God wasn’t bothered by Jim Crow. Baby Jesus had white skin. Meet Plantation Jesus: a god who is comfortable with bigotry, and an idol that distorts the message of the real Savior. That false image of God is dead, right? Wrong, argue the authors of Plantation Jesus, an authoritative new book on one of the most urgent issues of our day. Through their shared passion for Jesus Christ and with an unblinking look at history, church, and pop culture, authors Skot Welch and Rick Wilson detail the manifold ways that racism damages the church’s witness. Together Welch and Wilson take on common responses by white Christians to racial injustice, such as “I never owned a slave,” “I don’t see color; only people,” and “We just need to get over it and move on.” Together they call out the church’s denials and dodges and evasions of race, and they invite readers to encounter the Christ of the disenfranchised.With practical resources and Spirit-filled stories, Plantation Jesus nudges readers to learn the history, acknowledge the injury, and face the truth. Only then can the church lead the way toward true reconciliation. Only then can the legacy of Plantation Jesus be replaced with the true way of Jesus Christ.

    The author has explored and analyzed and come up with crucial insights and needed terminology with which to further the scholarly discussion and increase the understandings needed in the classroom.... Frank Thomas has contributed much to the meeting of this need, probing celebration to new depths.... This book adds to the corpus of serious scholarship available to instructors for the purposes of a more powerful pulpit, in an era of desperate need in the field". -- Henry H. Mitchell, from the ForewordHere is a book that will change the course of preaching in the twenty-first century. Through the lens of African American preaching, Frank Thomas sheds light on what is "good" preaching -- and on what methods can be employed to achieve it.Celebration in preaching is an important component of any preaching that can be considered "good". Thomas explores the theology, dynamics, design, and guidelines for celebrative preaching and provides sample sermon illustrations as well.

    This edition reflects changes in the church and society since the publication of the first edition and takes into account new works in Reformed theology, gender references in the Bible, racism, pluralism, ecological developments, and liberation theologies.

    But we sometimes differ on how to relate the messages of the Old and New Testaments. Without a basic understanding of this crucial matter, it is difficult to know how to use the Testaments to formulate either doctrine or practice.For example: Was Israel the OT Church--are OT promises to God's national people fulfilled in the church today? Or, is Mosaic Law binding on believers now--are twentieth-century Christians to obey the Ten Commandments, including sabbath observance?In this book, thirteen noted evangelical theologians discuss, fairly but clearly, the continuity/discontinuity debate in regard to six basic categories: theological systems, hermeneutics, salvation, the Law of God, the people of God, and kingdom promises.Covering much more than the differences between Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism, this work of distinguished evangelical scholarship will fuel much profitable study and discussion.

    In this compelling and heartfelt book, he sounds a rousing call for a Christianity based on critical thought rather than blind faith, on love rather than judgment, and that focuses on life more than religion.

    Several distinctive set it apart from other introductions to the Old Testament:• It is thoroughly evangelical in its perspective• It emphasizes “special introduction”—the study of individual books• It interacts in an irenic spirit with the historical-critical method• It features points of research history and representative scholars rather than an exhaustive treatment of past scholarship• It deals with the meaning of each book, not in isolation but in a canonical context• It probes the meaning of each book in the setting of its cultureIncluding callouts, charts, and graphs, this text is written with an eye on understanding the nature of Old Testament historiography. This upper-level introduction to the Old Testament offers students a solid understanding of three key issues: historical background, literary analysis, and theological message.

    It's an approach to finding answers every Christian needs to know.Bible Doctrine takes a highly commended upper-level textbook on systematic theology and makes it accessible to the average reader. Abridged from Wayne Grudem's award-winning Systematic Theology, Bible Doctrine covers the same essentials of the faith, giving you a firm grasp on seven key topics:The Doctrine of the Word of GodThe Doctrine of God The Doctrine of ManThe Doctrine of ChristThe Doctrine of the Application of RedemptionThe Doctrine of the ChurchThe Doctrine of the FutureLike Systematic Theology, this book is marked by its clarity, its strong scriptural emphasis, its thoroughness in scope and detail, and its treatment of such timely topics as spiritual warfare and the gifts of the Spirit. But you don't need to have had several years of Bible school to reap the full benefits of Bible Doctrine. It's easy to understand—and it's packed with solid, biblical answers to your most important questions.

