Healing All Creation
Healing All Creation

Author: Joan Connell

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-06-12

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1538120984

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In Healing All Creation, a scripture scholar and a religion journalist explore the literary and theological symmetries of Genesis, the Gospel of Mark and the unfolding story of evolution, as told by science and the emerging discipline of cosmological theology. Read together, these narratives shed new light on the Judeo-Christian tradition and offer fresh ideas about how to respond to the moral and environmental crises of our times. Scientific discoveries make it increasingly clear that everything in the world is connected. Physically and spiritually, small actions can have great impact: In the creation myths of Genesis, it is possible for individuals to generate great evil, but also do enormous good and repair a broken world. Mark’s story of the public life of Jesus speaks to the transformative effect of cumulative acts of compassion. Cosmological theology suggests that evolution is spiritual as well as material, and that our search for meaning is dynamic, ongoing and grounded in the sanctity of all creation. This book speaks to those for whom Judeo-Christian scripture is important, but also to those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious: those who stand in awe of the majesty of the universe and appreciate the sanctity of all creation. It introduces to a general audience a century-long dialogue among scientists, theologians, scripture scholars and summons the voices of 20th century spiritual heroes, contemporary theologians and religion scholars from a variety of traditions and perspectives. This accessible but scholarly narrative and robust endnotes make it valuable as a textbook for college-level courses on religion and ecology. The authors offer fresh insights into Mark’s story of the healing ministry of Jesus and his relationships with women, including his crushing final encounter with the women who stayed with him to the end and the transformative mission it inspired. It raises questions about the gender inequity that persists in organized religion and in the world at large. This book examines institutional Christianity’s historical failures such as the early abandonment of nonviolence and its tendency to question the validity of scientific discoveries. It explores the impact of dispensational theology, whose vision of a material world ending in fiery apocalypse produced Christians so focused on the end-times that they have scant regard for the sanctity of the Earth. It has been said that the Bible is the most-purchased and least-read book in America. This accessible narrative introduces a diverse general audience to the riches of contemporary scripture scholarship, the wisdom of cosmological theology and a renewed awareness of the sanctity of all creation.

All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings
All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings

Author: Gayle Boss

Publisher: Paraclete Press

Published: 2016-10-03

Total Pages: 141

ISBN-13: 1612618790

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From the bestselling author of Wild Hope — a beautiful book for Advent. Open a window each day of Advent onto the natural world. Here are twenty-five fresh images of the foundational truth that lies beneath and within the Christ story. In twenty-five portraits depicting how wild animals of the northern hemisphere ingeniously adapt when darkness and cold descend, we see and hear as if for the first time the ancient wisdom of Advent: The dark is not an end but the way a new beginning comes. Short, daily reflections that paint vivid, poetic images of familiar animals, paired with charming original wood-cuts, will engage both children and adults. Anyone who does not want to be caught, again, in the consumer hype of “the holiday season” but rather to be taken up into the eternal truth the natural world reveals will welcome this book. An ECPA 2023 Christmas Bestseller. Learn more about All Creation Waits and find free resources at AllCreationWaits.com

Salvation Means Creation Healed
Salvation Means Creation Healed

Author: Howard A. Snyder

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2011-07-13

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1608998886

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The Bible promises the renewal of all creation--a new heaven and earth--based on the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For centuries this promise has been sidelined or misunderstood because of the church's failure to grasp the full meaning of biblical teachings on creation and new creation. The Bible tells the story of the broken and restored relationship between God, people, and land, not just God and people. This is the full gospel, and it has the power to heal the church's long theological divorce between earth and heaven. Jesus' resurrection in the power of the Holy Spirit is the key, and the church as Christ's body is the primary means by which God is reconciling all things through Jesus Christ. Jesus' ultimate healing of all creation is the great hope and promise of the gospel, and he calls the church to be his healing community now through evangelism, discipleship, and prophetic mission.

Triune Atonement
Triune Atonement

Author: Andrew Sung Park

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 2009-01-27

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 0664233473

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This is a study of the atonement, the meaning of the death of Jesus Christ. The book surveys historical views but also proposes that the atonement be seen as the death of Christ for both victims and the oppressed, as atonement for sinners and oppressors, as atonement for the whole creation—including animals and nature. This “triune atonement” refers to the involvement of the Trinity in the atonement, here presented from an Asian American perspective.

Healing
Healing

Author: Francis MacNutt

Publisher: Hodder Faith

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 9780340661406

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The million-copy bestselling introduction to the healing ministry, re-issued with a beautiful new cover. Does healing happen today? Why is there prejudice against the healing ministry? Why are some people not healed? These topical and vital questions are just some of the issues addressed by Francis MacNutt in Healing. A wideranging and broad-based overview, it is essential reading for all involved in the healing ministry. 'Prayer for healing is so central to the gospel, ' writes MacNutt, 'that it should be an integral part of the life of every community of believers. My heart cries out to see it restored to the place it had in the early Christian church.

