Outline: Many American Christians today are not sure what spiritual maturity is or how to get there. Thomas Bergler has written this accessible guide to help both individuals and whole faith communities to grow spiritually. Bergler claims that spiritual maturity - which he defines as basic competence in the Christian life - is not only desirable but attainable, and he identifies its character f…
Outline: Modern Protestant debates about spousal relations and the meaning of marriage began in a forgotten international dispute some 300 years ago. The Lutheran Pietist ideal of marriage as friendship and mutual pursuit of holiness battled with the idea that submission defined spousal roles. Exploiting material culture artifacts, broadsides, hymns, sermons, private correspondence, and legal c…
Outline: This accessible text by James P. Ware provides both a concise guide to Paul's theology and a general introduction to the key issues and debates in the contemporary study of Paul. Examining Paul's message in the context of the ancient world, Ware identifies what would have struck Paul's original audience as startling or unique. By comparing Paul's teaching to the other religions and phi…
Outline: This original work of scholarship clarifies how, in light of Matthew's Gospel, the first Christians understood and claimed Israel's messianic mission to people of every ethnic group immediately after Jesus' death and resurrection. In Part 1 James LaGrand examines the Hebrew Bible and other ancient documents to uncover the meaning in Matthew's time of the terms 'Israel' and 'the nations…
Outline: The church needs good theology that engages the Head, Heart, and Hands. This four-volume work combines rigorous historical and theological scholarship with application and practically - characterized by an accessible, Reformed, and experiential approach. In this volume, Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley examine the Holy Spirit (pneumatology) and salvation (soteriology), exploring the L…
Outline : The voice of John Zizioulas may turn out to be the fresh voice for which theology and especially ecclesiology have long been waiting. In the context of a complete theology, which includes extended consideration of the major theological topics-the Trinity, Christology eschatology, ministry and sacrament, but above all, the eucharist-the author propounds a fresh understanding, based in …
Outline: WHAT IS A CHURCH? This can be a difficult question to answer, and Christians have offered a variety of perspectives. Gregg Allison explores and synthesizes all that Scripture affirms about the new covenant people of God, capturing a full picture of the biblical church. He covers the topics of the church's identity and a characteristics; its growth through purity, unity, and discipline;…
Outline : Each book in the Big Theology for Little Hearts series introduces a big idea from the Bible with concise definitions and engaging illustrations to help young minds gain a foundational understanding of God's word. With each volume written to complement all the others, this series is designed to help children develop a cohesive framework of theology that includes God, creation, humanity…
Outline : walking with an addict through the process of change takes wisdom, love, and perseverance. To walk with an addict is both a gift and a grief. In the Crossroads: A Step-by-Step -Guide Away from Addiction Facilitator's Guide, Welch walks leaders through the process of loving, connecting with, and speaking truth to a group of addicts. This book contains helpful observations about the me…
Mancini is an expert in the movement to make churches more missional: moving them from an internal focus to an emphasis on participating in the culture and their community. In this book, he outlines a new model to help churches articulate strategy and live into their visions.
Outline: This comprehensive systematic theology by respected theologian Robert Letham covers the whole field of Reformed Christian doctrine from biblical, historical, and theological angles. Letham begins with God's ultimate self revelation as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in indivisible union, continuing on with the works of God in creation, providence, and grace. He draws deeply fr…
Outline: Matthew Levering offers an examination of the doctrine of creation and its contemporary theological implications, engaging with classical and modern views.
