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Via uses the concept of self-deception as a vantage point for understanding something about Paul and Matthew. Employing an existential method in the broad sense, Via asks about the nature of a pervasive phenomenon of human existence with some attention given to psychological aspects. Nevertheless, this study is primarily exegetical and interpretive -- aimed at theological understanding -- rather than intensively methodological. Positing that self-deception is a deformation, Via undertakes to pay attention primarily to the subversion of the self and the recovery of wholeness. Additionally, attention is paid to self-deception as a social phenomenon and some consideration is given to its social causes and implications.Posing provocative questions to the New Testament, Dan O. Via asks how Paul and Matthew understand the near universal human experience of self-deception and shows how each of them, in a different way, proclaims the power of the gospel to break through illusion and bring personal integration to the believer-disciple. . . . Via''s strategy has two benefits for the preacher or interpreter: it formulates the biblical message in terms accessible to [contemporary] readers who might not otherwise be disposed to listen, and it offers a fresh approach to vexed questions about the theological coherence of the New Testament canon. . . . Via''s work out to stimulate lively conversation. --Richard B. Hays author of ''The Moral Vision of the New Testament''Via achieves his extraordinary penetration of these central Christian texts by first honing his analytic tool in the disciplines of philosophy, literary criticism, and psychology. This insightful development of existential interpretation takes New Testament theology and ethics in a promising new direction. --Robert Morgan, Oxford University author of ''Biblical Interpretation''A mature and incisive work dealing with a perennial concern and offering fresh perspectives not only on Paul but also on our own world as well. . . . I found the comparisons of Paul and Matthew both illuminating and insightful. --Calvin Roetzel, Macalester College author of ''Paul: The Man and the Myth''Professor Via proves himself again a valiant wrestler with the truth. . . . This work is subtle and penetrating. --W. D. Davies, Duke University author of ''The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount''Dan O. Via is Professor Emeritus at The Divinity School, Duke University. He is also author of ''The Parables,'' ''The Ethics of Mark''s Gospel,'' and ''What Is New Testament Theology?''

In seeking to develop a hermeneutic for doing ethics on a narrative base, Via here focuses on Mark''s ethics and suggests ways in which they interrelate with other significant motifs in the Gospel: eschatology, revelation, faith, and the messianic secret. Via maintains that the middle of Mark''s plot presents the paradoxical position of the disciple who is placed in the overlapping of the kingdom of God and the age of hardness of heart. Here is a bold attempt to integrate several agendas in interpretation--iterary criticism, biblical studies, constructive theological ethics--so as to draw out the implications of Mark''s narrative for faith and conduct in the real world.Dan O. Via is Professor Emeritus at The Divinity School, Duke University. He is also author of ''The Parables,'' ''Self-Deception and Wholeness in Paul and Matthew,'' and ''What Is New Testament Theology?''

This book is about the past and continuing debate over the causes of United States involvement in the Vietnam War. It brings together readings that best exemplify the widely varying answers that historians, political scientists, social scientists, policymakers, journalists, and novelists have given to the essential question of American involvement: why did the U.S. intervene diplomatically and militarily in Vietnam between 1945 and 1975?"" --from the PrefaceTo Reason Why breaks new ground in covering and analyzing this issue. Kimball has gathered together thirty-eight readings -- including speeches, interviews, and articles -- that best exemplify the conflicting ideas and theories about the U.S. intervention in Vietnam. Among these thirty-eight readings are excerpts from David Halberstam, Daniel Ellsberg, Frances FitzGerald, Henry Kissinger, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon.Jeffrey Kimball''s book, ''To Reason Why'', was the best reader available when it first appeared. It still is. Kimball''s volume contains a cross-section of documents and readings that bring to clear focus the defining moment of the second half of the twentieth century. The United States still has not come to grips with the Vietnam War, especially its lessons that suggest the limits of power and the dangers of militarism. I used the book two decades ago. It has not lost any of its power to force readers to consider, and reconsider, the origins and nature of the war, its conduct, and its legacies. Indeed, in light of American policy since 9/11, it is a source book for sanity in our dangerous world.""--Geoffrey Smith, Professor of History, Queen''s UniversityKimball''s judicious introduction and headnotes do not prejudice any particular thesis. The care that he has taken to give equal weight to cultural and social forces along with military and strategic factors produces an interpretation much more complex than the simplistic domino theory that persisted for so many years in U.S. government explanations of the war.""--David L. Anderson, in The Journal of Military HistoryThis book specifically addresses the issue of ''why'' the United States became involved, usually the first question students ask. Kimball''s interest in focusing attention on the wide-ranging debate over ''causes'' of the Vietnam War seems particularly appropriate at this time, considering the lack of such debate in popular political discourse.""--Emily S. Rosenberg, in Reviews in American HistoryJeffrey Kimball is a professor at Miami University of Ohio and has taught courses on diplomacy, peace, war, imperialism, popular culture, the United States, American presidents, and Western civilization since 1968. His books include Nixon''s Vietnam War (1998; winner of both the Ferrell Prize and the Ohio Academy of History Book Award) and The Vietnam War Files: Uncovering the Secret History of Nixon-Era Strategy (2004; winner of the Arthur S. Link/Warren F. Kuehl Prize). Kimball is also the author of numerous articles and book chapters on diplomacy, war, peace, and historiography, has served as President of the Peace History Society, and has been a Nobel Institute Senior Fellow and a Woodrow Wilson International Center Public Policy Scholar.

