The 'Apocalypse of Adam' was discovered among the papyri from the ancient gnostic library at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1946. It is a revelatory discourse that Adam delivers to his son Seth. This discourse is the fifth and final tractate in Nag Hammadi Codex V. The manuscript is now in the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo (codex inv. no. 10548). In Part I of this significant treatment, Hedrick analyzes the sources that lay behind this work, the redaction, and the main theological themes. In Part II, he provides the Coptic text, translation, and notes on the complete text, broken down by Source A, Source B, and the Redactor's additions.
The life of Syncletica is one of the oldest lives of a woman saint and provides rare testimony to the life of female sanctity in the fifth century. This translation of the life forms Part One of a two-part set, while Part Two provides the first full-length study of the teachings and spiritual background of this most remarkable woman. Anchored firmly in the Scriptures and in everyday, human experience, Syncletica's teachings are as pertinent today as they were fifteen centuries ago. Her meditations, based on astute psychological insights, still have the power to inspire, to encourage, and to challenge latter-day disciples to live authentic Christian lives.
About the Contributor(s):G. Wright Doyle is Director of Global China Center and English editor of the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (www.bdcconline.net). He is author of Christianity in America: Triumph and Tragedy (2013); Reaching Chinese Worldwide (2013); Christ the King: Meditations on Matthew (2011); Carl Henry: Theologian for All Seasons (2010); and coauthor of China: Ancient Culture, Modern Society (2009).
Over 13,000 Americans have been murdered in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries because of their sexual orientation and gender presentation. In Unfinished Lives: Reviving the Memory of LGBTQ Hate Crimes Victims, Stephen Sprinkle puts a human face on the outrage and loss suffered when people die from anti-gay hatred. Beginning with new developments in the story of Matthew Shepard's murder in Laramie, Wyoming, Sprinkle tells the stories of fourteen representative LGBTQ victims whose lives were savagely cut short due to homophobia and transphobia. These are stories about people who could be your neighbor, classmate, co-worker, or friend-real, everyday people whose love was foreclosed, relationships brutally terminated, and future contributions stolen from us by outrageous, irrational hatred. Told lovingly yet unflinchingly, Unfinished Lives lifts the stories of these LGBTQ victims from undeserved obscurity, allowing their memory to live again. Relying on personal interviews and visits to the locations where these people lived, loved, and died, Sprinkle records the raw emotions, powerful movements for social change, and unexpectedly hopeful communities that arise from the ruins of those people whose only ""offense"" was to live as they were born to be. Part portraiture, part crime narrative, and part ethnography, Unfinished Lives is poised to change the conversation on hate crimes in the United States.
This commentary of Galatians is a thorough examination of the text of the letter by Mark J. Keown. It includes an introduction to the letter and a verse by verse analysis of Paul's letter. It is designed to be a readable, thorough exploration of Galatians without being overly laden with engagement with secondary literature. The Greek of Galatians is transliterated throughout the commentary, including in the translations, making the Greek accessible to all readers. The real emphasis is engagement with the text, the meaning of the Greek, especially in regards to primary sources, and the flow of Paul's argument against the Judaizers challenging his churches. Yet, as is usual in Mark Keown's work, it is all presented in an easily understandable and readable way. At points, the author pauses to share a personal story or two, adding flavor to the commentary. While it is comprehensive and thorough, It is ideal for preachers who are looking to really grapple with the meaning of Galatians for Christians today. Special emphasis is given to Paul's summons in the letter that readers live by faith and not works and embrace God's call in the gospel to lay aside all forms of prejudice under God's reign. In the discussion of Galatians 5, in-depth consideration is given to the ethical issues it raises, a helpful tool for Christians grappling with how to live by the Spirit in a twenty-first-century world full of challenges.
