Download or read book Cruciform written by Jimmy Davis and published by Cruciform Press. This book was released on 2011-03-30 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the Cross-Shaped Life? It is the vertical life of loving God with all your head, heart, and hands; and the horizontal life of loving others as Christ has loved you. Employing the symbols of the cruciform cathedral and the Celtic cross, Jimmy Davis uses personal stories, both humorous and heart-breaking, to encourage and equip the reader to gain a cross-shaped perspective on how he or she can be an active participant in God's community-on-mission. This book casts a vision for living as disciples of Jesus who are being shaped by the cross (gospel) into people and churches who share and show the cross (gospel) by living as sons and servants of God. As we embrace the gospel in this way we can live: in relationship to God as seekers who exalt God; in relationship to other disciples as shepherds who encourage one another; in relationship to the resources God has given us as stewards; and in relationship to those who are not disciples as sowers of the gospel of grace, engaging our neighbors, the nations, and the next generation with cross-shaped words and works. Finally, the Cruciform Life involves growing through cross-shaped spiritual disciplines and cross-shaped suffering, which together enable us to embrace and express the Cruciform Life to God, one another, and the world.
Download or read book The Cross shaped Life written by Jeff Kennon and published by ACU Press/Leafwood Publishers. This book was released on 2021 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who are we? This is one of the oldest questions, and the bottom-line answer is that we are created in the image of God. But when we ask what it means to live in the image of God, we cannot forget the cross. After all, God came, took on our likeness, and died on the cross. So what does it mean to live in the image of a God who is willing to die on a cross? Though the cross is a well-known symbol in Western society, we are not prone to think of the cross as the key to our identity. Yet to discover the heart of God, and therefore who we are to be as his image bearers, it is to the cross that we must turn. The journey of The Cross-Shaped Life takes readers into the story of God from creation to salvation, but it culminates in Paul's words found in Philippians 2:5-11. It's in these few verses that readers will discover that though our Western culture tells us that in order to find ourselves we must continue to acquire more prestige, power, and possessions, the truth is that we only discover who we truly are when we live lives of humility, service, and sacrifice on behalf of others.
Download or read book A Cross Shaped Gospel written by Bryan Loritts and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WARNING! This book could make your life messy! Today’s church is continually being confronted with the question, “What is the gospel?” Many churches answer this through strong exposition of biblical truth. Others answer with a focus on community engagement. But doesn’t Christ call us to do both? The covenant of salvation demands a radical re-patterning of relationships. Bryan Lorrits, a pastor in the heart of one of America’s historically racially divided urban centers, seizes the opportunity to engage God, the church, and culture in ways that may challenge your beliefs, practices, and relationships. A Cross-Shaped Gospel clearly articulates the vertical dimension of the Christian faith, as well as looking at the horizontal implications of salvation for growth, service, and community. It provokes readers to think about the implications of living out their faith. What does the gospel mean for issues of: Political engagement? Class distinctions? Race Relations? It is only by reaching upward that we can reach outward in power and with the proper motives, so let A Cross- Shaped Gospel help you in crafting and communicating a biblical philosophy of engaging God and others well!
Download or read book Shaped by the Cross written by Ken Gire and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2011-11-18 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What must it have been like to draw near to Christ as he drew near to the cross? Reflecting on Michelangelo's majestic Pieta, in which Mary gathers the suffering Jesus into her arms, Ken Gire offers seven meditations on a costly discipleship that invites us to take up our cross and follow our Savior—through death to life everlasting.
Download or read book Cold Case Christianity written by J. Warner Wallace and published by David C Cook. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by an L. A. County homicide detective and former atheist, Cold-Case Christianity examines the claims of the New Testament using the skills and strategies of a hard-to-convince criminal investigator. Christianity could be defined as a “cold case”: it makes a claim about an event from the distant past for which there is little forensic evidence. In Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace uses his nationally recognized skills as a homicide detective to look at the evidence and eyewitnesses behind Christian beliefs. Including gripping stories from his career and the visual techniques he developed in the courtroom, Wallace uses illustration to examine the powerful evidence that validates the claims of Christianity. A unique apologetic that speaks to readers’ intense interest in detective stories, Cold-Case Christianity inspires readers to have confidence in Christ as it prepares them to articulate the case for Christianity.
