologist Paul Copan confronts false, imbalanced teaching that is confusing and misleading many Christians. Copan takes on some of the most difficult Old Testament challenges and places them in their larger historical and theological contexts. He explores the kindness, patience, and compassion of God in the Old Testament and shows how Jesus in the New Testament reveals not only divine kindness but also divine severity. The book includes a detailed Scripture index of difficult and controversial passages and is helpful for anyone interested in understanding the flaws in these emerging claims that are creating a destructive gap between the Testaments.

The dramatic life of William Tyndale, the first person to translate the Bible into English from the original Greek and Hebrew"A massive contribution to the history of the Reformation in England."—J. Enoch Powell, Times Higher Education SupplementWilliam Tyndale (1494-1536) was the first person to translate the Bible into English from its original Greek and Hebrew and the first to print the Bible in English, which he did in exile. Giving the laity access to the word of God outraged the clerical establishment in England: he was condemned, hunted, and eventually murdered. However, his masterly translation formed the basis of all English bibles--including the "King James Bible," many of whose finest passages were taken unchanged, though unacknowledged, from Tyndale's work.This important book, published in the quincentenary year of his birth, is the first major biography of Tyndale in sixty years. It sets the story of his life in the intellectual and literary contexts of his immense achievement and explores his influence on the theology, literature, and humanism of Renaissance and Reformation Europe.David Daniell, editor of Tyndale's New Testament and Tyndale's Old Testament, eloquently describes the dramatic turns in Tyndale's life. Born in England and educated at Oxford, Tyndale was ordained as a priest. When he decided to translate the Bible into English, he realized that it was impossible to do that work in England and moved to Germany, living in exile there and in the Low Countries while he translated and printed first the New Testament and then half of the Old Testament. These were widely circulated—and denounced—in England. Yet Tyndale continued to write from abroad, publishing polemics in defense of the principles of the English reformation. He was seized in Antwerp, imprisoned in Vilvoorde Castle near Brussels, and burnt at the stake for heresy in 1536.Daniell discusses Tyndale's achievement as biblical translator and expositor, analyzes his writing, examines his stylistic influence on writers from Shakespeare to those of the twentieth century, and explores the reasons why he has not been more highly regarded. His book brings to life one of the great geniuses of the age.

Chemist and Christian Apologist Neil Shenvi Explores the Evidence for ChristianityFor centuries, skeptics have disputed the claims of Christianity―such as belief in an eternal God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ―arguing that they simply cannot be accepted by reasonable individuals. Furthermore, efforts to demonstrate the evidence and rational basis for Christianity through apologetics are often deemed too simplistic to be taken seriously in intellectual circles.Apologist and theoretical chemist Neil Shenvi engages some of the best contemporary arguments against Christianity, presenting compelling evidence for the identity of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels, his death and resurrection, the existence of God, and the unique message of the gospel. Why Believe? calls readers from all backgrounds not only to accept Christianity as true, but also to entrust their lives to Christ and worship him alone. Accessible without Being Simplistic: Ideal for intellectuals and academics, as well as high school and college students Well-Researched: Interacts with skeptical arguments against Christianity and God’s existence Biblical: Grounded in Scripture and centered on the claims of the gospel

In Logic and the Way of Jesus, philosophy professor Travis Dickinson recaptures the need for a Christian view of reality, highlighting the use of reason and evidence to develop and defend Christian beliefs. He demonstrates how Jesus employed logic in his teachings, surveys the basic concepts of logic, and marries those concepts with practical application. While Dickinson contends that Christians have failed to engage the culture deeply because they have failed to emphasize and value a Christian intellect, he offers encouragement that embracing the life of the Christian mind can impact the world for the cause and kingdom of Christ.

When it first appeared in 1987, this book was the first full-length life of Jonathan Edwards to appear for almost fifty years. In the meantime the Pastor of Northampton, Missionary to the Indians in Stockbridge, and President of the New Jersey College (later Princeton) has been increasingly recognized as the greatest intellectual figure in eighteenth-century America. Never before has so much material by Edwards or such detailed studies of his thought been available. Yet many of those who have led this renaissance of Edwards studies remain personally out of sympathy with almost every one of their subject's personal convictions. Special interest therefore attaches to Iain H. Murrary's carefully-researched biography. Writing with the easy style, spiritual insight and sympathy with his subject which marks his other biographical works, Murray builds on the older lives of Edwards, but also harvests material from more recent studies. Iain Murray believes that Edwards cannot be understood apart from his faith. Only when seen first and foremost as a Christian do his life and writings make sense.

A robust scholarly defense of the distinctiveness of the canonical Gospels.Do the four New Testament gospels share some essence that distinguishes them from noncanonical early Gospels? The tendency among biblical scholars of late has been to declare the answer to this question no—that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were grouped together by happenstance and are defended as canonical today despite there being no essential commonalities between them.Simon Gathercole challenges this prevailing view and argues that in fact the theological content of the New Testament Gospels distinguishes them substantially from noncanonical Gospels. Gathercole shows how the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each include four key points that also formed the core of early Christian preaching and teaching: Jesus’s identity as messiah, the saving death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and Scripture’s foretelling of the Christ event. In contrast, most noncanonical Gospels—like the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Truth, and Marcion’s Gospel—only selectively appropriated these central concerns of early Christian proclamation.

This book seeks to throw light on the reasons which have given rise to the superficial image of Spurgeon as a genial Victorian pulpiteer, a kind of grandfather of modern evangelicalism. Even before his death in 1892 newspapers and church leaders disputed over the features of his life which entitled him to fame. Not his 'narrow creed' but his 'genuine loving character' was most worthy of remembrance said one periodical, echoing the general view. When Joseph Parker contrasted the hard Calvinism preached at Spurgeon's Tabernacle with the praiseworthy Christianity exemplified in his orphanage, The Baptist protested that the man about whom Parker wrote 'is not the Spurgeon of history'. But the distortion continued and Spurgeon forecast how the position he help might fare in years to come: 'I am quite willing to be eaten by dogs for the next fifty years but the more distant future shall vindicate me'. This book traces the main lines of Spurgeon's spiritual thought in connection with the three great controversies in his ministry.

Of the Major Prophets, Jeremiah is perhaps the least straightforward. It is variously comprised of stories about the prophet Jeremiah, exchanges between Jeremiah and Yahweh, and messages directly from Yahweh—meaning a consciousness of form is essential to the understanding of its content. At times it is written in poetry, resembling Isaiah, while at other times it is written in prose, more similar to Ezekiel. And it is without doubt the darkest and most threatening of the Major Prophets, inviting comparisons to Amos and Hosea.John Goldingay, a widely respected biblical scholar who has written extensively on the entire Old Testament, navigates these complexities in the same spirit as other volumes of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series—rooted in Jeremiah’s historical context but with an eye always trained on its meaning and use as Christian Scripture. After a thorough introduction that explores matters of background, composition, and theology, Goldingay provides an original translation and verse-by-verse commentary of all fifty-two chapters, making this an authoritative and indispensable reference for scholars and pastors as they engage with Jeremiah from a contemporary Christian standpoint.

Winner of the Bancroft Prize • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography • Finalist for the American Society of Church History’s Philip Schaff Prize“The finest biography of this towering figure. . . . Marsden guides readers through Edwards’s profoundly alien world with authority and fluidity.”—Benjamin Schwarz, Atlantic MonthlyA controversial theologian and the author of the famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) ignited the momentous Great Awakening of the eighteenth century. In this definitive and long-awaited biography, Jonathan Edwards emerges as both a great American and a brilliant Christian. George Marsden evokes the world of colonial New England in which Edwards was reared—a frontier civilization at the center of a conflict between Native Americans, French Catholics, and English Protestants. Drawing on newly available sources, Marsden demonstrates how these cultural and religious battles shaped Edwards’s life and thought. Marsden reveals Edwards as a complex thinker and human being who struggled to reconcile his Puritan heritage with the secular, modern world emerging out of the Enlightenment. In this, Edwards’s life anticipated the deep contradictions of our American culture.Meticulously researched and beautifully composed, this biography offers a compelling portrait of an eminent American.

Reader's Choice Award WinnerMost Christians have heard a familiar description of the Samaritan woman in John 4: she was a sinner, an adulteress, even a prostitute. Throughout church history, the woman at the well has been seen narrowly in terms of her gender and marital history. What are we missing in the story? And what difference does our interpretation of this passage make for women and men in the church? Caryn A. Reeder calls us to see the Samaritan woman in a different light. Beginning with the reception history of John 4, she pulls back layers of interpretation entangled with readers' assumptions on women and sexuality. She then explores the story's original context, describing life for women and expectations regarding marriage and divorce in the first century. With this clarified lens, Reeder's exegesis of the passage yields refreshing insights on what the Gospel says―and does not say―about the woman at the well. Throughout the book, Reeder draws connections between interpretations of this text and the life of the church. The sexual objectification of the Samaritan woman and minimization of her positive contribution has ongoing consequences for how women are seen and treated―including in the failure of many Christian communities to respond well to accusations of abuse. In the age of #MeToo and #ChurchToo, The Samaritan Woman's Story offers a bold challenge to teach the Bible in a way that truly honors the value and voices of women.