The book of Exodus is a monumental narrative that reminds us of God's unceasing faithfulness and deliverance. The Exodus isn't merely a historical recount, but a rich tapestry woven with themes of redemption, law, and God's sovereign power. Here, in the trials and tribulations of the Israelites, we see a reflection of our spiritual sojourn. This devotional is rooted in rigorous biblical and theological scholarship and encourages a fuller understanding of Exodus and its relevance in today's world. This devotional is the third book in a series of devotional books and podcast episodes designed to guide you through the entire Bible, nourishing your soul, renewing your purpose, and deepening your theology, contemplation, and action. In the Daily Devotions with Jesus series, Rev. Dr. Graham Joseph Hill guides you through the entire Bible, moving chapter by chapter from Genesis to Revelation. This is a groundbreaking Bible podcast and devotional book series. See how each book of the Bible deepens your faith and inspires you to follow Jesus in life-changing ways! See the podcast here: https: //grahamjosephhill.com/devotions
Is Revelation really worth the effort? Does its message resonate with followers of Jesus in the here and now? Encountering Jesus in Revelation offers pastors and laypeople an accessible tool for studying Revelation within the local church. It situates Revelation in its ancient context while stressing how its apocalyptic nature addresses God's people at every point in history, including our own. It does this by introducing apocalyptic writing as a form of literature and then surveys the alternative perspective Revelation offers on the world of its readers. That perspective is one in which we encounter Jesus and his call to leave behind the often-unrecognized beasts and monsters that inhabit our world. Readers who find themselves reluctant to study Revelation because of the confusing nature of its contents--and of academic books written about it--will find that Encountering Jesus in Revelation offers accessible and applicable insights as it explores how Revelation addresses its readers today.
Dive deep into the first book of the New Testament: the Gospel of Matthew. This Gospel is a spiritual bridge between the Old and New Testaments, capturing the essence of Jesus Christ's life, teachings, and profound impact on humanity. This Gospel is often called the ""teaching Gospel,"" rich in parables and events that guide us spiritually. From the Sermon on the Mount to the Great Commission, Matthew lays a foundational framework for living a deeply spiritual life. This devotional is rooted in rigorous biblical and theological scholarship and encourages a fuller understanding of Matthew and its relevance in today's world. This devotional is the second book in a series of devotional books and podcast episodes designed to guide you through the entire Bible, nourishing your soul, renewing your purpose, and deepening your theology, contemplation, and action. In the Daily Devotions with Jesus series, Rev. Dr. Graham Joseph Hill guides you through the entire Bible, moving chapter by chapter from Genesis to Revelation. This is a groundbreaking Bible podcast and devotional book series. See how each book of the Bible deepens your faith and inspires you to follow Jesus in life-changing ways! See the podcast here: grahamjosephhill.com/devotions.
No one doubts we have quickly moved to what Charles Taylor called "a secular age." How do Christian pastors, professors, seminary students, and others respond to the myriad issues now facing the Body of Christ? Following on a biblical and reformed understanding of public theology, Milton along with trusted theologians John Frame, George Grant, Peter Lillback (and a special contribution from noted Orthodox economist and theologian John Panagiotou) not only provide biblical responses to the issues of our time but in doing so give the Church a method, a way, to conduct faithful Gospel ministry in an increasingly hostile post-Christian world. A must for classes on ethics, sociology of religion, pastoral theology, and serious-minded Christians seeking insight that they might "Understand of the times" (1 Chr 12:32).
We have been brought up to see things in a particular way--to interpret our experience and respond to events, people, and even to God in cultural and personal ways. This has given us a frame of reference that undergirds all else we know, trust, and love in life, as well as all we question, distrust, and hate. But this foundation is not without its cracks. We live in a broken world, and it has influenced us more than we know. Various Christians give us advice, but we often find ourselves stuck in the emotional pain of past experiences. We may not realize how much it controls our thinking, and we wonder why we are unable to experience the freedom and peace Jesus talks about. But things are not always what they seem; we need to see them as they are, not as other influences have shaped them. It is time we let God speak for himself on the matter. This book turns our minds to trust and freedom in our walk with God. It leads us to know God's grace, providence, and purposes in a way that changes our lives and experiences in this broken world from this day on.
Dive deep into the first book of the Bible: Genesis. This foundational book of the Bible sets the stage for the entire biblical narrative and offers profound insights into God's plan for humanity. Through a dedicated fifty-day journey, readers will explore Genesis, unveiling its broader significance within the tapestry of Scripture. Rooted in rigorous biblical and theological scholarship, this devotional encourages a fuller understanding of the stories of Genesis and their relevance in today's world. Each day, readers are invited to meditate on a complete chapter, reflecting on its overarching themes and intricate details. This Genesis-centered journey is the first book in a series of devotional books and podcast episodes designed to guide you through the entire Bible, nourishing your soul, renewing your purpose, and deepening your theology, contemplation, and action. In the Daily Devotions with Jesus series, Rev. Dr. Graham Joseph Hill guides you through the entire Bible, moving chapter by chapter from Genesis to Revelation. This is a groundbreaking Bible podcast and devotional book series. See how each book of the Bible deepens your faith and inspires you to follow Jesus in life-changing ways! See the podcast here: grahamjosephhill.com/devotions.
