World Theology

Christianity is a picture of reality. It explains why the world is the way it is. When the pieces of this puzzle are properly assembled, we see the big picture clearly. Christianity is a true story of how the world began, why the world is the way it is, what role humans play in the drama, and how all the plotlines of the story are resolved in the end. In The Story of Reality, best-selling author and host of Stand to Reason Gregory Koukl explains the five words that form the narrative backbone of the Christian story.

In this world you're surrounded by sexual images that open the door to temptation. They're everywhere - on TV, billboards, magazines, music, the Internet and so easy to access that it sometimes feels impossible to escape their clutches. Yet God expects his children to be sexually pure. So how can you survive the relentless battle against temptation? Here's powerful ammunition. Steve Arterburn and Fred Stoeker now focus on the temptations young single Christian men like you face every day.

A virus has been spreading across America. Chances are you've already been infected without even realizing it. The virus is made up of dangerous ideas - worldviews that don't reflect Jesus and biblical living. According to a recent Barna study, less than one in five practicing Christians has a biblical worldview. Idea viruses - stemming from secularism, Marxism, postmodernism, new spirituality, and Islam - are rampant in our churches today. But don't give up - there is hope!

The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Mephistopheles - throughout history the Prince of Darkness, the Western world's most powerful symbol of evil, has taken many names and shapes. Jeffrey Burton Russell here chronicles the remarkable story of the Devil from antiquity to the present. While recounting how past generations have personified evil, he deepens our understanding of the ways in which people have dealt with the enduring problem of radical evil. Russell uncovers the origins of the concept of the Devil in various early cultures and then traces its evolution in Western thought from the time of the ancient Hebrews through the first centuries of the Christian era. Next he turns to the medieval view of the Devil, focusing on images found in folklore, scholastic thought, art, literature, mysticism, and witchcraft.

"Our Father, who art in heaven...." The opening words of the Lord's Prayer have become so familiar that we often speak them without a thought, sometimes without any awareness that we are speaking at all. But to the disciples who first heard these words from Jesus, the prayer was a thunderbolt, a radical new way to pray that changed them and the course of history. Far from a safe series of comforting words, the Lord's Prayer makes extraordinary claims, topples every earthly power, and announces God's reign over all things in heaven and on earth.

Meet the mighty spirits sent by God to enlighten and guide us, defend us from harm, and lead us on the path to eternal life. Learn how angels are invisibly present at every moment of your life, and how they can pray with you and for you, amplifying your praise by reflecting it directly to God face-to-face. Angels do not form a separate universe they are an integral part of our own world sent forth for the sake of our salvation. They are pure spirits who communicate to us God's grace, His goodness, and His truth.

Two monumental works on the nature of the modern age by Romano Guardini, one of the most important Catholic figures of the 20th century. This expanded edition of The End of the Modern World: A Search for Orientation includes its sequel, Power and Responsibility: A Course of Action for the New Age. In both, Guardini analyzes modern man's conception of himself in the world, and examines the nature and use of power.

Best-selling author John Ortberg shares how Jesus' influence has swept over history and how his vision of life continues to impact humanity today. Jesus' impact on our world is highly unlikely, widely inescapable, largely unknown, and decidedly double-edged. It is unlikely in light of the severe limitations of his earthly life; it is inescapable because of the range of impact; it is unknown because history doesn't connect dots; and it is doubled-edged because his followers have wreaked so much havoc, often in his name.

In this challenging yet compelling book, John MacArthur encourages you to confront the culture's flight from moral responsibility. With sound biblical truth, this book shows how and why sin must be dealt with if you are to live in a way that pleases God. With clarity and insight, John MacArthur provides you with solutions for attaining a personal holiness that can take you from living a life of blame and denial to one of peace and freedom.

Pornography may seem inescapable, but God can free us from its destructive power. The gospel replaces the dehumanizing lies of pornography with this surprising truth: God created us as royalty. How then can we reclaim our God-given identity to take a stand against - and ultimately starve - the predatory porn industry? In The Death of Porn, Ray Ortlund writes six personal letters, as from a father to his son.

Jonathan Edwards dissertation concerning the ultimate reason that God made the world. One of several pieces written by the brilliant theologian so that a large number readers might understand complicated theological issues. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is a towering figure in American history. A controversial theologian and the author of the famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he ignited the momentous Great Awakening of the eighteenth century.

Knowledge of God in the World and the Word is a clear and succinct introduction to classical Christian apologetics that also addresses the most common objections to natural theology. Amid the crisis of authority in our modern and postmodern era, Christians need to be able to point to God's revelation in the natural world in addition to defending God's unique revelation in the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ.

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.

The call to make the world a better place is inherent in the Christian belief and practice. But why have efforts to change the world by Christians so often failed or gone tragically awry? And how might Christians in the twenty-first century live in ways that have integrity with their traditions and are more truly transformative? In To Change the World, James Davison Hunter offers persuasive answers to these questions.

Do miracles still happen today? This book demonstrates that miraculous works of God, which have been part of the experience of the church around the world since Christianity began, continue into the present. Leading New Testament scholar Craig Keener addresses common questions about miracles and provides compelling reasons to believe in them today, including many accounts that offer evidence of verifiable miracles.

Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. Humans - as Augustine noted - are "desiring agents", full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love. James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire in Desiring the Kingdom, the first book in a three-volume set on the theology of culture. He redirects our yearnings to focus on the greatest good: God.

Both science and religion explore aspects of reality, providing "a basis for their mutual interaction as they present their different perspectives onto the one world of existent reality," Polkinghorne argues. In One World he develops his thesis through an examination of the nature of science, the nature of the physical world, the character of theology, and the modes of thought in science and theology. He identifies "points of interaction" and points of potential conflict between science and religion.

As the work at the heart of Christianity, the Bible is the spiritual guide for one out of every three people in the world. It is also the world's most widely distributed book, having been translated into over 2,000 languages, as well as the world's best-selling book, year after year. But the Bible is a complex work with a complicated and obscure history.

Philip Yancey investigates the natural world and discovers the supernatural hiding in plain view. He grapples with why God made the world and what our role truly is, and seeks to answer the question, "How do I live in the natural world while expressing the values of the supernatural?"

Why do we buy what we buy, vote the way we vote, eat what we eat, and say what we say? Why do we have the friends we have, and work and play as we do? It's our choice? Yes, but there are forces, often unseen, that shape every decision we make and every action we take. These hidden, life-shaping values and ideas are not promoted through organized religions or rival philosophies but fostered by cultural habits, lifestyles and the institutional structures of society.