In his own day the dominant personality of the Western Church, Augustine of Hippo today stands as perhaps the greatest thinker of Christian antiquity, and his Confessions is one of the great works of Western literature. In this intensely personal narrative, Augustine relates his rare ascent from a humble Algerian farm to the edge of the corridors of power at the imperial court in Milan, his struggle against the domination of his sexual nature, his renunciation of secular ambition and marriage, and the recovery of the faith his mother Monica had taught him during his childhood.Now, Henry Chadwick, an eminent scholar of early Christianity, has given us the first new English translation in thirty years of this classic spiritual journey. Chadwick renders the details of Augustine's conversion in clear, modern English. We witness the future saint's fascination with astrology and with the Manichees, and then follow him through scepticism and disillusion with pagan myths until he finally reaches Christian faith. There are brilliant philosophical musings about Platonism and the nature of God, and touching portraits of Augustine's beloved mother, of St. Ambrose of Milan, and of other early Christians like Victorinus, who gave up a distinguished career as a rhetorician to adopt the orthodox faith. Augustine's concerns are often strikingly contemporary, yet his work contains many references and allusions that are easily understood only with background information about the ancient social and intellectual setting. To make The Confessions accessible to contemporary readers, Chadwick provides the most complete and informative notes of any recent translation, and includes an introduction to establish the context.The religious and philosophical value of The Confessions is unquestionable--now modern readers will have easier access to St. Augustine's deeply personal meditations. Chadwick's lucid translation and helpful introduction clear the way for a new experience of this classic.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Christianity Today 2023 Book Award Finalist (Biblical Studies)John is a Gospel of abundant truth, life, and love. David Ford, one of the world's leading Christian theologians, invites readers into a fresh, profound encounter with Jesus through the Gospel of John in this comprehensive theological commentary. This commentary will appeal to a wide audience, including pastors, church leaders, and other readers interested in the intersection of theology and spirituality. It will also be of interest to professors and students doing research on John and the reception of the Gospel in Christian theology.

"Original copyright 1956"--Title page verso.

The autobiography of John G. Paton contains everything necessary to make it a missionary classic. Born into a Christian family near Dumfries in 1824, Paton's early years were marked by a struggle against poverty. He was self-educated, and the training ground for his life's work was the slums of Glasgow where he laboured with success as a city missionary. With 'the wail of the perishing heathen in the South Seas' continually sounding in his ears, he prepared himself to serve overseas and was ordained as a missionary to the New Hebrides in 1858. This group of thirty mountainous islands, so named by Captain Cook, with its unhealthy climate, was then inhabited by savages and cannibals. The first attempt to introduce Christianity to them resulted in John Williams and James Harris being clubbed to death within a few minutes of landing in 1839. The difficulties that confronted Paton were accentuated by the sudden death of his wife and child within months of their arrival. Against the savagery and the superstition, despite the trials and the tragedies, Paton persevered and witnessed the triumph of the gospel in two of these South Sea islands. His life is almost without parallel in missionary annals and his account of it is moving and gripping.

ECPA Christian Non-Fiction Bestseller, Christmas 2023“Joy to the world—the Lord has come!”We sing these words every year, but what does it mean that the Creator came to his creation as a baby? How exactly does the “earth receive her King?” What does it sound like when rocks, hills, floods, and plains echo his praise? And what would it mean for you to join in the chorus?Heaven and Nature Sing invites you into a fresh reading of the Christmas story—one where earthy, overlooked things like snowflakes, trees, serpents, bodies, and swaddling bands reveal the glory of the Promised Son. Journeying from the first pages of Scripture to the last, you’ll experience the goodness of our Creator King and learn how the whole earth sings his praise.So this Advent season, join Hannah Anderson as she guides you through 25 meditations on the natural elements of the Christmas story. Accompanied by Nathan Anderson’s distinctive artwork, the entries gradually move you from hope to faith to joy to peace. Find your soul renewed and your heart restored, and discover once again why heaven and nature sing.

Don’t just read the Bible literally—read it Literarily.A lot of times, we treat Scripture like it’s all the same from Genesis to Revelation. After all, it only has one Author. Isn’t it just one big book, identical from beginning to end?While it’s true that the Bible is unified, it is also diverse. The Bible can be grouped according to key categories, called genres, that help us to read and properly interpret the Scriptures. An understanding of these genres, and the literary themes and devices used within them, makes all the difference when encountering God’s Word.Long-time Bible teacher Kristie Anyabwile discovered as she prepared her lessons that a single inductive approach doesn’t do justice to the variety of genres that make up the Word of God. Because Scripture is a collection of writings that spans 1,500 years, many literary styles are represented and each must be taken into account for the fullest understanding of God’s Word. Kristie shows you the immense value of studying the Bible literarily—that is, according to the literary style presented in a particular book, chapter, or passage. In Literarily, Kristie will take you through these eight distinct genres: Law History Prophecy Poetry Gospels Epistles Wisdom ApocalypticThe Bible is an epic story that God has revealed to us through diverse genres and literary features. Its message and method are both meant to transform our hearts. Our goal as interpreters isn’t to meld the Scriptures into a bland conglomerate, but to recognize the multiple forms in which God’s Word comes to us. In so doing, we’ll encounter the ongoing story of Jesus’s redemption and learn how He calls His people to live in our complex world today.

A spiritual biography of the "father of modern missions,"Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret poses one question: What empowered Hudson Taylor's ministry in China?The answer is unfolded in these pages. Written by Taylor's son and daughter-in-law, it shows us a man with fierce faith who believed that God truly would fuflill all He promises in Scripture.For Christians longing for the inward joy and power that Hudson Taylor had, they can find the secret to it here. The secret, it turns out, is available to any who call on Christ's name."An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power," Taylor said. "Fruit-bearing involves cross-bearing. There are not two Christs—an easygoing one for easygoing Christians, and a suffering, toiling one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are you willing to abide in Him, and thus to bear much fruit?"Now with a new foreword by George Verwer

Answers to Common Questions about the Writing, Copying, Canonizing, and Translating of the BibleThere are many common questions and misconceptions surrounding the formation and history of the Bible: Why is the Bible composed of the current 66 books instead of others? Why are there so many translations? How are we to understand both the human and divine elements of the Bible? In Scribes and Scripture, scholars John D. Meade and Peter J. Gurry answer these questions and give readers tools to interpret the evidence about God’s word.Beginning with the history of the Bible―from the invention of the alphabet to the most recent English translations―the book focuses on three main areas: the writing and copying of the Bible, the canonization of the Bible, and the translation of the Bible. Using Old and New Testament scholarship, Meade and Gurry help God’s people better appreciate the story of the Bible as a way to better appreciate the stories in the Bible. Engaging Visual Content: Contains maps, charts, sidebars, and pictures Collaboration of Old Testament and New Testament Scholarship: Written by experts in both Old Testament (Meade) and New Testament (Gurry) textual scholarship Answers Common Questions: Specifically regarding textual criticism, the canon, and Bible translations

A Chance to Die is a vibrant portrayal of Amy Carmichael, an Irish missionary and writer who spent fifty-three years in south India without furlough. There she became known as "Amma," or "mother," as she founded the Dohnavur Fellowship, a refuge for underprivileged children.Amy's life of obedience and courage stands as a model for all who claim the name of Christ. She was a woman with desires and dreams, faults and fears, who gave her life unconditionally to serve her Master.Bringing Amma to life through inspiring photos and compelling biographical narrative, Elisabeth Elliot urges readers to examine the depths of their own commitment to Christ.

2016 WORLD Magazine's Topping the Top 50 One of the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals (Christianity Today, 2006) Platinum Book Award, Evangelical Christian Publishing AssociationFor over 40 years, J. I. Packer's classic has been an important tool to help Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory and the joy of knowing God. In 2006, Christianity Today voted this title one of the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals. This edition is updated with Americanized language and spelling and a new preface by the author. Stemming from Packer's profound theological knowledge, Knowing God brings together two important facets of the Christian faith― knowing about God and also knowing God through the context of a close relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Written in an engaging and practical tone, this thought-provoking work seeks to transform and enrich the Christian understanding of God. Explaining both who God is and how we can relate to him, Packer divides his book into three sections: The first directs our attention to how and why we know God, the second to the attributes of God and the third to the benefits enjoyed by a those who know him intimately. This guide leads readers into a greater understanding of God while providing advice to gaining a closer relationship with him as a result.

Christianity Today 2023 Book Award Finalist (Bible & Devotional)Sheltering Mercy helps us rediscover the rich treasures of the Psalms--through free-verse prayer renderings of their poems and hymns--as a guide to personal devotion and meditation.The church has always used the Psalms as part of its prayer life, and they have inspired countless other prayers. This book contains 75 prayers drawn from Psalms 1-75, providing lyrical sketches of what authors Ryan Whitaker Smith and Dan Wilt have seen, heard, and felt while sojourning in the Psalms. While each prayer corresponds to a particular psalm and touches on its themes and ideas, it is not a new translation of the Psalms or an attempt to modernize or contextualize their content or language. Rather, the prayers are responses to the Psalms written in harmony with Scripture. These prayers help us quiet our hearts before God and welcome us into a safe place amid the storms of life.This artful, poetic, and classic devotional book features compelling custom illustrations and beautiful hardcover binding, offering a fresh way to reflect on and pray the Psalms.

