How does God respond to trauma in a world full of horrors? Beyond their physical and emotional toll, the horrors of this world raise difficult theological and existential questions. Where is God in the darkest moments of the human experience? Is there any hope for recovery from the trauma generated by these horrors? There are no easy answers to these questions. In God of All Comfort, Scott Harrower addresses these questions head on. Using the Gospel of Matthew as a backdrop, he argues for a Trinitarian approach to horrors, showing how God-in his triune nature-reveals himself to those who have experienced trauma. He explores the many ways God relates restoratively with humanity, showing how God's light shines through the darkness of trauma.

Embedded within the texts of (1) The Scilitan martyrs, (2) The account of Montanus, Lucius, and their Companions, (3) The martyrdom of Marian and James, (4) and The martyrdom of Cyprian of Carthage there is a powerful guide for living in the aftermath of trauma. These stories offered pathways to essential elements for recovery to its historical readership. These include beliefs and a number of positive religious coping strategies that revolved around a sense of safety, re-establishing community relationships, an integrated sense of the self, and the use of the body. This book vividly demonstrates that hagiographies played a vital role for helping trauma survivors recover and live in the aftermath of disaster.

Synopsis: In 1967 Karl Rahner famously wrote: "The economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity, and vice versa." From that time onwards, Rahner's Rule has become the norm for conceiving the relationship between the Trinity in the economy of salvation and God's eternal inner life. Evangelical theologians currently employ Rahner's Rule in a variety of ways. One of the most popular is the "Strict Realist Reading" whereby trinitarian relationships in salvation history are taken to mirror eternal relationships within God. This book brings this norm into conversation with the witness of Scripture in order to assess its viability. In doing so, it highlights troubling issues that arise from the application of the Strict Realist Reading of Rahner's Rule to the narrative of Luke-Acts. This book suggests that the Strict Realist Reading can be shown to be a questionable basis for our doctrine of God's inner life. Endorsements: "Based on Luke-Acts Scott Harrower has mounted an exegetical challenge to the strict realist reading of Rahner's rule that evangelicals would be foolish to avoid. The biblical accent does not fall on the imitation of the Trinity's inner life but on the imitation of Christ in the economy of salvation. The onus is now on those who champion the rule or something like it in its strict form to meet the challenge." --Dr. Graham A. Cole Anglican Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University Author of Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith? (2012) "The book leverages its investigation of Luke-Acts to lodge a protest against a widespread, highly influential, but seldom critically examined movement in modern Trinitarian methodology. . . . I commend this book as an excellent piece of research theology, the kind of solid work that captures the theological moment, advances the next few steps into new territory, and indicates where future progress lies." --Fred Sanders, from the foreword Associate Professor in the Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University Author of The Deep Things of God (2010) "'Rahner's Rule' has exercised massive influence over recent theology. To this point it has not-quite surprisingly-been subjected to adequate biblical scrutiny. In this insightful work, Scott Harrower takes important steps to provide such scrutiny. The result is a book that will repay careful study, and even those who are not fully persuaded by all the arguments will benefit from engagement with it." --Thomas H. McCall Associate Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Author of Which Trinity? Whose Monotheism? (2010) Author Biography: Rev. Dr. Scott Harrower is Assistant Professor of Theology and History at the Melbourne School of Theology in Australia. He has authored various articles in theology and historical theology.

The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers offers an informative introduction to the extant body of Christian texts that existed beside and after the New Testament known to us as the apostolic fathers. Featuring cutting-edge research by leading scholars, it explores how the early Church expanded and evolved over the course of the first and second centuries as evidenced by its textual history. The volume includes thematic essays on imperial context, the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, the growth and diversification of the early church, influences and intertextuality, and female leaders in the early church. The Companion contains ground-breaking essays on the individual texts with specific attention given to debates of authorship, authenticity, dating, and theological texture. The Companion will serve as an essential resource for instructors and students of the first two centuries of Christianity.

The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers offers an informative introduction to the extant body of Christian texts that existed beside and after the New Testament known to us as the apostolic fathers. Featuring cutting-edge research by leading scholars, it explores how the early Church expanded and evolved over the course of the first and second centuries as evidenced by its textual history. The volume includes thematic essays on imperial context, the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, the growth and diversification of the early church, influences and intertextuality, and female leaders in the early church. The Companion contains ground-breaking essays on the individual texts with specific attention given to debates of authorship, authenticity, dating, and theological texture. The Companion will serve as an essential resource for instructors and students of the first two centuries of Christianity.