Outline: Parenting. If you are a single parent, you already know you have one of the hardest jobs in the world. Trying to be both dad and mom -- breadwinner, cook, chauffeur, comforter, dishwasher, homework helper, disciplinarian, nurse, and role model -- can wear down the hardiest man or woman. But do you know that God, in the Bible, offers words of grace, power, and hope especially for you?…
Outline: Personal Change. Prickly, defensive, nasty, volatile, withdrawn, miserable ... aren't these days when you fell surrounded by difficult people? How do you cope? You can try avoiding them, gossiping about them, or giving them a piece of your mind. But wait! Don't your reactions make you hard to love too? William P. Smith explains that learning how to deal with difficult people starts wi…
Outline : Parenting. When your child is anxious, it's easy to get anxious too. You want to help your child regain a sense of peace and safety, but how can you? This world is big and scary and sometimes our worries get big too. Julie Lowe, a skilled family counselor with more than twenty years of experience, guides parents in assessing their child's anxiety and gives practical ways to encourag…
Outline: WORRY. ANXIETY. PANIC. Does any problem hamper our lives more? It plagues us daily, draining our joy and exhausting our energy. It springs up suddenly, clouding our thinking and wrecking our relationships. Most of us have come to accept it, and even expect it... but do we have to? Biblical counselor Robert Jones brings hope for this common problem by demonstrating that it's also a solv…
Outline : Resources for Personal Change The damage you suffered may have been done in one terrible moment or over time. But the healing and the restoration will unfold at your pace, at a human pace. It unfolds as part of your story, and it unfolds over time. As a vulnerable child, instead of being protected, helped, and comforted, you were physically, emotionally, and/or sexually abused. Learn…
Outline : I hate it. I love it. Sometimes our desires can be cruel lovers. We think we should be rid of a particular desire, but we feel stuck. "What's the use in trying to rid my life of this desire?" we ask ourselves. "I've tried, but there's just no way out for me." Or is there? The problem may be more complicated than just being stuck. Might there be a path to true change? (If so, would …
Outline : Personal Change Often, in our busy world, our lives feel like one long "to-do" list. It's easy to get so busy that we don't even notice how exhausted and anxious we are. Do you find yourself saying yes to activities you don't have time for? Have you ever said, "If I don't do it, who will?" An overloaded schedule and an inability to rest are signs of approaching "burnout." Instead of …
Outline : Medical and Psychiatric Issues If you're struggling with a sexual addiction of any sort, you understand that feeling of being trapped, out of control, and afraid of being found out. No matter what you try, it seems impossible to break free from the lure of illicit sexual thoughts and practices. Author David Powlison encourages those who want to overcome their compulsive sexual behavi…
Outline : Parenting The kids are hungry, dinner is late, evervone's tired and on edge, and then it happens-you lose control and blow up at them again. Is losing control with our children inevitable in our busy world? Or is there a better way? Learn from William P. Smith a better way to relate to your children than with irritation, anger, and harsh words. Drawing on his counseling and parenting…
Outline: Marriage Anger...fear...despair...guilt...shame...when your marriage is broken by adultery, the core struggles of your heart are revealed. But although you and your spouse may be experiencing many of the same emotions, you are standing on opposite sides of a deep abyss-one of you has profoundly hurt the other. Is it possible to bridge the gap between you and heal your marriage? Robert…
Outline: Are you having suicidal thoughts and feelings? Perhaps you are convinced that life is not worth living. Your life seems hopeless, like a black hole with all love, hope, and joy sucked out. David Powlison describes the various reasons you might be feeling hopeless and explains that God is not surprised or put off by your feelings of despair. Your life is precious to God. He knows everyt…
Outline: Singleness You know you're in love-you always want to be together, and you think about each other all the time-but does that mean you're ready to get married? How do you decide if your relationship is strong enough for marriage? William P. Smith gives you a series of questions based on biblical principles that you can use to assess your relationship's strengths and weaknesses. Answeri…
Outline : Personal Growth Are you living under a cloud of guilt that you can't seem to shake no matter what you do? Do you feel guilty about everything, all the time? We all have different ways of dealing with our guilty feelings, but none of them work for very long. Timothy S. Lane explains that our strategies for dealing with guilt don't work because guilt is not just a bad feeling. It's a r…
Outline : Personal Growth If we're honest, most of us can remember eating more than we need, More often than we might care to admit, we finish a meal knowing we've had too much. Why do we push the limits of our food consumption? Does God have anything to say about this struggle? Counselor and physician Michael R. Emlet walks us through the many reasons we may overeat and reminds us of biblical…
