Download or read book The Reluctant Parting written by Julie Galambush and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-06-14 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the New Testament’s Forgotten Jewish Origins

Download or read book The Most Reluctant Convert written by David C. Downing and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-05-07 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his teens, a young man wrote, “I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them.” After serving in the trenches of WW1, the same young man said, “I never sank so low as to pray.” To a religious friend, he wrote impatiently, “You can’t start with God. I don’t accept God!” This young man was C. S. Lewis, the “foul-mouthed atheist” who would become one of the most eloquent Christian writers of the twentieth century. David C. Downing offers a unique look at Lewis’s personal journey to faith and the profound influence it had on his life as a writer and eventual follower of Christ. This is the first book to focus on the period from Lewis’s childhood to his early thirties, a tumultuous journey of spiritual and intellectual exploration. It was not despite this journey but precisely because of it that Lewis understood the search for life’s meaning so well.

Download or read book The Reluctant Witness written by Don Everts and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Don Everts grew up assuming that spiritual conversations are always painful and awkward. But his surprising—and sometimes embarrassing—stories affirm what Scripture and the latest research reveal: spiritual conversations can actually be a delight. With original research from the Barna Group on spiritual conversations in the digital age, this book offers fresh insights and best practices for how to become eager conversationalists.

Download or read book The First Coming written by Thomas Sheehan and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1988 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents what is known about the actual life of Jesus, and traces the progress of the Church's interpretation of his life and work

Download or read book Signs Wonders and the Kingdom of God written by Don Williams and published by . This book was released on 2011-04 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Signs Wonders, and the Kingdom of God is a book for anyone who believes in God's supernatural power but who doubts that we can experience that power personally. This new book presents a fascinating, biblical theology of the Kingdom of God. Williams describes how God works to establish his reign now and in eternity and how we can demonstrate and proclaim, as Jesus did, the supernatural power of his kingdom. Signs, Wonders, and the Kingdom of God investigates the relationship between supernatural power and the ministry of the church today. As a community of love and faith under the reign of God, we continue Jesus' ministry of power evangelizing the poor, casting out demons, healing the sick, and setting free the captives.

Download or read book Reluctant Messiah written by Trevor Steele and published by Mondial. This book was released on 2010 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This novel, based on a large amount of research, seeks to explore Jesus' actual life before he became an object of deification and falsification. It follows him from his humble birth, his gradual development of healing powers, his years as an Essene monk, his short campaign as a charismatic healer-preacher, to his ghastly death - and what happened after the death.

Download or read book The Reluctant Prophet written by Nancy Rue and published by David C Cook. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At age forty-two, Allison Chamberlain is still making a half-hearted attempt to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. Although she has been a pew-sitting member of a church for seven years, “prophet” has never been on the short list of possible careers. Then one Sunday Allison senses a divine nudge to buy a Harley motorcycle and go wherever it takes her. Soon she is wondering if she is called to present the reality of Christ to one of society’s darkest corners—and challenge her own church to look beyond their fears. The first in a brave trilogy from seasoned author Nancy Rue, The Reluctant Prophet shows how one person’s response to God’s call can change a community forever.

Download or read book Jonah written by Mary Ann Bishop and published by . This book was released on 2020-07 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jonah's struggle is our struggle. His pride and presumption is a reflection of our heart. His reluctance to do what God asked of him is a reminder that we too find it difficult to trust God when we do not understand His ways. By examining God's work through the reluctant ministry of Jonah, this book will strengthen the faith of every serious student of God's word whose desire is to better understand His heart for all people and our responsibility to reach them with the gospel.

Download or read book Moses the Reluctant Leader written by Ralph F Wilson and published by . This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moses pioneered a Spirit-led leadership paradigm that Christian leaders do well to emulate today Moses didn't want to be a leader. He had been raised as a prince of Egypt, but now at 80, he was content to be a simple shepherd, watching sheep on the slopes of Sinai. Then, God spoke from the burning bush and Moses' world changed. How do you lead a multitude of people through impossible situations, badgered by a storm of criticism from within the camp, and threatened by deadly peril from without? Moses the reluctant leader has much to teach both disciples and leaders today. This Bible study leads you through Moses' life covering several chapters in each lesson so you can see the big picture. It slows down, however, to examine key passages in Exodus and Numbers that give insight into God's instruction to Moses. One lesson surveys the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the sacrifices that God revealed through Moses. This book explores Moses' life in 9 lessons with discussion questions, and can be used for personal enrichment, by small groups and classes, and by teachers and preachers for sermon preparation.