Download or read book Engaging Theology written by Ben C. Blackwell and published by Zondervan Academic. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theology today is faced with increasing amounts of religious and theological pluralism. What is distinctive about Christian theology? Why do these ideas matter? And the biggest question of all: Who cares? Key aspects of orthodox theology are seen as speculative and irrelevant to "authentic" Christianity and to personal spirituality. While not succumbing to the pragmatism of the age, this book shows that key elements of Christian theology ground an integrated worldview and are essential for spiritual formation. Engaging Theology is an introductory theology textbook that grounds a treatment of standard systematic topics in the wider context of life and practice and shows the relevance of each doctrine to the church. The book treats the essential doctrines of Christian orthodoxy by following the pattern of story, doctrinal exposition, theological relevance, and spiritual relevance: Story: Each chapter begins with a brief and engaging account of the historical situation out of which the doctrine arose or where it played an essential role in the development of the church, showing students that orthodox theology matters and introducing them to most of the key theologians in the history of the church. Doctrinal Exposition: The heart of the chapter is exposition of key elements of the doctrine, highlighting core and debated elements while clarifying heterodox perspectives. Integrated with the narrative account this section also models the contextualized nature of theology. Each chapter includes biblical, historical, and contemporary views on the issue and notes key figures in the debates and their influence. Theological Relevance: While theological relevance is clear throughout each chapter, this section highlights relevance to the modern setting and concerns, including interaction with heterodox and non-Christian faiths. It identifies current theological problems besetting the church and shows how a proper understanding and integration of orthodox theology addresses these problems. It also points to other problems the church is facing for interesting discussion starters. Spiritual Relevance: Since orthodox theology has a direct influence on one's own spiritual formation and practice, each chapter concludes with practical encouragements and discussions about how each doctrine can be integrated in one's personal and corporate life. Engaging Theology is ideal for students and everyday people living in a post Christian era to help them seriously engage with the Christian faith.
Download or read book Gospel Shaped Worship Leader s Guide written by Jared Wilson and published by The Good Book Company. This book was released on 2015-04-13 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leader's Guide for the Worship track of Gospel Shaped Church from The Gospel Coalition, exploring how a church should be a worshipping community. Gospel Shaped Church is a curriculum from The Gospel Coalition that will help whole congregations pause and think carefully and prayerfully about the kind of church they are called to be. This seven-week whole-church curriculum explores what it means to be a worshiping community. The Leader's Guide contains everything you need to lead this flexible course. Christians are people who have discovered that the one true object of our worship is the God who has revealed himself in and through Jesus Christ. For most believers, worship is what happens for an hour on Sunday morning as we sing and pray together. But the Bible reveals a much bigger vision for what worship really is and how it should shape our lives. So what exactly is worship? What should we be doing when we meet together for “church” on Sundays? And how does that connect with what we do the rest of the week? As we search the scriptures together we will discover that true worship is more than this-it is to encompass the whole of life. This engaging and flexible resource will challenge us to worship God every day of the week, with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This flexible resource will train your whole church through teaching, preaching, daily reading and small-group Bible study and discussion-or any combination of those elements. The overall aim is that your church will embark on a journey to discover the kind of people they should be as they are shaped by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Works alongside the Gospel Shaped Worship DVD and the Gospel Shaped Worship Handbook for use by church members.
Download or read book Living in the Shadow of the Cross written by Paul Kivel and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How our dominant Christian worldview shapes everything from personal behavior to public policy (and what to do about it) Over the centuries, Christianity has accomplished much which is deserving of praise. Its institutions have fed the hungry, sheltered the homeless, and advocated for the poor. Christian faith has sustained people through crisis and inspired many to work for social justice. Yet although the word "Christian" connotes the epitome of goodness, the actual story is much more complex. Over the last two millennia, ruling elites have used Christian institutions and values to control those less privileged throughout the world. The doctrine of Christianity has been interpreted to justify the killing of millions, and its leaders have used their faith to sanction participation in colonialism, slavery, and genocide. In the Western world, Christian influence has inspired legislators to continue to limit women's reproductive rights and has kept lesbians and gays on the margins of society. As our triple crises of war, financial meltdown, and environmental destruction intensify, it is imperative that we dig beneath the surface of Christianity's benign reputation to examine its contribution to our social problems. Living in the Shadow of the Cross reveals the ongoing, everyday impact of Christian power and privilege on our beliefs, behaviors, and public policy, and emphasizes the potential for people to come together to resist domination and build and sustain communities of justice and peace. Paul Kivel is the award-winning author of Uprooting Racism and the director of the Christian Hegemony Project. He is a social justice activist and educator who has focused on the issues of violence prevention, oppression, and social justice for over forty-five years.
Download or read book Walking the Way of the Cross written by Stephen Cottrell and published by Church House Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-30 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Found in Common Worship: Times and Seasons, The Way of the Cross is a series of scripture-based devotions for personal or group use in Lent and Holy Week. Similar in intent to the traditional Stations of the Cross, it focuses wholly on the biblical narrative of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. This seasonal companion provides the sequence of fifteen meditations appears in full, including opening and concluding prayers. Each is accompanied by three short reflections from different perspectives by three of today's very best spiritual writers: - Paula Gooder offers reflections on the scriptural narratives; - Stephen Cottrell considers the story from the perspective of personal discipleship; - Philip North explores the story's challenge to mission and witness.
