Bøker utgitt av Wipf & Stock Publishers

Description:Written in the genre of Henry David Thoreau's travel-thinking essays, Jesus, History, and Mount Darwin: An Academic Excursion is the story of a three-day climb into the Evolution Range of the High Sierra mountains of California. Mount Darwin stands among other mountains near fourteen thousand feet high and that are named after promoters of religious versions of evolutionary thinking. Rick Kennedy, a history professor from Point Loma, uses the climb as an opportunity to think about general education and how both the natural history of evolution and the ancient history of Jesus can find a home in the Aristotelian diversity of university methods. Kennedy offers the academic foundations for the credibility and reliability of accounts of Jesus in the New Testament, while pointing out that these foundations have the same weaknesses and strengths that ancient history has in general. Natural history, Kennedy points out, has a different set of strengths and weaknesses from ancient history. Overall, the book reminds students and professors of the wisdom in being humble.About the Contributor(s):Rick Kennedy is Professor of History at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. He is the author of A History of Reasonableness: Testimony and Authority in the Art of Thinking (2004).

Description:Whether from established authors or by writers new to fiction, the short stories in this volume explore life as change, using Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 as the lens. The writers come from different backgrounds, perspectives, and levels of familiarity with the short story, but what ties them together is a willingness to creatively explore the raw and more uncomfortable dimensions of life--big events and small happenings--all bound up by a recognition of the inevitability and (dis)comfort of change. Each writer has a story to tell, a creative and imaginative angle on life as it happens somewhere to someone. Life Sentences represents an experiment, a recognition of and confrontation with the depth of culture and culture's life maps, with the ways in which the joys and troubles of life are given meaning. This collection attempts to address these large (and small) challenges and dynamics of life without the jargon of the professional philosopher or theologian but with the more ""earthy"" language of popular culture: the short story.Endorsements:""An enjoyable, thought-provoking read. Life Sentences is a glimpse into varied perspectives of existence through stories told by an assorted group of writers who are as diverse as the human experience; reminding us that as we search for its meaning, there is no one way to define life; for life is a journey unique to every individual.""--Tajuana ""T J"" Butler, author of Hand-me-down Heartache (Villard, 2003) and Sorority Sisters (One World/Ballentine, 2007)""This is an ambitious collection of stories; sharp, powerful stories as experienced and imagined by keen eyes and open hearts. They chart the many disappointments and moments of choice that occur in life. There is stellar writing here . . . moments of great and powerful prose. The diversity of voice and experience rings loudly and at once seduces. These are situations and circumstances that feel familiar. Readers will see themselves in these pages and they will feel the joy and trepidation that swirl between the covers of this book. These are stories that flow from life as it is lived. At the end of each story, I found myself reflecting on the issues and emotions I'd experienced and at the same time I I'd begin anticipating the journey that awaited me in the next. And by the time I finished 'Jack and Jill' by Colleton I was saddened by the fact that I had come to the end.""This collection is well conceived and excellently well-rendered, a gem for readers who love life and seek the details of its many mysteries.""--Alexs Pate, University of Minnesota, author of the New York Times Best Seller Amistad: The Novel (Signet, 1997)About the Contributor(s):Anthony B. Pinn is the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University. He is the author or editor of seventeen books including African American Humanist Principles: Living and Thinking Like the Children of Nimrod (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) and Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black Religion (Fortress, 2003).Gregory M. T. Colleton is a screenwriter, actor, and director. Born in Evanston, Illinois, Colleton attended Macalester College and later joined the Teach for America program, where he taught composition, history, and violin to middle-school kids while spreading the gospel of Michael Jordan. He resides in Los Angeles but dreams of living back near the Windy City.