Being a mission-driven leader is hard. Being a mission-driven leader who knows how to navigate the emotions of loss and grief connected to leadership is harder still. It takes a vulnerable leader to lead well--one who has faced into their own losses and can let those losses equip their character for God's greater plans. Not all leaders are willing. Not all leaders are able. Yet, according to David Woolverton, leaders' vulnerability to the emotional processes of grief is essential for the overall health of the organizations they lead and for the well-being--and discipleship--of those under their direction. Grief, he says, is best viewed as a mosaic, where each of our significant losses forms a constellation of tiles that, when seen together over time, helps tell a story of God's redemptive love, grace, and mission--a story desperately needed within today's post-pandemic angst. Using Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) as a guide, along with five biblical prophet ""mentors,"" Woolverton presents five strategies to equip pastors and leaders in negotiating with their losses to attain organizational resilience, sustainability, and vibrancy.
How credible are the Gospel narratives in the Bible? What did really happen during the life of Jesus of Nazareth? This ground-breaking book is destined to revolutionize the discipline of New Testament studies. Its aim is to provide a novel, original, and credible explanation of the origins and contents of the Gospel narratives in the New Testament of the Bible, as well as some extra-biblical writings, using critical, scientific, and rational methods and techniques, from the perspective of a non-partisan historian. This book examines the value of the narratives as historical sources for the life, teachings, and execution of Jesus of Nazareth and to reconstruct his life as far as possible after the mythological, metaphysical, dogmatic, legendary, and obviously skewed descriptions of his life have been exposed and cleared away. New insights regarding the background of the Gospels are presented and the previously ignored and hidden role of astronomical and astrological phenomena in the life of Jesus is highlighted. No serious student of the Bible can ignore this book.
The Scripture readings for Year C of the Common Lectionary (Revised) pair the Gospel of Luke, rich in its unique stories surrounding Jesus' birth, Jesus' care for the marginalized, and parables at once beloved and profound, with Old Testament and epistolary testimony to life-imparting faith in God's promises. Bruce Taylor's homiletical proclamation through the first half of Year C expounds the gospel's summons to live today in hopeful reliance upon all that God has pledged to those who trust the Bible's testimony to God's faithfulness. Like his previous collections of sermons for the Sundays and feast days of the Christian year, the penultimate volume in this veteran preacher's second journey through the lectionary is theologically rich, sacramentally oriented, and ecumenically sensitive, celebrating the church's unity and community as witness to Christ's living presence in the world. The sermons, including representative story sermons, speak as powerfully to clergy as to laity, to seminarians as to parishioners, evoking ardent commitment and lives characterized by gratitude, grace, hospitality, humility, and love. This book will be a welcome addition on the bookshelf or, better, on the desk and nightstand.
How would new, untrained Christians kindly and humbly introduce God to their non-Christian friends? What if neither the Christian nor the non-Christian could learn from printed materials such as pamphlets, books, or the Bible itself? What if the new Christian was usually alone and untrained in a community hostile to Christian beliefs? How could these new Christians continue the process of reproducing spiritual generations without first being fully taught themselves? The strategy offered here is to tell biblical stories that can be easily retold. Stories that revealed God's acts and perspectives leading to questions and discussion. Stories that caused new listeners to question their own beliefs. You're holding a collection of ninety stories designed to be retold by anyone--thirty Old Testament stories chronologically arranged from creation to the return from Israel's exile; thirty Gospel stories from the announcement of Jesus' birth to his ascension to heaven; and thirty stories from the New Testament from Pentecost to Jesus' return from heaven to earth. Each lesson is built upon the principles from Roche's first book, Biblical Storytelling Design: Understanding Why Oral Stories Work, but modeled and explained in this book.
If one word evokes discomfort when spoken to Christ-followers and non-Christ-followers alike, it would be the word ""evangelism."" For the Christ-follower, this word brings feelings of guilt, shame, and inadequacy. They know that, at some level, they should be participating in evangelistic activities, but they are not. My passion is to see Christ-followers intentionally engaging people in spiritual conversations. I wrote this book to educate and encourage Christ-followers in the beauty of sharing the love of Jesus with others. Speak Good News aims to change the less-than-favorable reputation associated with evangelism. This book will encourage and equip Christ-followers to confidently engage in spiritual conversations with individuals they experience life with. I do this by taking a historical look at evangelism, its purest meaning, and offering a fresh lens for the Church to view evangelism. I identify misconceptions and barriers that keep faithful Christ-followers from sharing the wonderful story of Jesus with others. It nudges believers into the shallow end of the ""gospel pool"" while encouraging them to engage in simple spiritual conversations about Jesus with others.