There is no deeper, more intense human longing than to know God is real and to see Him face to face.""In some circles, having a personal relationship with God"" is synonymous with being a Christian. We are told, in fact, that we ''must'' have such a relationship if we are truly God''s children. But if we are honest, says Tim Stafford, we must admit that often there is a considerable gap between our talk and our experience. We want to know God. The problem is that we don''t know how to know Him.How do we know God personally?"" After examining the traditional answers and finding their shortcomings for himself, Stafford began his own search for the means to knowing, personally, a personal God. ''Knowing the Face of God'' is the moving record of his quest.This book should be around for many years and should be read many times.""--Philip YanceyThis is the type of literature that the church desperately needs.""--R. C. SproulA fine blend of sound theology, personal insight, and lucid writing.""--Harold L. MyraTim Stafford is one of the brightest and freshest writers on the Christian scene.""--Charles W. Colson

Women''s Spirituality is an enlarged and revised edition of the widely used anthology that looks at the spiritual and psychological dimensions of women''s lives. Using classical and contemporary texts, the present volume illuminates the way feminist issues find grounding in great spiritual teachers such as Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Ignatius Loyola, and Jane de Chantal. Four sections develop the central theme. The first considers contemporary issues: women in ministry, different forms of feminist spirituality, and sexism in the church. The second provides contemporary resources for psychological development. The third gives examples of spiritual development in the biblical, Ignatian, Carmelite, and Salesian traditions. The final section considers new visions of women''s spirituality in the present day.Contributors to this volume include Anne Carr, Joann Wolski Conn, Kathleen Fischer, Constance FitzGerald, James Fowler, Carol Gilligan, Rosemary Haughton, Elizabeth A. Johnson, Robert Kegan, John McDargh, Jean Baker Miller, Sandra M. Schneiders, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Mary Jo Weaver, Rowan Williams, and Wendy M. Wright.Joann Wolski Conn, the editor, is Professor of Christian Spirituality in the graduate program in pastoral counseling and spiritual direction at Neumann College, Aston, Pennsylvania. She is the author of Spirituality and Personal Maturity and has written articles on the integration of spiritual and psychological development.

This book makes plain that the man in the pulpit occupies a position of unrivaled significance in the life and destiny of his fellow man. It concerns the kerygma, or, as Professor A. M. Hunter of King''s College, Aberdeen, states in the Foreword, ""the preached Gospel which the first heralds of Christ proclaimed to the great pagan world of their day, that Gospel which, after nineteen centuries, remains the Word from the Beyond for our human predicament. It tells what the Proclamation really was and how it runs, like a golden thread, through the whole New Testament.""Dr. Mounce introduces his study with a survey of related terms as they appear in classical Greek, proceeds to show the role of the herald in the life and culture of the Old Testament world through a careful investigation of the Septuagint, and, more importantly, gives a detailed analysis of the nature of preaching as it occurs in the New Testament itself. The closing chapter forcibly demonstrates that true Christian preaching has ever been and always should be the medium through which God contemporizes His historic self-disclosure in Christ, and offers man the opportunity to respond in faith.As a study of the heart of the joyful message that the first heralds of Christianity proclaimed, this book breaks fresh ground for a new understanding of the vital significance of preaching.""Sound scholarship, fresh treatment, and evangelical warmth."" --F. F. Bruce, the late Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, University of ManchesterRobert Mounce, President Emeritus of Whitworth College, is widely known as the author of a number of New Testament commentaries. For the past forty years he has been involved in Bible translation, most recently serving as Assistant New Testament Editor for the English Standard Version.

