This major sourcebook provides significant primary readings from the history of Christian theology on the topics of creation and humanity. Beginning with an extended introduction, McFarland fleshes out the topics of creation and humanity in sections such as "God as Creator," "The Human Creature," "Evil and Sin," and "Providence," and provides a brief introduction to each selection that demonstrates its importance and establishes its historical context. This collection will be of special value in classrooms, allowing students to experience firsthand some major works that shaped efforts to forge a sound Christian understanding of creation and humanity.
God created man in his own image, and the profound implications of this assertion are the subject of this book. Drawing on philosophy, theology, science, Scripture and art, Cardinal Schnborn reflects on man as the greatest of Gods creatures and on the Christian understanding of his incomparable dignity that flows from this truth. According to the Christian faith, all the works of God converge toward man, and find their goal in him. The world was made for man, and man was made for God. This anthropocentrism resounds like good news at a time when many find it hard to believe in Gods special and personal providence for man. It is good news, indeed, that man has worth and his life has meaning because God bears an infinite love for him a love which is the very origin of creation and is the reason for the work of redemption. Among the topics Cardinal Schonborn addresses are: Christ-the Loveliest of Men, The Exaltation of Man, The Basis of Mans Dignity, Faith in Art, God with a Human Face.
Creation and the Sovereignty of God brings fresh insight to a defense of God. Traditional theistic belief declared a perfect being who creates and sustains everything and who exercises sovereignty over all. Lately, this idea has been contested, but Hugh J. McCann maintains that God creates the best possible universe and is completely free to do so; that God is responsible for human actions, yet humans also have free will; and ultimately, that divine command must be reconciled with natural law. With this distinctive approach to understanding God and the universe, McCann brings new perspective to the evidential argument from evil.
Gods Plan of Creation: Written for All Gods Children Who Want to Know and Are Not Afraid to Think offers scripturally informed answers to questions arising in peoples minds as they wonder about the nature of God and His designs for all of creation. By using a three-part structure that examines the Siege, the Legacy, and the Story, Robert N. Smith brings to bear both his long study of the Scriptures and his insights to provide guidance for all who want to know and are not afraid to think. The first part, the Siege, presents an inquiry and review of humanitys continuing efforts to gain hold of its Legacy. The focus of the second portion of Gods Plan of Creation, the Legacy entails the gifts that God has chosen to give to humanity and that people today have received from the hands of their forebears in the faith. Finally, the Story displays a visual timeline of creation, plotting out key points of theology and cosmology. It is laid out landscape, therefore it does not fit the book format. Part 3 is in progress and will follow soon. If you see the world in all its beauty, complexity, and diversity and you find yourself wondering about the God who made all things and about His desires for how humanity fits into His plans, then Gods Plan of Creation: Written for All Gods Children Who Want to Know and Are Not Afraid to Think will pour out insights worth pondering. It takes a fearless and eyes-wide-open look at God and His plans and invites you to join in a journey of vision and discovery.
Christians have God's mandate to be good stewards of his creation, but it is a challenge to discover a wise and biblical perspective on issues of creation care, apart from the political rhetoric. Care of Creation offers a biblical foundation and practical guidance about how Christians can personally exercise responsible care of God's good creation. This book will-- -offer a biblical perspective, including the stewardship of creation; -focus on the care of those created in God's image, including genetics, cloning, euthanasia, and human trafficking; and -address environmental issues including land and water use, and ethical treatment of animals. Concerned Christians will gain much needed biblical perspective on one of the most pressing issues of our time and will learn practical ways to exercise proper care of the world God has given us.
Pain, suffering, and extinction are intrinsic to the evolutionary process. In this book Christopher Southgate shows how the world that is very good is also groaning in travail and subjected by God to that travail. Southgate then evaluates several attempts at evolutionary theodicy and argues for his own approachan approach that takes full account of Gods self-emptying and human beings special responsibilities as created cocreators. Christopher Southgate is Honorary University Fellow in Theology at the University of Exeter, England, and Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Originally trained as a biochemist at the University of Cambridge, he is the general editor and principal author of God, Humanity and the Cosmos (3rd ed.).
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of Zealot explores humanity’s quest to make sense of the divine in this concise and fascinating history of our understanding of God. In Zealot, Reza Aslan replaced the staid, well-worn portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth with a startling new image of the man in all his contradictions. In his new book, Aslan takes on a subject even more immense: God, writ large. In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as a remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, “Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless of whether we’re believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves.” But this projection is not without consequences. We bestow upon God not just all that is good in human nature—our compassion, our thirst for justice—but all that is bad in it: our greed, our bigotry, our penchant for violence. All these qualities inform our religions, cultures, and governments. More than just a history of our understanding of God, this book is an attempt to get to the root of this humanizing impulse in order to develop a more universal spirituality. Whether you believe in one God, many gods, or no god at all, God: A Human History will challenge the way you think about the divine and its role in our everyday lives. Praise for God “Timely, riveting, enlightening and necessary.”—HuffPost “Tantalizing . . . Driven by [Reza] Aslan’s grace and curiosity, God . . . helps us pan out from our troubled times, while asking us to consider a more expansive view of the divine in contemporary life.”—The Seattle Times “A fascinating exploration of the interaction of our humanity and God.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “[Aslan’s] slim, yet ambitious book [is] the story of how humans have created God with a capital G, and it’s thoroughly mind-blowing.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “Aslan is a born storyteller, and there is much to enjoy in this intelligent survey.”—San Francisco Chronicle
with a Postcript coauthored by Michael W. Goheen In print for two decades and translated into eight languages, Albert Wolters's classic formulation of an integrated Christian worldview has been revised and expanded to reach new readers beyond the generation that has already benefited from this clear, concise proposal for transcending the false dichotomy between sacred and secular. Wolters begins by defining the nature and scope of a worldview, distinguishing it from philosophy and theology. He then outlines a Reformed analysis of the three basic categories in human history -- creation, fall, and redemption -- arguing that while the fall reaches into every corner of the world, Christians are called to participate in Christ's redemption of all creation. This Twentieth Anniversary edition features a new concluding chapter, coauthored with Michael Goheen, that helpfully places the discussion of worldview in a broader narrative and missional context.
In eloquent and authoritative language accompanied by realistic paintings, this volume describes the creation of the world as revealed in Scripture. As the book unfolds, readers learn about the fall into sin and the implications and the promised Savior.
