This popular text has been updated to ensure that it continues to provide a current and comprehensive overview of the main Christian theologies of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The Christian church has a long tradition of systematic theology, that is, of studying biblical teaching on centrally important doctrines such as the Word of God, redemption, and Jesus Christ. Wayne Grudem's bestselling Systematic Theology has several distinctive Bibliographies in each chapter that cross-reference subjects to a wide range of other systematic theologies.
Since the publication of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem; Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991), the ongoing debate over the biblical understanding of men and women has brought new challenges to the perspective we presented there, as well as new insights from ongoing scholarly investigation of Scripture and of trends in the culture.
A companion piece to The Concept of Anxiety, this work continues Søren Kierkegaard's radical and comprehensive analysis of human nature in a spectrum of possibilities of existence. Present here is a remarkable combination of the insight of the poet and the contemplation of the philosopher. In The Sickness unto Death, Kierkegaard moves beyond anxiety on the mental-emotional level to the spiritu…
Søren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth-century Danish philosopher rediscovered in the twentieth century, is a major influence in contemporary philosophy, religion, and literature. He regarded Either/Or as the beginning of his authorship, although he had published two earlier works on Hans Christian Andersen and irony. The pseudonymous volumes of Either/Or are the writings of a young man (I) and of …
Best known for having declared the death of God, Nietzsche was a thinker thoroughly absorbed in the Christian tradition in which he was born and raised. Yet while the atheist Nietzsche is well known, the pious Nietzsche is seldom recognized and rarely understood. Redeeming Nietzsche examines the residual theologian in the most vociferous of atheists. Giles Fraser demonstrates that although Niet…
Containing both triumphant stories of God's provision and difficult prophetic images, the book of Daniel stirs readers' imagination and interest. Examples abound of Daniel's unswerving dedication to the God of Israel, and the prophet describes the coming days in striking detail. Throughout this book the nature of Daniel's God is revealed to us. God's plans for the future judgment and deliveranc…
This book tests the explanatory and descriptive power of the doctrine of sin in relation to two concrete situations: sexual abuse of children and the holocaust. Taking seriously the explanatory power of secular discourses for analysing and regulating therapeutic action in relation to such situations, the book asks whether the theological language of sin can offer further illumination by speakin…
In this new addition to the BECNT series, respected New Testament scholar Robert Stein offers a substantive yet highly accessible commentary on the Gospel of Mark. The commentary focuses primarily on the Markan understanding of the Jesus traditions as reflected in this key New Testament book. For each section in Mark, the author analyzes how it fits the immediate and larger context of the Gospe…
The following book is the first in a projected series of writings concerning ‘gift’. Why ‘gift’ exactly? The primary reason is that gift is a kind of trancendental category in relation to all the topoi of theology, in a similar fashion to ‘word’. Creation and grace are gifts; Incarnation is the supreme gift; the fall, evil and violence are the refusal of gift; atonement is the renew…
The book of Genesis contains foundational material for Jewish and Christian theology, both historic and contemporary, and is almost certainly the most appealed-to book in the Old Testament in contemporary culture. R. W. L. Moberly’s The Theology of the Book of Genesis examines the actual use made of Genesis in current debates, not only in academic but also in popular contexts. Traditional iss…
The book of Genesis contains some of the most beautiful and well-known stories in the the garden, the flood, the tower of Babel, and the lives of the patriarchs. But these are more than just good stories. They lay the groundwork for God's relationship with humanity and for his plan for our salvation, making Genesis foundational to understanding everything else that happens in the Bible. Genesis…
During Paul's ministry, Corinth was a newly rebuilt, bustling, important city in the Roman Empire. It was a place full of pride, individualism, wealth, and religious pluralism. No wonder its inhabitants held little regard for Paul's message! Sound familiar? Our contemporary culture has much in common with ancient Corinth. The relevance of this book to churches today is astounding. Paul delivers…
In 'Systematic Theology' Paul Tillich restates the Christian faith for the twentieth century. Here complete between two covers are the three volumes of this monumental work-the summation of Tillich's thought-which appeared in 1951,1957, and 1963.
