Among medieval Christian societies, Byzantium is unique in preserving an ecclesiastical ritual of adelphopoiesis that pronounces two men as brothers. It has its origin as a spiritual blessing in the monastic world of late antiquity, and it becomes a popular social networking strategy among lay people from the ninth century onwards, even finding application in recent times. Located at the intersection of religious and social history, brother-making exemplifies how social practice can become ritualized and subsequently subjected to attempts of ecclesiastical and legal control. Wide-ranging in its use of sources, from a complete census of the manuscripts containing the ritual of adelphopoiesis to the literature and archaeology of early monasticism, and from the works of hagiographers, historiographers, and legal experts in Byzantium to comparative material in the Latin West and the Slavic world, this book is the first exhaustive treatment of the phenomenon.

In recent years the term "religious pluralism" has come to be used not only in a descriptive sociological sense but also as theologically prescriptive. Within this new paradigm traditional Christian understandings of Christ, conversion, evangelism, and mission have been radically reinterpreted. The Recovery of Mission explores the pluralist paradigm through the work of three of its most influential Asian exponents - Stanley Samartha Aloysius Pieris, and Raimundo Panikkar - subjecting each to a theological and philosophical critique. On the basis of biblical, patristic, and contemporary theological writings Vinoth Ramachandra argues for the uniqueness and decisiveness of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Ramachandra seeks to show that many of the valid concerns of pluralist theologians can best be met by reappropriating the missionary thrust at the heart of the gospel. The book ends with suggestions, challenging to pluralists and conservatives alike, as to how the gospel needs to be communicated in a multi-faith world.

The nature of the authority of the Bible is crucial. In this outstanding study, the author first considers various theories of the nature of inspiration. This leads to a consideration of the 'entire trustworthiness' of the Bible, the inerrancy debate, and the place of biblical criticism. From determining the original meaning of the text, Professor Marshall turns to the Bible's contemporary significance and meaning before finally presenting the authority of Scripture for today. 'The Bible is precious to the Christian believer, not because it is regarded as some kind of magical oracle but because here one hears and receives the message of a gracious God who, having revealed himself supremely in this Son Jesus Christ, continues to reveal himself and through the pages of Scripture'

From time to time in the study of theology it becomes necessary to evaluate what Scripture has to say on certain crucial doctrines of the faith. Leon Morris, one of this generation's most respected evangelical scholars, here offers a survey of the vast subject of atonement as it is presented in the New Testament. The Cross in the New Testament explores in turn Matthew and Mark, and Lukan writings, John, the Pauline epistles, Hebrews, the catholic epistles, and Revelation, showing what each New Testament scripture contributes to our understanding of atonement. Atonement for Morris is not merely expiation i.e. a covering over of sins but propitiation i.e. also a turning aside of wrath, this was the contention he had with his doctoral supervisor C.H.Dodd. While Morris emphasizes the need to appreciate the many strands woven into this doctrine, he criticizes the views of modern scholars that do not square with the biblical teaching. At the heart of the doctrine of atonement is the idea of substitution, Morris believes, and his thorough examination and defense of substitutionary atonement make this volume a theological apologetic of great significance. Trusted as an exhaustive and reliable work of scholarship for the past thirty-five years and available now in this new paperback edition, The Cross in the New Testament remains an invaluable text for serious students of the Bible.

As Dr. Wenham states early in his introduction, "The story of Jesus' resurrection is told by five different writers, whose accounts differ from each other to an astonishing degree." Wenham begins by setting the scene of Jerusalem and its environs, going on to describe the main actors in the events with particular attention to Mary Magdalene and the five writers themselves, and then examining in detail all the biblical narratives from Good Friday through Easter Day to the Ascension. He concludes that the various accounts as they stand can be satisfactorily reconciled to provide a trustworthy record for the church. Valuable appendices elucidate Wenham's response to the technicalities of gospel criticism.

Adapted from their book True Beauty, mother/daughter authors Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre expose the lies of our culture-defined sense of beauty.

God's Word provides us with a path to freedom when we look to the source, the Beautiful One who is eternal. We reject conformity with the world's standards to be transformed Christ-like character.

Uses the ESV Bible translation in Scripture references. Pack of 25 tracts (pamphlets).

