For some of us, the apostle Paul is intimidating, like a distant and difficult uncle. Maybe not someone you'd like to hang out with at a coffee shop on a rainy day. He'd make a scene, evangelize the barista, and arouse looks across the room. For a mid-morning latte, we'd prefer Jesus over Paul. But Paul is actually the guy who-from Ephesus to Athens-was the talk of the marketplace, the raconteur of the Parthenon. He knew everyone, founded emerging churches, loved the difficult people, and held his own against the intellectuals of his day. If you're willing to give Paul a try, Rediscovering Paul is your reliable guide. This is a book that reacquaints us with Paul, as if for the first time. Drawing on the best of contemporary scholarship, and with language shaped by teaching and conversing with today's students, Rediscovering Paul is a textbook that has passed the test. Now in a reworked edition, it's better than ever. There are fresh discussions of Paul's letter writing and how those letters were received in the churches, new considerations of pseudonymity and the authenticity of Paul's letters, and updated coverage of recent developments in interpreting Paul. from Paul's conversion and call to his ongoing impact on church and culture, this second edition of Rediscovering Paul comes enthusiastically recommended.

God created men and women to be different, but that doesn't limit what each
can and should do to serve him.

In Mark 12:30 Jesus answers a question asked by the teachers of the day. They
wanted to know which commandment was the greatest, the most important. He said,
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind and with all your strength" (NIV).

What does that really mean in how we approach and assume our daily roles? What
does loving the Lord with your all actually look like? What does that mean for us as
women-and men-desiring to follow God and serve him? In a day when our church
culture has limited the terms of Jesus' command to the perceived strengths of each
gender, a woman trying to love the Lord beyond her heart and soul, with her strength
and mind, can be thought of as crossing some line or unspoken boundary. But that is
not what Scripture says.

Kat Armstrong-Bible study teacher, ministry leader, pastor's wife, and mom-offers her
thoughts on this important subject in an effort to help women find their answers to the
question, "What am I doing here?" Perhaps more clearly, "Why am I allowing
limitations on my pursuit of Jesus' calling?"-not just as single, career-driven women or
as wives and moms but as Christ followers focused on living their lives to love and
serve God as their first and highest calling.

No More Holding Back opens the doors to this important conversation with a personal
challenge Kat faced while attending seminary. From there, she unpacks the four areas
of how to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The goal is for the
entire body of Christ, as his image bearers, to flourish and work toward the common
good of our homes, communities, and the world around us.

A complete selection of writings from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison focusing specifically on their very forward thinking beliefs in the separation of church and state.

In January of 1956, five young evangelical missionaries were speared to death by a band of the Waorani people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Two years later, two missionary women-the widow of one of the slain men and the sister of another-with the help of a Wao woman were able to establish peaceful relations with the same people who had killed their loved ones. The highly publicized deaths of the five men and the subsequent efforts to Christianize the Waorani quickly became the defining missionary narrative for American evangelicals during the second half of the twentieth century. God in the Rainforest traces the formation of this story and shows how Protestant missionary work among the Waorani came to be one of the missions most celebrated by Evangelicals and most severely criticized by anthropologists and others who accused missionaries of destroying the indigenous culture. Kathryn T. Long offers a study of the complexities of world Christianity at the ground level for indigenous peoples and for missionaries, anthropologists, environmentalists, and other outsiders. For the first time, Long brings together these competing actors and agendas to reveal one example of an indigenous people caught in the cross-hairs of globalization.

From the UK Church's complicity in the transatlantic slave trade to the whitewashing of Christianity throughout history, the Church has a lot to answer for when it comes to race relations. Christianity has been dubbed the white man's religion, yet the Bible speaks of an impartial God and shows us a diverse body of believers. It's time for the Church to start talking about race. Ben Lindsay offers eye-opening insights into the black religious experience, challenging the status quo in white majority churches. Filled with examples from real-life stories, including his own, and insightful questions, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of race relations in the Church in the UK and shows us how we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community.