A thought-provoking guide to a spiritual approach to daily work.""--''Booklist''This compelling analysis of the spiritual dimensions of work confronts the alienation and lack of fulfillment that exist in epidemic proportions in the workplace. Haughey delves into the question of the lasting value of work, and focuses on the relationship between work and justice, work and grace, and work and spirit. Haughey''s book is a quiet energizer, perfect for the person who is bored with work, angry at his or her colleagues or disillusioned with the meaning of work.""--''America''John C. Haughey, SJ, a well respected theologian and lecturer, is a senior research fellow at Georgetown University''s Woodstock Theological Center in Washington, D.C. He has served as an appointee of the Vatican''s Council on Christian Unity for seventeen years and has held chairs at Marquette University, John Carroll University, and Seton Hall University. He is the author of ''Housing Heaven''s Fire'' (2002) and editor of ''Revisiting the Idea of Vocation'' (2004).

Arguing that the Christian doctrine of revelation is necessary for understanding the prevenience of God''s grace, Ronald Thiemann defends the doctrine of revelation by focusing on the identity and reality of the promising God depicted in the biblical narrative. According to Thiemann, The crisis of revelation has occurred within a cultural context decisively marked by radical pluralism. The modern defender of God''s reality must seek to show how God is, both in relation and prior to those human concepts by which we seek to grasp his reality. He or she must do so by an argument which resists the reduction of theology to anthropology.In analysis of such diverse thinkers as John Locke, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and Thomas Torrance, Thiemann criticizes the epistemological foundationalism adopted by theologians to provide theoretical justification for the divine origins of Christian beliefs. He argues that the doctrine of revelation must be seen as an account supporting the intelligibility and truth of a set of Christian convictions. His notion of the narrated promise reveals God''s prevenience as promiser and humanity as recipient of the promise. In an examination of the Gospel of Matthew, Thiemann shows how the biblical narrative identifies God as the God of promise and invites the reader to participate in God''s prevenient reality.ROBERT F. THIEMANN is Professor of Theology and of Religion and Society at Harvard Divinity School. He is the author of Constructing a Public Theology and Religion in Public Life. He is also co-editor of Who Will Provide? The Changing Role of Religion in American Social Welfare.

Here, for the first time, the development of pastoral care as a discipline has been documented. Dr. Holifield details the shift in emphasis from saving souls to supporting individuals in self-realization, and in the process raises thought-provoking questions about the preoccupation with psychological methodology evident in modern society and clergy. Every pastor wittingly or unwittingly adopts some ''theory'' of pastoral counseling, whether it be derived from the seventeenth century or from the twentieth, says Dr. Holifield. From colonial America''s intellectual approach to today''s therapeutic self culture, he explores those theories. Theological, social, economic, and psychological threads are interwoven with fascinating conversational examples to show how Protestantism helped to form--and was influenced by--changing social orders. Broad in scope, scholarly in detail, yet immensely readable, this is an important book for clinical pastoral educators, students, professionals--everyone interested in church and social history.E. Brooks Holifield is the C. H. Candler Professor of American Church History at Emory University in Atlanta. He is the author of six books, including ''The Gentlemen Theologians'' (1978), ''A History of Pastoral Care in America'' (1983), ''Era of Persuasion'' (1989), and ''Theology in America: Christian Thought from the Age of the Puritans to the Civil War'' (2003). He is also the former president of the American Society of Church History.

