Your words are like seeds. Every time you say them, they're taking root and growing. Are you planting good seeds? Are you seeing the increase, the health, the relationships, and the happiness you dream about? If not, check out what you’re saying. Whether you realize it or not, the words you speak today are setting the direction for the rest of your life.

In Speak the Blessing, New York Times bestselling author Joel Osteen offers you unique insights into this profound truth: Your words have creative power. When you discover the power of speaking what God says about you, you give those words the right to come to pass. There is a miracle in your mouth. There is healing in your mouth, freedom in your mouth, and new levels in your mouth. But nothing happens until you speak the blessing.

Your words become your reality. Start blessing your future today. Use the words you speak to unlock the power within and create the life you were designed to live. The life-changing possibilities are limitless.

We often treat the word capacity as if it were a natural law of limitation. Unfortunately, most of us are much more comfortable defining what we perceive as off limits rather than what's really possible. Could it be that many of us have failed to expand our potential because we have allowed what we perceive as capacity to define us? What if our limits are not really our limits?

In his newest book, No Limits: Blow the Cap Off Your Capacity, John Maxwell identifies 17 core capacities. Some of these are abilities we all already possess, such as energy, creativity and leadership. Others are aspects of our lives controlled by our choices, like our attitudes, character, and intentionality. Maxwell examines each of these capacities, and provides clear and actionable advice on how you can increase your potential in each. He will guide you on how to identify, grow, and apply your critical capacities. Once you've blown the "cap" off your capacities, you'll find yourself more successful -- and fulfilled -- in your daily life.

In Hermeneutics of Holiness, Naomi Koltun-Fromm examines the ancient nexus of holiness and sexuality and explores its roots in the biblical texts as well as its manifestations throughout ancient and late-ancient Judaism and early Syriac Christianity. In the process, she tells the story of how the biblical notions of "holy person" and "holy community" came to be defined by the sexual and marriage practices of various interpretive communities in late antiquity.
Koltun-Fromm seeks to explain why sexuality, especially sexual restraint, became a primary demarcation of sacred community boundaries among Jews and Christians in fourth-century Persian-Mesopotamia. She charts three primary manifestations of holiness: holiness ascribed, holiness achieved, and holiness acquired through ritual purity. Hermeneutics of Holiness traces the development of these three concepts, from their origin in the biblical texts to the Second Temple literature (both Jewish and Christian) to the Syriac Christian and rabbinic literature of the fourth century. In so doing, this book establishes the importance of biblical interpretation for late ancient Jewish and Christian practices, the centrality of holiness as a category for self-definition, and the relationship of fourth-century asceticism to biblical texts and interpretive history.

'Son of Man' is practically the only self-designation employed by Jesus himself in the gospels, but is used in such a way that no hint is left of any particular theological significance. Still, during the first many centuries of the church, the expression as it was reused was given content, first literally as signifying Christ's human nature. Later 'Son of Man' was thought to be a christological title in its own right. Today, many scholars are inclined to think that, in an original Aramaic of an historical Jesus, it was little more than a rhetorical circumlocution, referring to the one speaking. Mogens Muller's 'The Expression 'Son of Man' and the Development of Christology: A History of Interpretation' is the first study of the 'Son of Man' trope, which traces the history of interpretation from the Apostolic Fathers to the present, concluding that the various interpretations of this phrase reflect little more than the various doctrinal assumptions held by its interpreters over centuries.

Eschatology is the study of the last things: death, judgment, the afterlife, and the end of the world. Through centuries of Christian thoughtfrom the early Church fathers through the Middle Ages and the Reformationthese issues were of the utmost importance. In other religions, too, eschatological concerns were central. After the Enlightenment, though, many religious thinkers began to downplay the importance of eschatology which, in light of rationalism, came to be seen as something of an embarrassment. The twentieth century, however, saw the rise of phenomena that placed eschatology back at the forefront of religious thought. From the rapid expansion of fundamentalist forms of Christianity, with their focus on the end times; to the proliferation of apocalyptic new religious movements; to the recent (and very public) debates about suicide, martyrdom, and paradise in Islam, interest in eschatology is once again on the rise. In addition to its popular resurgence, in recent years some of the worlds most important theologians have returned eschatology to its former position of prominence. The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology will provide an important critical survey of this diverse body of thought and practice from a variety of perspectives: biblical, historical, theological, philosophical, and cultural. This volume will be the primary resource for students, scholars, and others interested in questions of our ultimate existence.

