Download or read book Agents of God written by Jeffrey Guhin and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-24 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sociologist Jeffrey Guhin spent a year and a half embedded in four high schools in the New York City area -- two of them Sunni Muslim and two Evangelical Christian. At first pass, these communities do not seem to have much in common. But under closer inspection Guhin finds several common threads: each school community holds to a conservative approach to gender and sexuality, a hostility towards the theory of evolution, and a deep suspicion of secularism. All possess a double-sided image of America, on the one hand as a place where their children can excel and prosper, and on the other hand as a land of temptations that could lead their children astray. He shows how these school communities use boundaries of politics, gender, and sexuality to distinguish themselves from the secular world, both in school and online. Guhin develops his study of boundaries in the book's first half to show how the school communities teach their children who they are not; the book's second half shows how the communities use "external authorities" to teach their children who they are. These "external authorities" -- such as Science, Scripture, and Prayer -- are experienced by community members as real powers with the ability to issue commands and coerce action. By offloading agency to these external authorities, leaders in these schools are able to maintain a commitment to religious freedom while simultaneously reproducing their moral commitments in their students. Drawing on extensive classroom observation, community participation, and 143 formal interviews with students, teachers, and staff, this book makes an original contribution to sociology, religious studies, and education.

Download or read book Women Who Risk written by Tom Doyle and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2021-01-26 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the incredible work of the Lord in the hearts and lives of women in the Muslim world! In these gripping stories of Christ's presence straight from the underground church, Pastor Tom Doyle and his wife, JoAnn, show you how women in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iran are leading their communities to faith in Jesus—and how you can too! Despite enormous risks to themselves and their families, former Muslim women are now influencing their husbands and their children and bringing others to faith in Jesus Christ. No matter where they live, these women are the God-ordained spiritual gatekeepers of their families. Even though the level of oppression that women face under Islam is unfathomable to many in non-Muslim nations, these brave women stop at nothing to share their faith. The Doyles believe that women are a major reason why more Muslims than ever are coming to faith in Christ. Over the years they have discovered that once God sets a Muslim woman free, she becomes an unstoppable force for God. Women Who Risk takes readers into Muslim homes in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and other hot spots to see the power of Christ at work. This incredible book contains: Inspirational stories straight out of the underground church—stories you don’t get on the news Examples of the miraculous works of God happening in the Muslim world The experiences of pastors who have worked for the past twenty-five years in the Middle East A clear call to action sounding the alarm to the body of Christ Motivation for all Christians to boldly share their faith with family and friends The stories of these women are both breathtaking and heart-rending. Living on the edge, these women spread the gospel without fear, and the victory of the gospel is thrilling for all to see. If you’re wondering if God still performs miracles or are afraid your life can't make an impact, then this is the book for you.

Download or read book Special Agents of Christ written by Annalisa Boyd and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You're never too young to be one of God's "special agents"--the people He uses to accomplish His will in the world. In this prayer book written especially for middle-grade children, the author of the popular teen prayer book Hear Me uses the examples of special agents of the past--the saints--to encourage children to serve God here and now. In addition to morning and evening prayers, prayers for special needs, and psalms to pray, Special Agents of Christ includes "training drills" on preparing for confession, understanding the Liturgy and the clergy's vestments, and more.

Download or read book God s Agents written by Matthew Engelke and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2013-10-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of how religion goes public in today's world. Based on over three years of anthropological research, Matthew Engelke traces how a small group of socially committed Christians tackles the challenge of publicity within what it understands to be a largely secular culture.

Download or read book God s Double Agent written by Bob Fu and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tens of millions of Christians live in China today, many of them leading double lives or in hiding from a government that relentlessly persecutes them. Bob Fu, whom the Wall Street Journal called "The pastor of China's underground railroad," is fighting to protect his fellow believers from persecution, imprisonment, and even death. God's Double Agent is his fascinating and riveting story. Bob Fu is indeed God's double agent. By day Fu worked as a full-time lecturer in a communist school; by night he pastored a house church and led an underground Bible school. This can't-put-it-down book chronicles Fu's conversion to Christianity, his arrest and imprisonment for starting an illegal house church, his harrowing escape, and his subsequent rise to prominence in the United States as an advocate for his brethren. God's Double Agent will inspire readers even as it challenges them to boldly proclaim and live out their faith in a world that is at times indifferent, and at other times murderously hostile, to those who spread the gospel.

Download or read book Angels written by Billy Graham and published by Thomas Nelson Inc. This book was released on 1995 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bible mentions angels nearly 300 times, yet until recently many doubted their existence.

