In this expanded edition of a classic work of spiritual theology, historian Richard Lovelace presents a history of spiritual renewals in light of biblical models. With scholarly and pastoral insight, he offers a powerful vision of renewal that can unify various models across traditions, combining individual and corporate spirituality, social activism, and evangelism.
“21 Days to Childlike Prayer makes you want to pray.” —Donald S. Whitney, author of Praying the Bible Childlike Prayer Is Life-Changing Prayer God doesn’t need great prayers to do great things. When you speak to Him in simple, trusting faith, you find yourself in a new story where anything is possible, where you always get what’s best, and where your problems become opportunities for a greater experience of Jesus. In 21 Days to Childlike Prayer, you’ll witness how God responds in power and love to your specific prayers. As you dive into what the Bible says about communing with God, you will… identify what prayer is, how it can change you, and what major prayer pathways are laid out in Scripture learn easy-to-remember prayer strategies that help you overcome challenges and pursue goals discover inspiring true examples—both biblical and contemporary—of God’s miraculous answers to his people’s prayers This concise 3-week devotional journey will show you how to turn your daily worries, frustrations, and dreams into prayers throughout your Christian life. This transformative resource is perfect for individual and group study, empowering you to be intentional—and fruitful—in your time with God.
A comprehensive guide to practical evangelism: its biblical basis, theological backbone, and current practice Michael Green draws from a lifetime’s experience in this seminal work on the theory and practice of evangelism. Green shows how the good news of Christ is communicated most effectively through the local church. This comprehensive resource includes a primer on Christian apologetics and concrete suggestions for congregations and individuals sharing the gospel. Green challenges the hang-ups which so often accompany the very mention of evangelism. His classic work will continue to inspire new generations of evangelists.
A New York Times bestseller people can believe in—by "a pioneer of the new urban Christians" (Christianity Today) and the "C.S. Lewis for the 21st century" (Newsweek). Timothy Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, addresses the frequent doubts that skeptics, and even ardent believers, have about religion. Using literature, philosophy, real-life conversations, and potent reasoning, Keller explains how the belief in a Christian God is, in fact, a sound and rational one. To true believers he offers a solid platform on which to stand their ground against the backlash to religion created by the Age of Skepticism. And to skeptics, atheists, and agnostics, he provides a challenging argument for pursuing the reason for God.
Worship. Small groups. Community outreach. Prayer Evangelism. Political action. Missions. Signs of renewal are springing up everywhere. How can we encourage and sustain this spiritual vigor? How can we make renewal a way of life? Spiritual growth, says Richard Lovelace, depends on grasping and applying certain key biblical principles. We need to understand how the forces of evil work against us and what God has done for us in Christ. Lovelace begins by focusing on our need to develop a God-centered, kingdom-centered life. He then details the dangers and strategies of the world, the flesh and the devil. Individually we are renewed as we grow in Christ, who accepts us, frees us from bondage to sin, and lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Corporately we are renewed as we pray, participate in community life, increase our theological depth, and reach out with the gospel in word and deed. This book incorporates insights from seven years' thought since Lovelace's earlier Dynamics of Spiritual Life. Its shorter length and added discussion questions make it ideal for small group study as well as for individual reflection. This is a guidebook for all who desire spiritual growth.
Most people think of weakness as purely negative, but true Christianity embraces weakness as a way of life. In this collection of meditations on 2 Corinthians, renowned Bible scholar and theologian J. I. Packer reflects on the central importance of weakness for the Christian life. He exhorts readers to look to Christ for strength, affirmation, and contentment in the midst of their own sin and frailty. Now in his mid-eighties, Packer mediates on the truths of Scripture with pastoral warmth and exegetical care, drawing on lessons learned from the experience of growing older and coming face-to-face with his own mortality. Overflowing with wisdom gleaned from a life of obedience to Christ and dependence on his Word, this encouraging book ultimately directs readers to the God who promises to be ever-present and all-sufficient.