Mystic Twine is a voyage into the numinous realm of the mind and spirit, told in the ancient style of the storyteller. Contained within are weird and wonderful tales, mind and spiritual explorations, prayers and callings, and occasionally a glimpse into the author's view of the absurdities of life in the material world. These are very personal poems, told in quiet confidence to those who keep their ear to the spiritual sound and their eyes on the divine landscape. They reflect a journey that we will all take at some point in our lives. Their source is un-nameable, but they come clothed in a confidence born of the certainty of truth; the kind of truth known upon impact, the kind of truth that requires no validation other than the knowing that fills our mind and soul when we encounter it. I invite you to accompany me on this journey, a voyage that refreshes us all simultaneously. The nature of these ageless odes, in large part, remains a mystery even to me, and I welcome the occasion to explore them with you, my brothers and sisters. I do not write them to sell nor to glorify myself, but rather I pass them on as a sort of divine pact that I have made with their Source. I ask simply that you turn the page and see if they call out to you.

Did Jesus really restore sight to blind people? How are we to understand the stories of demon possession? What are we to make of the virgin birth? What was Paul's thorn in the flesh? These and many similar questions often arise in people's minds as they read the New Testament, and there are few places for the general reader to look to find the answers; even ministers and students find it difficult to access useful and up-to-date information. Commentaries on the New Testament rarely pay much attention to the diagnosis of the illnesses mentioned in the Gospels and elsewhere, and the technical discussions that occasionally appear in medical and other journals are not easy to access. Medicine, Miracle, and Myth in the New Testament is an attempt to bridge these gaps for the general reader as well as for students, ministers, and preachers, and even doctors, in order to provide a coherent interpretation of the New Testament data that meets the criteria of modern medical science. Most attention is paid to the narratives of healing in the Gospels and Acts, as it is important to be able to provide, as far as possible, a reasonable diagnosis of the conditions which Jesus met in his day to day ministry. The application of modern insights into these stories would suggest that Jesus acted as a prophetic folk healer in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elisha, and this provides one important facet of his ministry. Other subjects on which medical science has an important bearing, such as the problems associated with the stories of the virginal conception of Jesus, the possible cause of his death on the cross, and the nature of Paul's thorn in the flesh, for example, are also discussed, thus providing a comprehensive and intelligible outline of medical matters in the New Testament.

Anyone Can Be Saved articulates a biblical-theological explanation of the doctrine of salvation in light of the rise of Calvinistic theology among Southern Baptist churches in the United States. Ten scholars, pastors, and leaders advocate for the ten articles of the Traditional Statement by appealing to Scripture, the Baptist Faith and Message, and a variety of biblical, theological, and philosophical writings. Although many books address the doctrine of salvation, these authors consciously set aside the Calvinist-Arminian presuppositions that have framed this discussion in western theology for centuries. The contributors are unified in their conviction that any person who hears the gospel can be saved, a view that was found among earlier Baptists as well as other Christian groups today. This book is not meant to be the final word on Southern Baptist soteriology, but is offered as a peaceable contribution to the wider conversation on the doctrine of salvation.""Anyone Can Be Saved critically underscores the world''s mission efforts. This book shows why God''s sovereignty is left unaffected by the doctrine of the freedom of man and establishes the regeneration of the sinner as a result of repentance and faith. David Allen''s chapter, ''The Atonement of Christ,'' is again, in my estimation, an unanswerable argument for anybody who takes the Great Commission as a serious mandate from God. This book is essential reading.""--Paige Patterson, President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX""At last a scholarly treatise of soteriology that clearly defines salvation as held and believed by the vast majority of Southern Baptists. I am so grateful that all are savable. I will keep this book close in order to pass it on to lots of seekers of truth. Thank God, Jesus saves all that repent and believe the gospel."" --Johnny Hunt, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Woodstock GA; Former President, Southern Baptist Convention""American Evangelicals have long required a presentation of personal salvation regulated neither by dogmatic Calvinism nor its venerable combatant Arminianism. However, this requisite system must also be permanently grounded in Scripture while manifesting roots in Christian history, philosophy, and experience. Anyone Can Be Saved dares and succeeds in explicating a traditional Baptist soteriology that offers all Evangelicals just such a thoughtful, worshipful, and fruitful way forward. Highly recommended!""--Malcolm B. Yarnell III, Author of God the Trinity; Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Southwestern Baptist Theological SeminaryDavid L. Allen (PhD, University of Texas at Arlington) is dean of the School of Preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth. His publications include Hebrews (2010), Lukan Authorship of Hebrews (2010), Text-Driven Preaching (2010), Whosoever Will (2010), 1-3 John (2013), and The Extent of the Atonement (2016).Eric Hankins (PhD, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is pastor of First Baptist Church, Oxford, Mississippi. He is the primary author of A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God''s Plan of Salvation (2012).Adam Harwood (PhD, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of theology, McFarland Chair of Theology, and editor of Journal of Baptist Theology & Ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. His publications include The Spiritual Condition of Infants (2011) and Born Guilty? (2013).