Outline: John Stott was a twentieth-century pastor-theologian widely hailed for his heart for missions and expository preaching. Even today, Stott's legacy continues to influence churches around the world. As both a faithful preacher and a thoughtful writer, Stott profoundly shaped evangelicalism's contemporary understanding of Christianity through an approach to the Christian life founded on t…
Outline: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, commonly referred to as "the Doctor," had a successful career in medicine before abandoning it all to become preacher in London. His sermons-displaying the life-changing power of biblical truth-diagnosed the spiritual condition of his congregation and prescribed the gospel remedy. This study of Lloyd-Jones's life will encourage and exhort readers to consider the rol…
Outline : Dramatically converted on the stormy seas, a slave-trader-turned-abolitionist penned the best-loved hymn of the Christian faith. A church father was arrested and martyred for teaching the truth about Christ's incarnation. Captured by pirates and shipped off to Ireland, a priest baptized thousands of pagans, from paupers to princes. Now who ever said church history was boring? The Chur…
Outline : John New Lon is famous for his legendary hymn "Amazing Grace." Many have celebrated his dramatic conversion from a life in the slave trade to his eventual work to end it. But often overlooked are Newton's forty years as a pastor ministering to parishioners and friends unsettled by the trials, doubts, and fears of life. Newton is perhaps the greatest pastoral letter writer in the histo…
Outline: DOMESTIC ABUSE How to Help Couples who publicly sit at peace in church pews can secretly be at war. How do you help the victim of domestic abuse? And doesn't the perpetrator of the violence also need our help? Three counselors reveal ways to clearly communicate God's grace to the victims of violence. They demonstrate how to minister with confidence and humility to the afflicted. They…
Outline : WHAT HOPE IS THERE WHEN A LOVED ONE'SMARRIAGE IS ABUSIVE? One spouse seeking to control and dominate the other is a prevalent problem, and even Christian marriages are not safe from it. But how can counselors and concerned family and friends know how to approach it... or even recognize it? Experienced Christian counselor Darby Strickland demonstrates how to recognize and uncover oppre…
Outline : WHAT CHARACTERIZES YOUR MARRIAGE? Marriage is a place for sacrificial giving-so a spouse who uses it to gain power and control is violating God's design. If you are being oppressed, you are probably feeling isolated and alone.., but you're not alone. Scripture has much to say about your experience, your safety, and God's heart for you-he does not blame you for your suffering and does …
This text is designed for students and academics studying the doctrine of the incarnation. James Dunn clarifies in detail the beginnings of the belief in Christ as the Son of God and discusses the historical context of such beliefs.
The knowledge base which has been the foundation of Catholic education in the passt and underlies Catholic educational practice today merits the attention of scholars and interested parties, both within and outside of the Catholic educational community. This comprehensive compendium of research focues on key aspects of Catholic education in the United States. The volume includes reviews of rese…
Once we embark on a life of ministry, it is only natural to ask, “How am I doing? And how will I know?” One answer for ministers today is success. Many say that if your church is growing in conversions, members, and giving, your ministry is effective. This view of the ministry is on the rise because the expressive individualism of modern culture has deeply eroded loyalty to institutions and…
Nature was always important in Thomas Merton’s life—from his infancy in Prades, France, when he learned words like chrysanthemum, hollyhock, foxglove, chickadee, and kingfi sher from his mother’s careful coaching, to long hours in the fresh air watching his artist father create landscapes, to his fi nal years of solitude in the hermitage at Our Lady of Gethsemani, the Trappist monastery i…
This volume includes readable translations of a number of important texts that speak to both concrete and practical issues of church life as well as questions of its very nature and constitution. Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars...
Here is a definative, readable translation of John Calvin's Theological Treatises.Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars and students with modern English translations of some of the most significant Christian theological texts in...
From those matters so far discussed, we clearly see how destitute and devoid of all good things man is, and how he lacks all aids to salvation. Therefore, if he seeks resources to succor him in his need, he must go outside himself and get them elsewhere. It was afterward explained to us that the Lord willingly and freely reveals himself in his Christ. For in Christ he offers all happiness in pl…
THE CELEBRATED TREATISE HERE PRESENTED IN A NEW ENGLISH translation holds a place in the short list of books that have notably affected the course of history, molding the beliefs and behavior of generations of mankind. Perhaps no other theological work has so consistently retained for four centuries a place on the reading list of studious Christians. In a wider circle, its title has been famili…
Recent years have witnessed a revival of interest in the history of the Huguenots, and new research has increased our understanding of their role in shaping the early-modern world. The ten essays in this collection provide the first broad overview of Huguenot religious culture from the Restoration of Charles II to the outbreak of the French Revolution.
This is an examination of all branches of the Christian Church in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the 20th century in their central interaction with politics, social issues, war, and culture. It considers their pursuit of an elusive unity throughout a century when prevailing cultural attitudes underwent massive change.
This volume includes selections from the works of Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa. Through these works and those of other early Christian thinkers, this book surveys the development of early church theology. Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of...
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…
The first book to examine in detail the theological vision of Pope Benedict XVI. Rowland assesses his attitudes on moral theology, western culture, the liturgy and structure of the Catholic Church; she considers his interpretation of the Second Vatican Council, and his relations with other important scholars and theologians.