2011 Christianity Today Book Award winner! Alister McGrath, one of the most prominent theologians and public intellectuals of our day, explains how Christian thinking can and must have a positive role in shaping, nourishing and safeguarding the Christian vision of reality. With this in our grasp, we have the capacity for robust intellectual and cultural engagement, confidently entering the publ…
Wide-ranging and ambitious, Justice combines moral philosophy and Christian ethics to develop an important theory of rights and of justice as grounded in rights. Nicholas Wolterstorff discusses what it is to have a right, and he locates rights in the respect due the worth of the rights-holder. After contending that socially-conferred rights require the existence of natural rights, he argues tha…
In the old crenellated church of Mary of Zion in Aksum, Ethiopia, an object is kept that emperors, patriarchs, and priests have assured the world is the most important religious relic of all the Ark of the Covenant. Are the legends true? Or is this story a monumental deception? In a triumph of historical detective work the acclaimed Ethiopia expert Stuart Munro-Hay traces the extraordinary lege…
A "New York Times" bestseller people can believe in--by "a pioneer of the new urban Christians" ("Christian Today magazine"). Timothy Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, addresses the frequent doubts that skeptics and non-believers bring to religion. Using literature, philosophy, anthropology, pop culture, and intellectual reasoning, Keller explains ho…
Religion has influenced human culture since prehistory, shaping everything from the politics of war and peace to notions of morality and issues of sex, reproduction, and family. On an individual level, it has also offered people a sense of meaning, purpose, and comfort, and even today, when science appears to offer answers to many of the world's conundrums, faith persists and many religions--in…
These essays examine the seven deadly sins as cultural constructions in the Middle Ages and beyond, focusing on the way concepts of the sins are used in medieval communities, the institution of the Church, and by secular artists and authors.
Christians and Muslims have been involved in exchanges over matters of faith and morality since the founding of Islam. Attitudes between the faiths today are deeply coloured by the legacy of past encounters, and often preserve centuries-old negative views. The History of Christian-Muslim Relations, Texts and Studies presents the surviving record of past encounters in authoritative, fully intro…
Defending the faith can be daunting, and a well-reasoned and biblically grounded apologetic is essential for the challenge. Following in the footsteps of groundbreaking apologist Cornelius Van Til, Scott Oliphint presents us with an introduction to Reformed apologetics as he sets forth the principles behind a distinctly "covenantal" approach. This book clearly explains the theological foundatio…
The Book of Jeremiah, second of the three major prophets, is immensely complex. Its different interpretive voices stretch across several generations and do not cohere into an easily identifiable and uniform theology. Instead, in both poetry and prose, the Book of Jeremiah witnesses an ongoing conversation among different advocates concerning the crisis of Babylon's expansion and Jerusalem's dem…
Written by a Westerner whose life experience was as a Buddhist monastic, this collection of essays conveys a friendly spirit, in the manner of a wise and practical teacher
A wide ranging survey of the secondary literature on the books of Proverbs, Job, Qoheleth, Ben Sira, and the Wisdom of Solomon in which the author summarizes not only modern scholarship, but also Church Fathers, Medieval authorities, and contemporary interpretations by artists and theologians.
Foxe's Book of Martyrs is a collection of unforgettable accounts of religious persecution. This modernized selection brings together some of the most stirring tales of the interrogation and execution of heretics burnt at the stake in the reign of Mary, with some of the original woodcut illustrations and an illuminating introduction.
What does it mean to forgive? The answer is widely assumed to be self-evident but critical analysis quickly reveals the complexities of the subject. Forgiveness has traditionally been the preserve of Christian theology, though in the last half century - and at an accelerating pace - psychologists, lawyers, politicians and moral philosophers have all been making an important contribution to ques…
Shinto is finally receiving the attention it deserves as a fundamental component of Japanese culture. Nevertheless, it remains a remarkably complex and elusive phenomenon to which Western categories of religion do not readily apply. A knowledge of Shinto can only proceed from a basic understanding of Japanese shrines and civilization, for it is closely intermingled with the Japanese way of life…
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In Natural Theology William Paley set out to prove the existence of God from the evidence of the beauty and order of the natural world. This edition reprints the original text of 1802, and sets the book in the context of the theological, philosophical, and scientific debates of the nineteenth century.
The scripture-saturated culture of nineteenth-century England is displayed by Timothy Larsen in a series of lively case studies of representative figures ranging from the Quaker prison reformer Elizabeth Fry to the liberal Anglican pioneer of nursing Florence Nightingale to the Baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon to the Jewish author Grace Aguilar. Even the agnostic man of science T.H. Huxley and th…
A number of critics and scholars argue for the notion of a distinctly Catholic variety of imagination, not as a matter of doctrine or even of belief, but rather as an artistic sensibility. They figure the blend of intellectual, emotional, spiritual and ethical assumptions that proceed from Catholic belief constitutes a vision of reality that necessarily informs the artist's imaginative expressi…
Showcases the relationship between Kabbalah and Christianity on the one hand and New Age religion on the other. This work provides historical background, ranging from the mystical groups that flourished in ancient Judaism in the East, to the use of kabbalistic ideas in the influential modern Jewish religious movement, Hasidism.