We all know women we admire and want to be near. They are the women we call when we need to talk, or when we need a whispered word of encouragement or hope. They are the ones who rejoice in our good news -- and who sympathize with us in our grief.These are the women who draw us out of ourselves when we become emotionally distant and who graciously accept our eager interruptions into their lives when others would see only intrusion. They are life-givers who touch us with their boundless love.They are women of a generous spirit.You, too, can be such a woman -- one whose love nurtures, encourages, and impacts those around her. Within these pages, author Lois Mowday Rabey shows you how, offering encouragement, motivation, and advice to show you the way. Learn how you can express life-giving love as you enter into the beautiful mystery of becoming a woman of a generous spirit.Lois Mowday Rabey is an acclaimed author, speaker, and encourager who has been inspiring audiences nationwide for more than fifteen years. Her areas of expertise include women''s issues, relationships, and spiritual motivation.A widely published author, Lois has written articles for ''Discipleship Journal,'' ''Decision,'' ''Youthworker Journal,'' ''Single-Parent Family,'' and ''Moody.'' Her books include ''Daughters Without Dads'' and ''Coming of Age.'' She has been a guest on TV''s ''The 700 Club'' and ''Straight Talk'' and has been featured on such radio programs as ''Family Life Today'' and Moody Broadcasting''s ''Midday Connection.''Lois is the mother of two grown daughters and the grandmother of three. She lives with her husband, writer Steve Rabey, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This updated best seller challenges the reader to examine the current church structure. If you have never read this classic, you have missed a treasure chest of information and wisdom from one of the most respected authors of our time.Wine (the gospel of Jesus Christ) and Wineskins (the man-made structures of the church). How do the two relate? What happens when new wine is poured into old wineskins? What about making new wineskins? In short: What kinds of church structures are most compatible with the gospel in our modern, techno-urban society? Snyder addresses these questions -- and provides some challenging answers. In the course of his argument he discusses the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ, the role of spiritual gifts, the pastor as a superstar,"" and renewal that is deeply spiritual and immediately practical.No other book has had more influence in shaping my understanding of ministry at the local church level. It is a must read for every Christian leader."" --Michael Slaughter, Pastor, Ginghamsburg United Methodist ChurchHoward Snyder''s ''Radical Renewal'' is even more relevant today than when it first appeared as ''The Problem of Wineskins'' in 1975. The world has changed, but Snyder''s challenges are still very much alive today."" --Vinson Synan, Dean and Professor of Divinity, Regent University School of DivinityImportant books do not die . . . all they need is a little dusting and polishing to become as vital and challenging as their first appearance. So it is with this . . . revision. Not only is it just as relevant, but given the changes taking place in society and the current state of the church, it is even more timely and necessary."" --Robert Banks, Director and Dean, Macquarie Christian Studies InstituteHoward A. Snyder is Visiting Director of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre in Manchester, England. He has served as a pastor and as a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary (1996-2006), Tyndale Seminary in Toronto (2007-2012), and elsewhere. His books include The Problem of Wineskins, The Radical Wesley, Models of the Kingdom, and Salvation Means Creation Healed (with Joel Scandrett).

This God we worship is a mysterious, incomprehensible God. His love, His patience, His holiness, His power, His purposes, and His wisdom will forever leave us in a state of astonished wonder. Yet . . . the Bible tells us that we truly can ""taste and see that the Lord is good"" (Psalm 34:8).Draw closer to the Lord your God.How can you go about ""tasting"" God? By stepping beyond your regular times of Bible reading and prayer to thoughtfully, worshipfully meditate on Him. If you want to draw closer to His majesty, you must actually come into His presence. And Close to His Majesty was written to help you do exactly that.Taste God''s goodness for yourself through fifteen worshipful meditations on the attributes of God by beloved Bible teacher David Needham--and experience what it really means to draw Close to His Majesty.David C. Needham is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bible and Theology at Multnomah Bible College in Portland, Oregon. His other books include Birthright: Christian Do You Know Who You Are? and Alive for the First Time.

In this revised, expanded edition of a widely praised theological text, the major North American theologian Schubert Ogden presents a clear introduction to, and critique of, liberation theology. ''Faith and Freedom'' lays out the basic requirements for any authentically Christian liberation theology. This revised edition eliminates gender-specific language for God and offers an important new chapter on Christology.Response to previous editions of ''Faith and Freedom'':A readable proposal, thought-provoking . . . very stimulating."" --Journal of the American Academy of Religion[An] excellent work which provides us with a most valuable tool both for reflecting on the current theologies of liberation and for moving forward in a methodical way toward a more critical and more holistic theology of liberation."" --The New Review of Books and ReligionA significant contribution to the liberation discussion."" --Trinity Seminary ReviewSchubert Ogden is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theology at Southern Methodist University. His other books include ''The Reality of God and Other Essays'' and ''Christ Without Myth: A Study Based on the Theology of Rudolf Bultmann.''

The first gospel was not one of the four canonical gospels. It was probably Q, an early collection of Jesus'' sayings used by Matthew and Luke to create their gospels. Q does not mention Jesus'' death and resurrection, and it contains no birth or childhood stories. In Q, Jesus is pictured as a prophetic sage.The First Gospel provides a comprehensive introduction to the Q hypothesis. The author reviews and augments the arguments for the existence of Q. He concludes that the Q document was not merely a miscellaneous collection of sayings of Jesus that served as a source for Matthew and Luke. He sees it as a gospel in its own right, with its own history and own quite distinctive theology.An excellent, long-overdue, and extremely thorough analysis of Q, not just as a source for Matthew and Luke, but as a much earlier gospel in its own right, a gospel with its own redactional history and its own quite distinctive theology."" --John Dominic Crossan, author of ''The Historical Jesus''Arland D. Jacobson is Professor of New Testament and Director of the Charis Ecumenical Center at Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota).

