LITMIR.BIZ

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.

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Johannine Literature offers some of the most beautiful, majestic, and profound theology contained within the entire biblical text. Within its works can be found the highest Christology, the capstone of eschatology, and the heartbreaking struggles of a community committed to Christ. However, it does not always get the attention it deserves in New Testament studies. This book seeks to remedy that by drawing together some of the most respected biblical scholars to bring their expertise to bear on various aspects of Johannine studies that are contained within the Gospel, Epistles, and the Apocalypse. These contributions have been collected as a Festschrift in honor and celebration of the career of Benny C. Aker, a preeminent scholar, teacher, and mentor.

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All ministry leaders concern themselves with the intersection of Jesus-centered ministry and contemporary culture. They ask themselves questions such as, "What do we need to change in order to keep up with a wired world?" "What should never change?" "What are the nonnegotiables of faith in Jesus?" Many have attempted to answer these questions. However, most of these leaders offer solutions that the everyday ministry leader simply cannot replicate. Signs of the Times is a unique offering to those who wrestle with the mash-up of ministry and culture. All of the contributors have found success within their ministries, and yet most do not minister to thousands on a weekly basis. Additionally, all of them have had the privilege of studying directly with Dr. Leonard I. Sweet. Despite having authored more than fifty books, Sweet can still be a bit of an enigma. Many of his readers have been deeply influenced by him, and yet they may still struggle to understand what his insights might mean for their ministry. Each of the contributors to this work thoughtfully engages with a key idea that they personally learned from Sweet and they translate it for ministry in the early twenty-first century.

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"Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. . . . And those who preach faith, and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction." – Bill Maher
Many seem unaware that contemporary critiques of Christianity are relevant mostly to its modern offshoots (whose followers have to some extent earned Bill Maher's unflattering caricatures). To its detriment, Christianity is increasingly identified in people's minds with these more recent expressions. As a result, a growing number of people are turning away from Christianity and, indeed, religious faith altogether.
Drawing from an eclectic group of theologians, clergy members, monastics, and lay scholars, this edited volume re-introduces Christianity to a modern audience. It presents a more authentic, experiential side of Christianity to the religious skeptic; a side that eschews blind faith, legalism, and judgment; a side that is rarely given a hearing in the ongoing debate with today's skeptics. Re-Introducing Christianity is also directed at modern Christians, and refutes their most frequently expressed criticisms of what the contributors boldly, but humbly, call the Apostolic Faith.

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The inerrancy of God's Word has been attacked throughout church history. Today's assaults are unique since neo-evangelicals now surrender to post-modernistic ideas of history and historical-critical ideologies that assault this vital doctrine. They seek to redefine the orthodox meaning of inerrancy. Since the signing of the Chicago Statements, troubling signs have once again appeared in recent years among many who either did not fight the battles for the inerrancy of Scripture as did the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, or who do not remember the troubling times that caused their development. The nature and definition of «inerrancy» are now being changed to include ideas of fallibility. History is forgotten. The need arises for sounding the alarm for Vital Issues in Inerrancy. Evangelical schools and churches that broke away earlier to defend inerrancy surrender now to academic prestige and scholarly fads instead of faithfulness to God's inerrant Word. The contributors pray that the Lord will raise up a new generation with the spiritual fervency of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy to uphold the inerrancy of God's Word: Isaiah 40:8–"The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever."

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What is the nature and purpose of the church for a twenty-first-century world? What is the church's calling in an age of globalization? Twenty-one pastors and theologians in the Reformed tradition offer insightful perspectives by bringing into conversation the treasures of liturgical and missional theology. These authors see the church's essential character to be as worshipping-witnessing communities, gathered and sent by the triune God. Topics that are explored include the relationship between worship and mission, baptism and the Eucharist, the formative role of community, the catholicity and ecumenicity of the church, multiculturalism, and hymnody.

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This collection of sermons adds compelling clarity to the growing chorus of Christian voices that are passionate about LGBTQ justice and equality–not in spite of their faith but precisely because of it. With a combination of pastoral sensitivity, scholarly insight, and courageous vision, these sermons are a must-read not only for LGBTQ people longing to know they don't have to deny their religious convictions in order to embrace their sexuality and/or gender identity, but also for people of faith who wonder if they have to disregard the Bible in order to fully accept their LGBTQ neighbors, friends, and family members. This volume is an ideal resource for small groups, Sunday school classes, preachers, church leaders, and all people everywhere who are interested in recognizing how the rich resources in the Bible can be cultivated in order to celebrate–rather than condemn–LGBTQ friends and neighbors.

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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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The body of Christ. The body of the anorexic. The altered body. The mutilated body. The Eucharist. Canonical Western thought has had an uneasy relationship with the flesh from Plato forward. Western philosophy has spent its time dwelling upon ideation, perception, cognition, and recollection, and has pursued, de facto if not de jure, a duality of mind and body that continues to this day. Western theology has followed suit, either viewing the body as humiliation, prison, or site of sin. However, movements in the twentieth century–philosophical, theological, and scientific–have all issued challenges to the longstanding tradition. These challenges invite us to reconsider long-held beliefs about cognition, the body, and human experience in the world. In particular, Wesleyan theology and philosophy are called to address our inheritance and to move beyond it. This Is My Body provides a collection of essays addressing the body from broadly Wesleyan, Christian, and philosophical perspectives, examining Wesley's engagement with the body, embodied epistemologies, the body and the Church, and the altered body in relation to Christian Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience.

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Remembering the Future is a collection of poems, essays, and interviews that ask readers to see their world with double-vision-to imagine the redemptive consequences of engaging the world with a fastidious awareness of both the biblical tradition and the cultural moment. Remembering the Future is gathered from the first years of The Other Journal, an online quarterly positioned at the intersection of theology and culture. The Other Journal examines theology with fresh eyes, probing faith with passion, authenticity, and creativity; and this anthology represents the highlights of that endeavor, including content from some of the most important voices in the field of theology today. Remembering the Future offers readers an engaging, thought-provoking picture of what sound theological thinking can and must offer today's Christians giving witness to Christ in our contemporary cultural landscape.

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