Church Theology

Anne Catherine Emmerich was born in Germany in 1774. As a child she believed that angels, saints, and the Holy Family visited and talked with her as she worked in the fields. At twenty-four, she had her first mystic vision of the sufferings of Christ, accompanied by stigmata and bleeding as if from the crown of thorns. At twenty-nine, she became an Augustinian nun and continued to have visions and stigmata. In her visions, she recounted scenes from the life of Christ, which she seemed to have witnessed.

Drawing on the records of national and regional archives as well as archaeological remains, James Clark explores the little-known lives of the last men and women who lived in England's monasteries before the Reformation. Clark challenges received wisdom, showing that buildings were not immediately demolished and Henry VIII's subjects were so attached to the religious houses that they kept fixtures and fittings as souvenirs. This rich, vivid history brings back into focus the prominent place of abbeys, priories, and friaries in the lives of the English people.

Who is Jesus? And why does the church He started matter today? The answers to these questions are practical, profound, and liberating - and also inextricably connected. The closer you get to Jesus, the more you love people; and the more you love people, the more you become like Jesus. Drawing on biblical teaching and over 45 years of ministry experience, Pastor Mel Mullen brings clear, practical understanding to Jesus’ message and the community of Jesus-followers we call the church.

Yes, I know that memorizing the Faith is no substitute for living a holy life, but even devout people can't live by truths and precepts they don't remember. That's why, over 700 years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas perfected an easy method for his students to memorize most any information, but especially the truths taught by Christ and His Church. Now thanks to Memorize the Faith!, you can easily keep all these in mind by tapping into the power of the classical memory system that helped St. Thomas become the Church's preeminent theologian.

Dear. Precious. Lovely. The Bible describes the church in extraordinary ways, even using beautiful poetry and metaphors. How does this compare to how Christians today describe the church? Unfortunately, many believers focus more on its mission, structure, or specific programs than on its inherent beauty. It's time to spark a renewed affection for the church. In The Loveliest Place, Dustin Benge urges Christians to see the holy assembly of God's redeemed people in all its eternal beauty.

Congregations often seek to combat the crisis of decline by using innovation to produce new resources. But leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows that the church's crisis is not in the loss of resources; it's in the loss of life—and that life can only return when we remain open to God's encountering presence. This new book, related to Root's critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age project, addresses the practical form the church must take in a secular age.

In our quest to renew the church, Christians have walked through seeker-friendly, emergent, missional, and other movements to develop new expressions of the body of Christ. Now, in the post-Christian world in North America, we're asking the question again: Is there a way to be the church that engages the world, not by judgment nor accommodation but by becoming the good news in our culture?

Despite a strong belief in the institution and sacredness of marriage, studies show that Christian spouses experience divorce at least as much as the secular population. But whatever the reasons for a divorce--beyond the divorce itself--many Christians want to know: does the Bible support remarriage?

The Heart of the Artist will give you a better understanding of yourself and your unique place in the body of Christ. You'll find wisdom and encouragement that can help you survive the challenges and reap the rich joys of a ministry in the creative arts. Each chapter includes provocative questions for group discussion and personal action steps for individual application. Somewhere between pride and self-abasement lies true humility - just one aspect of the balanced character God wants to instill in you as a creative person involved in ministry.

The first in Joe Thorn's three book series on the confession, nature, and expression of the Church, The Heart of the Church explores the center of the Church's life and identity: the gospel. Useful for training in membership classes, discipleship groups, and elder boards - The Heart of the Church is at once theological, practical, and experiential. Listeners will not simply be informed, but led to believe in, rejoice in, and be transformed by the truth of God for his gathered people.

Critical theory and its expression in fields such as critical race theory, critical pedagogy, and queer theory are having a profound impact on our culture. Contemporary critical theory's ideas about race, class, gender, identity, and justice have dramatically shaped how people think, act, and view one another—in Christian and secular spheres alike. In Critical Dilemma, authors Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer illuminate the origins and influences of contemporary critical theory, considering it in the light of clear reason and biblical orthodoxy.

Combining history, a look at the causes of social upheaval, and current events, The Great Emergence shows readers what the Great Emergence in church and culture is, how it came to be, and where it is going. Anyone who is interested in the future of the church in America, no matter what their personal affiliation, will find this book a fascinating exploration.

Christian identity is in moral and political crisis. Lee Camp writes “that one major reason Christianity in America has been made into a bad public joke is our failure to rightly understand what Christianity is.” Scandalous Witness provides a way forward. Although refusing to reduce Christianity to any partisan agenda, he reminds us that the gospel is inherently political and that we are called to be political witnesses.

The book of Revelation is filled with angels and dragons, fantastic beasts and golden cities, bottomless pits and mysterious numbers. It’s dramatic, sure - but what exactly does that have to do with the tests we face today? Actually, a lot. When the apostle John penned the book of Revelation, believers lived in a time of deception and injustice. But his message doesn’t just reflect their cries for things to be made right; it reveals heaven’s perspective of the bigger picture.

The Christian church of the early centuries spread throughout much of Asia, Africa, and Europe, spoke many languages, was situated within diverse cultural settings, and had varied worship practices; yet it maintained a vital unity on core teachings. In The Global Church - The First Eight Centuries: From Pentecost through the Rise of Islam, author Donald Fairbairn helps listeners understand both the diversity and unity of the church in this pivotal era.

Church merger consultant Jim Tomberlin, with cowriter Warren Bird, makes the case that mergers today work best not with two struggling churches but with a vital, momentum-filled lead church partnering with a joining church. In this new audiobook, they provide a complete, practical, hands-on guide for church leaders of both struggling and vibrant churches so that they can understand the issues, develop strategies, and execute a variety of forms of merger for church expansion and renewal to reinvigorate declining churches and give them a "second life".

While evangelicalism dukes it out about who can be church leaders, the rest of the 98 percent of us need to be well equipped to see where we fit in God's household and why that matters. Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is a resource to help church leaders improve the culture of their church and disciple men and women in their flock to read, understand, and apply Scripture to their lives in the church. Until both men and women grow in their understanding of their relationship to Scripture, there will continue to be tension between the sexes in the church.

Long before the New Testament was a document, it was a sacrament. Jesus called the Eucharist by the name Christians subsequently gave to the latter books of the Holy Bible. It was the "New Covenant," the "New Testament," in his blood. Christians later extended the phrase to cover the books produced by the apostles and their companions; but they did so because these were the books that could be read at Mass.

What comes to mind when you think of the word church? In this volume, Gregg R. Allison helps define the church and its mission by presenting an overview of the specific doctrines and practices of different churches and denominations. He lays a basic foundation for better understanding the common practices among local church communities (“mere ecclesiology”) and the ways that they diverge from one another (“more ecclesiology”).

Long before his iconic paraphrased Bible translation, The Message, Eugene H. Peterson (1932-2018) faithfully preached for decades to the small congregation of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. As the seasons passed, along with the accompanying fasts and feasts, Peterson faithfully revealed ways to cultivate a robust, authentic life of faith, intimacy, obedience, and joy. Now you can gain new insights into Peterson’s preaching and pastoral life through this collection of his most compelling yet never-before-published sermons.