These early Christian leaders set the pattern of faith and practice still evident in the Church today. The spirit and impact of that heritage are presented to the reader unfamiliar with the actual writings of these Fathers of the early Church.The author carefully avoids technical and controversial elements that are of interest only to scholars. Historical matters are featured especially in regard to the teachings on the sacraments and the ministry. This emphasis upon the writings results in a concise, yet comprehensive pattern of the Fathers'' major contribution to the life and teachings in the early Church.For theological students, ministers, and Christian laymen, this study of the Apostolic Fathers offers a compact introduction to the early foundation and consequent development of Christian beliefs. It illuminates the common faith and heritage that have united Christians throughout the ages.John Lawson taught Church History, Historical Theology, Wesleyan History, and Wesleyan Theology at Emory University''s Candler School of Theology for twenty-one years. His other books include ''Introduction to Christian Doctrine'' and ''Wesley Hymns as a Guide to Scriptural Teaching.''

The arts--merely entertaining or indispensable?The arts belong to the Christian life. And in ''The Liberated Imagination,'' author Leland Ryken explores the God-ordained significance of art--its nature and purpose in relating to truth and everyday life.For both artist and audience, for student, teacher, and critic, this book is a road to discovering how participation in art and the imagination leads to a more intense sharing in life''s riches, a deeper celebration of all that God has created, and a new awareness of the wideness of his grace.''The Liberated Imagination'' is a civilized, not to say baptized, treatment of what happens when a Christian confronts culture. What Leland Ryken has done is simply to validate the artistic experience and to tell Christians the deep artistic truth that they already unconsciously know."" --William Griffin, contributing editor of ''Publisher''s Weekly''Professor Ryken reawakens the wonder and tension in our response to the arts by suggesting ways in which the Christian may find and value intimations of the divine in human creations. --Sr. Maura Eichner, Professor of English, College of Notre Dame of MarylandAll too many Christians are uneasy about the arts. This book provides a brilliantly clear and systematic approach to the arts from a Christian perspective."" --Corbin Scott Carnell, Professor of English, University of Florida, Past President of the Conference on Christianity and LiteratureLeland Ryken is an eminently reasonable and insightful critic. All the essential questions about the arts and Christianity are here. ''The Liberated Imagination'' should liberate its readers to experience the reflection of God''s glory to be found in the arts. I recommend it highly.""--Harold Fickett, author of The Holy FoolLeland Ryken is widely respected in Christian higher education as a scholar and prolific writer. His reputation for being both thorough and insightful is borne out in this examination of the relationship of the Christian faith to the arts. Thoughtful Christians will find ''The Liberated Imagination'' to be provocative and highly readable.""--Karen A. Longman, Greenville CollegeLeland Ryken is Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English at Wheaton College. He has authored fourteen books including ''How to Read the Bible as Literature,'' ''Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were,'' and ''Work and Leisure in Christian Perspective.''

Whether or not they are aware of the reality, every Christian is involved in spiritual warfare. This important new resource will give any believer, both novice and seasoned warrior alike, new and essential information for understanding the rules of the warfare that goes on between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.Through the observations and principles systematically outlined in this book, you will come to a deeper knowledge of spiritual conflict, ranging from the personal level to the territorial level, and will, therefore, become better equipped to fight the battles you face.Charles H. Kraft is Sun-Hee Kwak Professor of Anthropology and Intercultural Communication at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is also President of Deep Healing Ministries, Inc.David M. DeBord is former Executive Director of the Christian Pastoral Counseling Center of Pasadena and of Deep Healing Ministries, Inc.

With ''Theology from the Womb of Asia'', Song continues to demonstrate that he is one of the most creative and important theologians of our time. He forces us to expand the horizons of our theological vision, not only by drawing on the resources of Asian thought and experience, but also by insisting that we do theology with passion. Here he offers images, fables, poems, parables, and visions, woven together with his own compelling prose. The biblical stories with which we thought we were familiar become new and more compelling stories when we revisit them with this able and wise guide. And our whole approach to life and living is transformed by the freshness he breathes into all that he surveys with us.--Robert McAfee Brown, Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics, Pacific School of ReligionIn ''Theology from the Womb of Asia'', C. S. Song shows how the story of God''s compassion in Jesus and the many heartrending stories and poems of the Asian people are reaching out towards each other. Doing theology in this perspective is not a matter of application of doctrine, but of recognition of a relation between the suffering God and suffering humanity, which transcends many artificial and alienating distinctions. The book is an appeal to Asian theologians, but at the same time a necessary challenge to a Western academic theology and missionary thinking.--Bert Hoedemaker, Professor of Missions and Christian Ethics, University of Groningen, the NetherlandsA splendid example of doing theology with Asian resources. A breath of fresh air to liven up traditional theology, using original reflections and observations with the backing of close knowledge of traditional theology. A book no theological college can do without.--Yeow Choo Lak, The South East Asia Graduate School of Theology, SingaporeC. S. Song is Professor of Theology and Asian Cultures at Pacific School of Religion. His recent publications include ''The Believing Heart''.