A Quest for Godliness explores the depth and breadth of Puritan spiritual life. Drawing on a lifetime of study, Packer surveys the lives and teachings of great Puritan leaders such as John Owen, Richard Baxter, and Jonathan Edwards. He examines the Puritan view of the Bible, spiritual gifts, the Sabbath, worship, social action, and the family. The Puritans’ faith, Packer argues, stands in marked contrast with the superficiality of modern western Christianity.In a time of failing vision and decaying values, this powerful portrait of the Puritans is a beacon of hope that calls us to radical commitment and action, both desperately needed today. Beautifully written, A Quest for Godliness is a moving and challenging exploration of Puritan life and thought. Here is J. I. Packer at his very best.

A global hymn to God’s abundant love and care for his creation.“As the sun rises above tall peaks,As colorful birds sing in the steamy jungle,We take each new day with you.”From East to West, North to South, the world gives praise to God. Cherry trees blossom in Japan; geese honk over Greenland; stars glitter over the savannas of Kenya. No matter where we live—in the city or the countryside, by the sea or the mountains—we can find reminders of God’s goodness.Celebrating diverse places like Peru, Estonia, and Nepal, this poetic, lushly illustrated book praises God’s love for people, creatures, and landscapes across the globe. Whether families savor one prayer at a time or travel through them all before bed, A World of Praise will encourage children to glorify God’s presence in creation and in their lives.

The Death of Death in the Death of Christ is a polemical work, designed to show, among other things, that the doctrine of universal redemption is unscriptural and destructive to the gospel. Those who see no need for doctrinal exactness and have no time for theological debates which show up divisions between Evangelicals may well regret its reappearnace. Some may find the very sound of Owen's thesis so shocking that they will refuse to read his book at all. It is to those who share this readiness that Owen's treatise is offered, in the belief that it will help us in one of the most urgent tasks facing Evangelical Christendom today - the recovery of the gospel. 'It is safe to say that no comparable exposition of the work of redemption as planned and executed by the Triune Jehovah has ever been done since Owen published this in 1648.' - J. I. Packer

Kids deal with racism and social justice issues every day; give them the tools to effectively fight injustices using Christian principles and practical tools. In this adaptation of How to Fight Racism, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Jemar Tisby helps young readers ages 8-12 understand how everyday prejudice affects them, what they can do to create social change, how to maintain an anti-racist mindset, and make a positive difference in the world.Racism is pervasive in today's world, and in the wake of protests and a call for change, many kids are eager to confront it but aren’t always sure how. Jemar Tisby, author of How to Fight Racism and?The Color of Compromise, believes we need to move beyond mere discussions?about?racism and begin equipping young people with the practical tools to fight against it.In How to Fight Racism Young Reader’s Edition, Dr. Tisby uses history to explore how racism has affected America since before its founding and how it’s continued to grow, as well as examines how true social justice is rooted in the Christian faith. In a format that provides kids with a handbook for pursuing racial justice, readers ages 8-12 will discover: hands-on suggestions and real-world examples of?change they can put into action practical ideas for confronting racism and social injustice in their?everyday lives, and how they can use Christian values to change the narrative around race the ARC of racial justice—Awareness, Connection, and?Relationships—that help form an anti-racist mindset ways to evaluate their actions and promote biblical principlesThroughout, kids will learn how to ask questions of themselves and their communities as they stand up to racism in all its forms. This book is for anyone who believes it is time to courageously confront the racism we see in our society today.How to Fight Racism Young Reader’s Edition: Is ideal for any young person wanting to make a?difference in today’s world Can be used by families and church groups to start?meaningful conversations with kids Provides practical tools and advice for how to deal with social justice and racism Is written at a level kids in grades 4 through 6 and?beyond can understand Can be used in a small group setting to develop discussions of diversity, racism, social justice, and more

A lyrical, captivating retelling of the Palm Sunday and Easter story from National Book Award nominee Mitali Perkins, author of Rickshaw Girl, that is sure to become a beloved tradition for families of faith.Little Wind and the trees of Jerusalem can't wait for Real King to visit. But Little Wind is puzzled when the king doesn't look how he expected. His wise friend Bare Tree helps him learn that sometimes strength is found in sacrifice, and new life can spring up even when all hope seems lost.This story stands apart for its imagination, endearing characters, and how it weaves Old Testament imagery into Holy Week and the promise of Jesus's triumphant return. While the youngest readers will connect to the curious Little Wind, older children and parents will appreciate the layers of meaning and Scriptural references in the story, making it a book families can enjoy together year after year.

Ten African-American leaders in the church tell their stories of how they embraced Reformed theology and what effect it has had on their lives and ministries.The ten men who have contributed to this book are often asked, "How did you come to embrace Reformed theology?" With the recent surge in popularity of Reformed theology in the broader evangelical world and the growing interest among African-Americans, it shouldn't seem curious that more and more African-American churchmen are embracing Reformed theology. But the question remains, and Glory Road provides an answer, using personal accounts tracing their conversion to Christianity, their introduction to and embrace of Reformed theology, and this theology's effect on their lives and ministries. Ultimately, Glory Road is about the glory of God in providentially bringing men and women to the truths of salvation.In addition to the book's editor, Anthony J. Carter, Glory Road includes contributions from such notable pastors as Thabiti Anyabwile, Ken Jones, Michael Leach, and Eric Redmond.

This volume contains Edwards’ most mature and persistent attempt to judge the validity of the religious development in eighteenth-century America known as the Great Awakening. In developing criteria for such judgment he attacked at the same time one of the fundamental questions facing all religion: how to distinguish genuine from spurious piety? The Awakening created much bitter controversy; on the one side stood the emotionalists and enthusiasts, and on the other the rationalists, for whom religion was essentially a matter of morality or good conduct and the acceptance of properly formulated doctrine. Edwards, with great analytical skill and enormous biblical learning, showed that both sides were in the wrong. He attacked both a “lifeless morality” as too pale as to be the essence of religion, and he rejected the excesses of a purely emotional religion more concerned for sensational effects than for the inner transformation of the self, which was, for him, the center of genuine Christianity.

Experiencing loss––in the varied ways it comes to us––affects everyone differently.As adults, we have ways to verbalize how we are feeling. Many children, however, lack the vocabulary and the understanding to name the emotions they experience when they go through grief. They just know they are hurting inside.They are feeling sad, angry, lonely, or maybe even scared.These feelings manifest in different ways depending on the age of the children. This book explores the story of a sister and a brother who love watching a mama bird care for her babies until the unthinkable happens-the mother bird dies. The reader is taken on a journey through various stages of emotions associated with grief.It ends, however, with baby birds learning to fly, and the promise of hope that is found in new beginnings.With hope-filled language featured in the layered-text format, our desire is that each reader will discover it's okay to have the feelings he or she is having and that, each new day holds (italic) healing, hope, and promise.

Named a "Book of the Century" by Christianity Today "If Jesus was not God in human flesh, Christianity is exploded," writes John Stott. "We are left with just another religion with some beautiful ideas and noble ethics; its unique distinction has gone." Who is Jesus Christ? If he is not who he said he was, and if he did not do what he said he had come to do, the whole superstructure of Christianity crumbles in ruin. Is it plausible that Jesus was truly divine? And what would that mean for us? John Stott's clear, classic book, now updated, examines the historical facts on which Christianity stands. Here is a sound, sensible guide for all who seek an intellectually satisfying explanation of the Christian faith.

Helps tweens and teens grow in faith and confidence by looking at what the Bible says about their identity. Christianity Today 2022 Book Award Winner in Young Adults Category.As kids grow up they ask big questions about themselves and their faith: Who am I? Where do I fit in? Am I good enough? What do people think of me? What does God think of me?Christian Studies teacher and school chaplain Chris Morphew has been answering big questions from young people for over a decade. In this warm, empathetic book, he shows tweens and teens how to embrace and enjoy their identity as those loved by God and made in his image. He also gives lots of practical advice on how to remember what God says about who they really are.Lively stories and illustrations make this book easy for young people to engage with. Readers will be helped to replace fear and anxiety with faith and confidence as they find their self-worth in what God says about them.

The work of a lifetime, from one of the world's most influential thinkers, about the heart of the Christian faith. "I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. . . . In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?" With compelling honesty John Stott confronts this generation with the centrality of the cross in God's redemption of the world -- a world now haunted by the memories of Auschwitz, the pain of oppression and the specter of nuclear war. Can we see triumph in tragedy, victory in shame? Why should an object of Roman distaste and Jewish disgust be the emblem of our worship and the axiom of our faith? And what does it mean for us today? Now from one of the foremost preachers and Christian leaders of our day comes theology at its readable best, a contemporary restatement of the meaning of the cross. At the cross Stott finds the majesty and love of God disclosed, the sin and bondage of the world exposed. More than a study of the atonement, this book brings Scripture into living dialogue with Christian theology and the twentieth century. What emerges is a pattern for Christian life and worship, hope and mission. Destined to be a classic study of the center of our faith, Stott's work is the product of a uniquely gifted pastor, scholar and Christian statesman. His penetrating insight, charitable scholarship and pastoral warmth are guaranteed to feed both heart and mind.

