Outline : Is the world better off without Christianity? Is religion a pernicious force in the world? Many believe so. Having spent the last decade reflecting on this question, historian John Dickson concludes: the skeptics, are right. Christian history reveals many dark things - violence, bigotry, greed, child abuse, and more. Christian have been bullies. But the critics are only partly right:…
Outline : The global mental health crisis is growing faster than our existing mental health care system can address. To meet the scope of human need, we need new models of care. The good news is that there is an institution uniquely positioned with the resources and the heart to help: the church. Psychologists James Sells and Amy Trout and journalist Heather Sells know firsthand the urgency of …
Outline : As evangelicals, we desire to be biblical―we want our doctrine to be rooted in the Bible, our lives to be guided by the Bible, and our disagreements to be resolved by the Bible. And yet, conflicts within our church communities continue to appear and seemingly multiply with time. Interpretations of the Bible and deeply held convictions often put Christians at odds. Encouraging us tow…
Outline : A Reformed view of worship is shaped by God's Word and has the gospel as its context: God desires to meet with his people, and that meeting comes only in and through Christ, by the Holy Spirit. Writing with winsome enthusiasm, Jonty Rhodes celebrates the simplicity and freedom of Reformed worship and show readers the joys and meeting with God in the means and manner he promises to ble…
Outline : Your Church needs help. What now? What if the solution for the decline of today's church isn't more money, people, programs, innovation, or busyness? What if the answer is to stop and wait on God? When Church Stops Working shows how actively watching and listening for God can bring life out of death for churches in crisis today.
Outline : Knowing how to approach children and teens in counseling can be a challenge, but this practical workbook of expressive exercises will help counselors and other caring adults to build meaningful connections. Building Bridges allows counselors to enter a young person's world by engaging them in biblically wise and creative activities and includes reproducible resources.
Outline : New scholarship on the development of Luther's four solas. Volker Leppin explores the four "solas" of the Reformation - Christ, grace, faith, and scripture - as both anchored in the culture of late-medieval devotion and representing new, firmly demarcated formulae. Leppin helps readers understand that in the journey toward new theological understandings, continuity and discoutinuity…
Outline : Have you ever wondered what Reformed theology really is? Ask for a definition and you'll get many different answers. This brief book serves as a helpful primer for church leaders, study groups, and individuals who want a well-rounded and concise overview. Learn what makes Reformed theology distinctive and how its specific doctrines apply to everyday life. Written for the church, the B…
Outline: Many women struggle daily with habits, emotions, and difficulties that they long to overcome. This book interweaves the perfect wisdom of God's Word with heartfelt compassion and concern as it addresses... - fear, worry, and depression - single parenting, wayward teenagers, the "perfect mom" syndrome - eating disorders, same-sex attraction, and other habitual struggles - verbal a…
Outline: Say bye-bye to bad behavior. 101 Solutions to your most frustrating discipline problems in children's ministry! This A-to-Z, quick-flip guide delivers classroom-tested, expert advice for: 1. Anger, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Attention Span; 2. Bad Language, Biting, Bored Kids, Bribes, Broken Hearts, Bullying; 3. Cell Phones, Challenging Kids, Cleanup, Clingy Child, C…
Outline: This fascinating story of the early Christians by the Church's first historian. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. A.D. 260 - 339) wrote ten books that preserve the early history of the brave martyrs, the dauntless defenders of the faith, and even those who renounced their faith in the face of persecution. For decades, however, his crucial work has been shackled to stilted and outdated translati…
Outline : Too often scholars impose on the past modern terms and theories. This is particularly evident concerning discussions of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, where libertarian and compatibilist notions of freedom obscure older understandings of concurrence. Providence, Freedom, and the Will is one historian’s attempt to help us interpret early modern documents in context with…
Outline : What does it mean to be created in God's image? How has the fall affected this image? Who are the people of God? From Adam and Israel to the Church addresses these core questions about spiritual identity, From Adam and Israel to the Church examines the nature of the people of God from Genesis to Revelation through the lens of being created and formed in God's image. Benjamin Gladd arg…
Outline : While understanding history has always been an essential task for God's people, rapid changes within the past two generations of Christianity have challenged many of our assumptions and methods for studying the past. How should thoughtful Christians—and especially historians and missiologists—make sense of global Christianity as an unfolding historical movement? The master teacher…
Outline : What comes to mind when you think of the word church? In this volume, Gregg R. Allison helps define the church and its mission by presenting an overview of the specific doctrines and practices of different churches and denominations. He lays a basic foundation for better understanding the common practices among local church communities (“mere ecclesiology”) and the ways that they…
Outline : Driven by the desire to be successful, pastors are tempted to judge their ministries by the worldly standards of power, prestige, privilege, and prosperity. In contrast, J. Stephen Yuille reorients our understanding of pastoral ministry by presenting a standard of excellence measured by faithfulness, humility, and submission to God - even when the results look unsuccessful in the eyes…
Outline: "[A] concise and readable history of the rise of early Christianity" A noted New Testament scholar explores how the movement founded by Jesus transformed more in the first seventy-five years after his death than it has in the two thousand years since.
