Christianity in the twenty-first century is a global phenomenon. But in the second century, its future was not at all certain. Michael Kruger's introductory survey examines how Christianity took root in the second century, how it battled to stay true to the vision of the apostles, and how it developed in ways that would shape both the church and Western culture over the next two thousand years.
How can Christians live faithfully at the crossroads of the story of Scripture and postmodern culture? In Living at the Crossroads, authors Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew explore this question as they provide a general introduction to Christian worldview. Ideal for both students and lay readers, Living at the Crossroads lays out a brief summary of the biblical story and the most fundamental beliefs of Scripture. The book tells the story of Western culture from the classical period to postmodernity. The authors then provide an analysis of how Christians live in the tension that exists at the intersection of the biblical and cultural stories, exploring the important implications in key areas of life, such as education, scholarship, economics, politics, and church.
The chase was over. In April 1969, nineteen-year-old Jerry Shepherd stares in his rearview mirror at the two policemen approaching his car. He wants to run, make his escape, perhaps his final escape from life. Then he curls his fingers around the small Bible in his back pocket as the words Peace be still whisper through his head. He holds to those words as he steps from the car to handcuffed and arrested. Angels at the Crossroads is the compelling true story of Shepherd's amazing journey from wrongdoing to redemption. Convicted of a crime he can hardly believe he could have committed, Shepherd faces life in prison and fears not only that he won't survive behind bars, but also that he has stepped beyond the hope of prayer or forgiveness. His parents say no as they cover him with fervent prayers, but Shepherd must find his own way through the jungle of prison life to the people - earth angels - who can help him discover God's love knows no limit. On this pilgrimage to self-acceptance, Shepherd learns to forgive the past and completely and unconditionally love again. If you face a crossroads in your life, Shepherd's inspirational journey may help lead you down a new pathway to a life filled with compassion and love. Visit author Ann H. Gabhart online at www.annhgabhart.com.
Winner of the 2017 Christian Book Award for New Author Named one of the top books of 2016 by John Piper's Desiring God ministry To experience why the gospel is good news and answer life’s most foundational questions about identity, destiny, and purpose, we must understand what it means to be united to Christ. If you are a Christian, the Bible says that Christ has united his life to yours, that you are now in Christ and Christ is in you. This almost unfathomable truth is the central theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Yet few Christians today experience or enjoy this reality. Union with Christ reveals the transformational power of this ancient doctrine while addressing the basic questions of the human heart: Who Am I? Why Am I Here? Where Am I Headed? How Will I Get There? Nothing is more practical for living the Christian life than union with Christ. The recovery of this reality provides the anchor and engine for your life with God—for your destiny is not only to see Christ, but to actually become like him.
Facing the uncertainty of their present life and ministry, the American and Canadian churches of mainline Protestantism are, for the most part, responding in one of two ways. Some are simply choosing to ignore the process of their disestablishment. They continue to carry on with their church life as though nothing were happening, as though they were still occupying a place at the center of society. Others, knowing that they are being moved to the periphery of social and political life, are seeking to regain their past power and influence by adopting one or another program of church growth, many of which are being promoted by the newly emerging megachurches of the Christian right. Based upon the history and experience of a particular congregation, Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu, Hawaii, this book suggests a third option for the churches of mainline Protestantism: to embrace their ongoing disestablishment and to see it not as a burden or as something to be either ignored or reversed, but as an opportunity to envision a new way of being in the world.
In an atmosphere of growing skepticism and discouragement, what hope has theology for the future, and what sources might deliver that hope? In this astute analysis of Protestant theology today, Gerhard Sauter sets himself to help theology answer critical questions and accomplish crucial tasks in order to move forward with hope. Protestant Theology at the Crossroads examines contextual theology, in which particular cultural heritages, race and gender, economic conditions, and the structure of social life inform the teachings of the faith rather than vice versa. How, for example, do we approach the crisis in American self-understanding caused by terrorism? Do changes in European politics alter our theological perceptions? Sauter argues that dogmatics -- properly understood as the process of theological reasoning that supports the life of the church -- can and should be used as the tool to save theology. Dogmatics, he says, can break through pious isolationism and converge with genuine public theology, leading to the church's understanding of its own essence.
The peoples of Sri Lanka have participated in far-flung trading networks, religious formations, and Asian and European empires for millennia. This interdisciplinary volume sets out to draw Sri Lanka into the field of Asian and Global History by showing how the latest wave of scholarship has explored the island as a ‘crossroads’, a place defined by its openness to movement across the Indian Ocean.Experts in the history, archaeology, literature and art of the island from c.500 BCE to c.1850 CE use Lankan material to explore a number of pressing scholarly debates. They address these matters from their varied disciplinary perspectives and diverse array of sources, critically assessing concepts such as ethnicity, cosmopolitanism and localisation, and elucidating the subtle ways in which the foreign may be resisted and embraced at the same time. The individual chapters, and the volume as a whole, are a welcome addition to the history and historiography of Sri Lanka, as well as studies of the Indian Ocean region, kingship, colonialism, imperialism, and early modernity.
