A thought-provoking work that offers a commentary on the love and kindness of God as well as His fairness and anger. Lactantius dwells on these seemingly conflicting ideas and beautifully expresses that God is compassionate yet impartial in meting out justice. Profound!
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While the church today looks quite different than it did two thousand years ago, Christians share the same faith with the church fathers. Although separated by time and culture, we have much to learn from their lives and teaching. This book is an organized and convenient introduction to how to read the church fathers from AD 100 to 500. Michael Haykin surveys the lives and teachings of seven of the Fathers, looking at their role in such issues as baptism, martyrdom, and the relationship between church and state. Ignatius, Cyprian, Basil of Caesarea, and Ambrose and others were foundational in the growth and purity of early Christianity, and their impact continues to shape the church today. Evangelical readers interested in the historical roots of Christianity will find this to be a helpful introductory volume.
Most commentators view the Epistle of Jude as a parenetic text. The commentary "Expecting for the Mercy" highlights its soteriological and Christological contents. This has been possible by taking a structural approach to the text and showing that its structure is chiastic, with Jude 14–15 at its centre – a description of the eschatological judgment foretold from the beginning of the world. The judgment is seen primarily as a time to show mercy to the faithful. Knowing this, the believers should also show mercy to the straying. Placing Jude 14–15 at the centre of the theological reflection has allowed us to reveal the hermeneutic perspective applied to interpret apocalyptic texts. The narrator interprets this kind of texts from the Christocentric angle, just like all other writings belonging to the Jewish tradition. In addition, he uses typology and the pesher method. The commentary is ecumenical, taking into account both Catholic and Lutheran perspectives.