This is the story of a divorced, Irish-American woman who has fought hard for the stability and security she has at last found in her life; of a man of Native Canadian/Italian heritage who has thrown himself into his work as a detective with the RCMP to fill the void left from his broken marriage; and the outlaw biker gang that has taken any sense of security or normalcy from their lives and blown it straight to hell, while drawing them closer together. It takes the reader from Yonkers to Quebec and Ontario and back, along scenic highways and winding back roads, on the back of a $13,000 Ducati and in the seat of a Bell 427 helicopter. It has high-tech police surveillance operations and a quasi-primitive rescue on horseback. The feel is very up to the minute, incorporating changes in things such as security measures in ground and air traffic, police work and even people's behavior, in the aftermath of September 11th. It deals with the violence and tragedy (and camaraderie and humor) that is all a part of police work, as well as the excitement and joy (and mistakes and regrets) of a fledgeling relationship.
The New Testaments three letters attributed to John have always provided remarkable theological riches for the Christian tradition, including the assertion God is love. Scholars have struggled to discern if these documents are from the same person who wrote the Gospel of John and have worked to see each of these writings within their own situation and context. Each letter shows how an early Christian author responded to threats against authority by recourse to the correct teachings of the faith and a proper understanding of the relationship between Jesus and God. Together, these letters argue for a bond of unity among believers, based on fidelity to the truth of God.
Karl Barth (1886-1968) has been called the most important Protestant theologian since Schleiermacher. A lifetime of work produced a huge and complex body of writings that emerged from both his theological teaching and from his engagement in church life. The publication of some of his work posthumously has invited fresh and attentive interpretations of his thought. This book draws together these readings to provide a clear and authoritative introduction to the main themes in Barth's theology. In an accessible way, it shows the continuity and coherence of Barth's work and stresses the importance of his biblical and ethical writings alongside his systematic theology. The book focuses on Barth's response to modernity, postmodernity and the tasks of theology, presenting him as an outstanding resource for constructive theology in our age.
The controversial evangelical Bible scholar and author of The Bible Tells Me So explains how Christians mistake “certainty” and “correct belief” for faith when what God really desires is trust and intimacy. With compelling and often humorous stories from his own life, Bible scholar Peter Enns offers a fresh look at how Christian life truly works, answering questions that cannot be addressed by the idealized traditional doctrine of “once for all delivered to the saints.” Enns offers a model of vibrant faith that views skepticism not as a loss of belief, but as an opportunity to deepen religious conviction with courage and confidence. This is not just an intellectual conviction, he contends, but a more profound kind of knowing that only true faith can provide. Combining Enns’ reflections of his own spiritual journey with an examination of Scripture, The Sin of Certainty models an acceptance of mystery and paradox that all believers can follow and why God prefers this path because it is only this way by which we can become mature disciples who truly trust God. It gives Christians who have known only the demand for certainty permission to view faith on their own flawed, uncertain, yet heartfelt, terms.
For hundreds of years Christendom has been blessed with Bible commentaries written by great men of God highly respected for their godly walk and their insight into spiritual truth. The Crossway Classic Commentaries present the very best work on individual Bible books, carefully adapted for maximum understanding and usefulness for today's believers. Perhaps there is no clearer and more systematic treatise on the gospel of Jesus Christ than that found in Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Christian believers through the centuries have fed deeply on its themes of the sinfulness of man, the richness of God's mercy, the transforming power of Jesus Christ in the repentant life, the believer's participation in the Savior's death and resurrection, and the practical implications of spiritual truth for daily life. This classic commentary is a treasure for all who desire a deeper walk with God. Whether used for supplementary reading or for careful study, it will prove profitable to every follower of Christ who avails himself or herself of its gems.
Look out for a new book from Garry Wills, What The Qur'an Meant, coming fall 2017. "The truth, we are told, will make us free. It is time to free Catholics, lay as well as clerical, from the structures of deceit that are our subtle modern form of papal sin. Paler, subtler, less dramatic than the sins castigated by Orcagna or Dante, these are the quiet sins of intellectual betrayal." --from the Introduction From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Garry Wills comes an assured, acutely insightful--and occasionally stinging--critique of the Catholic Church and its hierarchy from the nineteenth century to the present. Papal Sin in the past was blatant, as Catholics themselves realized when they painted popes roasting in hell on their own church walls. Surely, the great abuses of the past--the nepotism, murders, and wars of conquest--no longer prevail; yet, the sin of the modern papacy, as revealed by Garry Wills in his penetrating new book, is every bit as real, though less obvious than the old sins. Wills describes a papacy that seems steadfastly unwilling to face the truth about itself, its past, and its relations with others. The refusal of the authorities of the Church to be honest about its teachings has needlessly exacerbated original mistakes. Even when the Vatican has tried to tell the truth--e.g., about Catholics and the Holocaust--it has ended up resorting to historical distortions and evasions. The same is true when the papacy has attempted to deal with its record of discrimination against women, or with its unbelievable assertion that "natural law" dictates its sexual code. Though the blithe disregard of some Catholics for papal directives has occasionally been attributed to mere hedonism or willfulness, it actually reflects a failure, after long trying on their part, to find a credible level of honesty in the official positions adopted by modern popes. On many issues outside the realm of revealed doctrine, the papacy has made itself unbelievable even to the well-disposed laity. The resulting distrust is in fact a neglected reason for the shortage of priests. Entirely aside from the public uproar over celibacy, potential clergy have proven unwilling to put themselves in a position that supports dishonest teachings. Wills traces the rise of the papacy's stubborn resistance to the truth, beginning with the challenges posed in the nineteenth century by science, democracy, scriptural scholarship, and rigorous history. The legacy of that resistance, despite the brief flare of John XXIII's papacy and some good initiatives in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council (later baffled), is still strong in the Vatican. Finally Wills reminds the reader of the positive potential of the Church by turning to some great truth tellers of the Catholic tradition--St. Augustine, John Henry Newman, John Acton, and John XXIII. In them, Wills shows that the righteous path can still be taken, if only the Vatican will muster the courage to speak even embarrassing truths in the name of Truth itself.
