Historical Theology

After years of searching for meaning through drugs, Buddhism, sex, and Eastern philosophy, a long-haired hippie musician walked his bare feet into a little country church and encountered the living God. Confounded by the simplicity of the gospel, a young Chuck Girard dedicated his life to Jesus during the height of the sexual revolution and civil unrest that characterized the decade of the '60s.

From one of Italy’s most renowned historians of religion, an exciting new portrait of one of Christianity’s most complex - and most misunderstood - figures: Mary Magdalene.

In this culmination of his highly acclaimed Cultural Liturgies project, James K. A. Smith examines politics through the lens of liturgy. What if, he asks, citizens are not only thinkers or believers but also lovers? Smith explores how our analysis of political institutions would look different if we viewed them as incubators of love-shaping practices—not merely governing us but forming what we love.

Today, Martin Luther is known as the man who stood against popes and emperors in defense of the gospel. What drove this lone German monk to defy the Roman Catholic Church? It wasn’t arrogance or ignorance. Luther knew what it meant to live in the darkness of unresolved guilt. Once he discovered that his acceptance before God is a gift received by faith alone in the merits of Christ alone, Luther was set free, and he would not rest until the light of this truth went out to the world.

Where did Jesus spend his teenage years? Did he really study in India? And how did this allegedly shape his mission? Discover the shocking coincidences between the spiritual teachings of the Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians, and the truth behind Jesus’ alleged trip to ancient India, where he presumably lived from his 13th to his 29th year, as told by The Life of Saint Issa (1895), Mystic Christianity (1908), and The Aquarian Gospel (1911).

Do you have a nagging feeling that something’s missing from your church experience? You’re not alone. And it’s time to discover a better way. Church-reform advocate and Bible scholar Peter DeHaan, PhD, is a strong proponent of meaningful Christian community. In Jesus’s Broken Church, he uses Scripture to guide us into right practices and away from the off-track customs that most every church adheres to. The problem is that today’s church follows an Old Testament model.

Tim Chester invites a new generation to experience the Christian life as John Stott envisioned it - not simply a theological puzzle to be solved, but the daily practice of humble service and compassion found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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.

Alan Scott Haft provides the first-hand testimony of his father, Harry Haft, a holocaust victim with a singular story of endurance, desperation, and unrequited love. Harry Haft was a 16-year-old Polish Jew when he entered a concentration camp in 1944. Forced to fight other Jews in bare-knuckle bouts for the perverse entertainment of SS officers, Harry quickly learned that his own survival depended on his ability to fight and win. Haft details the inhumanity of the "sport" in which he must perform in brutal contests for the officers.

Postcolonial Politics and Theology seeks to reform and reimagine the field of political theology—uprooting it from the colonial soil—using the comparative lenses of postcolonial politics and theology to bring attention to the realities of the Global South. Kwok Pui-lan traces the history of the political impacts of Western theological development, and the need to shift these interlocking fields toward non-Western traditions in theory and practice.

Contemporary Theology: An Introduction by Kirk MacGregor introduces major thinkers and schools of thought from the beginning of the 19th century to the present, including non-Western voices, evangelical perspectives, and philosophical developments alongside the widely acknowledged main streams of modern theology.

A groundbreaking account of the Secret Gospel of Mark, one of the most hotly debated documents in Christian history.

This 1754 work by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is subtitled An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of the Freedom of the Will Which Is Supposed to Be Essential to Moral Agency, Virtue and Vice, Reward and Punishment, Praise and Blame. Edwards was a Christian reformer, theologian, and author in the Calvinist tradition, and in this work he explores the necessity of divine grace for the redeeming of the damaged will of humanity. He contends that free will is an extension of, and connected to, the grace of God.

Before the gospels were written, there were proto-gospels, notes, lists, and collections used to construct the gospels we have today. Some gospels were used and built upon to form other, expanded gospels. The “Q” Document was used as a memory tool and literary scaffolding by Matthew and Luke in the writing of their gospels. Although many scholars believe Mark had access to the oldest parts of Q, others believe he did not. Since Mark predates Matthew and Luke, they believe Mark was used as a template for Matthew and Luke.

John Montgomery examines Martin Luther and the German Reformation; Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation; the principles for interpreting the Bible by comparison of the approaches of Zwingli and Luther; the life, times, and thought of John Calvin; and the influence of the Bible Reformers, especially Martin Luther, on artists such as Bach and Mendelsohn compared to 20th century artists such as Picasso.

The third of Martin Luther’s 1520 treatises, also referred to as A Treatise on Christian Liberty, this work focuses on the topics of justification and total salvation. Boldly, unmistakably, and directly contrasting the teachings of the church, Luther argued for the truth he found in studying the Bible on his own. Introducing, for the first time to many people, the argument for justification through faith alone, he knocked down the idea of being dependent on additional sacraments, penances, and works for salvation.

What happens to us after we die? For the first 500 years after Christ, most Christians believed that God would ultimately redeem all of his creation. Hell was real, but it didn't last forever. Its purpose was to restore, not just to punish. Then beliefs changed. For the past 1,500 years we’ve been told that most of the billions of people who have lived on this earth will remain separated from the love and mercy of God for all eternity.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to At the Precipice of Time and learn about the hardcore, often-intimidating, and difficult-to-understand commentary on the Book of Daniel.

After the death of Charles Senior, his son, also named Charles, compiled his father’s personal letters into a lesser-known book, which you are about to have the pleasure of listening to. This volume gives a unique perspective into the personal life of the Prince of Preachers. It shows that while he walked in revival his entire life, he was a man like any other. He was a man that had a family he dearly loved, got angry when people twisted his words, was often wracked with sickness and pain, and above all, loved Jesus.

During its 2000 year history, the Christian faith has been influenced and passed down by faithful women. The women whose stories are in this audiobook were martyrs and nuns, mystics and scholars, writers and reformers, preachers and missionaries, abolitionists and evangelists. These women are examples to us of faith, perseverance, forgiveness, fortitude, truth, and righteousness.