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Luke's narrative of Jesus was presented to Christians who had already heard and read stories of Jesus and the birth of this new movement, Christianity. Luke seemed to rewrite the story of Jesus similar to ancient epics of the history of a nation, a movement, and the tale of a hero. Jesus and the church emerged in occupied Judea, a nation that was not only oppressed but was in exile. Occupied Judea, however, struggled for power and honor and in turn, for marginalized people who needed God. Jesus, the epic hero, journeyed to earth and Jerusalem to free those on the margins of society. This epic story lives on today in a church that also has heard the story of Jesus, but has forgotten that the friend of sinners calls Christians to also reach those who are marginalized by our occupied culture. Luke invites Christians to emerge as a movement that seeks and saves those ostracized by our communities.

In A Biblical Understanding of Pain: Its Reasons and Realities, John Timmerman examines six different sources of pain, each with its own chapter of description and biblical response. These include physical pain, the pain of mental illness, spiritual pain, emotional pain, the pain of the Prodigal, and the pain of memories. Additional chapters explore the sources of pain, the denial of pain, and the question of God's omnipotence and why he doesn't just remove pain. Rather than setting forth sets of rules governing our response to pain, Professor Timmerman narrates actual life events and examples, and then examines biblical responses to these. The result is a study that feels lived in.

Much has been written on the centenary of the First World War; however, no book has yet explored the tragedy of the conflict from a theological perspective. This book fills that gap. Taking their cue from the famous British army chaplain Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, seven central essays--all by authors associated with the cathedral where Studdert Kennedy first preached to troops--examine aspects of faith that featured in the war, such as the notion of ""home,"" poetry, theological doctrine, preaching, social reform, humanitarianism, and remembrance. Each essay applies its reflections to the life of faith today.The essays thus represent a highly original contribution to the history of the First World War in general and the work of Studdert Kennedy in particular; and they provide wider theological insight into how, in the contemporary world, life and tragedy, God and suffering, can be integrated. The book will accordingly be of considerable interest to historians, both of the war and of the church; to communities commemorating the war; and to all those who wrestle with current challenges to faith. A foreword by Studdert Kennedy's grandson and an afterword by the bishop of Magdeburg in Germany render this a volume of remarkable depth and worth.

Grace at Table advocates prayer at table as a way to solve everything. By everything we mean the dismay, dis-ease, and fear of the future that permeates way too many human souls. Addiction is one response to the moment, fear another, and despair a third. Widespread immobility and lack of focus come to mind as indications of over-stimulation by the negatives and under-stimulation by the positives. Prayer at table stimulates the positives. It is a pause that refreshes the spirit, reorienting us to a sense of gratitude and grace for whatever we may face. Prayer doesn''t have to be hands folded or knees bent--although there is nothing wrong with folding hands or dropping to our knees. Instead, prayer here is understood as pause to give thanks, to look around, to interrupt constant action with reflection, allowing the table and our food to be our nudge. Changing the general atmosphere of despair and decay to thanks and appreciation is a big change, made in a small way. Like a wheelbarrow, prayer carries the heavy load, lightly, giving us the lift we need to manage what we fear we cannot. Prayer at table resolves the appreciation deficit disorder, which goes on to make us strong for climate change, recession, and a mounting sense of debt. It replaces shame and blame with gratitude and grace.""Pastor Donna Schaper takes what is all around us, namely food and eating food, and joins it to what is deeply but invisibly within us, a hunger for meaning and joy. She develops an imagination that lives the unity between the inner and outer: namely, prayer. Read this witty and generous book. There is not a dull sentence in it; [the] words will quicken your taste buds and revive your spirit.""--Eugene H. Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent CollegeThe Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper is Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City and the author of thirty books, mostly about keeping Sabbath while gardening and being an activist. Best known for being dismembered by a garden club, she spends her days loving parish ministry in New York City. She also grows a great tomato and gathers sticks to build evening fires at her country shack in Fishkill, New York.

Master Kierkegaard is a diary kept by a fictional servant in the house of Soren Kierkegaard. The strong-willed but faithful Magda, a well-educated and ""fallen"" woman from Berlin, considers herself fortunate to have found domestic work in Copenhagen and yet is plagued by her own demons. Two journals set in the summer of 1847, while Kierkegaard wrote his Works of Love, record Magda''s reflections on Scripture, literature, and life, focusing on her sporadic yet intimate interactions with her master, Denmark''s premier writer, theologian, and philosopher.""Master Kierkegaard is a masterpiece of fiction and spirituality. Reading it evoked for me a feeling of serenity and thoughtfulness.""--Adela Yarbro CollinsBuckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School, and author of Mark: A CommentaryEllen Brown is a writer living in Connecticut. Her previous publications include essays on Percy Shelley''s Prometheus Unbound and Mary Shelley''s Frankenstein. She is currently at work on two additional volumes of Master Kierkegaard.

