Theology (Exegetical Historical Practical etc.)
Showing 37–48 of 175 results
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Suffering Not Power
$26.99Add to cartOverturning a popular view of the atonement
Was Christ’s death a victory over death or a substitution for sin? Many today follow Gustav Aulen’s Christus Victor view, which portrays Christ’s death as primarily a ransom paid to the powers of evil and which, according to Aulen, reflected the beliefs of the early church. Aulen held that this ransom theory view dominated until Anselm reframed atonement as satisfaction and the Reformers reframed it as penal substitution.
In Suffering, Not Power, Benjamin Wheaton challenges this common narrative that Christ’s work of atonement was reframed by Anselm, showing that sacrificial and substitutionary language was common well before Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo. Wheaton displays this through a careful analysis of three medieval theologians whose writings on the atonement are commonly overlooked: Caesarius of Arles, Haimo of Auxerre, and Dante Alighieri. These figures come from different times and contexts and wrote in different genres, but each spoke of Christ’s death as a sacrifice of expiation and propitiation made by God to God.
Let history speak for itself, read the evidence, and reconsider the church’s belief in Christ’s substitutionary death for sinners.
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History Of The Devil Ancient And Modern
$24.99Add to cartThe History of the Devil is a classic historical and religious book universally considered one of Daniel Defoe’s greatest works of non-fiction. The book was first published in 1726 and made an immediate impact on English literature, society and the ecclesiastical community in the early 18th century and continues to enrich humanity as a faithful source of historical and biblical truth and wisdom.
The History of the Devil cleverly unfolds the actions, devices, and evil nature of Satan and his host of devils against God and mankind throughout the history of the world. Defoe divides the book into two parts: Ancient, or the time from before the creation of the universe to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ; and Modern, or from the time of Christ and establishment of the Christian Church to the present day. His style is one that uniquely blends serious biblical principles and history with lighter satirical narrative, especially when dealing with mankind’s many false presuppositions about the Devil, and clearly delineates when each, or both, is applicable to the subject of discussion.
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Klaas Schilder Reader
$49.99Add to cartRecovering a forgotten theologian.
Klaas Schilder (1890-1952) was a prominent Dutch Reformed theologian in the early twentieth century, first as a pastor and then as a professor. While his fame spread to North America in the 1940s, he is mostly forgotten today. In Schilder Reader: The Essential Theological Writings, readers will rediscover this important Dutch theologian.
Working in the tradition of Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck, Schilder applies Dutch Neo–Calvinism to the twentieth century. This includes secularism, the rise and influence of Karl Barth, opposition to Nazism, and the relation between the church and society. Schilder Reader contextualizes his work and furthers the neo–Calvinist tradition.
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Practical Religion : Essential Biblical Truths For Daily Christian Living
$24.99Add to cartPractical Religion, by J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), was first published in 1878 and is renowned as a theological and apologetic Christian “classic”-esteemed for its clear, profound and penetrating narrative on the practice of genuine Christian living. Within its pages, Ryle masterfully unfolds practical biblical truths in a series of treatises, or “papers” as he calls them, each written to address a critical aspect of where personal faith in Christ and the practice of that faith in holy living unite and are essential for Christian growth and effective discipleship.
Ryle exposes hypocrisy and nominalism in religion, or “Churchianity” as he calls it, which was as systemic in his day as it is today. His poignant narrative appeals to the evangelical Church as well as to individuals who profess to be Christians-a call to self-examination in all things, and a return to sound Biblical truths seriously and practically applied in every aspect of life.
Ryle’s powerful, engaging style penetrates the heart and challenges the mind of its readers and is not for the faint of heart. Ryle’s design is to stir the hearts and minds of those who genuinely and humbly seek a deeper abiding, surrendered life in Christ. No wonder his equally renowned contemporary English minister, Charles Spurgeon, considered Ryle “An evangelical champion. One of the bravest and best of men.” J.I. Packer calls Practical Religion, “The manual for the practice of Christianity.”