The History of the Church of Abingdon is one of the most valuable local histories produced in the twelfth century. It provides a wealth of information about, and great insight into, the legal, economic, and ecclesiastical affairs of a major monastery. Charters and narrative combine to provide a vital resource for historians. The present edition, unlike its Victorian predecessor, is based on the earliest manuscript of the text. A modern English translation is provided on facing pages, together with extensive introductory material and historical notes.
This volume covers the period from the reputed foundation of the abbey and its estates to c.1071. Volume II, already published, covers from c.1071- c.1164.

The astonishing growth of Christianity in the global South over the course of the twentieth century has sparked an equally rapid growth in studies of ''World Christianity, '' which have dismantled the notion that Christianity is a Western religion. What, then, are we to make of the waves of Western missionaries who have, for centuries, been evangelizing in the global South? Were they merely, as many have argued, agents of imperialism out to impose Western values? In An Unpredictable Gospel, Jay Case examines the efforts of American evangelical missionaries in light of this new scholarship. He argues that if they were agents of imperialism, they were poor ones. Western missionaries had a dismal record of converting non-Westerners to Christianity. The ministries that were most successful were those that empowered the local population and adapted to local cultures. In fact, influence often flowed the other way, with missionaries serving as conduits for ideas that shaped American evangelicalism. Case traces these currents and sheds new light on the relationship between Western and non-Western Christianities.

Before he was a civil rights leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a man of the church. His father was a pastor, and much of young Martin's time was spent in Baptist churches. He went on to seminary and received a Ph.D. in theology. In 1953, he took over leadership of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church was his home. But, as he began working for civil rights, King became a fierce critic of the churches, both black and white. He railed against white Christian leaders who urged him to be patient in the struggle-or even opposed civil rights altogether. And, while the black church was the platform from which King launched the struggle for civil rights, he was deeply ambivalent toward the church as an institution, and saw it as in constant need of reform. In this book, Lewis Baldwin explores King's complex relationship with the Christian church, from his days growing up at Ebenezer Baptist, to his work as a pastor, to his battles with American churches over civil rights, to his vision for the global church. King, Baldwin argues, had a robust and multifaceted view of the nature and purpose of the church that serves as a model for the church in the 21st century.

The Alpha Guide is a companion to either the Alpha Film Series or Alpha with Nicky Gumbel. This guide is divided up by session with an easy-to-read outline so that guests can follow along during each talk. With simple bullet-point organization and plenty of room for notes, the guide functions as an invaluable resource to the guest during Alpha, and as a reference tool for individual reflection long after Alpha. It is considered an essential resource for Alpha guests as well as the host and helpers on Alpha. Alpha creates an environment of hospitality where people can bring their friends, family, and work colleagues to explore the Christian faith, ask questions, and share their point of view. Alpha makes it easy to invite friends to have spiritual conversations which explore life's biggest questions in a safe and respectful way. Alpha's approach to hospitality, faith, and discussion is designed to welcome everyone, especially those who might not describe themselves as Christians or church-goers. Each session includes time for a large group meal, short teaching, and small group discussion.

How can we transmit a living, personal Catholic faith to future generations? By coming to know Jesus Christ, and following him as his disciples.

As we emerge from a pandemic into a post-Christian world, these are times of immense challenge and enormous opportunity for the Catholic Church in the United States. Consider these statistics:

A succinct and powerful witness that fundraising is a form of ministry and can be a deeply spiritual experience.

Music in the California missions was a pluralistic combination of voices and instruments, of liturgy and spectacle, of styles and functions-and even of cultures-in a new blend that was non-existent before the Franciscan friars made their way to California beginning in 1769. This book explores the exquisite sacred music that flourished on the West Coast of America when it was under Spanish and Mexican rule; it delves into the historical, cultural, biographical, and stylistic aspects of California mission music during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The book explores how mellifluous plainchant, reverent hymns, spunky folkloric ditties, "classical" music in the style of Haydn, and even Native American drumming were interwoven into a tapestry of resonant beauty. Aspects of music terminology, performance practice, notation, theory, sacred song, hymns, the sequence, the mass, and pageantry are addressed. Russell draws upon hundreds of primary documents in California, Mexico, Madrid, Barcelona, London, and Mallorca, and it is through the melding together of this information from geographically separated places that he brings the mystery of California's mission music into sharper focus. In addition to extensive musical analysis, the book also examines such things as cultural context, style, scribal attribution, instructions to musicians, government questionnaires, invoices, the liturgy, architectural space where performances took place, spectacle, musical instruments, instrument construction, shipping records, travelers' accounts, letters, diaries, passenger lists, baptismal and burial records, and other primary source material. Within this book one finds considerablebiographical information about Junipero Serra, Juan Bautista Sancho, Narciso Duran, Florencio Ibanez, Pedro Cabot, Martin de Cruzelaegui, Ignacio de Jerusalem, and Francisco Javier Garcia Fajer. Furthermore, it contains five far-reaching appendices: a Catalogue of Mission Sources; Photos of Missions and Mission Manuscripts (with over 150 color facsimiles); Translations of Primary Texts; Music Editions (that are performance-ready); and an extensive Bibliography.

