Christians are called to model a way of life that challenges the status quo and infuses the world with hope and possibility. We are to be people who see possibility where others see failure, beauty where others see ugliness and freedom where others see chains. This is the Upside Down Kingdom, where the forgotten are noticed, the silenced are given back their voice and love is stronger than hate. By exploring the teaching of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Malcolm Duncan in Flipped traces the key components of this new community, this life-giving way of living. He explores the five key discourses in Matthew and invites us to a radical new way of living and being centred around the reign and the rule of King Jesus. The message of Flipped: The Upside Down Kingdom is one that our churches need to hear - that God's Kingdom is unshakeable, local churches are its vanguard and Christians are its citizens. Flipped paints a vision of what is possible when ordinary people catch a glimpse of God's radical call to follow the Lord Jesus.

This book is a novel and ambitious attempt to map the Muslim American nonprofit sector: its origins, growth and impact on American society. Using theories from the fields of philanthropy, public administration and data gathered from surveys and interviews, the authors make a compelling case for the Muslim American nonprofit sector's key role in America. They argue that in a time when Islamic schools are grossly misunderstood, there is a need to examine them closely, for the landscape of these schools is far more complex than meets the eye. The authors, who are both scholars of philanthropy, examine how identity impacts philanthropy and also the various forces that have shaped the landscape of Muslim American giving in the US. Using a comparative method of analysis, they showcase how this sector has contributed not only to individual communities but also to the country as a whole. National surveys and historical analysis offer data that is rich in insights and offers a compelling narrative of the sector as a whole through its focus on Islamic schools. The authors also critically examine how nonprofit leaders in the community legitimize their own roles and that of their organizations, and offer a compelling and insightful examination of how Muslim American leaders perceive their own role in institution building. This is a must read for anyone seeking to understand this important and growing sector of American society, including nonprofit leaders in the Muslim community, leaders of Islamic schools, nonprofit leaders with interest in private schools, activists, and scholars who study philanthropy and Islamic education.

Few works in world literature have inspired so vast an audience, in nations with radically different languages and cultures, as the "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata", two Sanskrit verse epics written some 2,000 years ago. In "Ramayana" (written by a poet known to us as Valmiki), William Buck has retold the story of Prince Rama - with all its nobility of spirit, courtly intrigue, heroic renunciation, fierce battles, and triumph of good over evil - in a length and manner that will make the great Indian epics accessible to the contemporary reader. The same is true for the "Mahabharata" - in its original Sanskrit, probably the longest Indian epic ever composed. It is the story of a dynastic struggle, between the Kurus and Pandavas, for land. In his introduction, Sanskritist B. A. van Nooten notes, "Apart from William Buck's rendition [no other English version has] been able to capture the blend of religion and martial spirit that pervades the original epic". Presented accessibly for the general reader without compromising the spirit and lyricism of the originals, William Buck's "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata" capture the essence of the Indian cultural heritage.

'[an] exploration of Scotland's past through the eyes of a scholarly hiker ... Magnificent' - New Statesman, Books of the Year Fourteen centuries ago, Irish saints journeyed to the Hebrides and Scotland's Atlantic shore. They sought spiritual solitude in remote places, but their mission was also to spread the word of God to the peoples of Scotland. Columba was the most famous of these pioneers who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty in a pagan land, but the many others are now largely forgotten. Alistair Moffat sets off in search of these elusive figures. As he follows in their footsteps, he finds their traces not so much in tangible remains as in the spirit and memory of the places that lay at the very edge of their world.

A compendium of fascinating information about Christianity, including important plants, symbolic animals, common variations on the cross, and much more A concise and convenient book about Christianity, this pocket book is perfectly formatted for anyone interested in learning more about religion on-the-go. It is clearly and simply designed for accessible browsing, and includes time lines, biographies, critical biblical moments, and many other aspects of Christianity aptly explained.

From managing a schedule to maintaining a wardrobe and everything in between, best-selling author Anne Ortlund offers a primer for cultivating beauty on the inside and on the outside. She seeks to answer both the "hows" and the "whys" of living beautifully.

First Published in 1963, the book Pilgrim in the Modern World tries to answer fundamental questions like does the Christian faith meet intellectual, moral, and spiritual needs of the contemporary situation or it is like the irreducible surd in a mathematical problem- present as a fact but to be ignored in use? L. J. Baggott has had a long experience in the ministry of the Church of England, from work in the slums to that of Abbey, Minster, and Cathedral; from a chaplaincy of the Tower of London to the vicariate of large industrial parishes; from a visiting lectureship to the parochial tasks peculiar to four great seaports; from the supervision of Ordinands to the archdeaconship of a hundred peaceful Norfolk villages. Throughout it has become increasingly clear that man is indeed the 'Eternal Pilgrim of the Infinite'. Christianity is an historical religion of which 'redemption of man' is the central and ruling thought. For twentieth century man, his pilgrimage is set in most challenging era that man has ever known, a scientific era and a temporal order in which his most important problems take their rise and shape his life. In the light of new knowledge and discovery, the book offers what the author believes the only valid and satisfying answer to the question of relevancy of the Christian faith for modern times. This is a must read for scholars of religion and Christianity.