An academically respectable description and evaluation of secular humanism is available at last.The diversity within humanism receives full recognition in this book, as does the fact that not everything about humanism is bad from a Christian point of view. Indeed, the author continues, there are many emphases within humanism that are compatible with Christian beliefs, a thesis to which he devotes an entire chapter.Part 1 summarizes in turn eight prominent forms of humanism: Huxley''s evolutionism, Skinner''s behaviorism, Sartre''s existentialism, Dewey''s pragmatism, Marxism, Rand''s egocentrism, Lamont''s culturalism, and the coalitional form present in the humanist declaration and manifestoes. Emerging from these chapters are both the differences between humanists and the consensus that binds them together. It is this humanistic consensus, writes the author, that most radically conflicts with Christian beliefs and that is the number one problem in the United States today.After the chapter on the helpful emphases of secular humanism, part 2 details this movement''s comparative inferiority, internal inconsistencies, religious inadequacies, and philosophical insufficiencies. The final chapter demonstrates that, while Christianity is consistent with the central principles of science, philosophy, epistemology, and ethics, humanism is not. There is no rational justification, the author concludes, for being a humanist.Dr. Norman Geisler is author or coauthor of some fifty books and hundreds of articles. He has taught at the university and graduate level for nearly forty years and has spoken or debated in all fifty states and in twenty-five countries. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Loyola University and now serves as Chancellor of Veritas Evangelical Seminary, in Murrieta, CA.

A penetrating study of practical truthsIn this commentary on Romans, author Robert Mounce addresses the human penchant for trying to attain righteousness by works. He discusses themes such as:-What happens when humans turn their back on God?-Does God make humans righteous?-Does justification by faith in effect sanction sin?-Is Christianity practical?Mounce''s thorough, readable scholarship makes present-day applications of Paul''s message apparent. And he deals with the issues important to laypeople in a language not obscured by professional jargon.Robert Mounce, President Emeritus of Whitworth College, is widely known as the author of a number of New Testament commentaries. For the past forty years he has been involved in Bible translation, most recently serving as Assistant New Testament Editor for the English Standard Version.

I wish you all the best in your publishing venture, which I''m sure will bring back fond memories for many industry-people and regular air-travelers alike. Mr. Nils J. Flo, Director, Public Relations Scandinavian Airlines SystemI am sending you an interesting brochure of our current fleet....Your book sounds most interesting, and I am looking forward to receiving a copy. Mr. Richard A. Swift, Sales Manager AEROFLOTEnclosed you will find Northwest''s Route Map, along with photos of both the 747-200, and 747-400. Regretfully, a photo of the DC-7 is not available at this time ... I hope these materials assist you in the completion of your book. I am looking forward to viewing the end result. Mr. Jon Austin, Director, Media Relations Northwest AirlinesEnclosed please find photos of our MD-11, and 747 jets.... I would certainly be appreciated if you could supply us with a copy of your book, which will be kept in our library. Wishing you all success. Claudie F. Warshawer, Coordinator, Industry Relations, U.S. and Canada, VARIG, Brazilian AirlinesWe never operated DC-7s. But I have enclosed a photo of a C-54, and also a B-747....We are looking forward to your book. it is history that should be recorded. Mr. J. Baker, Historical Committee Flying Tiger Retirement ClubDean Nichols was born on the Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington in 1919, although his Indian forebears lived in northern Maine.A licensed tugboat captain and purser, he has worked as a port manager, an electrical and civil engineer, an air-traffic controller, a boat officer for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and a marine-traffic officer for the Alaska Marine Highway. He followed in his father''s footsteps to become a tugboat captain in the Pacific Northwest. He has studied the social and natural sciences, humanities, and business administration at Anchorage Community College.

