Social Issues
Showing 251–300 of 891 results
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5 Loaves Two Fish 12 Volunteers
$14.99Add to cartSixty-two percent of food pantries and meal programs in the United States are faith-based. Most of these ministries are transactional; people needing food interact with church volunteers to earn access to direct service.
Elizabeth Magill advocates relational ministry as a better model for food ministry. People donating food or money eat with the people who need food and get to know them as they serve alongside them. Those needing food share all aspects of the ministry, including planning, setting up, leading, serving, and cleaning. As volunteers become better acquainted, they can form deep, meaningful relationships, creating a new way to be the church.
Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers tells the stories of 8 churches that share food ministry with people who need their services. Full of practical advice, this book emphasizes that building relationships and offering radical welcome is more important work for churches than efficiency or order.
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Good White Racist
$20.00Add to cartWhen it comes to race, most White Americans are obsessed with two things: defending our own inherent goodness and maintaining our own comfort levels. Too often, this means white people assume that to be racist, one has to be openly hateful and willfully discriminatory–you know, a bad person. And we know we’re good, Christian people, right? But you don’t have to be wearing a white hood or shouting racial epithets to be complicit in America’s racist history and its ongoing systemic inequality.
In Good* White Racist, Kerry Connelly exposes the ways white people participate in, benefit from, and unknowingly perpetuate racism–despite their best “good person” intentions. Good* White Racist unpacks the systems that maintain the status quo, keep white people comfortable and complicit, and perpetuate racism in the United States and elsewhere. Combining scholarly research with her trademark New Jersey snark, Connelly shows us that even though it may not be our fault or choice to participate in a racist system, we all do, and it’s our responsibility to do something about it.
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After Trump : Achieving A New Social Gospel
$45.00Add to cartA black social gospel movement arose after the Civil War to mitigate the broken promises of reparations and the reestablishment of white supremacy. After the Gilded Age, a new social gospel arose in the early twentieth century that brought together Christian proclamation and an ethic of social justice that became liberal Protestantism’s distinctive contribution to world Christianity, leaving residues in the New Deal and the Great Society. In the face of poverty and bondage in the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. led a second wave of the black social gospel movement and died for it, as prophets do. It birthed new liberation movements on many fronts. Again things fell apart as the Reagan Revolution massively redistributed wealth and social benefits upward and “”late capitalism”” flourished. In this environment tax cuts for the wealthy and massive inequalities grew, and President Trump inherited the resentments of the Christian Right and the opportunism of economic conservatives. Would a recurring social gospel have made a difference? After Trump, American Christianity faces another crisis of decision. Will the strange God of the Bible be re-called, will the churches re-live as social movements that bring good news to all the people, will American Christianity re-contest the public square and proclaim a new social gospel for our times? This book is an invitation and a manifesto.
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Born Again This Way
$16.99Add to cartAs a Christian who experiences same-sex attraction, is it possible to live a life that’s faithful and fuilfiing? Rachel Gilson wants to show you that it is. Living as a Christian with same-sex attraction is not just a case of limping to the finish line–it’s possible to run the race with joy.
In this powerful and personal book, she describes her own unexpected journey of coming out and coming to faith… and what came next. As she does so, she addresses many of the questions that Christians living with same-sex attraction are wrestling with: Am I consigned to a life of loneliness? How do I navigate my friendships? Will my desires ever change? Is there some greater purpose to all this? What comes next, and next, and next?
Drawing on insights from the Bible and the experiences of others, Born Again This Way provides assurance and encouragement for Christians with same-sex attraction, and paints a compelling picture of discipleship for every believer. Whatever your sexuality, this book is an inspiring testimony of how a life submitted to Jesus will be fulfilling and fruitful–but not always in the ways we might expect.
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Myth And Meaning In Jordan Peterson
$18.99Add to cartPopular philosopher Jordan Peterson has captured the imagination of Western world.
For some, Peterson represents all that is wrong with patriarchal culture; for others, he is the Canadian academic prophet who has come to save civilization from dizzying confusion. Regardless of how one feels about him, his influence in North America–and beyond–is difficult to deny.
While the “Peterson phenomenon” has motivated numerous articles and responses, much of what has been written is either excessively fawning or overly critical. Little has been produced that explores Peterson’s thought–especially his immensely popular 12 Rules for Life–within the context of his overall context and scholarly output. How is one to understand the ascendency of Jordan Peterson and why he’s become so popular? Does his earlier Maps of Meaning shed light on how one might understand his worldwide bestseller, 12 Rules for Life?In Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson, scholars across various disciplines explore various aspects of Jordan Peterson’s thought from a Christian perspective. Both critical and charitable, sober-minded and generous, this collection of ten essays is a key resource for those looking to faithfully engage with Jordan Peterson’s thought.
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Multicultural Church : Embracing Unity And Restoration
$12.99Add to cartDespite the progress our country has made in Civil Rights over the past century, Sunday morning is still one of the most segregated times in America. It seems like the only people striving to lead in the area of racial reconciliation are politicians, activists, and celebrities. Pastor Dan Willis wants to know… Where is the church? What can the people of God do to become leaders again and not just be Johnny-come-lately followers? The art of bringing harmony to the masses lies in the love all should see in the church of God. If the church is to make a difference and return to relevance in this world, the only option is multicultural ministry. If leaders are not prepared to minister to this growing culture, then American Christianity is in danger of becoming nonessential to the body of believers. For years, Dan Willis has led a growing, multicuItural Christian community in the suburbs of Chicago. In The Multicultural Church, Dan shares what he has learned, the mistakes he has made, and what can be done to successfully minister to a diverse culture.
