Humans–as Augustine noted–are "desiring agents," full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love.James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire in "Desiring the Kingdom," the first book in what will be a three-volume set on the theology of culture. He redirects our yearnings to focus on the greatest good: God. Ultimately, Smith seeks to re-vision education through the process and practice of worship. Students of philosophy, theology, worldview, and culture will welcome "Desiring the Kingdom," as will those involved in ministry and other interested readers.

    

    It’s about the view that religion is all about sin…about how to hide side sin or how to stop sinning all together.In the Introduction, the author toys good-naturedly with an agitated caller on his radio program, teasing him in a segment where he offers three free sins. The offer is real. Not that Steve has the power to forgive sins, but he wants to make the point that Jesus has made the offer to cover all of our sins – not just three.Chapter one, titled “Teaching Frogs to Fly,” is even better. The gist of this chapter is that you can’t teach frogs to fly, just like you can’t teach people not to sin. Steve tells a story about a guy who has a frog, and he’s convinced he can teach the frog how to fly. The man keeps throwing the frog up in the air or up against walls – all to the poor frog’s demise. The message is that even though people can be better, they can never not sin—just like a frog can never learn to fly, no matter how much pressure is put on it.Steve continues through the book to show readers that while they can never manage sin, they can relax in knowing that they are completely forgiven—not just of three, but of all.

    In very readable fashion the author explores the lives of the patriarchs as well as important doctrinal themes. Each chapter is carefully documented and sources from archaeology and ancient Near Eastern history are freely used. The writer's premise is that no other ancient literature surviving the ravages of time can rightly be compared to Genesis with its unsurpassed theological perspectives and vivid profiles of early man.

    Some appeal to mystery (“God’s ways are not our ways”). Others say God allows evil for some greater purpose. Still others say God punishes with evil. Not only are these answers unsatisfying, they fail to support the view that God loves everyone all the time.God Can't solves the problem of evil. Author Thomas Jay Oord says God’s love is inherently uncontrolling. Because God cannot control anyone or anything, God cannot prevent evil singlehandedly. This means God can’t stop evildoers, whether human, animal, organisms, or inanimate objects and forces.God Can't gives a plausible reason why some are healed but many are not. God always works to heal everyone, but sometimes our bodies, organisms, or other creatures do not cooperate with God's healing. Or the conditions of creation are simply not right for the healing God wants to do.Some people interpret suffering as God’s punishment. Or they think suffering is God's way of building our character. God Can't says God never punishes. But God squeezes good from the evil God didn’t want in the first place. In other words, God uses pain and suffering to build our character and other positive things without willing it.Most people think God can overcome evil singlehandedly. God Can't says God needs our cooperation for love to reign now and later. This leads to a unique view of the afterlife called, “relentless love.” This view rejects traditional ideas of heaven, hell, and annihilation. It holds to the possibility that all creatures and all creation will eventually respond to God’s relentless love.Thomas Jay Oord wrote God Can't in accessible prose. Oord's status as a world-renown theologian brings credibility to the book’s radical ideas. He relates these ideas in bite-size, understandable language with numerous illustrations, stories, and biblical support. The stories of victims and survivors illustrate the life-giving ideas of God Can't.God Can't is for those who want answers to tragedy, abuse, and other evils that make sense!

    

    Principe on the relation between science and religion from early times to the present.Two crucial forces, science and religion, helped shape Western civilization and continue to interact in our daily lives. What is the nature of their relationship? When do they conflict, and how do they influence each other in pursuit of knowledge and truth? Contrary to prevailing notions that they must perpetually clash, science and theology have actually been partners in an age-old adventure. This course covers both the historical sweep and philosophical flashpoints of this epic interaction.6 audio discs (1 hour each); 68-page course guidebook which includes professor biography, statement of course scope, lecture outlines and notes, a timeline, glossary, biographical notes, and bibliography.Lecture 1. Science and religionLecture 2. The warfare thesisLecture 3. Faith and reason: Scripture and natureLecture 4. God and nature: Miracles and demonsLecture 5. Church, Copernicus, and GalileoLecture 6. Galileo's trial. Lecture 7. God the watchmakerLecture 8. Natural theology and arguments from designLecture 9. Geology, cosmology, and Biblical chronologyLecture 10. Darwin and responses to evolutionLecture 11. Fundamentalism and creationismLecture 12. Past, present, and future

    Created through a "student-tested, faculty-approved" review process with over 150 students and faculty, PSYCH 2 is an engaging and accessible solution to accommodate the diverse lifestyles of today's learners.

    This one shift has the potential to radically alter how you relate to God, not as a doctrine, but as a relational being who responds to you in an elastic, back-and-forth way. In God Has a Name, John Mark Comer takes you line by line through Exodus 34:6-8--Yahweh's self-revelation on Mount Sinai, one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. Along the way, Comer addresses some of the most profound questions he came across as he studied these noted lines in Exodus, including:Why do we feel this gap between us and God?Could it be that a lot of what we think about God is wrong? Not all wrong, but wrong enough to mess up how we relate to him?What if our "God" is really a projection of our own identity, ideas, and desires?What if the real God is different, but far better than we could ever imagine?No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, the act of learning who God is just might surprise you--and change everything.

    One of the most important theologians of the twentieth century illuminates the relationship between ourselves and the teachings of Jesus in this classic text on ethics, humanism, and civic duty.What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the aristocrat? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."The Cost of Discipleship is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.

    In The Way, Clark Carlton turns his attention to the fundamental differences between Orthodoxy and Protestantism. In a clear, well-written style, Clark Carlton articulates a broad vision of the Historic Church and gently explains how Protestants may embrace the fullness of the Christian faith.The Way is the perfect sequel to Carlton's best selling The Faith.The Way is a book that every Protestant interested in Orthodoxy must read. The Way is an invaluable resource for Orthodox who want to understand the Protestant culture in which we live.The Way is the perfect gift for Orthodox to give to Protestant friend or family.

    For this revised edition O'Donovan has added a substantial prologue that, taking account of critical responses to the first edition, more fully locates his argument and position in relation to some current alternatives.

    This text surveys major interests and institutions and examines how state and non-state actors pursue wealth and power. Emphasizing fundamental economic concepts as well as the interplay between domestic and international politics, International Political Economy not only explains how the global economy works; it also encourages students to think critically about how economic policy is made in the context of globalization.

    The new edition is thoroughly updated, including most notably a new chapter on innate immunity, a capstone chapter on immune responses in time and space, and many new focus boxes drawing attention to exciting clinical, evolutionary, or experimental connections that help bring the material to life.See what's in the LaunchPad

    Murray addresses ethical questions relating to such topics as marriage, labor, capital punishment, truthfulness, Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, law and grace, and the fear of God. Though the Ten Commandments furnish the core of the biblical ethic, Murray points the reader again and again to all of Scripture as the basic authority in matters of Christian conduct.