Outline: Parenting. How do you blend two separate families into one house-hold? Family traditions, values, interests, and parenting styles are often so far apart that simple questions like, "Who takes out the trash?" or "Where shall we go for Christmas?" can quickly become flashpoints of conflict. Winston T. Smith provides a road map to the unique challenges that each member of a stepfamily f…
Outline: Resources for Personal Change Someone you know and love has died. You feel the emptiness and sorrow of loss. That alone is extremely hard. But suicide adds many other painful reactions to the heartache that death brings. Common reactions are feelings of anger, guilt, betrayal, and many, many unanswerable questions. This is one of life's broken, dark experiences in which you need help …
Outline: Someone you care about has been impacted by schizophrenia. Maybe you are just coming to terms with the diagnosis and wonder what it means for your loved one, for you, and for your family. What is the way forward? How do you live with hope and compassion in the middle of this struggle? Todd Stryd helps you, as a caregiver, to understand the effects of schizophrenia and offer compassiona…
Outline: Relationship Resources for Singles "If we're in love, what's wrong with having sex before marriage? Why should we be the only ones who wait?" If you have ever thought or said things like this, you have a lot of company. Many people believe that, at least in some circumstances, premarital sex is okay. But do you know what God says about this issue? Timothy S. Lane clearly explains God'…
A certain established orthodoxy has settled over scholarly thinking concerning the relationship between the Christian church and political freedom. Consider the work of the political philosopher John Rawls, who has exerted a towering impact on a generation of political scientists, philosophers, legal scholars, practicing lawyers, public policy professionals, and judges. Rawls often begins his t…
In God and Human Freedom: A Kierkegaardian Perspective Tony Kim discusses Sren Kierkegaard's concept of historical unity between the divine and human without disparaging their absolute distinction. Kim's central analysis between the relation of God and human freedom in Kierkegaard presents God's absoluteness as superseding human freedom, intervening at every point of His relation with the world…
Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905 1988) is one of the most significant and challenging of 20 th century theologians. His work remains highly influential within the Catholic Church; yet much of it is influenced by his encounter with and study of the great Protestant theologian Karl Barth. His writings, particularly the trilogy beginning with The Glory of the Lord, then the Theo- Drama and concluding …
Codex Bezae is a manuscript that has generally managed to provoke strong emotions. Bentley, with the Cantabrigian fervour which has not escaped the notice of Ernst Bammel, called it 'our Beza's'. Its script has been called crude, its spelling and accuracy lamentable. The scribe has been seen as a person with too much ink in his well, the transmitter - indeed the creator - of a text which he has…
Paul has provoked people as much in the twentieth century as he did in the first. Then, they sometimes threw stones at him; now, they tend to throw words. Some people still regard Paul as a pestilent and dangerous fellow. Others still think him the greatest teacher of Christianity after the Master himself This spectrum of opinion is well represented in the scholarly literature as well as the po…
Titus Flavius Clemens (c. 150–215), better known as Clement of Alexandria, remains a puzzling figure in the history of the Christian Church. Little can be confirmed about the setting in which he operated, and the controversy concerning the nature and purpose of his writings still attracts scholarly debate. Evidence surrounding the so-called ‘catechetical school’ at Alexandria is hard to c…
On the whole, the disappearance of Hell was a great relief, though it brought new problems.
A chronicle of the evangelical life, witten by a born-again Christian and former "60 Minutes" producer, seeks to bridge the gaps between believers and non-believers.
Thoroughly exploring the history of the conflict between Christians and Jews from medieval to modern times, this wide-ranging volume includes newly uncovered material from the recently opened post-Soviet archives. Anna Sapir Abulafia delineates controversial issues of inter-faith confrontation, and a number of eminent scholars from around the globe discuss openly and objectively the dynamics of…
This book argues from Scripture that godly fear is the opposite of being afraid of God or his punishment as if he were a tyrant. Instead, it is the intensity of the saints' love for, delight in, and enjoyment of all that God is.
Book covers and dust jackets frequently include endorsements by individuals who have read an advance copy of a volume. Often an endorsement will say to potential purchasers of the book that if they are able to read only one book on the subject with which the book is concerned, this is the book they should read. I was asked to write this foreword before I had received an advance copy of J. Harol…
An exploration of the relationship between the rise and development of a mystical element in Islam, known as Sufism, and the mysticism that was already to be found within the Christian Church of the Near and Middle East.
