Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians
Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians

Author: Chris R. Armstrong

Publisher: Brazos Press

Published: 2016-05-17

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 1493401971

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Many Christians today tend to view the story of medieval faith as a cautionary tale. Too often, they dismiss the Middle Ages as a period of corruption and decay in the church. They seem to assume that the church apostatized from true Christianity after it gained cultural influence in the time of Constantine, and the faith was only later recovered by the sixteenth-century Reformers or even the eighteenth-century revivalists. As a result, the riches and wisdom of the medieval period have remained largely inaccessible to modern Protestants. Church historian Chris Armstrong helps readers see beyond modern caricatures of the medieval church to the animating Christian spirit of that age. He believes today's church could learn a number of lessons from medieval faith, such as how the gospel speaks to ordinary, embodied human life in this world. Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians explores key ideas, figures, and movements from the Middle Ages in conversation with C. S. Lewis and other thinkers, helping contemporary Christians discover authentic faith and renewal in a forgotten age.

Unclean
Unclean

Author: Richard Beck

Publisher: Lutterworth Press

Published: 2012-05-31

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 071884047X

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I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Echoing Hosea, Jesus defends his embrace of the unclean in the Gospel of Matthew, seeming to privilege the prophetic call to justice over the Levitical pursuit of purity. And yet, as missional faith communities arewell aware, the tensions and conflicts between holiness and mercy are not so easily resolved. In an unprecedented fusion of psychological science and theological scholarship, Richard Beck describes the pernicious (and largely unnoticed) effects of the psychology of purity upon the life and mission of the church.

Rebuilding the Foundations
Rebuilding the Foundations

Author: Paul Pavao

Publisher:

Published: 2023-10

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781734106015

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Most evangelical Christians believe that the smallest sin will cause eternal condemnation. This horrific falsehood and others underlie a Christian belief system that is imposed on the Bible rather than received from it. Paul Pavao uses the plain statements of Scripture to uproot the old foundations, lay out and establish the foundations clearly described in the Bible, and rebuild the basics of the faith. Verse after verse, called difficult by traditional teachers, click neatly into place when put into the Christian system taught by the apostles and once believed by all churches. J.T. Tancock, Welsh apologist, author, and Bible college teacher calls Rebuilding the Foundations "explosive." He writes, "It upsets apple carts, slays sacred cows, and demands that we 'go back to the Bible'. For all of those reasons all of us must read it."God shaped Paul's life, personality, circumstances, and spiritual upbringing to prepare him to write this book. "I wrote Decoding Nicea to prove I could deal honestly with the facts and make solid historical sources available to the average Christian. That book was written as much to prove that I am qualified to write this book as for any other reason."Thousands of churches have hundreds of different theological systems. Converts to all branches of modern Christianity fall away in droves, most not even attending a church years down the road. Pastors know the majority of their congregants have little or no zeal for the things of Christ. A foundation of errors can only produce more errors, both theologically and practically. Building on what the apostle Paul called "God's firm foundation" can deliver us from those errors.

The Slain God
The Slain God

Author: Timothy Larsen

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2014-08-29

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0191632058

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Throughout its entire history, the discipline of anthropology has been perceived as undermining, or even discrediting, Christian faith. Many of its most prominent theorists have been agnostics who assumed that ethnographic findings and theories had exposed religious beliefs to be untenable. E. B. Tylor, the founder of the discipline in Britain, lost his faith through studying anthropology. James Frazer saw the material that he presented in his highly influential work, The Golden Bough, as demonstrating that Christian thought was based on the erroneous thought patterns of 'savages.' On the other hand, some of the most eminent anthropologists have been Christians, including E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Mary Douglas, Victor Turner, and Edith Turner. Moreover, they openly presented articulate reasons for how their religious convictions cohered with their professional work. Despite being a major site of friction between faith and modern thought, the relationship between anthropology and Christianity has never before been the subject of a book-length study. In this groundbreaking work, Timothy Larsen examines the point where doubt and faith collide with anthropological theory and evidence.

Biblical Christianity in Modern Africa
Biblical Christianity in Modern Africa

Author: Wilbur Odonovan

Publisher: Oasis International

Published: 2023-11-21

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781594524783

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Life in this world is challenging. Brokenness and sin surround us. Controversies and confusion about complicated issues seem endless. It's easy for Christians to be overwhelmed as they struggle to remain faithful to God's teaching in a rapidly changing world. Along with the changes have come great problems and difficult questions. What kind of future does Africa have? What, if anything, can the children of God do for their native lands and peoples? Problems are not solved until we acknowledge them and face them openly, honestly, and courageously. In Biblical Christianity in Modern Africa, Wilbur O'Donovan addresses the problems facing the church in Africa from a biblical perspective. He wisely and boldly confronts issues that challenge the church in Africa, such as: Urbanization Pornography Poverty False teaching Broken marriages Denominationalism Although modern Africa's problems are great, they are not intimidating to God. God does not change, and remembering what God did for his people in the past will help us know what he can do today. Biblical Christianity in Modern Africa reminds us that the wisdom of God is the answer to the problems of Africa today, just as they were to the people who lived thousands of years ago.