Download or read book Agents of World Renewal written by Takashi Miura and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2019-08-31 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines a category of Japanese divinities that centered on the concept of “world renewal” (yonaoshi). In the latter half of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), a number of entities, both natural and supernatural, came to be worshipped as “gods of world renewal.” These included disgruntled peasants who demanded their local governments repeal unfair taxation, government bureaucrats who implemented special fiscal measures to help the poor, and a giant subterranean catfish believed to cause earthquakes to punish the hoarding rich. In the modern period, yonaoshi gods took on more explicitly anti-authoritarian characteristics. During a major uprising in Saitama Prefecture in 1884, a yonaoshi god was invoked to deny the legitimacy of the Meiji regime, and in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the new religion Ōmoto predicted an apocalyptic end of the world presided over by a messianic yonaoshi god. Using a variety of local documents to analyze the veneration of yonaoshi gods, Takashi Miura looks beyond the traditional modality of research focused on religious professionals, their institutions, and their texts to illuminate the complexity of a lived religion as practiced in communities. He also problematizes the association frequently drawn between the concept of yonaoshi and millenarianism, demonstrating that yonaoshi gods served as divine rectifiers of specific economic injustices and only later, in the modern period and within the context of new religions such as Ōmoto, were fully millenarian interpretations developed. The scope of world renewal, in other words, changed over time. Agents of World Renewal approaches Japanese religion through the new analytical lens of yonaoshi gods and highlights the necessity of looking beyond the boundary often posited between the early modern and modern periods when researching religious discourses and concepts.

Download or read book Agents of the Apocalypse written by David Jeremiah and published by Tyndale House. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who Will Usher in Earth’s Final Days? Are we living in the end times? Is it possible that the players depicted in the book of Revelation could be out in force today? And if they are, would you know how to recognize them? In Agents of the Apocalypse, noted prophecy expert Dr. David Jeremiah does what no prophecy expert has done before. He explores the book of Revelation through the lens of its major players—the exiled, the martyrs, the elders, the victor, the king, the judge, the 144,000, the witnesses, the false prophet, and the beast. One by one, Dr. Jeremiah delves into their individual personalities and motives, and the role that each plays in biblical prophecy. Then he provides readers with the critical clues and information needed to recognize their presence and power in the world today. The stage is set, and the curtain is about to rise on Earth’s final act. Will you be ready?

Download or read book God s Secret Agents written by Alice Hogge and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 1210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One evening in 1588, just weeks after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, two young men landed in secret on a beach in Norfolk, England. They were Jesuit priests, Englishmen, and their aim was to achieve by force of argument what the Armada had failed to do by force of arms: return England to the Catholic Church. Eighteen years later their mission would be shattered by the actions of the Gunpowder Plotters -- a small group of terrorists who famously tried to destroy the Houses of Parliament -- for the Jesuits were accused of having designed "that most horrid and hellish conspiracy." Alice Hogge follows "God's secret agents" from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys and lonely lives in hiding, to, ultimately, the gallows. She offers a remarkable true account of faith, duty, intolerance, and martyrdom -- the unforgettable story of men who would die for a cause undone by men who would kill for it.

Download or read book How God Becomes Real written by T.M. Luhrmann and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faith How do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people—as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn’t easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort—by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others—helps to explain the enduring power of faith. Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more. A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits—but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.

Download or read book Angels and Demons written by Victor Knowles and published by College PressPub Company. This book was released on 1994 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Paul Distilled written by Gary W. Burnett and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What the apostle Paul has to say is transformative and utterly inspiring. But too often he is clouded in complicated explanations and murky misunderstandings. Paul Distilled gets to the essence of Paul, and uncovers what is at the heart of his thinking and why he's had such an impact on the world since the first century until today. Drawing on many years of teaching and study of Paul's writings, Gary Burnett explains the driving forces behind the apostle's thinking from the letters he wrote to groups of Jesus-followers dotted around the Roman empire, addressing the real issues they faced, and shows why this matters today. A study guide with each chapter will enable church groups to get to grips with the life-changing potential of understanding Paul better.

Download or read book Prayer Agents written by Jackie Jones, Jr and published by Jackie A. Jones Jr. This book was released on 2020-08-21 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * Where do I begin in prayer? * I'm not familiar with prayer, how do I learn?* How do I regain my passion back for prayer?* I've been praying this way for years, now what?* What is the difference between prayer and intercession?* How do I know God hears me when I pray?Many Christian believers have asked themselves some of these questions and more during their walk with God. Understanding the power of prayer and the purpose of intercession, will encourage a deeper relationship with the Father, release answers from heaven, and equip you to become a Prayer Agent.Isaiah 62:6-7 (KJV) " I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence,7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.Just as the world has the FBI and CIA, so does the kingdom of God. Prayer Agents are the "children of men" according to Psalms 115:16, who have been given authority to release God's word, plan and will on earth. Elder Jackie Jones Jr shares from his personal life of prayer and intercession essential tools and spiritual insight on how to pursue the lifestyle of a Prayer Agent who impacts the world for the kingdom of God.Are you ready? It's time to PRAY!"What I do by FAITH, FAVOR will back me up"-JJJ

