LITMIR.BIZ

"In my continuing spiritual journey I have become increasingly convinced of two truths: first, that each individual has the capacity to be touched by the divine and thereby to be made whole; second, that the combination of reason and materialism are literally destroying the world and its creatures, human and otherwise. This little book is implicitly a plea for the reinstitution of love and peace-as opposed to hatred and war-as the animating principles of life. Perhaps you will find your own search for the divine reflected in it." –from the Prologue.
Over the course of a long, rich life and legal career, John Rehm realizes there is much more meaning-and joy and pain-than mere reason can convey. Attentive to the variety of his «peak experiences» and glimpses of the divine, Rehm discovers a renewed love of and trust in life: the more he acknowledges its polarities and mystery, the more he understands. Simple couplets describe the life of Jesus, torturous poems reflect lives of the saints, and charming fables give us closely observed glimpses of the freedom that often only comes with age. Rehm's words and truth telling transport us on our own onward journey of seeking the Divine.

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Have you ever wondered, «Why am I here? What's gone wrong with the world? What is the answer? How will it all end? What do I have to do to know God?» What's God up to on Planet Earth? offers a no-strings-attached presentation of the Christian message written for those who are seeking answers to questions like these.
Mark Keown gives a compelling vision of a loving God whose desire is the restoration of the whole world. The book focuses on the individual person and how he or she fits into this inspiring vision. It is a must-read for those seeking to understand the Christian faith more.

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Jesus taught that love for others is the path to God, that you can't love God if you don't love your neighbor. In An Evangelical Social Gospel?, Tim Suttle shows how the exaggerated individualism of American culture distorts the gospel and weakens the church. He reaches back a full century to the writings of the great Baptist pastor Walter Rauschenbusch and offers an imaginative vision for how evangelicals can once again impact the world. Bypassing the culture wars and liberal/conservative squabbling, Suttle offers a way in which the corporate nature of Christianity can be held alongside the evangelical belief in personal salvation. In so doing, Suttle provides valuable theological rationale for the moves many are making toward social justice and helps us rediscover why the nexus of personal and corporate faith is where we find the power to transform lives and cultures alike. His approach to corporate sin and salvation, the kingdom of God, and missional theology are deeply rooted in the life of a pastor, yet informed by a rich theological mind.

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Have you ever wondered if there might be more to Genesis than fodder for anti-evolutionism? Or have you ever thought, «Revelation has to be more than simply a roadmap for the future of the Middle East»? You're not alone.
In The Beginning and the End Michael Pahl surveys the opening chapters of Genesis and the concluding chapters of Revelation, taking seriously both their historical and literary features as ancient texts and their theological purposes as inspired Scripture. The result is a reading of the first and last books of the Bible that sketches out, from beginning to end, a story of God, humanity, and all creation–a grand narrative in which we are placed in the middle, and which calls us to live in a particular way as our identity and our values are shaped in light of our origins and our destiny.

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In this devilishly entertaining book, Tripp York takes it upon himself to find the Prince of Darkness. Provoked by a wager made in one of his religion classes, York explores whether in proving the existence of Satan, we might in turn prove the existence of God. Admitting the idea is not half-bad (and thus, conversely, only half-good), York enlists the aid of numerous ministers, theologians, spiritual warriors, pagans, shamanists, fortune tellers, and Satanists in his fiendish quest to determine the whereabouts of God's first fallen creature. Part memoir and part theological treatise, The Devil Wears Nada is a compelling and humorous account of the strange, bizarre, and (oftentimes) offensive things we think about God, the Devil, and everything in between.

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Genesis «was a political document of the state, and its major function was to exalt David and his monarchy, not only with his own people but also among the other states of that world. The scribes of the monarchy used many sources for this work, and certainly the literary criticism of the past has helped us to isolate many of these sources. However, the view presented here is quite different from the older criticism in that the sources that were used in this work must date from before the exile. This is obvious, if the sources were used by the scribes of the Davidic monarchy. None of this can be said with dogmatic zest, but we can at this point discuss some reasons why it seems possible to see Genesis in this way.» –from the Introduction

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The Gospel of Judas: On a Night with Judas Iscariot presents a fresh translation of the Gospel of Judas, with introduction, commentary, and notes. Originally published with considerable international fanfare in 2006, the Gospel of Judas has prompted a vibrant discussion among scholars and other interested readers about the meaning of the text and the place of Judas Iscariot in the story of Jesus and the history of the church. Meyer, a member of the original research team assembled by the National Geographic Society to edit, translate, and publish the Gospel of Judas and the remaining texts in what is now called Codex Tchacos, here offers an up-to-date and thoroughly accessible translation of the Gospel of Judas, expanded with new fragments of the text and informed by the latest scholarship. He adds reminiscences of the work on the Coptic text when it first was coming to light in 2005 and 2006. This book also includes reflections on the extensive literature, beyond the Gospel of Judas, on the figure of Judas Iscariot, with suggestions for a literary interpretation of Judas–an interpretation that may have a dramatic impact upon our understanding of the role of Judas Iscariot in the story of Jesus's passion.

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Apparently, in 1338 and well into 1339, Death showed up for a grand performance at a little village of Nestorian Christians. The village was known as Issyk-Kul; it lay south of Lake Balkhash, Russia. The cemetery headstones made clear a major work of the macabre had taken place in that short year. Three of the stones actually told us that the THE PLAGUE killed the people buried there. It was etched into their epitaph. THE PLAGUE. And so it began. One of Europe's largest choreographed pieces–composed by Death–began in a humble village and played over and over again through towns and cities until two thirds of human life within her boundaries was buried from dancing so well with Death. We have danced with Death all our lives: as individuals and as a people.

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The ambitious and accessible essays collected in this volume were presented by John Howard Yoder during an extensive visit to South America in 1966. Reflecting and also subverting the acknowledged «faddish» attempt to address the revolutionary nature of Christianity, these lectures provide an illuminating snapshot of Yoder's vibrant initial encounter with Latin American Christianity. In these lectures, he thematically addresses the shape of the free church, the Christian practice of peace, and the place of the church in the midst of revolution. In a manner that betrays his confidence in the eventual triumph of faithfulness, Yoder concludes that the peace-witnessing free church is, by definition, always the community that is the soul and conscience of our revolutionary age.

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Take My Hand is an invitation to experience a year of preaching through the eyes of a first-year pastor. Andrew Taylor-Troutman reflects on his experience of ministry as a dynamic exchange between his theological education and the people in the pews. Each chapter consists of Taylor-Troutman's reflections about a particular aspect of living as a faith community and concludes with a sermon exploring similar themes and ideas. As this book journeys through the Christian liturgical year, Taylor-Troutman considers a wide range of contemporary church issues, including the role of children in worship and the communal practice of Sabbath. He discusses topics as diverse as the Rapture, the death penalty, and church league softball. Along the way, readers will laugh at Sunday morning bloopers, study biblical texts from new perspectives, wrestle with theological questions, and discover parallels between their own experience of faith and the life of this small, rural congregation. More than just a retrospective summary of events, Take My Hand poignantly illustrates how a pastor's work on Sunday morning grows out of his or her engagement with the hopes and fears of daily life, and the inspiring faith of men, women, and children in a church.

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