Outline: Beginning as a marginal group in Galilee, the movement initiated by Jesus of Nazareth became a world religion within one hundred years. Why, among various religious movements, did Christianity succeed? This major work by internationally renowned scholar Udo Schnelle traces the historical, cultural, and theological influences and developments of the early years of the Christian movement…
Outline : Explore twelve key points in the growth of Christianity. Alice Ott tells the story of pivotal turning points in the expansion of Christianity, helping readers grasp the big picture of missional trends and critical developments.
Outline: Christians encounter the modern spirit - After the Reformation, Christians found themselves living amidst wars of religion, Enlightenment, and colonization. The conflictive and fast-changing scene in which Christians of all allegiances were thrown yielded vase and distinct new challenges and venues to ordinary Christians. The spread of Christianity to lands outside Europe and the Middl…
Outline: Bringing alive the lost world of the Middle Ages - From the fall of Rome and the conversion of the Germanic tribes to the dawn of the Reformation, here is a rich and concrete exploration of the religious life ways and spirituality of medieval peasants and artisans, warriors and clerics, wives and children, and even the dead, in their daily interactions with each other, the church, the …
Outline : Throughout China's rapidly growing cities, a new wave of unregistered house churches is growing. They are developing rich theological perspectives that are both uniquely Chinese and rooted in the historical doctrines of the faith. To understand how they have endured despite government pressure and cultural marginalization, we must understand both their history and their theology. In t…
Outline : The human body holds endlessly fascinating secrets. The resilience of skin, the strength and structure of the bones, the dynamic balance of the muscles―your physical being is knit according to a pattern of stunning purpose. Now Gold Medallion winners Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image have been completely revised and updated to offer a new audience timeless reflections …
Outline : The Culmination of James D. G. Dunn's Three - Volume Magnum Opus on the development of early Christianity.
Outline : William Perkins (1558-1602) was a master preacher and teacher of Reformed, experiential theology. He left an indelible mark upon the English Puritan movement and his writings were translated into Dutch, German, French, Hungarian, and other European languages. In Faith Working Through Love, a group of twelve scholars mine the depths of Perkins’s works on the Trinity, the work of Chri…
Outline : Richard Gamble’s three-volume Whole Counsel of God explores the relationships between exegesis and hermeneutics, and between biblical, systematic, and historical theology. “He bridges the gap so many have identified between traditional systematic theology and biblical theology,” Richard Pratt writes; not only that, he “penetrates beyond scholarly concerns to life issues that e…
Outline : Written for students of worship and church history, Worship in the Early Church serves as a valuable guide to the historical developments that brought about Christian worship as we know it today. While other histories of Christian worship exist, Gonzalez and Gonzales focus on the formative period between the first and fifth centuries CE, when so many of the understandings and patterns…
Outline: Is your view of church biblical? Even Christians can hold misconceptions that are damaging to our individual and collective faith - and unfortunately, many do. So how do we recapture a vibrant, God-honoring view of this essential institution and our place in it? In The Local Church, Edward W. Klink III defines what the church is, why it exists, and how it functions, helping readers und…
Outline: What is the chief end of man? In fifty-two simple devotions on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, three pastors teach us how Reformed theology affects our daily lives. Great for individual and family use for all who desire to "glorify and enjoy God forever."