If it is true that ""everything rises and falls on leadership,"" we have a problem. A recent international survey revealed that 86 percent of respondents believe we are facing a global leadership crisis. The study encompassed leadership in business, government, the non-profit sector, and religion. Non-profit and business leaders ranked highest in terms of public confidence. Government leaders ranked very low. The only leaders to rank lower than government leaders were religious leaders. This leadership crisis is not driven by an absence of leaders. Leaders are everywhere, yet we still have a leadership crisis. Nor is this crisis caused by a lack of leadership training. Who can keep up with the books, seminars, and training programs offering the latest trends and best thinking on leadership? And yet, we still have a leadership crisis. While the world is looking for better leadership methods, God is looking for better leaders--leaders shaped by wisdom. What use, after all, is getting things done, or even servant leadership, without wisdom? In Proverbs we discover an ancient training regimen for leaders, guiding them in the cultivation of virtuous character. Following Wisdom, Leading Wisely is an invitation to rediscover this ancient wisdom for today's leaders.
Labyrinths are often thought of as individual meditation tools. In this new volume, liturgies are provided for communal worship so that groups of people can center their prayer on God and develop community. Liturgies for celebrations and major and minor feasts throughout the church calendar are provided, along with special events like healing services, reconciliation, and civic occasions. Each liturgy can be led by laity or ordained persons. Aid is provided for those new to the centering prayer of labyrinths, and options for individuals unable to walk or use a wheelchair are included.
In Participation and Covenant: Contours of a Theodramatic Theology, Moes develops a theological framework that has participation in the life of God in Christ through the Spirit as its integrative center. In doing so, he enters into conversation with covenant or federal theology, particularly as it has been presented by Michael Horton, in which the integrative center is the concept of the covenant. He argues that God's fundamental relationship with humanity does not entail a covenant ontology--a fundamentally legal and ethical relationship to God, as we find in Horton's presentation--but rather an ontology of participating in God's loving presence in Christ through the Holy Spirit. For this relationship we were created, and this participation is therefore natural to us. Accordingly, a theodramatic framework that incorporates a reframed understanding of divine-human covenants and that has participation in the life of God in Christ by the Spirit as its integrative center is better able to give direction for clearly communicating the gospel in our secular culture and for properly shaping our Christian identity and practice--in the face of the secularism that affects the church, too--than Horton's framework of covenant theology.
Ten American scholars sketch the contemporary relevance of evangelical Christianity in this sweeping survey of the present century of theological debate. Reaching into major spheres of life and thought--theology, philosophy, ethics, science, history, education, biblical studies, apologetics, evangelism and preaching--they discuss familiar fields with an eye on the theological turmoil of our times. They confirm an uneasy feeling that the loss of inherited ideas and ideals by the West is due in part at least to the indifference and hostility to biblical Christianity spawned by Protestant Liberalism. But the neglect of evangelical theology during the past half century, and the tragic consequences of this for the West, is not their only emphasis, for the volume pinpoints evangelical emphases of permanent validity. It evaluates current contributions from the side of conservative Christianity to the present theological scene. It is a treasury of information about contemporary evangelical writers and writings. It sketches guidelines for effective evangelical impact. It provides a selective working bibliography in its ten fields of evangelical interaction. The volume is an indispensable tool for every minister and theological student seeking to keep abreast of the currents of relevant Christian thought. And it provides the alert church member eager to honor Christ as the center and end of all knowledge whit a wider appreciation of the relevance of the Christian message to the larger problems of culture and life.