Live boldly and act on your most powerful beliefs with this life-changing guide to faith, positive thinking, and spiritual fulfillment with this book from #1 New York Times bestselling author Joel Osteen, now updated and expanded with the study guide included for the 20th Anniversary edition.

We all have our list of things we want to have “someday.” Whether it’s for a better job, a stronger marriage, a happier home, more gratifying relationships with friends, or simply accomplishing more and leaving a lasting legacy, we think that tomorrow is the day to start our journey towards our goals. But then tomorrow comes and we’re still crowded in by the demands of mundane routines and other people’s priorities. How do you break out and experience the full potential that God intended you to have?

In Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, Joel Osteen offers unique insights and encouragement that will help you overcome every obstacle you may encounter. This updated and expanded version will give you a way to improve your life for good and help you experience victory, joy, and satisfaction with seven steps:

• Enlarge your vision
• Develop a healthy self-image
• Discover the power of your thoughts and words
• Let go of the past
• Find strength through adversity
• Live to give
• Choose to be happy

Your life has a divine purpose and destiny. Put these principles to work today and see how you begin living your best life now!

So much is at stake in the abortion debate. If pro-choicers are right, precious freedoms are in jeopardy. If pro-lifers are right, innocent children are being robbed of their most basic freedom- life. Though bumpersticker slogans prevail, the facts are rarely presented. We need clear and credible answers to the central questions of the abortion debate. For those who have had abortions or are currently considering one, for pro-choicers and fence-straddlers alike, Why Pro-Life? provides answers to these questions in a concise, straightforward, and nonabrasive manner. Human Life Begins... When? No issue is more divisive or troubling than abortion. Many believe that we have to choose between helping women and helping children. This book shows how critical it is that we help both. In a concise, nonabrasive fashion, Randy Alcorn offers compassionate, factual answers to the central issues of the abortion debate.

Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was one of nineteenth-century America's leading theologians, owing in part to a lengthy teaching career, voluminous writings, and a faculty post at one of the nation's most influential schools, Princeton Theological Seminary. Surprisingly, the only biography of this towering figure was written by his son, just two years after his death. Paul Gutjahr's book, therefore, is the first modern critical biography of a man some have called the Pope of Presbyterianism...Hodge's legacy is especially important to American Presbyterians. His brand of theological conservatism became vital in the 1920s, as Princeton Seminary saw itself, and its denomination, split. The conservative wing held unswervingly to the Old School tradition championed by Hodge, and ultimately founded the breakaway Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The views that Hodge developed, refined, and propagated helped shape many of the central traditions of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American evangelicalism. Hodge helped establish a profound reliance on the Bible among evangelicals, and he became one of the nation's most vocal proponents of biblical inerrancy. Gutjahr's study reveals the exceptional depth, breadth, and longevity of Hodge's theological influence and illuminates the varied and complex nature of conservative American Protestantism.

The topic of certitude is much debated today. On one side, commentators such as Charles Krauthammer urge us to achieve "moral clarity." On the other, those like George Will contend that the greatest present threat to civilization is an excess of certitude. To address this uncomfortable debate, Susan Schreiner turns to the intellectuals of early modern Europe, a period when thought was still fluid and had not yet been reified into the form of rationality demanded by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Schreiner argues that Europe in the sixteenth century was preoccupied with concerns similar to ours; both the desire for certainty -- especially religious certainty -- and warnings against certainty permeated the earlier era. Digging beneath overt theological and philosophical problems, she tackles the underlying fears of the period as she addresses questions of salvation, authority, the rise of skepticism, the outbreak of religious violence, the discernment of spirits, and the ambiguous relationship between appearance and reality.
In her examination of the history of theological polemics and debates (as well as other genres), Schreiner sheds light on the repeated evaluation of certainty and the recurring fear of deception. Among the texts she draws on are Montaigne's Essays, the mystical writings of Teresa of Avila, the works of Reformation fathers William of Occam, Luther, Thomas Muntzer, and Thomas More; and the dramas of Shakespeare. The result is not a book about theology, but rather about the way in which the concern with certitude determined the theology, polemics and literature of an age.

