Mark A. Noll presents a fresh and accessible history of Protestantism from the era of Martin Luther to the present day. Beginning with the founding of Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Anabaptist churches in the sixteenth-century Reformation, he also considers the rise of other important Christian movements like Methodism and Pentecostalism. Focussing on worldwide developments, rather than just the familiar European and American histories, he considers the recent expansion of Protestant movements in Africa, China, India, and Latin America, emphasising the on-going and rapidly expanding story of Protestants worldwide. Noll examines the contributions from well-known figures including Martin Luther and John Calvin, along with many others, and explores why Protestant energies have flagged recently in the Western world yet expanded so dramatically elsewhere. Highlighting the key points of Protestant commonality including the message of Christian salvation, reliance on the Bible, and organization through personal initiative, he also explores the reasons for Protestantism's extraordinary diversity.

184 pages

The Illuminated Life of Christ brings together the words of the Gospels and the art of the great masters in a beautiful jewel of a book that is printed with a silk cover, a flexible binding, a ribbon marker, and produced in the style of a unique, illuminated keepsake.

Eighty passages from the Bible and 120 works of art printed in five colors, including simulated gold ink, recall the life of Jesus paired with Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper, Venziano's Walking on Water, Van der Weyden's Annunciation, Raphael's Madonna and Child, Gerard van Honthorst's Adoration of the Shepherds, and more.

What if God has purposed your marriage for something so much more than happily ever after?

Since the very beginning, God's design for marriage is for husbands and wives to be ambassadors of holy love to a hurting world. Still, so many couples stop short at happy and wonder why they feel unsatisfied. Rather than "you and me against the world," God calls each couple to the rich and meaningful mission of "you and me for the world."

Aaron and Jennifer Smith, popular marriage bloggers at HusbandRevolution.com and UnveiledWife.com, transparently share their journey from a marriage in crisis to a marriage built on Christ's redemptive love. Through fresh biblical insight and intimate stories of their own struggles and victories, this book will guide you toward a God-centered, ministry-minded, and thriving marriage. In these pages you will . . .

Discover the signature marks of a marriage after God
Find principles for building an unshakable marriage foundation
Learn how to let God's story take the lead in your love story
Recognize the tools God has already equipped you with for a missional life together
Filled with helpful illustrations, this thorough and practical book will empower you and your spouse to dream, decide, and do as you step hand in hand into God's ultimate purpose for your marriage.

Your oneness is also meant for witness. God has purposed your remarkable, romantic, and redemptive relationship to be a powerful light to a dark and hurting world. This is your invitation to marriage as God intended--a life-saving, hope-inspiring, and transforming force of God's love.

240 pages

Increasingly, Western culture embraces confusion as a virtue and decries certainty as a sin. Those who are confused about sexuality and identity are viewed as heroes. Those who are confused about morality are progressive pioneers. Those who are confused about spirituality are praised as tolerant. Conversely, those who express certainty about any of these issues are seen as bigoted, oppressive, arrogant, or intolerant.

This cultural phenomenon led the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary to name "post-truth" their word of the year in 2016. How can Christians offer truth and clarity to a world that shuns both?

By accurately describing the Culture of Confusion and how it has affected our society, author Abdu Murray seeks to awaken Westerners to the plight we find ourselves in. He also challenges Christians to consider how they have played a part in fostering the Culture of Confusion through bad arguments, unwise labeling, and emotional attacks.

Ultimately, Saving Truth provides arguments from a Christian perspective for the foundations of truth and how those foundations apply to sexuality, identity, morality, and spirituality. For those enmeshed in the culture of confusion, the book offers a way to untangle oneself and find hope in the clarity that Christ offers.

For those seeking contentment and comfort in even the most trying circumstances of life, Peace with the Psalms offers guided readings rooted in Christian meditation.

We live in a busy world; from work and family obligations to friendships and faith, daily life can sometimes make us dizzy with stress or overcome with worry. And though many of us try to slow down, it can be difficult to calm our minds and tune our hearts into the messages that matter most.

But the good news is that peace and comfort are attainable, even when your heart is at its most restless. In Peace with the Psalms, authors from Abide Christian Meditation--the world's most popular Christian meditation app--lead you through the best of the Psalms so you can find peace and renewal in God's promises.

In each of 40 carefully crafted biblical meditations that include Scripture, a guided reflection, and a prayer, you will learn to:

Shift your focus from today's circumstances to the promises of God
Experience the principle of patience, reassuring believers in the darkest times
Find rest by memorizing and repeating key verses and passages
Overcome the common resistance to joy that comes from overactivity
Engage your senses in imagining the word pictures of the Psalms
No matter what you're going through, Peace with the Psalms offers comfort from God's Word. By reflecting on the biblical messages in these pages, you'll remember each day that God is near.

192 pages

The dramatic story of Christianity from its origins to the present day, told through more than one hundred stunning color maps.

With over two billion practicing believers today, Christianity has taken root in almost all parts of the globe. Its impact on Europe and the Americas in particular has been fundamental. Through more than one hundred beautiful color maps and illustrations, Christianity traces the history of the religion, beginning with the world of Jesus Christ. From the consolidation of the first Christian empire?Constantine’s Rome?to the early Christian states that thrived in Ireland, Ethiopia, and other regions of the Roman periphery, Christianity quickly proved dynamic and adaptable.

After centuries of dissemination, strife, dogmatic division, and warfare in its European and Near Eastern heartland, Christianity conquered new worlds. In North America, immigrants fleeing persecution and intolerance rejected the established Church, and in time revivalist religions flourished and spread. Missionaries took the Christian message to Latin America, Africa, and Asia, bringing millions of new converts into the fold.

Christianity has served as the inspiration for some of the world’s finest monuments, literature, art, and architecture, while also playing a major role in world politics and history, including conquest, colonization, conflict, and liberation. Despite challenges in the modern world from atheism and secularism, from scandals and internal divisions, Christianity continues to spread its message through new technologies while drawing on a deep well of history and tradition.

224 pages

This classic book asks what it is to know Jesus. It will enable thinking Christians to ask new questions about their faith, their reading of the New Testament, and the theology of redemption.

128 pages

"Mercy is radical kindness," Anne Lamott writes in her enthralling and heartening book, Hallelujah Anyway. It's the permission you give others—and yourself—to forgive a debt, to absolve the unabsolvable, to let go of the judgment and pain that make life so difficult.

In Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy Lamott ventures to explore where to find meaning in life. We should begin, she suggests, by "facing a great big mess, especially the great big mess of ourselves." It's up to each of us to recognize the presence and importance of mercy everywhere—"within us and outside us, all around us"—and to use it to forge a deeper understanding of ourselves and more honest connections with each other. While that can be difficult to do, Lamott argues that it's crucial, as "kindness towards others, beginning with myself, buys us a shot at a warm and generous heart, the greatest prize of all." 

Full of Lamott’s trademark honesty, humor and forthrightness, Hallelujah Anyway is profound and caring, funny and wise—a hopeful book of hands-on spirituality.

Join poets and novelists from across the centuries as you travel through the liturgical seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide. With the popular collections At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time and Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, this third collection of daily and weekly readings from classic and contemporary literature completes the church calendar. New voices such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Benjamín Alire Sáenz join well-loved classics by Dostoevsky, Rossetti, and Eliot. Light in the darkness, illuminating the soul. Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide will use imagination to draw you deeper into God’s presence. Read it through, then use it as a resource for years to come.

Bestselling author Bear Grylls is best known for his seven seasons on National Geographic's Man vs. Wild, his current NBC TV series, Running Wild with Bear Grylls, and his adventures climbing ice cliffs, running through forest fires, and parachuting from balloons. In Soul Fuel, Bear shares the backstories behind many of his most daring expeditions and how his faith gave him the purpose and power to carry on. In 365 devotions he explores themes of hope, courage, risk, heaven, and more.

Soul Fuel is perfect for:

Men and women
Self-purchase or a gift for anyone wanting to deepen their faith
Fans of Bear's TV series and those who love to read about survival
Nature has taught Bear some important lessons, and behind every feat is a story of grit, determination, and strength found in faith. By reading Soul Fuel, you will discover: 

How to find joy during the most difficult times
The importance of hope and taking risks
How to create courage despite anxiety and fear
Bear wants others to know, "I often don't feel very strong. Life can be a battle. We all feel that from time to time. But any strength I do have seems to come in the quiet moments at the start of my day. It comes when I am on my own, on my knees. It comes from taking time to be still with God. . . . So for me, starting my day like this really helps. It is like food. Like good fuel for the soul."

400 pages

A trip to the Holy Land is on the bucket list of many Christians. But planning a meaningful trip in a place so filled with significant sites is an imposing task. Most travel guides are not prepared to link the Bible and land in an accurate and meaningful way because they are written for people of all faiths. So how can a Christian traveler prepare a trip that will illuminate God's Word and reveal the Lord's presence?

In The Holy Land for Christian Travelers, John A. Beck provides a guide to the Holy Land for Christians with explanations of the biblical significance of important sites. The entries provide key Scripture references for reflection and a guide to the land that will encourage communion with God and a genuine spiritual experience for travelers as they walk in the footsteps of Jesus. A trip to the Holy Land can be a worship-filled, once-in-a-lifetime spiritual journey. This book puts a biblical scholar and experienced Holy Land guide at the reader's side.

256 pages

How is human love deformed in sexual addiction? How can human love be transformed? David Bellusci considers three signs of addiction and then, by looking at neurotic tendencies within a psychoanalytical framework, as well as the neurobiological nature of sexual pleasure, explores the causes of sexual addiction. Behavioral expression of addiction is examined in pornography, masturbation, cybersex, and multiple sexual partners.

Working within a Christian anthropology drawn from Thomas Aquinas, Bellusci considers the morality of pleasure; how pleasure suggests an antinomy of satisfaction-dissatisfaction. He explores how the fallen human condition effects the will, and the consent to sin. He concludes with a focus on how the addict may be supported, at the psychological, relational, and spiritual levels.

138 pages

Your journey begins. The road before you is smooth and straight. You walk for some time, recalling your experiences that call into question the deep realities of life. Up ahead, you can see the road branching in three directions. . .

In Why Is There Suffering? you, reader, control the route you take through its "choose-your-own-path" chapters, asking questions and exploring different theological possibilities on the big topics of:

God's existence
God's nature
The nature of suffering
Evil
Pain
Final destiny
 

Taking an intentionally light-hearted approach to a heavy topic this book presents an illustrative introduction to the problem of suffering and the most commonly offered responses to it. Along the road, you'll face multiple possibilities regarding suffering and its theological explanations, and you'll make choices about which one you find most plausible, skipping to that section of the book. Each decision you make leads to further complexities and new choices that reveal how theological beliefs lead to certain conclusions.

This book does not offer final answers. Instead, it introduces the "theological" possibilities—both Christian and non-Christian—that you can explore and wrestle with to make informed decisions about your beliefs and clearly see the road you've taken to reach such beliefs.

You are, of course, in control of the paths you take through these pages. You decide which explanations work. You can always go back and see what would change if you'd taken a different path. And, who knows. . .you may find that certain pathways resonate with your experiences in ways you didn't expect.

192 pages

Whether you work as a plumber or politician, manager or metal-worker—where you work is your mission field. Believe it or not, your business was created for Kingdom business. There is a level of fruitfulness and authority in which God wants you to operate. This life-transforming message has been newly revised and expanded to provide you with fresh insights and revelation on how you can be a person of tremendous influence in the arena where God has placed you. This Kingdom leadership playbook promises to catapult you to the next level of your career, profession, business, or ministry. Learn how to build your faith in God and understand His perfect plan for your life. Your faith was never meant to be separated from your work or business life. Using both scripture and personal stories, Bill Winston will show you how God is restoring this unbeatable team of kings and priests to advance His Kingdom and transform the marketplace through the superior principles of faith and fruitfulness.

374 pages

The expression churchianity was coined by C. S. Lewis. Isn t it a word that describes the parable of Christ or rather, the event in which the Lord Jesus Christ pronounced his condemnation on the barren fig tree? Had it been barren, leafless, dead, Christ would not have condemned it. He might even have spoken a word of life and brought it into newness. But this tree stood there gloriously adorned with leaves, telling everyone around that it was enough to come up to it in order to find a harvest of ripe fruits. But there was nothing but leaves. The appearance was there; of reality, there was nothing. The words spoken by Christ are frightening. He said, there will never be a fruit on your branches until the end of the world.

134 pages

Over 330,000 copies sold. This is the story of the church for today's readers.

Bruce Shelley's classic history of the church brings the story of global Christianity into the twenty-first century. Like a skilled screenwriter, Shelley begins each chapter with three elements: characters, setting, plot. Taking readers from the early centuries of the church up through the modern era he tells his readers a story of actual people, in a particular situation, taking action or being acted upon, provides a window into the circumstances and historical context, and from there develops the story of a major period or theme of Christian history. Covering recent events, this book also:

Details the rapid growth of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity in the southern hemisphere
Addresses the decline in traditional mainline denominations
Examines the influence of technology on the spread of the gospel
Discusses how Christianity intersects with other religions in countries all over the world
For this fifth edition, Marshall Shelley brought together a team of historians, historical theologians, and editors to revise and update this father's classic text. The new edition adds important stories of the development of Christianity in Asia, India, and Africa, both in the early church as well as in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It also highlights the stories of women and non-Europeans who significantly influenced the development of Christianity but whose contributions are often overlooked in previous overviews of church history.

This concise book provides an easy-to-read guide to church history with intellectual substance. The new edition of Church History in Plain Language promises to set a new standard for readable church history.

624 pages

The term Canaanite will be familiar to anyone who has even the most casual familiarity with the Bible. Outside of the terminology for Israel itself, the Canaanites are the most common ethnic group found in the Bible. They are positioned as the foil of the nation of Israel, and the land of Canaan is depicted as the promised allotment of Abraham and his descendants. The terms Canaan and Canaanites are even evoked in modern political discourse, indicating that their importance extends into the present.
With such prominent positioning, it is important to gain a more complete and historically accurate perspective of the Canaanites, their land, history, and rich cultural heritage. So, who were the Canaanites? Where did they live, what did they believe, what do we know about their culture and history, and why do they feature so prominently in the biblical narratives? In this volume, Mary Buck uses original textual and archaeological evidence to answer to these questions. The book follows the history of the Canaanites from their humble origins in the third millennium BCE to the rise of their massive fortified city-states of the Bronze Age, through until their disappearance from the pages of history in the Roman period, only to find their legacy in the politics of the modern Middle East.

112 pages

A bold, historical, robust approach to reading Scripture and encountering Jesus anew

No one expects to be surprised. Yet biblical interpretation can do exactly that. Christians expect to see Jesus as they read the Bible, but when and how Jesus actually speaks through Scripture can still surprise us!

Drawing on the early church’s theological giants?Origen, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and more from the historical cloud of witnesses?author Jason Byassee models how we can recover ancient Christians’ multiple ways of reading the Bible to our benefit. As Byassee says, God himself is Jewish, Catholic, and Pentecostal?so much larger than our own little corner on the truth?and this book offers readers a refreshingly enhanced vision of the Bible and of Jesus himself.

A repackaged edition of the revered author's fictitious collection of letters in which he ruminates on the nature of prayer—what it is, how it works, and how it should be practiced.

C. S. Lewis—the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics—shares his understanding of the role of prayer in our lives and the ways we might better imagine our relationship with God. Composed as a collection of fictitious dispatches to his friend, Malcolm, Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer considers this basic display of devotion in its form, content, and regularity, and the ways it both reflects our faith and shapes how we believe.

Available for the first time in one deluxe paperback edition, all eight volumes of the C. S. Lewis Signature Classics.

Brought together in one volume, here are the signature spiritual works of one of the most celebrated literary figures of our time. This magnificent compendium includes:

Mere Christianity
The Screwtape Letters
The Great Divorce
The Problem of Pain
Miracles
A Grief Observed
Abolition of Man
The Four Loves

864 pages

Catholic theology, philosophy, and spirituality have long taught that the joy of Christian contemplation is to delight in the splendor of the divine love for us in all things. John Navone explains that Happiness Itself - God - is forever knowing its truth and loving its goodness and delighting in its beauty. The gift of the beatific vision is communion with Happiness Itself.

104 pages

An effective plan to help those suffering from wounds inflicted by the church find spiritual healing and a renewed sense of faith.

Raised as a conservative Christian, minister and author Carol Howard Merritt discovered that the traditional institutions she grew up in inflicted great pain and suffering on others. Though she loved the spirituality the church provided, she knew that, because of sexism, homophobia, and manipulative religious politics, established religious institutions weren’t always holy or safe. Instead of offering refuge, these institutions have betrayed people’s hearts and souls. “People have suffered religious abuse,” she writes, “which can be different from physical injury or psychological trauma.”

Though participation and affiliation in traditional religious institutions is waning, many people still believe in God. Merritt contends that many leave the church because they have lost trust in the institution, not in God. Healing Spiritual Wounds addresses the church’s dichotomous image—as a safe space and as a dangerous place—and provides a way to restore personal faith and connection to God for those who have been hurt or betrayed by established institutions of faith. Merritt lays out a multistage plan for moving from pain to spiritual rebirth, from recovering theological and emotional shards to recovering communal wholeness.

Merritt does not sugarcoat the wrongs institutions long seen as trustworthy have inflicted on many innocent victims. Sympathetic, understanding, and deeply positive, she offers hope and a way to help them heal and reclaim the spiritual joy that can make them whole again.

240 pages

Popular pastor Chad Veach casts a vision for a future beyond what most dare to imagine and guides us all toward the abundant plans God has for his children.

Are you disappointed with your life? Do you feel like you’ll never accomplish anything remarkable? Fear not: you are in the perfect place for God to enter with his plan! In fact, your disappointments and failures are merely minor setbacks preceding a major comeback.