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Every Mans Battle Revised And Updated 20th Anniversary Edition (Anniversary)
$15.99Add to cartThe groundbreaking guide to winning the battle with sexual temptation–now revised and updated to help men navigate the realities of technology and other contemporary challenges.
From movies and television to print media and the Internet, men are continually bombarded with sensual images and content. It is impossible to avoid temptation, but this book offers a clear and tested strategy for victory.
Millions have found Every Man’s Battle an invaluable guide to overcoming the struggle and remaining strong in the face of temptation. With extensive updates for a new generation, including the latest data on the intersection between brain science and sexuality, this bestseller shares the stories of dozens who have escaped the trap of sexual immorality and presents a practical, detailed plan for living with sexual integrity and a godly view of women. A comprehensive workbook makes this an ideal resource for small groups as well as personal use.
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Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With
$16.99Add to cartChristians are increasingly seen as outdated, restrictive and judgmental when it comes to sex before marriage, cohabitation, homosexuality, gender identity or transgender rights. In fact for many people, this issue is one of the biggest barriers for them considering Christianity.
Sam Allberry, author of many books including Is God Anti-gay sets out God’s good design for the expression of human sexuality, showing that God himself is love and that only he can satisfy our deepest desires.
It is a great reminder of the Bible’s positive blueprint for love, sex and marriage and ideal for giving away to people who may see this as a stumbling block for belief.
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Materiality As Resistance
$18.00Add to cartWhat is materiality?
Jesus practiced materiality when he healed the bodies of the sick, proclaimed Jubilee to the poor, and fed the five thousand. He practiced materiality over materialism. In Materiality as Resistance, Walter Brueggemann defines materiality as the use of the material aspects of the Christian faith, as opposed to materialism, which places possessions and physical comfort over spiritual values. In this concise volume, Brueggemann lays out how we as Christians may reengage our materiality for the common good. How does materiality inform our faith when it comes to food, money, the body, time, and place? How does it force us to act? Likewise, how is the church obligated to use its time, money, abundance of food, the care and use of our bodies, observance of Sabbath, and stewardship of our world and those with whom we share it? With a foreword from Jim Wallis, Materiality as Resistance serves as a manifesto of Walter Brueggemann’s most important work and as an engaging call to action. It is suited for group or individual study.
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Speak Your Peace
$29.99Add to cartFrom one of the most respected and prophetic voices in Christianity today comes Speak Your Peace. Ronald J. Sider, author of the influential Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, plumbs Scripture, building a persuasive case that Jesus meant what he said when he commanded us to love our enemies.
Is nonviolence irresponsible? Is peacemaking naive?
From one of the most respected and prophetic voices in Christianity today comes Speak Your Peace. Ronald J. Sider, author of the influential Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, plumbs Scripture, building a persuasive case that Jesus meant what he said when he commanded us to love our enemies.With candor and logic, Sider takes on enduring questions about violence and nonviolence, showing how the contemporary church in a warring world has largely set aside Jesus’ call to love our enemies and traded its birthright in Christ for a stew of nationalism and militarism. But ignoring what Jesus said about killing is a huge theological mistake. Returning us to the inescapable call of the Son of God, Sider reminds the church of its true vocation in a world of hatred and war.
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3rd Option : Hope For A Racially Divided Nation
$16.99Add to cartMiles McPherson, founder of The Rock Church in San Diego, presents “a discussion about race that we desperately need…a must read” (Bishop T.D. Jakes, Senior Pastor, The Potter’s House) and argues that we must learn to see people not by the color of their skin, but as God sees them-humans created in the image of God.
Pastor Miles McPherson, senior pastor of The Rock Church in San Diego, addresses racial division, a topic many have shied away from, for fear of asking the wrong question or saying the wrong thing. Some are oblivious to the impact racism has, while others pretend it doesn’t exist.
Even the church has been affected by racial division, with Sunday now being the most segregated day of each week. Christians, who are called to love and honor their neighbors, have fallen into culture’s trap by siding with one group against another: us vs. them. Cops vs. protestors. Blacks vs. whites. Racists vs. the “woke.” The lure of choosing one option over another threatens God’s plan for unity among His people.
Instead of going along with the culture, Pastor Miles directs us to choose the Third Option: honoring the priceless value of God’s image in every person we meet. He exposes common misconceptions that keep people from engaging with those of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and identifies the privileges and pitfalls that we all face.
The Third Option challenges us to fully embrace God’s creativity and beauty, as expressed in the diversity of His people. By following the steps and praying the prayers outlined in his book, Pastor Miles teaches us how we can all become leaders in unifying our communities, our churches, and the nation.
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Courageous
$22.99Add to cartChristians face relentless attacks from an ungodly culture, a formidable adversary, and our own fallen natures. Yet we cannot afford to surrender to these very real enemies.
Just as survivalists use 10 specific strategies to overcome threatening situations, Courageous explains 10 biblical strategies for surviving–and thriving–in a world that is hostile to our faith. As A.W. Tozer said, “A scared world needs a fearless church.” Courageous is a clarion call for Christians to boldly live out their faith.
If you’ve felt your faith is under attack, if you’re struggling with the temptation to follow the crowd despite biblical teaching to the contrary, or if you’re just feeling weary, the 10 strategies in Courageous will provide fresh fire and new hope.