Download or read book The Innocence of Pontius Pilate written by David Lloyd Dusenbury and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gospels and ancient historians agree: Jesus was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, the Roman imperial prefect in Jerusalem. To this day, Christians of all churches confess that Jesus died 'under Pontius Pilate'. But what exactly does that mean? Within decades of Jesus' death, Christians began suggesting that it was the Judaean authorities who had crucified Jesus--a notion later echoed in the Qur'an. In the third century, one philosopher raised the notion that, although Pilate had condemned Jesus, he'd done so justly; this idea survives in one of the main strands of modern New Testament criticism. So what is the truth of the matter? And what is the history of that truth? David Lloyd Dusenbury reveals Pilate's 'innocence' as not only a neglected theological question, but a recurring theme in the history of European political thought. He argues that Jesus' interrogation by Pilate, and Augustine of Hippo's North African sermon on that trial, led to the concept of secularity and the logic of tolerance emerging in early modern Europe. Without the Roman trial of Jesus, and the arguments over Pilate's innocence, the history of empire--from the first century to the twenty-first--would have been radically different.
Download or read book The Cruciform Church Annivesary Edition written by C. Leonard Allen and published by ACU Press. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is left of the Gospel if you take away the cross? This central question, asked by C. L. Loos but tucked away in a nineteenth-century journal, launched The Cruciform Church twenty-five years ago. Read by a generation of ministers and church leaders, The Cruciform Church began a reimagination of the church in our increasingly, secular age. Now updated, with responses from eight key leaders, this contemporary classic aims to reach a new generation with the critical questions of faith and life. New Responses by: - Sara Barton - Richard Beck - Lee Camp - Raymond Carr - Randy Harris - John Mark Hicks - Scot McKnight - Jonathan Storment
Download or read book The Storm Tossed Family written by Russell D. Moore and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2018-09-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity Today "Beautiful Orthodoxy" Book of the Year in 2019. Why do our families have so much power over us? In The Storm-Tossed Family, bestselling author Russell Moore (Onward, Christianity Today's 2016 "Book of the Year Award Winner") teaches readers whether you are married or single, whether you long for a child or shepherding a full house, you are part of a family. Family is difficult because family—every family—is an echo of the gospel. Family can be the source of some of the most transcendent human joy, and family can leave us crumpled up on the side of the road. Family can make us who we are, and family can break our hearts. Why would this social arrangement have that much power, for good or for ill, over us?
Download or read book Christianity at the Crossroads written by Michael J. Kruger and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gospel Coalition Book of the Year Biblical Foundations Award Winner Christianity in the twenty-first century is a global phenomenon. But in the second century, its future was not at all certain. Initially Christianity possessed little social or cultural influence and found itself fighting for its life. While apostolic tradition was emerging as a "rule of faith," factions contested the nature of the gospel, and pagan philosophers found its claims scandalous. And while its pathway was tenuous, Christianity was forming structures of leadership and worship, and a core of apostolic texts was emerging as authoritative. But it was the challenges, obstacles, and transitions faced by Christians in the second century that, in many ways, would determine the future of the church for the next two millennia. It was a time when Christianity stood at a crossroads. Michael Kruger's introductory survey examines how Christianity took root in the second century, how it battled to stay true to the vision of the apostles, and how it developed in ways that would shape both the church and Western culture over the next two thousand years. Christianity at the Crossroads provides an accessible and informative look at the complex and foundational issues faced by an infant church still trying to determine its identity. The church's response to the issues of heresy and orthodoxy, the development of the canon, and the transmission of the Christian Scriptures not only determined its survival, but determined the kind of church it would be for generations to come.
Download or read book The Intolerance of Tolerance written by D. A. Carson and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-31 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carson traces the subtle but enormous shift in the way we have come to understand tolerance over recent years--from defending the rights of those who hold different beliefs to affirming all beliefs as equally valid and correct. He looks back at the history of this shift and discusses its implications for culture today, especially its bearing on democracy, discussions about good and evil, and Christian truth claims. --from publisher description
Download or read book The Flag the Cross and the Station Wagon written by Bill McKibben and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2022-05-31 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the New Yorker's Best Books of 2022 Bill McKibben—award-winning author, activist, educator—is fiercely curious. “I’m curious about what went so suddenly sour with American patriotism, American faith, and American prosperity.” Like so many of us, McKibben grew up believing—knowing—that the United States was the greatest country on earth. As a teenager, he cheerfully led American Revolution tours in Lexington, Massachusetts. He sang “Kumbaya” at church. And with the remarkable rise of suburbia, he assumed that all Americans would share in the wealth. But fifty years later, he finds himself in an increasingly doubtful nation strained by bleak racial and economic inequality, on a planet whose future is in peril. And he is curious: What the hell happened? In this revelatory cri de coeur, McKibben digs deep into our history (and his own well-meaning but not all-seeing past) and into the latest scholarship on race and inequality in America, on the rise of the religious right, and on our environmental crisis to explain how we got to this point. He finds that he is not without hope. And he wonders if any of that trinity of his youth—The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon—could, or should, be reclaimed in the fight for a fairer future.
Download or read book Dominion written by Tom Holland and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A "marvelous" (Economist) account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination. Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the modern world.
Download or read book Mission shaped and Rural written by Sally Gaze and published by Church House Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a mix of theological reflection, sociological analysis, case studies and personal experience, this book explores ways forward for mission in a rural context in both traditional and fresh expressions of church. It offers insights into issues facing rural England and explores the nature of mission with reference to the rural situation.
