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Live Like You Give a Damn! declares the very good news that God is raising up a new generation, largely outside the church, to bring impressive change to the lives of our neighbors locally and globally by creating innovative forms of social enterprise and community empowerment. The even better news is that those of us within the church can join this changemaking celebration and discover creative new ways God can use our mustard seeds to make a more remarkable difference than we ever imagined possible. In this book Tom Sine offers practical ways you can join those who are creating their best communities, their best world, and in the process their best lives. Sine shows that in a world changing at warp speed, following Jesus is a «design opportunity.» It is not only an opportunity to design innovative ways to make a difference but also an opportunity to create lives with a difference, in the way of Jesus, that are simpler and more sustainable–and to throw better parties along the way. Why would anyone want to settle for less and miss the best?

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Abigail Waldron always knew she wanted to be a mother. What she didn't realize was how difficult the journey to motherhood could be. After struggling with infertility and then experiencing a second-trimester miscarriage, she's left wrestling with questions about the God she's loved since her childhood, wondering, How could a good God permit such painful suffering? And, How can I keep trusting Him in the face of such great loss?
Far as the Curse Is Found explores these questions over the course of a year in Abigail's life, as she continues her quest to grow her family while seeking God for answers. To help with this process, she interviews eleven other couples on similar journeys, couples who've also had their faith tested by experiences of reproductive loss.
The stories in this book, characterized by tragedy and heartache, are difficult. Yet as Abigail engages with them, her sense of isolation is replaced with an awareness of the community that surrounds her. More importantly, she begins to see glimpses of a God who is mysteriously present in our darkest moments, a God who is always at work creating beauty from our brokenness.

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This book seeks to demonstrate that the fellowship meal traditions in the ancient world form the background against which the Lord's Supper must be understood. Likewise, the basis of Paul's response to the situation in Corinth and his theology of the Lord's Supper is to be found in the fellowship meal traditions. The book begins with a study of fellowship meal traditions in the Greco-Roman and Jewish societies. The roles and functions of the fellowship meal in these cultures indicate that the fellowship meal was an important institution and it played a pivotal role in the functioning of their societies. One important observation is that judgment was an integral part of the fellowship meal traditions and it made such meal practices all the more significant in ancient cultures. Based on the fellowship meal practices, the study reveals that social-economic factors were only part of the problem in Corinth. Different ideologies and theologies were the underlying reason behind the divisions in the church. Paul's response to the problem reveals that he upheld the fellowship meal traditions. The link between sickness and death and the abuse of the Lord's Supper is a testament to that. The concept of judgment in the Lord's Supper, while based on the fellowship meal traditions, has been redefined in the light of the Gospel tradition.

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This book takes you on a journey that unpacks and demystifies what spiritual growth is and how it unfolds. The aim is to set you on your own path toward genuine, personal spiritual transformation. The book provides all the tools you need–biblical, scientific, and practical–so that you can develop your own pathway for spiritual growth. What is unique about Victor Copan's approach to spiritual growth is that he explores recent findings of brain research as well as scientific research on habit formation and brings them into conversation with the process of spiritual formation. Research on the brain and on habit formation has uncovered significant insights about the process and dynamics of human transformation that can be fruitfully incorporated into our own pursuit of spiritual transformation. Tapping into this research allows us to work in concert with how God designed humans to function–body, soul, and spirit.

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Reading Romans as Lament examines how and why Paul uses such a high volume of Old Testament lament in his letter to the Romans. Lament is not merely a poignant cry of distress, but a distinct form of prayer scattered across the pages of the Old Testament. It contains a distinct literary footprint and theology. Although often overlooked, Romans contains a great deal of this prayer form through its various lament citations and echoes. When these citations and echoes are heard, it impacts the interpretation of the letter's argumentation and sheds historical light on suffering in the early church. Building on the work of both Old Testament scholarship and recent trends in Pauline Studies, most notably Claus Westermann and Richard B. Hays, this book explores how Paul uses the language and theology of Old Testament lament to address the tension between what his gospel promises and the pain his listeners experience. The echoes of lament in Romans indicate that suffering stems from various sources, but they share a common concern with divine wrath. The experience of pain, including concern over God's wrath, is a reality for the «righteous» in Rome. Paul consistently answers their cries of distress with the gospel.