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MeToo Reckoning : Facing The Church’s Complicity In Sexual Abuse And Miscon
$17.00Add to cartThe #MeToo movement has revealed sexual abuse in every sphere of society, including the church. But all too often, churches have been complicit in protecting abusers, reinforcing patriarchal power dynamics, and creating cultures of secrecy, shame, and silence. Disclosing candid stories of abuse, pastor and survivor Ruth Everhart offers God’s hope to survivors while shining a light on the prevalence of sexual misconduct within faith communities.
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Our Bodies Tell Gods Story
$21.99Add to cartIn response to a world awash in sexual chaos and gender confusion, this book offers a bold and thoroughly biblical look at the meaning of the body, sex, gender, and marriage.
Bestselling author, cultural commentator, and popular theologian Christopher West is one of the world’s most recognized teachers of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. He specializes in making this teaching accessible to all Christians, with particular attention to evangelicals. As West explains, from beginning to end the Bible tells a story of marriage. It begins with the marriage of man and woman in an earthly paradise and ends with the marriage of Christ and the church in an eternal paradise.
In our post-sexual-revolution world, we need to remember that our bodies tell a divine story and proclaim the gospel itself. As male and female and in the call to become “one flesh,” our bodies reveal a “great mystery” that mirrors Christ’s love for the church (Eph. 5:31-32). This book provides a redemptive rather than repressive approach to sexual purity, explores the true meaning of sex and marriage, and offers a compelling vision of what it means to be created male and female. Foreword by Eric Metaxas.
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Eve Where Are You
$13.95Add to cartWithout question, having competent women in leadership can certainly enhance the vitality of any organization. Sadly, too often women are not given equal opportunities and are left doubting their sense of self and their abilities.
In Eve, Where Are You?, Dr. Nicole Davis uniquely evaluates bias practices within one specific organization: the Christian church. You’ll learn why many women are discouraged, emotionally absent, leaving churches, or considering giving up religious pursuits altogether. Within these pages, Dr. Davis thoughtfully contemplates the scriptural significance of God’s creation of Eve; compares women’s leadership advances in the marketplace and church; and shares real-life stories and perceptions about women in leadership offered by present-day church leaders.
As a conflict coach and resolutionist, Dr. Davis boldly addresses possible causal effects of toxic practices against women and then offers strategic solutions and guidance to both women and church organizations to facilitate reconciliation, creating opportunity for the church to regain influence and effectiveness in our culture.
Crisp, aggressive, and truthful, this study presents a call to action for women who want more, men who want more for women, and church organizations seeking to embrace internal transformation against gender bias in the Christian church.
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Healing Racial Trauma
$18.00Add to cartPeople of color have endured traumatic histories and almost daily assaults on their dignity. Professional counselor Sheila Wise Rowe exposes the symptoms of racial trauma to lead readers to a place of freedom from the past and new life for the future. With Rowe as a reliable guide who has both been on the journey and shown others the way forward, you will find a safe pathway to resilience.
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Color Of Compromise
$22.99Add to cartAn acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically–up to the present day–worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response.
The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don’t know. Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church.
The Color of Compromise
*Takes you on a historical, sociological, and religious journey: from America’s early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War
*Covers the tragedy of Jim Crow laws, the victories of the Civil Rights era, and the strides of today’s Black Lives Matter movement
*Reveals the cultural and institutional tables we have to flip in order to bring about meaningful integration
*Charts a path forward to replace established patterns and systems of complicity with bold, courageous, immediate action
*Is a perfect book for pastors and other faith leaders, students, non-students, book clubs, small group studies, history lovers, and all lifelong learnersThe Color of Compromise is not a call to shame or a platform to blame white evangelical Christians. It is a call from a place of love and desire to fight for a more racially unified church that no longer compromises what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality. A call that challenges black and white Christians alike to standup now and begin implementing the concrete ways Tisby outlines, all for a more equitable and inclusive environment among God’s people. Starting today.
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Be True To Yourself
$15.99Add to cartOur culture tells us that the way to be happy is to be true to yourself. It’s posted on social media, promoted in adverts, taught in schools and, even, expressed in churches. But what does that mean, and does it actually work?
Matt Fuller explores how true happiness, wholeness and freedom can be found in embracing who God has created us to be; allowing ourselves to be shaped by who the Bible says we are, rather than our own fluctuating feelings, or the voices around us. In the process, this book draws on a broad range of fascinating research and examples to give us a fresh biblical take on some of today’s biggest hot-button issues.
By cutting through the confusion and showing us something better, this is a book to help every Christian live with confidence in today’s culture.
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Revolution Of Values
$24.00Add to cartChristians and the Religious Right have misused Scripture to consolidate power, stoke fears, and defend against enemies. Highlighting the stories of people on the frontlines, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove explores how religious culture wars have misrepresented Christianity at the expense of the poor, and how listening to marginalized communities can help us rediscover God’s vision for faith in public life.
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Earthkeeping And Character
$27.00Add to cartAddressing a topic of growing and vital concern, this book asks us to reconsider how we think about the natural world and our place in it. Steven Bouma-Prediger brings ecotheology into conversation with the emerging field of environmental virtue ethics, exploring the character traits and virtues required for Christians to be responsible keepers of the earth and to flourish in the challenging decades to come. He shows how virtue ethics can enrich Christian environmentalism, helping readers think and act in ways that rightly value creation.