Lighten up! Most of us take ourselves too seriously. Christian leaders, in particular, are tempted by the position they hold, or the power they wield, to lose touch with their humanity, become arrogant, and alienate their followers. But what about our tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot, time and time again? Can we laugh at ourselves? David McKenna, a Christian college president, brings a lifetime of learning to this question. By confessing his own foibles and laughing at the ludicrous, he finds that God is laughing with him--not to ridicule, but to give the special grace that saves us from ourselves. The lessons are humbling when the laugh is on us, but they can lead to the discovery that a sense of humor is a partner with the witness of a joyful spirit. McKenna shows us by example how to lighten up and find God as we laugh at ourselves.""Just as we suspected, and with impeccable timing, we find in Dr. McKenna''s When God Laughs with Us, evidence that God not only has, but encourages a bountiful sense of humor and offers a written respite for leaders who often take ourselves far too seriously. Thanks David for insight into yet another delightfully creative dimension of our Heavenly Father.""--Sandra C. GrayPresidentAsbury University""In sharing many lighthearted and humorous experiences, often directed at himself, David McKenna reveals how a person can keep balance and perspective while making important decisions."" --Norman L. EdwardsSeattle, Wasthington""When God Laughs with Us highlights encounters, at once serious and funny, each with its opening and insight into a deeper reality of our life with God. Dave''s capacity to peel back the veneer that encases so many leaders and prod us to look deeper into our soul so that we can bear the weight of leadership more lightly is provocative . . . You will enjoy the combination of personal and professional anecdotes and be drawn into reflecting on the intersection of your own personal and professional ''life lessons.'' You''ll love the book.""--Gayle D. BeebePresident, Westmont College""Dave McKenna, always in for a good laugh, has the gift of seeing the funny side of just about anything. And the comedic comes through, inevitably, in any leadership setting, especially for college presidents working with students who think up the most astonishing ways to pull pranks and have fun. Read this delightful little volume and I promise you laughter, joy, and healing for the soul.""--Donald DemarayProfessor Emeritus of PreachingAsbury Theological Seminary ""In When God Laughs with Us, David McKenna treats us to priceless moments of personal gaffes, awkward moments, cultural tensions and, at times, hilarious slapstick type situations which rival the Three Stooges. Whether it is being drenched in water before a speaking engagement or arriving at the pulpit of the wrong church, McKenna allows us to see that leadership can be fun when we learn to laugh at ourselves. Indeed, McKenna''s humorous stories wonderfully remind us of the truth of Reinhold Niebuhr''s quip that, ''Humor is the prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer.''"" --Timothy C. TennentPresidentAsbury Theological Seminary""What a terrific and timely book. For all of us in leadership, without question we take ourselves too seriously, to our detriment, I might add, limiting our effectiveness as Christians and as leaders. Dave McKenna comes to the rescue. Out of his long and storied career, and as a skilled storyteller, he hammers home a wise insight: We''ve simply got to lighten up a bit. In story after story, we find Dave leading and modeling a way for us."" --Philip W. EatonPresidentSeattle Pacific University ""When you need a cup of coffee and a good humor break, take time to read When God Laughs With Us. Once again David L. McKenna has captured through his prolific pen those humorous times of life when God smiles with us. Through insightful life stories of wit and wisdom the Christia

