Church History
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Introduction To Ecclesiology (Revised)
$35.99Add to cartWhat is the church? Why are there so many different expressions of church throughout time and space, and what ties them all together?
Ecclesiology–the doctrine of the church–has risen to the center of theological interest in recent decades. In this text, theologian Veli-Matti Karkkainen provides a wide-ranging survey of the rich field of ecclesiology in the midst of rapid developments and new horizons. Drawing on Karkkainen’s international experience and comprehensive research on the church, this revised and expanded edition is thoroughly updated to incorporate recent literature and trends. This unique primer not only orients readers to biblical, historical, and contemporary ecclesiologies but also highlights contextual and global perspectives and includes an entirely new section on interfaith comparative theology. An Introduction to Ecclesiology surveys.
*major theological traditions, including Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Reformed, and Pentecostal
*ecclesiological insights from Latin American, Africa, and Asia
*distinct perspectives from women, African Americans, and recent trends in the United States
*key elements of the church such as mission, governance, worship, and sacraments
*interreligious comparison with Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist communities
As the church today encounters challenges and opportunities related to rapid growth in the Majority World, new congregational forms, ecumenical movements, interfaith relations, and more, Christians need a robust ecclesiology that makes room for both unity and diversity. In An Introduction to Ecclesiology students, pastors, and laypeople will find an essential resource for understanding how the church can live out its calling as Christ’s community on earth.
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Understanding The Jewish Roots Of Christianity
$29.99Add to cartHow Jewish is Christianity?
The question of how Jesus’ followers relate to Judaism has been a matter of debate since Jesus first sparred with the Pharisees. The controversy has not abated, taking many forms over the centuries. In the decades following the Holocaust, scholars and theologians reconsidered the Jewish origins and character of Christianity, finding points of continuity.
Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity advances this discussion by freshly reassessing the issues. Did Jesus intend to form a new religion? Did Paul abrogate the Jewish law? Does the New Testament condemn Judaism? How and when did Christianity split from Judaism? How should Jewish believers in Jesus relate to a largely gentile church? What meaning do the Jewish origins of Christianity have for theology and practice today?
In this volume, a variety of leading scholars and theologians explore the relationship of Judaism and Christianity through biblical, historical, theological, and ecclesiological angles. This cutting-edge scholarship will enrich readers’ understanding of this centuries-old debate.
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Dinner Party With The Saints
$17.99Add to cartWelcome to a dinner party in heaven.
With a charming blend of imagination and historical detail, the bestselling author of 365 Saints invites you to get to know the saints in food and fellowship. Hinting at one of the traditional images of heaven, the Banquet or Marriage Feast of the Lamb (Revelation 9:9), the author gathers fourteen holy souls, enabling you to better understand what they were like on earth. Combining fictional narrative, fascinating biographies, and mouth-watering dinner party recipes, the book offers a resource for families and other groups to celebrate saints spanning the history of the Church, and to better understand the “people behind the halos.”
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Worshipping With The Reformers
$24.99Add to cartWorship of the triune God has always stood at the center of the Christian life. That was certainly the case during the sixteenth-century Reformation as well. Yet in the midst of tremendous social and theological upheaval, the church had to renew its understanding of what it means to worship God. In this volume, which serves as a companion to IVP Academic’s Reformation Commentary on Scripture series, Reformation scholar Karin Maag takes readers inside the worshiping life of the church during this era. Drawing from sources across theological traditions, she explores several aspects of the church’s worship, including what it was like to attend church, reforms in preaching, the function of prayer, how Christians experienced the sacraments, and the roles of both visual art and music in worship. With Maag as your guide, you can go to church-with the Reformers.
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Great Azusa Street Revival
$16.99Add to cartAs fascinating collection of the words and teachings of William Seymour in the years leading up to and including the historic Azusa Street Revival, which began in Los Angeles in 1906 before spreading across the country and creating the modern-day Pentecostal movement. Includes historic accounts, eyewitness testimonies to the power of God, and photos capturing the multicultural, worldwide appeal of Seymour and his ministry, including his stirring sermons, which covered a wide range of topics that are still relevant to believers today. Complied by Roberts Liardon, author of the bestselling God’s Generals series.
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Separated Siblings : An Evangelical Understanding Of Jews And Judaism
$36.99Add to cartIn the minds of many American evangelicals today, Judaism exists in two places: the pages of the Bible and the modern nation of Israel. In Separated Siblings, John Phelan offers to fill in the gaps of this limited understanding with the larger story of Judaism, including its long history and key facets of Jewish thought and practice. Phelan shows that Judaism is anything but monolithic or unchanging. Readers may be surprised to learn that contemporary Judaism exists in a multiplicity of forms and continues to evolve, as recent changes in scholarly Jewish perspectives on Jesus and Paul attest.