This is one of four projected volumes to emerge from a massive, Pew-funded study that sought to answer the question: What happens when a revivalist religion based on scriptural orthodoxy participates in the volatile politics of the Third World? Is the result a democratic politics of the ballot box, or is it more like an authoritarian politics of command from on high? Does the evangelical faith of the Bible hinder or promote a politics of the ballot box? At a time when the global-political impact of another revivalist and scriptural religion - Islam - fuels vexed debate among analysts the world over, these volumes offer an unusual comparative perspective on a critical issue: The often combustible interaction of resurgent religion and the developing world's unstable politics. Three of the volumes focus on particular regions (Africa, Latin America and Asia). The fourth will address the broader question of evangelical Christianity and democracy in the global setting. The present volume considers the case of Asia. In his introduction, editor David Lumsdaine offers a historical overview of evangelicalism in the region, provides a theoretical framework for understanding evangelical impact on the global south, and summarizes the findings presented in the remainder of the book. Six individual case studies follow, focusing respectively on the situation in China, Western India, Northeast India, Indonesia, South Korea, and the Philippines. The contributors, mainly younger scholars based in Asia, bring first hand-knowledge to their chapters and employ both field and archival research to develop their data and analyses. The result is a groundbreaking work that will be indispensable to everyoneconcerned with the future of the region.

The New International Version is the world’s bestselling modern-English Bible translation—accurate, readable, and clear, yet rich with the detail found in the original languages. The NIV is the result of over 50 years of work by the Committee on Bible Translation, who oversee the efforts of many contributing scholars. Representing the spectrum of evangelicalism, the translators come from a wide range of denominations and various countries and continually review new research to ensure the NIV remains at the forefront of accessibility, relevance, and authority. Every NIV Bible that is purchased helps Biblica translate and give Bibles to people in need around the world.

• 6.75-point print size

The growth of Christianity in the global South and the fall of colonialism in the middle of the twentieth century caused a crisis in Christian missions, as many southern Christians spoke out about indignities they had suffered and many northern Christians retreated from the global South. American Christians soon began looking for a fresh start, a path forward that was neither isolationist nor domineering. Out of this dream the ''sister church'' model of mission was born. In this model, rather than Western churches sending representatives into the ''mission field,'' they set up congregation-to-congregation partnerships with churches in the global South. In Sister Churches Janel Bakker draws on extensive fieldwork and interviews with participants in these partnerships to explore the sister church movement and in particular its effects on American churches. Because Christianity is numerically and in many ways spiritually stronger in the global South than it is in the global North-while the imbalance in material resources runs in the opposite direction-both northern and southern Christians stand to gain. Challenging prevailing notions of friction between northern and southern Christians, Bakker argues that sister church relationships are marked by interconnectivity and collaboration.

Today we are facing a global crisis when it comes to families. There is an urgent need
to invest in marriage and family life, for strong societies are built on strong families,
and strong families are built on strong marriages. Marriages today are under more
pressure than ever, and with the amount of marital breakdown we are experiencing,
more people are seeing the need of the need to prepare. The choice to marry-no
longer an assumption in our society-presents a key moment for learning.

The Pre-Marriage Course, developed by Nicky and Sila Lee of Alpha, has been revised
and updated to provide practical tools to help engaged couples build a strong
foundation for a lasting marriage. This update includes talks from experts including
Dr. Gray Chapman, Dr. Henry Cloud, and Dr. Sue Johnson on topics such as money,
sex, love languages, healthy boundaries, and building connections. The course will

• also cover how engaged couples can:
• Express their feelings and learn to listen
• Recognize the importance of commitment
• Resolve conflicts with one another
• Keep love alive and develop a fulfilling sexual relationship
• Talk about goals and values as a couple