Standing Against the Whirlwind is a history of the Evangelical party in the Episcopal Church in nineteenth-century America. A surprising revisionist account of the church's first century, it reveals the extent to which evangelical Episcopalians helped to shape the piety, identity, theology, and mission of the church. Using the life and career of one of the party's greatest leaders, Charles Pettit McIlvaine, the second bishop of Ohio, Diana Butler blends institutional history with biography to explore the vicissitudes and tribulations of evangelicals in a church that often seemed inhospitable to their version of the Gospel. This gracefully written narrative history of a neglected movement sheds light on evangelical religion within a particular denomination and broadens the interpretation of nineteenth-century American evangelicalism as a whole. In addition, it elucidates such wider cultural and religious issues as the meaning of millennialism and the nature of the crisis over slavery.

David Henkel, one of the founders of the Tennessee Synod was one of the most important theologians of nineteenth century confessional Lutheranism in North America. The Tennessee Synod had the distinction of being the first Lutheran church body to publish the entire Book of Concord in English, and its pastors were zealous missionaries, contending against false doctrine and proclaiming the truth of the Gospel. This book is Henkel's contribution to contending against the errors of Unitarianism, and is still a valuable resource for responding to those who deny the scriptural teaching of the doctrine of the Trinity.

In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, the pilgrims cannot reach the Celestial City without passing through Vanity Fair, where everything is bought and sold. In recent years there has been much analysis of commerce and consumption in Britain during the long eighteenth century, and of the dramatic expansion of popular publishing. Similarly, much has been written on the extraordinary effects of the evangelical revivals of the eighteenth century in Britain, Europe, and North America. But how did popular religious culture and the world of print interact? It is now known that religious works formed the greater part of the publishing market for most of the century. What religious books were read, and how? Who chose them? How did they get into people's hands? Vanity Fair and the Celestial City is the first book to answer these questions in detail. It explores the works written, edited, abridged, and promoted by evangelical dissenters, Methodists both Arminian and Calvinist, and Church of England evangelicals in the period 1720 to 1800. Isabel Rivers also looks back to earlier sources and forward to the continued republication of many of these works well into the nineteenth century. The first part is concerned with the publishing and distribution of religious books by commercial booksellers and not-for-profit religious societies, and the means by which readers obtained them and how they responded to what they read. The second part shows that some of the most important publications were new versions of earlier nonconformist, episcopalian, Roman Catholic, and North American works. The third part explores the main literary kinds, including annotated bibles, devotional guides, exemplary lives, and hymns. Building on many years' research into the religious literature of the period, Rivers discusses over two hundred writers and provides detailed case studies of popular and influential works.

Finding My Way in Christianity: Recollections of a Journey is a story of dealing with the differences within the Christian community that is both personal and theologically reflective. With a diverse cross-cultural background, exceptional theological education, and fascinating personal experience, author Herold Weiss is uniquely qualified to write about this topic. This notable book outlines the author's experiences starting in Montevideo, Uruguay and moving through various educational experiences and teaching positions. It is no accident that the chapter titles reflect geographical locations, as the journey through space provides an illuminating metaphor for the faith journey that accompanies it. Some of the people you meet in this book will make you angry. Others will make you thankful to be a Christian. Some will evoke your sympathy even as you seek to understand why they acted as they did. All of them will help give you some insight into what goes into a successful journey of faith. You can read Finding My Way in Christianity either as an interesting story or as theological reflection. The author s experiences will resonate with many of us who have experienced the divisions within the Christian community and dealt with those who would silence dissent. Dr. Weiss story comes primarily within one denomination, but it follows outlines that will be familiar to many.