    It is written as history ought to be, especially for nonspecialist readers."—Richard A. Kauffman, Christian Century In this eloquent introduction to early Christian thought, eminent religious historian Robert Louis Wilken examines the tradition that such figures as St. Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and others set in place. These early thinkers constructed a new intellectual and spiritual world, Wilken shows, and they can still be heard as living voices in the modern world. In chapters on topics including early Christian worship, Christian poetry and the spiritual life, the Trinity, Christ, the Bible, and icons, Wilken shows that the energy and vitality of early Christianity arose from within the life of the Church. While early Christian thinkers drew on the philosophical and rhetorical traditions of the ancient world, it was the versatile vocabulary of the Bible that loosened their tongues and minds and allowed them to construct the world anew, intellectually and spiritually. These thinkers were not seeking to invent a world of ideas, Wilken shows, but rather to win the hearts of men and women and to change their lives. Early Christian thinkers set in place a foundation that has endured. Their writings are an irreplaceable inheritance, and Wilken shows that they can still be heard as living voices within contemporary culture.

    This book is especially relevant as the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation draws near and discussion of the arguments made against the Church during that time in history receive renewed interest.  The Case for Catholicism answers arguments put forward by early Reformers like Luther and Calvin as well as contemporary defenders of Protestantism like Norm Geisler and R.C. Sproul. It provides a meticulous defense of the biblical and historical nature of Catholic doctrines from Scripture and church history. Finally, in both answering Protestant objections to Catholicism and in providing evidence for the Faith,The Case for Catholicism cites modern Protestant scholars who question Reformation assumptions and show how evidence from Scripture and church history support aspects of Catholic theology.This book is divided into four sections, with each answering a key question Christians have asked about the nature of their faith. Those key questions are:What is my authority?What is the Church?How am I saved?Who belongs to the body of Christ?The Case for Catholicism will become a reliable, resource for any Catholic who desires a well-researched, readable, and persuasive answer to Protestant arguments made against the Catholic faith.

    Designed for anyone who wants an introduction to a seminary education but cannot afford the time or money to attend seminary, who lives where formal training is unavailable, or whose previous education is primarily secular. Complete in one volume.

    Wolters spells out the structure of a reformational worldview and its significance for those who seek to follow the Scriptures. Wolters begins by defining the nature and scope of a worldview, distinguishing it from philosophy or theology, and noting that the Christian community has advanced a variety of worldviews. He then outlines a Reformed analysis of the three fundamental turning points in human history – Creation, the Fall, and Redemption – concluding that while the Fall might reach into every corner of the world, Christians are called to participate in Christ's redemption of all creation.

    This comprehensive introduction to the nature and variety of religious phenomena, belief, and practice: 1) explores the issues in the study of religion, 2) examines the universal forms of religious experience, 3) offers a cross-cultural study of a broad range of classic types of religious belief and practice in terms of the seven basic concepts of a religious world view, and 4) surveys the challenges faced by religions today.

    Through these works--each written prior to the end of the sixteenth century--contemporary readers are able to engage the ideas that have shaped Christian theology and the church through the centuries.

    And while this may be good history, it can make for confusing theology, with the classic theological loci scattered throughout various time periods, movements, and controversies. In Historical Theology, Gregg Allison offers students the opportunity to study the historical development of theology according to a topical-chronological arrangement, setting out the history of Christian doctrine one theological element at a time. Such an approach allows readers to concentrate on one tenet of Christianity and its formulation in the early church, through the Middle Ages, Reformation, and post-Reformation era, and into the modern period. The text includes a generous mix of primary source material as well, citing the words of Cyprian, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Barth, and others. Allison references the most accessible editions of these notable theologians work so that readers can continue their study of historical theology through Christian history s most important contributors. Historical Theology is a superb resource for those familiar with Wayne Grudem s Systematic Theology or interested in understanding the development of Christian theology."

    It is the thesis of this book that Calvin's doctrine of the Lord's Supper is the biblical doctrine, the basic doctrine of the sixteenth century Reformed churches, and the doctrine that should be reclaimed and proclaimed in the Reformed church today.