LITMIR.BIZ

Telling the Whole Story is both a book about preaching and reading the narratives of the Hebrew Bible. John C. Holbert (PhD in Hebrew Bible) was a longtime teacher of preaching and Hebrew Bible at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, having retired in 2012 after thirty-three years. In this volume he combines his two skills of careful narrative reading and imaginative story preaching to offer the first comprehensive look at this particular kind of sermon proclamation. The reader will also find here an introduction to the long history of story preaching in the history of the church, as well as a primer both in ways to read the narratives more effectively and ways to preach several varieties of story sermons.
At the heart of this book four narratives from the Hebrew Bible are exegeted and are accompanied by four story sermons based on those texts: Genesis 2-3; 1 Samuel 15; Judges 4; and Jonah. The goal of the book is to help preachers who are looking for effective ways to proclaim the gospel using narrative texts from the Hebrew Bible to allow the rich stories of the texts to sound their ancient truth to the modern world

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As the Christian church moved from its inception in an Eastern/Oriental culture westward across Asia Minor (Turkey) into Greco-Roman culture with primarily a Western philosophy, theology, and values, Jesus' message and Paul's teachings began to be interpreted according to those cultural norms. While Paul kept calling his churches back to their Jewish roots and Eastern values, the Jewish voice was lost when the Jerusalem church dispersed as Israel fell during the Jewish Revolt of 66-73 AD. The temple was destroyed, its clergy silenced, and Judaism seemed irrelevant to the growing Christian church. The church had become primarily Gentile in theology and philosophy and its Hebrew foundation was largely forgotten and lost. In Beyond Christian Folk Religion, Beckstrom, brings the reader back to Jesus' roots (Romans 11:17-23) and to the core of Paul's message.

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The Many Sides of Peace comes out of thirty years of living in a Catholic lay community, attempting to understand and practice the compelling ideas of gospel-centered nonviolent love. The book attempts to speak to the signs of these times for those who seek peace and liberation from both war and the looming ecological Armageddon. It is a faith based on the revelation of Jesus and the conviction that a love that is nonviolent will save this environmentally threatened planet and its warlike people from an «at risk» status to a more peaceful and sustainable one. This is a message of hope, a «how to live» spiritual manual for human/earth survival that can help create a bold and beautiful world.

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The Holy Spirit's ministry of illumination is a commonly misunderstood doctrine, both pragmatically and theologically. As a result, this divine activity is often neglected, but it should be recognized that it is indispensable for the hermeneutical endeavor.
This distinctive work seeks to take an apparently abstract concept and make it concrete by establishing proper categories and definitions for the doctrine of illumination while reemphasizing the cooperation of Word and Spirit. In doing so, this book treats issues such as the relationship between illumination and other hermeneutical doctrines, the accessibility of the Spirit's illumination when interpreting the Scriptures, and the question of unregenerate biblical interpretation.
Accordingly, Illumination and Interpretation presents a biblical-theological evaluation of the Spirit's work of illumination for the transformative purpose of understanding how to appropriate this vital hermeneutical doctrine into one's faith and practice.

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In the present volume, James Robinson shows how the Holiness movement contributed to the rise of Pentecostalism, with emphasis on those sectors that practiced divine healing. Although other scholars have undertaken to explore this story, Robinson's treatment is by far the most thorough examination to date. He draws productively on the burgeoning secondary literatures on Pentecostalism and healing, and brings to light frequently overlooked, yet revealing primary sources. The events narrated are fascinating in their own right, and are important to the histories of Pentecostalism and healing for how they clarify the processes by which divine healing was pursued, debated, and often disparaged. The text also contributes to larger medical and social histories, offering tantalizing glimpses of the roots of some of today's most popular and contested medical and religious responses to sickness and health.