In Faith Forward Future, Chad Veach presents the proof that God has always known you, has always cared, and is waiting to give you his better dream for your life. When you hear his words and release your broken dreams, you’ll receive all that God has in store and be enabled to reach your best possible tomorrow. With powerful Bible teaching and practical guidance, Veach invites you to stop limiting tomorrow’s possibilities by learning how to ask God for big things today
dismiss the distractions of regret by being empowered to use your past for good, and
redefine success by joining God in writing the remarkable story of your life!

This powerful book from the bestselling Dr. Charles Stanley outlines key areas of conviction that can make or break who we are and how we live.

What we choose to believe intrinsically determines whether or not we are able to stand strong in this life—during the easy times, and during the most difficult. Standing Strong explores the Bible to identify the central issues of life where conviction is imperative, including:

—our commitment to stand by the people we love

—our decision to be men and women of integrity and character

—our determination to seek justice for the voiceless and the poor

—our beliefs about God as sovereign Creator

—our convictions about Jesus as God's Son

—our belief that the Bible is actually the Word of God

Standing Strong is the product of Dr. Stanley's lifetime journey of defining his convictions—based on God’s Word—and choosing to stand by what he believes...no matter the consequences. As he shares what he has discovered, he guides us as we examine and shape what we believe, so that we can live strong, with confidence, hope, and an assurance that when our convictions are based on God’s truths, we can’t go wrong.

256 pages

With a balance of wisdom, candor, and scholarly rigor the beloved archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia takes on life’s central questions: why are we here, and how can we live and die meaningfully?

In Things Worth Dying For, Chaput delves richly into our yearning for God, love, honor, beauty, truth, and immortality. He reflects on our modern appetite for consumption and individualism and offers a penetrating analysis of how we got here, and how we can look to our roots and our faith to find purpose each day amid the noise of competing desires.

Chaput examines the chronic questions of the human heart; the idols and false flags we create; and the nature of a life of authentic faith. He points to our longing to live and die with meaning as the key to our search for God, our loyalty to nation and kin, our conduct in war, and our service to others.

Ultimately, with compelling grace, he shows us that the things worth dying for reveal most powerfully the things worth living for.

257 pages

One of the most respected and influential Christian leaders of the last decades, Chuck Colson engaged millions through his books, public speaking, and radio broadcasts.

In My Final Word, longtime Colson coauthor Anne Morse has selected and arranged pieces Colson wrote mostly during the last ten years of his life, spotlighting what he saw as key topics of ongoing importance for Christian cultural engagement. Some of these issues include:

• crime and punishment
• natural law
• Islam
• same-sex marriage
• the persecution of Christians
• and more

This paperback edition also contains a new chapter not in the hardcover, Colson's final thoughts on poverty.

Longtime readers and new readers alike will be struck by the power and immediacy of Colson's arguments. My Final Word is a fitting end to Colson's distinguished publishing career, a behind-the-scenes encounter with an influential thinker, and a needed call to an ongoing and relevant Christian public witness.

Father Brown, one of the most quirkily genial and lovable characters to emerge from English detective fiction, first made his appearance in The Innocence of Father Brown in 1911. That first collection of stories established G.K. Chesterton's kindly cleric in the front rank of eccentric sleuths. This complete collection contains all the favourite Father Brown stories, showing a quiet wit and compassion that has endeared him to many, whilst solving his mysteries by a mixture of imagination and a sympathetic worldliness in a totally believable manner.

800 pages

Two of G. K. Chesterton’s most important and well-known works are contained in this volume: Heretics, and Orthodoxy. In the first of these, Chesterton addresses the intellectual movements of his time that he considered most prominent and destructive. Chesterton confronts relativism, individualism, neo-paganism, and other trends of the modern period, paying special attention to the artists and intellectual elite of his time. He writes in detail about events of his time that were affected by these viewpoints. Heretics begins and ends with chapters on orthodoxy, anticipating the content of his most famous book—Orthodoxy, a classic that is part memoir, part apologetic. It exhibits Chesterton at his finest—a combination of literary wit, theological acumen, and pointed cultural critique. The two works complement each other perfectly, providing an accessible entry point to the battleground of truth and falsehood. Lexham Classics are beautifully typeset new editions of classic works. Each book has been carefully transcribed from the original texts, ensuring an accurate representation of the writing as the author intended it to be read.

326 pages

Bestselling author, speaker, and activist Christine Caine helps you overcome past guilt and live an unashamed life.

Shame can take on many forms. It hides in the shadows of the most successful, confident and high-achieving woman who struggles with balancing her work and children, as well as in the heart of the broken, abused and downtrodden woman who has been told that she will never amount to anything. Shame hides in plain sight and can hold us back in ways we do not realize. But Christine Caine wants readers to know something: we can all be free.

“I know. I’ve been there,” writes Christine. “I was schooled in shame. It has been my constant companion from my very earliest memories. I see shame everywhere I look in the world, including in the church. It creeps from heart to heart, growing in shadowy places, feeding on itself so that those struggling with it are too shamed to seek help from shame itself.”

In Unashamed, Christine reveals the often-hidden consequences of shame—in her own life and the lives of so many Christian women—and invites you to join her in moving from a shame-filled to a shame-free life.

In her passionate and candid style, Christine leads you into God’s Word where you will see for yourself how to believe that God is bigger than your mistakes, your inadequacies, your past, and your limitations. He is not only more powerful than anything you’ve done but also stronger than anything ever done to you. You can deal with your yesterday today, so that you can move on to what God has in store for you tomorrow—a powerful purpose and destiny he wants you to fulfill.

Join the journey. Lay ahold of the power of Jesus Christ today and step into the future—his future for you—a beautiful, full, life-giving future, where you can even become a shame-lifter to others. Live unashamed!

Encouragement and practical steps from bestselling author Christine Caine to help you move from anxiety about the unexpected to embracing confident faith in a good God. Is it possible to have peace in an uncertain world? To not only expect the unexpected but embrace it? Most of us want to have life under control. But God wants us to anticipate the unexpected with a faith deeply rooted in his goodness. He wants us to know that because he is in control, we don't have to be. In Unexpected, beloved author Christine Caine helps us walk into the life God has for us - unknowns and all. Using dramatic examples from her own journey, Christine offers real-life strategies and biblical inspiration to help you: Anticipate the unexpected - personal upheaval, relational challenges, financial stresses, family transitions, career disappointments, and chaotic world affairs, etc. Move from fear and worry about ourselves to hope and trust in God Learn new ways to manage disappointment, strengthen our hearts, and build our faith Step into the unknown to embrace your God-given destiny Live in the joyful freedom of complete trust in God Nothing in our lives takes God by surprise. So even in the midst of personal upheaval, relational challenges, financial stresses, family transitions, career disappointments, and chaotic world affairs, we can expect God to be good and do good. What other expectation do we need to have? Listen to God's dare to trust him in every unknown of your life today.

Rudolf Bultmann is one of the most widely known but least read theologians of the twentieth century. He is famous as the one who "demythologized" the New Testament, but very few understand what he meant by this or how his hermeneutical program connects to the other areas of his theological project. Bultmann presents a unique challenge to readers, not only because of his radical theological inquiry but also because of the way his ideas are worked out over time, primarily through short, occasional writings that present complex issues in a disarmingly straightforward manner. In this introduction to his theology--the first of its kind in more than twenty years--David W. Congdon guides readers through ten central themes in Bultmann's theology, ranging from eschatology and dialectic to freedom and advent. By gaining an understanding of these themes, students of Bultmann will have the necessary tools to understand and profit from his writings. The result is not only an accessible guide for those encountering Bultmann for the first time but also a cohesive, systematic presentation of his thought for those wondering how his work might speak to our current context.

198 pages

In this book Paul Contino offers a theological study of Dostoevsky’s final novel, The Brothers Karamazov. He argues that incarnational realism animates the vision of the novel, and the decisions and actions of its hero, Alyosha Fyodorovich Karamazov. The book takes a close look at Alyosha’s mentor, the Elder Zosima, and the way his role as a confessor and his vision of responsibility “to all, for all” develops and influences Alyosha. The remainder of the study, which serves as a kind of reader’s guide to the novel, follows Alyosha as he takes up the mantle of his elder, develops as a “monk in the world,” and, at the end of three days, ascends in his vision of Cana. The study attends also to Alyosha’s brothers and his ministry to them: Mitya’s struggle to become a “new man” and Ivan’s anguished groping toward responsibility. Finally, Contino traces Alyosha’s generative role with the young people he encounters, and his final message of hope.

334 pages

"I have loved this book since it was first published under its original title, In Search of Guidance (my old, marked-up copy is still a cherished possession), and then I fell in love with it again when it was brought out under its current title. There is no one more sane, more well-reasoned, more deeply spiritual and biblically grounded than Dallas Willard in his careful, nuanced treatment of how we can develop an intimate, conversational relationship with God-one that actually includes hearing from God for ourselves. Hearing God is truly a classic that stands tall in the crowded field of discernment literature!"

Ruth Haley Barton, founder of the Transforming Center and author of Invitation to Solitude and Silence

?"This is simply the best book I've ever found on hearing God's voice. It does it all-with nuance, grace, intelligence, and spirit. Few things matter more to an apprentice of Jesus than learning to discern God's voice. Few books come close to being as helpful as this one."

John Mark Comer, author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

312 pages

Renovation of the Heart is an influential contribution from the late Dallas Willard that continues to break ground twenty years after its first release.

Helping us to understand how character is formed and where Jesus does his most significant work on our spiritual and emotional health, this book changed a generation’s mind about what it means to follow Jesus?not a matter of sin management but a matter of drawing near and letting ourselves be shaped into the eternal people of God.

With reflections on the book’s impact over its life from family, friends, and admirers of Dallas, and supplemental resources for the first time in print, Renovation of the Heart will continue its ministry of liberation-by-formation for years to come.

Includes a foreword by John Mark Comer and an afterword by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson.

320 pages

He's inviting you to sustained and unquenchable love.

Jesus is worthy of a love that burns in the likeness of His love for us. But threats to our passion for Him come with the storms and setbacks we face. With vulnerable perspective and insight, Dana Candler shares her own battles with keeping first love and how the Lord breaks in with vital truth and fresh desire to her soul--and how He yearns to do the same for you.

Discover how to overcome the enemies of holy passion and tangibly experience His love. When you do, He will consume your heart with thriving joy, delight and passion for Him, burning bright all your days.

"First Love equips you to say yes to God's invitation to a life marked by confident trust, deep-rooted joy and a love that overflows and impacts all that you do!"--JODIE BERNDT, bestselling author, Praying the Scriptures for Your Children

"This book will strengthen your confidence in the One who never starts a fire and walks away."--BOB SORGE, bestselling author, Secrets of the Secret Place

"I pray every reader of this book will be encouraged to live from the secret place of prayer so that they may also stand in the peace of God."--HEIDI G. BAKER, Ph.D., co-founder and executive chairman of the board, Iris Global

224 pages

When Lillian Daniel apologized to a total stranger for every bad thing that had ever been said or done in the name of Christianity, he was surprised that she was responsible for all that. "The Inquisition? Don't even raise it, I'm way ahead of you. I was mad about it before you even heard of it, that's how open-minded I am. Salem witch trials? I know! So embarrassing. Can I hang out with you anyway? You're too kind." "Religion is responsible for all the wars in history," they would say, and I'd respond, "You're so right. Don't forget imperialism, capitalism, and racism. Religion invented those problems too. You can tell that because religious people can be found at all their meetings."

In this book, Daniel argues that it's time for Christians to stop apologizing and realize that how we talk about Christian community matters. With disarming candor laced with just the right amount of humor, Daniel urges open-minded Christians to explore ways to talk about their faith journeys that are reasonable, rigorous, and real.

"In ten years of tender lessons, I have learned to hear this message: You were always there. You never left. You were never not you. Now walk with me a while and uncover that girl again. She's not far."

When we face setbacks and obstacles, it's easy to feel alone and unsure of who we are. At some point, we've all felt like we have lost our identities entirely. Drawing from her own life-changing disasters and surprising blessings, former restaurateur and up-and-coming cooking maven Danielle Kartes serves up perfectly portioned stories to remind us we are never truly lost.

With the decadent warmth of a Brown Butter Chocolate Bundt Cake, You Were Always There assures us that our even most challenging moments have their own glory. Mixing anecdotes of motherhood, cooking, and chasing your dreams with delicious, comforting recipes, You Were Always There is a devotional memoir that will inspire love, faith, and patience through the growing seasons of life. Take a little time each day to indulge in this conversation, reflect as you cook something delicious, and love yourself exactly where you are.

Here, the sweet is always generously folded into the sour, great joy shares space with great sorrow, and we learn that every single moment in our lives is worth savoring. You Were Always There is an uplifting, life-affirming book that will become a new favorite for readers of bestselling authors like Joanna Gaines, Shauna Niequist, and Brene Brown.

256 pages

Jesus Christ preached a gospel of love and peace with justice. But the history of the Christian religion is littered with every kind of evil. What went wrong? How have we become a generation that is seeking God but rejecting organized religion? How can we rediscover the authentic message of Jesus? This challenging book explores the reasons behind the atrocities committed in the name of Christ. It offers the vision of Jesus as a source of radical renewal of individuals and societies. Author of the acclaimed Plan Be Series, Dave Andrews shows how we can be inspired by the model of Jesus' compassion, and his hunger for justice, to work with marginal groups for real transformation in our world.

David Green believes that generosity and building a legacy based on giving can lead to getting back what you really want: a family that stays together, prays together, and shares life joyfully.

Green tells the story of caring for the small things and starting Hobby Lobby in their garage. He shares the difference between the worlds of "having and hoarding" and a world of "giving and generosity," the principle of working for God and not for men, and that now is not too soon to consider what you want your legacy to be.

As proof of how living by those principles can change your life, Green shares that when Hobby Lobby came close to bankruptcy in 1986 and when the Supreme Court challenged the Hobby Lobby's right to life beliefs in 2014, the company emerged with its integrity intact.

Green sees the life of giving as a life of adventure. But it's a life that pays the best rewards personally, offers a powerful legacy to your family, and changes those you touch.

Be proud of your scars. They’re signs that you survived whatever tried to break you.

For Devon Still, life has been a journey from one scar to the next. From one challenge to the next. His is a story of pushing through pain and overcoming obstacles of all shapes and sizes—of choosing to fight for the sake of his family, his community, and his faith.

Millions of people around the world have been inspired by Devon’s tireless devotion in helping his daughter, Leah, learn how to “beat up cancer.” But in these pages Devon takes readers behind the headlines to reveal the deeper story of what prepared him for that fight, including

growing up in the shadow of drugs and violence,
working through the pain of his parents’ divorce,
overcoming injuries and scandal to shine as an All-American at Penn State University,
beating the odds to play in the National Football League, and
using his newfound platform to raise both awareness and resources in the global fight against cancer.
Still in the Game is Devon’s declaration that our challenges reveal our purpose, that our scars make us stronger, and that no loss is too great to stop our comeback!

256 pages

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the most influential Christian martyrs in history, bequeathed to humanity a legacy of theological creativity and spirituality that continues to intrigue people from a variety of backgrounds. Life Together gathers Bonhoeffer's 1938 reflections on the character of Christian community, based on the common life that he and his seminarians experienced at the Finkenwalde Seminary and in the Brothers House there. The stimulus for the writing of Life Together was the closing of the preacher's seminary at Finkenwalde by the Nazis.

While Bonhoeffer wrote with his own seminary community in mind, he intended Life Together to have a more universal impact, and spoke of a mission and responsibility of the church as a whole.

Using the acclaimed Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English translation and adapted to a more accessible format, this new edition features supplemental material from Victoria J. Barnett and an insightful introduction by Geffrey B. Kelly to clarify the theological meaning and social importance of Bonhoeffer's work.

120 pages

St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio's The Soul's Journey into God is a masterpiece of thirteenth-century Scholasticism. Unfortunately no comprehensive analysis of Bonaventure's seminal treatise exists that is accessible to contemporary audiences. Reinvigorating the medieval tradition of critical commentary for the twenty-first century, Peter Dillard's A Way into Scholasticism: A Companion to St. Bonaventure's The Soul's Journey into God introduces readers to basic Scholastic concepts and arguments by expounding and evaluating Bonaventure's speculative system. Dillard also highlights the relevance of Bonaventure's thought for contemporary philosophical theology. The book will appeal to a wide audience including seminarians, clergy, brothers and sisters of religious orders, students at the advanced undergraduate or graduate levels, professional scholars, and anyone seeking a better understanding of the Scholastic intellectual tradition.

220 pages

How do you follow Jesus without burning out?

Gold Medal Winner, 2018 Illumination Book Awards, Enduring Light
"This thoughtful collection of Day’s reflections incorporates abundant material for contemplation, all drawn from her extensive writings … [which] reveal Day’s signature honesty and frequent humor in addressing her hopes and fears and the sources of her inspiration…. This welcome compilation provides a window into the fundamental beliefs that undergirded Day’s life of faith." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

In this guidebook, Dorothy Day offers hard-earned wisdom and practical advice gained through decades of seeking to know Jesus and to follow his example and teachings in her own life.

Unlike larger collections and biographies, which cover her radical views, exceptional deeds, and amazing life story, this book focuses on a more personal dimension of her life: Where did she receive strength to stay true to her God-given calling despite her own doubts and inadequacies and the demands of an activist life? What was the unquenchable wellspring of her deep faith and her love for humanity?

149 pages

The Post-Black and Post-White Church

Why is Sunday morning still the most segregated time in America? The key to creating and growing a more unified and holistic church is the multi-ethnic and Christ-centered community that offers a strong connection between theology and practical ministry models, and that nurtures believers who are wrestling with what it means to be the church of the Bible today.

Most books on racial reconciliation or multi-ethnic ministry center on the theological foundations, history, or social problem aspects of the topic. The Post-Black and Post-White Church offers apractical, hands-on blueprint for developing and sustaining a multi-ethnic and Christ-centered community. Written by Efrem Smith, an innovative and passionate African-American leader of the Covenant Evangelical Church and founding pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this groundbreaking book shares his skills, experience, and wisdom for congregations who want to grow into a multi-ethnic, missional identity.

