LITMIR.BIZ

"Why does God hate me?" «How can I believe in a God who has allowed my suffering?» These are just two of the difficult spiritual questions that survivors of child sexual abuse struggle with. In addition, survivors often have mixed feelings about the church because of perceived judgment and indifference, their own shame, or their discomfort with certain aspects of worship. Of the many aftereffects of sexual abuse, spiritual wounds are the least talked about, yet they are central to adult survivors who seek to heal and find faith and meaning in their lives. With grace and gentleness, this book seeks to answer survivors' spiritual questions and address some of the common misconceptions that often develop when young victims attempt to understand what has happened to them. It explores the origins of their spiritual issues with clear psychological insights and guides survivors on a spiritual journey toward healing, wholeness, and a deeper relationship with God.

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The Lord warns of a «famine . . . of hearing the word of the Lord» (Amos 8:11). Has this warning come to pass in our day? There is no shortage of preachers, but how often do they miss the mark in actually delivering the word of God to their hearers, leaving them hungry? The authors of these essays seek to equip preachers with resources to offer their hearers a rich feast from the word of the Lord. Writing from a Lutheran perspective, contributors from across the globe provide a fresh approach to preaching. These authors represent seasoned pastors and professors as well as young scholars. All are actively preaching and teaching God's word on a regular basis. This book covers a wide range of topics relating to preaching–from the scriptural background and hermeneutical issues to historical examples of notable preachers, and also practical guides to crafting and delivering a sermon. These essays will assist preachers in proclaiming God's word in a manner that provides a feast for those living in a famine-stricken world.

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What can Mary Wollstonecraft teach Christians about sexual ethics? Can John Stuart Mill help the church understand toleration? Are there lessons for the Christian world from writers like Marx, Nehru, Shelley, Popper, and Hume? Atheism for Christians looks at the work of some of the most influential secular thinkers and asks what Christians can learn without giving up their faith or core values. Looking at important modern issues such as gender equality, same-sex marriage, creationism and evolution, abortion, universal health, biblical literalism, and religious tribalism, this work offers a fresh perspective on old questions. The Bible says the value of wisdom is far above rubies. It should not matter where that wisdom comes from. The Christian world should be able to celebrate and learn from the intellectual giants in the secular tradition just as atheists can still appreciate the great academic and artistic contribution of Christianity. The nexus between faith and reason is sometimes stretched but should never be abandoned. Atheism for Christians offers a unique insight into the work of some of the greatest secular thinkers and argues there is much to learn.

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Beginners scanning Leviticus will find much detail about rituals and sinful situations, but little enlightening context or rationale. This study explores how scholars imagine that these rituals and moral laws made sense to those living back then, even though many of these early rituals and customs have been discontinued or replaced by consensus with alternative forms of worship. The authors seem to be unquestioningly devout, and quite realistic about life at the same time. Everyone shared in rituals of faith at home, at shrines, or in Jerusalem; everyone honored the proper food and eligibility regulations, and everyone was called to the common code of justice. Likewise, most everyone knew at least the temptation to shirk religious duties; they understood the lure of trying to contact other gods, ones more lenient or at least easier to understand; and they could be inclined to look the other way at improper romances, or quick but dishonest chances to get a bigger slice of the pie. The Covenant was not a deal made by saints. It was a cry for help from sinners, a cry for help for which they had not earned the right. The same is true for us believers even now.

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The role of architecture within the French Reformed tradition has been of recent scholarly interest, seen in the work of Helene Guicharnaud, Catharine Randall, Andrew Spicer, and others. Few, however, have explored in depth the relationship between Reformed theology and architectural forms. This thesis explores the roots of Reformed aesthetics, set against the background of late medieval church architecture. The work of Serlio is demonstrably important in the spreading of the ideas of Vitruvius, indicating the influence of classical Roman building on French Reformed architecture. There follows an examination of five important Huguenot architects: Philibert de l'Orme, Bernard Palissy, Jacques-Androuet du Cerceau, Salomon de Brosse, and Jacques Perret. We then undergo a comparative examination of three churches: St. Pierre in Geneva, a medieval church overhauled by the Reformers; St. Gervais-St. Protais, a Parisian Catholic church whose facade was completed by the French Reformed architect Salomon de Brosse; and the temple at Charenton, a structure also designed and built by de Brosse. These three buildings reveal the contribution of Huguenot architecture, a distinct language that gave expression to Reformed theological ideas and helped bring about the renewal of classicism in France.