South Asians make up one of the largest diasporas in the world and Christians form a relatively large share of it. Christians from the Indian subcontinent have successfully transplanted themselves all over the globe, and many from different faith backgrounds have embraced Christianity at overseas locations.This volume includes biblical reflections on diasporic life, charts the historical and geographical spread of South Asian Christianity, and closes with a call to missional living in diaspora. It analyzes how migrants revive Christianity in adopted host nations and ancestral homelands.This book portrays the fascinating saga of Christians of South Asian origin who have pitched their tents in the furthest corners of the globe and showcases triumphs and challenges of scattered communities. It presents the contemporary religious experiences from a plethora of discrete perspectives. It deals with issues such as community history, struggles of identity and belonging, linkage of religious and cultural traditions, preservation and adaptation of faith practices, ties between ancestral homeland and host nation, and diasporic moral dilemmas in diaspora. This book argues that human scattering amplifies diversity within Christianity and for the need for hetrogeneous unity amidst great diversities.

Perfect for churches of approximately 150 members. Provides sufficient forms for church receipts, recording members' contributions, and disbursements for one year. 5 3/16" x 9", spiral bound.

This is a landmark work, providing the first complete collection of the remaining excerpts from the writings of Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia together with a ground-breaking study of the controversy regarding the person of Christ that raged from the fourth to the sixth century, and which still divides the Christian Church. Destroyed after their condemnation, all that remains of the dogmatic writings of Diodore and Theodore are the passages quoted by their supporters and opponents. John Behr brings together all these excerpts, from the time of Theodore's death until his condemnation at the Second Council of Constantinople (553) - including newly-edited Syriac texts (from florilegium in Cod. Add. 12156, and the fragmentary remains of Theodore's On the Incarnation in Cod. Add. 14669) and many translated for the first time - and examines their interrelationship, to determine who was borrowing from whom, locating the source of the polemic with Cyril of Alexandria. On the basis of this textual work, Behr presents a historical and theological analysis that completely revises the picture of these 'Antiochenes' and the controversy regarding them. Twentieth-century scholarship often found these two 'Antiochenes' sympathetic characters for their aversion to allegory and their concern for the 'historical Jesus', and regarded their condemnation as an unfortunate incident motivated by desire for retaliation amidst 'Neo-Chalcedonian' advances in Christology. This study shows how, grounded in the ecclesial and theological strife that had already beset Antioch for over a century, Diodore and Theodore, in opposition to Julian the Apostate and Apollinarius, were led to separate the New Testament from the Old and 'the man' from the Word of God, resulting in a very limited understanding of Incarnation and circumscribing the importance of the Passion. The result is a comprehensive and cogent account of the controversy, both Christological and exegetical together, of the early fifth century, the way it stemmed from earlier tensions and continued through the Councils of Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Constantinople II.

One of the most significant works on Anglican and Women's history to be published in recent years. Includes a foreword by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This book tells the story of how a parish women's meeting started in 1876 by a Victorian vicar's wife is now the most authentic and powerful organization of women in the new global Christianity. Its cross-disciplinary approach examines how religious faith and shifting ideologies of womanhood and motherhood in the imperial and post colonial worlds acted as a source of empowerment for conservative women in their homes, communities and churches. In contrast to much of feminist history, A History of the Mothers' Union 1876-2008: Women, Anglicanism and Globalisation shows how the beliefs of ordinary women led them to become advocates and activists long before women had the vote or could be ordained priests. Having survived an identity crisis over social and theological liberalism in the 1960s, the Mothers' Union provides a model of unity and reconciled diversity for a divided world wide church. Today it is hailed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and international development practitioners as an outstanding example of global Christian engagement with poverty and social transformation issues at the grass roots. The material is arranged both thematically and chronologically. Case studies of Australia, Ghana and South Africa trace how the Mothers' Union arrived with white British women but evolved into indigenous organizations. CORDELIA MOYSE is Adjunct Professor of Church History at Lancaster Theological Seminary, Lancaster, PA, USA.

This selection of writings from the most important moments in the history of Christianity has become established as a classic reference work, providing insights into 2000 years of Christian theological and political debate.
While retaining the original material selected by Henry Bettenson, Chris Maunder has added a substantial section of more recent writings. These illustrate the Second Vatican Council; the theologies of liberation; Church and State from 'Thatcher's Britain' to Communist Eastern Europe; Black, feminist, and ecological theology; ecumenism; and inter-faith dialogue. The emphasis on moral debate in the contemporary churches is reflected in selections discussing questions about homosexuality, divorce, AIDS, and in-vitro fertilization, amongst other issues.
This further expanded fourth edition brings the anthology up-to-date with a new section looking at issues facing the twenty-first century churches. This includes extracts exploring the churches' responses to questions of social justice, international politics, trade and debt, environmental change, and technological development. New material also covers the global growth of Christianity, the progress of Christian unity, and mission in multi-faith and postmodern societies.