The Post-Black and Post-White Church connects theology and practical ministry models for wrestling with what it means to be church in an ever-increasingly multi-ethnic world that is polarized by class, politics, and race. The book embraces Jesus as one who was both Jewish and multi-ethnic and focuses on a theology of reconciled, multi-ethnic, and missional leadership.

Taking a broad view of today's culture, Smith shows how engaging urban and multi-ethnic subcultures such as hip-hop culture can further the mission of church. The Post-Black and Post-White Church bridges multi-ethnic church development, reconciliation theology, missional church development, and Christian community development.

Leadership Network

Leadership Network, a division of OneHundredX, seeks to accelerate the impact of 100X leaders. Since 1996, Leadership Network Publications has presented thoroughly researched and practical concepts from leading thinkers, practitioners, and pioneering churches. www.leadnet.org

About the Author

EFREM SMITH is an internationally recognized African-American leader and highly charismatic speaker. He is the former pastor of the Sanctuary Covenant Church and board chair of the Sanctuary Community Development Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is now superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) denomination, located in Concord, California, and the author of Raising Young Heroes and The Hip-Hop Church.

2019 Best Book Awards, Finalist: Religion--Christian Inspirational
If you've already figured out your life and feel totally complete, then this book may not be for you. But if you are like the rest of us, every day presents a mountain of to-do items, jobs to go to, errands to run, projects to complete, meals to cook, children to raise... You forge ahead and get it done, but you know that things aren't as they should be. Even when you check every item off your daily list, you still feel as though something meaningful and essential is missing from the very center of your life.

Spiritual director and writer Becky Eldredge has felt that same longing, and she knows what people are missing--a relationship with God through prayer. In Busy Lives & Restless Souls, Eldredge interprets principles of Ignatian spirituality in a fresh way to equip us with prayer tools that are accessible and practical within the relentless realities of our daily routines. Just as important, she shows us how we can bring our relationship with God to life by becoming what St. Ignatius called "contemplatives in action." For all who sense that there is a missing peace in their lives, Busy Lives &Restless Souls will help them find it--right where they are.

160 pages

Pointing to the many contradictions between the Bible and the practice of the church, Jacques Ellul asserts in this provocative and stimulating book that what we today call Christianity is actually far removed from the revelation of God. Successive generations have reinterpreted Scripture and modeled it after their own cultures, thus moving society further from the truth of the original gospel. The church also perverted the gospel message, for instead of simply doing away with pagan practice and belief, it reconstituted the sacred, set up its own religious forms, and thus resacralized the world. Ellul develops several areas in which this perversion is most obvious, including the church's emphasis on moralism and its teaching in the political sphere. The heart of the problem, he says, is that we have not accepted the fact that Christianity is a scandal; we attempt to make it acceptable and easy--and thus pervert its true message. Ultimately, however, Ellul remains hopeful. For, in spite of all that has been done to subvert the message of God, the Holy Spirit continues to move in the world. "Christianity," writes Ellul, "never carries the day decisively against Christ."

"I've never read a book by Eugene Peterson that didn't stir and challenge me."

Max Lucado, author of In the Grip of Grace

"I thank God for A Long Obedience. It is a pioneer message, first coming to us at a time when no one was talking about either 'long' or 'obedience.' And while, thankfully, others have added their voices in the intervening years, A Long Obedience retains its prophetic edge . . . . Rooted in the ancient psalmist's Songs of Ascents, it invites us to journey with Jesus into the rich spiritual landscape of 'righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.'"

Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline

224 pages

A comprehensive, two-volume reassessment of the quests for the historical Jesus that details their origins and underlying presuppositions as well as their ongoing influence on today's biblical and theological scholarship.

Jesus' life and teaching is important to every question we ask about what we believe and why we believe it. And yet there has never been common agreement about his identity, intentions, or teachings—even among first-century historians and scholars. Throughout history, different religious and philosophical traditions have attempted to claim Jesus and paint him in the cultural narratives of their heritage, creating a labyrinth of conflicting ideas.

From the evolution of orthodoxy and quests before Albert Schweitzer's famous "Old Quest," to today's ongoing questions about criteria, methods, and sources, A History of the Quests for the Historical Jesus not only chronicles the developments but lays the groundwork for the way forward.

The late Colin Brown brings his scholarly prowess in both theology and biblical studies to bear on the subject, assessing not only the historical and exegetical nuts and bolts of the debate about Jesus of Nazareth but also its philosophical, sociological, and theological underpinnings. Instead of seeking a bedrock of "facts," Brown stresses the role of hermeneutics in formulating questions and seeking answers.

Colin Brown was almost finished with the manuscript at the time of his passing in 2019. Brought to its final form by Craig A. Evans, this book promises to become the definitive history and assessment of the quests for the historical Jesus.

Volume One (sold separately) covers the period from the beginnings of Christianity to the end of World War II.
Volume Two covers the period from the post-War era through contemporary debates.

752 pages

Athanasius of Alexandria, a famous theologian and historical figure, is quoted by many but known by few. His famous dictum, “For he became human that we might be made god (theopoi?th?men)” is explained within the context of his theology and spirituality. The Introduction familiarizes the reader with Athanasius’s writings and the historical context of his theology. The reader will engage with the Athanasian language and thought that shaped the Christian understanding of the Trinity. The reader also takes a journey through Athanasius’s understanding of the human person, created in the image of God and living the life of renewal. The Introduction aims to guide the reader to a Christian theologian who had the courage to oppose emperors and bishops, and to endure exiles and other threats because of his unwavering theological convictions.

188 pages

The Platonic Theology is a visionary work and the philosophical masterpiece of Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), the Florentine scholar-philosopher-magus who was largely responsible for the Renaissance revival of Plato.

A student of the Neoplatonic schools of Plotinus and Proclus, he was committed to reconciling Platonism with Christianity, in the hope that such a reconciliation would initiate a spiritual revival and return of the golden age. His Platonic evangelizing was eminently successful and widely influential, and his Platonic Theology, translated into English for the first time in this edition, is one of the keys to understanding the art, thought, culture, and spirituality of the Renaissance.

368 pages

The Sistine Chapel is one of the world’s most magnificent buildings, and the frescos that decorate its ceiling and walls are a testimony to the creative genius of the Renaissance.  Two generations of artists worked at the heart of Christianity, over the course of several decades in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to produce this extraordinary achievement of Western civilization.

In this book, the art historian and restorer Antonio Forcellino tells the remarkable story of the Sistine Chapel, bringing his unique combination of knowledge and skills to bear on the conditions that led to its creation.  Forcellino shows that Pope Sixtus IV embarked on the project as an attempt to assert papal legitimacy in response to Mehmed II’s challenge to the Pope’s spiritual leadership.  The lower part of the chapel was decorated by a consortium of master painters whose frescoes, so coherent that they seem almost to have been painted by a single hand, represent the highest expression of the Quattrocento Tuscan workshops. Then, in 1505, Sixtus IV’s nephew, Julius II, imposed a change in direction.  Having been captivated by the prodigious talent of a young Florentine sculptor, Julius II summoned Michelangelo Buonarroti to Rome and commissioned him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Two decades later, Michelangelo returned to paint The Last Judgement, which covers the wall behind the alter.  Michelangelo’s revolutionary work departed radically from tradition and marked a turning point in the history of Western art.

Antonio Forcellino brings to life the wonders of the Sistine Chapel by describing the aims and everyday practices of the protagonists who envisioned it and the artists who created it, reconstructing the material history that underlies this masterpiece.

250 pages

This description may be from another edition of this product. A newly repackaged and updated 40th anniversary edition of the timeless guide that has helped numerous seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God, updated with a new Introduction by the author and a new section.

Millions are satisfied to sit through hour-long, weekly religious services. Millions more have left the church, brokenhearted and cynical. But God is waking up His people?people who will risk everything and sacrifice anything to become the dynamic, powerful Church seen in Scripture.
 
We Are Church calls Christ-followers, young and old, to hold fast to their biblical roots while seeking radical change. Scripture promises an exuberant and unstoppable Church. That wondrous early church of Acts can be our reality today?but not until we devote ourselves to her original priorities.
 
Read this book and be challenged, guided, and encouraged to passionately pursue God’s magnificent and beautiful vision for His Church. Come and claim your part in this body of believers that is not just possible?it’s promised.
 

Parenting is a school for spiritual formation, says author Gary Thomas, and our children are our teachers. The journey of caring for, rearing, training, and loving our children profoundly alters us forever…even when the journey is sometimes a rough one.

Sacred Parenting is unlike any other parenting book on the market. This is not a “how-to” book that teaches readers the ways to discipline their kids or help them achieve their full potential. Instead of a discussion about how parents change their children, Sacred Parenting turns the tables and demonstrates how God uses children to change their parents.

Stepping beyond the overly-tilled soil of method books, parents can learn a whole new side of parenting. They’ll be encouraged by stories that tell how other parents handled the challenges and difficulties of being a parent – and how their children transformed their relationship with God.

The lessons the author writes about are timeless. But in this edition, Thomas adds in some additional insights and stories that he’s learned and lived over the past fifteen years of his own parenting. Gary has found that the lessons have remained much the same but there are new applications for the readers in this generation who are just now coming to his book.

256 pages

Giannozzo Manetti (1396–1459) was a celebrated diplomat, historian, philosopher, and humanist scholar of the early Renaissance who mastered ancient Greek and Hebrew as well as classical Latin. In this treatise, dedicated to Alfonso of Aragon, King of Naples, Manetti addresses a question central to the anthropology of the Renaissance: what are the moral, intellectual, and spiritual capabilities of the unique amalgam of body and soul that constitutes human nature? The treatise takes issue with a popular work of medieval asceticism, On the Misery of the Human Condition, written by none other than Innocent III, one of the greatest of medieval popes. The pope’s diatribe expresses a revulsion against human nature and argues for the futility of ambition, the emptiness of pleasures, and the ultimate worthlessness of human achievements. Manetti’s treatise presents a comprehensive refutation of the pope’s pessimism, sometimes citing the achievements of the Renaissance as evidence for the potential divinity of human nature and its extraordinary capabilities. This edition contains the first complete translation into English.

"I do not know of any book that provides more helpful information about how to lead worship graciously or that raises basic theological issues about worship more concisely." -- Ruth Duck

150 pages

A treatment of the evolution of Christian thought from the birth of Christ, to the Apostles, to the early church, to the great flowering of Christianity across the world. The first volume introduces the central figures and debates culminating in the Councils of Nicea and Chalcedon among which the theologies of the early church were hammered out.

402 pages

The early Christian Church and the men who were most influential during the formative years have a profound relevance to the contemporary structure of the Church. The Apostolic Fathers: A Translation and Commentary provides a modern translation and commentary on the writings of these men, indispensable source material for the student of Church history. This volume, one of six, includes a translation of and commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch, which are primarily concerned with heterodoxy and church unity.

154 pages

This is the second in a new six volume translation of and commentary on the works of the Apostolic Fathers. The writings of these men, which immediately follow the books of the New Testament, make up a body of literature that provides indispensable source material for the study of the formation of the Christian Church. Interest in the early Church is higher today than ever before. Theologians, religious authorities, students, and historians find the initial stages of Church development relevant to the contemporary structure of the Church. Volume 2, First and Second Clement, provides translation of and commentary on two of the best-known writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The First Letter of Clement or, more accurately, the letter of the Roman Church to the Corinthian community, provides a significant mixture of scriptural and non-scriptural motifs. The so-called Second Letter of Clement is neither a letter nor by Clement. Actually it is a sermon which deals first with self-control and more generally with exhorting the hearers to repentance and thereby to salvation and life. Not until the rise of historical scholarship in the nineteenth century could its real importance begin to be adequately assessed.

150 pages

This is the first in a new six-volume translation of - and commentary about - the works of the Apostolic Fathers. The writings of these men, which immediately follow the books of the New Testament, make up a body of literature that provides indispensable source material for the study of the formation of the Christian Church. Interest in the early Church is higher today than ever before. Theologians, religious authorities, students, and historians find the initial stages of Church development relevant to the contemporary structure of the Church. This introduction to the series provides general information about the Apostolic Fathers and answers such questions as: Who were they? What did they do? What did they write? What influence did they have, either personally or through their writings? It analyzes the historical and theological significance of the Apostolic Fathers, the relationship of their writings to the Bible, the historical circumstances surrounding them and what they reflect of the early Church, its unity, ministry, worship, and daily life. Here, too, Robert Grant surveys the effects of the writings of the Apostolic Fathers on later Christian scholars and theologians. He traces the relationship of their writings to the Church in later times. What use was made of these Fathers themselves as symbols of primitive faith? What effect did knowledge or ignorance of the writings have upon conceptions of the life and thought of the early Church as later writers looked back to it? As an introduction to an important work of religious scholarship and as a survey of the life of the early Church, this much needed book gives impetus to and provides a solid foundation for the study and understanding of the formative period of the Christian Church.

208 pages

2021 ECPA Award Finalist in the Christian Living Category

“An instant spiritual classic.” ?Christianity Today

Is prayer the most challenging area of your Christian journey? It doesn’t have to be. Pete Greig, one of the founders of 24-7 Prayer International, is passionate about introducing people to simple, honest, relevant conversations with God.

How to Pray is a raw, real, and relevant look at prayer for everyone?from the committed follower of Jesus to the skeptic and the scared. Full of biblically sound wisdom, How to Pray will offer honest encouragement and real-life methods to refresh your spirit and help you practice life-giving and lifechanging prayer.

Revolutionize your prayer life by learning:
How to start praying
How to keep prayer simple
How to ask God for things
How to cope with unanswered prayer
How to pray without words
How to hear God
You will also be inspired by the power of prayer through the stories of Corrie Ten Boom, Joni Eareckson Tada, Saint Patrick, and many more.

How to Pray is designed to be used with The Prayer Course (a free video curriculum), making it useful for personal, small group, or church-wide reading.

“Pete Greig is a respected authority on exactly this kind of praying: simple, honest, straightforward, from the heart. How to Pray will get you started on a lifelong, and life-giving, practice.” ?Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling author of Circle Maker

“I’m so grateful for this book. Pete’s passion and fervor for intercession is contagious. Get this book. Read this book. Live this book.” ?Brady Boyd, author and senior pastor at New Life Church

“For everyone who’s wondered how to move the experience of prayer from distant to personal and powerful, How to Pray provides a starting point for new and seasoned believers alike.” ?Nicole Unice, author of Help! My Bible is Alive!

“Pete Grieg has written the prayer masterpiece for today. It is an easy-to-follow, easy-to-practice manifesto of prayer for everyday life.” ?Craig Springer, author and executive director of Alpha USA

272 pages

Learn the Teachings of the Bible that Every Christian Must Know.

Now Revised and Updated. Over 300,000 Copies Sold!

Not every Christian needs to go to seminary, but there are certain teachings of the Bible that every Christian should know. Whether you're a relatively new believer in Jesus or a mature Christian looking for a better understanding of basics of the faith, Christian Beliefs is for you.

This readable guide to twenty basic Christian beliefs condenses Wayne Grudem's award-winning book Systematic Theology, prized by pastors and teachers everywhere. He and his son, pastor Elliot Grudem, have boiled down the essentials of theology for everyday Christians and made them both clear and applicable to life. Each brief chapter concludes with questions for personal review or group discussion.

In this revised and updated edition of Christian Beliefs, you will learn about:

The Bible and its authority for our lives
The characteristics of God
The importance of prayer
Angels and the reality of spiritual warfare
What it means that we are created in the image of God
What God has done for us in Christ
The purpose of the church
What will happen when Christ returns
The biblical understanding of heaven
And much more
Christian Beliefs is the ideal book for every Christian who wants a solid foundation for understanding the most basic and essential teachings of the Bible.

208 pages

From the first moment that he proclaims the Kingdom of God, Jesus appeals to our imagination. He makes that appeal through the parables of the kingdom, the paradoxes of the gospel, the enigmatic and beautiful signs he gave in his miracles and in those moments when the heavens open and the ordinary is transfigured, seen in an utterly new light. In this book Guite revisits and expands on the insights he gave in his Laing Lectures at Regent College, exploring how the creative work of poets and other artists can lift the veil a little and kindle our imaginations for Christ.

160 pages

Journey with Much-Afraid and her companions Sorrow and Suffering as they follow the Shepherd through dangers, toils, and snares to the high places of God's love. This beautiful allegory---written in the tradition of Pilgrim's Progress---includes a brief autobiography and Hurnard's account of how she came to write her beloved classic. 317 pages, softcover from Tyndale.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be amazed, and you'll gain a new and exalted view of God when you read Honey and Salt. This small collection of stories addresses the biggest of all topics: everyday life. It serves up wisdom and humor in bite-sized chunks-each morsel small enough to digest in minutes. Together, these 117 stories provide spiritual nourishment as well as the key to spotting the blessings in the small moments of daily life. Originally published in the Evangelical Beacon* between 1959 and 1974, Honey and Salt's stories are as relevant today as when first written. 

The late second and early third century was a turbulent time in the Roman Empire and in the relationship between the empire and the church. Origen was the son of a Christian martyr and was himself imprisoned and tortured in his late life in a persecution that targeted leaders of the church. Deeply pious and a gifted scholar, Origen stands as one of the most influential Christian teachers in church history, and also one of the most controversial.
This introduction to Origen begins by looking at some of the circumstances that were formative influences on his life. It then turns to some key elements in his thought. The approach here differs from that taken by most earlier studies by working from the central position that Scripture had for Origen. Heine argues that Origen’s thought, in his later life especially, reflects his continual interaction with the Bible.

182 pages

Guy Hershberger made a significant contribution to the development of peace theology in the (Old) Mennonite Church. Perhaps the greatest service of this book is to explain clearly the centuries-old doctrine of nonresistance as understood by Mennonites in the mid-1900s.