An Adventure Novel for Middle-Grade Readers Steeped in Magic, Mystery, and Glimmers of Hope―Book 1 in the Dream Keeper SagaEven though she’s only 12 years old, Lily McKinley already feels the weight of the world’s brokenness. She’s seen it in her mother’s exhaustion, her grandmother’s illness, and the cruelty of Adam, the bully at her school. But most tragically, she experienced it two months ago when her father died in a terrible accident.As an artistic daydreamer, Lily has a brilliant imagination to help her cope, but that imagination often gets her into trouble. One day, it transports her to a fantasy world called the Somnium Realm, where her father’s secret history embroils her in an epic quest. With the help of a dragon guide named Cedric, Lily battles evil shrouds, harpies, and other creatures to find her way through grief, rescue the world from evil, and discover the power of redemption.This thrilling novel by Kathryn Butler mixes fantasy with Christian themes, taking middle-grade readers on a quest through castles, forests, and caverns to help a young girl find hope and usher in restoration. Christian Themes: This exciting story invites readers into deep conversations about the gospel and theological issues including faith, mourning, sacrifice, salvation, and redemption Ideal for Middle-Grade Readers and Families: Includes kids’ favorite fantasy and adventure elements with imaginative new characters and settings they’ll love Book 1 in the Dream Keeper Saga by Kathryn Butler

New issue of a theological classic on the atonementOriginally published in 1955 and reprinted dozens of times over the years, John Murray’s Redemption Accomplished and Applied systematically explains the two sides of redemption -- its accomplishment through Christ’s atonement and its application to the lives of believers.Murray explores the biblical passages dealing with the necessity, nature, perfection, and extent of the atonement in order to establish its relationship to our justification, sanctification, and glorification. He goes on to identify the distinct steps in the Bible’s presentation of how the redemption accomplished by Christ is applied progressively to the life of the redeemed, including the role of faith and repentance.Concise, precise, and accessible, Murray’s classic doctrinal study will now reach and benefit a new generation of readers.

Are you tired of the unrelenting pressure to be the best at everything? Author and speaker Scarlet Hiltibidal was too.For Scarlet, attempting to be the best at pretty much everything—whether that be the best wife or the best sub-sandwich maker or the best Christian—was her life story. But in the midst of all her striving and reaching to hit the mark, she somehow still couldn’t grab hold of the joy and freedom and life-change that’s supposed to come with the gospel’s good news. That is, until she realized something revolutionary—instead of the best, she might actually be…the worst. The “chief of sinners.” Poor in spirit and gone astray.In her much-anticipated follow-up to Afraid of All the Things (and in her humorous and relatable style), Scarlet tells plenty of stories of her own “worstness” to help you see your own and rejoice in the reality that our goodness and badness aren’t what make God smile at us.Instead of hiding from our brokenness, this book will help us stare that broken reality straight in the face, along with a laugh or two, as we feel the weight of just how absurdly and glaringly off the mark we all are! What’s more—this book will also help us embrace our status as “sinners” and “sheep” and “worst people on earth” who have been mercifully rescued and impossibly loved by the best person who has ever lived: Jesus. And the unbelievable part? As we admit our worstness, stop trying to be perfect on our own, and simply walk with the One who really is perfect, we’ll find along the way that we are actually changing for the better!If you’re tired of hustling to be the best, take a load off with Scarlet and say the honest and laughable truth along with her: we’re the worst people in the world!

When Jon Acuff's book Soundtracks, came out, one reaction surprised him. Parents across the country all said the same thing: "Do you have a version for teenagers? If I knew how to change my mindset when I was that age, my entire life would have been different." Why did they say that? Because truth grows like compound interest. Saving money when you're young has a bigger impact than it does when you save in your 40s. A single new soundtrack--Acuff's phrase for a repetitive thought--believed when you're 14 or 18 can change your whole life in the same way. In response, Acuff tagged his two daughters to help him create an honest, actionable guide to mindset for teenagers.Your thoughts can work for you or against you, but the good news is you get a choice. The even better news is when you're young, your entire world is made of new. You're a movie that's barely started, a notebook with blank pages to fill, a song that hasn't hit the chorus. You have your whole life ahead of you. When you learn to create new thoughts, those thoughts lead to actions, and those actions lead to new results. Are you ready to tap into the superpower of mindset? Just hit play.

A classic work on contentment in a Christian by the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs.

Understanding Apathy and How to Combat ItFor many Christians, apathy can feel inescapable. They experience a lack of motivation and a growing indifference to important things, with some even struggling to care about anything at all. This listlessness can spill over into our spiritual lives, making it difficult to pray, read the Bible, or engage in our communities. Have we resigned ourselves to apathy? Do we recognize it as a sin? How can we fight against it?In Overcoming Apathy, theology professor Uche Anizor explains what apathy is and gives practical, biblical advice to break the cycle. Inspired by his conversations with young Christians as well as his own experiences with apathy, Anizor takes a fresh look at this widespread problem and its effect on spiritual maturity. First, he highlights the prevalence of apathy in our culture, using examples from TV, movies, and social media. Next, he turns to theologians, philosophers, and psychologists to further define apathy. Finally, Anizor explores causes, cures, and healthy practices to boldly overcome apathy in daily life, taking believers from spiritual lethargy to Christian zeal. This short book is an excellent resource for those struggling with apathy as well as parents, mentors, and friends who want to support someone in need. Explores the Individual and Cultural Experience of Apathy: Examines the nature and experience of apathy, drawing insights from Scripture, theology, popular culture, and more Practical Steps for Dealing with Apathy: Identifies 7 causes as well as healthy habits to fight against indifference Accessible for Students and Mentors: A great guide for high school and college students and those who counsel them; youth and young adult pastors; teachers; and anyone struggling with apathy or who knows someone who is

2022 Christianity Today Award of Merit, Christian Living & Spiritual Formation2022 Foreword INDIES Finalist, ReligionA new vision for loving one another as sisters and brothers in Jesus. Many Christian women and men carry heavy burdens. Much teaching on gender relations, roles, and rules binds the conscience beyond what Scripture actually teaches. Gender has become a battleground for power. But God created men and women not to compete for glory but to cooperate for his glory.In Jesus and Gender, Elyse Fitzpatrick and Eric Schumacher paint a new vision for gender―Christ's gentle and lowly heart. The centrality of the gospel has been lost in gender debates. Our ultimate example is Jesus, our humble king, who used his power to serve others. So we must rethink our identities, roles, and relationships around him. Christ transformed enemies into family. Men and women are allies in God's mission.Drawing from Scripture and experience, Fitzpatrick and Schumacher show how Jesus's example speaks to all areas of our lives as men and women, including vocation, marriage, parenting, friendships, and relating to each other as sisters and brothers in Christ. Real-life testimonies from a variety of Christians―including Christine Caine, Justin and Lindsey Holcomb, and Karen Swallow Prior―show a variety of men and women freed to pursue their gifts for God's glory.Fitzpatrick and Schumacher's perspective untangles what God has said about gender from what he hasn't. By coming to Jesus, women and men can find rest.

ECPA BESTSELLER • An invitation to love like Jesus and step beyond distraction and division into the joy we long to experience—from the author of The Deeply Formed Life, winner of the Christianity Today Book Award“A stunning book with power to reshape our world . . . if we let it.”—Glenn Packiam, pastor and author of Blessed Broken GivenWe long for a good life, a beautiful life, a kind life. But clearly that’s not the world we live in. We carry the stress of our fractured world in our bodies and relationships. Families that once gathered around tables have converted those tables into walls. Hostility, rage, and offense is the language of our culture.How did we lose goodness, kindness, and beauty? And more important, how do we get them back into our lives? These are the two questions crying out in our streets, homes, churches, and from deep within our souls.Pastor and author Rich Villodas is convinced that only Jesus offers a way of being human that is both strong and tender enough to tear down the walls of hostility we experience daily.In Good and Beautiful and Kind, he reveals how…• These three essentials are stolen by sin, powers and principalities, and trauma.• We can get goodness, beauty, and kindness back through contemplative prayer, humility, and the cultivation of calm presence.• The traits of healthy conflict, forgiveness, and justice lead to wholeness, healing, and a new collective future—when rooted in the ancient way of Jesus.Filled with fresh energy, classic truth, and practical solutions, this is your road map for stepping beyond distraction and division to love like Jesus. Doing so will change the atmosphere within you…and around you!

the Bestselling Chronicles Of Narnia Rack Box Set Now Has Movie Still Images Form The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader Live-action Film On The Box! All Books Inside The Box Feature Cliff Nielsen's Cover Art.school Library Journalgr 4-8-in The Third Book In C.s. Lewis's Chronicles Of Narnia (but The Fifth Installment In Focus On The Family's Radio Theatre Production), Edmund And Lucy Pevensy Along With Their Bratty Cousin, Eustace, Are Transported Through A Painting Into Narnia Where They Join Prince Caspian On A Voyage To The West. The Children Are Tested On This Voyage, And Visit Strange Lands And Encounter Unusual Creatures. Eustace Is Turned Into A Dragon, And Then Helped To Return To Human Form By Aslan, The Lion God. This Outstanding Full-cast Dramatization Adheres Closely To The Book's Text. Recorded In London, Actor Paul Scofield Is The Storyteller, And Other Parts Are Dramatically Read By Other British Actors. The Production Features Sound Effects And Background Music, Which Sometimes Becomes Obtrusive. While Adults Might Find The Story A Little Dated At Times And The Religious Elements Somewhat Heavy Handed, Children Will Not Notice And Will Enjoy The Story. This Is A More Complete Version Of The Story Than The Excellent Bbc Production Available From Bantam Audiobooks (1998).-louise Sherman, Formerly Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, Nj Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Many Christians are disconnected from the past or imagine they are "above" history, immune to it, as if self-starters from clean slates in every generation. They suffer from a lack of awareness of time and the effects of history--both personal and collective--and thus are naive about current issues and fixated on the end times.Popular speaker and award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that awakening to the spiritual significance of time is crucial for orienting faith in the 21st century. He encourages us to cultivate the spiritual discipline of memento tempori, a temporal awareness of the Spirit's presence--indebted to a past, oriented toward the future, and faithful in the present. To gain spiritual appreciation for our mortality. To synchronize our heart-clocks with the tempo of the Spirit, which changes in the different seasons of life. Integrating popular culture, biblical exposition, and meditation, Smith provides insights for pastoring, counseling, spiritual formation, politics, and public life.

