This is a collection of seven of Saint Symeon's homilies which deal with the fall of Adam and our redemption by Christ. For St. Symeon, theology is life -- the true "words of God" which speak to the Christian heart and inspire it to struggle for the Kingdom. These profound homilies on Adam and the future age are of special value because they give the theological foundation of the Christian life of struggle. The First-Created Man offers a vision of the beginning and the end of all things, which is essential to understanding the purpose of our existence here on this earth, and what lies beyond it.
This book addresses one of the oldest questions posed to religious believers: if God made everything, who made God? Most recently levelled by the New Atheists, the question was asked in ancient Greece and has preoccupied religious believers in the centuries since. Here, renowned scholar Robert Banks explores the history of the objection - from its earliest vocalization in the ancient world to its most famous opponents, Freud, Marx, and others. Ideal for anyone with a general interest in new atheism, for those studying religion, or wanting to sort out what (if any) elements of their idea of God are man-made.
A new critical translation of Pope John Paul II's talks on the Theology of the Body by the internationally renowned biblical scholar Michael Waldstein. With meticulous scholarship and profound insight, Waldstein presents John Paul II's magnificent vision of the human person. Includes a preface by Cardinal Schönborn, a foreword by Christopher West, a comprehensive index of words and phrases, a scriptural index, and a reference table for other versions of the papal texts. Recipient of a CPA Award!
Provides guidance to men on how to focus on goals, acknowledge one's faults, and have a meaningful relationship with Christ to find faith, strength, and genuine love.
Everyone who reads the Bible must admit that it tells us to do things that we never have done and cannot do in our fleshly bodies. One reason is that God our Creator is telling us what He wants us to be and do as created in His image and likeness. Our purpose is in our image and likeness of God our Creator, not like the dust of the ground or the flesh of our parents. Most children dont know that they are created in the image and likeness of God, and their parents have not asked God for His spirit for their children so they can be taught this vital truth. The reason parents dont ask God for His spirit for their children is because they dont recognize the need for Him. There are several things mankind cannot do in the flesh, and they must recognize their origin in the image and likeness of God. Mankind must recognize being in the image and likeness of God to, first, love God with all their being and love his neighbors as himself; second, to obey God and his parents as required in Gods word; third, to trust God with all his heart; fourth, to worship God in spirit and in truth; and fifth, to glorify God in his body and spirit, which are God. The devil does not want mankind to know that he is created in the image and likeness of God because man will always defeat Satan and fulfill God's will.
The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.
ccording to Scripture, humankind was created in the image of God. Hoekema discusses the implications of this theme, devoting several chapters to the biblical teaching on God's image, the teaching of philosophers and theologians through the ages, and his own theological analysis. Suitable for seminary-level anthropology courses, yet accessible to educated laypeople. Extensive bibliography, fully indexed.
When Fr. Seraphim found out that the early Western Father, Blessed Augustine of Hippo, was being attacked in contemporary Eastern Orthodox circles, then he--himself a Western convert to Orthodoxy--rose in his defense. This book is the outcome. Fr. Seraphim said he wrote it in the hope that it would help remove Augustine as a scapegoat for today's academic theologians, and thus "help free us all to see his and our own weaknesses in a little closer light--for his weaknesses, to a surprising degree, are indeed close to our own." After discussing Blessed Augustine's strengths and weaknesses, Fr. Seraphim examines the opinions of other Holy Fathers concerning him. "His main benefit to us today," he writes, "is probably precisely as a Father of Orthodox pietysomething with which he was filled to overflowing. Here he is one with the simple Orthodox faithful, as well as with all the Holy Fathers of East and West who, whatever their various failings and differences in theoretical points of doctrine, had a single deeply Christian heart and soul. It is this that makes him unquestionably an Orthodox Father." This new edition of The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church contains letters written by Fr. Seraphim concerning Augustine, passages from Augustine's Confessions which Fr. Seraphim found especially moving, and an Orthodox service to Blessed Augustine, commissioned by St. John Maximovitch.