This readable survey on the history of missions tells the story of pivotal turning points in the expansion of Christianity, enabling readers to grasp the big picture of missional trends and critical developments. Alice Ott examines twelve key points in the growth of Christianity across the globe from the Jerusalem Council to Lausanne '74, an approach that draws on her many years of classroom teaching. Each chapter begins with a close-up view of a particularly compelling and paradigmatic episode in Christian history before panning out for a broader historical outlook. The book draws deeply on primary sources and covers some topics not addressed in similar volumes, such as the role of British abolitionism on mission to Africa and the relationship between imperialism and mission. It demonstrates that the expansion of Christianity was not just a Western-driven phenomenon; rather, the gospel spread worldwide through the efforts of both Western and non-Western missionaries and through the crucial ministry of indigenous lay Christians, evangelists, and preachers. This fascinating account of worldwide Christianity is suitable not only for the classroom but also for churches, workshops, and other seminars.

Through 30 beautifully detailed chapters with narrations from companions, take a journey from only knowing about Muhammad to knowing him and loving him and feel what it was like to be a companion of his in this life and strive to be companions of his in the next.

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be in the presence of Prophet Muhammad, as his companions were? What would it be like to see his host him in your home, pray behind him, and have him as a teacher and friend?

We may not know what it was like to be his companions in this life, but we have everything we need to strive to be with him in the next! This Ramadan, journey from knowing about him to knowing him and loving him.

The 'great fish' has probably made Jonah the best known of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. The book bearing his name, comprising just 48 verses, has tantalized and intrigued its readers down the ages. Undue preoccupation with the fish may cause us to miss what is actually going on in the narrative. Although on the surface the story seems fairly straightforward, Rosemary Nixon explores its fascinating complexity to show how the author grapples with conflicting perceptions of God - and how, while we might question some the story's extra-ordinary features, we ourselves are questioned by the God who questions Jonah, and challenged to hear God's word afresh today.

This four-volume collection explores the idea that, for Victorians and Edwardians, the meanings attached to work and the meanings attached to being without work were always dependent upon each other, knotted together by the imperative for a man to desire employment and be willing to work. Mechanization and the decline of old trades, the creation of single-industry cities and towns, the migration of agricultural labourers from the countryside to these cities and to London, the intensification of the sweated industries, and the displacement of the labour of adult men by the labour of women and adolescent boys all contributed to urgent conversations about the relationships between work and unemployment and are examined through primary sources. Accompanied by extensive editorial commentary, this collection will be of great interest to students of British History.

Of the different controversies that preoccupied Augustine during his lifetime, Pelagianism was indisputably the most important for the subsequent history and theology of the western Church. It touched on any number of issues central to Christianity, most notably grace, predestination, original sin and baptism, all of which in turn could be reduced to the fundamental question of the exact nature of the relationship between God and his human creation. The six major treatises presented in this volume amply illustrate Augustine's struggle with the theological problems that Pelagianism raised. They begin with the Miscellany of Questions in Response to Simplician. Although written in 396, before Pelagianism even appeared on the scene, this work shows in a few pages the remarkable evolution of Augustine's thought on the matter of grace and the position at which he arrived and to which he clung for the rest of his life. The two final treatises, The Predestination of the Saints and The Gift of Perseverance, written in 428/429 shortly before Augustine's death, indicate where the position that he had elaborated more than thirty years before was fatefully destined to take him. The three middle treatises show Augustine in the process of refining - but not altering - his thinking in the face of what he rightly saw as Pelagianism's terrible threat to orthodox Christianity's central tenets.

Respaldad por una larga y fructifera labor en el ministerio, el reverend Melvin L. Hodges aporto a este libro sus vastos conocimientos en lo que respecta al metodo biblico de propagacion, gobierno y sosten de la iglesia. Las ideas presentadas en esta obra son fundamentales, practicas y probadas en el terreno de la experiencia. Con sencillez y claridad, desarrolla temas como; La iglesia nacional Sosten financiero de la iglesia El dinamismo de la iglesia neotestamentaria I Will Build My Church Supported by a large fruit-bearing ministry, the Rev. Melvin L. Hodges contributed to this book by sharing his broad knowledge regarding methods of biblical propagation, government and support of the church.