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These homilies, lectures, and essays vigorously champion the author's conviction that it is reasonable to believe in a God of «pure unbounded love» and, also, that the best religion is a reasonable religion. That is, «the God of Love» is «the God of Reason» and, as a seventeenth-century Cambridge preacher put it, «If you would be religious, be rational in your religion.»
Thus, these essays challenge both the New Atheists and Fundamentalists, who are twins like Tweedledum and Tweedledee. And they aim, positively, to unpack the meaning and implications of Jesus' dictum: «You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.»

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Eschatological glory is a significant motif in Romans that has failed to garner the attention it deserves. Donald Berry argues that glory lies at the heart of Paul's redemptive historical framework and is an integral part of the gospel Paul proclaims in Romans. For Paul, eschatological glory is the realization of God's purpose for Adam and for Israel to see and to show forth the glory of God. This divine purpose finds fulfillment in Christ and in the new humanity he creates, those who now have «hope of the glory of God» (Rom 5:2). Paul's letter to the Romans provides stunning glimpses into the nature of this eschatological glory and the hope that believers have in Christ. Through careful and compelling exegesis, Berry brings to light Paul's conception of glory and its place at the center of God's purposes in redemptive history. While providing crucial insights into Romans, this study also contributes more broadly to Pauline theology and to the field of biblical theology. It highlights Paul's understanding of a unified divine purpose that runs through creation and redemption–God's desire to display his nature and character in all of creation through image-bearers who share in and reflect his glory.

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Today much preaching and teaching throws people back upon themselves to earn their relationship with God and to try to achieve by their own efforts the kind of person that they ought to be. In The Claim of Humanity in Christ, Alexandra Radcliff counters the Torrances' critics to show the significance of their controversial understanding of salvation for the interface between systematic and pastoral theology. Radcliff then constructively extends the implications of the Torrances' work to a liberating doctrine of sanctification. The Christian life is conceived as the free and joyful gift of sharing by the Spirit in the Son's intimate communion with the Father whereby we are turned out of ourselves to reflect the reality of who we are in Christ.

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Though more than four hundred years have elapsed since the Bishops' Bible was first published in 1568, its story has never been adequately told. No book-length evaluation has been published, and no adequate bibliography is available for guidance in studying this least known of the Tudor-period Bibles. This neglect is surprising in that Shakespeare's earlier plays reflect his use of the Bishops' Bible and that the Bishops' Bible was used by the translators of the King James Version as the basis for their revision. This study depicts the religious, literary, and intellectual atmosphere that produced the Bishops' Bible, describes its place in sixteenth-century translations, re-evaluates its contribution to the study of the English Bible, and investigates the history and qualifications of the men invited to participate in the translation project. Attention is given to the artwork, the most elaborate of any in first editions of early English Bibles, and to the notes designed to correct the objectionable Calvinistic notes of the Geneva Bible. A presumption that the bishops would not prepare a better Bible until «a day after domesday» gives the title to this study–The Day after Domesday.

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Would a book on how to lead a successful business answer the question of how to grow a church? The Apostle Paul would think not. Taking seriously God's instruction in the Scriptures Paul had, the apostle instructed Titus what he had to do to grow the church in Crete well–and it was not to follow a business model. This publication seeks to assist today's reader as he works his way through Paul's letter to Titus. Along the way we'll grapple with such questions as –How do you make a church prosper? –What should leadership in a church look like? –What role are individual members to play in the Lord's church? –How does one handle dissent in a church? –How does the church thrive in a culture of deceit? A fresh look at this letter's answers can only be beneficial as one seeks to grow God's way in today's business-minded world.

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