The authors suggest new roles that faith communities can play in the search for truth and in the reconstruction of South Africa.

In November 1997 representatives of a number of faith traditions - Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Baha'i and African - appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to give an account of their roles in South Africa's past. This book, which reproduces the full version of the subsequent report - followed by a series of critical reflections - is intended to reinvigorate discussion about truth and reconciliation.

Dit is die verhaal van ’n vrou wat haar familie in ’n terreuraanval verloor. Dit vertel van ’n gelowige wat in gehoorsaamheid leef, net sodat die mat onder haar uitgeruk kan word. Die boek sal die leser aanmoedig om die werklike koste van ons geloof te bereken, na te dink oor die karakter van God en ons identiteit as Sy kinders. Hannelie se verhaal is ’n merkwaardige getuienis van ’n lewe in geloof en die krag van vergifnis.

This book tells the story of the Prophet Muhammad as an inspirational role model for anyone who wants to be extraordinary.

You will learn how Muhammad shaped his personality as a child, dealt with the universal challenges of adolescence while a teenager, and then emerged as a leader in his community as a young adult. The book deliberately avoids the language of historical narration used in typical biographies of the Prophet in favor of a more informal, down-to-earth approach.

In this book, the reader will get a completely different view of Muhammad and hopefully will see how Muhammad addressed our own daily challenges, inspiring us to excel in confronting these challenges.

Are we really just the result of innumerable coincidences? Or is there a more reasonable explanation?

Most of us remember the basics from science classes about how Earth came to be the only known planet that sustains complex life. But what most people don't know is that the more thoroughly researchers investigate the history of our planet, the more astonishing the story of our existence becomes.

The number and complexity of the astronomical, geological, chemical, and biological features recognized as essential to human existence have expanded explosively within the past decade. An understanding of what is required to make possible a large human population and advanced civilizations has raised profound questions about life, our purpose, and our destiny.

This fascinating book helps non-scientists understand the countless miracles that undergird the exquisitely fine-tuned planet we call home--as if Someone had us in mind all along.

To know what the future holds, know what the past is hiding.

This book will open your eyes to groundbreaking mysteries that will impact not only how you understand the past, but also how you can be ready for the future. Jonathan Cahn, author of the New York Times best sellers The Harbinger, The Mystery of the Shemitah, The Book of Mysteries, and The Paradigm, now unveils The Oracle, in which he opens up the Jubilean mysteries and a revelation so big that it lies behind everything from the rise and fall of nations and empires (even America), to the current events of our day, to the future, to end-time prophecy, and much more.

• Could an ancient prophecy and a mysterious ordinance given in a Middle Eastern desert over three thousand years ago be determining the events of our day?
• Could some of the most famous people of modern history and current events be secretly linked to this mystery-even a modern president of the United States?
• Could this ancient revelation pinpoint the events of our times down to the year, month, and day of their occurring?
• Could a mysterious phenomenon be manifesting on the world stage on an exact timetable determined from ancient times?
• Could these manifestations have altered-and now be altering-the course of world events?

Jonathan Cahn takes the reader on a journey to find the man called the Oracle. One by one each of the Jubilean mysteries will be revealed through the giving of a vision. The Oracle will uncover the mysteries of The Stranger, The Lost City, The Man With the Measuring Line, The Land of Seven Wells, The Birds, The Number of the End, The Man in the Black Robe, The Prophet's Song, The Matrix of Years, The Day of the Lions, The Awakening of the Dragon, and much more.

The reader will discover the ancient scrolls that contain the appointed words that have determined the course of world history from the onset of modern times up to our day. The revelation is so big that it will involve and open up the mysteries of everything and everyone from Mark Twain to Moses, from King Nebuchadnezzar to Donald Trump, from the fall of empires to the rise of America, from a mystery hidden in a desert cave to another in an ancient scroll, from the palace of the Persian Empire to the US Senate, from the Summer of Love to the Code of Babylon, and much, much more. Ultimately the Oracle will reveal the secret that lies behind end-time prophecy and the mystery of the end of the age.