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Spirit Of Hope
$34.00Add to cartFamous theologian Jurgen Moltmann returns here to the theme that he so powerfully addressed in his groundbreaking work, Theology of Hope. In the twenty-first century, he tells us, hope is challenged by ideologies and global trends that would deny hope and even life itself. Terrorist violence, social and economic inequality, and most especially the looming crisis of climate change all contribute to a cultural moment of profound despair. Moltmann reminds us that Christian faith has much to say in response to a despairing world. In “the eternal yes of the living God,” we affirm the goodness and ongoing purpose of our fragile humanity. Likewise, God’s love empowers us to love life and resist a culture of death.
The book’s two sections equally promote these affirmations, yet in different ways. The first section looks at the challenges to hope in our current world, most especially the environmental crisis. It argues that Christian faith–and indeed all the world’s religions–must orient themselves toward the wholeness of the human family and the physical environment necessary to that wholeness. The second section draws on resources from the early church, the Reformation, and the contemporary theological conversation to undergird efforts to address the deficit of hope he describes in the first section.
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Collateral Damage : Changing The Conversation About Firearms And Faith
$16.99Add to cartOne hundred people die from gun violence every day in the United States. Some fifty children and teens are shot. There are more than 35,000 gun-related deaths every year. Yet many Christians say gun violence shouldn’t be talked about in church.
In Collateral Damage, pastor and activist James E. Atwood issues an urgent call to action to Christians to work together to stop gun violence. An avid hunter for many years, Atwood enumerates the tragic and far-reaching costs that accrue in a country with more guns than people. Collateral damage includes a generalized fear and loss of trust. Suicides and homicides. Trauma for children in neighborhoods plagued by gun violence and in schools with frequent lockdown drills. A toxic machismo that shapes our boys and men in unhealthy ways. Economic costs that exceed $229 billion per year. Atwood also considers the deeper story of racism, inequality, and mass incarceration in which the conversation about gun violence is lodged.
Gun violence has been called the theological emergency of our time. The church has a moral and spiritual obligation to side with life against death. Will we rise to the occasion?
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10 Commandments Of Progressive Christianity
$7.99Add to cartA cautionary look at ten dangerously appealing half-truths.
In 1923, J. Gresham Machen, then a professor at Princeton Seminary, wrote his classic text, Christianity and Liberalism. The book was a response to the rise of liberalism in the mainline denominations of his own day. Machen argued that the liberal understanding of Christianity was, in fact, not just a variant version of the faith, nor did it represent simply a different denominational perspective, but was an entirely different religion. Put simply, liberal Christianity is not Christianity.
What is remarkable about Machen’s book is how prescient it was. His description of liberal Christianity–a moralistic, therapeutic version of the faith that values questions over answers and being “good” over being “right”–is still around today in basically the same form. For this reason alone the book should be required reading, certainly for all seminary students, pastors, and Christian leaders.
Although its modern advocates present liberal Christianity as something new and revolutionary, it is nothing of the sort. It may have new names (e.g., “emerging” or “progressive” Christianity), but it is simply a rehash of the same well-worn system that has been around for generations.
The abiding presence of liberal Christianity struck me not long ago when I came across a daily devotional from Richard Rohr that listed ten principles he thinks modern Christianity needs to embody. These ten principles are actually drawn from Philip Gulley’s book, If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus. In that devotional series, ironically titled “Returning to Essentials,” Rohr sets forth the ten principles as a kind of confessional statement of modern liberalism (while at the same time pretending to deplore confessional statements). They are, in effect, a Ten Commandments for progressive Christianity.
Indeed, these ten sound like they were gathered not so much on the mountaintop as in the university classroom. They are less about God revealing his desires and more about man expressing his own–less Moses, more Oprah.
But take note: each of these commandments is partially true. Indeed, that is what makes this list, and progressive Christianity as a whole, so challenging. It is a master class in half-truths that sound appealing on the surface until you dig down deeper and really explore their foundations and implications. Benjamin Franklin was right when he quipped, “Half the truth is often a
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Rest For The Justice Seeking Soul
$16.99Add to cartSusan K. Williams Smith is a minister and activist who has been on the front lines of social and racial justice for many years. As she has marched shoulder-to-shoulder to resist systematic oppression, she has heard the same question over and over: “How are we going to get through this?” Rest for the Justice-Seeking Soul was birthed out of those cries.
Here is a soul-care manual for social justice-seeking believers who stand in constant vigilance against all forms of racial, class, and gender oppression. The fight for justice and equality is an exhausting daily grind–and the work is never over. That’s why it is incumbent upon all who speak and advocate for the less fortunate to practice self-care. You can’t fight when your tank is empty.
In response to the many calls and emails she has received from friends, clergy, and strangers who are in utter despair and even deep depression, she has created ninety daily devotions to provide a daily spoonful of hope and encouragement, a healing balm to “strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees” (Hebrews 12:12). Lift your gaze upward toward a better future by allowing God to restore harmony and focus in your soul and justice in your community. Our God is bigger than whoever is oppressing you. As the old hymn states, “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.”
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No Avatars Allowed
$21.95Add to cartReaches across generations to explore divinity, humanity, and technology through the lens of video games
Challenges readers to look theologically at how they play Since the advent of video games in the 1960s, they have become the common experience of everyone from Gen-X to the Millennial and post-Millennial generations. While many of today’s clergy, parishioners, and theologians grew up gaming, the church’s stance regarding video games is one of, at best, bemusement. This book takes seriously the idea that video games can challenge us to think more deeply about our reality, divinity, faith, and each other. It draws readers into a small, but growing, conversation about models of incarnation and what it means to distinguish between the virtual and the real. This book will introduce readers to concepts and questions from the perspective of a Christian systematic theologian who has been playing games since he was four years old, and who has been writing, speaking, and podcasting about this topic since 2010. It is an invitation into a relatively new conversation about divinity, humanity, and technology.
