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The apostle Paul's Letter to the Galatians has had a deep impact on Christian theology and practice, far beyond its short length. It has inspired great theologians; it also sparked reform movements. Its message, however, can be hard to follow for the average reader. This study guide opens up the message of Galatians to people without a theological education and for Bible study teachers and working pastors. Explaining the background from which Paul is writing, the author clarifies the flow of Paul's argument so the average reader can grasp its revolutionary import. Paul's letter sparked a revolution in the author's own spiritual life. This study guide can help do that for others as well.
A Catholic Reading Guide to Conditional Immortality
Like many other people, the long tradition about hell has been a source of serious confusion and distress for me. Over the past six years or so I was relieved to discover two other alternatives that are also part of the Christian tradition, though less prominent–universalism and the subject of the present book, conditional immortality. Universalism–that everyone would eventually be saved–did not, in the final analysis, seem to really come to grips with the overwhelming scriptural testimony that some kind of radical fateful decision is possible to people. Conditional immortality–that people who absolutely refuse God's plan for them will be taken out of existence–seems to me the best scriptural understanding of what the Lord meant by «losing one's soul»–not everlasting punishment but the withdrawal of existence. This book is an attempt to explain this theological theory. It is not presented as a definite dogma or teaching of the church, but as one of the possible results of a persistent and irrevocable decision against God.
Out of the Canyon
In his first book, The End of the Island, Jeffrey C. Tucker wrote an engaging, accessible theology of suffering. In his second book in this series, Out of the Canyon, Tucker focuses on the behavioral and pastoral care sides. We follow the canyon journey of one who suffers, written in the first person as a journal. Throughout the difficult and sometimes treacherous trek, the narrator reflects on the many challenges of human suffering encountered along the way. In the process, the traveler comes to understand more fully the biblical and human voices of suffering; the problems with those voices; our sometimes mal-adaptive coping mechanisms; our sometimes unhelpful views of God's power; the unique suffering of violence and trauma; the short and longer-term needs of suffering; human spirituality; the path of healing; coming to terms when we don't heal; and what we most need to give and receive as pastoral care providers and recipients. This book offers insightful, practical, and creative approaches to our own respective journeys of healing and transformation–all through the eyes of our narrator. And, as the story nears the final edge of the canyon, the trekker discovers the most valuable and unexpected lesson of all.
The Righteous Judgment of God
This book seeks to fill a gap on the important topic of God's judgment. It is written for Christians who desire to have a biblical worldview that helps them to live faithfully for Jesus Christ. It investigates what the apostle Paul has to say in his letters about God's judgment. The worldview that emerges is one that must not be ignored: of judgment as fundamental to our human life as Adam's descendants, of God's judgment at work in the world today, and of the final judgment as the certain future for every person. At the center is the decisive judgment of our sin in Christ at the cross, which is God's answer to our judgment problem. For each of these four aspects of judgment, key questions are considered, with the central question being, «How do we live in the light of this truth?»
A Lifetime of Genesis
For many readers of the Bible, there are two major obstacles to the enjoyment of scripture: comprehension and relevancy. In A Lifetime of Genesis, Rabbi Zoob seeks to help the reader overcome these obstacles. In clear, logical prose, Rabbi Zoob explains the course of the Covenant of Abraham in Genesis and how each major player–Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah–has an impact on the development and continuity of the Covenant of Abraham. He solves the relevancy problem by sharing stories from his life that are connected to the patriarchal and matriarchal events and themes in each previous chapter. For example, following an analysis of the challenge of infertility that Abraham and Sarah faced, he tells the story of how he and his wife Barbara struggled through thirteen years of childlessness. And after the chapter on how Jacob wrestled with the angel and the many challenges in his life, Rabbi Zoob recalls his sibling struggles with his brother and his wrestling with seasonal depression. Rabbi Zoob hopes that his use of this midrashic process to discover personal insights will encourage the reader to do the same.