Outline : Learning how to live in today's new social and cultural environment will require examination, trial and error, and adaptation over time. But there are ways to live with integrity and follow Christ today, even in a negative world. Since a peak in church attendance in the mid-20th century, Christianity has been on a trajectory of decline in the United States. Once positive toward Christ…
Outline : Church History is a fascinating guide that shows young readers (and even not-so-young readers) how God has preserved His church from AD 30 to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Travel through time and all over the world as you meet the people, learn about the ideas, and understand the challenges that have shaped the history of the church. Maps, time lines, and colorful picture…
Outline : How we read the Bible has a profound impact on how we understand what mission is. This book encourages us to explore the Bible's grand narrative and to bring the whole counsel of God in Scripture to our understanding of who we are and what we must do as God's people.
Outline: How do you navigate the intersection between faith and your academic discipline? In Faithful Learning, Jacob Shatzer offers an accessible theological primer for Christian educators who desire to understand their disciplines through a theological lens. Each chapter includes doctrinal introductions followed by paradigms that reader can learn from and implement. Ultimately, Shatzer outlin…
Outline : How is it that a first-generation Jewish messianic movement undertook a mission to the pagan world and rapidly achieved a momentum that would have a lasting and significant impact on world history? This momentous question has surprisingly eluded the concentrated focus of historians and New Testament scholars. Perhaps it is because the story of early Christian mission encompasses so mu…
Outline : How is it that a first-generation Jewish messianic movement undertook a mission to the pagan world and rapidly achieved a momentum that would have a lasting impact on world history? In this monumental study, Eckhard Schnabel provides a unified and detailed picture of the rise and growth of early Christian mission. He begins with a search for a missionary impulse in the Old Testament a…
Outline: "This is protestant theology at its very best" Protestants often view the doctrine of good works with suspicion. This book shows how biblical exegesis, systematic and historical theology, and practical theology can together contribute to the recovery of a robust account of good works.
Outline : VR TECHNOLOGY ISN'T JUST COMING... IT'S ALREADY HERE ARE YOU READY TO USE IT FOR CHRIST? When the printing press came along, Christians harnessed its power for the gospel. Then came radio. Television. The internet. Smartphones. All of these technologies have been used for good... but at what cost? Now it's virtual reality's turn. You might think VR and its related technologies are a…
Outline : Increasing numbers of conservative evangelicals are denying basic tenets of classical Christian teaching about God, with departures occurring even among those of the Calvinistic persuasion. James D. Dolezal's All That Is in God provides an exposition of the historic Christian position while engaging with these contemporary deviations. His convincing critique of the newer position he s…
Outline: "I think the rock on which I had the nearest made shipwreck of the faith was the writings of the mystics," wrote John Wesley to his brother in 1736, eighteen months before his evangelical conversion on Aldersgate Street. Mysticism, in essence, is the belief in a direct and intimate union of the soul with God through contemplation and love. The Mystic believes that one must partake of t…
Outline : In the late 1800s, Charles Spurgeon warned that the Church was drifting away from the purity of the Gospel. Instead of boldly proclaiming the truths of Scripture, Christians were candy-coating the Word, being careful not to offend anyone. As a result, Christianity's influence in nineteenth-century England was severely weakened. Now, 100 years later, John MacArthur is sounding the same…
Outline : This popular introduction to church history isolates fourteen key moments that provide a framework for understanding the history of Christianity. The fourth edition more thoroughly highlights the importance of women in Christian history and the impact of world Christianity. It also includes a new preface, updates throughout the book, revised "further readings" for each chapter, new si…
Outline : Originally published in 1947, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism has since served as the manifesto of evangelical Christians serious about bringing the fundamentals of the Christian faith to bear In contemporary culture. In this classic book Carl F. H. Henry, the father of modern fundamentalism, pioneered a path for active Christian engagement with the world — a path a…
Outline: In this prize-winning book Nathan O. Hatch offers a provocative reassessment of religion and culture in the early days of the American republic, arguing that during this period American Christianity was democratized and common people became powerful actors on the religious scene. Hatch examines live distinct traditions or mass movements that emerged early in the nineteenth century - th…