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.

Bishop Harvey Spencer never thought he'd witness a pandemic-just as he never expected to see the election of a Black president, the election of a female vice president (Black or otherwise), or an insurrection. But all of those things have happened, and our lives have been forever altered. In this book, he seeks to discover what God is trying to reveal to us by letting COVID-19 run rampant. By studying the Bible, he discovered it is not silent when it comes to fighting an infectious disease. He answers questions such as: - How did ancient Israel fight the spread of another infectious disease-leprosy? - What does the Bible tell us about quarantining individuals who are sick or may be sick? - Why do some elected officials continue to display a lack of leadership amid the pandemic? The author also examines what the Bible says about using face coverings, what the world has done to fight other outbreaks of disease, and similarities between COVID-19 and other deadly viruses. Get simple, practical explanations from the Bible that will help you understand the spread of COVID-19-and how to protect yourself-with A Biblical Response to COVID-19.

Prayer is a vital part of the Christian walk; it's a must for success in the Christian journey.
The Bible is full of examples of how God answers prayer, and it also contains numerous calls for God's children to pray.

In Audacious Prayers, author Albert B. K. Appiah offers a handbook about prayer and what prayer can do in one's life, focusing on praying bold prayers and believing God to answer them. It is about petitioning God audaciously and expecting answers. Drawing on many examples from the Bible to underscore that God answers even the most daring of prayers, it shares powerful stories of Biblical characters who were delivered from pain and suffering by the hand of God.

Appiah weaves personal examples from his own life about some rather bold petitions God granted. He offers a living testimony of the goodness and graciousness of God, who will answer prayer if you dare enough to believe he can.

The Russian school of modern Orthodox theology has made an immense but undervalued contribution to Christian thought. Neglected in Western theology, and viewed with suspicion by some other schools of Orthodox theology, its three greatest thinkers have laid the foundations for a new ecumenism and a recovery of the cosmic dimension of Christianity. This ground-breaking study includes biographical sketches of Aleksandr Bukharev (Archimandrite Feodor), Vladimir Soloviev and Sergii Bulgakov, together with the necessary historical background. Professor Valliere then examines the creative ideas they devised or adapted, including the ?humanity of God?, sophiology, panhumanity, free theocracy, church-and-world dogmatics and prophetic ecumenism.

At the age of twenty-one, Charlene’s sister, Andrea, along with two other college students were tragically killed in a terrible highway accident that made national news. Working through her grief beside her bereaved parents, tragedy struck again when her mother received a devastating cancer diagnosis.
In Brazen Bravery, Charlene tells the story of how she discovered the strength of her family’s rich heritage and deeply rooted Christian faith as she braved the tumultuous waters of grief.
Charlene, a natural and captivating storyteller, invites us into her journey, “telling it like it is” with humor, compassion, and an unflappable and inspiring faith. Through journal pages from her sister and mother, along with song lyrics, Bible verses and poignant quotes from favorite authors, her words will remind you that there is always a way through. The truths she holds onto fiercely helped her transcend the pain and made it possible to “believe that life was not just worth living, but worth living well.”
Brazen Bravery will not only beckon you to embrace the lessons of loss and ignite your overcomer spirit, but it unwraps biblical truth showing us that the sovereignty of God transcends all brokenness and doubt. And reminds us, once again, that love always wins and life never ends.

Will heaven be dream-like? Will heaven be boring? Follow Jesse, a 6-year-old boy, as he talks to his dad about what heaven will be like. Fresh metaphors and vivid illustrations guide kids and parents to a Biblical and beautiful theology of heaven.

