The perspectives of integral theory and practice, articulated by Ken Wilber, help uncover the integral approach that Jesus advocated and demonstrated in the metaphors of his time and that traditional Christianity has largely been unable to see. Smith incorporates elements of traditional, modern, and postmodern theological viewpoints, including progressive, New Thought, and emerging/emergent ones. However, he goes beyond all of them and moves to a Christianity that is devoted to following both the historical Jesus and the Risen Christ whose Spirit beckons to us from the future. Smith says, "The oldest thing you can say about God is that God is always doing something new. Jesus pushed his own religion to newness by including the best of its past, and transcending the worst of its present. He calls us to do the same, whatever our religion is today."

    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.

    Pretending Jesus is less than He is resulted in someone I wasn't compelled to worship. So I began a journey to discover the whole Jesus--including the seemingly rough and wild parts--revealed in the Bible. And I found Him to be bigger and better than I ever dreamed.--Lisa HarperThrough a powerful blend of storytelling and biblical insights, Lisa Harper invites you to engage with the Jesus of the gospels, a person so provocative that no one left an encounter with Him unchanged. Pharisees fumed, paralytics turned cartwheels, and pariahs found love and acceptance.Come meet the Jesus who is both safe and strong--and learn how this radical Redeemer can liberate you to live and love with abandon.Includes questions for group discussion or personal reflection.

    The technical term for their efforts is contextualization. Missionary theorists have pondered and written on it at length. More and more, those who do theology in the West are also trying to discover new ways of communicating and embodying the gospel for an emerging postmodern culture. But few have considered in depth how the early church contextualized the gospel. And yet the New Testament provides numerous examples.As both a crosscultural missionary and a New Testament scholar, Dean Flemming is well equipped to examine how the early church contextualized the gospel and to draw out lessons for today. By carefully sifting the New Testament evidence, Flemming uncovers the patterns and parameters of a Paul or Mark or John as they spoke the Word on target, and he brings these to bear on our contemporary missiological task.Rich in insights and conversant with frontline thinking, this is a book that will revitalize the conversation and refresh our speaking and living the gospel in today's cultures, whether in traditional, modern or emergent contexts.

    Yet we couldn’t be more unaware that Christ and His saving and comforting work are being lost. Our minds and hearts are captivated in some way by those who often preach the Christian instead of Christ. Wolfmueller sounds the alarm against the false teaching and dangerous practices of Christianity in America. He offers a beautiful alternative: the sweet savor of the Gospel, which brings us to the real comfort, joy, peace, freedom, and sure hope of Christ.And it’s for you.

    He provides a sterling historical study that will be highly useful for pastors and church study groups as well as for scholars and students interested in Reformed worship. An extensive bibliography of resources for the study of Reformed worship adds to the value of this book.

    One will learn communion's origin deepen his relationship with God and be challenged in discipleship.

    In this book, Richard B. Hays investigates Paul’s appropriation of Scripture from a perspective based on recent literary-critical studies of intertextuality. His uncovering of scriptural echoes in Paul’s language enriches our appreciation of the complex literary texture of Paul’s letters and offers new insights into his message. "A major work on hermeneutics. . . . Hays’s study will be a work to use and to reckon with for every Pauline scholar and for every student of Paul’s use of Old Testament traditions. It is sophisticated, in both a literary and theological sense, and written with considerable wit and confidence."—Carol L. Stockenhausen, Journal of Biblical Literature"Hays has without doubt posed the right question at the right time within the horizon of a particularly important problematic. . . . A new beginning for the question concerning the reception of the Old Testament in the New."—Hans Hübner, Theologische Literaturzeitung"A powerful reading. . . . [Hays’s] careful and fresh exegesis . . . challenges not a few traditional or highly regarded readings. . . . A major contribution both to Pauline studies and to our understanding of earliest Christian theology as a living dialogue with the scriptures of Israel."—James D. G. Dunn, forthcoming in Literature and Theology"A fresh interpretation of Paul’s references to the Jewish Scriptures. . . . Written in a lively, semipopular style, this important study succeeds in showing that Paul’s scriptural quotations and allusions are often more ’polyphonic’ and rhetorically meaningful than traditional exegesis has allowed."—David M. Hay, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology

    It undergirds the entire framework of Scripture, serving as the backdrop against which all other themes play out. Surveying the entirety of both the Old and New Testaments, scholar and professor Patrick Schreiner presents a definition and framework for a biblical theology of the kingdom. Defining the kingdom of God as the interplay of three concepts--the king's power over the king's people in the king's place--this new volume in the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series shows how a proper understanding of the kingdom of God has tremendous implications for life here and now.

    This viewpoint is even making inroads into the church. How are Christians to respond to such accusations? And how are we to reconcile the seemingly disconnected natures of God portrayed in the two testaments?In this timely and readable book, apologist Paul Copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including: God is arrogant and jealousGod punishes people too harshlyGod is guilty of ethnic cleansingGod oppresses womenGod endorses slaveryChristianity causes violenceand moreCopan not only answers God's critics, he also shows how to read both the Old and New Testaments faithfully, seeing an unchanging, righteous, and loving God in both.

    But questions like these puzzle believers and unbelievers alike. Editors and scholars Wayne Grudem, C. John Collins, and Thomas Schreiner recognize the challenge we all face and offer this volume to help us properly understand the Bible.Covering a diverse range of essential subjects, including how to read the Bible well and why it is reliable, these eighteen essays delve into specific topics such as world religions, canon, and archaeology. Pastors, lay leaders, students, and other Christians engaged in studying God's Word will benefit from this collection, written by notable contributors, including J. I. Packer, John Piper, Daniel B. Wallace, and Vern Poythress.Useful as both a general overview of the Bible and as a tool for more specific reference and training, this book will help you grow in your understanding of Scripture and your ability to apply the Bible to life.

    This study presents the book of Jonah as part of the unfolding, unified story of redemption pointing to Christ. Pastors, seminarians, and thoughtful readers interested in how the Old Testament points to Christ will appreciate this new study of Jonah.

    In his personal, intimate, engaging, humorous style, Altrogge takes us on a journey through God's word, bringing us into close contact with the God of sharp edges and brilliant light. Altrogge introduces afresh to the untamable God of the Bible.

    Expository preaching is the best approach for accurately explaining and applying God’s Word, and for maintaining a God-centered focus in preaching. It also offers wonderful spiritual benefits to both the preacher and congregation. To be faithful expositors today, we must avoid the common problems associated with expository preaching such as boredom, irrelevancy, and Christless messages. Faithful preachers will usher the people through the text passionately and authentically, pointing them to Christ.”

    The most controversial Jew who ever lived. He has been called a rabbi, a rebel, a reformer, a religious teacher, a reprobate sinner, a revolutionary, a redeemer. Some have claimed he was a magician, others the Messiah. Some say he was a deceiver; others say he was divine. Who is this Jesus-Yeshua, and why are we still talking about him two thousand years later? Recently a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi presented a new version of Jesus, a “Kosher Jesus” that Jews can accept. By reclaiming Yeshua as a fellow Jew and rabbi, he has taken a very major and truly wonderful step in the right direction, but by re-creating Jesus, he has also robbed him of his uniqueness. The Real Kosher Jesus takes you on a journey to uncover the truth. It is a journey filled with amazing discoveries and delightful surprises, a journey that is sometimes painful but that ends with joy, a journey through which you will learn the real story of this man named Yeshua: the most famous Jew of all time, the Jewish nation’s greatest prophet, the most illustrious rabbi ever, the light of the nations—and Israel’s hidden Messiah.