Although nonresistance was held as a doctrine since the early days of Anabaptism in the sixteenth century, Hershberger helped expand the concept. Many of the new ideas that Hershberger posed were explorations of the social implications of nonresistance. Particularly as Mennonites assimilated into society, their neighbors pressed them with questions about social responsibility.

At the time when Hershberger penned this volume, nonresistance and nonconformity were intimately linked. Together they formed the two primary distinctives of the Mennonite Church at mid-century.

As nonresistance and nonconformity faded into the background, peace and justice took their place. Today, peace and justice as a rubric is spoken of as the primary distinctive in the Mennonite Church. Unlike the doctrines of nonresistance and nonconformity, which were founded on peculiarly biblical logic, peace and justice may be touted as ideals by even secular groups. In this vein, Hershberger's clear delineation of the differences between biblical nonresistance and liberal pacifism will be of particular interest to contemporary readers.

Convictions about peace seem oddly out of place in a world where dictators rule with an iron fist and terrorists snuff out innocent lives in pursuit of a cause. We can thank God that Hershberger joined his voice with other faithful leaders who pointed to a better way. May we too be stewards of the charism of peace which Jesus gave to his disciples.

300 pages

Over the past decade, justice movements to abolish labor slavery, end sex trafficking, fight for those who suffer violent oppression, and address grinding poverty have been growing. Access to the needs of every neighbor on the planet is wide open in a way that has never before been true in human history, awakening Christians to the reality of injustice and the depth of suffering in our world today. Evangelical interest, in particular, has been on the rise. But reactions can all too easily range from impulsive fits of activism without true understanding to paralyzing despair.
Here two authors with firsthand experience in the justice movement encourage us to ground our call to justice in sound biblical and theological teaching as we engage with the most critical global needs of our time. The authors connect justice to Scripture, the character of God, and the long traditions of the church so that our passion meets perseverance and justice becomes an enduring and integrated part of our life and faith.

This book allows us to accompany C. S. Lewis on his intellectual and spiritual journey from atheism to pantheism and eventually to Christianity. It analyzes key elements of Lewis’s Christian worldview and identifies challenges leveled against it from alternative worldviews. It examines Lewis’s apologetic methodology, highlighting how it was shaped by his worldview, and provides an analysis of Lewis’s specific responses to a number of objections. The project also serves as a comparative analysis of worldviews, particularly as they relate to truth claims of the Christian faith.
The notion of worldview is critical to the formulation of views. One’s worldview determines how reality is perceived. It’s characterized as a set of glasses through which we view our surroundings and interpret experiences. It accounts for the perspective we bring to every event in life and helps explain why different people “see” things differently when looking at the same data. The same evidence may lead one person to reject a particular conclusion, while moving another to embrace what the other rejected. Lewis’s major works are explored at length in this book. Although much has been written about Lewis, Hofer’s examination of the influence of worldview on his work is unique.

278 pages

Within the pages of this book, you will embark on a 40-day journey, studying timeless principles from God's Word. Each daily devotional, built around key verses in Proverbs, provides a rich source of wisdom to feed the soul and encourage the spirit.

A Christ-centered approach to dealing with trauma on both a personal and a communal level

Traumas abound. Post-traumatic stress disorder, emotional and sexual abuse, unbearable anxiety and fear, and a host of other traumas afflict people everywhere. In this book Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger weaves together threads from the fields of psychology and pastoral theology as she explores the impact of trauma on people’s lives and offers practical strategies and restorative practices for dealing with it.

Not only a teacher of pastoral theology but also an experienced pastoral counselor herself, Hunsinger draws on the resources of depth psychology, including object relations theory, trauma theory, family systems theory, nonviolent communication, and restorative circles. She then places her findings in a Christian theological context, emphasizing God’s work in and through Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection, to present a cohesive, faith-based vision for healing.

Do North American evangelicals have a clear and strong doctrine of the church? Can we generate one?

In this volume, editors Mark Husbands and Daniel J. Treier bring together thirteen scholars and teachers to explore the history of evangelical ecclesiology and the continuing discussion regarding the nature of the church, the question of sacraments, the relation of church to society, and the church's moral character and missional witness.

Contributors include William J. Abraham, Gary D. Badcock, Craig A. Carter, Ellen T. Charry, William A. Dyrness, Darrell L. Guder, D. G. Hart, Willie James Jennings, Dennis L. Okholm, James K. A. Smith, Allen Verhey, John Webster and Jonathan R.

291 pages

Enough is enough, says Mo Isom. With raw vulnerability and a bold spirit, she shares her own sexual testimony, opening up the conversation about misguided rule-following, virginity, temptation, porn, promiscuity, false sex-pectations, sex in marriage, and more and calling readers back to God's original design for sex--a way to worship and glorify him. This book is for the young person tangled up in an addiction to pornography, for the girlfriend feeling pressured to go further, for the "good girl" who followed the rules and saved herself for marriage and then was confused and disappointed, for the married couple who use sex as a bargaining tool, for every person who casually watches sex play out in TV and movies and wonders why they're dissatisfied with the real thing, and for every confused or hurting person in-between.

Sex was God's idea. It's time we invited him back into the bedroom.

19 pages

Hans Joachim Iwand's 1941 monograph, The Righteousness of Faith According to Luther, is an important contribution to contemporary appreciation of Luther's theological significance for today. Although Iwand wrote his study three decades after the beginning of the Luther Renaissance, it nevertheless developed some of the central insights of Luther scholarship during that period. Two concepts--in particular, promise and simultaneity--are crucial to an appreciative understanding of Luther's doctrine of justification. The language of promise presents justification to the believer as a reality that has yet to arrive or is hidden under present reality. And the language of simultaneity attests that humans remain throughout their lives one in the same, sinner and saint. This beautiful translation by Randi H. Lundell makes Iwand's down-to-earth presentation of the doctrine at the heart of Luther's theology, at long last, available to English-language readers.

116 pages

In this book, J. C. Ryle offers timeless advice to young men. Written in a very familiar style, he warns young men against sloth, lust, love of pleasure, peer pressure, and other dangers. In addition, Ryle offers practical, helpful advice and encouragement to young men in taking steps to overcome these dangers and become men of character and godliness.

60 pages

We like God small. We prefer a God who is safe, domesticated, who thinks like we think, likes what we like, and whom we can manage, predict, and control. A small God is convenient. Practical. Manageable. For us, thinking of God as so infinitely greater and wiser than we are and who would cause us to tremble in his presence is a leftover relic from an oppressive, archaic view of religion.

J. I. Packer (1926–2020) is regarded as one of the most well-known theologians and influential evangelicals of our time. Once named to Time magazine's list of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America, Packer wrote what many consider the definitive classic evangelical book of the twentieth century, Knowing God, which has sold more than one million copies in North America alone.

As the author of forty-seven books, Packer's prolific work has impacted countless pastors, thought leaders, theologians, and authors. He preached and lectured widely in Great Britain and North America and served as general editor of the English Standard Version of the Bible published in 2001, and as theological editor of the Study Bible version. When Christianity Today conducted a survey to determine the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals, Packer's book Knowing God came in fifth. In 2014, Packer was named Author of the Year by the Association of Logos Bookstores.

296 pages

God’s Word is the greatest gift any mother could receive. God’s Gift for Mothers is filled with God’s wisdom, promises, and instructions to guide and encourage mothers in their everyday lives.

The Bible is rich with descriptions and stories of godly mothers, and in God’s Gift for Mothers bestselling author Jack Countryman walks you through 89 different ways that God blesses and cares for mothers. Dig deeper into the most influential mothers in the Bible, from Hannah to Ruth to Mary, and pray the same prayers these women whispered in their moments of need. Mediate on the Scripture verses, and inspire your heart as you delve into the promises God has made just for you.

With a beautiful, modern design, timeless content, and the words of the New King James Version, God’s Gift for Mothers is a classic in the making. This book will bring joy and peace to your heart and would also make a perfect gift for birthdays, holidays, Mother’s Day, and as a “just because!” gift to share with the special mothers in your life.

God delights in mothers. He promises to walk alongside His daughters as they raise future generations to know His name. Lean in closer to hear His promises and the rich blessings that He offers in God’s Gift for Mothers.

224 pages

Panta 1 shows that the authors of the New Testament understood Christianity and their world from the point-of-view of the pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus who lived around 500 B.C. His philosophy served as the point of view of most of the authors of the New Testament. These statements are supported by examining the historical context of the New Testament, the texts of both the philosopher and the New Testament, and the concepts that they both endorse. Part One examines the bases of much of the New Testament scholarship as it has been formulated for the past century. This part pays particular attention to a critique of David Strauss, and of the tendency in modern theology to reinterpret the New Testament according to modern philosophical or ideological agenda. Part Two examines the philosophy of Heraclitus, based primarily on the commentary by Charles H. Kahn (Cambridge University Press, 1989). Part Three shows affinities between Heraclitus and the books of the New Testament, beginning with John. The author also proposes a theory concerning the identity of Tyrranus in the book of Acts. Part Four examines the Gospel of Thomas, and an interesting writing from the Nag Hammadi library. Part Five contains suggestions concerning Christian Theology and topics including God, Jesus, sin, atonement, and others are discussed.

406 pages

A world-renowned scholar reveals how a pivotal transformation in spiritual experience during the biblical era made us who we are today

A great mystery lies at the heart of the Bible. Early on, people seem to live in a world entirely foreign to our own. God appears to Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and others; God buttonholes Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and tells them what to say. Then comes the Great Shift, and Israelites stop seeing God or hearing the divine voice. Instead, later Israelites are “in search of God,” reaching out to a distant, omniscient deity in prayers, as people have done ever since. What brought about this change?
    The answers come from ancient texts, archaeology and anthropology, and even modern neuroscience. They concern the origins of the modern sense of self and the birth of a worldview that has been ours ever since. James Kugel, whose strong religious faith shines through his scientific reckoning with the Bible and the ancient world, has written a masterwork that will be of interest to believers and nonbelievers alike, a profound meditation on encountering God, then and now.

496 pages

An anthology of inspired readings from cherished writers to enrich every day of the Lenten season. From Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday and beyond, these 54 readings from beloved writers, classical and contemporary, will surprise you with joy, touch you with love, and comfort you with peace. The authors include: James Martin, Pope Francis, Joyce Rupp, Thomas Merton, Joan Chittister, Henri Nouwen, Phyllis Tickle, John Updike, Mary Oliver, T.S. Eliot, Dorothy Day, and Brian Doyle.

A Devotional That Dudes Will Actually Read!

Is there a connection between hairiness and holiness? Some would say a hearty “Yes!” In fact, the world is in the middle of a beard mania. Events like Movember and Decembeard are becoming global movements and manly sites are appearing all over the internet. Is this just another fad? And what does it say that so many of the most famous Christian communicators have or did have a beard?

Throughout history, Christian men have gloried in male pattern magnificence. Saint Benedict of Nursia wore a superb double forker. The benevolently-bushed Euthymius wouldn’t allow clean-shaven monks to enter his Judean Desert monastery. St. Francis of Assisi had a beard, and now there’s a Pope named after him. He’s clean-shaven, but we’re praying for him.

Of all the great Christian men who wore beards, none stands so highly as the headless martyr Sir Thomas More. On the day of his beheading, the tufted knight supposedly positioned his beard away from his soon-to-be-severed neck, saying: “My beard has not been guilty of treason, and it would be an injustice to punish it.”

But of course, Bearded Gospel Men is about far more than beards – it’s about manliness and godliness. Through this 31-day devotional, men are inspired to rise to a higher calling. The humor and facial hair is the perfect means to have a broader conversation about living a faithful life.

So, let’s study some of these famous Bearded Gospel Men!

Do you thrust unsolicited partisan articles upon your spouse? Are you convinced that you can change your coworker’s mind, if you could only argue forcefully enough? Have you gone from befriending to “defriending” the people once closest to you? Don’t give up hope; Dr. Jeanne Safer is here to help.

Since the election of Donald J. Trump, political disagreements have been ravaging our personal relationships like never before. This already widespread phenomenon will continue to grow unless we learn to fight it.

From friends to relatives to lovers, no relationship is immune to this crisis. I Love You, but I Hate Your Politics draws from interviews with every type of politically mixed couple, as well as Dr. Safer’s own experiences as a die-hard liberal happily married to a stalwart conservative. The result is a practical guide to maintaining respect and intimacy in our increasingly divided world.

I Love You, but I Hate Your Politics is sure to educate and entertain anyone who has felt the strain of ideological differences in their personal life. No matter which side of the fence you're on, Dr. Safer offers frank, practical advice for salvaging and strengthening your bonds with your loved ones. This book is required reading for any politically minded friend, relative, or significant other in the Trump era.

In this four-color illustrated journey that is part travelogue and part theological investigation, bestselling author and acclaimed Bible scholar John Dominic Crossan and his wife Sarah painstakingly travel throughout the ancient Eastern church, documenting through text and image a completely different model for understanding Easter’s resurrection story, one that provides promise and hope for us today.

Traveling the world, the Crossans noticed a surprising difference in how the Eastern Church considers Jesus’ resurrection—an event not described in the Bible. At Saint Barbara’s Church in Cairo, they found a painting in which the risen Jesus grasps the hands of other figures around him. Unlike the Western image of a solitary Jesus rising from an empty tomb that he viewed across Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Crossans saw images of the resurrection depicting a Jesus grasping the hands of figures around him, or lifting Adam and Eve to heaven from Hades or hell, or carrying the old and sick to the afterlife. They discovered that the standard image for the Resurrection in Eastern Christianity is communal and collective, something unique from the solitary depiction of the resurrection in Western Christianity.

Fifteen years in the making, Resurrecting Easter reflects on this divide in how the Western and Eastern churches depict the resurrection and its implications. The Crossans argue that the West has gutted the heart of Christianity’s understanding of the resurrection by rejecting that once-common communal iconography in favor of an individualistic vision. As they examine the ubiquitous Eastern imagery of Jesus freeing Eve from Hades while ascending to heaven, the Crossans suggest that this iconography raises profound questions about Christian morality and forgiveness.

A fundamentally different way of understand the story of Jesus’ rebirth illustrated with 130 images, Resurrecting Easter introduces an inclusive, traditional community-based ideal that offers renewed hope and possibilities for our fractured modern society.

Our parish churches constitute a living patrimony without precise European parallel. Their cultural riches are astonishing, not only for their quality and quantity, but also their diversity and interest. Fine art and architecture here combine unpredictably with the functional, the curious and the naïve, from prehistory to the present day, to form an unsung national museum which presents its contents in an everyday setting without curators or formal displays. Because church treasures usually remain in the buildings they were created for, properly interpreted they tell from thousands of local perspectives the history of the nation, its people and their changing religious observance.

John Goodall's weekly series in Country Life has celebrated particular objects in or around churches that are of outstanding artistic, social or historical importance, to underline both the intrinsic interest of parish churches and the insights that they and their contents offer into English history of every period. Parish Church Treasures incorporates and significantly expands this material to tell afresh the remarkable history of the parish church. It celebrates the special character of churches as places to visit whilst providing an authoritative and up-to-date history at a time when the use and upkeep of these buildings and the care of their contents is highly contentious.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry equips readers to recognize and resist the lies that seek to rob them of peace and freedom.
 
“Live No Lies is brilliant, deep, scriptural, and will equip you to face the enemy and fight.”?Jennie Allen, New York Times bestselling author of Get Out of Your Head

We are at war. Not with a foreign government or domestic terrorists or a creepy new artificial intelligence hell-bent on taking over the world. No, it’s a war we feel deep inside our own chests: we are at war with lies.
 
The problem isn’t so much that we tell lies but that we live them. We let them into our bodies, and they sabotage our peace. All around us in the culture and deep within our own body memories are lies: deceptive ideas that wreak havoc on our emotional health and spiritual well-being, and deceptive ideas about who God is, who we are, and what the good life truly is.
 
The choice is not whether to fight or not fight, but whether we win or surrender.

Ancient apprentices of Jesus developed a paradigm for this war; they spoke of the three enemies of the soul: the devil, the flesh, and the world. Live No Lies taps into this ancient wisdom from saints of the Way and translates the three enemies for the modern era, with all its secularism and sophistication. As a generation, we chuckle at the devil as a premodern myth, we are confused by Scripture’s teaching on the flesh in an age where sensual indulgence is a virtue not a vice, and we have little to no category for the New Testament concept of the world.
 
In this provocative and practical book, bestselling author John Mark Comer combines cultural analysis with spiritual formation. He identifies the role lies play in our spiritual deformation and lays out a strategic plan to overcome them.
 
Do you feel the tug-of-war in your own heart, the inner conflict between truth and lies? The spirit and the flesh? The Way of Jesus and the world? It’s time to start winning. It’s time to live no lies...

336 pages

“As someone all too familiar with ‘hurry sickness,’ I desperately needed this book.”?Scott Harrison, New York Times best-selling author of Thirst
 
“Who am I becoming?”
 
That was the question nagging pastor and author John Mark Comer. Outwardly, he appeared successful. But inwardly, things weren’t pretty. So he turned to a trusted mentor for guidance and heard these words:
 
“Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life.”
 
It wasn’t the response he expected, but it was?and continues to be?the answer he needs. Too often we treat the symptoms of toxicity in our modern world instead of trying to pinpoint the cause. A growing number of voices are pointing at hurry, or busyness, as a root of much evil.
 
Within the pages of this book, you’ll find a fascinating roadmap to staying emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world.

304 pages

What is tikkun olam? This obscure Hebrew phrase means literally “healing the world,” and according to Jonathan Neumann, it is the master concept that rests at the core of Jewish left wing activism and its agenda of transformative change. Believers in this notion claim that the Bible asks for more than piety and moral behavior; Jews must also endeavor to make the world a better place.

In a remarkably short time, this seemingly benign and wholesome notion has permeated Jewish teaching, preaching, scholarship and political engagement. There is no corner of modern Jewish life that has not been touched by it. This idea has led to overwhelming Jewish participation in the social justice movement, as such actions are believed to be biblically mandated.