An evangelical Christian himself, Phelan addresses what other evangelicals are often most curious about, such as Jewish beliefs concerning salvation and eschatology. Nevertheless, Separated Siblings is geared toward understanding rather than Christian apologetics, aiming for an undistorted view of Judaism that is sensitive to the painful history of Christian replacement theology and other forms of anti-Semitism. Readers of this book will emerge with more informed attitudes toward their Jewish brothers and sisters-those in Israel and those across the street.
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Anchored In The Current
$34.00Add to cartIn this volume, internationally known leaders like Marian Wright Edelman, Parker Palmer, and Barbara Brown Taylor invite the reader into creative engagement with Thurman’s writings.
Howard Thurman was famously known as one of the towering giants of American religion in the twentieth century. His writings have influenced some of the most important religious and political figures of the last century, from Martin Luther King to Barack Obama. Theologians such as James Cone and Cornel West regularly signal their indebtedness to him. He was a mystic, a preacher, an educator, a theologian, and much more. It is impossible to understand the African American church today without an appreciation for his contributions.
And yet, while Thurman’s name is often recognized, his seminal ideas have not received the attention they deserve. In this volume, internationally known leaders like Marian Wright Edelman, Parker Palmer, and Barbara Brown Taylor invite the reader into creative engagement with Thurman’s writings. Anchored in the Current illuminates how Thurman’s life and wisdom lead these influential names on the ancient quest to connect with the Ultimate, all while discovering the contemporary need to seek racial justice and sharpening the minds and faith of those who come after us. Readers will find important and enduring answers in the works of this indispensable prophet and teacher.
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Voices Of The Martyrs Graphic Novel Anthology AD 34-AD 203
$29.99Add to cartVoices of the Martyrs, A.D. 34 – A.D. 203 covers the earliest period of church history. Though we will never know how many have given their lives for following Jesus Christ, this volume contains the stories of the first, and best known. Men and women who were faithful to their Savior, regardless the cost.
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God Has Chosen
$30.99Add to cart“He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world . . .” Among the traditional tenets of the Christian faith is the belief that God chooses or elects people for salvation. For some Christians, such an affirmation is an indication of God’s sovereign and perfect will. For others, such a notion is troubling for it seems to downplay the significance of human agency and choice. Throughout the church’s history, Christians have sought to understand the meaning of relevant biblical texts and debated this theological conundrum. With care and insight, theologian Mark Lindsay surveys the development of the Christian doctrine of election. After exploring Scripture on this theme, he turns to the various articulations of this doctrine from the early church fathers, including Augustine, and medieval theologians such as Aquinas, to John Calvin’s view, the subsequent debate between Calvinists and Arminians, and Karl Barth’s modern reconception of the doctrine. On this journey through the Bible and church history, readers will discover how Christians have understood the notion that God has chosen.
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Retrieving Augustines Doctrine Of Creation
$30.99Add to cartHow might premodern exegesis of Genesis inform Christian debates about creation today? Imagine a table with three people in dialogue: a young-earth creationist, an old-earth creationist, and an evolutionary creationist. Into the room walks Augustine of Hippo, one of the most significant theologians in the history of the church. In what ways will his reading of Scripture and his doctrine of creation inform, deepen, and shape the conversation? Pastor and theologian Gavin Ortlund explores just such a scenario by retrieving Augustine’s reading of Genesis 1-3 and considering how his premodern understanding of creation can help Christians today. Ortlund contends that while Augustine’s hermeneutical approach and theological questions might differ from those of today, this church father’s humility before Scripture and his theological conclusions can shed light on matters such as evolution, animal death, and the historical Adam and Eve. Have a seat. Join the conversation.
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Questions Of Context
$40.99Add to cartThe gospel is for every tribe, tongue, and nation (Revelation 7:9), but there is no single biblical or theological model for the relationship between the gospel and these diverse cultures. Indeed, every suggested approach carries its own range of philosophical and theological commitments that all too often remain unexamined. Contextualization is fraught with challenges-yet wrestling with questions of context is essential for how we understand mission, theology, and the embodiment of the Christian faith. German missiology has engaged these questions in a variety of ways that can both inform and critique Anglo-American traditions. In this compilation and analysis, John Flett and Henning Wrogemann translate and comment on a core thread of German missiological works, explaining both their historical and current significance. Drawn from journals and books across a century of academic discourse, these classic writings trace developments from Gustav Warneck, the father of contemporary missiology, through key thinkers such as Karl Hartenstein, who coined the term missio Dei, down to twenty-first century discussions of intercultural hermeneutics. Along the way they reveal advances, mistakes, and changing definitions as German missiologists interacted with the cultural and political realities of their time. This longitudinal study, showcasing many texts available in English for the first time, tackles the history and dynamics of contextualization head-on and sheds new light on the state of missiology today. We are reminded, Flett and Wrogemann argue, that we must keep working to honor difference within the worldwide Christian community as necessary to the fullness of our being in Christ.