""Toni Flynn's writing reflects a journey inspired and sustained in faith.""--Jeff Dietrich""I ask the reader to turn to the first essay, 'Growing Up Catholic.' Such a weaving of our darkness and our light is the character of this grace-filled book. Read, enjoy, and see the darkness and the light as one.--Jim Douglass""Toni Flynn opens that hardened box where we keep all those things we really don't want to talk about, those hurts and doubts that we believe are tangential to our more important work of peacemaking--those painful experiences that have convinced us that a heart of flesh is too thin a vault to keep in the bad neighborhood of this world.""--Jonathan ParfreyToni Flynn is still ""finding her way"" between the highways and byways leading to the Los Angeles Catholic Worker and to the Central Coastline of California, where she works with homeless people and lives with her four children.

Endorsements:"Frank Jehle has accomplished the feat of writing a short, precise introduction to Karl Barth the theologian in relation to the world of politics. In Jehle we have a clear and helpful interpreter who shows, rightly, Barth swimming ever against the stream." Eberhard Busch "In this thorough study Jehle analyzes Barth''s political views from the beginning of his career until the day before his death. This comprehensive approach clearly demonstrates how Barth, despite his unpredictability in the political realm, was remarkably consistent and faithful to his conviction that the justice and grace of God must inform all our political utterances and actions. Ultimately, what emerges from this fine study is a portrait of a courageous political thinker who never hesitated to challenge prevailing views and who strove to join the spiritual and the political." John Hesselink Western Theological Seminary "Ever against the Stream is an engaging narrative that chronicles Barth''s involvement in the political realm, whether advocating for the workers in his congregation, speaking against National Socialism in Germany and in Switzerland, or taking a more subdued public posture toward communism. Drawing from his many speeches and letters, the book presents a nuanced and sympathetic appraisal of Barth''s positions throughout his life and within the context of his theological framework. His failure at first to perceive dangers inherent in communism is balanced by his forward-looking perception of dangers within National Socialism and within the quietism of his fellow Swiss citizens during that time. He was often silenced. Barth made enemies among those in the church who wanted to turn the state into an absolute. But he called for Christians to be engaged in the world nonetheless, and he lived out such an existence. Frank Jehle''s narrative is riveting, his observations carefully stated, and he responds to those who wrote Barth off as a troublemaker or out of touch. Jehle also goes to great pains to show how Barth''s positions were caricatured and then rejected or taken out of context, possibly because his observations were so accurate. The little side trips into Barth''s personal interactions with other key figures of his day are fascinating, enlightening, and fitting." Thomas TrappConcordia University About the Contributor(s):Frank Jehle is chaplain and lecturer of theology at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Description:Mercy Amba Oduyoye, from Ghana, founded the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and is the first African woman from south of the Sahara to have served as deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches. The essays in this volume describe the key contributions she has made to African theology in our time, and then apply her insights to issues of scripture, health and poverty, and women as peacemakers. Contributors: Denise M. Ackermann (South Africa), Dorcas Olubanke Akintunde (Nigeria), Dorothy B. E. A. Akoto (Ghana), Elizabeth Amoah (Ghana), Sophia Chirongoma (Zimbabwe), Musa W. Dube (Botswana), Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro (Kenya), Ogbu U. Kalu (Nigeria), M. Bernadette Mbuy Beya (Congo), Fulata Lusungo Moyo (Malawi), Nyambura J. Njoroge (Kenya), Susan Rakoczy (USA), and Letty M. Russell (USA).Endorsements:"A significant and critically important work [which] clearly reveals why Oduyoye is seen as the mother of an African women''s theology which is communal, ecumenical, culturally grounded, and encompasses both feminist and womanist thought while at the same time remaining authentically African."--Diana L. Hayes, Georgetown University About the Contributor(s):Isabel Apawo Phiri, a Malawian, is general coordinator of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, and a professor of African theology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Sarojini Nadar of South Africa is lecturer in Hebrew Bible at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and coordinator of the International Network in Advanced Theological Education.