There's only one problem: the Bible says no such thing.

In this lively theological polemic, Neumann shows how tikkun olam, an invention of the Jewish left, has diluted millennia of Jewish practice and belief into a vague feel-good religion of social justice. Neumann uses religious and political history to debunk this pernicious idea, and shows how the Bible was twisted by Jewish liberals to support a radical left-wing agenda.

In To Heal the World?, Neumann explains how the Jewish Renewal movement aligned itself with the New Left of the 1960s, and redirected the perspective of the Jewish community toward liberalism and social justice. He exposes the key figures responsible for this effort, shows that it lacks any real biblical basis, and outlines the debilitating effect it has had on Judaism itself.

Sharing the touching story of a demon-possessed man who had every reason to run the other way when he encountered Jesus, Heath Adamson shows us how spiritual hunger can overcome our hopelessness, our shame, and our excuses. He encourages us to pursue God regardless of where we've been or where we are, seeing our salvation as a doorway. Once we walk through it, we can discover the love of God in a tangible way.

This book is for anyone who longs for a deeper connection to God, who has felt far from peace and hope, and who needs the assurance that God is both interested in who they are and accepts them.

Dorothee Soelle once wrote, "Dietrich Bonhoeffer is the one German theologian who will lead us into the third millennium." As we near the end of the first decade of this third millennium, Bonhoeffer continues to inspire new generations as a spiritual guide for their actions on behalf of peace and social justice. This book by Geffrey Kelly provides a critical analysis and reading guide to two of the spiritual classics that are now available in new translations through Fortress Press. Reading Bonhoeffer offers a running commentary of each segment of these popular texts along with discussion questions suitable for the university and seminary classroom as well as parish adult education programs. In a final section of the book, Kelly excerpts and analyzes three significant texts by Bonhoeffer on the need for world peace against the rising militarism and continued glorification of war in Germany and other European nations.

198 pages

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer asks a basic human question: How do we overcome tyranny? His answer goes to the heart of a revolutionary way of thinking about the very end of human existence and the nature of created being. His answer, declared performatively over the course of a symbolic pilgrimage, urges the view that humanity has an intrinsic need of grace in order to be itself. In portraying this outlook, Chaucer contributes to what has been called the "palaeo-Christian" understanding of creaturely freedom. Paradoxically, genuine freedom grows out of the dependency of all things upon God. In imaginatively inhabiting this view of reality, Chaucer aligns himself with that other great poet-theologian of the Middle Ages, Dante. Both are true Christian humanists. They recognize in art a fragile opportunity: not to reduce reality to a set of dogmatic propositions but to participate in an ever-deepening mystery. Chaucer effectively calls all would-be members of the pilgrim fellowship that is the church to behave as artists, interpretively responding to God in the finitude of their existence together.

250 pages

Luther’s oft-recounted life made a profound impact on his contemporaries. Some revered him; some hated him. This volume provides a brief narrative of the unfolding events that took place from his birth to a young entrepreneurial family through his turbulent career as university professor and public figure to his death while on a mission to reconcile a feuding princely family. Following parts of this narrative come “interviews” with friends and foes of his time, taken from a variety of sixteenth-century sources that present this dominating reformer and the passions that possessed both those who found him to be God’s end-time prophet and those who hated all that he stood for because they believed it was destroying their world.

190 pages

94 pages

A hundred famous writers share their experiences, essays, fiction, poems, meditations, and inspired ideas on the joy of being thankful. These honest and heartfelt writings will add gladness to your days. Contributors include Wendell Berry, David Brooks, Joan Chittister, James Martin, Thich Nhat Hanh, Henri Nouwen, Mary Oliver, Richard Rohr, Joyce Rupp, David Steindl-Rast, Rowan Williams, and many others whose spiritual perceptions already bring joy and faith to millions.

304 pages

With his characteristic warmth and humor, Dr. Kevin Leman offers a practical guide to sex according to God's plan. This frank and practical book is a perfect resource for married and engaged couples. Dr. Leman addresses a wide spectrum of people, from those with no sexual experiences to those with past sexual problems or even abuse. Using frank descriptions, this book has a warm and friendly tone that will help couples overcome awkwardness in discussing an issue important to all married couples.

A classic work on grief, A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis’s honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. Written after his wife’s tragic death as a way of surviving the “mad midnight moments,” A Grief Observed an unflinchingly truthful account of how loss can lead even a stalwart believer to lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and the inspirational tale of how he can possibly regain his bearings. 

112 pages

A USA Today bestseller!
"These well-chosen Lewis quotes will inspire readers and prompt them to make their own spiritual reflections." —Publishers Weekly

Novelist, poet, critic, lay theologian, and best-selling author of the 'Narnia' series, C. S. Lewis' works have become timeless classics for adults and children around the world.
Here in one concise volume is the essence of his thought on subjects ranging from love and faith to ethics and morality and myth and literature that will throw open the windows of the soul and provide readers with bite-sized nuggets of wisdom and inspiration from one of the best-loved writers of the 20th century.

This lovely little gift book will provide sustenance, wisdom, and hope for both believers and seekers. And, most importantly, it will provide an entry point for those unfamiliar with Lewis that will make them want to explore his fiction and nonfiction works.

Selections from C.S. Lewis' Little Book of Wisdom:
"If God had granted all the silly prayers I've made in my life, where should I be now?"
"Surely arrested development consists not in refusing to lose old things, but in failing to add new things…"
"Do not dare not to dare."
"We are mirrors whose brightness is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us."
"I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity."

400 pages

C. S. Lewis is a beloved writer and thinker and arguably the most important Christian intellectual of the twentieth century. His groundbreaking children's series The Chronicles of Narnia, lucid nonfiction titles such as Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain, and thought-provoking fiction, including The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce, have become trusted companions for millions of readers. Here Lewis breathes new life into words and concepts that have dulled through time and familiarity, and his writings inevitably provoke deep thought and surprising revelations.

Words to Live By contains an unprecedented selection of Lewis's writings, drawing from his most popular works, but also from his volumes of letters and his lesser-known essays and poems. His works are presented in accessible selections covering subjects from A to Z, including beauty, character, confession, doubt, family, holiness, and religion. Both a wonderful introduction to Lewis's thinking and a wise and insightful guide to key topics in the Christian life, these are truly words to live by.

336 pages

The book of Acts tells the story of what happened after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The book is filled with adventure and entertainment as Acts narrates God’s activity among his people and the world. In this book I explore one way of reading Acts that attends closely to the plotline of the book and seek to invite readers into the story that Acts tells. Along the way, I examine some of the most important themes of Acts, including divine activity, the extension of the gospel to surprising people in surprising ways, conflict and congruence between the gospel and the broader world, and the ongoing importance of Israel as God’s people. While there are many excellent reasons to read Acts, I reflect too upon the theological and ethical vision of Acts for those who read this book as Christian Scripture.

168 pages

Uncover joy on your path of life. God has a path for each of our lives--a path full of adventure, challenges, and joy. Biblical paths are not all that different from the paths we encounter in our world today.

Finding God’s path is not a mystery. Throughout the Bible, God makes it clear that He will teach us, show us, speak to us, and guide us on this path. Lisa Robertson is passionate about walking alongside women to uncover the mysteries, symbolism, and truths about the path of life. Perfect for fans of Lysa TerKeurst and Priscilla Shirer -- this book blends sound, Biblical teaching with heartfelt wisdom.

For those wanting to retain language abilities for research or recreation, this volume contains the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts in interlinear and parallel formats in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, English, German, and French.

542 pages

How do we overcome those battles in our lives that we always seem to be fighting? Learn to overcome the “giants” in your life—the fears and insecurities that keep you from reaching your full potential.

It’s likely you have a threatening giant in your life: an adversary or stronghold that’s diminishing your ability to live a full and free life. Frozen in the grip of rejection, fear, anger, or addiction, we lose sight of the promise God has for our lives. Demoralized and defeated, we settle for far less than his best.

In Goliath Must Fall, pastor Louie Giglio uncovers a newfound twist in the classic story of David and Goliath. It is not God's plan for you to live with a giant standing in the middle of your life, demoralizing you day after day. Our freedom and God's glory are forever interwoven into one story. God does want us to live free. He wants us to recognize that He's already killed the giant.

In Goliath Must Fall, discover:

Hope and encouragement that God has a better plan for you—a plan for you to live in victory
Powerful insights from the Biblical story of David 
How to silence your giants once and for all
The key to living free from our giants is not better slingshot accuracy but keeping our eyes on the one and only giant-slayer—Jesus. Once you understand the source of your giants, you can ensure that whatever your affliction is, it can, will, and must fall with the power of Jesus. Put your hope in God and watch Goliath fall.

272 pages

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." Before her death in 1997 Mother Teresa of Calcutta had come to embody for people of all nations and faiths the very definition of holiness. This selection of her writings highlights the essence of her spiritual message, of Christian love and service to the poor--which is not only a path of faithful discipleship but the way to human happiness and fulfillment.

143 pages

Silence is essential for the health and well-being of humans and the environment in which they live. Yet silence has almost vanished from our lives and our world. Of all the books that claim to be about silence, this is the only one that addresses silence directly. Silence: A User's Guide is just what the title says: it is a guide to silence, which is both a vast interior spaciousness, and the condition of our being in the natural world. This book exposes the processes by which silence can transfigure our lives--what Maggie Ross calls "the work of silence"; it describes how lives steeped in silence can transfigure other lives unawares. It shows how the work of silence was once understood to be the foundation of the teaching of Jesus, and how this teaching was once an intrinsic part of Western Christianity; it describes some of the methods by which the institution suppressed the work of silence, and why religious institutions are afraid of silence. Above all, this book shows that the work of silence gives us a way of being in the world that is more than we can ask for or imagine.

Many Christians mistakenly believe that their only choice is either to reconcile themselves to a fundamentalist reading of scripture (a "literal-factual" approach) or to simply reject the Bible as something that could bring meaning and value into their lives. In Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg shows how instead we can freshly appreciate all the essential elements of the Old and New Testaments—from Genesis to Revelation—in a way that can open up a new world of intelligent faith.

In Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Borg reveals how it is possible to reconcile a scientific and critical way of thinking with our deepest spiritual needs, leading to an insightful experience of ancient text. This unique book invites every reader—whatever his or her religious background—to engage the Bible, to wrestle with its meaning, to explore its mysteries, and to understand its relevance. Reading the Bible Again for the First Time shows us how to encounter the Bible in a fresh, new way that rejects the limits of simple literalism and opens up the rich possibility of living a life of authentic faith.

336 pages

For thousands of years, philosophers, theologians, and poets have tried to pierce through the veil of death to gaze with wonder, fear, and awe on the final and eternal state of the soul. Indeed, the four great epic poets of the Western tradition (Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Milton) structured their epics in part around a descent into the underworld that is both spiritual and physical, both allegorical and geographical. This book not only considers closely these epic journeys to the "other side" but explores the chain of influences that connects the poets to such writers as Plato, Cicero, St. John, St. Paul, Bunyan, Blake, and C. S. Lewis. Written in a narrative, "man of letters" style and complete with an annotated bibliography, a timeline, a who's who, and an extensive glossary of Jewish, Christian, and mythological terms, this user-friendly book will help readers understand how heaven and hell have been depicted for the last 3,000 years.

244 pages

Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), the Florentine scholar-philosopher-magus, was largely responsible for the Renaissance revival of Plato. The publication of his Latin translations of the dialogues in 1484 was an intellectual event of the first magnitude, making the Platonic canon accessible to western Europe after the passing of a millennium and establishing Plato as an authority for Renaissance thought. This volume contains Ficino’s extended analysis and commentary on the Phaedrus, which he explicates as a meditation on “beauty in all its forms” and a sublime work of theology. In the commentary on the Ion, Ficino explores a poetics of divine inspiration that leads to the Neoplatonist portrayal of the soul as a rhapsode whose song is an ascent into the mind of God. Both works bear witness to Ficino’s attempt to revive a Christian Platonism and what might be called an Orphic Christianity.

336 pages

A brilliant and defiant celebration of driving as a unique pathway of human freedom, by "one of the most influential thinkers of our time" (Sunday Times)

"Why We Drive weaves philosophers, thinkers, and scientific research with shade-tree mechanics and racers to defend our right to independence, making the case that freedom of motion is essential to who we are as a species. ... We hope you'll read it." —Road & Track

Once we were drivers, the open road alive with autonomy, adventure, danger, trust, and speed. Today we are as likely to be in the back seat of an Uber as behind the wheel ourselves. Tech giants are hurling us toward a shiny, happy “self-driving” future, selling utopia but equally keen to advertise to a captive audience strapped into another expensive device. Are we destined, then, to become passengers, not drivers? Why We Drive reveals that much more may be at stake than we might think.

Ten years ago, in the New York Times-bestselling Shop Class as Soulcraft, philosopher-mechanic Matthew B. Crawford—a University of Chicago PhD who owned his own motorcycle shop—made a revolutionary case for manual labor, one that ran headlong against the pretentions of white-collar office work. Now, using driving as a window through which to view the broader changes wrought by technology on all aspects of contemporary life, Crawford investigates the driver’s seat as one of the few remaining domains of skill, exploration, play—and freedom. 

Blending philosophy and hands-on storytelling, Crawford grounds the narrative in his own experience in the garage and behind the wheel, recounting his decade-long restoration of a vintage Volkswagen as well as his journeys to thriving automotive subcultures across the country. Crawford leads us on an irreverent but deeply considered inquiry into the power of faceless bureaucracies, the importance of questioning mindless rules, and the battle for democratic self-determination against the surveillance capitalists. A meditation on the competence of ordinary people, Why We Drive explores the genius of our everyday practices on the road, the rewards of “folk engineering,” and the existential value of occasionally being scared shitless.

Witty and ingenious throughout, Why We Drive is a rebellious and daring celebration of the irrepressible human spirit.

368 pages

The Classic Story of a Family's Pilgrimage into the Orthodox Church

Veiled in the smoke of incense, the Eastern Orthodox Church has long been an enigma to the Western world. Yet, as Frederica Mathewes-Green discovered, it is a vital, living faith, rich in ritual beauty and steadfast in integrity. Utilizing the framework of the Orthodox calendar, Mathewes-Green chronicles a year in the life of her small Orthodox mission church, eloquently illustrating the joys and blessings an ancient faith can bring to the worshipers of today.

For some, Christmas is a time of excitement, celebration, and family, while for others it is a time of loneliness, grief, and loss. No matter what this season holds for you, the promise of Christmas will bring you a lifetime of hope.

Christmas begins what Easter celebrates. The child in the cradle becomes the King on the cross. Because of Bethlehem, we have a Savior in heaven. These are the heart shaping promises of Christmas. Long after the guests have left, the carolers have gone home, and the lights have come down, these promises endure.

No one expected God to come the way he did. Yet the way he came was every bit as important as the coming itself. The manger is the message.

In the midst of your hectic Christmas season, Max will help you: 

Rekindle your connection to the Christ of Christmas who offers lasting hope.
Lay down your endless Christmas to-do list and receive what Jesus has already done.
Heal your heartache by embracing the God who is always near you, always for you, and always in you.
As you curl up in a comfortable spot and look into the odd, wonderful story of Bethlehem, may you find enduring hope for all seasons of your life. 

Advent Devotional Guide included.

224 pages

Does it ever feel like life is out of control? Could you use the reminder that God is in control?

When tragedy strikes, people desperately search for answers. Believers and unbelievers alike find themselves turning to God. Bestselling author and pastor Max Lucado tells us that though it may not be quick or painless, God will use this mess for good.

In this booklet, Max Lucado will help you:

Find courage to never give up during turbulent times
Trust God to help you through all of life’s trials
Remember that God will use every painful circumstance for good
Scriptures for Your Turbulent Times also included.

51 pages

What feels shaky in your world? Maybe you feel hurt by the past, disappointed by the present, or worried about the future. If so, there is hope. For every problem in life, God has given you a promise.

In the New York Times bestselling book, Unshakable Hope, Max Lucado unpacks 12 of the Bible’s most significant promises, equipping you to overcome difficult circumstances by keeping your focus on the hope found in the promises of Scripture.

Whether it’s heart disease or cancer, job failure or addiction, natural disasters or family disasters, mass murders or mental illness, there are so many reasons to be overwhelmed and hope can feel hard to come by. Now more than ever, we need the definitive declarations of our mighty and loving God.

In this book, you will be reminded that God’s promises are irrevocable because:

God is unchanging
God is faithful
God is strong
God cannot lie
What is your life built on—the circumstances of life or the promises of God? The answer to that question changes everything. Join Max as he takes a closer look at Scripture’s unbreakable promises and shows you how to live with unshakable hope.

240 pages

Different ethical situations require different homiletical responses. John McClure organizes recent literature on ethics and preaching into four ethical approaches. Does your situation require public moral leadership? Then a communicative ethic is best. Does your situation require the development of countercultural moral character? Then a witness ethic is best. Does your situation require ethical consciousness-raising and organizing for social justice? Then a liberationist ethic is best. Does your situation require genuine moral conversation and the discernment of shared commitments in spite of our differences? Then a hospitality ethic is best. Each ethical approach is briefly and carefully explored, correlated with appropriate contexts and situations, and demonstrated with model sermons. The result is a useful handbook for quickly discerning what ethical approach is needed, how to preach that approach, and what to expect as a result.

152 pages

The word 'spirituality' is notoriously difficult to define or tie down. It is often used in a relatively vague way to refer to the inner relationship between one's 'spirit' or 'soul' and God. The implication is that people only relate to God with their 'inner' being (the soul/spirit) and not with any other part of who they are. There is a lurking influence of Neo-Platonism within Christian thinking that tends to assume that the material is bad and the spiritual good; that there is a gaping hole between our inner and our outer selves and that the proper location of devotion is our inner being. There is a further assumption that, especially in the writings of Paul, the soul/spirit is to be placed in the 'good' category while opposite it, in the 'bad' category, is the body/flesh - leaving the question of what is meant by heart and mind largely ignored. Paula Gooder explores what these six key concepts mean in the Bible, especially in the writings of Paul, before moving on to explore what Paul intended by the contrasts he drew, and what implications this all has for the way we think and speak about our spirituality today.

