Böcker utgivna av William B Eerdmans Publishing Co

Philo, Josephus, and the Testaments on Sexuality is the fourth of five volumes by William Loader exploring attitudes toward sexuality in Judaism and Christianity during the Greco-Roman era. In this volume Loader examines three substantial and historically important sets of documents the writings of Philo of Alexandria, the histories of Josephus, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. For each set of writings, he provides an in-depth introduction, detailed analysis highlighting each writer's position on a broad range of matters pertaining to sexuality, and a summary conclusion."

Traditional Christian theology has generally treated desire as a dark and negative force intimately related to sin something to be restricted and repressed, closeted and controlled. But, according to LeRon Shults and Jan-Olav Henriksen?'s Saving Desire, we see only part of the picture if we do not also perceive that desire can be a powerful force for great good. Grounding their work firmly in the experiential realm of human life, the eight eminent theologians contributing to this volume celebrate together the positivity, the sociality, and the physicality of saving desire that is, humankind?'s innate desire not only for the good life but also, more vitally, for the life-transforming goodness of God.

How might a church infused with missional theology change the way it approaches Christian practices? Interacting both with the missional theology of George Hunsberger and Darrell Guder and with the theology of Christian practices laid out by Craig Dykstra and Dorothy Bass, Benjamin T. Conner argues that allowing these two disciplines to inform one another can enhance the nature of the church's witness, its congregational discipleship, and its theological education. Framing his work with real-world narratives and applications inspired by his work as a minister to adolescents with special needs, Conner shows how a practical missional mindset can redefine and reinvigorate the spirit and purpose of a congregation.

Contemporary society is in crisis, its structures broken and fragmented, and its people overstimulated, overstressed, and thirsty for true communion with the sacred and with one another. Yet although more than eighty-five percent of congregations in the United States conduct small-group ministry, too many of these groups begin with no clear sense of purpose, structure, or spiritual focus and end by veering away from Christian tradition and unknowingly settling for shallow versions of popular Christianity. In The Church and the Crisis of Community Theresa Latini lays out both a theoretical groundwork and a practical guideline for successful small-group ministry. Examining the latest sociological research and the real-life practices of small groups in six congregations, she shows how well-developed groups -- those with mission statements, leadership training, and solid organizational structure -- can be a truly effective tool in the church's work of transforming broken and shallow forms of community into life-giving, life-sustaining relationships with God and others.

David L. Schindler is the foremost American participant in the Communio movement in Catholic theology. Over the last thirty-five years, his profound theological and ontological vision has led him to probe our most urgent cultural problems to their deepest metaphysical roots, comprehensively evaluating them in the light of Trinitarian faith. The first book-length study of Schindler's thought, Being Holy in the World explores Schindler's Trinitarian theology, ecclesiology, anthropology, and metaphysics in the context of the encounter between Christianity and contemporary culture.

Explores whether human minds can truly discover God without ChristDoes all knowledge of God come through Christ alone, or can human beings discover truths about God philosophically? The Analogy of Being assembles essays by expert Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox theologians to examine the relationship between divine revelation in the person of Jesus Christ and the philosophical capacities of natural reason.These essays were inspired by the lively, decades-long debate between Karl Barth and Erich Przywara, which was first sparked in 1932 when Barth wrote that the use of natural theology in Roman Catholic thinking was the -invention of the anti-Christ.- The contributors to The Analogy of Being analyze and reflect on both sides of Barth and Przywara's spirited discourse, offering diverse responses to a controversy reaching to the very core of Christian faith and theology.Contributors: John R. Betz Martin Bieler Peter Casarella J. Augustine Di Noia Michael Hanby David Bentley Hart Reinhard Hutter Bruce D. Marshall Bruce L. McCormack Kenneth Oakes Richard Schenk John Webster Thomas Joseph White

For more than thirty years, Douglas Laycock has been studying, defending, and writing about religious liberty. In this second volume of the comprehensive collection of his writings on the subject, he has compiled articles, amicus briefs, and actual court documents relating to regulatory exemptions under the Constitution, the right to church autonomy, and the rights of non-mainstream religions. This collection -- which deals with religious schools and colleges, sex abuse cases, the rights of Hare Krishnas and Scientologists, the landmark decision Employment Division v. Smith, and more -- will be a valuable reference for churches, schools, and other religious organizations as they exercise their Constitutionally protected freedom of religion.

Testifies to the presence of God as both our post-earthly hope and our present-world existence. These thought-provoking sermons by Ralph Wood, a layman who has taught religion and literature for many years, seek to till new soil in the fertile field of Christian faith and life. They draw on a wide range of reading not only in Christian theology but also in both classical and contemporary literature and culture. And they also mine Wood's own professorial and personal experience in dealing with both the old and the young amid "the chances and changes of life." Wood squarely engages the American "culture of death" by wrestling with such vexing questions as sexuality and marriage, war and peace, abortion, racial injustice, and abuse of the elderly. By grounding his homilies in specific times, places, and quandaries, Wood demonstrates that Christianity remains a vigorous set of doctrines and morals precisely as preaching and ethics give shape to our worship and living in the here and now. Focusing not so much on our "getting to heaven," Wood's Preaching and Professing shows concretely how the gospel "gets heaven into us."

Metaphysical study of God, love, technology, and culture in modern society Reality most basically and properly considered, says David L. Schindler, is an order of love -- a gift that finds its objective only in an entire way of life. Love is what first brings things into existence, and everything exists in, through, and for love. With this understanding of reality, Schindler explores how modern culture marginalizes love, regarding it at best as a matter of piety or goodwill rather than as the very stuff that makes our lives and the things of the world real. Schindler examines how Western civilization's fixation with technology -- especially its displacement of experience with experiment and its privileging of knowing and making -- has undermined its capacity to build an authentic human culture. Schindler sees this as a technological age not simply because of technological advancements but because of the way we think as the result of our technological orientation. He shows, within the context of politics, economics, science, and cultural and professional life generally, that God-centered love is what gives things their deepest and most proper order and meaning.

A distinguished group of scholars here introduces and illustrates the array of strategies and methods used in New Testament study today. Standard approaches -- text criticism, historical methods, etc. -- appear side by side with newer approaches -- narrative criticism, Latino-Latina hermeneutics, theological interpretation of the New Testament, and more. First published in 1995, Hearing the New Testament is now revised and updated, including rewritten chapters, new chapters, and new suggestions for further reading. Contributors: Efrain AgostoLoveday C. A. AlexanderJames L. BaileyStephen C. BartonRichard BauckhamC. Clifton BlackHolly J. CareyBart D. EhrmanStephen E. FowlJoel B. GreenRichard B. HaysMark Allan PowellEmerson B. PoweryF. Scott SpencerMax TurnerKevin J. VanhoozerRobert W. Wall