About the Contributor(s):Edgar J. Goodspeed (1871-1962) was Ernest DeWitt Burton Distinguished Service Professor of New Testament at the University of Chicago. He published more than sixty books, including ''The New Testament: An American Translation,'' ''An Introduction to the New Testament,'' ''A History of Early Christian Literature,'' and ''Paul.''

Description:Dr. John Taylor rose to prominence in the mid-eighteenth century with his devastating attack on the doctrine of Original Sin. This drew fierce counterattacks from prominent Methodists such as John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards. While Wesley referred publicly to Taylor as a "great man," he believed him to be a heretic who did great damage to the Christian faith. The tendency among Methodist writers has been to follow Wesley''s lead in their assessment of Taylor. However, this controversial and definitive volume, the first of its kind for over a century, reexamines this fascinating man and the controversy he began, offering a fuller and fairer account of the man behind the myth.Endorsements:"Geoffrey Eddy''s engrossing account of John Taylor demonstrates that not all eighteenth-century debate was arid. He shows how views evolve and mentalities change, and he does justice to an admirable man."--Clyde Binfield, Professor Associate in History, University of Sheffield"A full-length study of John Taylor is long overdue, and the analysis Geoffrey Eddy provides is both sympathetic and discerning. This book will be of particular interest to those in the Wesleyan traditions, as Eddy''s study provides essential context for understanding one of Wesley''s major writings. Highly recommended."--Randy L. Maddox, Paul T. Wallis Professor of Wesleyan Theology, Seattle Pacific University"This fine biography does ample justice to a notable and hitherto neglected eighteenth-century theologian. It is recommendably fair to Taylor in his controversy with John Wesley."--Rev. Dr. John Newton, CBE"It is a great pleasure to welcome the first book-length study of John Taylor. This is a significant contribution to the burgeoning field of English Enlightenment studies."--Professor Allan P. F. Sell, Milton Keynes"In this carefully researched and well-written book, Geoffrey Eddy has completed a remarkable task in presenting the life and work of the great John Taylor of Norwich. This is an excellent book which is well worth reading."--Rev. Dr. Ralph Waller, Principal of Harris Manchester College, OxfordAbout the Contributor(s):Geoffrey Thackray Eddy has served as a Methodist Minister in Gana, Lincoln, and East Anglia, and is now based in Warwickshire.

Description:Thompson, a prolific author of church leadership resources, believes the continuing decline in membership of mainline denominations and the increasing number of multicultural and multiracial churches call for a new way of thinking: ministers must begin to see their ministry differently in order to do their ministry differently. Treasures in Clay Jars is designed to provide persons in training for ministry with a paradigm-shifting framework to interpret and work effectively with the complex dynamics of local faith communities. Thompson takes an innovative approach by utilizing explicit and relevant conceptual and theoretical tools from the social sciences--sociology, economics, and cultural anthropology--to engage future pastors to minister effectively to twenty-first-century congregations.The book discusses congregations in five different ways: as social group, as bearer of meaning, as locus of exchange, as collective capacity, and as complex organization. A study guide is included for church leaders who would like to engage their congregations in this new paradigm of ministry. Endorsements:"I commend his book to any reader who wants to develop an in-depth understanding of congregations as organizations and as systems. Thompson''s stories, examples, and teaching provide a clear set of lenses for taking a fresh look at churches and their challenges. We who live and lead, and who are committed to nurturing and strengthening the churches we know, can benefit richly from the teaching and examples offered in this book. For vestries, church councils, and the other governing or leading bodies of congregations, this book makes a good source for deepening joint understandings of their churches and of the ways they can be helped to flourish." --James W. Fowler, from the Foreword "But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies." 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (NSRV)About the Contributor(s):George B. Thompson Jr. is Professor of Leadership and Ministry Practice at The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, George. Thompson is the editor and co-author of Alligators in the Swamp: Power, Ministry, and Leadership (2005, The Pilgrim Press) and author of Church on the Edge of Somewhere: Ministry, Marginality, and the Future (The Alban Institute, 2007).