As with The Harbinger and The Book of Mysteries, Cahn reveals the mysteries through a narrative. A traveler is given seven keys; each will open up one of seven doors. Behind each door lies a stream of mysteries. The reader will be taken on a journey of angels and prophetic revelations waiting to be discovered behind each of the seven doors-the ancient secrets that lie behind the world-changing events of modern times-and revelations of what is yet to come.

Hailed as a mind-blowing masterpiece, The Oracle will reveal mysteries that are absolutely real, amazing, stunning, mind-blowing, and life-changing.

Prepare to be blown away.

In hierdie versamelbundel is daar ‘n groep uiteenlopende mense gevra om elk ‘n onafhanklike essay te skryf na aanleiding van ‘n Bybelteks.

Daar is skrywers, ekonome, musikante, akademici en joernaliste. Die enigste voorwaardes was dat dit persone moet wees wat nie meer kerklik betrokke en/ of ‘n dominee of teoloog is nie. Baie essays is bloot verhale, vertellings, reise of verduidelikings wat met ‘n teks verbind kan word.

Ons almal is medereisigers in hierdie verbygaande wêreldse bestel. Kom ons luister met ‘n oop gemoed na mekaar. Dán staan ons ‘n kans om te verstaan, te begryp, eerder as om te oordeel.

Van die bekende en bekroonde skrywers wat deelneem aan hierdie projek is onder andere Jurie van den Heever, Annelie Botes, Dana Snyman, Pik Botha, Heinz Modler, Lizette Rabe, Dawie Roodt, Rachelle Greeff, Piet Croukamp, Joan Hambidge, Koos Kombuis, Karin Brynard, Jean Oosthuizen, Christine Barkhuizen Le Roux, Lina Spies, Valda Jansen, Valiant Swart, Nathan Trantraal, Churchil Naude, Riku Lätti en Luke Alfred.

Christianity, the faith of almost three-quarters of the diverse South African population, has long been pushed to the margins of historical writing on South Africa, yet for more than two centuries it has shaped South African society and its diverse subcultures. This tightly constructed and vigorously written book - a collaboration of thirty specialists working in seven countries - situates Christianity for the first time in the broad political, social, and economic context of South African history; it also traces a variety of religious movements and their histories both before and during apartheid.

Perhaps nowhere in the African continent is the study of Christianity as fascinating, complex, or contentious as in South Africa. In the twentieth century South Africans have used Christian doctrine both to justify and to oppose doctrines of racial segregation, and Christian leadership provided much of the impetus for the founding of the African National Congress in 1912. But the history of South African Christianity is found for the most part in local, or "micro" narratives, while the highly elaborated "macro" narratives of colonialism, capitalism, and liberation - the backbone of the conventional histories of South Africa - assign Christianity a marginal role, or no role at all.

This volume seeks to insert the Christian micro-narratives into the macro-narratives of South African history, providing for the first time an in-depth, cohesive look at Christianity in South Africa.

From Plato to Wittgenstein and religions from Judaism to the Hindu tradition, interspersed with divine influences from Classical Greece, Romantic poetry, and the occasional scene from 'Alien', 'God: A Guide for the Perplexed' charts the path of humanity's great spiritual odyssey: the search for God. Leading the way through this minefield is acclaimed philosopher-theologian Keith Ward, blending the sublime and the eclectic in a narrative which offers wit, erudition and moments of genuine pathos. As a survey of the different manifestations of God through the centuries, and an examination of humanity's search for the divine, this is an engaging and informative book. As a deeply moving testament to our endless capacity for spiritual hope, it is compulsive reading for anyone interested in, or embarking on, the great quest for meaning. 'A lively and very clearly written discussion summarizing and criticizing the thoughts of many significant thinkers.' Times Literary Supplement 'Wry but delightfully non-ironic, intelligent and clear, this book is a blessing. ' Publishers Weekly 'Highly informed, witty and immensely accessible. One of the most congenial, lively and informative introductions to this field.' Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology, Oxford University

