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Paul and His Life-Transforming Theology: A Concise Introduction
Roger Mohrlang
A concise, inviting introduction to the greatest of the early Christian missionaries, the Apostle Paul--his life, his letters, his thinking--and the life-transforming gospel he proclaimed.
Readers will find this book academically stimulating, theologically rich, and personally challenging. It highlights the ways Paul's life and thinking differ from--and challenge--the life and thinking of Christians today.
Written in nontechnical language for both Christian students and general Christian readers, this book--the result of a lifetime of studying and teaching Paul's letters--will be helpful to all students and teachers of the Bible who want a deeper understanding of Paul, his theology, and the implications of his powerful letters for Christians today.
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My Psalm Has Turned into Weeping: Job's dialogue with the Psalms
Will Kynes
Drawing inspiration from the widely recognized parody of Ps 8:5 in Job 7:17-18, this study inquires whether other allusions to the Psalms might likewise contribute to the dialogue between Job, his friends, and God. An intertextual analysis reveals six psalms (1, 8, 39, 73, 107, 139) that serve as subtexts in the Job dialogue. The dialogue thus created between Job and these psalms indicates the concern the book has with the proper response to suffering and the role the interpretation of authoritative texts may play in that reaction
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A Grace Revealed: How God Redeems the Story of Your Life
Jerry L. Sittser
Twenty years ago, Jerry Sittser lost his daughter, wife, and mother in a car accident. He chronicled that tragic experience in A Grace Disguised, a book that has become a classic on the topic of grief and loss. Now he asks: How do we live meaningfully, even fruitfully, in this world and at the same time long for heaven? How do we respond to the paradox of being a new creature in Christ even though we don’t always feel or act like one? How can we trust God is involved in our story when our circumstances seem to say he isn’t? While A Grace Disguised explored how the soul grows through loss, A Grace Revealed brings the story of Sittser’s family full circle, revealing God’s redeeming work in the midst of circumstances that could easily have destroyed them. As Sittser reminds us, our lives tell a good story after all. A Grace Revealed will helps us understand and trust that God is writing a beautiful story in our own lives.
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Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries
Jerry L. Sittser
In Rome in A.D. 165, two men named Carpus and Papylus stood before the proconsul of Pergamum, charged with the crime of being Christians. Not even torture could make them deny Christ, so they were burned alive. Is my faithfulness as strong? In the fifth century, Melania the Younger and her husband, Pinian, distributed their enormous wealth to the poor and intentionally practiced the discipline of renunciation. Could living more simply deepen my trust in God? In the sixteen hundreds, Philipp Jakob Spener's love for the Word of God and his desire to help people apply the Bible to their life moved him to start "Colleges of Piety," or small groups. In what ways could commitment to community make me more like Christ? The history of the church has shaped what our faith and practice are like today. It's tempting to think that the way we do things now is best, but history also has much to teach us about what we've forgotten. In Water from a Deep Well, Gerald Sittser opens to us the rich history of spirituality, letting us gaze at the practices and stories of believers from the past who had the same thirst for God that we do today. As we see their deep faith through his vibrant narratives, we may discover that old ways can bring new life to our own spirituality.
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Participation in Christ: An Entry into Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics
Adam Neder
An exploration of the concept of "participation in Christ" in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics and what it means for understanding Christian faith, this book clarifies Barth's claim that humanity as a whole, and human beings individually, participate in Jesus Christ--revelation, election, creation, reconciliation, and redemption all take place in Christ; and their meaning may only be comprehended in Christ. In these acts of inclusion and realization, the creature is incorporated into a fellowship that is nothing less than participation in the being of God.
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Love One Another: Becoming the Church Jesus Longs For
Jerry L. Sittser
Love one another. It's one of the greatest, simplest and most difficult commands Jesus gave. And when it comes to the church, sometimes it seems impossible. How can we achieve unity within the diversity of the body of Christ? Gerald Sittser examines the "one another" statements throughout the New Testament to distill much-needed biblical wisdom for loving each other even in the midst of controversies and stalemates. Speaking from his own pastoral experience with the best and worst of church life, Sittser helps us understand more fully what the love Jesus commanded actually requires and shows us how to live it out―through struggle, servanthood, compromise and sacrifice.