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The philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty was developing into a radical ontology when he died prematurely in 1961. Merleau-Ponty identified this nascent ontology as a philosophy of incarnation that carries us beyond entrenched dualisms in philosophical thinking about perception, the body, animality, nature, and God.
What does this ontology have to do with the Catholic language of incarnation, sacrament, and logos on which it draws? In this book, Orion Edgar argues that Merleau-Ponty's philosophy is dependent upon a logic of incarnation that finds its roots and fulfillment in theology, and that Merleau-Ponty drew from the Catholic faith of his youth. Merleau-Ponty's final abandonment of Christianity was based on an understanding of God that was ultimately Kantian rather than orthodox, and this misunderstanding is shared by many thinkers, both Christian and not. As such, Merleau-Ponty's philosophy suggests a new kind of natural theology, one that grounds an account of God as ipsum esse subsistens in the questions produced by a phenomenological account of the world. This philosophical ontology also offers to Christian theology a route away from dualistic compromises and back to its own deepest insight.

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It has never been easy to preach about the cross and resurrection of Jesus, but difficulties today are particularly challenging. Hearers ask tough questions of the church and the Christian faith, and they are not satisfied by formulaic answers. People are often suspicious of doctrine and are attracted to a broad but vague or pluralistic spirituality rather than the classical claims of Christianity.
In this climate, preachers often see preaching on the central events of the Christian story, the crucifixion and resurrection, as more of a problem than a possibility, more of a burden than a joy. They wonder not only how to preach the «old, old story» of cross and resurrection but whether they should preach these themes at all.
This book addresses these concerns and shows preachers how to preach the cross and resurrection in fresh, culturally relevant ways that deepen Christian discipleship. Each chapter shows the relevance of preaching the cross for addressing a particular congregational concern. What has ironically become a stumbling block in the pulpit, the stone that preachers often reject–preaching on the cross and resurrection of Jesus–can serve as the cornerstone for building up the congregation for discipleship in our world.

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Have you ever considered the ultimate purposes and consequences of good work performed by non-Christians? Have you ever theologically considered the work of non-Christians at all? Is it possible that God would ever give credence to, let alone honor the work of, non-Christians in an ultimate sense? Are you frustrated by theologies of work that are entirely protological in orientation? How do we make sense of biblical excerpts that talk of work being judged towards a particular outcome? The Good Work of Non-Christians, Empowerment, and the New Creation attempts to answer these questions in a manner that also challenges evangelical assumptions about the ultimate outcomes of working life. Drawing strength from eschatologically minded theologies by Miroslav Volf and Darrell Cosden, Weir seeks to replace protology with eschatology in a theology of work about non-Christians. The British evangelical tradition is specifically taken up here so as to make critical assessments of certain airtight theologies regarding human action with reference to the new creation. This book attempts to create a heuristic against unhelpful hermeneutical tendencies that inform evangelical theologies. This is a work that is not only theological, it is biblically, historically, and ethically rigorous.

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And God said: «Let there be light.» And there was light.
These words mark the first step in the creation of all life. The very genesis of light is tied to the nature and purpose of God–God as the author of light, as the pouring out of light, as light itself.
Believers in the three Abrahamic faiths have always understood God as light. The Hebrew scriptures celebrate this divine illumination: «Yahweh is my light and my salvation . . .» (Psalm 27). Christians, too, proclaim that «God is light, and in him is no darkness at all» (1 John 1.5). For Muslims, «Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth» (Sura 24.35). And theologians and mystics of all ages have explored the revelation and meaning of divine light.
This volume explores the theme of divine illumination in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Theologians, physicians, and philosophers share their wisdom and understanding of the uncreated light that God is, the created physical light of the world, and the relationship of enlightenment to human reason and ethics.
Contributors: Philip Amerson Jamal Badawi Kimberley Curnyn Mark A. Dennis, Jr. Souleymane Bachir Diagne Wendy Doniger Peter Knobel Larry Murphy William Murphy Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern Morton Schapiro Jan van Eys Kenneth L. Vaux Sara Anson Vaux Richard Vaux Julie Windsor Mitchell K.K. Yeo

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Domestic abuse is a horror. It lurks beneath the surface of our collective existence, sometimes raising its ugly head where least expected-in the church or within families of faith.
Are we-individually or collectively-ready to respond? What can, or should, congregations and their pastoral leaders do? And, as we survey the Christian landscape across the United States and Canada, are we as the community of faith stepping up to the challenge presented by violence in the family?
There is no easy answer to the problems that surface when abuse impacts the Christian family. But each of the authors contributing to this volume believes fervently that it is imperative that followers of Jesus and their spiritual shepherds respond to the cries for help. To respond well necessitates both knowledge and a willingness to act.
This book is here to help. It represents a collective effort to bring all of us a step farther in our journey of walking with Christ over a sea of troubled waters. None of us know as much as we should, but all of us can learn from one another. Throughout the collection we provide an opportunity to examine a diversity of perspectives, with the hope that each will in some way advance our understanding of the complexity of domestic violence issues in our midst-within our churches and the communities where our churches minister.