Can someone please explain this ""New Perspective on Paul""? Where did it come from and will it help or hinder Christian interpreters to grasp the apostle''s writings more clearly? In The New Perspective on Paul: An Introduction, Kent Yinger provides concise, readable, and authoritative answers to these and other questions currently exercising students of Paul.""The New Perspective on Paul has, sadly, been more controversial than illuminative of a neglected dimension of Paul''s teaching on justification by faith. Professor Yinger most helpfully explains both aspects. . . . [T]his is as good an Introduction to the New Perspective and the related Pauline teaching as you will find.""--James D. G. Dunnauthor of The New Perspective on Paul: Collected Essays""Kent Yinger has made a complex and often emotive debate about Paul and Justification accessible to a wider audience. This book isn''t beating any drum, it''s not an apology for the ''New Perspective'' thing, nor is it a declaration of war on any party. Rather, this is a map of the key terrain, a list of who is who in the zoo of debate, and a flashlight on several dark alleys of contested interpretations. At the same time, Yinger gives us some good and sensible commentary along the way. If you''re lost in the maelstrom of theological polemics and Pauline interpretation, this book is one of the ways to help you get your bearings.""--Michael F. BirdLecturer in Theology and BibleCrossway College, Brisbane, Australia""For those who want to know what all the fuss is about and whether and how it matters, this is just the book. Kent Yinger, while thoroughly conversant with the huge amount of discussion generated by the New Perspective on Paul, has the gift of making the key issues accessible to others. Here is a readable, succinct, clear, accurate, and fair-minded introduction to the ongoing debate. For both the academy and the church Yinger provides a much needed perspective on the New Perspective.--Andrew LincolnPortland Professor of New TestamentUniversity of Gloucestershire""Kent Yinger set out to write a book that offers a fair-minded, easy-to-read explanation of the so-called New Perspective on Paul (NPP), which neither critiques nor defends it. His aim was to navigate between the faddish innovations of some biblical scholars and the deeper insights that come from a better understanding of Scripture. He sought to answer four basic questions regarding NPP: (1) What is it? (2) Where did it come from? (3) What are the potential dangers? and (4) What good is it? After reading this book, I have only one thing to say to Dr. Yinger: Bull''s eye!""--Charles J. Conniry Jr.Vice President and DeanGeorge Fox Seminary/George Fox UniversityKent L. Yinger is Professor of New Testament at George Fox Evangelical Seminary (George Fox University) in Portland Oregon. He is the author of Paul, Judaism, and Judgment According to Deeds (1999).

He has captured the imagination of people around the world, including those who thought they were ""done with"" Christianity. In ways no one could have expected and no one predicted, Pope Francis has become a living example of what it might mean to be a Christian in our time and place. The modern world was not ready for Pope Francis, but as has been demonstrated--in his travels to the United States and around the world, in his calls for mercy and defense of the vulnerable--Pope Francis was ready for the modern world.New World Pope: Pope Francis and the Future of the Church explores how Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis--the ideas, experiences, influences, and passions that have formed this pastor who has inspired, challenged, encouraged, and angered people worldwide. Ten experts from around the world--scholars, journalists, church leaders, and others--provide insights into the origins and trajectories of Pope Francis' vision and hopes for the Christian community in our day. Persons intrigued by Pope Francis will find deeper insights into his witness via this exploration of the roots and trajectories of his sense of Christian mission and discipleship.

In recent decades the ancient apocalyptic work 1 Enoch has been intensively explored for its historical meaning and its contribution to Israelite and Christ-movement thought and identity. Yet its theological meaning, what it can contribute to understanding of the divine-human interface today, has been neglected by scholarship. This is surprising given that 1 Enoch is Scripture for the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches and has been a major influence on Christian theology, experience, and art in Ethiopia since the fifth and sixth centuries CE. This book inaugurates a project in Western scholarship to bring 1 Enoch into theological discussion. It contains a number of essays delivered at meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Cheltenham, England, involving scholars from Ethiopia, Germany, the UK, and the USA. The papers cover topics such as the appropriate theological response to a text that is Scripture for only some Christians; the role of 1 Enoch in Ethiopian ecclesial and theological tradition; the theological potential of 1 Enoch in areas such as the environment, politics, social justice, Christology, persecution, the problem of evil and how 1 Enoch stimulates artistic expression today. The Blessing of Enoch aims to launch a wider discussion on 1 Enoch and contemporary theology.

Fakes, Forgeries, and Fictions examines the possible motivations behind the production of apocryphal Christian texts. Did the authors of Christian apocrypha intend to deceive others about the true origins of their writings? Did they do so in a way that is distinctly different from New Testament scriptural writings? What would phrases like ""intended to deceive"" or ""true origins"" even mean in various historical and cultural contexts? The papers in this volume, presented in September 2015 at York University in Toronto, discuss texts from as early as second-century papyrus fragments to modern apocrypha such as tales of Jesus in India in the nineteenth-century Life of Saint Issa. The highlights of the collection include a keynote address by Bart Ehrman (""Apocryphal Forgeries: The Logic of Literary Deceit"") and a panel discussion on the Gospel of Jesus' Wife, reflecting on what reactions to this particular text--primarily on biblioblogs--can tell us about the creation, transmission, and reception of apocryphal Christian literature. The eye-opening papers presented at the panel caution and enlighten readers about the ethics of studying unprovenanced texts, the challenges facing female scholars both in the academy and online, and the shifting dynamics between online and traditional print scholarship.