For the Healing of the Nations
For the Healing of the Nations

Author: Peter Escalante

Publisher: The Davenant Press

Published: 2014-11-04

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0692322183

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The doctrine of creation is obviously one of the first things, but it is also one of the last things since the world to come is also, by definition, creation. The simple truth that it is so is incontestable since neither the world to come nor those whose dwelling it is built to be are God. But the way in which this is so is the subject of a long, long debate in Christendom, with the question of whether and in what degree the life to come is continuous with this one. How common is the “thing” in “first thing” and “last thing”? Our answer to this question conditions our answer to many others: the relationship of philosophy to theology, of the church to the saeculum, of the kingdom of Christ to the visible church. This volume brings together the careful investigations of established and emerging historians and theologians, exploring how these questions have been addressed at different points in Christian history, and what they mean for us today. Includes contributions from James Bratt, E.J. Hutchinson, Matthew Tuininga, Andrew Fulford, Laurence O'Donnell, Benjamin Miller, Brian Auten, and Joseph Minich.

Creation Care
Creation Care

Author: Douglas J. Moo

Publisher: Zondervan Academic

Published: 2018-02-27

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0310416558

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From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals a God whose creative power and loving care embrace all that exists, from earth and sky and sea to every creeping, crawling, swimming, and flying creature. Yet the significance of the Bible’s extensive teaching about the natural world is easily overlooked by Christians accustomed to focusing only on what the Bible says about God’s interaction with human beings. In Creation Care, part of the Biblical Theology for Life series, father and son team Douglas and Jonathan Moo invite readers to open their Bibles afresh to explore the place of the natural world within God’s purposes and to celebrate God’s love as displayed in creation and new creation. Following the contours of the biblical storyline, they uncover answers to questions such as: What is the purpose of the non-human creation? Can a world with things like predators, parasites, and natural disasters still be the ‘good’ world described in Genesis 1? What difference does the narrative of the ‘Fall’ make for humankind’s responsibility to rule over other creatures? Does Israel’s experience on the land have anything to teach Christians about their relationship with the earth? What difference does Jesus make for our understanding of the natural world? How does our call to care for creation fit within the hope for a new heaven and a new earth? What is unique about Christian creation care compared with other approaches to ‘environmental’ issues? How does creation care fit within the charge to proclaim the gospel and care for the poor? In addition to providing a comprehensive biblical theology of creation care, they probe behind the headlines and politicized rhetoric about an ‘environmental crisis’ and climate change to provide a careful and judicious analysis of the most up-to-date scientific data about the state of our world. They conclude by setting forth a bold framework and practical suggestions for an effective and faithful Christian response to the scriptural teaching about the created world. But rather than merely offering a response to environmental concerns, Creation Care invites readers into a joyful vision of the world as God’s creation in which they can rediscover who they truly are as creatures called to love and serve the Creator and to delight in all he has made.

Healing the Gospel
Healing the Gospel

Author: Derek Flood

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2012-08-06

Total Pages: 125

ISBN-13: 1621894215

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Why did Jesus have to die? Was it to appease a wrathful God's demand for punishment? Does that mean Jesus died to save us from God? How could someone ever truly love or trust a God like that? How can that ever be called "Good News"? It's questions like these that make so many people want to have nothing to do with Christianity. Healing the Gospel challenges the assumption that the Christian understanding of justice is rooted in a demand for violent punishment, and instead offers a radically different understanding of the gospel based on God's restorative justice. Connecting our own experiences of faith with the New Testament narrative, author Derek Flood shows us an understanding of the cross that not only reveals God's heart of grace, but also models our own way of Christ-like love. It's a vision of the gospel that exposes violence, rather than supporting it--a gospel rooted in love of enemies, rather than retribution. The result is a nonviolent understanding of the atonement that is not only thoroughly biblical, but will help people struggling with their faith to encounter grace.

Healing in the Early Church
Healing in the Early Church

Author: Andrew Daunton-Fear

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1606088742

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This monograph presents the most comprehensive investigation yet made into the healing activity of the Early Church. In contrast to early skeptics like B. B. Warfield, the author is convinced there was a vigorous healing ministry in the centuries that followed the apostles, though it fluctuated somewhat and changed its mode. Exorcism is prominently attested throughout the period. The pre-Nicene Fathers recognized its great apologetic value as a dramatic demonstration of the superiority of Jesus Christ over pagan gods. Interest in healing miracles per se appears to have been particularly characteristic of the less educated members of the Church and those who were chaste in their devotion to the cause of Christ. Amongst these groups gifts of healing were found, becoming rare it seems by the mid-third century, but well attested again later in monastic circles. In the pre-Nicene period anointing with oil (in the name of Christ) was clearly an avenue of healing and, though mentioned comparatively rarely, may have been widespread as part of the regular ministry of local clergy to the sick. Baptismal healing, physical as well as spiritual, also took place. In the post-Nicene Church the shrines of the martyrs became a prominent locus of healing. Devotion to this cult may have been encouraged by Church Fathers as an acceptable alternative to magical practices. But evidence suggests syncretism did occur and martyr's relics could be invested with quasi-magical awe. Most Fathers were positive about the medical profession, seeing it as an avenue of God's work, and in the late fourth century one pioneered the hospital which then spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean. In an appendix to his work, the author sets down nine pointers from the healing activity of the Early Church, and his own experience, to assist those engaged in the healing ministry today.