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.

Remembering the Names of Allah is a sacred tradition in Islam. Both the Qur'an and sayings of the Prophet (ahadith) state the importance of learning them and promise reward for reciting them in supplications and prayers. "Allah's are the names most beautiful. Whatever is in the heavens and earth extols His glory." - Qur'an (Al-Hashr 59:24). "Allah has 99 names. He who remembers these will certainly enter Paradise." - Prophet Muhammad (Bukharhi Hadith Kitab Ad-Dawat, 2, 949). The 99 Blessed Names of Allah help to conceptualize Allah Whose limitless greatness and glory is impossible to grasp.Each name is presented in the original Arabic and its translation into English. Accompanying each name is a commentary that is concise and easy to understand but rich in meaning. Based on authentic sources and richly produced.

What difference does it make whether we seek God? "Diligently Seeking God" offers a complete year of daily meditations that will help you look at this question more honestly. Each page explores a different dimension of our need for God and invites you into a deeper desire for Him.

Written in a style that is both reverent and comfortable, "Diligently Seeking God" meets us as real people and wrestles with the questions that come to us in our most personal moments.

No matter where your spiritual life is right now, this book will beckon you to higher ground. Whether you see yourself as being a Christian or not, "Diligently Seeking God" will: (1) Motivate you to take God more seriously every day, (2) encourage you to focus on God, rather than on yourself, (3) challenge you to make God a greater priority, (4) help you to make positive choices for the quality of your life, and (5) inspire you to keep going when life is hard.

Provocative and passionate about life's most important subject, this book will make a difference in your spiritual growth. "Diligently Seeking God" will nudge you where you need to be nudged.

Since the Second World War, there has been a significant migration of Muslims to countries in the Western world. Muslims in Non-Muslim Land traces the process by which these migrants arrived in Western Europe - in particular Britain - and explains how the community developed its faith identity through three particular stances: assimilation, isolation and integration. The findings argue that the assumption that Islam causes Muslims to isolate from the indigenous population and form a 'state within a state' is false and that Islamic Law actually gives Muslims confidence and the ability to integrate within the wider society. The theological view that all non-Muslim lands are dar alarb (domain of war) is challenged, and the study shows that the traditional interpretive model of Islamic Law inherently possesses the flexibility and applicability to take into consideration minority-status of Muslims in Britain. Muslims in Non-Muslim Land focuses on Islamic Law as interpreted by the anafi Law school and highlights in detail the multi-pronged and robust nature of its legal theory and subsequent application. What is ground-breaking about Muslims in Non-Muslim Lands is that it illustrates the ability of anafi Law to deal with contemporary issues in a wide range of subjects. It also provides Muslims with ways of Islamically resolving medical, financial and political concerns. The study concludes that Islamic Law can facilitate the integration of Muslim minorities within secular societies while allowing them to still remain true to their faith.

Religious pluralism, the collapse of traditional religious institutions, and the growing impact of religious studies on believers have prompted widespread rethinking of what religion is. Polydoxy offers a brilliant and original theological response to this intellectual crisis by suggesting that there are multiple forms of right belief. Inspired by the work of Catherine Keller, author of The Face of the Deep, Polydoxy introduces a new theological approach which is both grounded and groundbreaking. Reacting against reductive or nostalgic theological tendencies, the essays in this book take an exciting and creative approach to doing theology in the 21st century. Divided into parts, the first part lays out the theological agenda of Polydoxy, while an impressive array of scholars explore key theological topics in the light of relationality and multiplicity in the second and third sections.

A feminist critique of Judaism as a patriarchal tradition and an exploration of the increasing involvement of women in naming and shaping Jewish tradition.

The foundation of discipleship is sound, scriptural doctrine. The value of sound doctrine is often misunderstood by the modern church. While it can be dry and dull, when it flows from the story of Scripture, it can be full of life and love. This kind of doctrine, steeped in Scripture, is critical for disciple-making. And it's often overlooked by modern pastors. In Hearers and Doers, Kevin Vanhoozer makes the case that pastors, as pastor-theologians, ought to interpret Scripture theologically to articulate doctrine and help cultivate disciples. scriptural doctrine is vital to the life of the church, and local pastor-theologians should be the ones delivering it to their communities. With arresting prose and striking metaphors, Vanhoozer addresses the most pressing problems in the modern church with one answer: teach sound, scriptural doctrine to make disciples.

This first volume of The History of Evil covers Graeco-Roman, Indian, Near Eastern, and Eastern philosophy and religion from 2000 BCE to 450 CE. This book charts the foundations of the history of evil among the major philosophical traditions and world religions, beginning with the oldest recorded traditions: the Vedas and Upanisads, Confucianism and Daoism, and Buddhism, and continuing through Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian schools of thought. This cutting-edge treatment of the history of evil at its crucial and determinative inception will appeal to those with particular interests in the ancient period and early theories and ideas of evil and good, as well as those seeking an understanding of how later philosophical and religious developments were conditioned and shaped.