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End Of Hunger
$17.00Add to cartJesus’ command is clear: we are called to feed all of God’s children. But is that possible? Bringing together activists, politicians, scientists, pastors, theologians, and artists, this is a comprehensive picture of the current situation with the latest facts and figures, compelling stories both from those fighting against hunger and from the hungry themselves, and clear steps for action by individuals, families, churches, and communities.
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Separated By The Border
$18.00Add to cartIn 2017 five-year-old Julia traveled with her mother, Guadalupe, from Honduras to the United States.
Her harrowing journey took her through Mexico in the cargo section of a tractor trailer. Then she was separated from her mother, who was held hostage by smugglers who exploited her physically and financially. At the United States border, Julia came through the processing center as an unaccompanied minor after being separated from her stepdad who was deported. Gena Thomas tells the story of how Julia came to the United States, what she experienced in the system, and what it took to reunite her with her family. A Spanish-speaking former missionary, Gena became Julia’s foster mother and witnessed firsthand the ways migrant children experience trauma. Weaving together the stories of birth mother and foster mother, this book shows the human face of the immigrant and refugee, the challenges of the immigration and foster care systems, and the tenacious power of motherly love.
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Bread For The Resistance
$17.00Add to cartSometimes you get tired, doing this thing we call justice. You feel burned out or disillusioned. Sometimes you just need a word from the Lord. In these daily devotions, Donna Barber offers life-giving words of renewal and hope for those engaged in the resistance to injustice. When your legs are tired from marching and your knees bruised from kneeling, you can experience rest and healing.
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Carpe Diem Redeemed
$22.00Add to cartHow do we make the most of life and the time we have? In the midst of our harried modern world, Os Guinness calls us to consequential living, reorienting our notion of history not as cyclical nor as meaningless, but as linear and purposeful. We can seek to serve God’s purpose for our generation, read the times, and discern our call for this moment in history.
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We Too : How The Church Can Respond Redemptively To The Sexual Abuse Crisis
$16.99Add to cartCrushed by sexual abuse?
The truth: We heal better together.
The sexual abuse crisis has permeated every corner of our world, including the church. How we respond to both its menacing proliferation and the shattered hearts of survivors is vital. God beckons us to be good Samaritans to those facing trauma and sexual brokenness in the aftermath of abuse, to provide safe places to heal in community.
In these pages, author and advocate Mary DeMuth encourages the church she loves to rise up and face the very real evil of sexual abuse and harassment–with candor and empathy. Based on current research and survivors’ stories, along with a fierce fidelity to Scripture, DeMuth paints a realistic picture of the church’s historical and present response to sexual violence, and she provides a framework of revival and surprising hope for the future.
You will learn:
*What the Bible says to the sexually exploited.
*What harms and what empowers those who have been traumatized by abuse.
*How Jesus provides us a relational framework that welcomes victims, decries secrecy, forsakes reputation management, and deals justly with perpetrators.
*How to determine if your church is moving toward becoming a truly safe place.In the throes of the #MeToo movement, the church now stands at a crucial crossroads. By advocating for a culture of listening and justice, Mary encourages the church to cross over to the places where people are hurting, to bind up their wounds, and to truly embrace the long-term reality of sexual abuse’s aftereffects. In the circle of that kind of empathetic #WeToo community, the church will become the place it’s meant to be–a place of justice and healing for everyone.
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Protecting Your Child From Predators
$17.00Add to cartEven good parents often underestimate the dangers their children face. Research indicates that one in four females and one in six males are sexually abused before age 18. In most cases, the enemy is not a faceless stranger; it’s someone you know and trust–a neighbor, a coach, or even a family member.This book provides practical steps to ensure you’re doing all you can to reduce the risks of abuse. But since you cannot be with your children 24/7, it goes beyond what you can do as a parent to teach you how to increase your child’s own awareness and strategies in the face of potential dangers–without making them fearful.Dr. Robinson, whose decades-long practice focuses on abused and endangered children, calls on her own case studies to show age-appropriate conversation starters for parents, teaching them how to ask the right questions and provide the right boundaries.This book will help you move from fear to confidence on this heavy topic that is just too important to ignore.
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Not Forsaken : A Story Of Life After Abuse – How Faith Brought One Woman Fr
$22.99Add to cartJenn Greenberg was abused by her church-going father. Yet she is still a Christian. In this courageous, compelling book, she reflects on how God brought life and hope in the darkest of situations. Jenn shows how the gospel enables survivors to navigate issues of guilt, forgiveness, love, and value. And she challenges church leaders to protect the vulnerable among their congregations.
Her reflections offer Biblical truths and gospel hope that can help survivors of abuse as well as those who walk alongside them.
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Unborn Untold : True Stories Of Abortion And God’s Healing Grace
$14.99Add to cartConfused. Scared. Pressured. Alone. That’s what so many of the women and men in these true stories felt when faced with an unexpected pregnancy. Many believed they had no alternative but to abort their child, while others made the difficult decision to choose life. All live with the consequences of that decision. And all have experienced the healing grace and mercy of God.
Their stories will touch your heart, expand your ability to offer compassion to all affected by abortion, and provide practical tools and guidance through the healing process.
