Religious Theology

Transcending Architecture considers the mysterious, profound, and real power of designed environments to address the spiritual dimension of our humanity. The book offers a wide, critical, and nuanced understanding of the lived relationship between the built and the numinous worlds. It examines phenomenological, symbolic and designerly ways in which the holy gets fixed and experienced through buildings, landscapes, and urban forms, and not just in institutionally defined religious or sacred places. Transcending Architecture brings together a stellar group of scholars and practitioners to share their insights: architect Juhani Pallasmaa and philosopher Karsten Harries, comparative religion scholar Lindsay Jones and architectural theoretician Karla Britton, sacred architecture researcher Thomas Barrie and theologian Kevin Seasoltz, landscape architect Rebecca Krinke and Faith & Form magazine editor Michael Crosbie, are among the illustrious contributors.

The Christian faith has been vigorously defended with a variety of philosophical, historical, and theological arguments, but many of the arguments that worked in an earlier age no longer resonate in today's educated West. Where has apologetics gone wrong? What is the best response to the growing challenge presented by scientific discovery and naturalistic thought?

Noll's Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind shows how the orthodox Christology confessed in the ancient Christian creeds, far from hindering or discouraging serious scholarship, can supply the motives, guidance, and framework for learning. Christian faith, Noll argues, can richly enhance intellectual engagement in the various academic disciplines - and he demonstrates how by applying his insights to the fields of history (his own area of expertise), science, and biblical studies in particular.

Known as the father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther has had an enormous impact on Western Christianity and culture. In Luther on the Christian Life, historian Carl Trueman introduces listeners to the lively Reformer, taking them on a tour of his historical context, theological system, and approach to the Christian life. Whether exploring Luther’s theology of protest, ever-present sense of humor, or misunderstood view of sanctification, this book will help modern listeners go deeper in their spiritual walk by learning from one of the great teachers of the faith.

For anyone who feels caught in the tension between the beauty of God’s story and the ugliness of human hypocrisy, Why I Still Believe by apologist and Professor Mary Jo Sharp is the hopeful story of an unlikely convert and an approachable case for believing in God when you want to walk away from Christianity.

How could a conservative Christian - an ordained minister with a beard, no less - be against not only Christianity, but theology, sacraments, and ethics as well? Yet that is the stance Peter Leithart takes in this provocative "theological bricolage." Seeking to rethink evangelical notions of culture, church, and state, Leithart offers a series of short essays, aphorisms, and parables that challenge the current dichotomies that govern both Christian and non-Christian thinking about church and state, the secular and the religious.

Over the last 500 years, blood-red moons have fallen on the first day of Passover three separate times. These occurrences were connected to some of the most significant days in Jewish history: 1492 (the final year of the Spanish Inquisition when Jews were expelled from Spain), 1948 (statehood for Israel and the War of Independence) and 1967 (the Six-Day War). Every heavenly body is controlled by the unseen hand of God, which signals coming events to humanity. There are no solar or lunar accidents.

Here is a perceptive evaluation of the new “emerging church” movement showing how we must not only interact with a fast-changing culture but also have our vision and practice of ministry shaped by biblical theology with Scripture as the norm.

What did C. S. Lewis think about Truth, Goodness, and Beauty? The 15 essays collected here explore these three major philosophical themes from the writings of Lewis. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of Lewis’ philosophical thinking on arguments for Christianity, the character of God, theodicy, moral goodness, heaven and hell, a theory of literature, and the place of the imagination.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer died a martyr’s death at the age of 39 but remains one of the most influential and challenging theologians of our time. His writings teach us the value of cross-centered theology, and his courageous actions against the Nazi regime compel us to consider the cost of discipleship. From Bonhoeffer, we learn that the Christian life is lived both alone and together, and that there is a stark difference between cheap and costly grace.

The Fool and the Heretic is a deeply personal story told by two respected scientists who hold opposing views on the topic of origins, share a common faith in Jesus Christ, and began a sometimes-painful journey to explore how they can remain in Christian fellowship when each thinks the other is harming the church. This book provides a model for how faithful Christians can hold opposing views on deeply divisive issues yet grow deeper in their relationship to each other and to God.

What does it take to live a meaningful life? Why are so many people in affluent nations so anxious and unhappy? What difference does believing in God really make? And does belief in the God of the Bible truly make sense today? In this revised edition of The God Question, philosopher J. P. Moreland invites us on a journey to a rich, flourishing life. He digs into the causes of our cultural crisis of unhappiness and considers how the God revealed in Jesus provides the most rational solution to our deepest needs.

A profound call to Christian discipleship. An intensive course in Christian faith. A creative freedom to serve God that is deeply grounded in Scripture. These are ways to describe Sacred Listening, James L. Wakefield's adaptation of the classic Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola.

The world is a very religious place. Wherever you look, people are worshipping, praying, believing, following, even dying for their faith. But what does it mean to be religious? Are all religions the same? Do they all call on the same God simply using different names? Are their beliefs and practices simply cultural expressions of the same spiritual longings? This audiobook presents each of the world's five major systems of faith, carefully outlining the history, doctrines, beliefs, and spiritual practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

This audiobook explains why Gentiles have never been bound by kosher food laws, Jewish temple rituals, or the Saturday Sabbath.

Les enseignements bibliques sur l’amour, la sainteté et la souveraineté de Dieu soulèvent généralement des questions sur la responsabilité de l’homme, la souffrance et le problème du mal.

In our day, much as in Chadwick's, Pentecost is mostly misunderstood by the Church at large and is therefore either feared or turned into a circus. In both cases the Spirit of God is either lacking or completely grieved. This is evident in the absence of power; power to embrace and live a holy life in spite of the deprivations of the professing church and the pollutions of the world around us.

In the past, Christians could easily answer the question of whether or not it was permissible to use cannabis by deferring to state prohibitions. We could simply say, “It’s against the law.” Today, that answer is no longer possible. Christians are now forced to do what they should have been doing all along: Think like disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and bring to bear the wisdom of the sufficient word of God.

As the modern church struggles to find a place of relevancy for a new generation that already has massive demands on its time and attention, more and more young people raised in the church are leaving it - failing to find the answers to their questions. Join authors Dr. Jason Lisle and Tim Chaffey as they put forth a case against an old-earth interpretation of Scripture. A comprehensive biblical, theological, and scientific critique of old-earth creationism, the book presents its compelling testimony in layman's terms to create a powerful debate that leads to unquestionable truth.

"Nothing more strangely indicates an enormous and silent evil of modern society than the extraordinary use which is made nowadays of the word orthodox. In former days the heretic was proud of not being a heretic. It was the kingdoms of the world and the police and the judges who were heretics. He was orthodox. He had no pride in having rebelled against them; they had rebelled against him. The armies with their cruel security, the kings with their cold faces, the decorous processes of State, the reasonable processes of law - all these like sheep had gone astray...."