Believers' Churches have their origin in the Radical Reformation of the sixteenth century. Over the past 450 years the movement has included the Brethren, Mennonites, Hutterites, various types of Baptists, and the Restoration Movement. While never a unified denominational structure, the Believers' Churches together have been characterized by a strong personal faith in Christ, a call to discipleship and Christian activism, a high view of the authority of Scripture, and profession of faith in believers' baptism. The Believers' Churches have represented their beliefs in various ecumenical settings, missionary gatherings, and theological conversations. In the late 1950s, representatives of the several Believers' Churches began to meet in a series of conferences to explore their common views on doctrine, history, and ethics. Topics at the conferences have included baptism, Lord's Supper, the nature of the church, and religious voluntarism. In 2016, the 17th Believers' Church Conference was held at Acadia University and sponsored by Acadia Divinity College. The theme was 'The Tendency Toward Separationism Among the Believers' Churches', a key recurring characteristic. This volume includes the papers presented at the conference and examines the theme from an immediate post-Reformation perspective, including Baptists, Black Baptists, Restorationists (including the Churches of Christ), the Hutterites, Pentecostals, the role of women, and significantly, the separationist tendency as it occurs in New Religious Movements. Typologies and analyses are provided by leading historians, theologians, and social science specialists.

Central to God’s character is the quality of holiness. Yet, even so, most people are hard-pressed to define what God’s holiness precisely is. Many preachers today avoid the topic altogether because people today don’t quite know what to do with words like “awe” or “fear.” R. C. Sproul, in this classic work, puts the holiness of God in its proper and central place in the Christian life. He paints an awe-inspiring vision of God that encourages Christian to become holy just as God is holy. Once you encounter the holiness of God, your life will never be the same.

Practical theology as a subject area has grown and become more sophisticated in its methods and self-understanding over the last few decades. This book provides a complete and original research primer in the major theories, approaches and methods at the cutting-edge of research in contemporary practical theology. It represents a reflection on the very practice of the discipline itself, its foundational questions and epistemological claims. Each chapter examines different aspects of the research process: starting with experience and practice, aspects of research design and epistemology, communities of learning, the influence of theological norms and tradition on the practice of research, and ethical considerations about what constitutes 'the good' in advanced research. The uniqueness of this book rests in its authoritative overview of current practical theological research across a range of traditions and approaches, combined with a comprehensive introduction to research methodology. It offers worked examples from the authors, their colleagues and research students that serve to illustrate key ideas and approaches in practical theological research. The four authors are all internationally-leading scholars and rank amongst the most influential figures in practical theology of their generation. The book promises to be of interest to students, teachers and researchers in practical theology, especially those looking to conduct original practice-based enquiry in the field.

Any serious consideration of Asian American life forces us to reframe the way we talk about racism and antiracism. There are two contemporary approaches to antiracist theory and practice. The first emphasizes racial identity to the exclusion of political economy, making racialized life in America illegible. This approach's prevalence, in the academy and beyond, now rises to the level of established doctrine. The second approach views racial identity as the function of a particular political economy-what is called "racial capitalism>-and therefore analytically subordinates racial identity to political economy. Jonathan Tran develops arguments in favor of this second approach. He does so by means of an extended analysis of two case studies: a Chinese migrant settlement in the Mississippi Delta (1868-1969) and the Redeemer Community Church in the Bayview/Hunters Point section of San Francisco (1969-present). While his analysis is focused on particular groups and persons, he uses it to examine more broadly racial capitalism's processes and commitments at the sites of their structural and systemic unfolding. In pursuing a research agenda that pushes beyond the narrow confines of racial identity, Tran reaches back to trusted modes of analysis that have been obscured by the prevailing antiracist orthodoxy and proposes reframing antiracism in terms of a theologically salient account of political economy.

Islam as a religion and a way of life guides millions of people around the world and has a significant impact on worldly affairs. To many Muslims, however, a philosophical understanding or assessment of Islamic belief is seen as a feeble and religiously inappropriate attempt to understand matters that are beyond rational comprehension. Islam: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation explores this issue in detail, by guiding readers through a careful study of the relationship between faith and reason in Islam. In particular, it pays close attention to religious objections to philosophizing about Islam, arguments for and against Islamic belief, and the rationality of Islamic belief in light of contemporary philosophical issues, such as problems of religious diversity, evil and religious doubt. This text is ideal for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students seeking an objective, philosophical introduction to Islam, a subject of increasing interest in classrooms around the world.

In this definitive assessment of the various representations and approaches to Athena, Susan Deacy does what no other has done before and brings all the aspects of this legendary figure into one, outstanding study.

