These essays define a Lutheran approach and understanding of the Gospel. The book is divided into three sections (previously published as separate volumes). Section 1 includes essays on Jesus Christ, the theology of the cross, and church and confession. Section 2 offers essays on the Sacraments. Section 3 presents writings on the Church, the Holy Spirit, ministry, last things, and more.
The Westminster Confession of Faith is one of the most precise and comprehensive statements of biblical Christianity, and it is treasured by believers around the world. Dr. R.C. Sproul has called it one of the most important confessions of faith ever penned, and it has helped generations of Christians understand and defend what they believe. In Truths We Confess, Dr. Sproul introduces readers to this remarkable confession, explaining its insights and applying them to modern life. In his signature easy-to-understand style and with his conviction that everyone's a theologian, he provides valuable commentary that will serve churches and individual Christians as they strive to better understand the eternal truths of Scripture. As he walks through the confession line by line, Dr. Sproul shows how the doctrines of the Bible--from creation to covenant, sin to salvation--fit together to the glory of God. This accessible volume is designed to help you deepen your knowledge of God's Word and answer the question, What do you believe?
How could a church culture that lifted high the name of Jesus make covenant with the Confederacy? How did the Southern Baptist Convention lead the way? How do divided hearts and unholy covenants still hinder awakening in the conservative US church culture? What dramatic changes will a spirit of grace and supplication bring? We Confess! The Civil War, the South, and the Church uncovers the answers, historically and biblically. God is revealing what we haven't wanted to see, so we can become who we truly are. He promises to cleanse us from bloodguilt not yet cleansed, as we say what we haven't dared say. As we confess, healing, life, oneness, witness and true worship flow. As we confess, our Lord is honored and his kingdom furthered. So why don't we, who most tend to gravitate to the word "celebrate" when talking of the Civil War, instead throw all caution to the wind--and confess? Honest, compelling, courageous, redemptive, this remarkable look at the conservative church culture rooted in the Deep South explores such topics as king cotton and mighty oaks; the fast God has chosen; spiritual bulimia; spiritual schizophrenia; blood covenant; cleansing from bloodgui“/li> an undivided heart.
God wants you to succeed in every area of your life! And with His presence in your life, you can. His grace or unmerited favor can swing open doors of opportunities and place you at the right place at the right time for His blessings. Even if you lack the necessary qualifications, His unmerited favor can propel you forward. Discover in Unmerit...
Jan Milic Lochman is internationally respected as a convincing and powerful interpreter of theology for both Christians and Marxists. With this work he offers a contemporary and ecumenical statement of what Christians believe, based on the Apostles' Creed. He treats the creed not as an archaic document, but as a living witness, vitally relevant to today's intellectual and ecumenical scene. This existentially committed exposition of the basics of Christian faith will inform and challenge both clergy and laity - Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox - as few have done since the majestic 'Credo' of Karl Barth.
In the postwar decades, sexual revolutions - first women's suffrage, flappers, Prohibition, and Mae West; later Alfred Kinsey, Hugh Hefner, and the pill - altered the lifestyles and desires of generations. Since the 1990s, the internet and its cataclysmic cultural and social technological shifts have unleashed a third sexual revolution, crystallized in the acts and rituals of confession that are a staple of our twenty-first-century lives. In I Confess!, a collection of thirty original essays, leading international scholars such as Ken Plummer, Susanna Paasonen, Tom Roach, and Shohini Ghosh explore the ideas of confession and sexuality in moving image arts and media, mostly in the Global North, over the last quarter century. Through self-referencing or autobiographical stories, testimonies, and performances, and through rigorously scrutinized case studies of "gay for pay," gaming, camming, YouTube uploads, and the films Tarnation and Nymph()maniac, the contributors describe a spectrum of identities, desires, and related representational practices. Together these desires and practices shape how we see, construct, and live our identities within this third sexual revolution, embodying both its ominous implications of surveillance and control and its utopian glimmers of community and liberation. Inspired by theorists from Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze to Gayle Rubin and José Esteban Muñoz, I Confess! reflects an extraordinary, paradigm-shifting proliferation of first-person voices and imagery produced during the third sexual revolution, from the eve of the internet to today.
This commentary on the Westminster Confession contains the following chapters: I. Of the Holy Scripture II. Of God, and of the Holy Trinity III. Of God's Eternal Decrees IV. Of Creation V. Of Providence VI. Concerning the Fall of Man, of Sin, and the Punishment thereof VII. Of God's Covenant with Man VIII. Of Christ the Mediator IX. Of Free-will X. Of Effectual Calling XI. Of Justification XII. Of Adoption XIII. Of Sanctification XIV. Of Saving Faith XV. Of Repentance XVI. Of Good Works XVII. Of the Perseverance of the Saints XVIII. Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation XIX. Of the Law of God XX. Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience XXI. Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day