Eucharist and Ecclesiology
In the late twentieth century and since, ecumenical discussions on the nature and unity of the church have often centered on the Eucharist. This book is focused on that intersection of church and Eucharist in current Christian relationships. In the first part of the book, representatives of the Orthodox tradition (Paul Meyendorff), the Roman Catholic tradition (Denis Farkasfalvy), and the Protestant tradition (Gary Badcock) discuss the relationship of Eucharist and church. These essays are followed by an overview and response to these theme essays by Everett Ferguson, who has published often on the topics. The second part of the book contains essays on particular issues important for understanding the Eucharist and Christian faith. These essays also come from the three theological traditions of the featured essays but focus on more specific issues behind the larger discussion. The essays address the New Testament texts on Eucharist and important later Christian writers. This book will be of value to scholars studying the Eucharist in the New Testament and the early Christian church, as well as to clergy who need to instruct congregations on the ecumenical discussions of the Eucharist.
The Logiphro Dilemma
Is God above logic? If so, is he irrational? Is God subservient to logic? If so, is he really omnipotent? These questions are similar to Socrates' infamous challenge to explaining God's relation to morality, the so-called Euthyphro dilemma. In this book McGlothlin argues that the Euthyphro challenge can be extended to help explain the relationship between God and logic, what he call the Logiphro dilemma. Logic, on this account, depends on aspects of God's mind other than God's will. This is a nonstandard form of theistic logical dependence. It contrasts both with the standard form of theistic logical dependence, according to which logic depends on God's will, and with theistic logical independence, according to which logic is independent of God. These rival views can be seen as the horns of the Logiphro dilemma: either logic depends on God's will, in which case special revelation would no longer be communicable; or logic is independent of God, in which case core claims of classical theism–for example, that God is the only independent being–would be violated. The best way to escape both of these horns, according to McGlothlin, is to adopt the nonstandard form of theistic logical dependence.
I Am Who I Am
The mystery of God has fascinated people of all generations. Based on what has been revealed, people have tried to define, describe, and depict him in the way they deemed fit. But he has proved himself to be bigger than all human classifications. He continues to reveal himself to us in ways that we sometimes least expect. He becomes so small that we can understand and experience him according to who we are and what capacity we have. But he is so big that he is beyond all our imaginations and fantasies.
Author Binu Edathumparambil considers God as an inevitable component in the triangular model of life that he suggests for our lives. A healthy and happy life, according to Edathumparambil, is one that is lived in communion with God and others. This book specifically focuses on the mystery of God and his place in the triangular model of life. It is about what our forefathers experienced in the past and what we experience today. It is also about how our understandings and experiences of God shape our lives as individuals and communities.
Bible Stories for Strong Stomachs
Intriguing and eye-opening interpretations of the most scandalous Bible stories that are puzzling and even shocking, maybe not even worthy of being in the Bible. A serious and sometimes whimsical taking of readers into the most awkward and even repulsive biblical narratives to find answers to the difficult questions facing believers today. Here is an outstanding resource for young adults, Sunday school classes, and quest groups that will provoke real conversations about the Bible and how the faithful should be living their lives. These twenty-eight Bible stories, strictly for adults, would make great sermon material for the pastor who has the courage and wisdom to try. They surely are in the Bible for some important reason. You are warned to approach with caution.
The Leviathan Factor
The Leviathan Factor tells the incredible story of how Satan, created as Lucifer the morning star, self-transformed into Leviathan, God's serpentine arch foe. When he tried to achieve immortality by tweaking creation's lowest-level laws (a sophisticated computer/automaton) he created death instead. As the serpent he reappeared in the Genesis tree of good and evil, where he seduced humans to attempt immortality apart from covenant with God. Leviathan is responsible for the false belief that we each have an inner divine spark which, when reconnected to our ego, awakens our true inherent divinity. Unfortunately he and his demonic spirits also impact our minds, bodies, and environment as psi. A few of the many markers of these demonic psi are levitation, telepathy, telekinesis, deja vu, emotional oppressions, poltergeist activities, past lives' «memories,» voices and visions, near death and out-of-body experiences, and trance channeling. Many of these psi phenomena are co-factors in mind disorders such as schizophrenia or epilepsy. Manifestations in Christian circles include false tongues and «holy» laughter. The Leviathan Factor is not a healing how-to. It is the first book to place demonic evil into the context of creation's basic structures and laws.