In Volume 1 of Christianity and Freedom, leading historians uncover the unappreciated role of Christianity in the development of basic human rights and freedoms from antiquity through today. These include radical notions of dignity and equality, religious freedom, liberty of conscience, limited government, consent of the governed, economic liberty, autonomous civil society, and church-state separation, as well as more recent advances in democracy, human rights, and human development. Acknowledging that the record is mixed, scholars document how the seeds of freedom in Christianity antedate and ultimately undermine later Christian justifications and practices of persecution. Drawing from history, political science, and sociology, this volume will become a standard reference work for historians, political scientists, theologians, students, journalists, business leaders, opinion shapers, and policymakers.

Volume 2 of Christianity and Freedom illuminates how Christian minorities and transnational Christian networks contribute to the freedom and flourishing of societies across the globe, even amidst pressure and violent persecution. Featuring unprecedented field research by some of the world's most distinguished scholars, it documents the outsized role of Christians in promoting human rights and religious freedom; fighting injustice; stimulating economic equality; providing education, social services, and health care; and nurturing democratic civil society. Readers will come away surprised and sobered to learn how this very Christian link to freedom often invites persecution. What are the dimensions of persecution and how are Christians responding to that pressure? What resources - theological, social, or transnational - do they marshal in leavening their societies? What will be lost if the Christian presence is marginalized? The answers to these questions are of crucial relevance in a world awash with religious extremism and deepening instability.

How might our worship recapture and reflect the enchanted world of God's nearness in Jesus Christ? In this first volume in IVP Academic's Dynamics of Christian Worship series, John D. Rempel offers a vision for this kind of transformative worship. A theologian and minister in the Mennonite Church, Rempel considers the role of the sacraments and ritual within the Free Church tradition. While the Free Churches rightly sought to cleanse the church of the abuses of sacramentalism, in that process they also set aside some of the church's historic practices and the theology behind them, which ultimately impoverished their worship. In response to this liturgically thin space, Rempel appeals to the incarnation of Christ, whose taking on of flesh can help us perceive the sacramental nature of our faith and worship. By embracing life-giving and peacemaking practices, the worship of not only the Free Church tradition but of the whole body of Christ might be transformed and become enchanted once again. The Dynamics of Christian Worship series draws from a wide range of worshiping contexts and denominational backgrounds to unpack the many dynamics of Christian worship-including prayer, reading the Bible, preaching, baptism, the Lord's Supper, music, visual art, architecture, and more-to deepen both the theology and practice of Christian worship for the life of the church.

Branded as "the new Falun Gong" by local authorities, The Church of Almighty God is the most persecuted religious movement in China today. Thousands of police officers are deployed full time to identify and arrest its members. Hundreds of thousands of its devotees are in jail. Authorities claim, perhaps hyperbolically, that it has some four million members and accuse the group of serious crimes. Yet, the movement continues to grow. In this ground-breaking study, Massimo Introvigne offers an inside look at this once-elusive movement, sharing interviews with hundreds of members and the Chinese police officers who hunt them down. The story of The Church of Almighty God is one of rapid growth, dramatic persecution, and the struggle of believers to seek asylum in countries around the world. In his telling of the story, Introvigne reconstructs the Church's idiosyncratic theology, centered in the belief that Jesus Christ has returned in our time in the shape of a Chinese woman, worshipped as Almighty God, to eradicate the sinful nature of humans, and that we have entered the third and final time period in the history of humanity: the Age of Kingdom. A major book from one of the world's leading scholars of new religious movements, Inside The Church of Almighty God is a critical addition to the scholarship of Chinese religion.