The global abortion epidemic demands a response of support, encouragement, and grace from those on all sides of the issue. Only then will those in crisis pregnancy situations feel equipped and empowered to choose life. And only then can every person affected by abortion let go of the past and move forward into a future filled with healing and hope.
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If Jesus Is Lord
$28.00Add to cartWhat does Jesus have to say about violence, just war, and killing? Does Jesus ever want his disciples to kill in order to resist evil and promote peace and justice?This book by noted theologian and bestselling author Ronald J. Sider provides a career capstone statement on biblical peacemaking. Sider makes a strong case for the view that Jesus calls his disciples to love, and never kill, their enemies. He explains that there are never only two options: to kill or to do nothing in the face of tyranny and brutality. There is always a third possibility: vigorous, nonviolent resistance. If we believe that Jesus is Lord, then we disobey him when we set aside what he taught about killing and ignore his command to love our enemies.
This thorough, comprehensive treatment of a topic of perennial concern vigorously engages with the just war tradition and issues a challenge to all Christians, especially evangelicals, to engage in biblical peacemaking.
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In Search Of The Common Good
$24.00Add to cartCommon life in our society is in decline–our communities are disintegrating, our public discourse is hateful, and economic inequalities are widening. In this book, Jake Meador reclaims a vision of common life for our fractured times: a vision that doesn’t depend on the destinies of our economies or our political institutions, but on our citizenship in a heavenly city. Only through that vision can we truly work together for the common good.
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Reading Romans With Eastern Eyes
$28.00Add to cartIntroduction
1. How To Read With Eastern Eyes
2. Paul’s Mission Frames His Message (Rom 1, 15)
3. Dishonoring God And Ourselves (Rom 1-2)
4. Distinguishing “Us” And “Them” (Rom 2)
5. Christ Saves God’s Face (Rom 3)
6. Who Is Worthy Of Honor? (Rom 4)
7. Faith In The Filial Christ (Rom 5-6)
8. The Hope Of Glory Through Shame (Rom 5-8)
9. Shamed From Birth? (Rom 7)
10. They Will Not Be Put To Shame (Rom 9-11)
11. Honor One Another (Rom 12-13)
12. The Church As “Harmonious Society” (Rom 14-16)
Discussion Guide
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
What does it mean to “read with Eastern eyes”? According to Jackson Wu, an Eastern perspective is in many ways culturally closer to that of the first-century world. Cultural values of honor and shame, social status, tradition, hierarchy, and relationships are similar in both East Asia and the New Testament.As readers, we bring our cultural understanding and values to the text. Our biases and background influence what we observe-and what we overlook. Wu aims to help us develop our “Eastern lenses” in order to interpret Scripture well and gain insights we might have missed.
In Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes, Wu demonstrates how an Eastern perspective sheds light on Paul’s most complex letter. When read this way, we see how honor and shame shape so much of Paul’s message and mission.
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Addiction Nation : What The Opioid Crisis Reveals About Us
$30.99Add to cart“Opioids claim the lives of 115 people per day. One of them could have been me.”
When a near-fatal illness led his doctors to prescribe narcotics, media consultant Timothy McMahan King ended up where millions of others have: addicted. Eventually King learned to manage pain without opioids–but not before he began asking profound questions about the spiritual and moral nature of addiction, the companies complicit in creating the opioid epidemic, and the paths toward healing and recovery.
We have become a society not only damaged by addiction but fueled by it. In Addiction Nation, King investigates the ways that addiction robs us of freedom and holds us back from being fully human. Through stories, theology, philosophy, and cultural analysis, King examines today’s most common addictions and their destructive consequences. In stark yet intimate prose, he looks not only at the rise of opioid abuse but at policy, pain, virtue, and habit. He also unpacks research showing patterns of addiction to technology, stress, and even political partisanship.
Addiction of any kind dims the image of God and corrupts who we were created to be. Addiction Nation nudges us toward healing from the ravages of addiction and draws us toward a spirituality sturdy enough to sate our deepest longings.
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Addiction Nation : What The Opioid Crisis Reveals About Us
$17.99Add to cart“Opioids claim the lives of 115 people per day. One of them could have been me.”
When a near-fatal illness led his doctors to prescribe narcotics, media consultant Timothy McMahan King ended up where millions of others have: addicted. Eventually King learned to manage pain without opioids–but not before he began asking profound questions about the spiritual and moral nature of addiction, the companies complicit in creating the opioid epidemic, and the paths toward healing and recovery.
We have become a society not only damaged by addiction but fueled by it. In Addiction Nation, King investigates the ways that addiction robs us of freedom and holds us back from being fully human. Through stories, theology, philosophy, and cultural analysis, King examines today’s most common addictions and their destructive consequences. In stark yet intimate prose, he looks not only at the rise of opioid abuse but at policy, pain, virtue, and habit. He also unpacks research showing patterns of addiction to technology, stress, and even political partisanship.
Addiction of any kind dims the image of God and corrupts who we were created to be. Addiction Nation nudges us toward healing from the ravages of addiction and draws us toward a spirituality sturdy enough to sate our deepest longings.