Through his death on the cross, Christ atoned for sin and so reconciled people to God. New Testament authors drew upon a range of metaphors and motifs to describe this salvific act, and down through history Christian thinkers have tried to articulate various theories to explain the atonement. While Christ's sacrifice serves as a central tenet of the Christian faith, the mechanism of atonementaexactly how Christ effects our salvationaremains controversial and ambiguous to many Christians. In Atonement and the Death of Christ ,William Lane Craig conducts an interdisciplinary investigation of this crucial Christian doctrine, drawing upon Old and New Testament studies, historical theology, and analytic philosophy.The study unfolds in three discrete parts:Craig first explores the biblical basis of atonement and unfolds the wide variety of motifs used to characterize this doctrine. Craig then highlights some of the principal alternative theories of the atonement offered by great Christian thinkers of the premodern era. Lastly, Craig's exploration delves into a constructive and innovative engagement with philosophy of law, which allows an understanding of atonement that moves beyond mystery and into the coherent mechanism of penal substitution. Along the way, Craig enters into conversation with contemporary systematic theories of atonement as he seeks to establish a position that is scripturally faithful and philosophically sound.The result is a multifaceted perspective that upholds the suffering of Christ as a substitutionary, representational, and redemptive act that satisfies divine justice. In addition, this carefully reasoned approach addresses the rich tapestry of Old Testament imagery upon which the first Christians drew to explain how the sinless Christ saved his people from the guilt of their sins.

The ancient world, much like our own, thrived on cultural diversity and exchange. The riches of this social reality are evident in the writings of Jews in the Hellenistic and Roman eras. Jewish authors drew on the wide range of Greek literary conventions and gave fresh expressions to the proud traditions of their faith and ethnic identity. They did not hesitate to modify and adapt the forms they received from the surrounding culture, but their works stand as legitimate participants in Greco-Roman literary tradition. In Greek Genres and Jewish Authors , Sean Adams argues that a robust understanding of ancient genre facilitates proper textual interpretation. This perspective is vital for insight on the author, the work's original purpose, and how the original readers would have received it. Adopting a cognitive-prototype theory of genre, Adams provides a detailed discussion of Jewish authors writing in Greek from ca. 300 BCE to ca. 135 CEaincluding New Testament authorsaand their participation in Greek genres. The nine chapters focus on broad genre divisions (e.g., poetry, didactic, philosophy) to provide studies on each author's engagement with Greek genres, identifying both representative and atypical expressions and features. The book's most prominent contribution lies in its data synthesis to provide a macroperspective on the ways in which Jewish authors participated in and adapted Greek genresain other words, how members of a minority culture intentionally engaged with the dominant culture's literary practices alongside traditional Jewish features, resulting in unique text expressions. Greek Genres and Jewish Authors provides a rich resource for Jewish, New Testament, and classical scholars, particularly those who study cultural engagement, development of genres, and ancient education.

Demography drives religious change. High-fertility societies, like most of contemporary Africa, tend to be fervent and devout. The lower a population's fertility rates, the greater the tendency for people to detach from organized or institutional religion. Thus, fertility rates supply an effective gauge of secularization trends. In Fertility and Faith , Philip Jenkins maps the demographic revolution that has taken hold of many countries around the globe in recent decades and explores the implications for the future development of the world's religions. Demographic change has driven the secularization of contemporary Western Europe, where the revolution began. Jenkins shows how the European trajectory of rapid declines in fertility is now affecting much of the globe. The implications are clear: the religious character of many non-European areas is highly likely to move in the direction of sweeping secularization. And this is now reshaping the United States itself. This demographic revolution is reshaping Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism. In order to accommodate the new social trends, these religions must adapt to situations where large families are no longer the norm. Each religious tradition will develop distinctive emphases concerning morality, gender, and sexuality, as well as the roles of clergy and laity in the faith's institutional structures. Radical change follows great upheaval. The tidal shift is well underway. With Fertility and Faith , Philip Jenkins describes this ongoing phenomenon and envisions our collective religious future.