Each year thousands of husbands, wives, sons and daughters are converted by Jehovah's Witnesses through their so-called free home Bible study. This book tells exactly what to do to rescue them from the JWs. The main point to remember when a loved one first starts getting involved with Jehovah's Witnesses is to avoid delay. But, unless you are thoroughly versed on the Watchtower Society and well trained as a debater, the JWs will shoot you down on every point. This book helps you: (1) Plan your strategy and learn techniques that work. (2) Collect convincing evidence. (3) Present your material in the proper manner at the appropriate time. (4) Become familiar with the tools you'll need. An unusual and valuable feature is the inclusion of pages from Watchtower publications which demonstrate falsehoods and inconsistencies in Jehovah's Witness doctrine. DAVID A. REED spent 13 years as an active Jehovah's Witness, serving as an elder and as the JW equivalent of a local pastor. Reading the Bible itself led him to Christ. He has authored more than a dozen books, including Answering Jehovah's Witnesses Subject by Subject and the popular Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse. His web sites on this topic include www.AnswerJW.com and www.CFTF.com.

Roots and Branches recounts decade by decade the century-long history of Amish and Mennonites in the Southeast United States. With gentle candor Lehman, storyteller as well as historian, examines southeast Mennonites' clashes of conscience as their subculture was challenged by the diverse cultures of the people they sought to serve. "With the art of a storyteller, the heart of a pastor, and the acumen of a leader, Lehman narrates the Amish and Mennonite presence in the Southeast in this first of two volumes." says John E. Sharp, Author, A School on the Prairie: A Centennial History of Hesston College, 1909-2009. James R. Krabill, Senior Executive for Global Ministries, Mennonite Mission Network, observes that "We have much to learn as God's people and Roots and Branches can help us in doing just that." Richard K. MacMaster, Author, Land, Piety, Peoplehood: The Establishment of Mennonite Communities in America, 1683-1790 thinks "This is grass roots history at its best, telling the story of the men and women who nurtured an Anabaptist presence in Florida and Georgia." John. L. Ruth, Author, The Earth Is the Lord's: A Narrative History of Lancaster Mennonite Conference, believes that "key moments and personalities, insightfully recalled, will help new members gain important understandings of Southeast Mennonite Conference as well as its neighbor churches, and historians of the larger Mennonite scene will need this book for their own interpretive work." And Irene Bechler, a former urban church planter, sees "The evident working of the Holy Spirit" in the stories Lehman tells.

This wide-ranging collection explores the complex relationships between religious sects and contemporary Western society and examines the controversial social, political, and religious issues that arise as sects seek to pursue a way of life at variance with that of other people. Wilson argues that sects, often subject to negative theological and moral judgements, can be understood only as social entities and as such require a scientifically neutral and unbiased approach to explore their emergence and persistence. He traces the growth and expansion of various movements--including the Unification Church, the Scientologists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Exclusive Brethren--relating them to their social context, and indicates the sections of society from which their support is likely to come.

The Book of Jasher is a secular history covering a period from the creation to the period of the Judges in Israel. Jasher is referenced in the Holy Bible twice by two different authors. Three versions of Jasher are purported copies of the 'Lost Book' and have been translated, but only this one is looked upon as authentic. The Prophet Joseph Smith quoted from this version in "Times and Seasons." The Book of Jasher is authentic, as it contains many specific details which are in agreement with modern revelation such as "The Book of Moses." Presented to you in this volume is the complete Book of Jasher with lessons and commentary.

Poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Penn State University, believes "These poems celebrate Spirit and gracefully yet completely explode all plain-woman stereotypes, then finally come to rest--if there is rest in such a lively collection--in celebration of our shared, sacred earth. I am so thankful for this rich and reckless honesty " Here are poems able to draw both tears and laughter, as they express unrepressed spirit in two different yet authentic voices-one Aunt Amelia as channeled by her niece Esther Stenson, the other that of Stenson herself. Jeff Gundy, Bluffton University, observes that "Stenson's structure opens up these poems, allowing Amelia's voice to be sustained and her story to come through clearly, yet Stenson's own voice and perspective establish themselves in the second part of the book. A beautiful and worthwhile book." And Laurie Kutchins celebrates that "these poems are infused with wanderlust, curiosity, and resilient spirit."