On Power (De Potentia) is one of Aquinas's ''Disputed Questions'' (a systematic series of discussions of specific theological topics). It is a text which anyone with a serious interest in Aquinas's thinking will need to read. There is, however, no English translation of the De Potentia currently in print. A translation was published in 1932 under the auspices of the English Dominicans, but is now only available on a CD of translations of Aquineas coming from the InteLex Corporation. A new translation in book form is therefore highly desirable. However, the De Potentia is a very long work indeed (the 1932 translation fills three volumes), and a full translation would be a difficult publishing proposition as well as a challenge to any translator. Recognizing this fact, while wishing to make a solid English version of the De Potentia available, Fr. Richard Regan has produced this abridgement, which passes over some of the full text while retaining what seems most important when it comes to following the flow of Aquinas's thought.

This companion volume to T. F. Torrance's Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ presents the material on the work of Christ, centered in the atonement, given originally in his lectures delivered to his students in Christian Dogmatics on Christology at New college, Edinburgh, from 1952-1978. Like the first volume, the original lecture matierial has been expertly edited by Robert Walker, complete with cross-reference to Torrance's other works. Readers will find this the most readable work of Torrance and, together with Incarnation, the closest to a systematic theology we have from this eminent theologian.

Divine healing is the essential marker of the global phenomenon of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity. But although we know that healing is central in these movements, we know surprisingly little about how divine healing beliefs and practices reflect the interplay of local and global patterns of cultural development. The essays in this collection seek to discover what is the same and what is different about such beliefs and practices in diverse contexts, trace formal and informal lines of cultural influence across geographic and national boundaries, and ask how healing both reflects and contributes to larger processes of globalization. The collection will not only flesh out a picture of how and why spiritual healing is practiced in diverse cultural contexts and how healing practices reflect and shape the transnational spread of Christianity; it will also provide insight into the nature of globalization. The authors will attend to a wide range of issues, including the theological rationales for divine healing; the symbolic objects and ritual enactments employed; the cultural controversies surrounding these practices; the relationship between Christian healing and local or indigenous healing traditions; whether an emphasis on financial prosperity is always present; and the extent to which Pentecostal and charismatic churches are networked and the role of healing in such networks. All the essays are new to this volume.

Afrikaanse Oudiobybel (1983)(MP3 USB) - Die volledige Bybelteks in MP3-formaat op ’n geheuestokkie; enkelstemopname (nie gedramatiseer nie). Hierdie is waarlik vir almal, siggestremdes sowel as siende luisteraars. Ook in die 1953-vertaling beskikbaar.

This first of two volumes comprises Thomas Torrance's lectures delivered to students in Christian Dogmatics on Christology at New College, Edinburgh, from 1952 to 1978. In eight chapters these expertly edited lectures focus on the meaning and significance of the incarnation The most readable and accessible of Torrance's works An invaluable introduction to the thought of Thomas Torrance and to the heart and core of his theological reflections throughout his published work A major account of the whole classical and also reformed doctrine of the person of Christ Interacts extensively with Scripture, making it a theological commentary on the whole Bible Available for the first time, it contains new material never before published on key issues and themes Illuminates and fills out a number of important topics he touched on but did not develop elsewhere "T. F. Torrance stands as one of the finest English-speaking theologians of modern times. Here we have the nearest thing to the systematic theology he had always hoped to write. Scripturally rooted, philosophically acute and always alert to the theological issues that really matter, this book cannot fail to inspire anyone who cares about constructive Christian thought in our day." Jeremy Begbie, Thomas Langford Research Professor of Theology, Duke University

"God Crucified" and Other Essays on the New Testament's Christology of Divine Identity The basic thesis of this important book on New Testament Christology, sketched in the first essay 'God Crucified, is that the worship of Jesus as God was seen by the early Christians as compatible with their Jewish monotheism. Jesus was thought to participate in the divine identity of the one God of Israel. The other chapters provide more detailed support for, and an expansion of, this basic thesis. Readers will find not only the full text of Bauckham's classic book God Crucified, but also groundbreaking essays, some of which have never been published previously

The first edition of the new Catechism went out across the world in many language versions. This gave the local Churches the chance to study it in depth. Through their bishops and teachers they responded with comments on texts that needed refinement. The present edition was developed in the light of these comments and published in Latin as the definitive Editio Typica. This book is the English translation of the Editio Typica.