Distinguishing the Church
Distinguishing the Church

Author: Greg Peters

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781532654848

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As the Protestant Reformers did, so twenty-first-century Christians also recognize the need to distinguish between the true and false church. Thus, they find themselves looking closely at the modern church to determine whether it is a true and faithful church. Today's Christians know that proper criteria are necessary to discern the true church. The most common criteria, wrote John Calvin, are that the Word of God is rightly preached and heard and that the sacraments are administered according to Christ's institution. Moreover, Martin Luther said that suffering is a telltale sign of God's people, while Anabaptist and Reformed Christians included discipline among the distinguishing marks of the church. These standards take on particular poignancy today: The global church continues to live under severe persecution, and the American church, characterized by a lack of discipline, has been wounded by its own sins of chasing sex and power. In this collection of essays, first given at annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society, the authors take time to reflect on the Reformational marks of the church in order to help reform Christ's bride. With contributions from: Edward W. Klink III Duane Litfin J. Stephen Yuille J. V. Fesko Keith D. Stanglin Greg Cochran Jeremy M. Kimble Guy Waters Justin L. McLendon

Church Order in the New Testament
Church Order in the New Testament

Author: Eduard Schweizer

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2006-07-01

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1597528102

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Schweizer listens carefully to the testimony of the various New Testament writers in order to understand the theological problem of how the New Testament church understood itself, and how it expressed that understanding in its order. The purely historical question about the form of the church at different times is seen by Schweizer as necessary, but need only be asked insofar as the actual shaping of the church is always evidence of the concept of its own nature to which it testifies. Thus, Schweizer arranges the New Testament writings primarily by the theological kinship of their idea of the church, providing a comprehensive examination of the church in the New Testament and Apostolic Fathers. He treats both the diversity of views and the unity found in these writings. He also discusses issues relating to church office, ministry, and ordination.

Sojourners and Strangers
Sojourners and Strangers

Author: Gregg R. Allison

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2012-11-30

Total Pages: 498

ISBN-13: 143353603X

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What is a church? This can be a difficult question to answer and Christians have offered a variety of perspectives. Gregg Allison thus explores and synthesizes all that Scripture affirms about the new covenant people of God, capturing a full picture of the biblical church. He covers the topics of the church's identity and characteristics; its growth through purity, unity, and discipline; its offices and leadership structures; its ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper; and its ministries. Here is a rich approach to ecclesiology consisting of sustained doctrinal reflection and wise, practical application. Part of the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series.

Confident Pluralism
Confident Pluralism

Author: John D. Inazu

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2018-08-03

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 022659243X

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In the three years since Donald Trump first announced his plans to run for president, the United States seems to become more dramatically polarized and divided with each passing month. There are seemingly irresolvable differences in the beliefs, values, and identities of citizens across the country that too often play out in our legal system in clashes on a range of topics such as the tensions between law enforcement and minority communities. How can we possibly argue for civic aspirations like tolerance, humility, and patience in our current moment? In Confident Pluralism, John D. Inazu analyzes the current state of the country, orients the contemporary United States within its broader history, and explores the ways that Americans can—and must—strive to live together peaceably despite our deeply engrained differences. Pluralism is one of the founding creeds of the United States—yet America’s society and legal system continues to face deep, unsolved structural problems in dealing with differing cultural anxieties and differing viewpoints. Inazu not only argues that it is possible to cohabitate peacefully in this country, but also lays out realistic guidelines for our society and legal system to achieve the new American dream through civic practices that value toleration over protest, humility over defensiveness, and persuasion over coercion. With a new preface that addresses the election of Donald Trump, the decline in civic discourse after the election, the Nazi march in Charlottesville, and more, this new edition of Confident Pluralism is an essential clarion call during one of the most troubled times in US history. Inazu argues for institutions that can work to bring people together as well as political institutions that will defend the unprotected. Confident Pluralism offers a refreshing argument for how the legal system can protect peoples’ personal beliefs and differences and provides a path forward to a healthier future of tolerance, humility, and patience.