When talking about the relationship between religion and flourishing, the first task is to frame the question theologically and philosophically, and this entails taking seriously the potential challenges latent in the issue. These challenges includeabeyond the contested definitions of both "religion" and "flourishing"athe claims of some faith traditions that true adherence to that tradition's goals and intrinsic goods can be incompatible with self-interest, and also the fact that religious definitions of health and wholeness tend to be less concrete than secular definitions. Despite the difficulties, research that considers uniquely religious aspects of human flourishing is essential, as scholars pursue even greater methodological rigor in future investigations of causal connections. Religion and Human Flourishing brings together scholars of various specializations to consider how theological and philosophical perspectives might shape such future research, and how such research might benefit religious communities. The first section of the book takes up the foundational theological and philosophical questions. The next section turns to the empirical dimension and encompasses perspectives ranging from anthropology to psychology.The third and final section of the book follows in the empirical mold by moving to more sociological and economic levels of analysis. The concluding reflection offers a survey of what the social scientific research reveals about both the positive and negative effects of religion. Scholars and laypeople alike are interested in religion, and many more still are interested in how to lead a meaningful lifeahow to flourish. The collaborative undertaking represented by Religion and Human Flourishing will further attest to the perennial importance of the questions of religious belief and the pursuit of the good life, and will become a standard for further exploration of such questions.

The imagery of Hell, the Christian account of the permanent destinations of the human soul after death, has fascinated people over the centuries since the emergence of the Christian faith. These landmark volumes provide the first large-scale investigation of this imagery found across the Byzantine and post-Byzantine world. Particular emphasis is placed on images from churches across Venetian Crete, which are comprehensively collected and published for the first time. Crete was at the centre of artistic production in the late Byzantine world and beyond and its imagery was highly influential on traditions in other regions. The Cretan examples accompany rich comparative material from the wider Mediterranean - Cappadocia, Macedonia, the Peloponnese and Cyprus. The large amount of data presented in this publication highlight Hell's emergence in monumental painting not as a concrete array of images, but as a diversified mirroring of social perceptions of sin.

Is there an inevitable global violent clash unfolding between the world's largest religions: Islam and Christianity? Do religions cause violent conflicts, or are there other factors at play? How can we make sense of increasing reports of violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic communities across the world? By seeking to answer such questions about the relationship between religion and violence in today's world, Ziya Meral challenges popular theories and offers an alternative explanation, grounded on insights inferred from real cases of ethno-religious violence in Africa and the Middle East.

The relationship between religion and violence runs deep and both are intrinsic to the human story. Violence leads to and shapes religion, while religion acts to enable violence as well as providing responses that contain and prevent it. However, with religious violence being one of the most serious challenges facing the modern world, Meral shows that we need to de-globalise our analysis and focus on individual conflicts, instead of attempting to provide single answers to complex questions.

Although evangelicals and environmentalists at large still find themselves on opposing sides of an increasingly contentious issue, there is a counternarrative that has received little attention. Since the late 1970s, evangelical creation care advocates have worked relentlessly both to find a common cause with environmentalists and to convince fellow evangelicals to engage in environmental debate and action. In God's Wounded World , Melanie Gish analyzes the evolution of evangelical environmental advocacy in the United States. Drawing on qualitative interviews, organizational documents, and other texts, her interdisciplinary approach focuses on the work of evangelical environmental organizations and the motivations of the individuals who created them. Gish positions creation care by placing mainstream environmentalism on one side and organized evangelical environmental skepticism on the other. The religiopolitical space evangelical environmental leaders have established "in-between but still within" is carefully explored, with close attention to larger historical context as well as to creation care's political opportunities and intraevangelical challenges. The nuanced portrait that emerges defies simple distinctions.Not only are creation care leaders wrestling with questions of environmental degradation and engagement, they also must grapple with what it means to be an evangelical living faithfully in both present-day America and the global community. As Gish reveals, evangelical advocates' answers to these questions place moral responsibility and mediation above ideology and dogmatic certainty. Such a posture risks political irrelevance in our hyperpartisan and combative political culture, but if it succeeds it could transform the creation care movement into a powerful advocate fora more accommodating and holistically oriented evangelicalism.