178 pages

One of the prime movers in the emerging church has pulled together this 52-week life-changing devotional presenting a bird's-eye view of the Bible's overall message and the essentials of the Christian faith. Designed to turn readers into both evangelists and activists. Holistic spirituality at its best. 288 pages, softcover.

What the Bible Is All About is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to read and understand God’s Word. Inside this revised and updated edition of Henrietta Mears’ classic, you’ll find an overview of every book in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In addition, What the Bible Is All About will
Provide a complete guide to the Scriptures
Explain how Jesus is revealed in the Old and New Testaments
Show why the Bible is one book, one history, one story
Introduce key people in biblical history
Give historical background for every major event
Highlight recurring biblical themes
Provide helpful reading plans, maps, and charts, and other study helps
Discover for yourself why What the Bible Is All About is one of the world’s best-selling Bible handbooks, with more than 4 million in print. This user-friendly guide makes it easier than ever to plant the Word in your heart and mind!

832 pages

In this short, giftable book, pastor Jason Meyer shows you that though the reasons for discouragement seem strong, the reasons we have to take heart and hold on to hope are stronger yet. Through biblical truth and personal stories, Meyer encourages the weary and anxious believer by shining light on the nature of reality, the nature of God, and the intersection of the two in our daily, rubber-meets-the-road lives. The result is a book that lifts our spirits in a world that too often seeks to drag us down

In 1039 Byzantium was the most powerful empire in Europe and the Near East, controlling the Balkans south of the Danube and all of Asia Minor into Armenia and Syria. By 1079 it had become a politically unstable state half the size, menaced by powerful enemies on all sides. The History of Michael Attaleiates is our main source for this astonishing reversal, and offers a gripping narrative of the foreign and civil wars of those years. Attaleiates was a highly placed legal and military official of the empire with first-hand knowledge of the events he describes. He knew many of the emperors and includes an eyewitness account of the battle of Mantzikert (1071), where the Seljuk Turks crushed the Byzantine armies and opened the door for the permanent Turkish conquest of Asia Minor. He also provides vivid narratives of civil unrest and decries the corruption and economic exploitation of his society, looking to the heroes of the Roman Republic for models of nobility.

Michael Attaleiates’ History has never before been translated into English. The present translation, based on the most recent critical edition, makes the text accessible through its notes, maps, and glossary of Byzantine terms.

656 pages

Can you love a God who doesn't make sense? Like Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies, Miller's memoir-like collection of essays wrestles with the paradoxes of the Christian faith, describing his journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely gracious Savior. A mind-changing perspective for those who believe that organized religion doesn't meet their spiritual needs.

384 pages

“Things do exist that are worth standing up for without compromise. To me it seems that peace and social justice are such things, as is Christ himself.” These are words Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke to his brother a few months before he began training future pastors in the ways of discipleship. For several years he had been speaking out against war. Near the beginning of the anti-Semitic Nazi regime, he called on his fellow Christians to speak out against a state that was engaging in oppressive measures, to respond to victims of oppression, and to be willing to suffer, as a church, if it was required to stop such oppression. His vision for training disciples was rooted in pure doctrine, serious worship, a new kind of monasticism, and the Sermon on the Mount. Bonhoeffer was convinced that through the living presence of Jesus and the explosive teachings of the Sermon on the Mount “lies the force that can blow all this hocus-pocus sky-high—like fireworks, leaving only a few burnt-out shells behind.” This is the legacy of this extraordinary theologian that this book seeks to recover—exploring how this was lived out in a world full of Nazis.
 

258 pages

The inspiring words of Henri J. M. Nouwen guide the faithful on a spiritual journey through the Advent and Christmas season in this book of waiting, hope, anticipation, and celebration. Each day of the Advent season (28 in all, to accommodate the varying number of days in the season) and each day of Christmas (12 in all, ending with Jesus baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist) contains a pertinent excerpt from the writings of Father Nouwen, a related quotation from Scripture, a prayer for the day, and a suggested activity that offers a concrete response to mark the season.

96 pages

Initially written for a Jewish friend, Life of the Beloved has become Henri Nouwen’s greatest legacy to Christians around the world. This sincere testimony of the power and invitation of Christ is indeed a great guide to a truly uplifting spiritual life in today’s world.

Thriving stand-up comic and actress Yvonne Orji?best known as Issa Rae's BFF on the HBO series, Insecure?shares the secrets to living the life of your dreams.

Yvonne Orji has never shied away from being unapologetically herself, and that includes being outspoken about her faith. Known for interpreting Biblical stories and metaphors to fit current times, her humorous and accessible approach to faith leaves even non-believers inspired and wanting more.

The way Yvonne sees it, God is a Sovereign Prankster, punking folks long before Ashton Kutcher made it cool. When she meditates on her own life?complete with unforeseen blessings and unanticipated roadblocks?she realizes it’s one big testimony to how God tricked her into living out her wildest dreams. And she wants us to join in on getting bamboozled. This is not a Self-Help book?it’s a Get Yours book!

In Bamboozled by Jesus, a frank and fresh advice book, Orji takes readers on a journey through twenty-five life lessons, gleaned from her own experiences and her favorite source of inspiration: the Bible. But this ain’t your mama’s Bible study. Yvonne infuses wit and heart in sharing pointers like why the way up is sometimes down, and how fear is synonymous to food poisoning. Her joyful, confident approach to God will inspire everyone to catapult themselves out of the mundane and into the magnificent.

With bold authenticity and practical relatability, Orji is exactly the kind of cultural leader we need in these chaotic times. And her journey through being Bamboozled by Jesus paints a powerful picture of what it means to say “yes” to a life you never could’ve imagined?if it wasn’t your own.3

272 pages

How does Jesus feel about his people amid all their sins and failures? This book takes readers into the depths of Christ’s very heart?a heart of tender love drawn to sinners and sufferers.

224 pages

In The Christian Man, Patrick Morley--bestselling author of The Man in the Mirror--offers men practical ways to deal with life's problems and become the men of God they aspire to be.

No man fails on purpose. Quite the opposite. When our feet hit the floor every morning, we're looking for a win.

But these are turbulent times to be a man. In gathering material for this book, Morley interviewed many men. Their input was powerful. And transparent. They agreed that it's increasingly difficult to juggle all their responsibilities as men, husbands, fathers, friends, workers, churchmen, and citizens.

No one understands what you're going through more than men's expert Patrick Morley, author of the landmark bestseller The Man in the Mirror, which has sold over 4 million copies. And now, Morley has put together a game plan so you can get that win you're looking for. The Christian Man is filled with powerful stories and refreshingly practical answers to questions like:

How can I lead a more balanced life?
How can I have a deeper walk with God?
What makes a great husband?
How can I become a dad who makes a difference?
How should I think about my work?
What's the right way to deal with lust?
By the end of this must-read book, you will know how to intentionally release the power of God on the issues that matter most to you. You'll be able to walk with confidence in the one identity that matters most: The Christian Man.

256 pages

We live in a multifaith society: an ever-growing, diverse cultural climate, where no religion is viewed as having a monopoly on truth. It is important when that Christ-followers not only share the Word of God but also listen and learn how to interact meaningfully with those of diverse perspectives as we engage in life’s most important conversations.

Connecting Christ encourages believers to be not only better communicators and witnesses but also listeners to people of other worldviews and traditions—skills that are crucial in defending against today’s negative connotations and ineffective approaches associated with Christian evangelism.

With extensive commentary from leaders of various walks of faith and life — from Judaism to Islam and Buddhism to atheism —theologian and author Dr. Paul Louis Metzger offers a spiritual compass to help navigate the intimidating yet critical dialogue of conveying our faith in Christ. Filled with practical guidance and insight into controversial topics, such as hell, fascism, and homosexuality, Connecting Christ reveals that there is a way of evangelizing that is neither disengaging monologue nor silent, lifestyle ministry but is, instead, an approach for evangelism and dialogue to go hand-in-hand.

We must remove ourselves as the stumbling block to salvation for others and embrace a way to proclaim the uncommon, compassionate God revealed in Jesus Christ—the Savior this world is dying to know.

Renewing the Christian voice, conscience, and imagination so that we can become compelling witnesses of the Gospel in today's culture.

Christianity has an image problem. While the culture we inhabit presents us with an increasingly anti-Christian and disenchanted position, the church in the West has not helped its case by becoming anti-intellectual, fragmented, and out of touch with the relevancy of Jesus to all aspects of contemporary life.

The muting of the Christian voice, its imagination, and its collective conscience have diminished the prospect of having a genuine missionary encounter with others today.

Cultural apologetics attempts to demonstrate not only the truth of the Gospel but also its desirability by reestablishing Christianity as the answer that satisfies our three universal human longings—truth, goodness, and beauty.

In Cultural Apologetics, philosopher and professor Paul Gould sets forth a fresh and uplifting model for cultural engagement—rooted in the biblical account of Paul's speech in Athens—which details practical steps for establishing Christianity as both true and beautiful, reasonable and satisfying.

You'll be introduced to:

The idea of cultural apologetics as distinct from traditional apologetics.
The path from disenchantment with how we understand reality to re-enchantment with the reality of the spiritual nature of things.
The practical tools of good cultural engagement: conscience, reason, and imagination.
Equip yourself to see, and help others see, the world as it is through the lens of the Spirit—deeply beautiful, mysterious, and sacred. With creative insights, Cultural Apologetics prepares readers to share a vision of the Christian faith that is both plausible and desirable, offering clarity for those who have become disoriented in the haze of modern Western culture.

240 pages

A comprehensive new history of the Eastern Roman Empire based on the science of the human past.

As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome’s power but fear Rome’s ruin?will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or can we escape their fate? That question has obsessed centuries of historians and leaders, who have explored diverse political, religious, and economic forces to explain Roman decline. Yet the decisive factor remains elusive.

In New Rome, Paul Stephenson looks beyond traditional texts and well-known artifacts to offer a novel, scientifically minded interpretation of antiquity’s end. It turns out that the descent of Rome is inscribed not only in parchments but also in ice cores and DNA. From these and other sources, we learn that pollution and pandemics influenced the fate of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. During its final five centuries, the empire in the east survived devastation by natural disasters, the degradation of the human environment, and pathogens previously unknown to the empire’s densely populated, unsanitary cities. Despite the Plague of Justinian, regular “barbarian” invasions, a war with Persia, and the rise of Islam, the empire endured as a political entity. However, Greco-Roman civilization, a world of interconnected cities that had shared a common material culture for a millennium, did not.

Politics, war, and religious strife drove the transformation of Eastern Rome, but they do not tell the whole story. Braiding the political history of the empire together with its urban, material, environmental, and epidemiological history, New Rome offers the most comprehensive explanation to date of the Eastern Empire’s transformation into Byzantium.

464 pages

WHEELOCK'S LATIN: AUDIO FILES

When Professor Frederic M. Wheelock's Latin first appeared in 1956, the reviews extolled its thoroughness, organization, and conciseness; at least one reviewer predicted that the book "might well become the standard text" for introducing students to elementary Latin. Now, five decades later, that prediction has certainly proved accurate.

Workbook for Wheelock's Latin is an essential companion to the classic introductory textbook. Designed to supplement the course of study in Wheelock's Latin, 6th Edition, Revised, each of the forty chapters in this newly updated edition features:
Transformation drills, word and phrase translations, and other exercises to test and sharpen the student's skills

"Word Power" sections that focus on vocabulary and derivatives

Reading comprehension questions and sentences for translation practice

Perforated pages for hand-in homework assignments and space for the student's name and date

This volume provides an authoritative and detailed introduction to the doctrinal positions, central figures, and historic contexts of Reformed theology.

For Christian parents, there is no greater joy than seeing their children learn to walk with the Lord. And there is no greater fear than that their children will walk away from God.

After serving together in pastoral ministry for 40 years, Phil and Diane Comer know those hopes and fears well. Thirty-seven years ago, they became parents themselves. And like all new parents, they were intimidated and unsure about how to take on the task of spiritually training their young children.

Now, with all four of their children grown and establishing their own households of faith, Phil and Diane have embarked on a quest to help the next generation of parents raise passionate Jesus followers. Drawing on years of pastoral counseling, teaching, leading, and decades of watching families from the perspective of pastors and leaders in ministry, Phil and Diane instruct, guide, encourage, and offer hope and practical help to Christian parents.

Raising Passionate Jesus Followers is a manual full of practical, biblically based, and time-tested guidelines that parents will be able to turn to again and again through every stage of their children's development.

Insights from Philip Yancey's personal pilgrimage away from and back to the church.

Why are there so many more professing Christians than churchgoing Christians? Is it because something is wrong with the church?

In his candid, thought-provoking manner, award-winning author Philip Yancey reveals the reasons behind his own journey back from skepticism to wholehearted participation in the church, and weighs the church's human failings against its compelling worth as the body of Christ. Yancey does not whitewash the church's faults, rather he sets them against the overwhelming balance of its strengths: its heart for God, its care for the hurting, its outreach to the lost, and its value as family and community.

In his most powerful book since "What's so Amazing about Grace?," Philip Yancey explores the intimate place where God and humans meet.

OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD!

Discover grace as you've never known it before: the most powerful force in the universe and our only hope for love and forgiveness.

Grace is the church's great distinctive. It's the one thing the world cannot duplicate, and the one thing it craves above all else--for only grace can bring hope and transformation to a jaded world.

In What's So Amazing About Grace? award-winning author Philip Yancey explores grace at street level. If grace is God's love for the undeserving, he asks, then what does it look like in action? And if Christians are its sole dispensers, then how are we doing at lavishing grace on a world that knows far more of cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy?

Yancey sets grace in the midst of life's stark images, tests its mettle against horrific "ungrace":

Can grace survive in the midst of such atrocities as the Nazi holocaust?
Can it triumph over the brutality of the Ku Klux Klan?
Should any grace at all be shown to the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed and cannibalized seventeen young men?
Grace does not excuse sin, says Yancey, but it treasures the sinner. True grace is shocking, scandalous. It shakes our conventions with its insistence on getting close to sinners and touching them with mercy and hope. It forgives the unfaithful spouse, the racist, the child abuser. It loves today's AIDS-ridden addict as much as the tax collector of Jesus's day.

In his most personal and provocative book ever, Yancey offers compelling, true portraits of grace's life-changing power. He searches for its presence in his own life and in the church. He asks, How can Christians contend graciously with moral issues that threaten all they hold dear?

And he challenges us to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know, What's So Amazing About Grace?

304 pages

Who are we . . . really? As depression, addiction, and suicide become more commonplace in today’s culture, it seems we have lost sight of who we actually are. Like a whale on a beach, too many of us are finding ourselves breathing shallow, feeling stranded, and alone.

The truth is we can cut free from the things that hold us back if we can catch a clear vision of the true character of God. And, like a mighty redwood tree, we can choose to live healthy lives filled with purpose, rising confidently above the chaos.

As we choose to align our hearts and minds with the truth, we will discover that maybe God isn’t exactly who we thought He was -- maybe life with Him is a whole lot bigger and more exciting than we ever imagined.

Redwoods and Whales will give you the tools you need to help push aside the things that entangle, and grab hold of the life you were born to live.

In this sensitive and probing book, Matthew Ichihashi Potts explores the complex moral terrain of forgiveness, which he claims has too often served as a salve to the conscience of power rather than as an instrument of healing or justice. Though forgiveness is often linked with reconciliation or the abatement of anger, Potts resists these associations, asserting instead that forgiveness is simply the refusal of retaliatory violence through practices of penitence and grief. It is an act of mourning irrevocable wrong, of refusing the false promises of violent redemption, and of living in and with the losses we cannot recover.

Drawing on novels by Kazuo Ishiguro, Marilynne Robinson, Louise Erdrich, and Toni Morrison, and on texts from the early Christian to the postmodern era, Potts diagnoses the real dangers of forgiveness yet insists upon its enduring promise. Sensitive to the twenty-first-century realities of economic inequality, colonial devastation, and racial strife, and considering the role of forgiveness in the New Testament, the Christian tradition, philosophy, and contemporary literature, this book heralds the arrival of a new and creative theological voice.

380 pages

Do you feel that the ability to hear God's voice is for other people and not for you? Is it only for people who lived in Biblical times?

Not at all! The God who loved you enough to die for you loves you enough to talk to you. And wherever you are in your spiritual walk, God will find a way to speak to you in a way you will understand.

Become acquainted with the Voice that has spoken from a fire and a cloud, with visible signs and an invisible Spirit, through a burning bush and burning hearts. Hear from some of the most well known Christians in history about how God speaks to them, and discover for yourself how you can discern the voice of God.

One of Priscilla’s bestselling titles, Discerning the Voice of God is now completely revised with updated content and reflection questions. Each section contains insights that will aid you in your desire to hear Him speak. Discover the treasure of recognizing how God keeps in touch with his beloved people.

224 pages

Walking through Psalm 23 phrase by phrase, therapist and author K.J. Ramsey explores the landscape of our fear, trauma, and faith. When she stepped through her own wilderness of spiritual abuse and religious trauma, K.J. discovered that courage is not the absence of anxiety but the practice of trusting we will be held and loved no matter what.

How can we cultivate courage when fear overshadows our lives? How do we hear the Voice of Love when hate and harm shout loud? This book offers an honest path to finding that there is still a Good Shepherd who is always following you. Braiding contemplative storytelling, theological reflection, and practical neuroscience, Ramsey reveals a route into connection and joy that begins right where you are.

The Lord is My Courage is for the deconstructing and the dreamers, the afraid and the amazed, for those whose fear has not been fully shepherded but who can't seem to stop listening for their Good Shepherd's Voice.

