We've all heard the rationale: "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere." Or "All religions are pretty much the same." But are they the same? Does it matter which one you follow? In this insightful and compelling book, Michael Green invites readers into a relationship with Jesus Christ, the divine revelation and only pathway to the one true God.
In a conversational style geared toward nonbelievers, Green compares Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and other religions to help spiritual seekers navigate the multi-faith maze. "But Don't All Religions Lead to God?" is an ideal reference and evangelism tool for churches and individual Christians as well. It offers scriptural references, looks at how divergent religious traditions view salvation and eternity, and answers difficult questions such as "What about people who have never heard of Jesus?" and "How should Christians regard other religions?"
In the midst of our pluralistic and tolerant culture, here is an important and convincing argument for faith in Jesus-the only great teacher whose death and resurrection provided grace, forgiveness, and an eternity in the presence of God.

Original and far-reaching, this book shows the resources for Black theology within the living tradition of African-American religion and culture. Beginning with the slave narratives, Hopkins tells how slaves received their masters' faith and transformed it into a gospel of liberation. Resources include the works of W.E.B. Du Bois, Toni Morrison, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.

'A recovery of the old sense of sin is essential to Christianity. Christ takes it for granted that men are bad. Until we really feel this assumption of His to be true, though we are part of the world He came to save, we are not part of the audience to whom His words are addressed.' --C.S. Lewis. Pride...envy...anger...lust...gluttony...sloth...avarice... C.S. Lewis, often called the grandfather of evangelical writers, is well known for the impact his books made on a secular society as well as in Christian circles. Not surprisingly, he had something to say about these seven deadly sins. The seven virtues -- prudence, courage, justice, temperance, faith, hope, love -- were portrayed in his writings as well. Gerard Reed, Ph.D., explores Lewis's thoughts on vice and virtue as expressed in his writings. Although Lewis never wrote a full-fledged ethical treatise on the seven deadly sins and seven virtures, Reed draws upon Lewis's words in timeless classics such as Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, Surprised by Joy, and others, and also draws upon thinkers Lewis used, such as Aristotle and Aquinas. Through Lewis's words, Reed points us to a deeper relationship with God and with our world.

To many Christians theology is something alien, overly intellectual and wholly unappealing. Even seminary students are known to balk at the prospect of a course on theology. Yet theology--most simply, the knowledge of God--is essential to the life and health of the church. In this short introduction, Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson, two theologians who care deeply about the witness of ordinary Christians and the ministry of the church, show what theology is, what tools theology uses, why every believer (advanced degrees or not) is a theologian and how the theological enterprise can be productive and satisfying. Their clear, easily understood book is ideal for students, church study groups and individual Christians who want to strengthen understanding, belief and commitment by coming to know God more fully.

Throughout the Gospel of John Jesus poses a series of questions: "What are you looking for?" "Do you want to be healed?" "Why do I speak to you at all?" as well as the most poignant, addressed to Peter, "Do you love me?" Michael Crosby's reflections on these questions take us into the heart of John's gospel. He highlights an important theme: the tension between a model of the church that gives emphasis to the Petrine principle of apostolic authority and a model of the church -- characterized by the Beloved Disciple -- that gives greater emphasis to loving service and discipleship. As Crosby shows, it is in balancing the roles of both Peter and the Beloved Disciple that the church best reflects the spirit of Christ.

Why I Believe: Straight Answers to Honest Questions about God, the Bible, and Christianity

Well-respected pastor and Bible teacher addresses some of the most confounding questions associated with the Christian faith: Is there an afterlife? Can we trust the Bible? Did the resurrection really happen?

In our post-Christian, pluralistic society, responding to the perception that Christians are prejudiced, anti-intellectual, and bigoted has become a greater challenge than ever before. The result is often intimidation, withdrawal, and even doubts among God's people about what we really believe. Bestselling author and teaching pastor at Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram, wants to change that.

In Why I Believe, he gives compelling answers to questions about

- the resurrection of Christ

- the evidence of an afterlife

-the accuracy and intellectual feasibility of the Bible

- the debate between creation and evolution

- the historicity of Jesus

- and more

The solid, biblical, logical answers he shares will satisfy the honest doubts that every believer experiences now and then, and will provide practical, thoughtful answers that can be shared with family and friends. This is the perfect resource for churches, small groups, and individuals who long not only to really know what and why they believe, but also to be equipped to explain the intellectual justification for their faith in everyday language.

John Henry Newman was one of the most eminent of Victorians and an intellectual pioneer for an age of doubt and unsettlement. His teaching transformed the Victorian Church of England, yet many still want to know more of Newman's personal life. Newman's printed correspondence runs to 32 volumes, and John Henry Newman: A Portrait in Letters offers a way through the maze. Roderick Strange has chosen letters that illustrate not only the well-known aspects of Newman's personality, but also those in which elements that may be less familiar are on display. There are letters to family and friends, and also terse letters laced with anger and sarcasm. The portrait has not been airbrushed. This selection of letters presents a rounded picture, one in which readers will meet Newman as he really was and enjoy the pleasure of his company. As Newman himself noted, 'the true life of a man is in his letters'.

"As a church, we collectively and responsibly assumed the task of breaking the silence that thousands of war victims have kept for years. We opened up the possibility for them to speak, to have their say, to tell their stories of suffering and pain, so they might feel liberated from the burden that has been weighing down on them for so many years." With these words, on April 24, 1998, Bishop Juan Gerardi, coordinator of the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala, released an historic study of human rights abuses in Guatemala, the work of the church's Recovery of Historical Memory project. Two days later, Bishop Gerardi was murdered. Guatemala: Never Again! is the abridged English translation of the original four-volume reoport. It alternates graphic eyewitness testimony with conclusions about the origins, nature, and impace of the devastating violence waged against Guatemalans by their government from the 1970's to the 1990s's.

