Biblical Theology

What will the world look like in the last days? One significant clue the Bible offers is a fascinating look at New Babylon. More than one-tenth of the book of Revelation is devoted to prophecies about this city-the center of the antichrist's world government. But are we to understand these prophecies symbolically or literally? As you explore the Bible's prophecies about the last days, you'll discover that no matter how uncertain the future looks, you can have peace knowing that God is in full control of all things.

This volume in Biblical Theology for Life series dives deeply into the topic of human violence. Before exploring what the Bible says about violence, Old Testament scholar Helen Paynter sets out the contours for the study ahead by addressing the various definitions of violence and the theories of its origins, prevalence, and purpose.

At the moment when Jesus entered the realm of redemptive history, God's people and the hurting world needed no further promises or prophecies. The one thing they lacked was fulfillment—they needed the promised Messiah and his consummate kingdom to come. Noted theologian O. Palmer Robertson's three-volume Christ of the Consummation explores progressive revelation across the redemptive history of the New Testament.

What should a disciple of Jesus look and act like today? What is the relationship between discipleship and salvation, between discipleship and sanctification, between discipleship and ministry? How were disciples of Jesus different from other disciples in the ancient world? In Following the Master, Michael J. Wilkins addresses these and many other questions that perplex the church today—not by offering another discipleship program or manual but by presenting a comprehensive biblical theology of discipleship.

This audiobook explores the biblical conception of mystery as an initial, partially hidden revelation that is subsequently more fully revealed, shedding light not only on the richness of the concept itself, but also on the broader relationship between the Old and New Testaments. Exploring all the occurrences of the term mystery in the New Testament and the topics found in conjunction with them, this work unpacks how the New Testament writers understood the issue of continuity and discontinuity.

"Biblical womanhood" is the idea that the Bible teaches God-ordained male leadership and female submission in the home and subordination in the church. Some say this hierarchy of authority is sufficiently evidenced by examples of male leadership (and lack of female leadership) in the Bible: the first human was male, Israel's official priests were male, most authors of Scripture were male, Jesus was male and chose twelve male Apostles. God is addressed as Father. Wives are commanded to submit to their husbands.

When it comes to the Sabbath, Christians have different ideas on what it means and how to observe it. For many people, it is a day to go to church and have fellowship with other believers. What they often miss, though, is that the Sabbath is intricately tied to rest and worship―both of which ultimately point to the Lord as our creator and redeemer. In this addition to the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series, Guy Prentiss Waters offers an introductory study of the Sabbath from the creation of the world to the consummation of all things when Jesus returns.

For 33 years, Jesus felt everything you have ever felt. Weakness. Weariness. Sadness. Rejection. His feet got tired. And his head ached. He was tempted and his strength was tested. And you know why? Because in becoming human, Jesus made it possible for us to see God. His tears, God’s tears. His voice, God’s voice. Want to know what matters to God? Find out what matters to Jesus. Want to know what in the world God is doing? Ponder the words and life of Jesus.

Like different artists who render the same subject using unique styles and points of view, the Gospels paint four distinctive portraits of the same Jesus of Nazareth. To Christians worldwide, he is the centerpiece of history, the object of faith, hope, and worship. Even those who do not follow him admit the vast influence of his life. With clarity and insight, biblical scholar Mark Strauss illuminates the four biblical Gospels.

Often misrepresented as a fruitless human attempt to comprehend God, natural theology has in fact been a significant part of Christian theology throughout history. It has shaped the Christian doctrine of God and provided a starting point for evangelizing non-Christians. In an age when theologians and missionaries alike are in need of stronger doctrinal foundations, it is a doctrine as vital as ever. In this guide, David Haines first outlines the biblical basis for natural theology.

Throughout the Bible, God has related to his people through covenants. It is through these covenant relationships, which collectively serve as the foundation for God’s promise to bring redemption to his people, that we can understand the advancement of his kingdom. This book walks through six covenants from Genesis to Revelation, helping us grasp the overarching narrative of Scripture and see the salvation God has planned for us since the beginning of time―bolstering our faith in God and giving us hope for the future.

Today in the West, many consider the church to be dead or dying. Christianity is seen as outdated, bigoted, and responsible for many of society’s problems. This leaves many believers embarrassed about their faith and many outsiders wary of religion. But what if the Christian message is not the enemy of our modern Western values, but the very thing that makes sense of them? In this fascinating book, Glen Scrivener takes listeners on a journey to discover how the teachings of Jesus not only turned the ancient world upside down, but continue to underpin the way we think.

Guiding us through a rich tapestry of new discoveries and ancient scriptures, The Jewish Gospels makes the powerful case that our conventional understandings of Jesus and of the origins of Christianity are wrong. In Boyarin's scrupulously detailed account, the coming of the messiah was fully imagined in the ancient Jewish texts. Jesus, moreover, was embraced by many Jews as this person, and his core teachings were not at all a break from Jewish beliefs and teachings. Jesus and his followers, Boyarin reveals, were simply Jewish.

Western countries are ignorant of true Islamic values, says Nonie Darwish. Darwish is an Egyptian American, former Muslim human rights activist who is frustrated with mainstream America's talk of tolerance and assimilation. In Wholly Different, Darwish sets non-Muslims straight about tenets of Islam that are incompatible with free society.

The scholarship of theology and religion teaches us that the God of the Bible was without a body, only revealing himself in the Old Testament in words mysteriously uttered through his prophets, and in the New Testament in the body of Christ. The portrayal of God as corporeal and masculine is seen as merely metaphorical, figurative, or poetic. But, in this revelatory study, Francesca Stavrakopoulou presents a vividly corporeal image of God: a human-shaped deity who walks and talks and weeps and laughs, who eats, sleeps, feels, and breathes, and who is undeniably male.

Over the past hundred years, scholars have attacked the historical truth of the Gospels and argued that they were originally anonymous and filled with contradictions. In The Case for Jesus, Brant Pitre taps in to the wells of Christian scripture, history, and tradition to ask and answer a number of different questions, including: If we don't know who wrote the Gospels, how can we trust them? How are the four Gospels different from other Gospels, such as the lost Gospel of "Q" and the Gospel of Thomas?

In The Day the Revolution Began, N. T. Wright once again challenges commonly held Christian beliefs, as he did in Surprised by Hope. Demonstrating the rigorous intellect and breathtaking knowledge that have long defined his work, Wright argues that Jesus' death on the cross was not only to absolve us of our sins, it was actually the beginning of a revolution commissioning the Christian faithful to a new vocation - a royal priesthood responsible for restoring and reconciling all of God's creation.

In this classic of comparative religion, Manly Hall marshals his considerable familiarity with world religious traditions to argue that sound biblical interpretation requires cross-referencing all the great schools of ancient religion and considering them as one composite structure.

People are hungry for hope. They want to understand our human condition—its origin, nature, purpose, and destiny. The Christian faith offers hope for individuals and the entire universe, grounded in absolute truth. But how can we know that Christianity is true? And how can Christians confidently present their beliefs in the face of doubts and competing views? In this comprehensive text, Douglas Groothuis makes a clear and rigorous case for Christian theism.

What would God say about those who blatantly misrepresent His Holy Spirit; who exchange true worship for chaotic fits of mindless ecstasy; who replace the biblical gospel with vain illusions of health and wealth; who claim to prophesy in His name yet speak errors; and who sell false hope to desperate people for millions of dollars? The Charismatic movement has always been a breeding-ground for scandal, greed, bad doctrine, and all kinds of spiritual chicanery. Best-selling author and pastor John MacArthur chronicles the unsavory history behind the modern Charismatic movement.