In this volume, Richard Creel sets forth a thesis that offers a third way to approach divine impassibility. Defining impassibility as imperviousness to causal influence from external factors, Creel sketches a path between Aquinas and Hartshorne, by asserting that once this definition is accepted, one must still distinguish the various respects in which God is or is not impassible. Virtually no one would dispute that the divine nature is impassible. God will never cease to be God, no matter what happens in creation. With respect to the divine knowledge and will, however, there are conflicting views. Creel claims that God''s will is impassible because God knows everything that can be accomplished by divine power. Yet, unlike Aquinas, Creel believes that God has this knowledge in virtue of a ''plenum'' of possibilities eternally coexistent with the divine being. The absolute is not simply God, but rather God plus the ''plenum''. Creel suggests that God''s knowledge is passible with respect to the contingent future actions of creatures. God knows these actions, therefore, not in their presentiality from all eternity, as Aquinas would hold, but only as they happen and become actual. God''s will, however, remains immediately impassible because the divine will is ordered to possibilities, not actualities. God never has to wait until after we do something in order to decide his response to it. He has eternally decided his response to all that we might do. Ultimately God''s feelings remain impassible, no matter what concrete decisions human beings make, because the basic intent of the divine plan for us is always achieved: we exercise our freedom to choose for or against God. God is impassible with respect to the divine nature, divine will, and divine feelings; but God is passible with respect to the divine knowledge of future contingent events.Richard Creel taught philosophy and religion at Ithaca College in upstate New York for thirty-three years (1969-2002) and served as President of the New York State Philosophical Association (1972-74). His other publications include ''Thinking Philosophically: An Introduction to Critical Reflection and Rational Dialogue'' and ''Religion and Doubt: Toward a Faith of Your Own''.

The topic of evil and redemption has been at the center of the Western tradition since the beginning of the Christian era. In The End of Evil, Suchocki explores the source and end of evil in the thought of Augustine, Leibniz, Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, and Nietzsche. Whitehead''s philosophy is used as a creative response to the problems and possibilities raised in these earlier developments.This is a major piece of scholarship. It is clearly and gracefully written. Far from merely summarizing existing process approaches to eschatology, Suchocki intricately works out, for the first time, a systematic treatment of the source and end of evil. The topics of evil, of theodicy, of eschatology, central concerns of Christian theology, receive a systematic treatment here from both an historical and a philosophical perspective. This makes the book more than a theological exercise. At the same time, it rises above much current philosophical literature by focusing on categories of existence (rather than language) such as freedom and finitude, treated in terms of a unified theory. I believe her explication of the Whiteheadian basis for this particular process eschatology will be an important (not to say popular) interpretation."" --Nancy Frankenberry, Professor of Religion Dartmouth CollegeI particularly admire Suchocki''s historical sense. She lodges the problem of evil in the development of the western tradition, and treats a variety of extremely different contexts--from Augustine to Nietzsche--with care and competence. As her own view, which is of course an extension of Whitehead''s, begins to unfold in the second half of the book, it is enriched and clarified by her account of the background out of which she understands it to have emerged. I was also impressed by Suchocki''s ability to maintain a successful tension between her own religious commitments--frankly stated in the introduction--and a rigorous, disinterested philosophical analysis."" --Brian J. Martine, author of Indeterminacy and IntelligibilityMarjorie Hewitt Suchocki is Professor Emerita at Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California. She is the author of serveral books including Divinity and Diversity; God, Christ, Church; and The Fall to Violence.

The first comprehensive study of heroic women figures in Anglo-Saxon literature investigates English secular and religious prose and poetry from the seventh to the eleventh centuries. Given the paucity of surviving literature from the Anglo-Saxon period, the works which feature major women characters -- often portrayed as heroes -- seem surprisingly numerous. Even more striking is the strength of the female characterizations, given the medieval social ideal of women as peaceful, passive members of society. The task of this study is to examine the existing sources afresh, asking new questions about the depictions of women in the literature of the period. Particular attention is focused on the failed, possibly adulterous women of ''The Wife''s Lament'' and ''Wulf and Eadwacer'', the monstrous mother of Grendel in ''Beowulf'', and the chaste but heroic figures and saints Judith, Juliana, and Elene. The book relies for its analysis on recent and standard texts in Anglo-Saxon studies and literature, as well as a thorough grounding in Latin and vernacular historical documents and Anglo-Saxon writings other than the focal literary texts.Jane Chance''s short but well-documented study of heroic female figures in the literature of the Anglo-Saxon period is a refreshing interpretation of several important texts by analysis of the social values usually ascribed to aristocratic women and each writer''s reference to these, either by inverting the normally perceived role or in the reinforcement of it. - Jonathan W. Nicholls, University of Warwick ''Modern Language Review''Jane Chance''s ''Woman as Hero in Old English Literature'' appears at a time when scholars are turning increasingly to the early Middle Ages in search of more flexible roles for women than those provided in the putative renaissances of later centuries . . . Throughout her discussion Chance displays consistent strengths in her attentiveness to the implication of words and images and in her concern to integrate patristic and Germanic customary expectations about women''s roles and nature. - Hope Weissman, Wesleyan University ''Speculum''Jane Chance, Professor of English and Women and the Study of Gender at Rice University, has published twenty books and many articles and reviews on medieval women, medieval feminist historiography and mythography, Geoffrey Chaucer, and modern medievalism (Tolkien in particular), among other topics. Her most recent book is a pioneering collection of biographical profiles and memoirs entitled Women Medievalists and the Academy (2005), with seventy contributors. Among her other books are Christine de Pizan''s Letter of Othea to Hector"" (1990), Medieval Mythography: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, AD 433-1177 (1994)--winner of the 1994 South Central Modern Language Association Book Award--and several collections, including Gender and Text in the Later Middle Ages (1996). Her essay on Beowulf, The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel''s Mother,"" has been reprinted six times, most recently in the Norton Beowulf critical edition (2001). Her essay Classical Myth and Gender in the Letters of Abelard and Heloise: Glossed, Gloss, Glossator,"" published in Listening to Heloise, won the first Best Essay Prize offered by the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship in 2005. General editor of the Library of Medieval Women and two other series, she has received many fellowships and has directed two NEH summer seminars/institutes.