In nineteenth-century Ghana, regional warfare rooted in profound social and economic transformations led thousands of displaced people to seek refuge in the small mountain kingdom of Akuapem. There they encountered missionaries from Germany whose message of sin and forgiveness struck many of these newcomers as irrelevant to their needs. However, together with Akuapem's natives, these newcomers began reformulating Christianity as a ritual tool for social and physical healing, as well as power, in a dangerous spiritual and human world. The result was Ghana's oldest African-initiated variant of Christianity: a homegrown expression of unbroken moral, political, and religious priorities. Focusing on the southeastern Gold Coast in the middle of the nineteenth century, Healing and Power in Ghana identifies patterns of indigenous reception, rejection, and reformulation of what had initially arrived, centuries earlier, as a European trade religion. Paul Grant draws on a mixture of European and indigenous sources in several languages, building on recent scholarship in world Christianity to address the question of conversion through the lens of the indigenous moral imagination. This approach considers, among other things, the conditions in which Akuapem locals and newly arrived displaced persons might find Christianity useful or applicable to their needs. This is no traditional history of the European-African religious encounter. Ghanian Christians identified the missionaries according to preexisting political and religious categoriesaas a new class of shrine priests. They resolved their own social crises in ways the missionaries were unable to understand. In effect, Christianity became an indigenous religion years before indigenous people converted in any appreciable numbers. By foregrounding the sacrificial idiom shared by locals, missionaries, and native thinkers, Healing and Power in Ghana presents a new model of scholarship for both West African history and world Christianity.

Perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, Africa has generated unique expressions of Christianity that have, in their rapid development, overtaken older forms of Christianity represented by historic missionary efforts. Similarly, African Christianity has largely displayed its rootedness in its social and cultural context. The story of Pentecostal movements in urban Kenya captures both remarkable trends. Individual accounts of churches and their leaders shed light on rich and diverse commonalities among generations of Kenya's Christian communities. Exploring the movements' religious visions in urban Africa, A Spirit of Revitalization: Urban Pentecostalism in Kenya highlights antecedent movements set against their historical, social, economic, and political contexts. Kyama Mugambi examines how, in their translation of the Gospel, innovative leaders synthesized new expressions of faith from elements of their historical and contemporary contexts. The sum of their experiences historically charts the remarkable journey of innovation, curation, and revision that attends to the process of translation and conversion in Christian history. While outlining a century of successive renewal movements in Kenya between 1920 and 2020, the study also delves into features of recent urban Pentecostal churches. Readers will find a thorough historical treatment of themes such as church structures, corporate vision, Christian formation, and theological education. The longitudinal and comparative analysis shows how these Pentecostal approaches to orality, kinship, and integrated spirituality inform Kenyans' reimagination of Christianity.

In First Chaplain of the Confederacy Katherine Jeffrey tells the little-known story of Darius Hubert, a French-born Jesuit who made his home in Louisiana in the 1840s, where he served churches and schools in Grand Coteau, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. Later, Hubert pronounced a blessing at the Louisiana Secession Convention and became the first chaplain appointed to Confederate service in the Civil War. He served with the First Louisiana Infantry in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia for the entirety of the war and afterward came home to New Orleans, where he continued his ministry among veterans, to whom he had become a trusted pastor and friend. One of only three full-time Catholic chaplains who served in Lee's army, he was the only one to return permanently to the South after surrender. In postwar New Orleans, Hubert was unanimously elected chaplain of the veterans of the eastern campaign and became prominent for his memorable public prayers at memorial events, funerals of figures such as Jefferson Davis, and the dedication of Confederate monuments. This first-ever biography of Hubert traces his origins in revolutionary France, his entry into the Society of Jesus, and his decision to cross the ocean and throw in his lot with the southern Jesuits of the New Orleans Province. It describes his interactions with slaves and free people of color, the effects of anti-Catholic and anti-Jesuit propaganda, disputes and dysfunction with the trustees of his Baton Rouge church, and a deadly confrontation with political violence from members of the Know-Nothing party. It follows him on the march and in camp with the Army of Northern Virginia, through harrowing battles and their equally traumatic aftermath in surgeon's tents and hospitals. It explores his role as a spiritual director, friend, mentor, and ""intercessor in chief"" in the fractious and politically divided Crescent City in the 1870s and 80s, where he both honored Confederate memory and promoted reconciliation and social harmony. It examines in some detail his broadly ecumenical friendships, which distinguished him from many of his fellow priests, including Catholic chaplains with whom he served in the war. It pauses over his unusually supportive role of women, tracing his platonic relationships with a brilliant Catholic convert from Ohio forced to live in a religious ""no man's land"" in the South and an illiterate Irish entrepreneur and philanthropist whose local celebrity hid deep spiritual anguish. Jeffrey's biography of Hubert adds much to our understanding of Catholicism and religion during and after the nation's most tragic event. It is certain to be appreciated by Civil War historians, general readers, and those with an interest in the history of religion in America.

