She writes: “There has been no story in the news that has troubled me more than that of Trayvon Martin’s slaying. President Obama said that if he had a son his son would look like Trayvon. I do have a son and he does look like Trayvon.”In the face of tragedy and indifference, Kelly Brown Douglas arms the truth of a black mother’s faith in these times of “stand your ground.”-from http://www.orbisbooks.com/stand-your-...

    On Christian Doctrine is an introduction to the interpretation & explanation of the Bible which exerted an enormous influence throughout the Middle Ages.

    He predicts the re-emergence of Islam; explains how the Modern Attack is the worst threat to the Catholic Church ever.

    It's the controversial, bestselling account of what we know about the life of Jesus. This book is considered a revolutionary biography.

    M. Scott Peck brilliantly probes into the essence of human evil.People who are evil attack others instead of facing their own failures. Peck demonstrates the havoc these people of the lie work in the lives of those around them. He presents, from vivid incidents encountered in his psychiatric practice, examples of evil in everyday life.This book is by turns disturbing, fascinating, and altogether impossible to put down as it offers a strikingly original approach to the age-old problem of human evil.

    Stassen and David P. Gushee join profound ethical reflection with faith in Jesus Christ, a life of discipleship and the hope of the present and coming kingdom of God. The result is a challenging, comprehensive treatment of Christian ethics centered on the life and teachings of Jesus. Drawing on detailed studies of the Sermon on the Mount, Stassen and Gushee shed light on the whole of biblical ethical teaching as it relates to a wide range of issues, including peacemaking, just war, nonviolence, sexuality and gender roles, marriage and divorce, race, economics, care of creation, prayer and politics. Their work yields neither an impossible idealism, nor an abstract ethical system, nor a generic religious legalism. Rather Stassen and Gushee set forth a holistic ethic that motivates us and provides us with a practical basis for living under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

    The result of sixteen years of research in Talmudic, gnostic, cabalistic, apocalyptic, patristic, and legendary texts, the classic reference work on angels is beautifully illustrated and its reissue coincides with the resurgence of belief in angels in America.

    When tensions emerge in a congregation, its leaders cannot be as anxious as the people they serve. To remain effective, congregational leaders must control their own uneasiness. This takes self-awareness and confidence to manage relationships and influence behaviors. Knowing how to deal with anxiety and how to work throug complex challenges can lead a congregation to new insights, growth, and vitality. Anxious times hold not only the potential for loss but also for creation, important lernings, and changes that will strengthen the congregation. With this new book, internationally respected consultant Peter Steinke goes deeper into the requirements of effective congregational leadership. Born from the wisdom of Steinke's distinguished career, this new volume will both enlighten and embolden leaders. Steinke inspires courage in leaders to maintain the course, unearth secrets, resist sabotage, withstand fury, and overcome timidity or doubts. His insights, illustrations, and provocations will carry leaders through rough times, provide clarity during confusing times, and uplift them in joyous times.

    have largely been built on assumptions that are secular origin--such as reliance on self-interest and having a common enemy as a motivator for change. But what if Christians were to shape their organizing around the implications of the truth that God is real and Jesus is risen? Alexia Salvatierra has developed a model of social action that is rooted in the values and convictions born of faith. Together with theologian Peter Heltzel, this model of faith-rooted organizing offers a path to meaningful social change that takes seriously the command to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself.

    Controversial decisions by the government are met with hundreds of lobbyists, millions of dollars of advertising spending, and a powerful grassroots response. How has the fundamentalist movement managed to resist the pressures of the scientific community and the draw of modern popular culture to hold on to their ultra-conservative Christian views? Understanding the movement's history is key to answering this question. Fundamentalism and American Culture has long been considered a classic in religious history, and to this day remains unsurpassed. Now available in a new edition, this highly regarded analysis takes us through the full history of the origin and direction of one of America's most influential religious movements.For Marsden, fundamentalists are not just religious conservatives; they are conservatives who are willing to take a stand and to fight. In Marsden's words (borrowed by Jerry Falwell), "a fundamentalist is an evangelical who is angry about something." In the late nineteenth century American Protestantism was gradually dividing between liberals who were accepting new scientific and higher critical views that contradicted the Bible and defenders of the more traditional evangelicalism. By the 1920s a full-fledged "fundamentalist" movement had developed in protest against theological changes in the churches and changing mores in the culture. Building on networks of evangelists, Bible conferences, Bible institutes, and missions agencies, fundamentalists coalesced into a major protest movement that proved to have remarkable staying power.For this new edition, a major new chapter compares fundamentalism since the 1970s to the fundamentalism of the 1920s, looking particularly at the extraordinary growth in political emphasis and power of the more recent movement. Never has it been more important to understand the history of fundamentalism in our rapidly polarizing nation. Marsen's carefully researched and engrossing work remains the best way to do just that.

    Examining accounts in which scientific advances clashed with Christian doctrine or biblical interpretations of the day, from Galileo and the Copernican Revolution, to the medical breakthroughs of anesthesia and inoculation, Russell points to the constant upheaval and reevaluation of our systems of belief throughout history. In turn, he identifies where similar debates between modern science and the Church still exist today. This classic is sure to interest all readers of philosophy and religion, as well as those interested in Russell's thought and writings.

    Others insist that God’s best gifts can’t be enjoyed until heaven. The truth of God’s intentions, writes acclaimed author Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, is far greater than either perspective suggests.Packed with inspiring stories, God’s Economy invites you to step into the good life God intends you to enjoy here and now—not a shrink-wrapped, plastic version of prosperity but a liberating approach to living that leads to genuine and lasting satisfaction.With persuasive enthusiasm, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove draws from Jesus’ teachings on money, exploring five tactics for living in God’s economy of abundance. Then, he demonstrates how people have practiced these tactics in the past, as well as what these principles can do for you, your family, and your church today. From your human relationships to your spiritual life, this practical guide cuts through the clutter and invites you to discover what can happen when you invest in God’s Economy.

    Yet, perhaps only rarely do they grasp the implications of the theology embedded in these practices or in the liturgies of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, which has shaped Episcopalians in this country with its emphasis on baptismal spirituality and the centrality of the Eucharist. Julia Gatta wants to change that with her book, Life in Christ.Applying her years of experience as pastor and spiritual director combined with her study of the spiritual wisdom of the past, she explores common Christian practices and their underlying theology through an Episcopal lens. In the tradition of Esther de Waal, Martin Smith, and Martin Thornton, with particular reference to scripture, The Book of Common Prayer, and the wisdom of the Christian spiritual tradition, she illuminates methods readers may already be practicing and provides insight and guidance to ones that may be new to them.

    This unique reference tool will benefit anyone interested in examining the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Preachers will find this work useful for creating a complete picture of the life of Christ. Students of the English Bible will use it to come to their own conclusions about the variations in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And advanced scholars will use the scholarly apparatus to study the textual variations in the earliest known Greek and Latin Manuscripts of the Gospels.Features:Easy-to-follow system of comparisonTextual notes for in-depth study of biblical manuscriptsNoncanonical parallels to the Gospel textText from the New Revised Standard Version of the BibleThis 5th edition features revised and updated textual notes based on the NRSV, enlarged type size, an all-new page design, and an improved system of comparison.

    The author invites readers to imitate the Celtic saints who were aware of God as a living presence in everybody and everything. This ancient perspective gives radical new alternatives to modern faith practices, ones that are both challenging and constructively positive. This is a Christianity big enough to embrace the entire world.