This is a valuable book.....It is a work of wide learning. It deals with a topic which, as the author states in his preface, has been much neglected in spite of the fact that biblical scholars and theologians have always paid lip service to the importance of law in Jewish life. It is a book which should be on the library shelf of every serious student of the New Testament. - Fr. Pius, O.F.M.C. Franciscan Friary, Crawley.J. Duncan M. Derrett was, until his retirement, Professor of Oriental Laws at the University of London. He has author works on legal history as well as ''Jesus''s Audience'', ''Studies in the New Testament'' (6 vols.), ''The Sermon on the Mount'', ''The Anastasis'', and ''The Bible and the Buddhists''.

Few recent Christian thinkers have been as widely influential as John Howard Yoder (1927-1997). Encompassing a teaching career of more than thirty years and such landmark publications as ''The Politics of Jesus'', Yoder''s life and thought have profoundly impacted students and colleagues from a broad range of disciplines. In the words of Stanley Hauerwas, Yoder is probably the major theologican/ethicists of this half-century in America and certainly the leading Mennonite theologian of the twentieth century.''The Wisdom of the Cross'' is the only book to provide valuable secondary essays engaging Yoder''s central theological concerns, together with a biographical reflection on his life and legacy. Written by scholars both from within and outside of Yoder''s Mennonite community, these essays develop the most significant aspects of Yoder''s thought - from his powerful defense of Christian pacifism to his seminal analysis of the politics of Jesus to his challenging contributions to Christian social ethics, ecclesiology, and theological method. The book also includes a previously unpublished essay on moral absolutes by Yoder himself. A fitting tribute to Yoder''s distinguished career, this volume will be useful to readers new to Yoder''s work and to those wishing to probe more deeply into the implications of his thought.Stanley Hauerwas is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.Chris K. Huebner is assistant professor of theology and ethics at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba.Harry J. Huebner is professor of philosophy and theology, Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, ManitobaMark Thiessen Nation is associate professor of Theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, VA.

In this book, Victor Preller examines the logical status of religious language in the light of recent developments in American analytic philosophy. The problem inherent in religious language is presented in terms of the referential status of the word God. The author argues that the significance of any referential term is dependent upon the ability of that term to play a significant role ''within'' a unified conceptual system. The problem is shown to transcend the epistemological dogmas of Positivism and Conceptual Empiricism and to be inherent in any intelligible epistemology, including that of Thomas Aquinas, whose theological treatises serve as a model of religious language for the thesis of this book. According to Professor Preller, Divine Science (Aquinas'' term for what we now call Natural Theology) results from a reflection upon the limitations encountered by the intellect in its attempt to render intelligible the objects of human experience. In the Science of God (Aquinas'' term for that mode of knowing engendered by faith), the unknown meta-empirical referent of Divine Science becomes the object of the human intellect. While this study develops out of the discussions inaugurated by Flew and McIntyre in ''New Essays in Philosophical Theology'', it rejects the excessively empirical approach of most other studies in that tradition. It applies post-positivistic analysis to specifically Catholic theological language, but it obviously applies to the theological language involved in any form of theism.

Paul S. Minear is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology at Yale University Divinity School. His other books include ''The Bible and the Historian'' (2002), ''Christians and the New Creation'' (1994), ''New Testament Apocalyptic'' (1981), and ''To Heal and to Reveal'' (1976).