New liturgical book for the United States that went into use on November 29, 1998. We will offer the following New Editions -- all utilizing the format that has made our liturgical books the most pastoral ... practicable ... and functional possible.

Because what you believe is important... Frank Moore returns with another helping of theological jargon made simple in More Coffee Shop Theology . Bringing tough doctrinal concepts to an understandable level for the average person, this second volume tackles topics including prevenient grace, saving faith, regeneration, predestination, baptism, tribulation, millennial views, eternity and more. Life's complexities can take on the simplicity God intended when discussing theology as if enjoying a cup of coffee in a local cafe. Your understanding of theology 'the study of God' becomes clearer through a 'grass-roots' approach. More Coffee Shop Theology and the initial offering, Coffee Shop Theology, provide basic, applicable instruction to assist you in defining what you believe. Topics discussed in Coffee Shop Theology include: the existence of God, the Trinity, Providence, Authority of Scripture, Human Nature, Original Sin, Systemic Evil, the Deity and Humanity of Christ and more.

This book continues the conversations begun in Emilie Townes's path-breaking A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering. Once again, Townes brings together essays by leading womanist theologians, interweaving a concern for matters of race, gender, and class, as these bear on the survival and well-being of the African-American community. In Embracing the Spirit the emphasis is not on evil and suffering, but on "hope, salvation, and transformation" for individuals and their communities.

Reflects what traditional proverbs used in Christian catechetical, liturgical, and ritual contexts reveal about Tanzanian appropriations of and interpretations of Christianity.

Today's popular road to understanding end-time prophecy is littered with myths, misconceptions, misinterpretations, and outright fiction. Somewhere Jesus is Waiting utilizes Federal Evidence Rule 902 and a plethora of scriptural analysis to unravel the evangelical mysteries of prophecy by establishing a historical timeline from Abraham to the reigning end of the "time of the Gentiles." While revealing an understandable identification of the Abomination of Desolation, Beast and its Mark, False Prophet, Tribulation, Millennium, and God's Two Witnesses, a unique salvation message emerges directly from the cross of Calvary. Somewhere, Jesus is waiting. Why? Will the final great awakening be triggered by the burgeoning worldwide conflict between Communism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism? Do history, archeology, and science coalesce with the Scripture to reveal the Rapture as the last exodus? Daniel 12:11-12 prophetically reveals the role of the Messiah, Jerusalem, Islam, and Muhammad's role in the end-times. Today's fulfillment of these verses intrinsically ties Islam to prophecy, signals the end of the "time of the Gentiles," and ushers in the "last generation." The author is a retired businessman whose Christian service included director of the singles ministry in a 5,500-member church, Sunday school superintendent, Sunday school teacher, and director of youth ministry.

THE WORD MADE FLESH is Eugene Peterson at his best: writing about words and the way we are called to use them. Continuing Peterson's evaluation of contemporary Christian Spirituality, THE WORD MADE FLESH is an extended meditation on language and the way it should be used in Christian community. As with the first three books in the series, THE WORD MADE FLESH is written for both lay and academic audiences. Challenging but deeply rewarding, it combines scholarship with the human experience and lightness of touch for which Peterson is known. Also available in the Spiritual Theology series: Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, Eat This Book, The Jesus Way and Practise Resurrection.

The Ultimate Three Minutes is a statement of Christian theology in terms of Salvation History, introducing the functions of Abraham, Moses, Second Isaiah and the Psalms; and placing in historical context the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ his uniqueness, the formation of the Gospels, and the Eucharist as the identifying thread which binds the redemptive or salvation process into a coherent whole and vivifies the Christian hope. This presentation of basic Christian Gospel theology is carried within a simplistic account of the history of the Ancient World, written in the style of a continuous narrative, with digressions into special topics such as the Psalms, Augustus and Providence, the Sixth Chapter of St Johns Gospel, and the Northern Frontier. It also features a parable drawn from modern science. The title of the book borrows from two distinguished scientists. In The First Three Minutes Steven Weinberg describes the developments of the first three minutes of the universe, following the explosion of the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. In The Last Three Minutes Paul Davies describes the final subsidence of the universe into entropy and heat death. The Ultimate Three Minutes: The Story of Two Great Human Watersheds Their Preparation and Their Coinciding provides a humanitarian parallel. The title embodies a value judgement, namely the need of the human race for redemption, and the achievement of that redemption by Jesus Christ, the Anointed Saviour, on his Cross. The Ultimate Three Minutes is the final three minutes before Jesus Christ expelled his final breath, when the suffering and the cost of the redemption of mankind was at its most heavy and precarious.

What are the theological foundations of Christian ministry? What should a vital Christian ministry look like in the world today? Teacher and veteran of urban ministry Bryan Stone addresses these important questions in an engaging and challenging book. Compassionate Ministry explores systematically the relationship between Christian doctrines of God, church, and human existence, and the focus and meaning of ministry today. It offers a solid introduction to the theology of ministry through an approach rooted in the compassion of God, which Stone shows is evident throughout the scriptures and made real in the incarnation and ministry of Jesus. Compassionate Ministry locates a primary focus in the experience of suffering and poverty which marks daily life for the majority of people today. Stone builds continually on this insight, drawing out the dimensions of a humanizing ministry that participates in restoring the "image of God" in which all have been created: an image of freedom, humanity, community. Understanding God as all-compassionate, and Jesus as the Compassion of God, this book provides a model of a compassionate church as a "liberating community: " people who, knowing what they believe, work and worship together in the service of humanizing praxis in their own community, and in the world at large. Finally, this ministry call for "compassionate evangelism" which proceeds itself from the community, as a more holistic and historical approach than current consensus might suggest.