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Clare Of Assisi
$19.99Add to cartClare of Assisi is generally known as “the female friend” of Saint Francis of Assisi and for centuries her legacy has remained obscured by his shadow. Yet Clare’s life and story ought to shine in its own light and on its own terms (her name, after all, means “light”). She is a figure of true heroism, tenacity, beatitude and grit who plotted her improbable course in the context of the raucous and explosive period of the Middle Ages. Much went wrong for Clare after the day when, as a teen, she fled the home of her noble and wealthy family to follow Francis in a life of poverty. No one would have begrudged her if, when the trials had become onerous, she had decided simply to “go home.” Yet she stayed the course, even after Francis had died. She pulled from the fire of her trials embers that would become her crown. In this new book, Wendy Murray digs deeply into Clare’s decision to abandon rank and wealth for allegiance to Christ (and in no small way, Francis) and explores the circumstances which, later on, tested Clare’s devotion. Clare’s curious and vivid spiritual vision galvanized her ability to persevere amid difficult circumstances and enabled her to stay her course and lay claim to a legacy that shines brightly among the host of medieval saints.
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Gloss And The Text
$28.99Add to cartScripture opens itself up by its own words and interpretation.
William Perkins is the father of Puritanism, often remembered for his preaching manual, The Art of Prophesying. Much attention has been given to the Puritan movement, especially in its later forms, but comparatively little has been given to Perkins.
In The Gloss and the Text, Andrew Ballitch provides a thorough examination of the hermeneutical principles that governed Perkins’s approach to biblical interpretation. Perkins taught that the Bible was God’s word as well as the interpretation of God’s word. Interpretation is no private matter; it is a public gift of the Spirit of God for the people of God. Ballitch’s study sheds light on Perkins as a preacher, theologian, and student of Scripture.
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History Of The Early Church
$34.95Add to cartThe History of the Early Church is an attempt to get behind the popular myths which have dominated church life for nearly 2000 years by bringing together accounts from the New Testament and a few other works which describe the same incidents from different perspectives and often distort the narrative for security reasons. He points out the anomalies and comments on speculations which now seem to have a sounder base than most theologians would acknowledge. The result will disappoint many fundamentalists who have used the most tortuous arguments to support their version of events. However the essential message which emerges is that God is Love.
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Brown Church : Five Centuries Of Latina/O Social Justice, Theology, And Ide
$30.99Add to cartInterest in and awareness of the demand for social justice as an outworking of the Christian faith is growing. But it is not new.
For five hundred years, the Latina/o culture and identity has been shaped by its challenges to the religious, socio-economic, and political status quo, whether in its opposition to Spanish colonialism, Latin American dictatorships, US imperialism in Central America, the oppression of farmworkers, or the current exploitation of undocumented immigrants. Christianity has played a significant role in that movement at every stage. Robert Chao Romero, the son of a Mexican father and a Chinese immigrant mother, explores the history and theology of what he terms the “Brown Church.” Romero considers how this movement has responded to these and other injustices throughout its history by appealing to the belief that God’s vision for redemption includes not only heavenly promises but also the transformation of every aspect of our lives and the world. Walking through this history of activism and faith, readers will discover that Latina/o Christians have a heart after God’s own.
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They Also Serve
$29.99Add to cartWhen a bishop is elected-as is done in The United Methodist Church-it is not only the one elected who is asked to serve but his or her spouse and family as well. Hear the stories of the women and men whose commitment to service often meant leaving behind careers and lives of their own to embark on a life-changing journey revolved around the ministry of their spouse. Through hardships, celebrations, and everyday struggles, these spouses found their own paths of ministry, answering the calls that were also placed upon their lives.
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Multitude Of All Peoples
$35.99Add to cartChristianity is not becoming a global religion. It has always been a global religion.
The early Christian movement spread from Jerusalem in every direction, taking on local cultural expression all around the ancient world. So why do so many people see Christianity as a primarily Western, white religion? In A Multitude of All Peoples, Vince Bantu surveys the geographic range of the early church’s history, revealing an alternate, more accurate narrative to that of Christianity as a product of the Western world. He begins by investigating the historical roots of the Western cultural captivity of the church, from the conversion of Constantine to the rise of European Christian empires. He then shifts focus to the too-often-forgotten concurrent development of diverse expressions of Christianity across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. In the process, Bantu removes obstacles to contemporary missiological efforts. Focusing on the necessity for contextualization and indigenous leadership in effective Christian mission, he draws out practical lessons for intercultural communication of the gospel. Healing the wounds of racism, imperialism, and colonialism will be possible only with renewed attention to the marginalized voices of the historic global church. The full story of early Christianity makes clear that, as the apostle Peter said, “God does not show favoritism, but accepts those from every people who fear him and do what is right.”
