This book contains a collection of easy to read biblical skits and devotionals with an emphasis on evangelism. These writings are designed to be used for various aspects of church ministry. Though initially written with youth groups in mind, these skits and devotionals are not limited in their appeal to all ages. Each skit is based on scriptures from the Holy Bible and injects dialogue from everyday life. The shortness of each skit makes them adaptable for use in enhancing a regular worship service as an added feature or as the main feature of the program. All writings are designed to positively impact people and to create versatility in the method of spreading the gospel to all generations. The format of each work is simple, yet effective in providing interesting, informative, and spiritual messages. The length of each performance can be varied through the inclusion or elimination of songs. Successful performances can be rendered without hours of rehearsal and preparation. Speaking parts can be read or memorized without depreciating the effectiveness of the underlying message. Program committee leaders for women's auxiliaries, brotherhoods, usher boards, choirs, and youth groups can use these writings in their monthly or annual programs. Since each skit has only a few characters, each work is adaptable for groups of any size. Flexibility in altering the method of presentation without changing the message affords the users an opportunity to customize a skit to meet their specific needs. Each skit has been successfully presented by several church organizations of which I am affiliated. This book, Write, is designed to glorify God, magnify Jesus Christ, and spread the gospel throughoutthe world.

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Organ Donation in Islam: The Interplay of Jurisprudence, Ethics, and Society delves into the complexities and nuances of organ donation in Muslim communities. A diverse group of authors including Muslim jurists, academic researchers, clinicians and policy stakeholders engage with the multi-faceted topic. Contributions from Sunni and Shia scholars are positioned alongside each other, giving the reader an appreciation of the different Islamic traditions and legal methodologies; and qualitative research examining the views and potential concerns of Muslim families towards donating organs of loved ones is juxtaposed with the work of academicians and community advocates engaging diverse Muslim communities to equip them with the knowledge and tools to make informed donation decisions. Taken together the collection yields new ethical, empirical and sociological insights into how issues of body ownership, the definition of death, and community engagement interface with the act of donation. Accordingly, this wide-ranging volume represents a invaluable resource for religious leaders, healthcare professionals, social scientists, policy makers, researchers, and others interested in the interplay between contemporary healthcare, religious tradition, health policy and the topic of organ donation.

The ecumenical dialogues within Christianity mostly concentrate on the issues of justification, the Church, and the Holy Spirit. An ecumenical theological anthropology can rarely be found. The book presents the classical topics in theological anthropology from the Reformed, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox perspectives. The plurality or sometimes even the apparent tensions among theological traditions are shown to be within the limits of God's word alone. "In this fascinating book, Kristanto shares his thoughts on biblical notions, his vast explorations in the history of theology, and his analysis of todays intellectual challenges. Bringing these all together in one highly readable work, Kristanto manages to demonstrate perfectly the relevance of the biblical concept of the human being for the Church and society." Herman Selderhuis

This enlightening analysis of the image of a cruel God sustained by conservative Christianity reveals how this image formed, the psychological effects of this concept, and the ways in which it has guided religious individuals-in both positive and negative ways. This book is born, in large measure, as a result of a writing by contemporary theologian J. Harold Ellens. In his essay "Religious Metaphors Can Kill" from Praeger's The Destructive Power of Religion, Ellens espouses that theological doctrines are rooted in a model of God that determines all the aspects of those doctrines, and strongly influences the cultures into which it is inserted. Conservative Christianity in the Western world, says Ellens, has at its center the image of a cruel and wrathful God. The juridical atonement theory of Anselm is a result of such an image of God, and has an important role in justifying the resort to violence in human interaction. Starting from these considerations, Cruel God, Kind God: How Images of God Shape Belief, Attitude, and Outlook analyzes three general topics: how two very different kinds of Christianities have emerged from these disparate images of God; how the doctrines of "original sin," "the plan of salvation," and "penal substitution" can be explained by psychological factors, as can the wide dissemination and acceptance of these doctrines; and how the image of a cruel God affects mental health, atrophies personality, and produces guilt and shame. An introduction that explains the objectives of the book

Christian Theology after Christendom: Engaging the Thought of Douglas John Hall brings together contemporary thinkers to engage and build upon Douglas John Hall's work-and to take up his challenge to reclaim a contextual and de-colonizing theology of the cross as a means to speak to the realities of life and faith today. With a focus on contemporary issues, this edited collection critically analyzes and deconstructs the centuries-old colonial triumphalism of Christian theology and the church in the West. This book seeks to frame present day crises in ways that honor a deeply rooted theologia crucis that does not colonize the "other." It explores constructive decolonizing possibilities for Christian theology at the end of Christendom.

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Because God made a promise to Abraham concerning inheriting the land of Israel, a question arises. To which line of Abraham's descendants was the Promise made? That's important because they worship different Gods. This poses the problem, who is the true God?

This is the question of the ages concerning all claims of Deity. All things of life and death depend on that answer.

This book addresses questions from the perspective that the God of the Bible through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the true God and the God of true Christianity. It distinguishes between true and counterfeit Christianity.

The war that started with Satan's attempt to dethrone God and elevate himself to the Almighty is the defining factor of conflict. Association is made between spiritual determinations and earthly happenings. The next earthly event distinguishing where we are in time is the Russian invasion of Israel.

The only remaining possibility for Satan's success is stopping God from keeping His promise to Abraham. The mid-east peace problem is not just about ownership of land, but about "who is God"?

Also addressed - doctrines and theories taught in error. Dispensations, covenants, and promises are defined. How Revelation is structured and plays out is explained.

ne purpose of the book is to cause the reader to "think." Not just about things termed "religious" but in truth, how all things are related, especially "political." Hopefully it gives insight on how to prepare mentally, spiritually, and materially for what Scripture says will happen.