Hailed by Washington Post Book World as “the best [translation] currently available" when it was first published, this second edition of Crime and Punishment has been updated in honor of the 200th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth. • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIMEWith the same suppleness, energy, and range of voices that won their translation of The Brothers Karamazov the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky offer a brilliant translation of Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky's astounding pyschological thriller, newly revised for his bicentenniel.In Crime and Punishment, when Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in the St. Petersburg of the tsars, commits an act of murder and theft, he sets into motion a story that is almost unequalled in world literature for its excruciating suspense, its atmospheric vividness, and its depth of characterization and vision. Dostoevsky’s drama of sin, guilt, and redemption transforms the sordid story of an old woman’s murder into the nineteenth century’s profoundest and most compelling philosophical novel.

Christianity Today Book Award―Church and Pastoral LeadershipThe Gospel Coalition Book Awards Honorable MentionPastoral leadership is in crisis. It's not just that many pastors feel overwhelmed and stressed out; many have lost their way. With the risk of burnout at an all-time high, what pastors need is not just a new leadership strategy, but a new framework for ministry―one that will help them move from survival to flourishing.In these pages, Tom Nelson looks to the biblical image of the shepherd leader in response to the contemporary context. If pastors are to lead congregations, then they must first learn what it means to be led by the Good Shepherd. Pulling from his years of experience as a lead pastor and president of a nonprofit, Nelson offers pastors and ministry leaders a timely vision for leadership that incorporates in-depth biblical teaching and whole-life discipleship. His wisdom and insight provide a roadmap for ministry resilience and longevity.

Preaching Magazine Book of the Year (2022)Hearts & Minds Best Books List (2022)Christianity Today Award of Merit in Church & Pastoral Leadership (2023)It’s time to give pastors permission to read books besides the Bible.Six months into his first senior pastorate, Austin Carty sat in his office reading—not the Bible, not a commentary, not a theological tract, but a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. As the minutes turned to hours, while he sat engrossed in this book, he noticed something: he began feeling uneasy. And then anxious. And then guilty. What would someone think if they opened the door and caught him reading fiction?For busy pastors (is there any other kind?), time spent reading feels hard to justify, especially when it’s not for sermon prep. But what if reading felt less like a luxury and more like a vocational responsibility—a spiritual practice that bears fruit in every aspect of ministry, from preaching to pastoral care to church leadership?Austin Carty believes that this is exactly how pastors ought to think about reading. The Pastor’s Bookshelf shows how worthwhile reading is more about formation than information and how, through reading, a pastor becomes a fuller, more enriched human being with a deeper capacity for wisdom and love, better equipped to understand and work for God’s kingdom.

Uncover the ways the Christian church has changed in recent years—from the decline of the mainline denominations to the mega-churchification of American culture—and a hopeful reimagining of what the church might look like going forward.The United States is in the middle of an unprecedented spiritual, technological, demographic, political and social transformation—moving from an older, mostly white, mostly Protestant, religion-friendly society to a younger diverse, multiethnic, pluralistic culture, where no one faith group will have the advantage. At the same time, millions of Americans are abandoning organized religion altogether in favor of disorganized disbelief.Reorganized Religion is an in-depth and critical look at why people are leaving American churches and what we lose as a society as it continues. But it also accepts the dismantling of what has come before and try to help readers reinvent the path forward. This book looks at the future of organized religion in America and outline the options facing churches and other faith groups. Will they retreat? Will they become irrelevant? Or will they find a new path forward?Written by veteran religion reporter Bob Smietana, Reorganized Religion is a journalistic look at the state of the American church and its future. It draws on polling data, interviews with experts, and reporting on how faith communities old and new are coping with the changing religious landscape, along with personal stories about how faith is lived in everyday life. It also profiles faith communities and leaders who are finding interesting ways to reimagine what church might look like in the future and discuss various ways we can reinvent this organization so it survives and thrives. The book also reflects the hope that perhaps people of faith can learn to become, if not friends with the larger culture, then at least better neighbors.“A superb examination of the future of Christian institutions…. A must-read for anyone invested in the fate of the American church.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

2022 Christianity Today Finalist, Church and Pastoral LeadershipThe heavenly city of God resurrects the cities of men.On Earth as in Heaven calls the church to embrace her identity and mission as one shaped by biblical theology and liturgy. The world grows increasingly polarized and politicized, but the church's commission remains unchanged. Christians carry out Jesus's mission by being the church. To change the world, the church needs only to be what she is―the bride of Christ―and to do what she does―teach, preach, sing, pray, break bread. Cultural and political mission and individual witness and service all spring from the church's liturgical life. As the church proclaims God's word and practices vibrant liturgy, she is God's heavenly city, shining as a light to the world.

Winner of the 2023 Christianity Book Award — Culture & The Arts!"One of the best, and least expected, anthologies in decades.” —Joseph Bottum, Poetry editor, New York SunShowcasing thirty-five American poets born in or after 1940, this anthology confirms that one of the most vibrant developments in contemporary verse has been a renewed engagement with the Christian faith. Across a full spectrum of Christian belief, including the struggle to believe at all, these poets bring the power of their art to bear on serious questions: how to understand the goodness of God in a fallen and tragic world, how to reconcile universal truths with the particularities of human experience, how to render familiar events of salvation history in new language that generates its own epiphanies. As Christian engagement assumes a multiplicity of modes and voices, so does contemporary poetry in America. This volume, then, selective yet representative, features the work of early-, mid-, and late-career poets, formalists, free-verse poets, and experimenters in prosody. This anthology bears witness to the poetic mind as it seeks that which is above.

Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit (Culture & the Arts)Midwest Book Review 2023Silver Book Award (Nonfiction - Religion/Philosophy)How do we become better people? Initiatives such as New Year's resolutions, vision boards, thirty-day plans, and self-help books often fail to compel us to live differently. We settle for small goals--frugal spending, less yelling at the kids, more time at the gym--but we are called to something far greater. We are created to be holy.Award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson explains that learning to hear the call of holiness requires cultivating a new imagination--one rooted in the act of reading. Learning to read with eyes attuned to the saints who populate great works of literature moves us toward holiness, where God opens up a way of living that extends far beyond what we can conjure for ourselves. Literature has the power to show us what a holy life looks like, and these depictions often scandalize even as they shape our imagination. As such, careful reading becomes a sort of countercultural spiritual discipline.The book includes devotionals, prayers, wisdom from the saints, and more to help individuals and groups cultivate a saintly imagination. Foreword by Lauren F. Winner.

The Gospel Coaltion Award of Distinction―Arts and CultureECPA Top Shelf Award WinnerFor practitioners and fans, jazz expresses the deepest meanings of life. Its rich history and its distinctive elements like improvisation and syncopation unite to create an unrepeatable and inexpressible aesthetic experience. But for others, jazz is an enigma. Might jazz be better appreciated and understood in relation to the Christian faith?In this volume, theologian and jazz pianist William Edgar argues that the music of jazz cannot be properly understood apart from the Christian gospel, which like jazz moves from deep lament to inextinguishable joy. By tracing the development of jazz, placing it within the context of the African American experience, and exploring the work of jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong, Edgar argues that jazz deeply resonates with the hope that is ultimately found in the good news of Jesus Christ.Grab a table. The show is about to begin.

Christianity Today 2023 Book Award Finalist (Culture & the Arts)Midwest Book Review 2023Gold Book Award Winner (Nonfiction - Religion/Philosophy)Learning from Black voices means listening to more than snippets. It means attending to Black stories. Reading Black Books helps Christians hear and learn from enduring Black voices and stories as captured in classic African American literature.Pastor and teacher Claude Atcho offers a theological approach to 10 seminal texts of 20th-century African American literature. Each chapter takes up a theological category for inquiry through a close literary reading and theological reflection on a primary literary text, from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Richard Wright's Native Son to Zora Neale Hurston's Moses, Man of the Mountain and James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain. The book includes end-of-chapter discussion questions.Reading Black Books helps readers of all backgrounds learn from the contours of Christian faith formed and forged by Black stories, and it spurs continued conversations about racial justice in the church. It demonstrates that reading about Black experience as shown in the literature of great African American writers can guide us toward sharper theological thinking and more faithful living.