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Recapturing An Enchanted World
$30.99Add to cartWhile the Free Churches rightly sought to cleanse the church of the abuses of sacramentalism, in that process they also set aside some of the church’s historic practices and theology. In response to this liturgically thin space, Mennonite theologian and minister John D. Rempel considers the role of the sacraments and ritual within the Free Church tradition, helping us perceive the sacramental nature of our faith and worship.
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Dynamics Of Spiritual Life (Expanded)
$45.99Add to cartIn this expanded edition of a classic work of spiritual theology, historian Richard Lovelace presents a history of spiritual renewals in light of biblical models. With scholarly and pastoral insight, he offers a powerful vision of renewal that can unify various models across traditions, combining individual and corporate spirituality, social activism, and evangelism.
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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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Born Again : The Evangelical Theology Of Conversion In John Wesley And Geor
$23.99Add to cartThe Christian life is a life of growth.
The gospel message is simple but not simplistic. Learning the gospel and its implications is a lifelong process, but modern evangelicals are often too focused on the moment of conversion while ignoring the ongoing work of sanctification. For John Wesley and George Whitefield, justification and sanctification were inseparable.
In Born Again, Sean McGever maps Wesley’s and Whitefield’s theologies of conversion, reclaiming the connection between justification and sanctification. This study helps evangelicals reassess their thin understanding of conversion, leading to a rich and full picture of the ongoing work new Christians face.
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Inexplicable : How Christianity Spread To The Ends Of The Earth
$17.99Add to cartA Trilogy Christian Publishing Title
The name of Jesus and his teachings captured people’s hearts and minds throughout much of the world long before Christianity was legal. Long before armies and governments protected or supported it, and then long after Emperor Constantine’s reign as many leaders misused it for their own gains or religious views. Christianity also survived brutal persecutions during many centuries, including the present. Its growth seems inexplicable.
While there are innumerable possible explanations for this, in the final analysis there are relatively few viable answers. One leading contender is that there really is something to the mystical power of the Holy Spirit, and the life-changing message of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. Another is, at the least billions of people have held passionate beliefs in Jesus’s miraculous powers over life and death, and his eternal promises. The Pew Research Center’s recent work supports the claim that “Christianity is the only religion in the world with a major presence on every continent.”
Inexplicable traces this remarkable spread of Jesus’s followers, including many of the heroic actions from those believing in his deity, and those horrific actions of those misusing his teachings. The Gospel’s journey is ongoing, and its story remains an engaging one. From Coptic monasteries and the Roman Colosseum to a small church in Franklin, Tennessee or mega churches in Laos or Seoul, it’s a rich narrative. Whether standing in the Sistine Chapel, looking at a Nestorian stone in China, or a Christian school in Kigali, this narrative continues and here we provide its historic context.
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History Of Luther Seminary
$29.00Add to cartChurch historian and Luther faculty member Mark Granquist provides a new and comprehensive history of Luther Seminary just in time for the celebration of the institution’s 150th anniversary (1869-2019). Luther Seminary today is the product of the merger of number of seminaries over time. Granquist’s search of Luther’s past will provide an inside look at how Lutheran ministry was defined and formed. The path runs through the early university system, Orthodoxy, Pietism, and Rationalism, as well as the formation of Mission schools, and the beginnings of Lutheran theological education in North America. Granquist explores the confessional Norwegian Synod as well as the pietist Haugean tradition–the two bookends or twin traditions that would define and eventually become Luther Seminary. Chapters 4-6 explore each primary strand that formed the history of Luther. Chapter 7 focuses on unification and merger, concluding with the ELCA merger in 1988. The final chapter looks at more recent history, including internal unification, the challenges faced by the ELCA, and the major shifts in theological education in the early 21st century. Includes a gallery of photos chronicling Luther’s history.
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Piercing Heaven : Prayers Of The Puritans
$24.99Add to cart“That prayer is most likely to pierce heaven which first pierces one’s own heart.”
For the Puritans, prayer was neither casual nor dull. Their prayers were passionate affairs, from earnestly pleading for mercy to joyful praise. These rich expressions of deep Christian faith are a shining example of holy living.
The Puritan combination of warm piety and careful intellect have fueled a renaissance of interest in their movement. This combination is on display in Piercing Heaven, a collection of carefully selected prayers from leading Puritans. The language in these prayers has been slightly updated for a modern audience while still retaining the elevated tone of the Puritans. With prayers from Richard Baxter, Thomas Brooks, John Owen, and many more, each prayer reminds us that heartfelt prayer is central to the Christian life.
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Evangelicals : Who They Have Been, Are Now, And Could Be
$35.99Add to cartThe past, present, and future of a movement in crisis
What exactly do we mean when we say “evangelical”? How should we understand this many-sided world religious phenomenon? How do recent American politics change that understanding?