The Christian life, concerned with both spirituality and doctrine, aims not at rationally defensible truth but at life-transforming love. Greater understanding of the truth will not settle the restlessness in a human spirit; only the redemptive power of relationship with God can calm the soul. The crux of Kierkegaard's presentation of Christianity is not that doctrine is unimportant, but that it is ultimately insufficient for a life lived in relationship with God. In Contemporary with Christ ,Joshua Cockayne explores the Christian spiritual life with SA,ren Kierkegaard (in the guise of his various pseudonyms) as his guide and analytic theology as his key tool of engagement. Cockayne contends that the Christian life is second-personal : it seeks encounter with a personal God. As Kierkegaard describes, God invites us to "live on the most intimate terms with God." Cockayne argues that this vision of Christian spirituality is deeply practical because it advocates for a certain way of acting and existing. This approach to the Christian life moves from first-reflection, whereby one acquires objective knowledge, to second-reflection, whereby one attains deeper self-understanding, which fortifies one's relationship with God. Individuals encounter Christ through traditional practices: prayer, the Eucharist, and the reading of Scripture. However, experiences of suffering and mortality that mirror Christ's own passion also enliven this life of encounter. Spiritual progress comes through a reorientation of one's will, desire, and self-knowledge. Such progress must ultimately serve the goal of drawing close to God through Christ's presence. Engaging philosophy, theology, and psychology, Cockayne invites us to join in a conversation with Kierkegaard and explore how the spiritual disciplines provide opportunities for relationship with God by becoming contemporary with Christ.

In 2 Maccabees 1a7 , Seth Ehorn provides a foundational analysis of the Greek text of 2 Maccabees. The analysis is distinguished by the detailed yet comprehensive attention paid to the text. Ehorn's analysis is a convenient pedagogical and reference tool that explains the form and syntax of the biblical text, offers guidance for deciding between competing semantic analyses, engages important text-critical debates, and addresses questions relating to the Greek text that are frequently overlooked by standard commentaries. Beyond serving as a succinct and accessible analytic key, 2 Maccabees 1a7 also reflects recent advances in scholarship on Greek grammar and linguistics and is informed by current discussions within Septuagint studies. These handbooks prove themselves indispensable tools for anyone committed to a deep reading of the Greek text of the Septuagint.

In hierdie boek kyk Jean Oosthuizen krities na die NG Kerk se geskiedenis sedert Jan van Riebeeck se aankoms in die Kaap, tot waar die kerk vandag is. In sy bestaan van meer as 350 jaar het die NG Kerk en die Nasionale Party so verstrengel geraak dat die kerk as “die Nasionale Party in gebed” bekend gestaan het. Die teoloog Ferdinand Deist se voorspelling in die laat tagtigerjare dat die kerk sal ondergaan wanneer apartheid tot ’n einde kom, blyk vandag in die kol te wees.

As instelling wat apartheid uit die Bybel geregverdig en verdedig het, het die kerk se vernietigende invloed nie alleen gemeenskappe in Suid-Afrika van mekaar vervreem nie – ook lidmate wat kritiese vrae gestel het, is na die periferie geskuif. Talle individue se menswaardigheid is geskend en verskeie loopbane is onder die dekmantel van Christenskap vernietig, soos die skrywer self kan getuig.

Oosthuizen se blik strek egter wyer as sy ervaring toe hy in 2013 as nuusredakteur van Kerkbode geskors is ná die opspraakwekkende Woordfees-debakel. Sy reis vanuit die kerk se binnekring sluit die verhale in van gelowiges sowel as ongelowiges wie se paaie met die NG Kerk gekruis het. Die opkoms en ondergang van die NG Kerk bied ’n kontemporêre blik op die tragiese geskiedenis van ’n instelling wat deur die aandadigheid aan verontregting stelselmatig irrelevant geraak het.