Christians are taught in their churches and schools that prayer is the most powerful way to experience God. But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facest of this everyday act
An important new book on how we can still believe in a God of love and confront the problem of evil in the world. Probably the most important book on the subject since John Hick's book Evil and the God of Love.̀ & ; Evil is a strong word that people now employ fairly rarely. Many people believe these days that God is omnipotent, omniscient and good and that what we deem to be bad or evil in th…
The papers in this volume, written by specialists in several disciplines, explore the parameters and significance of magic in Byzantine society, from the fourth century to after the empire's fall. The authors address a wide variety of questions, some of which are common to all historical research into magic, and some of which are peculiar to the Byzantine context." "Among the topics discussed a…
Demonstrates how God calls all individuals to express meaning and purpose through a career, sharing spiritual insights into finding relevance in cutthroat professional environments and staying true to Christian values in spite of competition.
A central figure in the reconception of early Christian history over the last three decades, Wayne A. Meeks offers here a selection of his most influential writings on the New Testament and early Christianity. His essays illustrate recent changes in our thinking about the early Christian movement and pose provocative questions regarding the history of this period.Meeks explores a fascinating ra…
Christian Counseling: A Comprehensive Guide was prepared to assist Christian leaders in their day-to-day counseling ministry. The first four chapters of Christian Counseling are designed to give an overview of counseling and may be read consecutively. The remaining twenty-seven chapters deal with specific problems, and since each chapter stands alone, they can be read in any order. Each chapter…
Can it be justifiable to commit oneself 'by faith' to a religious claim when its truth lacks adequate support from one's total available evidence? In Believing by Faith, John Bishop defends a version of fideism inspired by William James's 1896 lecture 'The Will to Believe'. By critiquing both 'isolationist' (Wittgensteinian) and Reformed epistemologies of religious belief, Bishop argues that an…
This book aspires to answer a relatively simple question: How did we get from John F. Kennedy’s eloquent speech at the Rice Hotel in Houston on September 12, 1960, in which he urged voters effectively to bracket a candidate’s faith out of their considerations when they entered the voting booth, to George W. Bush’s declaration on the eve of the 2000 Iowa precinct caucuses that Jesus was hi…
As Europe wrangles over questions of national identity, nativism and immigration, Olivier Roy interrogates the place of Christianity, foundation of Western identity. Do secularism and Islam really pose threats to the continent's 'Christian values'? What will be the fate of Christianity in Europe? Rather than repeating the familiar narrative of decline, Roy challenges the significance of secular…
This volume explores the legacy of the Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper for contemporary Christian ecotheology. A crucial problem in ecotheology is how to do justice to both creation and salvation as acts of God, given the impact of the environmental crisis and the concern for creation (as creatura). Can Kuyper help one in this regard, given his controversial legasy, especially in …
Richard Swinburne analyses the purposes of practising a religion, and argues that religious faith requires belief that a particular creed provides the rationale for supposing that these purposes will be achieved.
Is the Christian church in Europe doomed to collapse under the weight of globalization, Western secularism, and a flood of Muslim immigrants? Is Europe on the brink of becoming "Eurabia"?Though many pundits are predicting just such a scenario, God's Continent reveals the flaws in these arguments and offers a much more measured assessment of Europe's religious future. While frankly acknowledging…
In this wide-ranging book that moves from Greek drama to modern poetry, David Brown explores the ways in which the poetry and drama of the past were rooted in religious questions. He posits that their creative potential needs to be rediscovered to bring present-day worship and experience of God alive.
Karl Barth was, without doubt, one of the most significant religious thinkers of modern times. His radical affirmation of the revealed truth of Christianity changed the course of Christian theology in the twentieth century and is a source of inspiration for countless believers. Pope Pius XII declared that there had been nothing like Karl Barth's later thought since Thomas Aquinas. God Here and …
"In this masterful, stylish, and authoritative book, Michael Burleigh gives us an epic history of the battles over religion in modern Europe, examining the complex and often lethal ways in which politics and religion have interacted and influenced each other over the last two centuries. From the French Revolution to the totalitarian movements of the twentieth century, Earthly Powers is a unique…
In Christian Origins and Greco-Roman Culture, Stanley Porter and Andrew Pitts assemble an international team of scholars whose work has focused on reconstructing the social matrix for earliest Christianity through the use of Greco-Roman materials and literary forms.
When I was a boy growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, my father was away from home about two-thirds of every year. And while he preached across the country, we prayed--my mother and my older sister and I. What I learned in those days was that my mother was omni-competent.
Augustine’s Hippo Regius5 was the center of the universe for some who lived there and the back of beyond for many who visited. A port city on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, where the river Seybouse came down from the mountains to the sea, it stood a distant second to Carthage in commerce and prestige. Augustine hadn’t lived there all his life.
We are approaching the day when advances in biotechnology will allow parents to "design" a baby with the traits they want. The continuing debate over possibilities of genetic engineering has ben spirited, but so far largely confined to the realms of bioethics and public policy. Design and Destiny approaches the question in religious terms, discussing human germline modification (the generic mod…