A 2023 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award-winner!Count your nights by stars, not shadows. Count your life with smiles, not tears.1961. After a longtime resident at Nashville’s historic Maxwell House Hotel suffers a debilitating stroke, Audrey Whitfield is tasked with cleaning out the reclusive woman’s room. There, she discovers an elaborate scrapbook filled with memorabilia from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Love notes on the backs of unmailed postcards inside capture Audrey’s imagination with hints of a forbidden romance . . . and troubling revelations about the disappearance of young women at the exposition. Audrey enlists the help of a handsome hotel guest as she tracks down clues and information about the mysterious “Peaches” and her regrets over one fateful day, nearly sixty-five years earlier.1897. Outspoken and forward-thinking Priscilla Nichols isn’t willing to settle for just any man. She’s still holding out hope for love when she meets Luca Moretti on the eve of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Charmed by the Italian immigrant’s boldness, Priscilla spends time exploring the wonderous sights of the expo with Luca―until a darkness overshadows the monthslong event. Haunted by a terrible truth, Priscilla and Luca are sent down separate paths as the night’s stars fade into dawn.

Winner of the Award of Merit of the 2023 Christianity Today Book Awards — Fiction!“Profound and compulsively readable.” —Silas House, author of SouthernmostNew from a fresh voice in literary fiction comes this riveting deep-dive into one woman's experience with bipolar disorder and God.Her mind has never failed her—until an ill-fated dinner party.Meet Dr. Susan Huffman: wife to chancery court judge Samuel Ellison, mother to adorable Ian, and college professor on track for tenure. She’s a woman who has always lived by her mind, with a plan and a purpose. But then new-in-town Lorraine Davis accepts an invitation to Susan and Samuel’s home, and the mysterious visions begin. Is God warning Susan about this newcomer? And if so, how can she protect her circle of friends, her family, and her life as she knows it?The Book of Susan is the spare and sympathetic recounting of a journey—from derailment, to diagnosis, to the discovery of a lifetime.

On an eerily warm October evening in a suburb of Detroit, a new father and struggling fantasy novelist named McPhail gazes at a honey locust tree. The sight triggers a memory of the sudden, inexplicable death of Hannah, whom he loved when they were both fourteen. So begins a year-long odyssey, in which McPhail becomes obsessed with recollections of Hannah, puts his job and his marriage in jeopardy, and fears that his "obsolete consciousness" is spiraling into apocalyptic religious and ecological despair.Unable to complete the fantasy he is contracted to write, McPhail instead composes this "book behind the book" in his effort to re-enchant the world for himself and his growing family and to lay to rest old griefs along with more recent regrets.Metaphysical, lyrical, elegiac, Absolute Music is a novel of consciousness that is at the same time grounded in memorable characters and shaped by a variety of landscapes from Cincinnati and Pittsburgh to County Clare and Japan. In the character of McPhail you might detect a distant cousin of Walker Percy's Binx Bolling or Richard Ford's Frank Bascombe, but he remains very much a man of our own time.

This warmhearted and moving prequel to the “heart-tugging and emotional” (RT Book Reviews) #1 New York Times bestselling Baxter Family Series follows the family members as they face rising tensions during a wedding and a colossal storm.A terrible storm builds in the early morning sky over Bloomington, Indiana, as Elizabeth Baxter prepares to celebrate her daughter Kari’s wedding to Tim Jacobs. It’s supposed to be the happiest of days, but Elizabeth can’t shake a growing sense of dread. Is the storm a sign? Something bad is about to happen. Elizabeth knows it.Indeed, there are dark currents of conflict and doubt coursing through the Baxter family. In the midst of them, Kari Baxter is starting to panic. Is marrying Tim a mistake? And what about her family? Her brother Luke is angry and resentful of their sister Ashley, who has recently returned from Paris, a single mom with a son she too often leaves with their parents. At the same time, Ashley and their sister Brooke have lost the faith that is the family’s glue. Against all this, Kari sees Ashley rejecting her longtime love, Landon Blake, who clearly cares for her, no matter what happened in Paris.When the storm reaches a terrifying crescendo, a shocking moment of danger brings important truths to light. At the end of the long day, can the Baxters remain a family, tested but stronger?From an author who “writes with seemingly effortless poetic elegance” (Booklist), The Baxters is an unforgettable testament to the power of love, family, and faith.

The fascinating life story, told critically but sympathetically, of a paragon of twentieth-century white Christian womanhood—and the wife of evangelist Billy Graham.Ruth Bell Graham’s legacy is closely associated with that of her husband, whose career placed her in the public eye throughout her life. But, while it’s true that her identity was significantly shaped by her role in supporting Billy Graham’s ministry, Ruth carried a strong sense of her own agency and was widely influential in her own right, especially in the image she projected of conservative evangelical womanhood—defined by a faith that was deep, private, and nonpolitical.Beginning prior to Ruth and Billy’s meeting at Wheaton College, Anne Blue Wills chronicles the many formative experiences of Ruth’s life—especially the first decade of her childhood living in a community of American medical missionaries in China. Throughout the biography, Wills focuses not on Ruth’s role in Billy’s life, but on her own interests, ambitions, and fears—as a devoted mother of five, as the fastidious manager of a household, as a devout and well-read Christian, and as a beloved writer and poet.Dealing honestly with a life of contradictory responsibilities that Ruth Bell Graham herself called “an odd kind of cross to bear,” Wills draws from nearly a decade of original research and presents a nuanced portrait of Graham apart from the reverential awe of her admirers and the oversimplified caricatures put forth by her detractors. In telling Graham’s story, Wills indirectly tells the story of millions of women who emulated Graham as a role model—women who spurned second-wave feminism and willingly submitted to patriarchy while maintaining an undeniable sense of independence and strength of conviction.

A timely and provocative account of the Bible’s role in one of the most consequential episodes in the history of slaveryOn July 2, 1822, Denmark Vesey, a formerly enslaved man, was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina. He was convicted of plotting what might have been the largest insurrection against slaveholders in US history. Witnesses claimed that Vesey appealed to numerous biblical texts to promote and justify the revolt. While sentencing Vesey to death, Lionel Henry Kennedy, a magistrate at the trial, accused Vesey not only of treason but also of “attempting to pervert the sacred words of God into a sanction for crimes of the blackest hue.” Denmark Vesey’s Bible tells the story of this momentous trial, examining the role of scriptural interpretation in the deadly struggle against American white supremacy and its brutal enforcement.Jeremy Schipper brings the trial and its aftermath vividly to life, drawing on court documents, personal letters, sermons, speeches, and editorials. He shows how Vesey compared people of African descent with enslaved Israelites in the Bible, while his accusers portrayed plantation owners as benevolent biblical patriarchs responsible for providing religious instruction to the enslaved. What emerges is an explosive portrait of an antebellum city in the grips of racial terror, violence, and contending visions of biblical truth.Shedding light on the uses of scripture in America’s troubled racial history, Denmark Vesey’s Bible draws vital lessons from a terrible moment in the nation’s past, enabling us to confront racism and religious discord today with renewed urgency and understanding.

Christianity Today 2023 Book Award Finalist (History & Biography)New forms of worship have transformed the face of the American church over the past fifty years. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including interviews with dozens of important stakeholders and key players, this volume by two worship experts offers the first comprehensive history of Contemporary Praise & Worship. The authors provide insight into where this phenomenon began and how it reshaped the Protestant church. They also emphasize the span of denominational, regional, and ethnic expressions of contemporary worship.

A sweeping history of linguistic and colonial encounter in the early Americas, anchored by the unlikely story of how Boston’s most famous Puritan came to write the first Spanish-language publication in the English New World.The Boston minister Cotton Mather was the first English colonial to refer to himself as an American. He was also the first to author a Spanish-language publication: La Fe del Christiano (The Faith of the Christian), a Protestant tract intended to evangelize readers across the Spanish Americas. Kirsten Silva Gruesz explores the conditions that produced La Fe del Christiano, from the intimate story of the “Spanish Indian” servants in Mather’s household, to the fragile business of printing and bookselling, to the fraught overlaps of race, ethnicity, and language that remain foundational to ideas of Latina/o/x belonging in the United States today.Mather’s Spanish project exemplifies New England’s entanglement within a partially Spanish Catholic, largely Indigenous New World. British Americans viewed Spanish not only as a set of linguistic practices, but also as the hallmark of a rival empire and a nascent racial-ethnic category. Guided by Mather’s tract, Gruesz explores English settlers’ turbulent contacts with the people they called “Spanish Indians,” as well as with Black and local native peoples. Tracing colonial encounters from Boston to Mexico, Florida, and the Caribbean, she argues that language learning was intimately tied with the formation of new peoples. Even as Spanish has become the de facto second language of the United States, the story of La Fe del Christiano remains timely and illuminating, locating the roots of latinidad in the colonial system of the early Americas.Cotton Mather’s Spanish Lessons reinvents our understanding of a key colonial intellectual, revealing notions about language and the construction of race that endure to this day.

