This work in practical theology begins with an exploration of the psychosocial issues at play in Australian Baptist churches as communities. Many of those who attend such churches, and those like them in Britain and North America, often find a warm sense of welcome and belonging. What follows builds on this positive subjective experience through the lens of Christian community framed by the rich scriptural narrative of covenantal priesthood. Such corporate priesthood, as demonstrated by our early Baptist forebears, comes to joint expression in worship and sharing God's blessing with his world, and affirms the mutual priestly service of covenanted church community. Endorsements: "Talk of 'community' can be too easy. It appeals as a convenient space holder in ecclesiological debate, with sometimes facile results. Anne Klose has produced a welcome and overdue theology of community which avoids such traps. Speaking from within (and, critically, to) the Baptist tradition she considers the issues from many angles: pycho-social, biblical, historical and systematic. The result is a practical theology which both genuinely advances Baptist debate and takes the questions poignantly into wider dialogue. All current ecclesiological conversation will benefit from taking this study seriously." - Martin Sutherland, Dean/CEO, Australian College of Theology "Anne Klose's book is an important Australian contribution to the global conversation between Baptist theologians around shared understandings and practices of congregation and community. Far from being a merely academic treatise, Klose outlines a theologically rich account of worship, congregational relationships, and the sharing of God's blessings with the wider community. For Baptist readers who might find these emphases unsurprisingly familiar, Klose disconcertingly describes these practices as 'covenantal priesthood'. For Baptists unfamiliar with such language, Klose's book is a necessary corrective to the overly individualistic and reductionist congregational practices that typify too many contemporary Baptist churches." - Rev Dr Darrell Jackson is the Associate Professor of Missiology, Morling College, Sydney. "Baptist historian W. T. Whitley once suggested that "the distinctive feature about Baptists is their doctrine of the Church." Yet this uniqueness is not uniform. It is evident in its diverse manifestations. Anne Klose has written an important book that puts the ecclesiology of Australian Baptists into wider conversations. She argues that one of the contributions that Baptist have to make is their commitment to a church of priests to each other, which resists the degrading influences of modern individualism. It is a word well worth pondering in this age of moral strangers." - Curtis W. Freeman, Research Professor of Theology and Director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina, USA

"Ye cannot serve God and mammon," the Bible says. But conservative American Protestants have, for at least a century, been trying to prove that adage wrong. While preachers, activists, and politicians have all helped spread the gospel, Darren Grem argues that evangelicalism owes its strength to the blessings of business. Grem offers a new history of American evangelicalism, showing how its adherents strategically used corporate America-its leaders, businesses, money, ideas, and values-to advance their religious, cultural, and political aspirations. Conservative evangelicals were thus able to retain and expand their public influence in a secularizing, diversifying, and liberalizing age. In the process they became beholden to pro-business stances on matters of theology, race, gender, taxation, free trade, and the state, making them well-suited to a broader conservative movement that was also of, by, and for corporate America. The Blessings of Business tells the story of unlikely partnerships between champions of the evangelical movement, such as Billy Graham, and largely forgotten businessmen, like R.G. LeTourneau; he describes the backdrop against which the religious right's pro-business politics can be understood. The evangelical embrace of corporate capitalism made possible a fusion with other conservatives, he finds, creating a foundation for the business-friendly turn in the nation's economy and political culture. But it also transformed conservative evangelicalism itself, making it as much an economic movement as a religious one. Fascinating and provocative, The Blessings of Business uncovers the strong ties Americans have forged between the Almighty and the almighty dollar.

They always manage to knock on your door at the worst possible times. It's difficult to talk to Jehovah's Witnesses because they test your Bible knowledge and spiritual endurance. But the effort is worth it, because they need to hear the gospel from you. Reed, a former JW elder, closely examines the Jehovah's Witnesses' favorite Bible verses and discusses other important verses they ignore.

By utilizing the contributions of a variety of scholars - theologians, historians, and biblical scholars - this book makes the complex and sometimes disparate Anabaptist movement more easily accessible. It does this by outlining Anabaptism's early history during the Reformation of the sixteenth century, its varied and distinctive theological convictions, and its ongoing challenges to and influence on contemporary Christianity. T&T Clark Handbook of Anabaptism comprises four sections: 1) Origins, 2) Doctrine, 3) Influences on Anabaptism, and 4) Contemporary Anabaptism and Relationship to Others. The volume concludes with a chapter on how contemporary Anabaptists interact with the wider Church in all its variety. While some of the authorities within the volume will disagree even with one another regarding Anabaptist origins, emphases on doctrine, and influence in the contemporary world, such differences represent the diversity that constitutes the history of this movement.