How did an obscure Galilean preacher born 2,000 years ago in a tiny village in Palestine evolve from obscurity to become a figure whose appearance marked a major division in world history?
Latin American liberationists insist that theological reflection carefully attend to the contours of contemporary reality. Accordingly, I begin this account of Christianity as a font of resistance to capitalism with an analysis of contemporary capitalism.
"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…
This may seem an unusual book for a Church historian to have written. It is not quite Church history and not theology: rather, it is an attempt to reflect theologically upon Church history using historical approaches. It forced itself on to my attention some seven years ago and has demanded to be written ever since. Given its peculiarity, it may be useful to explain how its core ideas arose and…
Describes how most forms of early Christianity, and the sacred writings they adhered to, came to be suppressed, proscribed, destroyed - in one way or another lost. This work also tells the story of how the canon of the New Testament became the official, orthodox and sacred text for Christianity.
When the Greek soldiers burst into the city of Troy, Cassandra—who had prophesied it all, who knew what fate awaited her and all the Trojan women—fled to the temple of Athena.
In the fall of 2003, editors from Brill Academic Publishers invited me to oversee the compilation of a series of essays for their hand book series on the topic of the “Radical Reformation.” Although the work of editing collections is generally a thankless undertaking, the invitation intrigued me......
Answers questions pertaining to the teachings, rituals, practices, and history of Catholicism.
Presents an exploration of how a sense of being 'a Christian', or of 'Christian identity', was shaped within the setting of the Jewish and Graeco-Roman world. This book shows that there were similarities and differences in the ways Jews and others were thinking about themselves, and asks what made early Christianity distinctive.
David Zeisberger (1721-1808) was the head of a group of Moravian missionaries that settled in the Upper Ohio Valley in 1772 to minister to the Delaware Nation. For the next ten years, Zeisberger lived among the Delaware, becoming a trusted adviser and involving himself not only in religious activities but also in political and social affairs. During this time he kept diaries in which he recorde…
y own interest in the history and doctrine of the filioque spans nearly a decade and a half prior to writing this book. The initial impetus for studying the filioque controversy first arose for me in 1994 in a historical theology class taken at Briercrest Seminary under Dr Bruce Hindmarsh, who encouraged me to pursue the topic. It was as I researched and wrote a paper on the ante-Nicene precede…
We have only two substantial eyewitness accounts of the life of Martin Luther. Best known is a 9,000-word Latin memoir by Philip Melanchthon published in Latin at Heidelberg in 1548, two years after the Reformer’s death.1 In 1561, ‘Henry Bennet, Callesian’ translated this pamphlet into English; the martyrologist John Foxe adopted Bennet’s text into his Memorials verbatim, including a nu…
The Christian Church possesses in its literature an abundant and incomparable treasure. But it is an inheritance that must be reclaimed by each generation. THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS is designed to present in the English language, and in twenty-six volumes of convenient size, a selection of the most indispensable Christian treatises written prior to the end of the sixteenth century.
The Christian Church possesses in its literature an abundant and incomparable treasure. But it is an inheritance that must be reclaimed by each generation. THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS is designed to present in the English language, and in twenty-six volumes of convenient size, a selection of the most indispensable Christian treatises written prior to the end of the sixteenth century...
In the Gospels, Christ predicts to his disciples that the end of days is approaching and will bring about a great tribulation marked by war, pestilence, famine, and the appearance of false prophets. He also declares that his message of salvation will be preached throughout the entire world and will reach all of its peoples before the consummation of history. Although this promised course of eve…
The present volume is published along with the monograph, The Real Cassian Revisited (Monastic Life, Greek Paideia, and Origenism in the Sixth Century), in the sameseries.ThisisacriticaleditionoftextsofCodex573 (ninth century) of the Monastery of Metamorphosis (the Great Meteoron), Greece. The Codex, entitled ‘The Book of Monk Cassian the Roman’, was copied at the Great Laura of Sabas in P…
By championing the ideals of independence, evangelism, and conservatism, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has grown into the largest Protestant denomination in the country. The Convention's mass democratic form of church government, its influential annual meetings, and its sheer size have made it a barometer for Southern political and cultural shift. Its most recent shift has been starboar…