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Love Anyway : An Invitation Beyond A World That’s Scary As Hell
$17.99Add to cartWith almost two decades of working in conflict zones like Iraq and Syria, Jeremy Courtney has come face-to-face with ISIS, suffered U.S. airstrikes, spent jail time in Iraq, and had fatwas calling for his death. And yet, he’s learned to love anyway.Nowadays it seems we are all afraid. We fear wars and injustice, government policies and economic ruin, tragedies and the loss of those we love. Our hearts tell us a better world is possible. We can imagine it – and almost taste it – but do we dare reach beyond our fear for it? Could it be that the extraordinary, meaningful lives we dream of aren’t found in clinging to what we have, but in walking toward the very things that scare us most?Founder of Preemptive Love Coalition Jeremy Courtney knows better than most that the world can be scary as hell. With almost two decades of working in conflict zones like Iraq and Syria, Jeremy and his team have come face-to-face with ISIS, suffered U.S. airstrikes targeting the team, spent jail time in Iraq, had fatwas calling for Jeremy’s death, and yet learned to love anyway – despite being afraid. Gut honest, Jeremy shares his own journey, taking readers inside the heartbreak – and the joy – he and his family have experienced along the way.With raw accounts of living with real people amid bombings, war, and terrorism, Jeremy opens the door on what he has experienced and his struggle to understand what it all means. Love Anyway will inspire you to confront your deepest fears and live the courageous life open to you on the other side of fear. By finding ways to respond to our scary world with the kind of love that may seem a little crazy, we can become agents of hope who unmake violence itself and unfurl the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
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Affirming Gods Image
$16.99Add to cartWhat is a knowledgeable, faithfully biblical response to transgenderism?
In Affirming God’s Image, J. Alan Branch takes a fair, respectful, and factual tone in addressing this complex issue through a biblical lens.
You’ll learn:
*Scientific research around the transgender experience
*An Overview of the history of transgenderismImportant terminology surrounding gender issues
*Why people pursue gender reassignment surgery, and what happens after
*How to navigate conversations around this topicThe book ends with two practical chapters for families and churches, giving you guiding principles for how to address this issue in a loving, Christ–honoring way.
The first step to responding well to any situation is understanding it. Affirming God’s Image equips you with the biblical, scientific, and practical knowledge you need for a wise response.
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Love Thy Body
$19.99Add to cartWhy the call to Love Thy Body? To counter a pervasive hostility toward the body and biology that drives today’s headline stories:
Transgenderism: Activists detach gender from biology. Kids down to kindergarten are being taught their bodies are irrelevant. Is this affirming–or does it demean the body?
Homosexuality: Advocates disconnect sexuality from biological identity. Is this liberating–or does it denigrate biology?
Abortion: Supporters deny the fetus is a person, though it is biologically human. Does this mean equality for women–or does it threaten the intrinsic value of all humans?
Euthanasia: Those who lack certain cognitive abilities are said to be no longer persons. Is this compassionate–or does it ultimately put everyone at risk?
In Love Thy Body, bestselling author Nancy Pearcey goes beyond politically correct slogans with a riveting expose of the dehumanizing worldview that shapes current watershed moral issues.
Pearcey then turns the tables on media boilerplate that misportrays Christianity as harsh or hateful. A former agnostic, she makes a surprising and persuasive case that Christianity is holistic, sustaining the dignity of the body and biology.
Throughout she entrances readers with compassionate stories of people wrestling with hard questions in their own lives–their pain, their struggles, their triumphs. -
Mama Bear Apologetics
$17.99Add to cart#RoarLikeAMother
The problem with lies is they don’t often sound like lies. Their attraction is their appeal. They seem harmless, and even sound right. So what’s a Mama Bear to do to protect her children and raise them in the truth?
Mama Bear Apologetics is the book you’ve been looking for. This mom-to-mom guide will equip you to teach your kids how to form their own beliefs about what is true and what is false. Through honest storytelling and practical application, this band of Mama Bears offers tools to train your kids how to spot the lie traps intended to trip them up and the steps to take to stand strong on God’s Word.
Are you ready to answer the rallying cry, “When you mess with our kids, we will demolish your arguments”? Join the Mama Bear movement and raise your voice to protect your kids.
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God Who Sees
$29.99Add to cartMeet people who have fled their homelands.
Hagar. Joseph. Ruth. Jesus.Here is a riveting story of seeking safety in another land. Here is a gripping journey of loss, alienation, and belonging. In The God Who Sees, immigration advocate Karen Gonzalez recounts her family’s migration from the instability of Guatemala to making a new life in Los Angeles and the suburbs of south Florida. In the midst of language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and the tremendous pressure to assimilate, Gonzalez encounters Christ through a campus ministry program and begins to follow him.
Here, too, is the sweeping epic of immigrants and refugees in Scripture. Abraham, Hagar, Joseph, Ruth: these intrepid heroes of the faith cross borders and seek refuge. As witnesses to God’s liberating power, they name the God they see at work, and they become grafted onto God’s family tree.
Find resources for welcoming immigrants in your community and speaking out about an outdated immigration system. Find the power of Jesus, a refugee Savior who calls us to become citizens in a country not of this world.
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In Search Of Christ In Latin America
$45.00Add to cartNoted theologian Samuel Escobar offers a magisterial survey and study of Christology in Latin America. Starting with the first Spanish influence and moving through popular religiosity and liberationist themes in Catholic and Protestant thought of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, In Search of Christ in Latin America culminates in an important description of the work of the Latin American Theological Fraternity (FTL). Escobar chronologically traces the journey of Latin American Christology and describes the milestones along the way toward a rich understanding of the spiritual reality and powerful message of Jesus.
IVP Academic is pleased to release this important work, originally published in Spanish as En busca de Cristo en America Latina, for the first time in English.
