LITMIR.BIZ

This book contains twelve meditations on the New Testament book of Revelation, written by theologians, biblical scholars, historians, and clergy. In short, easy-to-read selections that are profound and relevant to life, the meditations–along with three or four accompanying questions–help the reader engage more deeply with the Scripture passage. Given the potential challenges of this final book of the Christian canon, these meditations help the reader find a way to enter in and experience more fully what John, the author of the Apocalypse, wanted us to hear and see.

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Imagine reading a letter where the writer is engaged in a heated debate with someone and repeatedly cites their positions, but never uses quotation marks to indicate that he is quoting them. This is precisely what we find in 1 Corinthians! Paul frequently quotes certain factions within the church and then proceeds to correct their faulty thinking; but he rarely explicitly tells us that he is quoting them. This poses a significant challenge for interpreters of this letter. How do we know when Paul is stating his own position rather than quoting a Corinthian position that he actually rejects? Quoting Corinthians sets forth a step-by-step process for evaluating potential quotations in the New Testament and then applies that process to eleven passages in 1 Corinthians where quotations may occur. As the first book-length attempt to establish more objective criteria for identifying quotations, Quoting Corinthians is a valuable resource for students and scholars alike who are seeking to rightly interpret the New Testament.

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How do we live the Christian life? April Love-Fordham and her husband contemplated this as they retraced the footsteps of Saint Francis across the Italian wilderness. Did they need to renounce materialism and live more simply? Did they need to do more work serving those in need? Was more Bible study or a stronger prayer life needed? What made their commitment to Christ different than those committed to other faiths? How could their lives make a difference?
Love-Fordham was planning a lecture series on Galatians, written by the Apostle Paul, when she and her husband began their pilgrimage. As they journeyed into the life and legends of Saint Francis, a playful old-school Franciscan monk befriended them. Together, the three named the parallels and divergences in the lives of Saint Francis and Paul. In doing so, they discovered an entirely new–but ancient–way of following Jesus.
This book teaches Galatians the way Jesus taught: through parables. In this case, the parables are about Saint Francis. Each section ends with a spiritual practice designed to help readers discover their own unique way of living the Christian life.

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Several years before his death, Augustine of Hippo reviewed his published works, commenting on his purpose in writing each, and correcting, from his present perspective, the mistakes he noticed. Inspired by Augustine's Retractationes, Miles's Recollections and Reconsiderations undertakes a similar project, a critical review of almost fifty years of her publications. Rereading and rethinking in chronological order effectively bonds life and thought into a corpus, a body of work with consistent values and interests. Such a review would be an illuminating project for any longtime scholar/student–both rewarding and humbling, an exercise in self-knowledge. Informed by a lifetime of studying Christian traditions, Miles concludes by describing both endemic problems with Christianity, and what she sees is its essence and beauty.

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In As the Broken White Lines Become One, Michael Gehring recounts his spiritual journey through the landscape of late-twentieth-century southern American Christianity. This account depicts how and why he drifted away from the Roman Catholic Church, fellowshipped for a while with the Assemblies of God, sojourned for a prolonged time as an outsider to the institutional church, and eventually found a theological home within United Methodism. What follows is a spiritual journey with a lot of turns. The work is not intended to be a complete autobiography. Significant biographical details and relationships are not included as this narrative focuses on the shifting and sifting grounds of American Christian denominations. This chronicle primarily concerns the spiritual journey that led him to United Methodism and what it was like, not only to choose it, but also to inhabit it.

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When writing to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul used figurative temple language repeatedly to shape the identity of his audience («Temple of God,» «Temple of the Holy Spirit,» and «Temple of the Living God»). While other scholars have identified the place of the Jerusalem temple in Paul's thinking or the impact of temples in the life of Corinth, there has been no comprehensive study of the way that figurative temple language in philosophy could have influenced the Corinthians' worldview. Hellenistic philosophy was pervasive in the first century and provided theological guidance for faith and practice to Paul's Gentile audience before their conversion.
Philip N. Richardson provides a comprehensive survey of figurative temple language in Hellenistic philosophy, shedding light on the way that the kinds of philosophical thought known in cities like Corinth may have influenced the Corinthians to think about figurative temple language. This study throws into sharp relief the similarities and differences between Paul's use of temple language and that of philosophy, and illuminates Paul's setting of this language in the wider framework of 1-2 Corinthians and his purpose for its use in the argument of the letters.

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Contemporary Western society has a strange relationship with freedom. Unbridled subjective liberty and narrow fundamentalism pull away from each other in mutual loathing while sociological forces seek to manipulate both sides. The church needs to recover and reconstruct a theology of freedom to navigate between the perils of both extremes and to avoid being manipulated by these forces. Just as biblical figures are taught through parables and metaphors, this book uses jazz improvisation as an analogy for Christian freedom. Just as jazz improvisation relies on successfully navigating constraints such as the history and traditions of jazz, jazz theory, and musical instruments, so Christian freedom also relies on constraints such as the biblical canon, church history, theology, and the church itself. Through understanding the freedom jazz musicians enjoy in making music together, we can better understand how Christian freedom might be enacted in daily life. If Western churches discover and enact Christian freedom in a meaningful way, the songs that they improvise will be as siren calls to people in chains.

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This book strengthens next-level scripture engagement for Jesus followers, pushing us to: Move beyond fill-in-the-blank discipleship programs, Feel as competent about the Bible as we feel about our life work, and Get comfortable living with unanswered questions while we seek and serve God.
Bible for Self-starters presents the Bible as it presents itself: an ancient Jewish story as relevant as today's news. It is a story you can know, understand, and apply.
"On Scene" insight sections put you next to Moses, David, Peter, and many other Bible characters in the eyes-wide-open dilemma of making critical decisions as life unfolds.
"Meditation" and «Deeper Still» questions Point out the Bible's thematic and theological hyperlinks that weave its stories into the whole story, Give permission to peek behind doors left ajar in the text, and Encourage you to explore uncomfortable implications and apply the Scripture to real life.
As a human, feel awed and connected to God's story. Climb out of your safe, warm, bubble bath and dive into the deep ocean called the Bible.

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Enoch's Journey will shed light on Enoch's walk with God, as well as your own. The book discusses Enoch's three-hundred-year walk, including some of the issues that he would face along the way–problems that would come to hinder and impede his close fellowship with God. It also discusses the more clearly defined journeys of Joseph and Job. If you have read their stories in the Bible, you know that both faced plenty of challenges, fraught with peril and trial. However, there was a purpose to reshape them so that they could be transported into the next phase of their lives, ready to fulfill the larger calling that God had always intended for them. Many other biblical figures are also discussed in this book, generally in a lighthearted manner. Rest assured that there is always a higher purpose to every trial and challenge that we face in life. Reading this book will encourage us to continue to walk with God and keep up the pace so we can see the end of the journey, as well as the beginning, and we can know how to thrive in God's true purpose for our lives.

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Who is showing us the way? In ancient Palestine, when Jesus Christ asked people who they thought he was, one of their top guesses was the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah. "Who do people say that I am?" "Some say Jeremiah or one of the prophets." There was something about Jesus that reminded people of Jeremiah. In our moment in history, when we desperately need leaders and role models to show us a better way, Jeremiah stands as a human cornerstone, a blueprint for dynamic living in the middle of desperate times. With compassion and biblical insight, author Chris Jackson shows us how ancient wisdom from Jeremiah's life can lead us into towering, dynamic living today.

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