Cotton Mather is probably best known for his contributions to the Puritanism of colonial America. Yet the subject of this book is Mather's theology of Christian experience, usually associated with continental Pietism, a dynamic movement of reform and renewal in the Lutheran church. Richard Lovelace summarizes the basic thrust of Mather's treatment of spiritual rebirth, sanctification, pastoral and social ministry, the need for spiritual awakening, and the effects he believed this awakening should produce in Christianity and the mission of the church. In Mather, the two great strains of American Evangelical Protestantism--Puritanism and Pietism--were combined, influencing Jonathan Edwards and American religion in general throughout the Great Awakening and subsequent revivals. Thus, the book is unique in tracing the roots of modern Evangelicalism beyond nineteenth-century Arminianism to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century blend of Puritant-Pietist thought.
Challenging a common assumption, David Peterson argues that the New Testament emphasizes sanctification as a definitive event, "God's way of taking possession of us in Christ, setting us apart to belong to him and to fulfill his purpose for us."
This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. After showing that today's evangelicals have not fared well in the crucible of modern pluralism, Lints argues that in order to regain spiritual wholeness, evangelicals must relearn how to think and live theologically. This book highlights several cultural and theological impediments to doing theology from an evangelical perspective, interacts with postmodernism as a theological method, and provides a provocative new outline for the construction of a truly "transformative" evangelical theology in the modern age.
The past, present, and future of a movement in crisis What exactly do we mean when we say “evangelical”? How should we understand this many-sided world religious phenomenon? How do recent American politics change that understanding? Three scholars have been vital to our understanding of evangelicalism for the last forty years: Mark Noll, whose Scandal of the Evangelical Mind identified an earlier crisis point for American evangelicals; David Bebbington, whose “Bebbington Quadrilateral” remains the standard characterization of evangelicals used worldwide; and George Marsden, author of the groundbreaking Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism. Now, in Evangelicals, they combine key earlier material concerning the history of evangelicalism with their own new contributions about present controversies and also with fresh insights from other scholars. The result begins as a survey of how evangelicalism has been evaluated, but then leads into a discussion of the movement’s perils and promise today. Evangelicals provides an illuminating look at who evangelicals are, how evangelicalism has changed over time, and how evangelicalism continues to develop in sometimes surprising ways. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: One Word but Three Crises Mark A. Noll Part I: The History of “Evangelical History” 1. The Evangelical Denomination George Marsden 2. The Nature of Evangelical Religion David Bebbington 3. The Essential Evangelicalism Dialectic: The Historiography of the Early Neo-Evangelical Movement and the Observer-ParticipantDilemma Douglas A. Sweeney 4. Evangelical Constituencies in North America and the World Mark Noll 5. The Evangelical Discovery of History David W. Bebbington 6. Roundtable: Re-examining David Bebbington’s “Quadrilateral Thesis” Charlie Phillips, Kelly Cross Elliott, Thomas S. Kidd, AmandaPorterfield, Darren Dochuk, Mark A. Noll, Molly Worthen, and David W. Bebbington 7. Evangelicals and Unevangelicals: The Contested History of a Word Linford D. Fisher Part II: The Current Crisis: Looking Back 8. A Strange Love? Or: How White Evangelicals Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Donald Michael S. Hamilton 9. Live by the Polls, Die by the Polls D. G. Hart 10. Donald Trump and Militant Evangelical Masculinity Kristin Kobes Du Mez 11. The “Weird” Fringe Is the Biggest Part of White Evangelicalism Fred Clark Part III: The Current Crisis: Assessment 12. Is the Term “Evangelical” Redeemable? Thomas S. Kidd 13. Can Evangelicalism Survive Donald Trump? Timothy Keller 14. How to Escape from Roy Moore’s Evangelicalism Molly Worthen 15. Are Black Christians Evangelicals? Jemar Tisby 16. To Be or Not to Be an Evangelical Brian C. Stiller Part IV: Historians Seeking Perspective 17. On Not Mistaking One Part for the Whole: The Future of American Evangelicalism in a Global PerspectiveGeorge Marsden 18. Evangelicals and Recent Politics in Britain David Bebbington 19. World Cup or World Series? Mark Noll