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During the sixteenth century, many Reformers echoed Erasmus's claim that the Scriptures were clear, could be understood by even the lowliest servant, and should be translated into the vernacular and placed in the hands of all people. People did not require the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church to correctly interpret the meaning of the Scriptures. However, within a few short years, the leaders of the Magisterial Reformers, Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli, had created their own Protestant versions of the magisterium.
This work traces how the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture found expression in the writings of Balthasar Hubmaier, admirer of Erasmus and Luther, and associate of Zwingli. As Hubmaier engaged in theological debate with opponents, onetime friends, and other Anabaptists, he sought to clarify his understanding of this critical reformation doctrine. Chronologically tracing the development of Hubmaier's hermeneutic as he interacted with Erasmus, Luther, Zwingli, and Hans Denck provides a useful means of more accurately understanding his place in the matrix of the sixteenth-century Reformations.

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One of our best known biblical interpreters offers essays and sermons meant to assist preachers in their interpretation and explication of biblical texts. Often neglected in preaching, the Old Testament is a particular focus of attention, but only in the context of the wholeness of Scripture.
Questions addressed in this volume include the following: How does one approach and preach the Old Testament at Easter? What are the contemporary issues or dimensions in preaching the Ten Commandments? And how does the preacher hold the Old Testament and the New Testament in proclaiming God's word to the church?
In this collection, attention is given to preaching about the ministry and on particular occasions, such as funerals, baccalaureates, ordination, and in Advent and Christmas as well as before Holy Communion.

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The interest that Hebrews holds today is testimony to its enduring message. Central to its message is what Jesus Christ did and continues to do for his people. This is spelled out in arresting images. Dr. McKelvey provides new insight on Hebrews by demonstrating that two of its chief images – pioneer and priest – function not independently but in tandem. Christ is not pioneer without also being priest, and his priesthood is only properly understood in terms of the pioneer figure. Only one who is both pioneer and priest can provide the church with the help it needs. The double analogy in fact conveys the meaning of the Christian faith. This creative work takes account of the author's rhetorical style, showing how Hebrews is addressed to an urgent practical situation. It will appeal to those who want to know more about Hebrews as well as those who believe that the emerging church must follow Christ «outside the camp.»

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Using the form of the classical symphony as an analytical and critical tool, Sidney Green examines the concepts of orthodoxy and heresy and their historical development in the Christian church and applies those to the confessional approach of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON).
Using examples from history of the early church, the Reformation, and the contemporary emerging church, Green examines how the concept of boundaries and the exercise of ecclesiastical authority have been applied. Contemporary attempts to respond to the postmodern paradigm producing a neo-dynamic view of orthodoxy, including radical ideas in the area of sexuality, are examined.
Recognizing a dynamism in Anglican orthodoxy that is still very much alive alongside present attempts of conservative minorities to impose their view on the Communion–sometimes by very devious means–the distinctives of Anglican ecclesiology are discussed in the belief that ecclesiology is the outward expression of what theologically undergirds Anglican orthodoxy.
Current attempts to bring harmony and stability in place of fracture and dissonance culminating in the suggestion of an Anglican Covenant are examined. Possible alternate ways forward are suggested centered on the primacy of love.

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While debates abound today over the cost, purpose, and effectiveness of higher education, often lost in this conversation is a critical question: Should higher education attempt to shape students' moral and spiritual character in any systematic manner as in the past, or focus upon equipping students with mere technical knowledge?
Faith, Freedom, and Higher Education argues that Christianity can still play an important role in contemporary American higher education. George M. Marsden, D. G. Hart, and George H. Nash, among its authors, analyze the debate over the secularization of the university and the impact of liberal Protestantism and fundamentalism on the American academy during the twentieth century.
Contributors also assess how the ideas of Dorothy Sayers, C. S. Lewis, Wendell Berry, and Allan Bloom can be used to improve Christian higher education. Finally, the volume examines the contributions Christian faith can make to collegiate education and outlines how Christian institutions can preserve their religious mission while striving for academic excellence.

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