Description:A supportive spirituality for Christians working in the real world of Monday morning. Through helpful stories, William Diehl illustrates effective tactics for changing your workplace and life.Endorsements:"Diehl has developed five ways in which laypersons can bring Christian ministry into their lives." Publishers Weekly"Shows Christians how to make a connection between the church and the workplace. . . . Addresses a vital yet troublesome issue."Bookstore Journal"Those concerned with justice in the marketplace may appreciate [Diehl''s] stories and his search for the Spirit''s guidance." National Catholic Reporter"A readable, down-to-earth manual for all those who are seeking to make the connection between Christian faith and daily living . . . must reading." The Presbyterian Outlook"Offers effective tactics for daily living in the world of work." FocusAbout the Contributor(s):William E. Diehl, author of In Search of Faithfulness and Thank God, It''s Monday, served as president of Riverbend Resource Center, Inc., a management consulting firm. He was manager of sales for Bethlehem Steel for thirty-two years.

About the Contributor(s):Edward Leen, CSSp (1885-1944) was an Irish priest, Holy Ghost missionary and educator/teacher. He was best known for his books on the spiritual life.

Description:In Care-full Preaching, G. Lee Ramsey, Jr., offers a new vision for how sermons can energize all members of a congregation to care for one another. Using fresh images and sermons from Fred Craddock, James Forbes, Gina Stewart, Barbara Brown Taylor, and himself, Ramsey demonstrates in practical ways how sermons can create a caring community.Endorsements:"Many preachers think of pastoral care and prophetic witness in the social world as two separate ministerial activities. Drawing on the most current theories of pastoral care and the most perceptive analyses of Christian social vision, Ramsey presents a practical approach to preaching that develops caring communities for bold prophetic witness. The result is preaching that nurtures congregations in which people care for one another and for the world." Ronald J. Allen, Christian Theological Seminary "This is a fine book. Ramsey faces the problems of contemporary pastoral preaching squarely and comes up with some surprising finds. Not only are there fresh resources for caring preaching right there in the church''s own backyard, but Ramsey has a very good map of the terrain. He is an excellent guide--thorough and thoughtful. With his help, new and deeper wells to fund our preaching turn up right under our noses." Jana Childers, San Francisco Theological Seminar About the Contributor(s):G. Lee Ramsey, Jr., is Professor of Pastoral Theology and Homiletics at Memphis Theological Seminary.

Description:Based upon the Smyth Lectures delivered at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia, 1935.About the Contributor(s):Samuel M. Zwemer (1867-1952) was Professor of History of Religion and Christian Missions at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Description:"What marks, principles, and values from our study of Jesus can guide our reflections about the church and its witness in a world of economic injustice? What kinds of principles ought to be part of an ecclesiology in a world where family violence is epidemic?" So asks author James Poling in his exploration of the role of faith and religious practice as a resource for those who are economically vulnerable to domestic violence.In this groundbreaking work, Poling focuses his research on women and children in working-class and poor communities of three cultures, analyzing the forces that define and sustain economic vulnerability and detailing how such vulnerability affects the daily lives of people within these communities. He looks at how the church can function as a source of healing and empowerment for persons who are trapped by domestic violence and economic vulnerability and develops models for prevention of violence and of practical ministry for pastoral care of the victims and perpetrators.Endorsements:"Jim Poling weaves together his expertise in the effects of violence with careful attention to the way economics impacts the lives of those who look to the church for care and counseling. The result is an extraordinarily useful resource that offers an intercultural frame to demonstrate the need for informed economic analysis to revise current theory and practice of care and counseling. Render Unto God is a theoretically and theologically rich contribution that will help pastors, seminarians, and pastoral counselors discern and resist values and practices that create or reproduce economic vulnerability, and guides the practice of care in ways that contribute to economic justice and nonviolence."--Nancy J. Ramsay, Louisville Presbyterian Theological SeminaryAbout the Contributor(s):James Newton Poling is Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care and Counseling at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois. He has also taught at Colgate Rochester Divinity School, New York, and Bethany Theological Seminary, Oak Brook, Illinois. He is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Fellow of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, past President of the Society of Pastoral Theology, and author of The Abuse of Power: A Theological Problem.