Christianity Today Book Award―Marriage and FamilyHalf of Christian high school students walk away from their faith after graduation. But parental involvement is the most influential predictor of a child's spirituality throughout their lives. How do we parent our kids in ways that lead to lasting faith?Sarah Cowan Johnson unpacks how parents can have an active discipleship role in forming their children's faith, with age-appropriate insights and strategies for different developmental stages. She shows how we can identify God moments, facilitate spiritual encounters, clarify emerging beliefs, and encourage new faith habits in our children.Filled with exercises and activities for families to do together, this handbook is an essential resource for discipling children with confidence and creativity.

Discover simple habits and easy-to-implement daily rhythms that will help you find meaning beyond the chaos of family life as you create a home where kids and parents alike practice how to love God and each other.You long for tender moments with your children--but do you ever find yourself too busy to stop, make eye contact, and say something you really mean? Daily habits are powerful ways to shape the heart--but do you find yourself giving in to screen time just to get through the day? You want to parent with purpose--but do you know how to start?Award-winning author and father of four Justin Whitmel Earley understands the tension between how you long to parent and what your daily life actually looks like. In Habits of the Household, Earley gives you the tools you need to create structure--from mealtimes to bedtimes--that free you to parent toddlers, kids, and teens with purpose. Learn how to: Develop a bedtime liturgy to settle your little ones and ground them in God's love Discover a new framework for discipline as discipleship Acquire simple practices for more regular and meaningful family mealtimes Open your eyes to the spirituality of parenting, seeing small moments as big opportunities for spiritual formation Develop a custom age chart for your family to more intentionally plan your shared years under the same roofEach chapter in Habits of the Household ends with practical patterns, prayers, or liturgies that your family can put into practice right away. As you create liberating rhythms around your everyday routines, you will find your family has a greater sense of peace and purpose as your home becomes a place where, above all, you learn how to love.

Embrace the beauty and challenges of transracial adoption.Being an adoptive parent is hard enough. But when your family is multiracial, things get even trickier. Parenting transracially doesn’t come naturally, nor does it just happen with time. Love is essential—yet by itself, love isn’t enough. Cross-cultural parenting also takes intentionality, listening, learning, growing, repenting, changing . . . then starting all over and doing it again. It’s hard work! And yet, when an adoptive family honors the ethnic heritages of their children, the whole family—as well as the watching world—gets to see the beauty of a gloriously creative God.In It Takes More Than Love, Brittany Salmon shares her own family’s story of transracial adoption and offers a biblically-based guide for others following the same path. Brittany recognizes that we live in divided times and there are extra challenges whenever race is part of the conversation. But with wise insight and hard-won experience, she provides guidance about topics such as: Maintaining a Gospel perspective throughout the journey Celebrating your child’s history and heritage Confronting racism Responding to comments about your family Avoiding pitfalls in adoption Helping your kids feel represented in your home and communityNo one is promising transracial adoption will be easy—least of all Brittany! Yet the extra effort is balanced by a beauty that images our eternal destiny. Until the day God makes all things new, the welcoming an inclusive transracial family can help fulfill Jesus’s words, “on earth as it is in heaven.”

A timely resource to equip Christian parents to better understand the roots of racism and provide practical guidance on addressing issues of race within their families“This is a landmark work for our generation!”—Dorena Williamson, bestselling authorIf you wonder how to help your children understand today’s racial dynamics and respond in God-honoring ways, you’re not alone. Practical and engaging, The Race-Wise Family offers immediately applicable action steps to help you raise kingdom-minded kids who will stand against racial injustice as an outpouring of their relationship with God.Deeply rooted in Scripture, The Race-Wise Family includes• key biblical insights for understanding a theology of race• discussion questions, prayers, and conversation starters for your whole family• age-appropriate ideas for discussing current events with your kids and teens• guidance for addressing the roots of racial bias in the world and your own heart• activities and resources you can use with kids of all ages to be part of hope and healing in your communityThe Race-Wise Family helps you and your kids celebrate the diversity of God’s kingdom as you take small steps at home today that can make a difference in the world for generations.

The Gospel Coalition 2022 Book Award Winner: Missions and the Global ChurchChristianity Today 2023 Book Award Winner: Missions and the Global ChurchAvoid "Get-Rich-Quick" Missions Strategies and Invest in Effective, Long-Term MinistryTrendy new missions strategies are everywhere, promising missionaries monumental results in record time. These strategies report explosive movements of people turning to Christ, but their claims are often dubious and they do little to ensure the health of believers or churches that remain. How can churches and missionaries address the urgent need to reach unreached people without falling for quick fixes?In No Shortcut to Success, author and missionary Matt Rhodes implores Christians to stop chasing silver-bullet strategies and short-term missions, and instead embrace theologically robust and historically demonstrated methods of evangelism and discipleship―the same ones used by historic figures such as William Carey and Adoniram Judson. These great missionaries didn't rush evangelism; they spent time studying Scripture, mastering foreign languages, and building long-term relationships. Rhodes explains that modern missionaries' emphasis on minimal training and quick conversions can result in slipshod evangelism that harms the communities they intend to help. He also warns against underestimating the value of individual skill and effort―under the guise of "getting out of the Lord's way"―and empowers Christians with practical, biblical steps to proactively engage unreached groups. Biblical Ministry Advice: Examines the work of respected missionaries throughout history Encourages Professionalism in Missions: Rhodes teaches missionaries to invest in theological education, communication, and technical skills A Great Resource for Ministries: Includes specific advice for singles, parents, and other groups Insightful: Examines strengths and weaknesses of recent missionary movements

2022 Christianity Today Award of Merit, Missions & Global Church"a powerful and moving collection of sermonic letters" ―Tim Challies"If we want revival in our communities, then let us learn from those being revived." For many Western Christians, the experience of suffering and persecution is remote. For Chinese Christians, on the other hand, persecution is a regular aspect of the Christian life. If a Christian from the West was transported to a Chinese house church, the topic of suffering would be ever-present in preaching and conversation. With decades of persecution under government oppression and a rich theology of suffering, the Chinese house church movement has much to contribute theologically to the global church.In Faith in the Wilderness, editors Hannah Nation and Simon Liu pull together the insights of the Chinese church for the West. These sermonic letters from Chinese Christians pull back the curtain on the pastoral heart and the hope behind the house church's remarkable faithfulness, awakening readers to the reality of the gospel―the ground of our hope―in the midst of darkness. Readers will be convicted, encouraged, and edified by the testimony of these Chinese Christians."Let us learn from the witness of our Chinese brothers and sisters so that we can stand fast all the better as we face trials wherever we live." ―Timothy Keller (from the foreword)

Integrity, Viability, and Accountability Perhaps there is no greater challenge in missions than money. Paul reminds us, "For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man" (2 Cor. 8:21). Money sufficient to assure the viability of one's life work carries with it an insidious ethical virus that can easily infect the integrity and accountability of its stewards. The Realities of Money & Missions provides a unique level of credibility and transparency as it calls for evangelicals to reevaluate their relationship with money, both personally and corporately. Global case studies, workshops, and testimonials cover a broad range of topics such as: Misalignment between fiscal theology and practice Environmental stewardship, community development, and business as mission Mobilization, fundraising practices, and "faith financing" Short-term missions, patronage, and dependency Power dynamics and structural injustice The Realities of Money & Missions was not written by experts in the fields of investment, money management, or fundraising, but by men and women whose calling as missionaries, pastors, and administrators has brought them face-to-face with the complex, real-life issues involving the intersection of money and ministry. Read on and be challenged to change

2022 Christianity Today Finalist, Missions & Global Church2023 Outreach Magazine Missional and Cross-Cultural Resource of the Year2023 Academy of Parish Clergy (APC) Top 10 Books of the YearChristians should make disciples as disciples.Christians who are engaged in missions regularly face ethical challenges. But the approaches and standards of modern missions often further complicate, rather than alleviate, matters. Modern missiology debates what actions constitute mission work, how to measure growth, and the difference between persuasion and coercion. In Virtuous Persuasion, Michael Niebauer casts a holistic vision for Christian mission that is rooted in theological ethics and moral philosophy. Niebauer proposes a theology of mission grounded in virtue. Becoming a skilled missionary is more about following Christ than mastering techniques. Christian mission is best understood as specific activities that develop virtue in its practitioners and move them toward their ultimate goal of partaking in the glory of God. With Virtuous Persuasion, you can rethink the essence of Jesus's Great Commission and how we seek to fulfill it.

Christianity Today Book Award―Politics and Pubilc LifeEfforts at colorblindness and antiracism have not been very effective in addressing racial tensions in the United States. Colorblindness ignores the realities of race and the history of injustice. On the other hand, antiracism centers racial concerns and in so doing often alienates people who need to be involved in the process. Sociologist George Yancey offers an alternative approach to racial relations where all parties contribute and are mutually accountable to one another for societal well-being. He provides empirical rationale for how collaborative conversations in a mutual accountability model can reduce racial division. History and societal complexity mean that different participants may have different kinds of responsibility, but all are involved in seeking the common good for all to thrive. Avoiding unilateral decisions that close off dialogue, Yancey casts a vision for moving beyond racial alienation toward a lifestyle and movement of collaborative conversation and mutuality.

Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit (Politics & Public Life)Logos 2022 Book of the Year Award (Christianity in Culture)Which media outlets will help me be a responsible news consumer? How do I know what is true and whom I can trust? What can I do to combat all the misinformation and how it's impacting people I love?Many Americans are agonizing over questions such as these, feeling unsure and overwhelmed in today's chaotic information environment.American life and politics are suffering from a raging knowledge crisis, and the church is no exception. In Untrustworthy,Bonnie Kristian unpacks this crisis and explores ways to combat it in our own lives, families, and church communities.Drawing from her extensive experience in journalism and her training as a theologian, Kristian explores social media, political and digital culture, online paranoia, and the press itself. She explains factors that contribute to our confusion and helps Christians pay attention to how we consume content and think about truth. Finally, she provides specific ways to take action, empowering readers to avoid succumbing to or fueling the knowledge crisis.

What does a Christian political witness look like in our day?Politics ought to be defined by fidelity to the common good of all the members of society. But our modern Western politics are defined by a determination to bend the natural world and human life to its own political and economic ends. This wholesale rejection of the natural order is behind the dominant revolutions in our history, and defines our experience in Western society today―our racialized hierarchy, modern industry, and the sexual revolution.In What Are Christians For?, Jake Meador lays out a proposal for a Christian politics rooted in the givenness and goodness of the created world. He is uninterested in the cultural wars that have so often characterized American Christianity. Instead, he casts a vision for an ordered society that rejects the late modern revolution at every turn and is rooted in the natural law tradition and the great Protestant confessions. Here is a political approach that is antiracist, anticapitalist, and profoundly pro-life. A truly Christian political witness, Meador argues, must attend closely to the natural world and renounce the metallic fantasies that have poisoned common life in America life for too long.

2022 Christianity Today Finalist, Politics & Public Life“A crucial book.” ―Timothy KellerOur world is facing increasing hostilities. Political and cultural differences rage, even among people who otherwise show goodwill. And the church is no stranger to extreme polarization, theological backbiting, and political squabbling. Jesus’s prayer in John 17―that the church be one as he and the Father are one―seems increasingly unattainable.But what if Scripture actually provides the key for thinking about unity in diversity?In Uncommon Unity: Wisdom for the Church in an Age of Division, Richard Lints explores the nature of diversity and how Christians can think more clearly about unity in an increasingly polarized age. Drawing on theological, historical, and sociological resources, Lints exposes problems with the inclusion narrative of democracy and shows a better way forward for fostering unity in the midst of extreme diversity. If we are to think rightly about diversity, wisdom is required for the church in our late modern world. Through wisdom, Christians can display real unity in diversity and bear witness of the God who made them for himself as diverse members of his one body.Readers of Uncommon Unity will be heartened that Scripture and Christian tradition provide an antidote to division.

Christianity Today 2023 Book Award (Popular Theology)2023 Georgia Author of the Year Finalist (Inspirational)Southwestern Journal of Theology 2022 Book Award (Applied Theology/Ethics)Work. Family. Church. Exercise. Sleep.The list of demands on our time seems to be never ending. It can leave you feeling a little guilty--like you should always be doing one more thing.Rather than sharing better time-management tips to squeeze more hours out of the day, Kelly Kapic takes a different approach in You're Only Human. He offers a better way to make peace with the fact that God didn't create us to do it all.Kapic explores the theology behind seeing our human limitations as a gift rather than a deficiency. He lays out a path to holistic living with healthy self-understanding, life-giving relationships, and meaningful contributions to the world. He frees us from confusing our limitations with sin and instead invites us to rest in the joy and relief of knowing that God can use our limitations to foster freedom, joy, growth, and community.Readers will emerge better equipped to cultivate a life that fosters gratitude, rest, and faithful service to God.

Christianity Today Book Award of Merit―Popular TheologyThe Gospel Coaltion Award of Distinction―Popular TheologyEvery generation faces the temptation to wander from orthodoxy―to seek out the jolt that comes with false teaching, and to drift with cultural currents. And so every generation must be awakened again to the thrill of orthodoxy, and experience the astonishment that comes from stumbling afresh upon the electrifying paradoxes at the heart of the Christian faith.In The Thrill of Orthodoxy, Trevin Wax turns the tables on those who believe Christian teaching is narrow and outdated. Returning to the church's creeds, he explains what orthodoxy is and why we can have proper confidence in it, and lays out common ways we can stray from it. By showing how heresies are always actually narrower than orthodoxy―taking one aspect of the truth and wielding it as a weapon against others―Wax shows us that false teaching ultimately proves bland and boring, and that orthodoxy is where true adventure can be found.

Why do the theologians rage?Even a cursory scrolling of social media may lead you to the conclusion that you have to be angry to do theology. Sadly, our day is characterized by theological fighting—complete with harsh words, exaggeration, biting sarcasm, and the spirit of tearing down our brothers and sisters in Christ. But it does not have to be this way. In fact, it should not be this way.In Fruitful Theology, Ronni Kurtz swims upstream to counter this prevailing problem. Instead of theology leading to anger, division, and discord, this book shows that the life of the mind can actually lead to the fruit of the Spirit. Fruitful Theology is for anyone who: Wants to grow in an understanding of Scripture, but is afraid that knowledge will make them arrogant; Is confused about the relationship between doctrine and Christian living; Is concerned that theological conviction promotes disunity and discord among Christians; Desires to grow in Christian maturity, but isn’t sure how theology fits into that desire.What if our speech and conduct were seasoned more with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? How might the church’s unity be restored, and our witness be maximized, if we were characterized by the fruit of the Spirit instead of the spirit of our age? Theology may not be the most obvious candidate in helping reorient our life towards the fruit of the Spirit, but a right contemplation of God can indeed lead to right living for God, and that is exactly what this book hopes to explore.

“Could reading theology turn you toward God in astonished worship? Could it enliven your reading of Scripture? Could it move you toward your true self in Christ? Could it turn you toward your neighbors in self-giving love? Could it unmask your prejudices? Could it dethrone your idols? Should we hope for anything less?”In this illuminating introduction, Kent Eilers invites Christians of all backgrounds into the practice of reading theology. With a classroom-tested approach, Eilers shows how theology can form the imagination and enhance “the human capacity for perceiving reality beyond the surface of things”—allowing Christians to see and experience God in the everyday. He then guides readers through the essential facets of theology so that it can begin to feel familiar and accessible, even (and especially) to beginners with no prior experience.Written conversationally and illustrated beautifully with art by Chris Koelle, Reading Theology Wisely is welcoming and engaging in every respect. Eilers takes a well-rounded approach to his subject, utilizing Scripture and the wisdom of past thinkers as well as references to film and the arts—including a special emphasis on architecture as part of an ongoing metaphor of “inhabiting texts” as we do physical spaces. Each chapter ends with a prayer and questions for reflection and discussion, followed by a “theology lab” in which readers can put the content of the preceding chapter into practice.

Christianity Today 2023Book Award (Academic Theology)In both biblical studies and systematic theology, modern treatments of the person of Christ have cast doubt on whether earlier Christian descriptions of God--in which God is immutable, impassible, eternal, and simple--can fit together with the revelation of God in Christ. This book explains how the Jesus revealed in Scripture comports with such descriptions of God. The author argues that the Bible's Christology coheres with and even requires the affirmation of divine attributes like immutability, impassibility, eternity, and simplicity.

Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit (Academic Theology)This introduction draws on the breadth of the Christian tradition to present a biblically grounded, globally informed, and conceptually precise account of the doctrine of the Trinity. It covers key themes and concepts, offering an alternative to introductory texts on the Trinity that are arranged historically/chronologically. The book incorporates majority world theology, engages important debates in contemporary biblical studies, and draws on neglected historical figures. It also contains a glossary of trinitarian terms and an annotated bibliography of major works on the doctrine of God.

2022 Christianity Today Finalist, Theology (Academic)God's Word creates what he commandsIn Justification by the Word, Jack D. Kilcrease reintroduces Martin Luther's key doctrine. Though a linchpin of the Reformation, Luther's view of justification is often misunderstood. For Luther, justification is an expression of God's creative Word. To understand Luther on justification, one must grasp his doctrine of the Word. The same God who declared "let there be light"―and it was so―also declares "your sins are forgiven." Justification is an objective reality. It is achieved in Christ's resurrection and received through an encounter with the risen Christ in Word and sacrament. Justification turns us outward, away from our own unsteady feelings and limited understanding, to look to Christ. And the church must preach justification, lest we so easily forfeit the joy of the gospel.Justification by the Word inspires readers to reencounter the radical doctrine of justification by faith alone.

When theology begins with God’s eternal will and knowledge, determinism results. In God in Eternity and Time, eminent scholar Robert Picirilli argues that we should look first to God’s creation and the incarnation—to the created order where God has chosen to act and reveal himself. As God’s decrees and foreknowledge in eternity are then read in light of his acts within time, his interactions with human beings on the personal level clearly reveal themselves.God in Eternity and Time is divided into two sections. The first part explores how God speaks and acts in creation. The second carefully examines foreknowledge and “middle knowledge” to demonstrate the fallacy of logical arguments against freedom based on foreknowledge. Based on these two sections, the reader will discover Picirilli’s fresh argument for libertarian human freedom.