Evidence shows we are the generation that experiences the Biblical end times and the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. America must choose - follow the true God or the Satanic one-world government

The book challenges the true Church to reestablish scripture as our highest authority and be about our task.

A reply to Mathew Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation, this text when first published provoked criticism for the author's free-thinking beliefs and led to many exchanges of opinions with other theologians.

This is an introduction to the influence of Kierkegaard's thought on the development of modern theology. Kierkegaard is in many respects an enigmatic figure. About half of his published work appears under an array of pseudonyms and Kierkegaard himself advises that readers should not presume his agreement with any of the views appearing under pseudonymous authorship. Alongside the pseudonymous works are a long series of discourses published under Kierkegaard's own name, and accompanying the whole corpus are six volumes of Journals in which Kierkegaard experiments with ideas and makes note of his own questions and discoveries. Kierkegaard's concern throughout the authorship was to make clear, in opposition to the corrosive forces of Christendom and the posturing of contemporary philosophy, what authentic Christian faith consists in. "The Philosophy and Theology Series" looks at major philosophers and explores their relevance to theological thought as well as the response of theology.

This open access book addresses, for the first time, Islamic social work as an emerging concept at the interface of Islamic thought and social sciences. Applying a multidisciplinary approach it explores, on the one hand, the discourse that provides religious legitimisation to social work activities and, on the other hand, case studies of practical fields of Islamic social work including educational programmes, family counselling, and resettlement of prisoners. Although in many cases, these activities are oriented towards Muslim clients, more often than not they go beyond the boundaries of Muslim communities to benefit society as a whole. Muslim actors are also starting to professionalise their services and to negotiate the ways in which they can become fully recognised service-providers within the welfare state. At a more general level, the volume also shows that in contrast to the widespread processes of secularisation of social work and its separation from religious communities, new types of activities are now emerging, which bring back to the public arena both an increased sensitivity to the religious identities of the beneficiaries and the religious motivations of the benefactors. The edited volume will be of interest to researchers in Islamic Studies, Social and Political Sciences, Social Work, and Religious Studies. This is an open access book.

John Hick is one of the most widely read and discussed living writers in modern theology and the philosophy of religion. This reader collects together individual chapters on each major aspect of his thought from a variety of sources. Themes include faith and knowledge, philosophy of religion, evil and the God of love, death and eternal life, the myth of God incarnate and the problems of religious pluralism. The extracts are preceded by an introductory essay on his philosophical theology and on the integrity of his life and thought.;Paul Badham has also had published "Christian Beliefs about Life After Death", "Immortality or Extinction?", "Death and Immortality in the Religions of the World"; "Religion, State and Society in Modern Britain" and "Ethics at the Frontiers of Human Existence".

This book offers a critical-constructive study of Korean women's self-esteem from a feminist practical theological perspective. Jaeyeon Lucy Chung recognizes two different and yet related problems: the absence of scholarly work on women's self-esteem from non-white, non-Western groups in the field of practical theology, and the lack of attention to the low self-esteem prevalent in Korean women's sociocultural and religious context. Chung employs in-depth interview studies while drawing on theoretical resources of psychology, theology, and cultural studies to develop a relational-communal theory of self-esteem, and a systematic, communal understanding of pastoral care practice. The project offers insights into the life experience of Korean women, especially self-esteem, and it reveals some of the ways self-esteem can be fostered.

Ten spyte daarvan dat die Bybel eeue oud is, lees miljoene mense wereldwyd uit verskillende taal- en kultuurgroepe dit steeds met die verwagting om iets daarin te vind wat vir hulle persoonlike en spirituele lewe van waarde kan wees. Nietemin is die Bybel oorspronklik bedoel vir mense wat in ’n pre-industriele en prewetenskaplike wereld geleef het. Hulle huise, stede, plase, lewensomstandighede, kleding en gebruike het radikaal verskil van die wat ons vandag ken – wat die vraag laat ontstaan: hoe kan die reusegaping tussen hierdie antieke tekste en moderne lesers oorbrug word. Geskiedenis en geskrifte stel hedendaagse lesers aan die wereld van die ou Nabye-Ooste bekend – vanaf die ou Israeliete se oorlewingstryd, tot die godsdienstige literatuur wat geskryf is om hulle die lewe te help hanteer en sin te maak uit gebeure wat hul lewe beinvloed het – en lei die leser sodoende tot groter begrip en insig in die verskillende kontekste van die Bybel se wordingsgeskiedenis.

The Church of God in Jesus Christ consists of three parts: the first provides a concise historical survey of ecclesiology elucidating the most salient teachings and insights from the Old and New Testaments, the writings of the fathers, the medievals, moderns, up to the present day. It integrates a standard historical overview with a recovery of oft ignored or forgotten insights from the tradition (e.g., beginnings of the Church in prehistoric times and in Israel, Irenaeus's Trinitarian ecclesiology and St. Bernard's nuptial vison of the Church. The second part is a systematic ecclesiology ordered around the four marks of the Church, then proceeding to treat the participation of all the faithful in the threefold office of Christ, the ongoing renewal and reform of the Church by the Holy Spirit working through her members, and finishing with a hitherto neglected study of the eschatological consummation of the Church in heavenly glory. The third part consists of five essays on particular themes of special importance in ecclesiology. Of the five, most notable is the chapter on the relationship between the Church's infallibility and Mary. Fr. Roch Kereszty intends to integrate theological insights with nourishing the reader's spiritual life by emphasizing the essentially Trinitarian, nuptial and Marian dimensions of the Church. The book fills a genuine need in that it offers a rich synthesis of the ecclesiological renewal in an accessible and clear language. It will enrich not only students of theology but all those college educated adults who are interested to delve beyond the cliches of the media into the contemplation of the manifold mystery of the Church.