About the Contributor(s):Vincent Branick has been a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton for the last thirty years, where he has taught philosophy, Scripture, and Christian business ethics. He is the author of a number of books on Scripture, including Understanding the Historical Books of the Old Testament (Paulist Press, 2011), Understanding Paul and His Letters (Paulist Press, 2009), and Understanding the New Testament and Its Message (Paulist Press, 1998). He has also contributed to the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, the Journal of Biblical Literature, the Journal of Religious Ethics, and the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, as well as to several other journals of Christian spirituality. His graduate studies were in Europe, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Freiburg (Switzerland) and a doctorate in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome. Presently he lives in Dayton with his wife, Arlene, and their three sons. This book, The House Church in the Writings of Paul, has been translated into Korean and Portuguese.

Endorsements:"An extended theological essay on the meaning, value, and function of memory as it operates in community . . . For Pinches, memory is rooted in the physical world, bound by time and space and dependent on the human body. Appropriately, he develops his points less through argument than through story--Odysseus, King David, Oscar Romero, and his father-in-law, the flying ace. This reality base, along with his generally accessible style and occasional flashes of inspiration, will attract thoughtful readers beyond academia."--Publishers Weekly"In this deceptively profound book, Charles Pinches, by directing our attention to the role of memory, helps us understand the interdependence of family, nation, and church. By doing so he offers a constructive way to acknowledge the significance of family and nation in our lives as Christians."--Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School"In this highly provocative and skillfully crafted work, Charlie Pinches speaks to one of the most pressing problems of our postmodern world--the loss of memory. The solution offered in ''A Gathering of Memories'' will leave you with a fresh appreciation of how the Christian faith speaks cogently to the recovery of memory for the healing of the family, nation, and church, as well as the recovery of our baptismal life."--Robert Webber, author of Ancient-Future Faith"This is a beautiful and powerful book--and one urgently needed in our forgetful times. With compelling stories and richly stimulating reflections on family, nation, and church as communities of embodied memories, Charles Pinches teaches us the wisdom, authority, and mystery of the act of remembering. Along the way, he offers persuasive insights into the relationship of the potency of sacrifice to memory, the ''commandment'' of ritual memory, and the church as the trainer of memories. This volume is a superb gift to all."--Marva Dawn, author of Talking the WalkAbout the Contributor(s):Charles Pinches is Chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Scranton.

Description: "Upon it''s publication in 1975, Man As Male and Female, a study of Scripture in which Paul Jewett argues that man and woman are properly related only when they accept each other as equals, received much critical acclaim.Now, in The Ordination of Women, Jewett argues that on the basis of the Christian ideal of the partnership of the sexes, women ought to share fully with men the privileges and responsibilities of church ministry.Endorsements:"I found it hard to believe that anything really fresh could be written about the ordination of women, but Paul Jewett has done it! His insights into the historical roots of the sexism in the Church are both appealing and persuasive. . . . Everyone concerned with the future of the Church should read this book!"Cynthia WedelPast President, National Council of Churches"Paul Jewett''s theological essay is a welcome argument, both sensitive and powerful. Against traditional objections to the ordination of women. . . . ''Traditionalists'' dare not ignore such a book; all should find it challenging and clarifying."David M. ScholerGordon-Conwell Theological Seminary"Jewett''s measured, musing style, his thoroughly systematic method of examining all angles of his topic, should lay to rest many of the evangelical objections to female ordination . . . I welcome this book as a major contribution to the cause of justice of evangelical women."Virginia Ramey MollenkottWilliam Paterson CollegeAbout the Contributor(s):Paul King Jewett (died 1991) was a Christian theologian, author and prominent advocate of the ordination of women. He taught systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Description:Intelligent Christians not only lead lives of prayer, but also require an understanding of prayer. Too often we are told how to pray, but not why we pray. Too often we are asked to recite our creeds, but not to explore how they express our faith. This first American edition of Thornton''s classic work provides inquisitive Christians with a map for an informed life of prayer. Drawing on the work of Macquarrie and Buber, Thornton illuminates the nature of the Trinity as the ground of our existence, and the eucharist as our ultimate form of prayer.Endorsements:"It is written in a spirit of theological wisdom which will endure for generations . . . His gift to us in all his writings . . . is a lasting one. He replaced ''last-ditch apologetic'' with ''exciting and practical Christian adventure.'' "This is a handbook for adventurers." Alan Jonesfrom the Foreword "This is, without question, the most valuable of all Fr. Thornton''s writings." A. M. AllchinThe Church Times "Thornton has always had a very personal voice, one that has meant much to Anglicans and others who are patient with spiritual counsel from the ages." The Christian Century About the Contributor(s):Martin Thornton has been a leading light in Anglican Theology and spirituality for the past forty years. His numerous books, including English Spirituality, Spiritual Direction, and A Joyful Heart have helped to shape the course of contemporary religious thought. Before his death in June, 1986, Thornton had served for ten years as Chancellor of Truro Cathedral.