J. C. (John Charles) Ryle was the first Bishop of Liverpool, England, and one of the most influential evangelical ministers and writers of the nineteenth century. He was renowned for his rare ability to bring the riches of Biblical truth, plainly and powerfully, to the hearts of his hearers and readers.
Practical Religion will enrich the believer’s walk with Christ and provide the Church with much needed insight for preaching and living genuine Christianity, now and in every generation!
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Indigenous Theology And The Western Worldview
$21.99Add to cartThis volume by a Cherokee teacher, former pastor, missiologist, and historian brings Indigenous theology into conversation with Western approaches to history and theology.
Written in an accessible, conversational style that incorporates numerous stories and questions, this book exposes the weaknesses of a Western worldview through a personal engagement with Indigenous theology. Randy Woodley critiques the worldview that undergirds the North American church by dismantling assumptions regarding early North American histories and civilizations, offering a comparative analysis of worldviews, and demonstrating a decolonized approach to Christian theology.
Woodley explains that Western theology has settled for a particular view of God and has perpetuated that basic view for hundreds of years, but Indigenous theology originates from a completely different DNA. Instead of beginning with God-created humanity, it begins with God-created place. Instead of emphasizing individualism, it emphasizes a corporateness that encompasses the whole community of creation. And instead of being about the next world, it is about the tangibility of our lived experiences in this present world. The book encourages readers to reject the many problematic aspects of the Western worldview and to convert to a worldview that is closer to that of Jesus.
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Christ The Way
$29.99Add to cartThe Son of God is the wisdom of God
Augustine’s love of wisdom drove him to Christ–and wisdom remained central to his thought. Modern biblical scholars and theologians have much to learn from one of Christianity’s most prominent and prolific theologians. Retrieval of Augustine can revive and renew thinking on wisdom.
In Christ, the Way, Benjamin T. Quinn recovers and evaluates Augustine’s rich writing on wisdom. While many have acknowledged sapientia (wisdom) as central in Augustine, few have offered a full treatment of his definition of wisdom and how it ordered his thought. Quinn remedies this need, tracing the development of Augustine’s thought from his earliest reflections to De Trinitate, his most systematic treatment of wisdom. For Augustine, sapientia is the incarnate Christ, who by the Spirit enlightens all God’s people to see clearly, live virtuously, and participate in God–thereby restoring his people to his image. Quinn then brings Augustine into dialogue with contemporary wisdom scholarship, displaying where his biblically rooted, Christocentric, faith–first approach holds rich insights for scholars and Christians today.
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On Charity And Justice
$49.99Add to cartKuyper on a Theological Approach to Justice
The practical outworking of Kuyper’s doctrine of common grace demanded a commitment to seeking Christ’s glory in every sphere of human life. Christians are called to witness to the lordship of Christ through sacrificial service, not domination, and such service calls us to seek charity and justice for all people.
In this anthology of articles and reflections, Kuyper articulates a Christian vision for engaging with society. Though his analysis was intended for his late–nineteenth–century Dutch context, his thoughts remain strikingly relevant for Christians living in the modern world. For Kuyper, God’s law preserved civil justice, making humane life possible. However, the law itself could not save society–only the gospel can transform the heart. But the gospel is for all of life. Kuyper elaborated a social Christian approach to politics, resulting in a distinct perspective on property, human dignity, democracy, and justice.
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Trinity And The Bible
$19.99Add to cartSeeing the Trinity in Scripture
Christians affirm and worship a triune God. But how should this affect our reading of the Bible? In The Trinity and the Bible, Scott R. Swain asserts that not only does the Bible reveal the Trinity, but the Trinity illuminates our reading of the Bible. Swain reflects on method and applies a Trinitarian framework to three exegetical studies. Explorations of three genres of New Testament literature–Gospel, epistle, and apocalyptic–display the profits of theological interpretation.
