LITMIR.BIZ

The Word of God as it has been received by the church has embedded in it dozens of songs. Each of these songs has a story to tell us about God and God's people. In brief meditations, twelve faculty at Wycliffe College explore Songs of Scripture in this volume to answer the questions «Why do Scriptures tell us to sing? What are we to sing? What does singing make of us?» Each of these meditations will give you a new appreciation for God's gift of songs. By singing the words of Scripture, we tune our hearts to God's song.

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There are multiple names given to Jesus in the Bible. Fifty of them are presented in this book, Names for Jesus. In the ancient world, a name had a meaning; in this book's entries one can discover the meaning of a name for Jesus, which often indicates one of his functions as understood by a biblical author.
Often, both religious and spiritual people look for some reading material that will guide them through the Advent and Christmas seasons. Here is an ecumenical approach; this book is general enough for any Christian.
Each of the entries consists of five parts: 1) the name; 2) a short quotation from Scripture, which contains the name given in the title; 3) a reflection exploring the meaning of the name; 4) a journal/meditation section to help the reader make connections between the reflection and his or her own life; and 5) a short prayer.
Anyone can finish the spiritual journey of Advent and Christmas enriched for having spent time with Names for Jesus.

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In The Holy Spirit as Communion, Leon Harris examines the pneumatologies of Colin Gunton and Frank Macchia. For both theologians, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is foundational to understanding their doctrine of God, Christology, and ecclesiology. Drawing on the theme of communion, The Holy Spirit as Communion expresses the concept that the Holy Spirit is the person who perfects the divine nature and personhood of the Father and Son. It is the Holy Spirit who perfects the eternal communion within the divine Trinity, which is the source of the divine action that also perfects the communion in creation as an expression of the Father's will through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit as Communion explores the essentiality of the Holy Spirit through a unique approach to Spirit Christology: Gunton is represented by a radicalized version of Chalcedon Christology, and Macchia formulates his account through the overarching metaphor of «Spirit baptism.» Therefore, the doctrine of God, Christology, ecclesiology, and eschatology cannot be construed without a proper account of pneumatology that takes into consideration the eschatological perfecting work of the third person of the Trinity–who perfects creation's koinonia as a gift from the Father through the grace of Jesus Christ.

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First Corinthians offers readers a window into the social life and setting of an early Christ-movement congregation. The Apostle Paul's practical guidance to the Corinthians living in a Roman colony overlaps with many contemporary concerns: identity, leadership, sexuality, gender, diversity, worship, theology, and economics. All too often, however, the letter is read in an individualistic and supersessionistic way. Furthermore, parts of the letter are lifted out of their original context and applied in ways foreign to that setting. This book reads the letter through the lens of social identity theory, a leading social scientific method for understanding the New Testament. This reading strategy is supported by a post-supersessionist perspective in which the church is not thought to replace Israel as God's people. The aim of this book is to introduce non-specialists to this fascinating letter in a way that highlights the current research into the social context of Corinth. It offers relevant discussion questions and an identity-critical reading of 1 Corinthians that shows Paul's interest in three key themes: identity, ethics, and ethos.

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Who is Chosen? introduces students to four different theories about Christian salvation. The goal is not to convince anyone to agree with a particular theory, but rather to allow students to be more informed about major lines of thought within Christian theology. Discussion questions and a short critique are provided for each major theory. There are also brief remarks concerning the vexing problem of addressing Christian salvation to those outside of the Christian Church.

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Why are 80 percent of our congregations stagnant or dying? There are a variety of reasons. This book dives deeply into one of the main reasons–the failure to adapt to the cultural changes of our day. When the Reformation began 500 years ago it sparked a number of radical changes (like worshipping in the vernacular rather than in Latin, etc.) that shocked the church. Over time many saw the merit of those changes and adapted. In the very same way today, major cultural changes are taking place. Is the church open to understanding those changes? And are congregations making the necessary effort to appropriately adapt to them without compromising our central message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
This «transformational manual» addresses the cultural shifts and provides practical and experience-based ideas to appropriately respond while keeping a strong emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus. Are you ready to become a 21st century church?

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Theology and disability have not always had an easy relationship. The interactions have ranged from downright hostile to indifferent or unintentionally excluding over the centuries. This theology book chooses instead to include those with disabilities after more than a decade of consideration and study. This results in a re-examination of major theological topics and the impact on the lives of those with disabilities, their family and friends, and the community at large.  The focus of the book is to move the church beyond welcome to inclusion–where those with disabilities move from a guest of the community to equal and valued member of the community. While the book is about the theological inclusion of those with disabilities, its implications reach far beyond. It sets an approach for all people to find a place where they too may live in the fullness of Christian community. Stories of personal encounters are blended with explanations of doctrinal perspectives giving the reader a chance to connect knowledge with wisdom born from real life experience.

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To learn to read a text for the portals of silence that are implicit in it is to gain a powerful tool for supporting and expanding one's silence, and to open the reader to the insight that ensues. The sort of reading proposed in this volume is both costly and rewarding. These pages invite readers once again to look at their own minds, to reflect on what is happening there, and to understand the essential role of silence for being human, and for living our own truth with one another.

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Throughout history, Christians have found the summary of their faith in the three ancient creeds. The God We Proclaim explores that faith as it is found in the shortest of them: the Apostles' Creed. The contributors are among Britain's foremost Christian communicators and teachers. Written with an infectious enthusiasm for theology, The God We Proclaim is ideal for anyone seeking to understand the Christian faith, either individually, or in a church or student study group. It is based on a set of sermons delivered in the chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge, which surveyed the foundations of Christianity. Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) wrote in her essay «The Dogma is the Drama» that people assume that if churches are empty it is because preachers «insist too much upon doctrine,» or «dull dogma» as they disapprovingly call it. Sayers knew that the opposite is true. «It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man–and the dogma is the drama.»

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Many people would be surprised to hear that a playful attitude towards God and the world lies at the heart of Christian faith. Traditionally Christians have focused on the serious responsibilities of service, sacrifice, and commitment. But the prophets say that the future kingdom is full of people laughing and playing, which has implications for Christians who are called to live out the future kingdom in the present. Play is not trivial or secondary to work and service–only a playful way of living does justice to the seriousness of life! Play is the essential and ultimate form of relationship with God, which is why Jesus told people to learn from children. Indeed, a playful attitude is an important part of all significant relationships. This book explores grace, faith, love, worship, redemption, and the kingdom from the perspective of a playful attitude. It describes how to create a «play ethic» to match the «work ethic» and discusses play as a virtue, Aquinas's warning against the sin of not playing enough, and Bonhoeffer's claim that in a world of pain it is only the Christian who can truly play.

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