Three scholars have been vital to our understanding of evangelicalism for the last forty years: Mark Noll, whose Scandal of the Evangelical Mind identified an earlier crisis point for American evangelicals; David Bebbington, whose “Bebbington Quadrilateral” remains the standard characterization of evangelicals used worldwide; and George Marsden, author of the groundbreaking Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism. Now, in Evangelicals, they combine key earlier material concerning the history of evangelicalism with their own new contributions about present controversies and also with fresh insights from other scholars. The result begins as a survey of how evangelicalism has been evaluated, but then leads into a discussion of the movement’s perils and promise today.
Evangelicals provides an illuminating look at who evangelicals are, how evangelicalism has changed over time, and how evangelicalism continues to develop in sometimes surprising ways.
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Story Of Creeds And Confessions
$38.00Add to cartCreeds and confessions throughout Christian history provide a unique vantage point from which to study the Christian faith. To this end, Donald Fairbairn and Ryan Reeves construct a story that captures both the central importance of creeds and confessions over the centuries and their unrealized potential to introduce readers to the overall sweep of church history. The book features texts of classic creeds and confessions as well as informational sidebars. Additional resources are available through Baker Academic’s Textbook eSources.
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Challenging The Spirit Of Modernity
$25.99Add to cartGod’s word illumines the darkness of society.
Dutch politician and historian Groen van Prinsterer’s Unbelief and Revolution is a foundational work addressing the inherent tension between the church and secular society. Writing at the onset of modernity in Western culture, Groen saw with amazing clarity the dire implications of abandoning God’s created order for human life in society. Groen’s work served as an inspiration for many contemporary theologians, and he had a profound impact on Abraham Kuyper’s famous public theology.
In Challenging the Spirit of Modernity, Harry Van Dyke places this seminal work into historical context, revealing how this vital contribution still speaks into the fractured relationship between religion and society. A deeper understanding of the roots of modern secularism and Groen’s strong, faithful response to it gives us a better grasp of the same conflict today.
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Jesus Remembered : Christianity In The Making, Volume 1
$77.99Add to cartJames Dunn is regarded worldwide as one of today’s foremost biblical scholars. Having written groundbreaking studies of the New Testament and a standard work on Paul’s theology, Dunn here turns his pen to the rise of Christianity itself. Jesus Remembered is the first installment in what will be a monumental three-volume history of the first 120 years of the faith.
Focusing on Jesus, this first volume has several distinct features. It garners the lessons to be learned from the “quest for the historical Jesus” and meets the hermeneutical challenges to a historical and theological assessment of the Jesus tradition. It provides a fresh perspective both on the impact made by Jesus and on the traditions about Jesus as oral tradition — hence the title “Jesus Remembered.” And it offers a fresh analysis of the details of that tradition, emphasizing its characteristic (rather than dissimilar) features. Noteworthy too are Dunn’s treatments of the source question (particularly Q and the noncanonical Gospels) and of Jesus the Jew in his Galilean context.
In his detailed analysis of the Baptist tradition, the kingdom motif, the call to and character of discipleship, what Jesus’ audiences thought of him, what he thought of himself, why he was crucified, and how and why belief in Jesus’ resurrection began, Dunn engages wholeheartedly in the contemporary debate, providing many important insights and offering a thoroughly convincing account of how Jesus was remembered from the first, and why.
Written with peerless scholarly acumen yet accessible to a wide range of readers, Dunn’s Jesus Remembered, together with its successor volumes, will be a sine qua non for all students of Christianity’s beginnings.
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Our Hands Are Stained With Blood Revised And Expanded Edition (Expanded)
$18.99Add to cartEvery Christian must read this shocking account of the Church’s history.
The pages of church history are marked by countless horrors committed against the Jewish people.
From the first persecutions of the Jews in the fourth century to the horrors of the Holocaust, from Israel-bashing in today’s press to anti-Semitism spouted from the pulpit, this painful book tells the tragic story that every Christian must read.
In this pivotal work, Dr. Michael Brown reflects on the Church’s past atrocities and exposes the “skeletons in our closet.” He reveals how seemingly innocent lines of thought have lead to unspeakable cruelties, why well-meaning citizens so often fall into the trap of hate… and how you can bring an end to the cycle of violence.
This generation can make a difference. Now is time for change! Discover the important role you play in shaping the Church’s future, today.
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Spirit Of Methodism
$24.99Add to cart“I felt my heart strangely warmed.
“That was how John Wesley described his transformational experience of God’s grace at Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738, an event that some mark as the beginning of the Methodist Church. Yet the story of Methodism, while clearly shaped by John Wesley’s sermons and Charles Wesley’s hymns, is much richer and more expansive. In this book, Methodist theologian Jeffrey W. Barbeau provides a brief and helpful introduction to the history of Methodism–from the time of the Wesleys, through developments in North America, to its diverse and global communion today–as well as its primary beliefs and practices. With Barbeau’s guidance, both those who are already familiar with the Wesleyan tradition and those seeking to know more about this significant movement within the church’s history will find their hearts warmed to Methodism.