A survey of one of the most enduringly popular of ancient deities, the book introduces Athena's myth, cult and reception, while directing the reader to detailed discussion as and when it is appropriate.

Students will find it a great help in their studies, and for the general reader with an interest in the ancient world and for those from related disciplines such as literature, art history and religion, it provides a mine of information and insight into this fascinating classical figure.

A prominent evangelical scholar reevaluates Paul's view of the Old Testament law in light of the biblical texts and recent scholarly debate.

Given the blatant violence and terrorism of the 21stcentury world, should Christians be seeking divine vengeance like that demonstrated in the retribution psalms of David? This book examines the theology of the curses in the Psalms as well as the ancient cultural context and then shows how mercy and vengeance should play out in the current world.

This accessible and enlightening history provides insights into the fascinating genre of apocalyptic literature, showing how the apocalypse encompasses far more than popular views of the last judgment and violent end of the world might suggest.* An accessible and enlightening history of the "apocalypses"--ancient Jewish and Christian works -- providing fresh insights into the fascinating genre of literature* Shows how the apocalypses were concerned not only with popular views of the last judgment and violent end of the world, but with reward and punishment after death, the heavenly temple, and the revelation of astronomical phenomena and other secrets of nature* Traces the tradition of apocalyptic writing through the Middle Ages, through to the modern era, when social movements still prophesise the world's imminent demise

In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the events of 9/11, 7/7, the War on Terror and the Caliphate and atrocities of the so-called Islamic State have dominated Western consciousness and wreaked havoc in parts of the Muslim-majority world. In their wake, a spate of books has been written explaining the phenomenon of Islamist radicalisation and Jihadism. Nevertheless, for normal citizens, as well as scholars of religion and legal professionals, the crucial question remains unanswered: how is mainstream Islam different from both Islamism and the Islamist Extremism that is used to justify terrorist violence? In this highly original book, which draws upon the author's experience as an expert witness in Islamic theology in 27 counter-terrorism trials, the author uses the idea of the Worldview, as well as traditional Islamic theology, to answer this question. The book explains not only what Mainstream Islam, Ideological Islamism and Islamist Extremism are in their broad philosophical characteristics and theological particulars, but also explains comprehensively how and why they are both superficially related and yet essentially and fundamentally different. In so doing, the book also illuminates the cast of characters and the development of their ideas that constitute Mainstream Islam, Ideological Islamism and the Non-Violent and Violent Islamist Extremists who constitute the Genealogy of Terror.

Persons anguished by another's profound suffering are often outraged by well-intentioned efforts to console them which suggest that God 'sent' that horrific suffering to their loved one for a 'purpose' according to a tailor-made 'plan' for just that person. However, the outraged reaction simply deepens the anguish. This book argues that such 'consolation' is theologically problematic because it assumes that unrestricted power is what makes God 'God.' Against that it outlines an account of 'who' and 'what' the Triune God is, framed in terms of God's intrinsic 'glory,' the attractive and perfectly self-expressive self-giving in love that is God's life, and sets limits to the range of things we can say God 'does.' Correlatively it offers an account of different senses in which God is 'sovereign' and 'powerful', one which reflects three ways God relates to all else: to create, to bless eschatologically, and to reconcile, as is scripturally narrated.

This book aims to highlight the distinctive and unfamiliar ways in which diverse religious traditions understand the 'body', and also, in doing this, to raise to greater consciousness some of the assumptions and problems of contemporary attitudes to it. It brings together essays by established experts in the history of religion, the social sciences, and philosophy. Part I is devoted to an analysis of current secularized discourses on the 'body', and to exposing both their anti-religious and their covertly religious content. Parts II and III provide essays on traditional 'Western' and 'Eastern' religious attitudes to the 'body'. Each contributor focuses on some (especially characteristic) devotional practices or relevant texts; each carefully outlines the total context in which a distinctive religious attitude to 'bodiliness' occurs. The result is a rich source for comparative studies of the 'body', and of its relation to society and to the divine.

A groundbreaking, highly original work of postmodern feminist theology from one of the most important and highly regarded authors in the field.The Face of the Deep is a deconstruction of the Christian doctrine of creation from the idea that a transcendent Lord unilaterally created the universe out of nothing. Catherine Keller's impassioned, graceful meditation helps develop an alternative representation of the cosmic creative process. Drawing upon Hebrew myths of genesis, Keller posits a new theology of creation: creation from chaos, or the deep, engaging along the way the political and the mystical, the literary and the scientific, the sexual and the racial.In doing so she also draws upon the work of a number of postmodern and feminist continental philosophers including Heidegger, Donna Haraway and Luce Irigaray.
As a landmark work of immense significance for Jewish and Christian theology, gender studies, literature, philosophy and ecology, The Face of the Deep takes our originary story to a new horizon, rewriting the starting point for western spiritual discourse.