Download or read book Reluctant Saint written by Donald Spoto and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2003-09-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto strips away the legends from the life of Francis of Assisi to reveal the true story of a man who has too often been obscured by pious iconography. Drawing on unprecedented access to unexplored archives, plus Francis's own letters, Spoto places Francis within the context of the multifaceted ecclesiastical, political, and social forces of medieval Italy, casting new light on Francis and showing how his emphasis on charity as the heart of the Gospel's message helped him pioneer a new social movement. This nuanced portrait reveals the multifaceted character of a man who can genuinely be said to have changed the course of history.

Download or read book The Reluctant Jesus written by Duncan Whitehead and published by Dog Ear Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-24 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year is 1999 and the millennium is fast approaching. Baseball fan and thirty two year old confirmed bachelor and architect, Seth Miller, is content with his life, as long as the Yankees win and his mother stays away from his Greenwich Village apartment. Seth's life though, is turned upside down when he is informed by his overbearing and over protective mother, that he is actually God's youngest son; and by default the second coming of Christ. Initially convinced that his parents are crazy, his thoughts of their committal to a suitable care facility are superseded when he receives an unsolicited telephone call from God himself. With Armageddon fast approaching, and due to some poor editing and proof reading of the Bible, Seth must assume the role of Christ and fight God's corner in the 'Final Conflict' between good and evil. Despite his initial reluctance and attempts to shirk his new responsibilities, God is insistent and Seth is cajoled into undertaking the role of Messiah. With his best friend, and chief follower Bob Nancy, Seth embarks on a calamitous sequence of miracle doing and disciple gathering, all of which fail to inspire the legions of followers expected by God, but leads to a bout of food poisoning for a troop of visiting boy scouts and a suspected attempt on the life of Mayor Giuliani. God, a somewhat nonchalant character, is far more preoccupied by the lack of IT and administrative support he is receiving in heaven, than actual events on Earth; and is already planning to move on to other planets that he and Lucifer are in the process of developing for 'future projects'. Enter Maggie De Lynne, as Seth's second disciple and love interest, who adds her own perspective to Seth's predicament; which is only compounded when a just as unsuitable anti-Christ, suffering from IBS and with a penchant for dressing up as cartoon characters, visits his apartment. Throw a 'gangsta' rapping guardian angel and Walter the talking cat - who used to be quiet as a mouse - into the mix, and the scene is set for a hilarious tale of one man's reluctance to save the world and join the family business.

Download or read book Jesus Freak written by Miles Sara and published by Canterbury Press. This book was released on 2015-05-05 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesus tells his followers to feed the hungry, heal the sick, raise the dead, but often we’ve tamed this calling. Sara Miles, a passionate, funny, undomesticated Christian, tells what happened when she decided to follow Jesus into the messy diversity of human life and do exactly what he asked.

Download or read book Reluctant Prophets and Clueless Disciples written by Bob Darden and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A college-level introduction that invites students into biblical studies through creative, humorous re-telling of the basic biblical narratives. The Bible is foreign territory for students encountering it in introductory classes. Even those who have spent many years in church have rarely read much of it. To most of us it looks like a big collection of rules, lists, and theological arguments. But in reality, most of the Bible is made up of stories. Sometimes they re inspiring, sometimes they re funny, sometimes they re weird, but they re never dull. The best way to get into the Bible, says Robert Darden, is to get to know its stories. In this new approach to introducing the Bible to students, Darden covers the major biblical stories and characters, retelling them in such a way as to bring out their original humor and pathos, and inviting the student to encounter them more fully by moving into the text itself.

Download or read book Unbelievable written by John Shelby Spong and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-02-13 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Five hundred years after Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses ushered in the Reformation, bestselling author and controversial bishop and teacher John Shelby Spong delivers twelve forward-thinking theses to spark a new reformation to reinvigorate Christianity and ensure its future. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Christianity was in crisis—a state of conflict that gave birth to the Reformation in 1517. Enduring for more than 200 years, Luther’s movement was then followed by a "revolutionary time of human knowledge." Yet these advances in our thinking had little impact on Christians’ adherence to doctrine—which has led the faith to a critical point once again. Bible scholar and Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong contends that there is mounting pressure among Christians for a radically new kind of Christianity—a faith deeply connected to the human experience instead of outdated dogma. To keep Christianity vital, he urges modern Christians to update their faith in light of these advances in our knowledge, and to challenge the rigid and problematic Church teachings that emerged with the Reformation. There is a disconnect, he argues, between the language of traditional worship and the language of the twenty-first century. Bridging this divide requires us to rethink and reformulate our basic understanding of God. With its revolutionary resistance to the authority of the Church in the sixteenth century, Spong sees in Luther’s movement a model for today’s discontented Christians. In fact, the questions they raise resonate with those contemplated by our ancestors. Does the idea of God still have meaning? Can we still follow historic creeds with integrity? Are not such claims as an infallible Pope or an inerrant Bible ridiculous in today’s world? In Unbelievable, Spong outlines twelve "theses" to help today’s believers more deeply contemplate and reshape their faith. As an educator, clergyman, and writer who has devoted his life to his faith, Spong has enlightened Christians and challenged them to explore their beliefs in new and meaningful ways. In this, his final book, he continues that rigorous tradition, once again offering a revisionist approach that strengthens Christianity and secures its relevance for generations to come.