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History Of Early Christian Literature
$50.00Add to cartHistorical events have long been the standard lens through which scholars have sought to understand the theology of Christianity in late antiquity. The lives of significant theological figures, the rejection of individuals and movements as heretical, and the Trinitarian and christological controversies–the defining theological events of the early church–have long provided the framework with which to understand the development of early Christian belief. In this groundbreaking work, esteemed historian of Christianity Justo Gonzalez chooses to focus on the literature of early Christianity. Beginning with the epistolary writings of the earliest Christian writers of the second century CE, he moves through apologies, martyrologies, antiheretical polemics, biblical commentaries, sermons, all the way up through Augustine’s invention of spiritual autobiography and beyond. Throughout he demonstrates how literary genre played a decisive role in the construction of theological meaning. Covering the earliest noncanonical Christian writings through the fifth century and later, this book will serve as an indispensable guide to students studying the theology of the early church.
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Loving God And Neighbor With Samuel Pearce
$12.99Add to cartThe love of God and neighbor is the heart of the Christian faith. Forgotten saint Samuel Pearce teaches us how to live a life faithful to the greatest commandment.
Pearce was a Baptist pastor known in eighteenth-century England for his moving preaching and strong, pious character. In his short life, he supported believers in his own parish as well as in the many cities where he preached and helped send missionaries. Yet his personal faith, founded on the “holy love” of God, formed his most compelling witness to the world. By getting to know Pearce’s story, readers will learn from his example what it looks like to love God and neighbor – in good times as well as challenging and seemingly mundane ones.
The Lived Theology series explores aspects of Christian doctrine through the eyes of the men and women who practiced it. Interweaving the contributions of notable individuals alongside their overshadowed contemporaries, we gain a much deeper understanding and appreciation of their work and the broad tapestry of Christian history. These books illuminate the vital contributions made by these figures throughout the history of the church.
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Engaging The World With Abraham Kuyper
$12.99Add to cartChrist declares “Mine!” over every square inch of creation.
In his well–known quote, Abraham Kuyper expressed the defining characteristic of his public theology: Jesus’ sovereignty extends over all things. He believed Christians should engage the whole world in all of its various spheres. But what does that comprehensive calling practically look like for us today?
In Engaging the World with Abraham Kuyper, Michael Wagenman explores the practical application of Kuyper’s public theology. Using Kuyper’s own life as an example, he shows us how the gospel can permeate all aspects of society: our identity, public discourse, education, the church, politics. Ultimately, this means engaging the world with perceptive truth that’s mindful of the dynamics at work in our time and place.
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Doing Theology With The Reformers
$28.99Add to cartThe Reformation was a time of tremendous upheaval, renewal, and vitality in the life of the church. The challenge to maintain and develop faithful Christian belief and practice in the midst of great disruption was reflected in the theology of the sixteenth century. In this volume, which serves as a companion to IVP Academic’s Reformation Commentary on Scripture, theologian and church historian Gerald L. Bray immerses readers in the world of Reformation theology. He introduces the range of theological debates as Catholics and Protestants from a diversity of traditions–Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Anabaptist–disputed the essentials of the faith, from the authority of Scripture and the nature of salvation to the definition of the church, the efficacy of the sacraments, and the place of good works in the Christian life. Readers will find that understanding how the Reformers engaged in the theological discipline can aid us in doing theology today.
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Antologia De Juan Calvino (Anniversary) – (Spanish) (Anniversary)
$29.99Add to cartEstamos ante un libro completamente distinto a todo lo publicado sobre Calvino hasta el dia de hoy. No se trata de una biografia mas de Juan Calvino, sino de biografias distintas, cada una de ellas analizando un aspecto distinto de su vida, de su obra o de su pensamiento.
El autor estructura estos trabajos sobre Calvino en nueve partes: Aspectos introductorios, Biografia, Panoramas generales, Institucion del la religion Cristiana–teologia y exegesis, La etica calvinista, Ambitos de influencia, Otros contextos, Epilogo.
Ademas de los temas clasicos y habituales al hablar de Calvino y el calvinismo, figuran tambien otros temas innovadores y apasionantes como: Calvino, fundador de una civilizacion, Calvino y la opinion de los catolicos de hoy, Mujeres alrededor de Calvino, El extrao romance de Juan Calvino e Idelette de Bure, El dinero y la propiedad, Antecedentes de teologia de liberacion en la herencia calvinista etc.
Una obra de consulta actual y de talla, imprescindible para todos los interesados en el tema de Calvino y la influencia del calvinismo en la Iglesia y en la Sociedad.