Preparing worship services for each Sunday can be very challenging -- especially finding just the right balance between reverence for God and relevance to our everyday lives. In Cradled in God's Heart, the newest edition of CSS' Lectionary Worship Aids series, Thom Shuman provides a wide range of responsive and pastoral prayers to help busy pastors and worship planners strike the perfect chord in developing their own services. Shuman's poetic prayers are filled with vivid imagery reminding us of God's all-encompassing love and forgiveness -- and his penetrating sensibility helps link the holy with the mundane realities of modern existence. With a complete set of thematically unified worship material keyed to each week's lectionary texts, this is a resource that will be used again and again throughout the year to create truly inspiring worship experiences.

"I felt my heart strangely warmed." That was how John Wesley described his transformational experience of God's grace at Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738, an event that some mark as the beginning of the Methodist Church. Yet the story of Methodism, while clearly shaped by John Wesley's sermons and Charles Wesley's hymns, is much richer and more expansive. In this book, Methodist theologian Jeffrey W. Barbeau provides a brief and helpful introduction to the history of Methodism-from the time of the Wesleys, through developments in North America, to its diverse and global communion today-as well as its primary beliefs and practices. With Barbeau's guidance, both those who are already familiar with the Wesleyan tradition and those seeking to know more about this significant movement within the church's history will find their hearts warmed to Methodism.

Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage? Theologian Thomas C. Oden offers a portrait that challenges prevailing notions of the intellectual development of Christianity from its early roots to its modern expressions. The pattern, he suggests, is not from north to south from Europe to Africa, but the other way around. He then makes an impassioned plea to uncover the hard data and study in depth the vital role that early African Christians played in developing the modern university, maturing Christian exegesis of Scripture, shaping early Christian dogma, modeling conciliar patterns of ecumenical decision-making, stimulating early monasticism, developing Neoplatonism, and refining rhetorical and dialectical skills. He calls for a wide-ranging research project to fill out the picture he sketches. It will require, he says, a generation of disciplined investigation, combining intensive language study with a risk-taking commitment to uncover the truth in potentially unreceptive environments. Oden envisions a dedicated consortium of scholars linked by computer technology and a common commitment that will seek to shape not only the scholar's understanding but the ordinary African Christian's self-perception.

"This is a wonderful anthology . Its texts not only span the whole of Luther's reforming career, but also cover the theological, political, and social issues that mattered most to him and his age. Best of all, the original integrity of the texts remains perceptible, even when abridged. This valuable collection will be a great teaching tool and also a most useful resource for anyone interested in Luther or the Protestant Reformation." -Carlos Eire, Yale University, author of Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 (Yale University Press) CONTENTS: Thematic Table of Contents General Introduction 1. Preface to the Complete Edition of the Latin Writings (1545) 2. Disputation on the Power of Indulgences (The Ninety-Five Theses) (1517) 3. Sermon on Indulgence and Grace (1518) 4. Disputation Held at Heidelberg (1518) 5. To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520) 6. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520) 7. On the Freedom of a Christian (1520) 8. Preface to the New Testament (1522) 9. Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (1522) 10. On Married Life (1522) 11. On Secular Authority: To What Extent It Must Be Obeyed (1523) 12. That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew (1523) 13. Against the Heavenly Prophets Concerning Images and the Sacrament (1525) 14. Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants (1525) 15. The Bondage of the Will (1525) 16. The German Mass and Order of Divine Service (1526) 17. How Christians Should Regard Moses (1527) 18. Concerning Rebaptism (1528) 19. Hymns (pre-1529) 20. On the War against the Turks (1529) 21. The Small Catechism (1529) 22. Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1535) 23. The Schmalkald Articles (1537) 24. Letter to Landgrave Philipp of Hesse (1539) 25. On the Jews and Their Lies (1543) Suggestions for Further Reading Index

Faith-based organizations are sometimes known for what we're against--and all too often that includes being against each other. But amid growing distrust of religious institutions, Christ-centered nonprofits have a unique opportunity to link arms and collectively pursue a calling higher than any one organization's agenda. Rooting for Rivals reveals how your ministry can multiply its impact by cooperating, rather than competing. Peter Greer and Chris Horst explore case studies illustrating the power of collaborative ministry. They also vulnerably share their own failures and successes in pursuing a kingdom mind-set. Discover the power of openhanded leadership to make a greater impact on the world. "I love the African quote, 'If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.' I'm grateful to Peter Greer and Chris Horst for celebrating Christ-centered teamwork and collaboration in Rooting for Rivals."--RICHARD STEARNS, president of World Vision U.S. and author of The Hole in Our Gospel