Christianity for Modern Pagans
Christianity for Modern Pagans

Author: Peter Kreeft

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 9780898704525

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Peter Kreeft believes that Baise Pascal is the first post-medieval apologist. No writer in history, claims Kreeft, is a more effective Christian apologist and evangelist to today's uprooted, confused, secularized pagans (inside and outside the Church) than Pascal. He was a brilliant man--a great scientist who did major work in physics and mathematics, as well as an inventor--whom Kreeft thinks was three centuries ahead of his time. His apologetics found in his Pensees are ideal for the modern, sophisticated skeptic.

The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity
The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity

Author: Matthew Kelly

Publisher:

Published: 2018-08-15

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781635820508

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Do you believe it's possible to be happier than you have ever been before? Not for fleeting moments, but consistently? Bestselling author Matthew Kelly believes it is possible-and in his latest book, The Biggest Lie, he explains how. We all want to be happy and live life to the fullest, but the answer isn't found in the world's definition of happiness. Modern culture is constantly feeding us lies, and these lies affect you more than you know. The lies that affect you the most, however, are the ones you tell yourself. These lies steal your joy, sap your energy, and cause you to lose hope. They prevent you from discovering the kind of vibrant faith the first Christians experienced. But as Matthew Kelly shows, we've arrived at a crucial moment in history. People are disillusioned with what the world offers. The world is in desperate need of change, and no one is in a better position to effect that change than Christians. We have an incredible opportunity to dispel the lies and cut through the confusion and false promises around us. This book provides the practical tools necessary to help you regain your fervor and leave your mark on the world-and experience more happiness than you thought possible. Together we can change the course of history-with humility, generosity, kindness, and joy, one Holy Moment at a time.

Heretics
Heretics

Author: Jonathan Wright

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2011-04-27

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 0547548893

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A lively examination of the heretics who helped Christianity become the world’s most powerful religion. From Arius, a fourth-century Libyan cleric who doubted the very divinity of Christ, to more successful heretics like Martin Luther and John Calvin, this book charts the history of dissent in the Christian Church. As the author traces the Church’s attempts at enforcing orthodoxy, from the days of Constantine to the modern Catholic Church’s lingering conflicts, he argues that heresy—by forcing the Church to continually refine and impose its beliefs—actually helped Christianity to blossom into one of the world’s most formidable religions. Today, all believers owe it to themselves to grapple with the questions raised by heresy. Can you be a Christian without denouncing heretics? Is it possible that new ideas challenging Church doctrine are destined to become as popular as Luther’s once-outrageous suggestions of clerical marriage and a priesthood of all believers? A delightfully readable and deeply learned new history, Heretics overturns our assumptions about the role of heresy in a faith that still shapes the world. “Wright emphasizes the ‘extraordinarily creative role’ that heresy has played in the evolution of Christianity by helping to ‘define, enliven, and complicate’ it in dialectical fashion. Among the world’s great religions, Christianity has been uniquely rich in dissent, Wright argues—especially in its early days, when there was so little agreement among its adherents that one critic compared them to a marsh full of frogs croaking in discord.” —The New Yorker

Modern Christianity
Modern Christianity

Author: Dennis Loze

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2010-10

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1452080267

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Almost 2 billion people profess to be Christians, whilst they have differences in doctrine, they generally share similar beliefs. The truth is, most never truly study the Bible, many others never even open it. Most professing Christians have no idea what it teaches on almost any subject. Their beliefs are derived from assumptions based on what they have been told the Bible says. They can readily give their definition of what the Bible says, but cannot give the actual Bible definition. Jesus said "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be least in the Kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-19) (New International Version) Judeo Christianity heritage is so important to understand, but unfortunately very few Christians have had the courage or encouragement to familiarise themselves with this heritage. The roots of Christianity run so deep into the Hebrew soil, but the actual study of the Hebrew world has been so superficial and also deemed irrelevant. Have we been guilty of allowing Man's Law replacing God's Law. Christians should re examine their Jewish roots so as to affect a more authentic Biblical understanding and lifestyle.

What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us?
What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us?

Author: Jonathan Hill

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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Honored in 2006 as a "Year's Best Book for Preachers" by Preaching magazine.What has Christianity ever done for us?What value is there in seeking to preserve its influence today?In this book, Jonathan Hill answers these questions with some questions of his own. For instance, why do we seal wine bottles with cork? Where did musical notation come from? How did universities get their start? And why was the world's first fully literate society not in Europe, Asia or North America? As Hill tells the story of the centuries-long entanglement between Christianity and Western culture, he shows the profound influence that Christianity has had--from what we drink to how we speak, from how we write to how we mark the seasons. Employing a rich, narrative style packed with events and people and illustrated throughout in full color, he describes the place of Christianity both in history and in the present day.What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us? is an enlightening and often humorous tour of culture and thought, the arts, the landscape, education, society, spirituality and ethics, and social justice. Here is a rich, entertaining and informative read.