304 pages

How does God relate to the world? What difference does our understanding of God make for conceiving of God's relation to us? Christian theology has seen a flourishing of activity in response to these questions under a common doctrinal theme: Trinity. That said, proposals for understanding how God relates to the world through the Trinity of God's being--otherwise known as the relationship between the immanent and the economic Trinity--vary significantly. This book, reflecting on the work of four modern theologians--Dorner, Barth, Pannenberg, and Jenson--offers a set of constructive proposals on key issues relating to the God-world relation, including a way to understand divine immutability without denying God's living history with others and a trinitarian notion of divine sovereignty that demonstrates how God transcends history from within the structures of time. At each step along the way the author conveys how Trinity opens up a richer, more expansive conception of God's relation to us. This book shows how Trinity serves the practical work of theology as faith seeking understanding.

218 pages

Your marriage could be one of history’s great love stories! As newlyweds, it’s time to ensure that your marriage can meet the challenges it will face right around the corner. Cultivating good habits during these first twelve foundational months of your marriage and knowing what to focus on will set the stage for years to come. Robert and Bobbie and Mark and Susan know that there’s a big difference between preparation and actual experience. This is your guide to actually dealing with all the things that come after “I do.” In this unique flip-over format, the chapter topics are the same but one half is written by men for the husband, and the other half is written from a women’s perspective for the wife. As a couple, you’ll each progress through your part of the book and meet somewhere in the middle. Become an expert on what really makes your spouse happy, and enjoy the benefits of a great partnership. Take an honest look at the family you grew up in: its unwritten codes, how it has shaped you, and the ways it affects your relationship with your mate. Learn how to speak each other’s “language” and appreciate the qualities each of you brings to your marriage. You’ll also get an eye-opening look at communication skills, secrets for a great sex life, budget basics, dealing with in-laws, navigating tough times, and much more. Above all, you’ll cultivate a spiritual unity that draws the two of you closer to each other as you draw closer to God. Start reading, and make this first year together what it was meant to be: the most important year in your life.

320 pages

Most Christians already know that they should be telling their friends about Jesus. But they have been poorly equipped with methods that are no longer effective in today's post-Christian world. As a result, many people become frustrated, blame themselves, and simply give up. Evangelism in a Skeptical World is a textbook on evangelism that is ideal for the church or the classroom to equip Christians with the principles and skills they need to tell the unbelievable news about Jesus to friends in a skeptical world.

Many of the older principles and methods of evangelism in the twentieth century no longer work effectively today. In a post-Christian, post-churched, post-reached world we need new methods to communicate the timeless message of the gospel in culturally relevant ways. Dr. Chan combines the theological and biblical insights of classic evangelistic training with the latest insights from missiology on contextualization, cultural hermeneutics, and storytelling. Every chapter is illustrated with real-world examples drawn from over fifteen years of evangelistic ministry. These are methods that really work - with university students, urban workers, and professionals - getting past the defensive posture that people have toward Christianity so they can seriously consider the claims of Jesus Christ.

Field-tested and filled with unique, fresh, and creative insights, this book will equip you to share the gospel in today's world and help as many people as possible hear the good news about Jesus.

Experience Sarah's words in a new way, focused specifically on the comfort only Jesus can provide. Through the scrapes, upsets, and meltdowns of life, loving parents offer comfort to their child. Our Lord longs to do the same to you. Jesus Calling: 50 Devotions for Comfort is written as though Jesus Himself is speaking hope and comfort directly to your heart.

These hand-picked 50 devotions offer:

Comfort during any season
Inspiration and loving guidance
Ways to share comfort with others
Encouragement on a daily basis
Stunning photography
Personally selected Scripture verses
This uplifting compilation of devotions comes from Sarah Young's bestselling brand and resonates with men and women. Whether a self-purchase to focus deeply on God and find the comfort that only He can provide or a gift for friends and loved ones, Jesus Calling: 50 Devotions for Comfort is a perfect way to pour into the lives of friends and loved ones.

Jesus Calling: 50 Devotions for Peace and Jesus Calling: 50 Devotions for Encouragement offer a choice of topics and a choice for gift giving.

128 pages

The early Christian Church and the men who were most influential during the formative years have a profound relevance to the contemporary structure of the Church. The Apostolic Fathers: A Translation and Commentary provides a modern translation and commentary on the writings of these men, indispensable source material for the student of Church history. This volume, one of six, includes a translation of and commentary on the Letter to the Philippians of Polycarp of Smyrna, The Martyrdom of Polycarp, and Fragments of Papias.

144 pages

Your Heart Is the Size of Your Fist draws readers into the complicated, poignant, and often-overlooked daily happenings of a busy urban medical clinic for refugees.

An Iraqi journalist whose son has been been murdered develops post-traumatic stress disorder and mourns his loss of vocation. A Congolese woman refuses antiretroviral treatment for her new HIV diagnosis, and instead places her trust in Jesus. Two conservative Muslim Iraqi women are inadvertently exposed to pornography when a doctor uses Google Images to supplement a medical discussion. By turns humorous, distressing, and moving, these stories offer insight into the people seeking a new life while navigating poverty, language barriers, and neighbours who aren’t always friendly.

This riveting collection of true stories from Dr. Martina Scholtens is filled with hope and humour, and together make up a deeply moving portrait of how one doctor attempts to provide quality care and advocacy for patients while remaining culturally sensitive, even as she wrestles with guilt, awareness of her own privilege, the faith she was raised with, and vicarious trauma after hearing countless stories of brutality and suffering.

In the spirit of Louise Aronson and Atul Gawande, Scholtens’ writing is based on her personal experiences and explores the transformative moments in which a clinical doctor-patient relationship becomes a profound human-human connection.

“I promise: you will be transported,” says Bill Moyers of this memoir. Part Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, part Growing Up Amish, and part Little House on the Prairie, this book evokes a lost time, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, when a sheltered little girl named after Shirley Temple entered a family and church caught up in the midst of the cultural changes of the 1950”s and ‘60’s. With gentle humor and clear-eyed affection the author, who grew up to become a college president, tells the story of her first encounters with the “glittering world” and her desire for “fancy” forbidden things she could see but not touch.

The reader enters a plain Mennonite Church building, walks through the meadow, makes sweet and sour feasts in the kitchen and watches the little girl grow up. Along the way, five other children enter the family, one baby sister dies, the family moves to the “home place.” The major decisions, whether to join the church, and whether to leave home and become the first person in her family to attend college, will have the reader rooting for the girl to break a new path. In the tradition of Jill Ker Conway’s The Road to Coorain, this book details the formation of a future leader who does not yet know she’s being prepared to stand up to power and to find her own voice.

The book contains many illustrations and resources, including recipes, a map, and an epilogue about why the author is still Mennonite. Topics covered include the death of a child, Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, the role of bishops in the Mennonite church, the paradoxes of plain life (including fancy cars and the practice of growing tobacco). The drama of passing on the family farm and Mennonite romance and courtship, as the author prepares to leave home for college, create the final challenges of the book.

272 pages

As Christians engage controversial cultural issues, we must remember that "all things hold together in Christ" (Col. 1:17)--even when it comes to science and faith. In this anthology, top Christian thinkers--including Robert Barron, Timothy George, Stanley Hauerwas, Alasdair MacIntyre, Mark Noll, and N. T. Wright--invite us to find resources for faithful, creative thinking in the riches of the church's theological heritage and its worship traditions.

When congregations go through difficult times, worship will both reflect and influence those difficulties. The practice of worship itself can be a key part of the congregation's healing process. Teacher and consultant Kathleen Smith successfully demonstrates this truth in Stilling the Storm, a book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the ways that worship intertwines with the life and health of a congregations. There are three main types of difficulty congregations can face: times of crisis, transition, and conflict. Smith considers their differences, similarities, and implications for worship, and explains the congregational dynamics that accompany such times and the roles that leaders play. She reviews basic principles of worship and the ways that unique moments and regular habits of worship shape the congregation. For each type of difficulty she suggests important themes for congregations and their worship planners. Smith explores the wide range of liturgical resources available for congregations going through difficult times and how those resources can best be shaped to fit the specific situation they are experiencing. A perceptive guide to the worship we offer to God in all times and situation, Stilling the Storm is an important resource for all congregations of all worship traditions.

St. Basil was a towering figure in the fourth-century Church. In the midst of great controversy, he led the charge of those faithful to the doctrine proclaimed at Nicaea. For the bishop of Caesarea, the array of false teachings that plagued the Church was not merely a matter of conflicting opinions or interpretations. It was rather a result of the moral failure of so-called leaders of the Church to look first to the will of God revealed in Scripture as their compass in all things-in matters of both theology and personal conduct.

Here St. Basil lays out a consistent theological ethic, rooted in a nuanced appreciation for the supremacy of Scripture. These texts, presented with the Greek on the facing page, are essential reading for anyone interested in early Christian approaches to ethics as well as the right use and interpretation of the Bible.

338 pages

Jesus is coming back! On this issue Evangelicals are united. But ask, "When will he return? Before or after the millennium? What will the millennium be like? What exactly is our hope?" and you enter a bewildering maze of options all claiming to be the right one. In this book Stanley J. Grenz provides historical and biblical, as well as theological, perspective on the four major positions held by evangelicals--postmillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism and amillennialism. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each position, he seeks to cut a new path through the maze that reaffirms the valid insights of each and sounds a fresh note of hope in an age of shattered illusions. As an added bonus readers will find that Grenz takes note of some of the latest development in dialog between dispensationalists and covenant theologians. The result has been some modifications in long-held positions that have brought the two groups closer together.

At a time of change, uncertainty and widespread anxiety, we need to discover again the freshness of our most familiar spiritual resources. Stephen Cherry's Lent Book does exactly this by inviting the reader to immerse themselves in the most central, important and iconic of Christian prayers – the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father.

Mining the tradition for wisdom and insight, and finding inspiration in the theologians of the past such as St Paul, Gregory of Nyssa, John Calvin, but also more contemporary voices such as Evelyn Underhill, Simone Weil, and Michelle Obama, Thy Will Be Done presents the comforts and challenges of the prayer in 36 short chapters.

This most accessible Lent Book, rich in anecdote as well as analysis, is daily bread for the spiritually hungry.

224 pages

From Steve and Jackie Green, founders and curators of the Museum of the Bible--a fascinating exploration of the history, authenticity, and power of the Bible, the book that has changed people and nations throughout the centuries.

It is the top selling book in history. It brings social upheaval, international arguments, and political controversy. It has been used to justify both love and war. And for generations, it has found its way into the hearts of millions, offering comfort, direction, and life-changing truths.

How could one book have such power? In This Dangerous Book, Steve and Jackie Green explore the incredible history and impact of the Bible. As the founders and visionaries of the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C., the Greens have a unique perspective on the Bible's journey--from its ancient beginnings, to its effect on the moral fiber of nations, to its transformative influence in individual hearts.

The Greens share the challenges they have faced in acquiring biblical artifacts from around the world and why generations--in every time period and in every geographical location--have risked their lives to preserve this precious book.

Exploring ancient tablets, medieval commentaries, and modern translations, This Dangerous Book offers fascinating insight into the miracles and martyrdoms that have led to the Scriptures we read today. The Greens explore how cutting-edge technology gives new insight into the authenticity of the Bible, including the work of fifty scholars who recently uncovered hidden details about thirteen unpublished Dead Sea Scroll fragments. This Dangerous Book also looks at the link between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, what we can learn from how the Bible was passed down to us, and why God's Word is foundational to America's past and crucial for its future.

The Bible is a world-changer and a heart-changer. Whether you have read the Bible for years or are simply curious about its influence, This Dangerous Book could change your heart as well.

"Dan Stringer was once my student, but now he has become my teacher. I learned a lot from this book, about both the brokenness and beauty of the movement that I love. He also offers many wise, practical lessons about how to go about the necessary repair work. May it happen!"

Richard J. Mouw, former president of Fuller Theological Seminary, from the foreword

?"I'm not sure I'd call myself an evangelical anymore; God knows many have already labeled me as an outsider. But because of the way labels are adopted or assigned, it was good for my soul to read Struggling with Evangelicalism and be able to give thanks for a tradition while also critiquing it as a former insider. Stringer invites readers to separate the brand from the space, and while I don't know if that can actually be done, it's an invitation worth examining for any faith tradition."

Kathy Khang, author of Raise Your Voice

208 pages

Motherhood is full of uncertainty.What do my children really need? Whyare they doing that? Is this normal?  What can I do to help them? How can I knowfor certain that I am doing this right?

Thelogistics are easy. Anybody can do laundry and carpool. But what makes a motherthe best mom she can be?

It’s notbetter scheduling. Or more activities. Or less.

It ispassion?the passion to teach, protect, study, and prepare her children for thefuture.

Great, buthow?

SusanMerrill, the mother of five incredibly different children, has asked thatquestion countless times. And she has read countless answers specific to acertain child’s temperament, age, or situation. But nothing she read offered anoverall approach to parenting that would enable her to say with confidence, “I am doing this right.” She neverguessed she would find a foundational plan?a reliable, universal parentingapproach in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.

In ThePassionate Mom, Susan takes you on a journey through Nehemiah and into theheart of parenting. Her stories and confessions in every chapter reveal whatshe has learned: no mom can control her child’s future, but every mom canparent well. There is a plan?a roadmap for how a passionate mom can parentalmost any child, confidently.

"...Thisbook reaches mothers like me at both the heart level and the head level,showing us how to guide our children passionately and practically..."
--Shaunti  Feldhahn,social researcher, national speaker and best-selling author of "For WomenOnly"

“Being a mother is the greatest joy of my life.My friend Susan Merrill regularly inspires me in my role as a Mother. In herbook, she will inspire you!"
--Denise Jonas, Motherof Kevin, Joe, Nick and Frankie Jonas

"Every mother's goalis to see her children fully blossom. In 'The Passionate Mom' Susan Merrill not only outlines the qualities women need tobe successful moms, but also lays out a practical, biblical plan to helpdevelop those qualities.  She provides sound advice to help in thedifficult task of raising children." --Lauren and Tony Dungy

256 pages

On Morals or Concerning Education is an exhortation on the importance of education by the prolific late-Byzantine author and statesman Theodore Metochites (1270–1332), who rose to the aristocracy from a middle-class background but fell from favor late in life and died as a monk. As a manual of proper living and ethical guidance, the treatise offers unique insights into the heightened roles of philosophy and rhetoric at a time when the elite engaged intensely with their Hellenic heritage, part of a larger imperial attempt to restore Byzantium to its former glories.

On Morals probes hotly disputed issues in fourteenth-century Byzantine society, such as the distinction between the active and contemplative life and the social position of scholars. Metochites’s focus on the character and function of Christian faith also reflects ongoing debates regarding the philosophy of religion. Occasional autobiographical digressions offer fascinating glimpses of Metochites’s distinctive personality.

This volume provides the full Byzantine Greek text alongside the first English translation of one of Metochites’s longest works.

320 pages

I am delighted to commend Tim Chester's Bible Matters, the latest addition to the Keswick Foundations series. I've been encouraged and taught by it as I've read it. I appreciated the comprehensive yet accessible coverage, the merging of the historical, theological, personal, and applied, the turns of phrase, the clarity, and the imagery. The most striking insight for me is that the Bible is 'weird' and not the kind of book that we would write because its purpose is not simply to give information about God but to develop our relationship with God. But there are many more [such insights]. Buy, read, recommend, lend, give away!

--James Robson, ministry director, Keswick Ministries

In Bible Matters, Tim Chester has simply and powerfully explained the brilliance and necessity of the Bible. I was reminded and refreshed of why it is so important for the Jesus follower to be immersed in the Bible. Bible Matters is accessible for both the new Christian and the seasoned believer--it left me desiring to know God more and to be in the Scriptures daily!

--Brian Howard, chairman of the board, Acts 29

192 pages

"As go marriages so go families and as go families so go communities, states, and nations. For many years the Adversary has stepped up his attack on marriages and families. He doesn't mind the okay, so-so, mediocre marriages where Christ is, at best, on the periphery and making no real difference in the couples' lives. But once a couple refuses to settle for a fifth-rate relationship and decides to pursue a Christ-centered marriage, to learn how to look and live and love like our Lord, the attacks of the Adversary can feel overwhelming. Tim has given us a unique, biblically based, relevant handbook for not just protecting our marriage but in the process actually deepening and strengthening our love relationship with God and with each other. This practical and long-overdue resource will help you become 'more than conquerors' and experience the quality of marriage that God has designed for those who love him. It's a book you'll read more than once."--Gary J. Oliver, executive director of the Center for Healthy Relationships, professor of psychology and practical theology at John Brown University

176 pages

Today many pastors are struggling to adapt to a post-Christian culture without abandoning orthodox theology. How do we communicate the concepts of grace and substitutionary atonement in our globalized culture and context?

In Center Church, Timothy Keller offers challenging insights and provocative questions based on over twenty years of ministry in New York City. This book outlines a theological vision for ministry - applying classic doctrines to our time and place - organized around three core commitments: • Gospel-centered: The gospel of grace in Jesus Christ changes everything, from our hearts to our community to the world. It completely reshapes the content, tone and strategy of all that we do. • City-centered: With a positive approach toward our culture, we learn to affirm that cities are wonderful, strategic and underserved places for gospel ministry. • Movement-centered: Instead of building our own tribe, we seek the prosperity and peace of our community as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

"In this important book, Tim Keller unpacks the gospel and gently but firmly reminds us that it is nonnegotiable. At the same time, he enables us to think through how we can responsibly interact with the culture, how we can - indeed, must - appreciate good things within it, and how we can firmly and faithfully apply the gospel to it." - D.A. Carson, research professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

400 pages

The New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable.

Newsweek called renowned minister Timothy Keller "a C.S. Lewis for the twenty-first century" in a feature on his first book, The Reason for God. In that book, he offered a rational explanation of why we should believe in God. Now, in The Prodigal God, Keller takes his trademark intellectual approach to understanding Christianity and uses the parable of the prodigal son to reveal an unexpected message of hope and salvation. 

