LITMIR.BIZ

In this work Susann Liubinskas provides a coherent reading of Paul's letter to the Romans in light of ancient ethnography. Paul, like his contemporaries, harnesses the apologetic power of this genre in order to fortify the members of the Roman house churches to maintain their distinctiveness by arguing for the historical legitimacy of the Christ movement's laws, customs, and way of life. When the law-faith dichotomy is considered within the larger context of Paul's ethnic discourse, its primary function as the means by which Paul draws lines of continuity and discontinuity between the Christ-movement and its venerable Jewish roots comes to light. Rather than viewing Paul as dealing with two different religions, we see Paul working to position believing Jews and Gentiles in relationship to Israel's history with God, particularly as its finds its climax in Jesus Christ. Thus, Paul utilizes the law-faith dichotomy, not to describe two paths of salvation, but to redefine the people of God, in the new age, as ethnically inclusive.

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In recent years, Paul has become the subject of renewed interest among political philosophers. These philosophers deploy Paul as a means to deconstruct late modern political issues such as liberalism, biopolitics, and sovereignty. However, these philosophers ultimately truncate Paul's message to fit nontheistic, materialist ends. Such an approach polarizes interpreters, often leading either to a full endorsement or full rejection. In this work, Spaulding adds a needed voice in this conversation. By neither fully endorsing nor fully rejecting the new approach to Paul, Spaulding argues that Paul's message is both materialist and faithful to the Christian tradition. Spaulding critically utilizes both the new approach and recent studies in apocalyptic interpretations of Paul in order to articulate a Pauline political theology for our time. Pauline apocalyptic emphasizes the already disruptive nature of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth that wrests humanity from under the sovereignty of the fallen powers and places them under the Lordship of Christ. Apocalyptic is nourished by the promise of the eschatological hope of the not-yet-finished work of Christ. The church that follows the Lordship of Christ is called forth into being in the tension of the present Lordship of Christ and the not-yet transformation of the cosmos. Such a tension begets practices that form the political commitment of what philosopher Iris Murdoch calls the just and loving gaze, namely the central conviction that, in order to live good (political) lives, one must be taught to see.

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In The Hasidic Moses, Aryeh Wineman invites readers to join him on a journey through various eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Hasidic texts that interpret the life of Moses. Such texts read their own accent on spirituality and innerness along with their conceptions of community and spiritual leadership into the biblical account of Moses. Wineman reveals the ways in which historical Hasidic voices interpreted both the Exodus from Egypt and the scene of Revelation at Sinai as statements concerning what occurs constantly in our lives at all times. In addition, Wineman shows how Hasidic readers embraced the idea that Moses had to die in order that his soul might return to the world in the righteous and holy ones of every generation, and that the presence of Moses actually transcends time and is present in spiritual understanding as it unfolds at any moment in any period.

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The complex nature of Christian communion with a personal God requires a nuanced expression. Since its inception, the early church affirmed God's unknowable nature and also participation in God through Christ. The church fathers employed the language of theosis in talking about union with God and human transformation in the likeness of God. However, the term theosis or deification is a broad category and requires precise explanation to avoid human dissolution in the divine in the mystical union. This book addresses the conundrum of imparticipable divine nature and personal union between human and the Trinity. If God is Trinity, then we are created and restored in the image of tripersonal God.

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This is the story of a young lad who loses his pa at the age of eleven and takes on the responsibility of the family farm. Charlie always tries to remember his father's counsel and follow it by doing right for others. However, his sixteenth birthday finds him overwhelmed with the arrival of a card containing a strange poetic message. This ordeal has Charlie in a state of confusion. Along with his pa's example, the help of Father Flanagan's Bible preaching, and some friends, Charlie discovers some valuable truths. From the leprechaun's curse, Charlie sees how vanity can be hidden deep inside. With that insight, he learns what true friendship is all about. As he starts to believe the priest about the Bible, he realizes that although you might know someone all your life, you may not really know them at all. His greatest revelation is that the verses in the Bible are applicable to everyday life. Through reading it, he learns that what seems evil, God can turn into good. Charlie McGee and the Leprechaun is an allegory in that it reveals the spiritual journey of a young lad to discover through his dilemma the truths of the Bible.