Download or read book John G Paton Missionary to the New Hebrides written by John Gibson Paton and published by . This book was released on 1889 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book God Can t written by Thomas Jay Oord and published by SacraSage Press. This book was released on 2019-01-05 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hurting people ask heart-felt questions about God and suffering. Some "answers" they receive appeal to mystery: “God’s ways are not our ways”. Some answers say God allows evil for a greater purpose. Some say evil is God's punishment. The usual answers fail. They don't support the truth that God loves everyone all the time. God Can't gives a believable answer to why a good and powerful God doesn't prevent evil. Author Thomas Jay Oord says God’s love is inherently uncontrolling. God loves everyone and everything, so God can't control anyone or anything. This means God cannot prevent evil singlehandedly. God can’t stop evildoers, whether human, animal, organism, or inanimate objects and forces. In God Can't, Oord gives a plausible reason why some are healed, but many others are not. God always works to heal everyone, but sometimes our bodies, organisms, or other creatures do not cooperate with God's healing work. Or the conditions of creation are not right for the healing God wants to do. Some people think God causes or allows suffering to teach us lessons or build our character. God Can't disagrees. Oord says God squeezes good from the evil God didn’t want in the first place. God uses pain and suffering without willing or even allowing it. Most people think God can overcome evil singlehandedly. In God Can't, Oord says God needs cooperation for love to reign now and later. This leads to a better view of the afterlife called “relentless love.” It rejects traditional ideas of heaven, hell, and annihilation. Relentless love holds to the possibility all creatures and all creation will respond to God’s love. God Can't is written in understandable language. As a world-renown theologian, Thomas Jay Oord brings credibility to the book’s radical ideas. He explains these ideas through true stories, illustrations, and scripture. God Can't is for those who want answers to tragedy, abuse, and other evils that make sense! What They're Saying... “If conventional notions of God make less and less sense to you, you’ll find Thomas Jay Oord’s new book a breath of fresh air. Simply put, “God Can’t” presents an understanding of God that thoughtful, ethical people can believe in.” -- Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration "I did not want this book to end. I wish Dr. Oord had written it 100 years ago, or 1000 years ago... To find your understanding of life and your love for God renewed, read this book." -- Dr. Karen Strand Winslow, Ph.D., Biblical and Jewish Studies Professor of Bible, Azusa Pacific University "As a clinical psychologist working with people in trauma, I owe Thomas Jay Oord an enormous debt of gratitude for recasting the so-called problem of evil in terms that are conceptually satisfying, theologically consistent, and pastorally liberating.” -- Dr Roger Bretherton- Principal Lecturer at the University of Lincoln (UK), Chair of the British Association of Christians in Psychology “Victims of trauma sometimes hear theological responses that imply their suffering is somehow “God’s will." A more careful theological reflection on the nature of the power of a God who is love can help. Oord gives us a clear and compelling alternative in this profoundly insightful and admirably concrete and accessible book.” -- Dr. Anna Case-Winters, Professor of Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary “I know of no book that speaks to suffering with the depth of theological sophistication and psychological sensitivity as God Can’t. This book is a rare combination of depth and accessibility, truly written for the wounded. I recommend it to my students, parishioners, and therapy clients.” -- Dr. Brad D. Strawn, Professor of the Integration of Psychology and Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary

Download or read book Supernatural Agents written by Iikka Pyysiainen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cognitive science of religion is a rapidly growing field whose practitioners apply insights from advances in cognitive science in order to provide a better understanding of religious impulses, beliefs, and behaviors. In this book Ilkka Pyysi?inen shows how this methodology can profitably be used in the comparative study of beliefs about superhuman agents. He begins by developing a theoretical outline of the basic, modular architecture of the human mind and especially the human capacity to understand agency. He then goes on to discuss examples of supernatural agency in detail, arguing that the human ability to attribute beliefs and desires to others forms the basis of conceptions of supernatural agents and of such social cognition in which supernatural agents are postulated as interested parties in social life. Beliefs about supernatural agency are natural, says Pyysi?inen, in the sense that such concepts are used in an intuitive and automatic fashion. Two dots and a straight line below them automatically trigger the idea of a face, for example. Given that the mind consists of a host of such modular mechanisms, certain kinds of beliefs will always have a selective advantage over others. Abstract theological concepts are usually elaborate versions of such simpler and more contagious folk conceptions. Pyysi?inen uses ethnographical and survey materials as well as doctrinal treatises to show that there are certain recurrent patterns in beliefs about supernatural agents both at the level of folk-religion and of formal theology.

Download or read book Agents of God written by Jeffrey Guhin and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-12-08 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In Agents of God, sociologist Jeffrey Guhin describes his year and a half spent in two Sunni Muslim and two Evangelical Christian high schools in the New York City area. At first, these four schools could not seem more different, yet they are linked by much: these are all schools with conservative thoughts on gender and sexuality, with a hostility to the theory of evolution, and with a deep suspicion of secularism. And they are all also hopeful that America will be a place in which their children can excel, even if they also fear the nation's many temptations might lead their children astray. Guhin shows how these school communities use boundaries of politics, gender, and sexuality to distinguish themselves from the outside world, both in school online. Within these boundaries, these communities have developed "external authorities" like Science, Scripture, and Prayer, each of which are felt and experienced as real powers with the ability to make commands and coerce action. Think how someone can describe Science as showing something, or the Bible itself as making a command. By offloading coercion to these external authorities, leaders in these schools are able to maintain a commitment to religious freedom while simultaneously reproducing their moral commitments in their students. Drawing on extensive classroom observation, community participation, and hundreds of interviews with students, teachers, and staff, this book makes an original contribution to religious studies, sociology, and education"--