Within that parable Jesus reveals God's prodigal grace toward both the irreligious and the moralistic. This book will challenge both the devout and skeptics to see Christianity in a whole new way.

Timothy Radcliffe considers the strength of the Christian imagination in its ability inspire others.

How can Christianity touch the imagination of our contemporaries when ever fewer people in the West identify as religious? Timothy Radcliffe argues we must show how everything we believe is an invitation to live fully. God says: "I put before you life and death: choose life."

Anyone who understands the beauty and messiness of human life--novelists, poets, filmmakers and so on--can be our allies, whether they believe or not. The challenge is not today's secularism but its banality.
We accompany the disciples as they struggle to understand this strange man who heals, casts out demons and offers endless forgiveness. In the face of death, he teaches them what it means to be alive in God. Then he embraces all that afflicts and crushes humanity. Finally, Radcliffe explores what it means for us to be alive spiritually, physically, sacramentally, justly and prayerfully. The result is a compelling new understanding of the words of Jesus: "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

The Fool and the Heretic is a deeply personal story told by two respected scientists who hold opposing views on the topic of origins, share a common faith in Jesus Christ, and began a sometimes-painful journey to explore how they can remain in Christian fellowship when each thinks the other is harming the church. To some in the church, anyone who accepts the theory of evolution has rejected biblical teaching and is therefore thought of as a heretic. To many outside the church as well as a growing number of evangelicals, anyone who accepts the view that God created the earth in six days a few thousand years ago must be poorly educated and ignorant--a fool. Todd Wood and Darrel Falk know what it's like to be thought of, respectively, as a fool and a heretic. This book shares their pain in wearing those labels, but more important, provides a model for how faithful Christians can hold opposing views on deeply divisive issues yet grow deeper in their relationship to each other and to God.

This book portrays one of the most dramatic episodes in recent Mennonite history. Set against the background of the early Soviet era in Russia, it narrates the story of a small religious and ethnic group caught in the tenacious grasp of political upheaval

264 pages

Life crises can throw you into a tail-spin-a lost job, a failed relationship, a struggling business, a financial mess. Where do you start? How do you pull it together? How do you begin again?

Tom Holladay experienced a catastrophe first-hand when a sudden flood in California destroyed his home, his church, and the homes of many church members. Tom and his congregation had to rebuild, and they used the principles in the book of Nehemiah to get back on their feet.

Now a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church, Tom will help you discover seven principles for putting it together again that will give you the direction you need to get rolling on that fresh start. Holladay will walk you through seeing every problem as an opportunity, facing the obstacles head on and taking your first step, knowing how to expect and reject opposition, build on your success, and dedicating yourself to the One who rebuilds our souls.

The task of starting again can seem impossible. And sometimes you just need to rebuild your confidence and regain a sense of purpose. If you're trying to find the emotional energy, but you just don't have it in you, let Holladay encourage you. He understands how difficult and rewarding the business of rebuilding is. This book is your encouraging how-to guide to starting again and stepping into a better future.

Award-winning author Paul David Tripp instructs believers to view digital media and technology through the lens of the gospel and points them toward a biblical framework for communication.

176 pages

Thirty-one daily readings from Paul David Tripp equip us to do the one thing that matters most each December?celebrating the glory of the incarnation of God's Son.

Understand salvation in both the Old and New Testaments.

God Is a Warrior traces the development of the "divine warrior" motif through the Old and New Testaments, beginning with Israel's conflicts with her enemies and ending with Christ's victorious return in Revelation. Against the broader background of Ancient Near Eastern warrior mythology, Part I discusses Yahweh's warfare on behalf of ancient Israel, and prophecies of the coming Divine Deliverer. Part II looks at the New Testament's Divine Warrior, Jesus Christ, and his war against his spiritual enemies in the Synoptic Gospels, in Paul's letters, and in the final apocalyptic battle in the book of Revelation.

224 pages

What is metaphysics? Metaphysics: A Basic Introduction in a Christian Key gives a simplified answer to this daunting question. Born under the shadow of the Parthenon by Aristotle and his contemporaries, metaphysics eventually enjoyed its heyday in the medieval era and is finding a resurgence today in modernity. This book explores the perennial question of being and its uptake in the world of Christian theology. Donald Wallenfang leads the reader through five navigable chapters that feature the most basic themes of metaphysics: the question of being, first principles, causality, cosmology, and morality. The abstract tendencies of metaphysics are brought down to earth with reference to the gospel of Jesus and the relevance of metaphysics for daily living. Altogether, the reader will be inspired to think toward the whole by asking questions that penetrate beneath the surface of things. Beauty, truth, and goodness will be unveiled to the degree that we accompany Jesus the metaphysician along his itinerary of being given.

154 pages

What is phenomenology? That is precisely the question this book seeks to answer. In an age of information overload, complex topics must be simplified to make them accessible to a wider audience. Phenomenology: A Basic Introduction in the Light of Jesus Christ not only presents the basic building blocks of phenomenology, it also gives body to voice by putting abstract ideas in contact with the Word made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth. In five manageable chapters, Donald Wallenfang introduces major themes such as the natural attitude, givenness, interpretation, paradox, and ethics. Each subject is considered in how it applies to daily life and relates to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Several biblical scenes are tapped to harvest their sweet nectars of meaning through phenomenology. At its limit, philosophy gives way to the revelatory rationality of theology as expressed by Jesus the phenomenologist.

148 pages

On the fiftieth anniversary of his death, C. S. Lewis was memorialized in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, taking his place beside the greatest names in English literature. Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where Lewis taught, also held commemorations. This volume gathers together addresses from those events. Rowan Williams and Alister McGrath assess Lewis's legacy in theology, Malcolm Guite addresses his integration of reason and imagination, William Lane Craig takes a philosophical perspective, while Lewis's successor as Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, Helen Cooper, considers him as a critic. The collection also includes more personal and creative responses: Walter Hooper, Lewis biographer, recalls their first meeting; there are poems, essays, a panel discussion, and even a report by the famous "Mystery Worshipper" from the Ship of Fools website, along with a moving reflection by royal wedding composer Paul Mealor about how he set one of Lewis's poems to music. Containing theology, literary criticism, poetry, memoir, and much else besides, this volume reflects the breadth of Lewis's interests and the astonishing variety of his own output: a diverse and colorful commemoration of an extraordinary man.

Once a week Darla Weaver bundles her children into the buggy, hitches up her spirited mare, and drives six miles to the farm where she grew up. There she gathers with her four sisters and their children for a day with their mother. In Gathering of Sisters, Weaver writes about her horse-and-buggy Mennonite family and the weekly women's gatherings that keep them connected. On warm days, the children play and fish and build houses of hay in the barn. In the winter, everyone stays close to the woodstove, with puzzles and games and crocheting. No matter the weather, the Tuesday get-togethers of this Old Order Mennonite family keep them grounded and centered in their love for God and for each other, even when raising an occasional loving but knowing eyebrow at each other.

The rest of the week is full of laundry, and errands, and work that never ends. But Tuesday is about being sisters, daughters, and mothers.

Hear straight from Amish and Mennonite people themselves as they write about their daily lives and deeply rooted faith in the Plainspoken series from Herald Press. Each book includes A Day in the Life of the Author and the author's answers to FAQs about the Amish and Mennonites.

272 pages

Emerging from the thought-provoking discussions and correspondence Simone Weil had with the Reverend Father Perrin, this classic collection of essays contains the renowned philosopher and social activist's most profound meditations on the relationship of human life to the realm of the transcendent. An enduring masterwork and "one of the most neglected resources of our century" (Adrienne Rich), Waiting for God will continue to influence spiritual and political thought for centuries to come.

208 pages

In this inspiring book, Kristen Welch calls you to step out in faith and climb the mountain in front of you--not because you are good enough or adequate or able, but because God makes a way where there is no way. With heartbreaking and hopeful personal stories, Scripture, and questions for contemplation, she draws you out of fear and into a holy confidence, showing you that the mountain in your path was put there on purpose, so that you could exercise--and grow--your faith.

In the pattern of her popular 40-Day Sugar Fast, Wendy Speake offers you The 40-Day Social Media Fast. This "screen sabbatical" is designed to help you become fully conscious of your dependence on social media so you can purposefully unplug from screens and plug into real life with the help of a very real God. Take a break from everyone and everything you follow online. Disconnect in order to reconnect with the only One who said "follow me."

224 pages

The Apostolic Fathers are generally assigned by historians of ancient Christianity to a narrow collection of non-canonical Christian texts that date within the first and second centuries AD. This brief collection includes the letters of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp To the Philippians and The Martyrdom of Polycarp, the Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, Diognetus, Fragments of Papias, and the fragment of Quadratus. The goal of the APOSTOLIC FATHERS GREEK READER (AFGR) is to assist readers of ancient Christian literature. Each volume will provide unique and unfamiliar vocabulary for beginning students of the Greek language: words appearing 30 times or less in the Greek NT. The AFGR is a Tier 4 Resource within the AGROS (Accessible Greek Resources and Online Studies) curriculum suite produced by GlossaHouse.

631 pages

This book by the best-selling author of Women of the Word explores ten attributes of God that Christians are called to reflect, helping readers discover freedom and purpose in becoming all that God made them to be.

176 pages

Can we afford to chase beauty in a world that emphasizes distraction and naked ambition over a lifestyle of wonder and spiritual restfulness?

The everyday road of life is littered with the pains of growing up, loving and failing to love, of peace and discord. What is God saying through all the muck of life? God speaks to us through beauty. But to hear his words, we must slow down and listen with our hearts.

What would happen if we slowed down and looked at the world and our lives with new eyes? The Beauty Chasers shows us a secret passageway that leads beyond the utility mindset that banished beauty from our hearts. Author Tim Willard gives us a guidebook for discovering how to see the world with fresh eyes and let beauty guide us in life and our relationship with God.

The Beauty Chasers will...

inspire you to live life as a participant instead of a spectator.
guide you toward a life of presence rather than distraction.
give you permission to slow down and drink from the well of spiritual rest.
refresh your perspective on the "wonder-full" ways of God. help you live like beauty matters.
Are you ready to live life to a different cadence? Do you find yourself longing to recapture the wonder in your spiritual journey? Are you willing to walk the path less traveled? If so, then read on, friend.

304 pages

The last command Jesus gave the church before he ascended to heaven was the Great Commission, the call for Christians to "make disciples of all the nations." But Christians have responded by making "Christians," not "disciples." This, according to brilliant scholar and renowned Christian thinker Dallas Willard, has been the church's Great Omission.

"The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament," writes Willard. "Christian is found three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to disciples of Jesus. . . . The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples of Jesus Christ. But the point is not merely verbal. What is more important is that the kind of life we see in the earliest church is that of a special type of person. All of the assurances and benefits offered to humankind in the gospel evidently presuppose such a life and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian -- especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He or she stands on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God."

Willard boldly challenges the thought that we can be Christians without being disciples, or call ourselves Christians without applying this understanding of life in the Kingdom of God to every aspect of life on earth. He calls on believers to restore what should be the heart of Christianity -- being active disciples of Jesus Christ. Willard shows us that in the school of life, we are apprentices of the Teacher whose brilliance encourages us to rise above traditional church understanding and embrace the true meaning of discipleship -- an active, concrete, 24/7 life with Jesus.

Almost sixty years ago, the Mennonite missionary team working in the Argentine Chaco decided to look for ways to be effective in their ministry while being faithful to Jesus' lifestyle and teaching. They left behind paternalistic models and "conquering" methods and were liberated from the mindset of forming a denominational church. As a result, they found an alternative missionary style of walking alongside those they worked with, giving priority to the integrity of the local people. "Mission Without Conquest" is a historical narrative of how the Toba Qom people of the Argentine Chaco followed Jesus' way from the time of their conversion until the formation of an autochthonous church. This book embodies a new way to approach the church's missionary task - a way that makes the mission of Jesus Christ the paradigm for Christian mission until his return.

280 pages

Witherington provides a much-needed introduction to the ancient art of persuasion and its use within the various New Testament documents. More than just an exploration of the use of the ancient rhetorical tools and devices, this guide introduces the reader to all that went into convincing an audience about some subject. Witherington makes the case that rhetorical criticism is a more fruitful approach to the NT epistles than the oft-employed approaches of literary and discourse criticism. Familiarity with the art of rhetoric also helps the reader explore non-epistolary genres. In addition to the general introduction to rhetorical criticism, the book guides readers through the many and varied uses of rhetoric in most NT documents-not only telling readers about rhetoric in the NT, but showing them the way it was employed."This brief guide book is intended to provide the reader with an entrance into understanding the rhetorical analysis of various parts of the NT, the value such studies bring for understanding what is being proclaimed and defended in the NT, and how Christ is presented in ways that would be considered persuasive in antiquity." - from the introduction

284 pages

I don’t want to go to heaven. Not that I’m lobbying for the other place . . .?Michael WittmerThis planet is more than just a stopover on your way to heaven. It is your final destination. God wants you to enjoy your earthly existence, and to think otherwise is to miss the life he intends for you.Exploring the book of Genesis, Heaven Is a Place on Earth gently but firmly strips away common misconceptions of Christianity and broadens your worldview to reveal the tremendous dignity and value of everyday life. Taking you from creation, to the fall, to redemption, and to glimpses from the book of Revelation, Michael Wittmer opens your eyes to a faith that encompasses all of life?baseball games, stock reports, church activities, prayer, lovemaking, work, hobbies . . . everything that lies within the sphere of human activity. To be fully Christian is to be fully human, says Wittmer, alive and responsive to the kingdom of God in all that you are and all that you do.Discover the freedom and impact God created you for. It starts with a truly Christian worldview. And its fruit is the undiluted gospel, powerful not only to save souls, but to restore them to a life that is truly worth living.Includes discussion/reflection questions after each chapter.

Creating a Missional Culture is a worthwhile read that provides a gracious, yet prophetic corrective to individualistic, pastor-centric churches, moving the missional church forward.

--Jonathan K. Dodson, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, April 2013

256 pages

The first major biblical commentary from the pen of N. T. Wright 

While full of theological import, Paul’s letter to the Galatians also captures and memorializes a significant moment in the early history of Christianity. This commentary from N. T. Wright—the inaugural volume of the CCF series—offers a theological interpretation of Galatians that never loses sight of the political concerns of its historical context. With these two elements of the letter in dialogue with each other, readers can understand both what Paul originally meant and how his writing might be faithfully used to respond to present questions. 

Each section of verse-by-verse commentary in this volume is followed by Wright’s reflections on what the text says about Christian formation today, making this an excellent resource for individual readers and those preparing to teach or preach on Galatians. The focus on formation is especially appropriate for this biblical letter, in which Paul wrote to his fellow early Christians, “My children—I seem to be in labor with you all over again, until the Messiah is fully formed in you!”

Now regarded as a seminal work in the study of the historical Jesus, N. T. Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God focuses directly on the historical Jesus: Who was he? What did he do? What did he say? And what did he mean by it?

Wright begins by showing how the questions posed by Albert Schweitzer a century ago remain central today. Then he draws on the gospels to sketch a profile of Jesus as a prophet and a subversive story teller all the while illuminating the symbols which ordered his world and the answers he gave to the key questions posed to him by his context and the people he encountered.

The examination of Jesus' aims and beliefs, argued on the basis of Jesus' actions and their accompanying riddles, is sure to stimulate heated response. Wright offers a provocative portrait of Jesus as Israel's Messiah who would share and bear the fate of the nation and would embody the long-promised return of Israel's God to Zion.

Indispensable for every scholarly library, this second volume in Wright's Christian Origins and the Question of God series is regarded as one of the finest studies ever conducted on the question of the historical Jesus.

Join renowed leprosy surgeon Dr. Paul Brand and bestselling writer Philip Yancey on a remarkable journey through medical intervention, pain and healing, and the courage of humanity.  Discover here the eternal truths revealed by our seemingly ordinary existence.  

In God is Red, Chinese dissident journalist and poet Liao Yiwu—once lauded, later imprisoned, and now celebrated author of For a Song and a Hundred Songs and The Corpse Walker—profiles the extraordinary lives of dozens of Chinese Christians, providing a rare glimpse into the underground world of belief that is taking hold within the officially atheistic state of Communist China. Liao felt a kinship with Chinese Christians in their unwavering commitment to the freedom of expression and to finding meaning in a tumultuous society, even though he is not a Christian himself. This is a fascinating tale of otherwise unknown personalities thriving against all odds. 

If anyone had good reason to join the league of the “Nones,” the “Dones,” and the deconstructionists, it would be Zach Hoag. After growing up and out of the compound walls of a Texas cult, and becoming a failed church planter in one of the most post-Christian cities in America, Zach was faced with both a crisis and a choice. He loved Jesus, yet questioned: If the church is such a broken system, is it really worth belonging to anymore?

The viral upswing of the “spiritual but not religious” trend has cast religion as going rapidly out of style. Yet even in his own desert of deconstruction, Zach couldn’t shake his desire for a spiritual home. His search ultimately led him to look behind the statistics, where Zach found an astonishing undercurrent subversively at work.

The truth, as Zach discovered, is that we are in a cultural moment of apocalypse. Not an end-of-the-world apocalypse, but in the very literal sense of the word which translates simply, “a revealing.” Perhaps the downtrend of Christian faith in America is just the kind of Great Revealing we need to show us who we really are as American Christians, who Jesus really is in our midst, and how we can step into the flourishing faith he has always intended for us.

For anyone who is anxious about the future of the church and their place in it, The Light Is Winning rallies to an unexpected, unshakeable hope: Could it be that we’ve made religion out to be the culprit when in fact, religion is just what we need to revive us? Could it be that our struggle for relevance must come to a necessary end, so that we can get to the real? After all, isn’t this the essence of the story of God: death paves the way for a resurrected, deeply rooted, flourishing faith. Such faith can be yours. The Light Is Winning will show you how.