A study of animal sacrifice within Greek paganism, Judaism, and Christianity during the period of their interaction between about 100 B.C. and 200 A.D.
Shinto, the indigenous faith of the Japanese people, continues to fascinate and mystify both the casual visitor to Japan and the long-time resident. This introduction unveils Shinto's spiritual characteristics and discusses the architecture and function of Shinto shrines. Further examination of Shinto's lively festivals, worship, music, and sacred regalia illustrates Shinto's influence on all l…
Distinguished scholar of Japanese religions and culture Helen Hardacre offers the first comprehensive history of Shinto, the ancient and vibrant tradition whose colorful rituals are still practiced today.
Presents the fundamental concepts and traditions of Shinto and provides information on its history, worship of "Kami"--"way of the gods," its rituals and festivals that preach harmony and tolerance with nature and people, and its concern with achieving happiness in this life.
How do science and religion interact? This study examines the ways in which two minorities in Britain - the Quaker and Anglo-Jewish communities - engaged with science. Drawing on a wealth of documentary material, Geoffrey Cantor charts the participation of Quakers and Jews in many different aspects of science.
Andrew Dickson White, the first president of Cornell University, devoted much research to the historical conflict between science and religion. His work culminated in this two-volume history which argues that religion was historically opposed to scientific progress. Volume two discusses theories of medicine, mythology, political economy and philology.
Andrew Dickson White, the first president of Cornell University, devoted much research to the historical conflict between science and religion. His work culminated in this two-volume history which argues that religion was historically opposed to scientific progress. Volume one discusses topics including creation, evolution, geography, ethnology and astronomy.
Storytelling may be one of the most universal of human behaviors. Representing events in a series of episodes allows storytellers and their audiences to explain a state of affairs, to trace the historical development of a people, to limn the portrait of a hero, or to account for the status of a ruler, city, or natural order. Storytelling ascribes causation to events, provides access to the pas…
To participate in a revision of Mircea Eliade’s Encyclopedia of Religion, first published in 1987, is an occasion of intense humility, but also a grand opportunity. Though not without its critics, the first edition was suitably heralded as the standard reference work in the field, a truly landmark achievement. The work of revision has, at nearly every turn, amplified rather than diminished a…
ETERNITY is the condition or attribute of divine life by which it relates with equal immediacy and potency to all times. The notion emerges at the point of contact of three distinct religious concerns. The oldest of these is the question of the state of life after death, especially in light of the continuing presence of the dead among the living as acknowledged in the various forms of the cult …
Images and the visual practices that put them to work contribute significantly to the experience of those social and cultural groupings that structure human life. Clan, tribe, ancestors, congregation, family, ethnic group, race, and nation are only some of the many shared orders of social life. These forms of association configure the loyalties, obligations, and affiliations, as well as the ave…
The second edition of this fascinating book is the ideal introduction to the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran and their impact on our understanding of the rise of Christianity.:.; Introduces the Qumran Scrolls to the uninitiated general reader.; Explains how revolutionary the discovery of the Scrolls was and their enduring significance.; Sets the Scrolls within the wider context o…
Although certain definitions of religion would like to portray worship and the contemplative life as devoid of anything so profane or secular as commerce, in fact, work, trade, and religion are often inseparable, and can even be indistinguishable. And no religion is without fundamental economic aspects. If commerce is broadly understood as any system of exchange in which goods, services, or cap…
Whatever else they are, images are always deposits of previous forms of image-making, traces of visual thought inheritedfrom the past. This fact makes any given image a particular configuration of preservative or backward-looking impulses and present or even forward-looking ones. In the case of religious imagery, this means that images are something like cultural fossils that are especially use…
As odd or superstitious as it may appear to a scientific, secular view of nature, many religious images and objects are capable of great efficacy and able to protect against evil or misfortune, promote prosperity, heal illness, prompt fecundity, communicate favorably with the dead, or secure divine blessing. In fact, it may even be that such purposes constitute the greatest occasion for images…
Dreaming in the World's Religions provides an authoritative and engaging one-volume resource for the study of dreaming and religion. It tells the story of how dreaming has shaped the religious history of humankind, from the Upanishads of Hinduism to the Qur'an of Islam, from the conception dream of Buddha's mother to the sexually tempting nightmares of St. Augustine, from the Ojibwa vision ques…