Dennis Clare Stoutenburg successfully completed the doctorate at the University of Strasbourg, France during which time he studied Histoire Modern with Luther scholar, Marc Lienhard, professor for the Centre d'Etudes ¿cumeniques (Center for Ecumenical Studies, created by the Lutheran World Federation). In preparation, Stoutenburg previously studied ecclesiastical history under the direction of Professor John Woodbridge, Research Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought. Woodbridge - who formerly earned the doctorate and taught at the University of Toulouse, as well as at the Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, in France - was the primary inspiration in encouraging Stoutenburg to continue his studies in France. During five years of research for Luther's Exegetical Use of James, in which Stoutenburg read Luther's Works in its entirety three times, he corresponded with emeritus professor Roland Bainton (Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther) about his findings that included evidence that Luther originally based his September Testament of 1520 on Erasmus' critical Greek edition that excluded the antilegomena, including James. However, in the December Testament of the same year, Luther had not only reintroduced the antilegomena but also numbered them in the original canonical order of the 27 books, countering Erasmus' initial influence on Luther. Stoutenburg offers compelling evidence that Luther not only respected James as a canonical text, but contextualizes passages that historians argue would otherwise support a view that Luther rejected James from the canon, instead arguing that dismissal of the book should be ascribed to subsequent schools of Luther scholarship rather than to Luther himself.
There are many ways in which the Church has missed the mark set for it by Jesus--that it would love God and neighbor and that it would preach, teach, and serve. In missing the mark, the Church has caused harm, often to the very people that Jesus called the Church to love and serve. This is a challenge to the Church to be honest about who and what it has become. This is a call to the Church to confess its selfishness and preferences and how they have led it to be of service to itself at the expense of everyone else. This is an effort to own the harm that we, the Church, have caused. This is an attempt at entering into a conversation with the people who have been harmed or left behind by the Church. If the Church is to be effective in the work Jesus has given it to do, the Church must repent of its selfishness, seek forgiveness for the harm it has caused, and be rebuilt on the foundation that Jesus laid out. That cannot happen until we Unearth the Church.
In an increasingly broken world filled with hate and violence, God's plan from the beginning was to save and restore the world to the glory for which he had created it. This simple plan has not changed with the evolution of sin, time, or man's rejection of his creator. Rather, God's simple twofold plan of redemption included both a commandment to love the creator with all one's heart, mind, soul, and strength, and a commandment to love one's neighbor as one's self. Neither commandment stands in isolation, for one cannot fully love others without a consuming love for God, and neither can one completely love God without a love for the neighbor created by God. The answer to hate is love; the answer to war is love; the answer to violence is love; and the answer to all of societal disfunction is love. The answer is not a commandment to like God and others, because one only likes others because of likeness. Rather, love is a choice. A choice to love what you don't like. A choice to love what you don't understand. A choice to love until the God you love sets everything right in eternity.
Have you ever wondered how to maintain an understanding of monotheism in light of the Christian understanding of the triune Godhead? Have you ever wondered about the identity of ""YHWH"" in the Old Testament? Have you identified YHWH as the first person of the Trinity as many in the Christian tradition have? If so, this book is for you. Many of the early Trinitarian heresies stemmed from a misunderstanding of YHWH in the Old Testament, especially identifying YHWH as one person and not multiple persons. This book addresses issues relating to the identity of YHWH in the Old Testament and makes the bold claim that YHWH is multiple persons in the OT and therefore, Father is YHWH, Jesus is YHWH, and the Holy Spirit is YHWH. This conclusion is based on sound exegesis of OT/NT passages, the early Christian understanding of God in the Old Testament, and the New Testament's identification of Jesus in the identity of YHWH. If identified thus, a Christian reading of the entirety of Scripture will take on new meaning, resulting in a robust Trinitarian interpretation of Scripture.
Here is a phenomenological inquiry into the fruitful ministry of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa's Sunday Morning Worship Service. The purpose was to uncover and explicate the quintessential elements of worship leading from the life experiences of those worship leaders who shared the platform with Pastor Chuck Smith, known as the father of the Jesus Movement. The book examines Calvary Chapel's inauspicious beginnings in a senior citizen trailer park recreation center as it explores key elements of Kay and Chuck Smith's ministry. The church and the couple combined in 1965. By 1968, the church and the Smiths became a spiritual home replete with a spiritual mama and papa, ministering to hippies seeking everlasting love and eternal peace. The fruitfulness of Calvary Chapel's ministry is its ability to reproduce maturing Christians that reproduce maturing Christians. This replication occurred thousands of times as the movement blossomed and spread to new churches and new ministries across the United States and globally. The phenomenon spawned a megachurch movement and birthed the modern Christian worship music industry. The hippies were alternately loathed and loved in their era. Perhaps the hippies' most enduring and endearing contributions to twenty-first-century culture are traced to the Jesus movement.
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