*Offers theological, historical, and cultural analysis of Latin American understandings of Christ
*Discusses the sixteenth-century Spanish Christ, popular religiosity, and developed theological reflection
*Covers the full spectrum of theological traditions in Latin America
*Examines the figure of Jesus Christ in the context of Latin American culture of the twentieth century
*Places liberation theology within its social and revolutionary context -
Closing The Floodgates Enhanced Edition
$28.99Add to cart“In Closing the Floodgates, psychotherapist Dr. Ann Gillies has written a blockbuster of a book exposing the biased, unscientific, and corrupt methods used to promote the sexual revolution of the last sixty years. In her powerful and compelling analysis, she shows how the truth of scientific fact has been overturned in the interest of pleasure and personal feelings, and how a determined minority is using social engineering to reconstruct our social and moral worlds by redefining gender, sexuality and the family. She draws an alarming picture of the consequences: identity confusion among the youth; sexual abuse and victimization of children; soaring rates of suicide and sexually transmitted diseases; the embedding of false, unhealthy, and immoral teaching in the school curriculum; and the loss of freedom of speech and parental rights. While a few readers may find the level of detailed academic content challenging at times, Dr. Gillies is able to make professional findings understandable and real for the average person. For all the necessary research and statistical reporting, this is a gut-level book. In a time of culture wars, when the truth about gender and sexuality is under attack, this book sets the record straight. It issues a rallying cry to parents and others concerned for the future of the family and western society to be informed and take action before it is too late.”
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Political Visions And Illusions
$35.00Add to cartWhat you believe about politics matters. The decades since the Cold War, with new alignments of post-9/11 global politics and the chaos of the late 2010s, are swirling with alternative visions of political life, ranging from ethnic nationalism to individualistic liberalism.
Political ideologies are not merely a matter of governmental efficacy, but are intrinsically and inescapably religious: each carries certain assumptions about the nature of reality, individuals and society, as well as a particular vision for the common good. These fundamental beliefs transcend the political sphere, and the astute Christian observer can discern the ways-sometimes subtle, sometimes not-in which ideologies are rooted in idolatrous worldviews.
In this freshly updated, comprehensive study, political scientist David Koyzis surveys the key political ideologies of our era, including liberalism, conservatism, nationalism, democracy, and socialism. Koyzis gives each philosophy careful analysis and fair critique, unpacking the worldview issues inherent to each and pointing out essential strengths and weaknesses, as well as revealing the “narrative structure” of each-the stories they tell to make sense of public life and the direction of history. Koyzis concludes by proposing alternative models that flow out of Christianity’s historic engagement with the public square, retrieving approaches for both individuals and the global, institutional church that hold promise for the complex political realities of the twenty-first century.
Writing with broad international perspective and keen analytical insight, Koyzis is a sane and sensible guide for Christians working in the public square, culture watchers, political pundits, and all students of modern political thought.
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Fight Forward : Reclaim The Real You
$17.99Add to cartI’m not good enough. It’s my fault. I am alone. I am worthless. The voices and lies you give power to shape who you are and attempt to hijack your identity, twisting your perspective on God, family, career, church, and other relationships. Whose voice are you listening to?
You are a champion by God’s design. In Fight Forward, Brenda Crouch bravely shares her story of overcoming the abuse she suffered as a child and an adult. She offers practical solutions that will help you – find courage to dismantle the faade and embrace your true identity.
– break the cycle of a victim mindset and trust the power of God to set you free.
– discover the strength to say no to users and learn to recognize authentic love.
– ditch self-ambition and explore the wealth of your divine purpose.
– find your voice and help others heal.Be propelled into favor and fulfillment as you listen to God’s voice. He wants you to know the relevance of your authentic value and the unique purpose for which you were born.
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Our Spiritual Compass
$19.95Add to cartAn Outskirts Press Title
Even a casual look at trends in human behavior will instantly reveal that kindness and good are on the decline, while greed and cruelty are on the rise-even as secular culture proclaims its dedication to tolerance and safety for all. In reality, the conscience is under assault, and the result is a general condemnation of the morality that society must rely upon as a guide. Those who would live a godly life are told that they are the problem. Although the conscience is not given much attention by the Church, it is very important in understanding both ethics and morality. Our Spiritual Compass: The Conscience and Morality provides an overview of man’s immaterial parts (spirit, soul, heart, flesh, will, mind, and conscience). It uses this background to provide an in-depth Biblical study of the conscience. The latter part of the book is dedicated to understanding morality from the standpoint of conscience, examining how two hundred years of worldly thought have corrupted our understanding of morality and ethics, and the ways in which modern life and philosophy are at odds with God’s guidance. Clear, accessible, and well researched, this is the book you need to assess whether you-and your loved ones-are on the right path.
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Americas Unholy Ghosts
$30.00Add to cartAmerica’s Unholy Ghosts examines the DNA of the ideologies that shape our nation, ideologies that are as American as apple pie but that too often justify and perpetuate racist ideas and racial inequalities. MLK challenged us to investigate the “ideational roots of race hate” and Ghosts does just that by examining a philosophical “trinity”–Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Adam Smith–whose works collectively helped to institutionalize, imagine, and ingrain racist ideologies into the hearts and minds of the American people.
As time passed, America’s racial imagination evolved to form people incapable of recognizing their addiction to racist ideas. Thus, Ghosts comes to a close with the brilliant faith and politics of Martin Luther King, Jr. who sought to write the conscience of the Prophetic Black Church onto American hearts, minds, and laws. If our nation’s racist instincts still haunt our land, so too do our hopes and desires for a faith and politics marked by mercy, justice, and equity–and there is no better guide to that land than the Prophetic Black Church and the one who saw such a land from the mountaintop.