In this unique and compelling memoir, "a love story," as foreword writer John Stahl-Wert puts it, the voice of a father intertwines with that of his young adult daughter, Deborah Good, as he fights the cancer that will kill him while telling the stories of seven projects, communities, and organizations (including Washington Community Scholars Center of Eastern Mennonite University) he has cared about. The resulting memoir provides an unusual combination of a father's history-telling with a daughter's personal journey of remembrance, loss, and grief."An intimate, honest, and heartfelt portrait of a quiet hero-and a thoughtful meditation on building community in today's world. Thank you, Nelson and Deborah." --Daniel Charles, Contributor, National Public Radio; Author, Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare

Church change is as inevitable as it is necessary. Pastors and church leaders can either embrace change to their benefit, or they can ignore it and watch as their church slowly becomes irrelevant. Pastors and church leaders have long needed a practical guide on how to recognize the need for change, how to plan for change, how to implement change, and how to sustain change. "A Practical Guide for Successful Church Change" provides just this. Pastors and church leaders will learn principles for recognizing, planning, implementing, and sustaining change. They will also learn how to cope with resistance, prepare personally for change, and effectively communicate the need for change to the church. Those who are thinking of leading change in the church will find this book exceedingly practical and useful as they seek to transform their church and ministry into a more vibrant body of believers.

Through contemplative lyrics, historical narratives and edgy prose poems, this collection of poetry probes the intersections of self and other, private and public, and the individual and community. The title, Where We Start, is a fitting description for the many ways these poems explore the beginnings of and in a life.

Seventh-day Adventism entices members into it using trickery and half-truths. They tell the unenlightened public one thing and insiders yet another.

Dr. Kelly explains how he was tricked into joining. He then refutes the theological fiasco called the Investigative Judgment which created the sect. Much of the book looks at the Sabbath with fresh insight. The final part reveals the mysterious realms of Sheol and Hades in order to expose SDA error about the soul.

Russell Kelly is also the author of "Should the Church Teach Tithing? A Theologian's Conclusions about a Taboo Doctrine"-a best seller on Amazon.com under 'Tithing" since 2001.

The Sealed Portion-Another Testament of Jesus Christ is the second part of the Book of Mormon, which millions of people throughout the world accept as the word of God along with the Bible. Joseph Smith, Jr. (1830), the founder of the Mormon faith, claimed to have received gold plates from an angel of God named Moroni. When he received the plates, Smith relates that 2/3 of them were sealed. The angel Moroni commanded him not to break the seals, but to translate only the portion of the plates that was unsealed. It was prophesied that the sealed portion of the plates would one day be given to the people of the world. Using two stones called the Urim and Thummim, Joseph Smith translated the unsealed portion. Before returning the plates to the angel Moroni, Joseph showed them to several others. These men gave their personal testimony as witnesses to the existence of the plates and to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Claiming to have received the same instructions to translate the sealed portion of the gold plates, an obscure man, once an active member of the LDS faith, who goes only by the name of Christopher, has published the remaining sealed portion. Though others have made similar claims before him, none has ever testified that he received the Urim and Thummim that was prepared by God to translate the plates, and none has made claim that he has received the exact same gold plates that were in Joseph Smith's possession-except for Christopher. This book is a result of that translation. The Sealed Portion-The Final Testament of Jesus Christ, written by Moroni, relates the vision seen by the Brother of Jared. Within the pages, the entire history of mankind is covered. It begins with the kingdom where the spirits of the children of men were first created, and continues through until the end of the millennium, when the earth will be restored to a state similar to the garden of Eden, and the planets will be prepared as the degrees of glory in the kingdom of God. The most accurate and precise account ever given of the life of Christ is contained within the pages, including his early years with his family, his youth, baptism, marriages, mission, and death. Moroni explains the atonement, the LDS temple endowment, and some of the hidden symbolism of the book of Revelation. He recounts the prophets Ubaid, Zarathustra, Antioch, Socrates, Sythipian, Mohammad, and Joseph Smith, Jr., among others. The histories of the Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Romans, and Americans are also covered. Also given is the in-depth and beautiful description of Jesus' intercessory prayer among the Nephites and the Lamanites on the American continent. Along with the translation of the sealed portion, the first part of the gold plates that was translated by Joseph Smith, Jr. and subsequently lost by his scribe, Martin Harris, is also included in this extraordinary work. This part is known as the Book of Lehi (the lost 116-page manuscript). The full text of Joseph Smith's reported First Vision, in which he claims to have been visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ, is also included in the book. The reader is lead from blindness into the light as he or she discovers the truths written within these pages.