Through loving attention to the Scriptures, one can understand and marvel at the singular identity and activity of the triune God.
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Reflect : Becoming Yourself By Mirroring The Greatest Person In History
$19.99Add to cartWhat’s the most important thing in the universe to you? What, more than anything else, permeates your thought life, pulls your heart strings, and propels your actions? Don’t fool yourself. That supreme something-whatever it may be for you-is shaping the person you are becoming, for better or for worse, turning you into someone radiant and full of life, or making you a dim and weightless ghost of yourself. But what if we worshipped Jesus? Not the imaginary Jesus invented by televangelism, consumerism, fundamentalism, mysticism, or some political ism, but the actual Jesus we meet in the New Testament? How can he, unlike any other object of worship, enlarge our intellects, our emotions, our actions, our relationships, our imaginations, our whole selves? Drawing from science, literature, art, theology, history, music, philosophy, pop culture, and more, Thaddeus J. Williams paints a fresh and inspiring vision of how we become most truly ourselves by mirroring the Greatest Person in History.
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God Reforms Hearts
$27.99Add to cartMust we be free to truly love?
Evil is a problem for all Christians. When responding to objections that both evil and God can exist, many resort to a free will defense, where God is not the creator of evil but of human freedom, by which evil is possible. This response is so pervasive that it is just as often assumed as it is defended. But is this answer biblically and philosophically defensible?
In God Reforms Hearts, Thaddeus J. Williams offers a friendly challenge to the central claim of the free will defense–that love is possible only with true (or libertarian) free will. Williams argues that much thinking on free will fails to carve out the necessary distinction between an autonomous will and an unforced will. Scripture presents a God who desires relationship and places moral requirements on his often–rebellious creatures, but does absolute free will follow? Moreover, God’s work of transforming the human heart is more thorough than libertarian freedom allows.
With clarity, precision, and charity, Williams judges the merits and shortcomings of the relational free will defense while offering a philosophically and biblically robust alternative that draws from theologians of the past to point a way forward.
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Wonderfully Made : A Protestant Theology Of The Body
$27.99Add to cartWhy do we have bodies?
When it comes to thinking about our bodies, confusion reigns. In our secular age, there has been a loss of the body’s goodness, purpose, and end. Many people, driven by shame and idolatry, abuse their body through self-harm or self-improvement. How can we renew our understanding and see our bodies the way God does?
In Wonderfully Made, John Kleinig forms a properly biblical theology of our bodies. Through his keen sensitivity to Scripture’s witness, Kleinig explains why bodies matter. While sin has corrupted our bodies and how we think of them, God’s creation is still good. Thus, our bodies are good gifts. The Son took on a body to redeem our bodies. Kleinig addresses issues like shame, chastity, desire, gender dysphoria, and more, by integrating them into the biblical vision of creation.
Readers of Wonderfully Made will not only be equipped to engage in current issues; they will gain a robust theology of the body and better appreciation of God’s very good creation.
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Healing The Schism
$34.99Add to cartThe past and future of Jewish-Christian dialogue
The history of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity is storied and tragic. However, recent decades show promise as both parties reflect upon their self–definitions and mutual contingency, and consider possible ways forward.
In Healing the Schism, Jennifer M. Rosner maps the new Jewish–Christian encounter from its origins in the early twentieth–century pioneers to its current representatives. Rosner first traces the thought of Karl Barth and Franz Rosenzweig and brings them into conversation. Rosner then outlines the reassessments and developments of post–Holocaust theological architects that moved the dialogue forward and set the stage for today. She considers the recent work of Messianic Jewish theologian Mark Kinzer before considering future possibilities.
With clarity and rigor, Rosner offers a robust perspective of Judaism and Christianity that is post–supersessionist and theologically orthodox. Healing the Schism is essential reading for understanding the perils and promise of Messianic Jewish identity and Jewish–Christian theological conversation.