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Greater Things : The Story Of New Wine So Far
$14.99Add to cartIn conjunction with the 30th anniversary of New Wine, this book is a celebration of all the work of the New Wine family, from summer conferences to New Wine network churches, and both within the UK and across the world. With first-hand content from the Pytches and Coles who saw the New Wine story from the beginning, the book follows the journey of the movement from its origins, through its current work and focus, and ends with a brief look at New Wine’s dreams for the near future. Compiled of chapters from a number of people involved in New Wine, the book includes content from leaders and movements which have sprung out of New Wine, such as Soul Survivor’s Mike Pilavachi and worship leaders Matt Redman and Tim Hughes. These chapters provide an opportunity to hear the story directly from the people most involved in the movement: the challenges they’ve faced, the lessons they’ve learned, and the blessings they’ve seen over the years.
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Antologia De Martin Lutero (Anniversary) – (Spanish) (Anniversary)
$29.99Add to cartLas iglesias derivadas de aquellos conflictos religiosos y que hoy reivindican la herencia de Lutero y los demas reformadores haran muy bien en confrontarse con los pensamientos y acciones de Lutero para, asi, desentraar sus motivos y proyecciones. Mucho de lo que hizo (y dejo de hacer) ha reaparecido con frecuencia en la historia eclesiastica para recordar que la reforma de la iglesia es un proceso permanente e inacabado que le corresponde llevar a afecto a cada generacion. No basta con repetir los hermosos lemas al respecto si no se tiene una actitud abierta al cambio y a las transformaciones profundas. Esta recopilacion de textos sobre Lutero y la Reforma Protestante intenta contribuir a ese tipo de proyectos eclesiales, academicos y teologicos.
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Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture Set
$1,500.00Add to cartThis unique thirty-volume series from general editor Thomas C. Oden–now in paperback for the first time–offers you the opportunity to study for yourself key writings of the early church fathers. Arranged canonically and employing the RSV, each volume allows the living voices of the church in its formative centuries to speak as they engage the sacred page of Scripture.
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Meaning Of Protestant Theology
$36.00Add to cartThis book offers a creative and illuminating discussion of Protestant theology. Veteran teacher Phillip Cary explains how Luther’s theology arose from the Christian tradition, particularly from the spirituality of Augustine. Luther departed from the Augustinian tradition and inaugurated distinctively Protestant theology when he identified the gospel that gives us Christ as its key concept. More than any other theologian, Luther succeeds in carrying out the Protestant intention of putting faith in the gospel of Christ alone. Cary also explores the consequences of Luther’s teachings as they unfold in the history of Protestantism.
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Reformation And The Irrepressible Word Of God
$30.99Add to cartThe Protestant Reformers were transformed by their encounters with Scripture. Bringing together the reflections of church historians and theologians delivered at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, these essays consider historical, hermeneutical, theological, and practical issues regarding the Bible, revealing that the irrepressible Word of God continues to transform hearts and minds.
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Balm In Gilead
$28.99Add to cartPulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson is one of the most eminent public intellectuals in America today, and her writing offers probing meditations on the Christian faith. Based on the 2018 Wheaton Theology Conference, this volume brings together the thoughts of leading theologians, historians, literary scholars, and church leaders who engaged in theological dialogue with Robinson’s work–and with the author herself.
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Putting Joy Into Practice
$16.99Add to cartPutting Joy into Practice: Seven Ways to Lift Your Spirit from the Early Church is an invitation to a life of joy. Phoebe Farag Mikhail explains what joy is and how to experience it through seven spiritual practices that cultivate our inner lives and connect us to our communities. These seven practices, which include giving thanks, hospitality, praise, and more, take us on a journey that leads to joy through the giving and receiving of sacrificial love. She describes her own experiences and struggles with joy and offers practical ways to implement these practices to increase joy in our own lives and in the lives of all those around us.
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Unimaginable : What Our World Would Be Like Without Christianity
$15.99Add to cartIs God dying? Some people think so–and more want it so. They say Christian beliefs and our way of life aren’t relevant anymore. But what critics, and even many churchgoers, don’t realize is the life-changing importance of Christianity.
Showing how the world would be a dark place without Christianity, Unimaginable guides you through the halls of history to see how Jesus’s teachings dramatically changed our world and continue to be the most powerful force for good today. Learn how Christianity has stood against slavery, racism, eugenics, and injustices toward women and children why freedom as a universal value and modern education and legal systems owe much to Christianityhow Christians throughout the ages have demonstrated the value of human life by sacrificially caring for the sick, marginalized, and dying how people of faith are extending God’s kingdom through charities, mental health initiatives, and other ways.
This provocative and enlightening book is sure to encourage believers and equip them to respond to doubters.