Download or read book Jesus Laughed written by Robert Darden and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Agony and hilarity,” said Norman MacLean, “are both necessary for salvation.” We Christians seem to know a lot about the agony part, but what about hilarity? Why do we have to remind ourselves so often that the Bible is full of funny and ridiculous stories and situations? Why do so few of the pictures we’ve drawn of Jesus show him laughing? Because we’ve forgotten the redemptive power of humor, that’s why. In Jesus Laughed, Robert Darden–senior editor of The Wittenburg Door, the world’s oldest, largest, and pretty much only religious satire magazine–draws on his years of experience deflating religious pomposity and making the faithful laugh to show why humor is so central to the faith, and how to make it a big part of your daily walk with God. Click here to listen to Terri Gross's interview with Robert Darden on NPR's Fresh Air about the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. Darden runs the project at Baylor University where he is a journalism professor. The purpose of the project is to identify, acquire, preserve, record, and catalogue the most at-risk music from the black gospel music tradition, primarily between 1945 and 1970. Robert Darden is Associate Professor of Journalism at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He served for 12 years as Gospel Music Editor for Billboard magazine, and since 1988 has been Senior Editor of The Wittenburg Door, the world’s oldest, largest, and “pretty much only” religious satire magazine. He is the author of more than 25 books, including the definitive People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music, which has been featured on National Public Radio, and Reluctant Prophets and Clueless Disciples, also published by Abingdon Press.

Download or read book The Historical Jesus of the Gospels written by Craig S. Keener and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-13 with total page 870 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The earliest substantive sources available for historical Jesus research are in the Gospels themselves; when interpreted in their early Jewish setting, their picture of Jesus is more coherent and plausible than are the competing theories offered by many modern scholars. So argues Craig Keener in The Historical Jesus of the Gospels. In exploring the depth and riches of the material found in the Synoptic Gospels, Keener shows how many works on the historical Jesus emphasize just one aspect of the Jesus tradition against others, but a much wider range of material in the Jesus tradition makes sense in an ancient Jewish setting. Keener masterfully uses a broad range of evidence from the early Jesus traditions and early Judaism to reconstruct a fuller portrait of the Jesus who lived in history.

Download or read book Religion for Atheists written by Alain De Botton and published by Signal. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The Architecture of Happiness, a deeply moving meditation on how we can still benefit, without believing, from the wisdom, the beauty, and the consolatory power that religion has to offer. Alain de Botton was brought up in a committedly atheistic household, and though he was powerfully swayed by his parents' views, he underwent, in his mid-twenties, a crisis of faithlessness. His feelings of doubt about atheism had their origins in listening to Bach's cantatas, were further developed in the presence of certain Bellini Madonnas, and became overwhelming with an introduction to Zen architecture. However, it was not until his father's death -- buried under a Hebrew headstone in a Jewish cemetery because he had intriguingly omitted to make more secular arrangements -- that Alain began to face the full degree of his ambivalence regarding the views of religion that he had dutifully accepted. Why are we presented with the curious choice between either committing to peculiar concepts about immaterial deities or letting go entirely of a host of consoling, subtle and effective rituals and practices for which there is no equivalent in secular society? Why do we bristle at the mention of the word "morality"? Flee from the idea that art should be uplifting, or have an ethical purpose? Why don't we build temples? What mechanisms do we have for expressing gratitude? The challenge that de Botton addresses in his book: how to separate ideas and practices from the religious institutions that have laid claim to them. In Religion for Atheists is an argument to free our soul-related needs from the particular influence of religions, even if it is, paradoxically, the study of religion that will allow us to rediscover and rearticulate those needs.