Description:In writing to the Corinthians, Paul was grappling with fundamental issues concerning the lifestyle of Christians, and specifically with questions about marriage, interracial marriage, and remarriage. The so-called hos me passage in I Corinthians 7 has been identified as a key passage for understanding Paul''s expressed understanding of an appropriate model of Christian existence in the world. This one pastoral-counseling passage has had significant influence on the development of Western social orientation (not limited to the issues of marriage) and of Christian piety.Paul, the Worldly Ascetic is a fundamental reevaluation of a benchmark passage, I Corinthians 7, and is itself a model of historical-critical exegesis. This insightful work will be welcomed by students of Paul, early Christianity, and history of religion, by classicists, and by those who seek an understanding of how we may rightly engage the world in which we live.Endorsements:"Vincent Wimbush''s book represents a significant contribution to our understanding of Pauline Christianity. On the basis of Paul''s teachings concerning marriage in 1 Corinthians 7, Wimbush makes an illuminating attempt to identify a characteristically Pauline response to the Greco-Roman world, a particularly Pauline form of worldly renunciation and participation, that finds linguistic expression in the hos me exhortations and practical consequence in Paul''s teachings concerning marriage. This will be an important book for all persons concerned with lifestyles of the earliest Christian communities and their social world."--Darrell J. Doughty, Drew UniversityAbout the Contributor(s):Vincent L. Wimbush, PhD, Harvard University, is Professor of Religion and Director of the Institute for Signifying Scriptures at the Claremont Graduate University.

Endorsements:"[T]he problem which this collection of essays addresses is rooted in the fact that no other society in the world is so imbued both with the aura and aroma of the Bible, while simultaneously subjecting it to such parasitic cultural captivity . . . This little book reflects the power of what can happen when bright, passionate minds embrace the problem of the American myth . . . No other American biblical scholar until now has responded more courageously to the issues of deconstructing the American myth . . . What finally matters [here] is that a theologian finally loves the Bible enough, and finally loves his culture enough, to question how both are being used in our time and place for the gain of the few, at the expense of the many."--Charles Mabee, StABH series editorAbout the Contributor(s):Vincent L. Wimbush, PhD, Harvard University, is Professor of Religion and Director of the Institute for Signifying Scriptures at the Claremont Graduate University.

About the Contributor(s):Sigmund Mowinckel was Professor of Old Testament at the University of Oslo, Norway, and a towering figure among biblical scholars in the twentieth century. Among his numerous ground-breaking works available in English are The Psalms in Israel''s Worship, He That Cometh, and The Spirit and the Word.

About the Contributor(s):Sigmund Mowinckel was Professor of Old Testament at the University of Oslo, Norway, and a towering figure among biblical scholars in the twentieth century. Among his numerous ground-breaking works available in English are The Psalms in Israel''s Worship, He That Cometh, and The Spirit and the Word.