Baptists are the second-largest religious group in the United States, trailing only Catholics. They represent nearly 20% of the US population and a third of all American Protestants, and have attained a certain level of notoriety for their penchant for controversy. From their defiance of established churches in the Colonial period, to pastor Robert Jeffress calling Mitt Romney's Mormonism a "cult" during the Republican primaries of 2012 they have consistently been at the forefront of religion's collision with culture and society. This book will offer a history of Baptists in America from the Colonial period to the present day, from their fight for the separation of church and state to their role as some of the chief combatants in today's culture wars. Their history has been marked by internal battles and schisms that were microcosms of national events, from the conflict over slavery that divided North from South to the ascendancy of conservatives within the Southern Baptist Convention, which mirrored developments within the Republican Party. The book's primary theme will be Baptists' struggles between seeing themselves as "insiders" or "outsiders" in American culture. The persecuted Baptists of the colonial period became one of the dominant churches in nineteenth-century America. Today, they are the primary spokespersons for evangelical America. Yet, even as they appear comfortable in this role, Baptists have never been sure if America represented a Babylon of spiritual exile, or a peaceful Zion. This book will offer a lively and accessible history of one of America's most important religious groups.

As the author views it, the desire for religious and spiritual commitment remains strong in North American and European post-Christian society, although now free to take many forms both inside and outside the churches. Drawing on the anthropological work of Ernest Becker, Liechty suggests that by understanding such desire as a result of our human ability to anticipate our own death, we can see both why this urge is unquenched by modernity and make sense of the myriad pathways and channels of expression it has taken in our time.

Inward Baptism analyses the theological developments that led to the great evangelical revivals of the mid-eighteenth century. Baird Tipson here demonstrates how the rationale for the "new birth," the characteristic and indispensable evangelical experience, developed slowly but inevitably from Luther's critique of late medieval Christianity. Addressing the great indulgence campaigns of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Luther's perspective on sacramental baptism, as well as the confrontation between Lutheran and Reformed theologians who fastened on to different aspects of Luther's teaching, Tipson sheds light on how these disparate historical moments collectively created space for evangelicalism. This leads to an exploration of the theology of the leaders of the Evangelical awakening in the British Isles, George Whitefield and John Wesley, who insisted that by preaching the immediate revelation of the Holy Spirit during the "new birth," they were recovering an essential element of primitive Christianity that had been forgotten over the centuries. Ultimately, Inward Baptism examines how these shifts in religious thought made possible a commitment to an inward baptism and consequently, the evangelical experience.

David Powell, through impeccable research and creativity, waves a tapestry of temptation using the bad guys in the Book of Mormon. Political unrest, government corruption, assassinations, bloody wars, moral decay, pride, greed, and unspeakable evil, all are revealed within, showing clearly how the Book of Mormon is indeed a work for us in the latter days. David makes it possible for anyone to understand what is in store for those who decide or allow themselves to be a bad boy (or girl) in these times. Bad Boys of the Book of Mormon is a must for Seminary students and teachers, Institute students and teachers, Sunday School students and teachers, and anyone else who is seeking truth. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve". (Alma 30:8) This book makes clear, with great originality and ingenuity, what happens to those who choose evil. You will find it interesting, informative and intriguing.

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.

2020 Christian Book Award (R) Winner (Bible Reference Works) This textbook offers students a biblically rich, creedally structured, ecumenically evangelical, and ethically engaged introduction to Christian theology. Daniel Treier, coeditor of the popular Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, discusses key Scripture passages, explains Christian theology within the structure of the Nicene Creed, explores the range of evangelical approaches to contested doctrines, acquaints evangelicals with other views (including Orthodox and Catholic), and integrates theological ethics with chapters on the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. The result is a meaty but manageable introduction to the convictions and arguments shaping contemporary evangelical theology.