The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church
The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church

Author: Christopher Kaczor

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2012-08-24

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 1681495546

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The Roman Catholic Church has long been the target of suspicion and hostility. But how much of this is based on ignorance and prejudice and how much is the fruit of thoughtful consideration of the facts? This book separates fact from fiction. Without excusing or justifying wrongdoing, author Christopher Kaczor clarifies official Catholic teaching and demonstrates that much popular opinion about Catholicism is based on misunderstanding and misinformation. He also provides robust and lucid arguments for Catholic belief and practice. No one book can answer everyone's questions or objections about Catholicism, but this work examines seven of the most controversial and most common myths about the Catholic Church. The Seven Myths: The Church Opposes Science: The Myth of Catholic Irrationality The Church Opposes Freedom and Happiness: The Myth of Catholic Indifference to Earthly Welfare The Church Hates Women: The Myth of Catholic Misogyny Indifferent to Love, the Church Banned Contraception: The Myth of Opposition between Love and Procreation The Church Hates Gays: The Myth of Catholic "Homophobia" The Church Opposes Same-Sex Marriage Because of Bigotry: The Myth That There Is No Rational Basis for Limiting Marriage to One Man and One Woman Priestly Celibacy Caused the Crisis of Sexual Abuse of Minors: The Myth of Priestly Pedophilia

The Millennial Maze
The Millennial Maze

Author: Stanley J. Grenz

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 1992-09-25

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9780830817573

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Stanley J. Grenz describes four major views on the millennium held by evangelicals and assesses their strengths and weaknesses.

Sexual Difference, Gender, and Agency in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics
Sexual Difference, Gender, and Agency in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics

Author: Faye Bodley-Dangelo

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-10-03

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0567679322

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This volume is a critical and constructive analysis of the sexually differentiated self in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatic. It secures in his Christocentric pattern of human agency an untapped resource for unsettling and reimagining the heteropatriarchal structure of human fellowship at the heart of his theological anthropology. Moving through Barth's doctrines of revelation, creation, theological anthropology, and special ethics, Faye Bodley-Dangelo locates the human agent in his broader project aimed at re-habilitating the subject of modern protestant theology. She argues the human actor comes into view as the recipient of Christ's redemptive activity, which redirects it out of self-aggrandizing isolation and into relationships of dependency, responsiveness, and ethical responsibility to multiple sites of divine and creaturely alterity. The book debates that Barth's model of human agency cannot on its own terms sustain his version of female subordination nor his repudiation of same-sex relationships. Rather, it contains ethically-oriented, critical and reflective mechanisms that resist the sexist heterosexist dimension of his theological anthropology and lend themselves to an anti-essentialist performative account of gender.

Kingdom Conspiracy
Kingdom Conspiracy

Author: Scot McKnight

Publisher: Brazos Press

Published: 2014-10-14

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1441221476

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An Award-Winning Challenge to Popular Ideas of the Kingdom According to Scot McKnight, "kingdom" is the biblical term most misused by Christians today. It has taken on meanings that are completely at odds with what the Bible says and has become a buzzword for both social justice and redemption. In Kingdom Conspiracy, McKnight offers a sizzling biblical corrective and a fiercely radical vision for the role of the local church in the kingdom of God. Now in paper. Praise for Kingdom Conspiracy 2015 Outreach Resources of the Year Award Winner One of Leadership Journal's Best Books for Church Leaders in 2014 "This is a must-read for church leaders today."--Publishers Weekly "A timely resource for the missional church to reexamine some basic assumptions that impact church practice in the everyday."--Outreach

So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore
So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore

Author: Wayne Jacobsen

Publisher: Windblown Media

Published: 2008-09-02

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 1935170015

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Jake Colsen, an overworked and disillusioned pastor, happens into a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance (in manner) to the apostle John. A number of encounters with John as well as a family crisis lead Jake to a new understanding of what his life should be like: one filled with faith bolstered by a steady, close relationship with the God of the universe. Facing his own disappointment with Christianity, Jake must forsake the habits that have made his faith rote and rediscover the love that captured his heart when he first believed. Compelling and intensely personal, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anything relates a man's rebirth from performance-based Christianity to a loving friendship with Christ that affects all he does, thinks, and says. As John tells Jake, "There is nothing the Father desires for you more than that you fall squarely in the lap of his love and never move from that place for the rest of your life."