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When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayer: Insights to Keep You Praying with Greater Faith and Deeper Hope
Jerry L. Sittser
Many of us have experienced amazing answers to prayer. But what about when our deepest prayers go unanswered? When disaster strikes, when a loved one dies―what then? When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer explores the mysteries and paradoxes of unanswered prayer. Forged in the fires of his own crushing experience, Jerry Sittser’s hard-won spiritual insights affirm the greatness of God’s love and concern for us even when we do not understand why our prayers seem to go unheard and unheeded.
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Dipped in chocolate all over again: reflections of poetry from the soul of a chocolate woman
Stephy Y. Nobles-Beans
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Matthew and Paul: A Comparison of Ethical Perspectives
Roger Mohrlang
The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the basic structures of Matthew's and Paul's ethics, rather than to deal in detail with their teaching on specific moral issues. Dr Mohrlang discusses their perspectives under the five headings of 'law', 'reward and punishment', 'relationship to Christ and the role of grace', 'love', and 'inner forces', and gives special attention to the question of ethical motivation. There is no absolute contrast, however, since elements both of law and of grace are found in both writers, and for both it is their understanding of Christ that is decisive. The comparison is highly illuminating, and serves to throw into clear relief the more striking characteristics of each writer's ethical system. It should prove of considerable value to students both of New Testament ethics and of Matthean and Pauline theology and to those interested in the larger question of unity and diversity in the New Testament as a whole.
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A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows through Loss
Jerry L. Sittser
An expanded edition of this classic book on grief and loss―with a new preface and epilogue Loss came suddenly for Jerry Sittser. In an instant, a tragic car accident claimed three generations of his family: his mother, his wife, and his young daughter. While most of us will not experience such a catastrophic loss in our lifetime, all of us will taste it. And we can, if we choose, know as well the grace that transforms it. A Grace Disguised plumbs the depths of sorrow, whether due to illness, divorce, or the loss of someone we love. The circumstances are not important; what we do with those circumstances is. In coming to the end of ourselves, we can come to the beginning of a new life―one marked by spiritual depth, joy, compassion, and a deeper appreciation of simple blessings.
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The Will of God as a Way of Life: How to Make Every Decision with Peace and Confidence
Jerry L. Sittser
Practical help for understanding and following God’s will for your life “God has a plan for our lives,” but what does that mean in practical terms? How do we know God’s will for important life decisions, like who to marry, what job to take, what church to join? How can we be free if God has a perfect plan for us? Does suffering mean we are off track? How exactly does God speak? Author Jerry Sittser explores these questions and offers a biblically based approach that is truly liberating. No matter what decisions we’ve already made, he points out that it is still possible to live out God’s perfect will―even if we think we’ve married the wrong person, chosen the wrong career, or landed in some kind of serious trouble. This new edition includes study questions designed to help individuals or groups who are faced with decisions―large or small.
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Discovering God's Will: How to Make Every Decision with Peace and Confidence
Jerry L. Sittser
Practical help for finding and following God's will for your life with insights into God's dynamic, multi-faceted purpose for your life. The will of God is a way of life we can live each day.
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A Cautious Patriotism: The American Churches and the Second World War
Jerry L. Sittser
World War II was a turning point in twentieth-century American history, and its effects on American society have been studied from virtually every conceivable historical angle. Until now, though, the role of religion--an important aspect of life on the home front--has essentially been overlooked. In A Cautious Patriotism, Gerald Sittser addresses this omission. He examines the issues raised by World War II in light of the reactions they provoked among Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Unitarians, and members of other Christian denominations. In the process, he enriches our understanding of the relationships between church and society, religion and democracy. In deliberate contrast to the zealous, even jingoistic support they displayed during World War I, American churches met the events of the Second World War with ambivalence. Though devoted to the nation, Sittser argues, they were cautious in their patriotic commitments and careful to maintain loyalty to ideals of peace, justice, and humanitarianism. Religious concerns played a role in the debate over American entry into the war and continued to resurface over issues of mobilization, military chaplaincy, civil rights, the internment of Japanese Americans, Jewish suffering, the dropping of the atomic bomb, and postwar planning.
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The Adventure: Putting Energy into Your Walk with God
Jerry L. Sittser
"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered." --G.K. Chesterton As even a brief exposure to the New Testament will show, the Christian life is a life of adventure. Every aspect is full of energy and light. Yet too often we stop at one point of interest--evangelism, spiritual disciplines, social justice--and go no further. Interweaving stories from a summer vacation, Jerry Sittser shows how our lives can include all God has in mind for us. In a book that is fun and challenging, Sittser restores wholeness to the adventure of Christian living
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