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When we hear the word shalom we think first of the common Jewish greeting. Then, perhaps, we consider the promise Jesus, the Prince of Peace, gave to his followers to grant them a peace the world cannot provide. In the Bible, the word shalom means much more than the absence of hostility–it means harmony and prosperity. Shalom refers to life as it was meant to be, as it should be, where sin is gone and love reigns. In this book, theologian Mark DeVine employs the well-known but little-studied Hebrew word to illuminate the three dimensions of relationship God the Creator designed human beings to enjoy: (1) the relationship between God and his people, (2) the relationship between God's people as his children, and (3) the relationship between God and his people in the place, the home God made for them and made them for. DeVine gives special attention to the third dimension, the home God provides to his people.
Shalom Yesterday, Today, and Forever offers a more fully evangelical and orthodox comprehension of redemption while avoiding the pitfalls that often jeopardize creation-friendly theologies.

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Consider: –The church both learns and becomes what it truly is when it gathers to worship. –Worship tells the story of God's salvation history and invites God's people into it. –By doing so, the church offers the world both a stern warning and a hopeful promise.
These are three of the key insights that animated the work of Jean-Jacques von Allmen, a Swiss Reformed pastor and professor who is among the most admired liturgical theologians of the twentieth century. Yet his work is largely and lamentably unknown to most worship leaders. In this book, Ron Rienstra provides an introduction to this important thinker. He offers methodological and biographical context and then explores von Allmen's most generative insights concerning the church as it engages in its most foundational activity: worship. Viewed through the lens of the Nicene marks, Rienstra's exploration yields the outlines of a «liturgical ecclesiology»: a way to help the church think more deeply about its identity and to help its leaders shape the worship they prepare and lead today.

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Social Trinitarians have not been shy about positing community as the chief ontological category for Trinitarian discourse. As beneficial as this is, social Trinitarians have typically been less helpful in advocating the sort of human community for the Trinitarian analogy that most people would probably find desirable. To use the example of a marriage, one has often been forced to choose between a fully egalitarian view, where the spouses supposedly have no differences from each other, and a hierarchical view where a husband exercises a unilateral and oppressive power over his wife. This book advocates a third alternative for the sort of community present in the Trinity. Just as genuine teamwork is generally desirable in various human communities, the divine persons have a mutual hierarchy relationship with each other. Here each divine person has a unique hierarchy over the others, and yet each uses this hierarchy to serve the others in a dignified way. Recognizing this mutual hierarchy of the divine persons fosters a view of the Trinity that is maximally social, in keeping with the name «social Trinitarianism.» In proceeding thus, the book attempts to, in a unique way, show the harmony between systematic theology, exegesis, and practice.

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This book traces the journeys of seven victims of childhood sexual abuse who have experienced recovery through the activity of the Holy Spirit within the context of the local church. These recovered victims have been enabled to move beyond the devastation of abuse by others whom they trusted to a place of emotional and psychological stability, appropriate sexual intimacy with their spouses, and a growing level of spiritual maturity. While the Christian community has been slow to grasp the severity and extent of the problem or to provide the healing resources of the gospel, some victims have found recovery in local churches. The author has undertaken in-depth interviews to elicit and explore the narratives of their journeys from woundedness to well-being. These narratives are an important source of information on the activity of the Holy Spirit in healing. While the Spirit is an entity hidden to us, the author has explored the experiences of seven recovered victims to disclose meaning for the work of the Spirit in all areas of Christian ministry.

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"Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!" Isaiah's words are deeply loved by many who attend Sunday services. But how many can say that they have actually read this book? This commentary invites you to read Isaiah from the era when it reached its sixty-six-chapter form and came to be part of Israel's sacred writings. Three memories helped to give shape to the Isaiah scroll. The first memory is of the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. How could God have allowed that to happen? The opening section of the scroll addresses that question. The second memory involves the fall of Babylon after 562 BCE. People, nations, and even empires rise and fall. The second section of the scroll addresses war and the sorrows of war. The third memory is of Cyrus of Persia, who allowed the exiles to return home after 539 BCE. His actions are presupposed, not just in the joyful poetry of the latter chapters of the scroll, but also in the confidence in God's love that runs through the entire scroll. God is the Lord of all nations and of all creation. Isaiah is a theological interpretation of past history. It is a passionate call for people to live with integrity, compassion, and hope.

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