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Larger Hope : Universal Salvation From The Reformation To The Nineteenth Ce
$51.00Add to cartThis book aims to uncover and explore the ideas of notable people in the story of Christian universalism from the time of the Reformation until the end of the nineteenth century. It is a story that is largely unknown in both the church and the academy, and the characters that populate it have for the most part passed into obscurity. With carefully located bore holes drilled to release the long-hidden theologies of key people and texts, the volume seeks to display and historically situate the roots, shapes, and diversity of Christian universalism. Here we discover a diverse and motley crew of mystics and scholars, social prophets and end-time sectarians, evangelicals and liberals, orthodox and heretics, Calvinists and Arminians, Puritans, Pietists, and a host of others. The story crisscrosses Continental Europe, Britain, and America, and its reverberations remain with us to this day.
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Christian Mission : A Concise, Global History
$26.99Add to cartA deeper understanding of the grand history of mission leads to a faithful expression of God’s mission today.
From the beginning, God’s mission has been carried out by people sent around the world. From Abraham to Jesus, the thread that weaves its way throughout Scripture is a God who sends his people across the world, proclaiming his kingdom. As the world has evolved, Christian mission continues to be a foundational tradition in the church.
In this one-volume textbook, Edward Smither weaves together a comprehensive history of Christian mission, from the apostles to the modern church. In each era, he focuses on the people sent by God to the ends of the earth, while also describing the cultural context they encountered. Smither highlights the continuity and development across thousands of years of global mission.
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Restless Faith : Holding Evangelical Beliefs In A World Of Contested Labels
$22.00Add to cartOne of the most influential evangelical voices in America chronicles what it has meant for him to spend the past half century as a “restless evangelical”–a way of maintaining his identity in an age when many claim the label “evangelical” has become so politicized that it is no longer viable. Richard Mouw candidly reflects on wrestling with traditional evangelical beliefs over the years and shows that although his mind has changed in some ways, his core beliefs have not. He contends that we should hold on to the legacy that has enriched evangelicalism in the past. The Christian life in its healthiest form, says Mouw, is always a matter of holding on to essentials while constantly moving on along paths that we can walk in faithfulness only by seeking the continuing guidance of the light of God’s Word. As Mouw affirms the essentials of the evangelical faith, he helps a new generation see the wisdom embodied in them.
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ReGrace : What The Shocking Beliefs Of The Great Christians Can Teach Us To
$18.00Add to cartThe church is tired of seeing Christians act ungraciously toward one another when they disagree. Social media has added to the carnage. Christians routinely block each other on Facebook because of doctrinal disagreements. The world watches the blood-letting, and the Christian witness is tarnished.
But what if every Christian discovered that their favorite teacher in church history had blind spots and held to some false–and even shocking–views?
Bestselling author Frank Viola argues that this simple awareness will soften Christians when they interact with each other in the face of theological disagreements. In ReGrace, he uncovers some of the shocking beliefs held by faith giants like C.S. Lewis, Luther, Calvin, Moody, Spurgeon, Wesley, Graham, and Augustine–not to downgrade or dismiss them, but to show that even “the greats” in church history didn’t get everything right. Knowing that the heroes of our faith sometimes got it wrong will empower us to treat our fellow Christians with grace rather than disdain whenever we disagree over theology.
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John Henry Newman And His Age
$27.00Add to cartMany books exist devoted to the life, thought, and writings of Blessed John Henry Newman, the premier Catholic theologian in nineteenth-century England. His influence has been enormous, perhaps especially on Vatican II (1962-65). This book is a Newman primer, and not only a primer about Newman himself, but also about his time and place in church history. It attends to the papacy during his lifetime, his companions and friends, some of his peers at Oxford University, the First Vatican Council (1869-70), as well as some of his writing and theology. It should be especially helpful to an interested reader who has no particular background in nineteenth-century church history or in Newman himself.
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Larger Hope : Universal Salvation From The Reformation To The Nineteenth Ce
$31.00Add to cartThis book aims to uncover and explore the ideas of notable people in the story of Christian universalism from the time of the Reformation until the end of the nineteenth century. It is a story that is largely unknown in both the church and the academy, and the characters that populate it have for the most part passed into obscurity. With carefully located bore holes drilled to release the long-hidden theologies of key people and texts, the volume seeks to display and historically situate the roots, shapes, and diversity of Christian universalism. Here we discover a diverse and motley crew of mystics and scholars, social prophets and end-time sectarians, evangelicals and liberals, orthodox and heretics, Calvinists and Arminians, Puritans, Pietists, and a host of others. The story crisscrosses Continental Europe, Britain, and America, and its reverberations remain with us to this day.
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John Henry Newman And His Age
$47.00Add to cartMany books exist devoted to the life, thought, and writings of Blessed John Henry Newman, the premier Catholic theologian in nineteenth-century England. His influence has been enormous, perhaps especially on Vatican II (1962-65). This book is a Newman primer, and not only a primer about Newman himself, but also about his time and place in church history. It attends to the papacy during his lifetime, his companions and friends, some of his peers at Oxford University, the First Vatican Council (1869-70), as well as some of his writing and theology. It should be especially helpful to an interested reader who has no particular background in nineteenth-century church history or in Newman himself.