Maturity is not based on age but on attitude, life experiences, and expectations. Because of this there are adults who have no maturity; quite often they are the athletes and the celebrities of our society. Society is stunned by their pouting and random acts of immaturity, but it is only because they have not had the opportunity to mature in the face of living catered lives. And unless they are forced to do so, they will not mature. Society has given them this option; God does not give Christian men and women this same option. Gods mandate to Christian men and women is to lead lives that are in constant pursuit of spiritual maturity.
What if the Bible actually keeps us from hearing the Word of God? For many Christians, the Bible is the only way to know anything about God. But according to that same Bible, everyone can know God directly through an actual relationship with Jesus. Jesus Unbound is an urgent call for the followers of Jesus to know Him intimately because the Gospel is not mere information about God, but a transformational experience with a Christ who is closer to us than our own heartbeat.
What does it mean to move beyond the boundaries of what we believe? The apostle Paul led the Galatians through a massive cultural shift in which they had to radically expand their ideas of who God is, who they were, and God's mission for the church. He was able to lead them through this time of great change because of his encounter with the risen Christ on the Damascus road, an experience in which his view of God was completely upended. Today Christianity is undergoing a cultural shift just as challenging as the situation confronting Paul and the Galatians. As many churches decline, congregations and pastors feel uncertain and anxious about how to continue their mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ. Elaine Heath extends an invitation to broaden our view of God by moving beyond the walls of buildings and programs to become a more diverse church than we have ever imagined. While deeply honoring tradition, she calls the church to boldly follow the Holy Spirit's leadership into the future. Ideal for a 6- to 9-week small-group study.
This volume examines the prevalence, function, and socio-political effects of slavery discourse in the major theological formulations of the late third to early fifth centuries AD, arguably the most formative period of early Christian doctrine. The question the book poses is this: in what way did the Christian theologians of the third, fourth, and early fifth centuries appropriate the discourse of slavery in their theological formulations, and what could the effect of this appropriation have been for actual physical slaves? This fascinating study is crucial reading for anyone with an interest in early Christianity or Late Antiquity, and slavery more generally.
Theology, says Brian McLaren, is at its best when it is in conversation with the wild world that flourishes beyond our walls and outside our windows and cities. In God Unbound, McLaren follows his love of nature all the way to the Galapagos Islands. There, he pays close attention to the flora and fauna around him but also to what is happening within him, how the natural world awakens his soul in a way that organized religion cannot. The result is a sparkling and engrossing theology which refuses to remain indoors.
"As long as there are readers of Paul, there will be always be other perspectives." The essays in this second edition of Paul Unbound: Other Perspectives on the Apostle provide introductions to Paul's relationship to and views on the Roman Empire, first-century economic stratification, his opponents, ethnicity, the law, Judaism, women, and Greco-Roman rhetoric. Contributors Warren Carter, Charles H. Cosgrove, A. Andrew Das, Steven J. Friesen, Mark D. Given, Deborah Krause, Mark D. Nanos, and Jerry L. Sumney have added addendums to their original essays and updated the bibliography to take into account scholarship produced in the decade since the publication of the first edition. The collection provides essential background and sets out new directions for study useful to students of the New Testament and Paul's letters.
Using the same humor and honesty that galvanized more than a million online readers from more than 200 countries, speaker Jon Acuff brings his insightful take on Christianity to the book world with this new edition of Stuff Christians Like. Do you constantly find yourself towing the fine line between praying before certain types of meals and not others? This book is for you. Have you fallen in love on a mission trip, just to break up when you get home? This book is for you. Are you a unicorn of purity who ranks honeymoon sex slightly higher than the second coming of Christ? Guess what – this book is for you, too. It’s time to shake off Somber Christian Syndrome and embrace the quirks of being a member of God’s kingdom. This book will teach you how to: Break up with your small group Subtly find out if your new Christian friends drink beer too Recognize the shame grenade that is a Jesus Juke Avoid a prayer handholding faux pas Say something Christian-y without looking like a snake handler From prayer shot blocks to metro worship leaders, no stone is left unturned in this hilarious look at faith. “I never knew how much I needed Jesus until I found out I was judging people who use the table of contents in their Bible. This book saved me from looking like a bad Christian.” – Sister Mary Francis, Rhode Island. “It’s such a time saver to know that my Chick-fil-a from the drive-thru comes pre-blessed. I always knew I was making the right choice by choosing the Lord’s chicken.” – Dave L., South Carolina.
No matter what your position or background, you will be challenged to test your understanding of the Bible's critical opening sentences and reexamine your beliefs about the creation of the world through Genesis Unbound.
An exploration of how ordinary U.S. Christians come to feel globally connected through the multibillion-dollar child sponsorship industry Christian Globalism at Home looks at the massive charitable industry that is Christian child sponsorship, from its growth in nineteenth-century Protestant missions to its status as one of today's most profitable private fundraising tools. Investigating two centuries of sponsorship and its related practices in American living rooms, churches, and shopping malls, Hillary Kaell examines the myriad ways that Christians who don't travel outside of the United States have cultivated global connections, and the ethical and ideological questions involved. Popular child sponsorship organizations, including World Vision, Compassion International, and ChildFund, raise billions of dollars and circulate millions of letters and photos around the world annually. Kaell traces the movement of money, letters, and images, along with a wide array of the lesser-known techniques of sponsorship, such as playacting, hymn singing, eating, and fasting. She shows how, through this process, U.S. Christians attempt to hone globalism of a particular sort by oscillating between the sensory experiences of a God's eye view and the intimacy of human relatedness. These global aspirations are buoyed by grand hopes and subject to intractable limitations, since they so often rely on the inequities they claim to redress. Based on extensive interviews, archival research, and fieldwork, Christian Globalism at Home explores how U.S. Christians imagine and experience the world without ever leaving home.
