Download or read book Toying with God written by Nikki Bado-Fralick and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Written with verve and a healthy dollop of humor, Toying with God examines the sometimes zany world of religious games and dolls, from pre-history to today. Packed with examples that add immeasurably to readers' knowledge of religious trivia, this entertaining romp is an insightful reflection upon one of the more curious intersections of popular culture and spirituality. Have we humans blended fun with spirituality for good or for ill? And what does all of this say about our insatiable need for entertainment?" --Book Jacket.

Download or read book The God Who Plays written by Brian Edgar and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-12-20 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people would be surprised to hear that a playful attitude towards God and the world lies at the heart of Christian faith. Traditionally Christians have focused on the serious responsibilities of service, sacrifice, and commitment. But the prophets say that the future kingdom is full of people laughing and playing, which has implications for Christians who are called to live out the future kingdom in the present. Play is not trivial or secondary to work and service—only a playful way of living does justice to the seriousness of life! Play is the essential and ultimate form of relationship with God, which is why Jesus told people to learn from children. Indeed, a playful attitude is an important part of all significant relationships. This book explores grace, faith, love, worship, redemption, and the kingdom from the perspective of a playful attitude. It describes how to create a “play ethic” to match the “work ethic” and discusses play as a virtue, Aquinas’s warning against the sin of not playing enough, and Bonhoeffer’s claim that in a world of pain it is only the Christian who can truly play.

Download or read book Hand to God written by Robert Askins and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2018-08-28 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the rec room in at a church in Cypress, Texas, Margery leads her students in a puppet pageant to strengthen their faith in the Bible and evade Satan's hand. But when the young members of the Christian Puppet Ministry put those teachings into practice, one devout young man's puppet takes on a shocking personality that no one could have expected. In this hilarious black comedy, a foul-mouthed sock puppet named Tyrone soon teaches those around him that the urges that can drive a person to give in to their darkest desires fit like a glove. In Hand to God, a "true tour de force" (New York Times), Robert Askins has written a play of "unerring perfection" (Huffington Post). The must-see hit of the 2015 Broadway season, starring Steven Boyer and Geneva Carr, garnered an Obie Award and five Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, following its sold out, critically acclaimed off-Broadway runs at MCC Theater and Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Download or read book The Christian Athlete written by Brian Smith and published by David C Cook. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Christian Athlete is a gospel-centered guide that assists athletes who identify as Christians and are seeking to understand how to practically apply their faith to their sport. Athletes desire—and deserve—a more substantive expression of the Christian faith in the context of sport, but they don’t know what it looks like or where to turn to learn more. Author Brian Smith shares his story as an athlete and coach, and his experience working with high-level athletes in the last decade to help readers better understand how to integrate faith and sport by: Assisting those who want a wide-angled understanding of how to live the Christian faith in the context of sports Walking through the many questions Christian athletes ask about winning, losing, injuries, practice, and everything in between Moving Christian athletes from simply having clichéd spiritual sayings decorating their bodies or t-shirts to actually living out their faith through all the opportunities their sport offers them The Christian Athlete will show readers how to live out a biblical perspective on athletics and urge them to engage in the gifts they are given to glorify God whether they are the team MVP or riding the bench.

Download or read book Theology of Play written by Jürgen Moltmann and published by HarperCollins Publishers. This book was released on 1972 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book What s Done in the Dark Shall Come to the Light written by Brenda L. Moore and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2012-10 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You have seen the movie and heard people talk about the unknown or unforeseen, but have you witnessed it for yourself? Come journey with me as the truth of my days and nights unravel. You will realize that dreams, visions, signs, and wonders exist right here on Earth. You can't predict the future, but you can be used in a mighty way by God.

Download or read book The Lion s World written by Rowan Williams and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2012 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams offers fascinating insight into The Chronicles of Narnia, the popular series of novels by one of the most influential Christian authors of the modern era, C. S. Lewis. Lewis once referred to certain kinds of book as a "mouthwash for the imagination." This is what he attempted to provide in the Narnia stories, argues Williams: an unfamiliar world in which we could rinse out what is stale in our thinking about Christianity--"which is almost everything," says Williams--and rediscover what it might mean to meet the holy. Indeed, Lewis's great achievement in the Narnia books is just that-he enables readers to encounter the Christian story "as if for the first time." How does Lewis makes fresh and strange the familiar themes of Christian doctrine? Williams points out that, for one, Narnia itself is a strange place: a parallel universe, if you like. There is no "church" in Narnia, no religion even. The interaction between Aslan as a "divine" figure and the inhabitants of this world is something that is worked out in the routines of life itself. Moreover, we are made to see humanity in a fresh perspective, the pride or arrogance of the human spirit is chastened by the revelation that, in Narnia, you may be on precisely the same spiritual level as a badger or a mouse. It is through these imaginative dislocations that Lewis is able to communicate--to a world that thinks it knows what faith is--the character, the feel, of a real experience of surrender in the face of absolute incarnate love. This lucid, learned, humane, and beautifully written book opens a new window onto Lewis's beloved stories, revealing the moral wisdom and passionate faith beneath their perennial appeal.

Download or read book The God Game written by Danny Tobey and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2020-01-09 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Like an episode of Black Mirror written by Stephen King' John Marrs, bestselling author of The One 'Immersive, claustrophobic . . . addictive' Guardian Win and All Your Dreams Come TrueTM! ;) Charlie and his friends have entered the God Game. Tasks are delivered through their phones. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them. Charlie's money problems could be over. Vanhi can erase the one bad grade on her university application. It's all fun and games - at first. Then the threatening messages start. Obey me. Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them. Who else is playing this game, and how far will they go to win? As Charlie looks for a way out, there's only one rule he knows for sure. If you die in the game, you die for real. 'Smart, propulsive and gripping' Harlan Coben, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author

Download or read book Religions in Play written by Philippe Bornet and published by Theologischer Verlag Zürich. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Often dismissed as "not serious", the notion of play has nevertheless been at the centre of classical theories of religion and ritual (Huizinga, Caillois, Turner, Staal, etc.). What can be retained of those theories for the contemporary study of religions? Can a study of "play" or "game" bring new perspectives for the study of religions? The book deals with the history of games and their relation to religions, the links between divination and games, the relations between sport and ritual, the pedagogical functions of games in religious education, and the interaction between games, media and religions. Richly illustrated, the book contributes to the study of religions, to ritual, game and media studies, and addresses an academic as well as a general public. Philippe Bornet, Dr. Phil., born in 1977, is Lecturer in the Study of Religion at the Faculty of Lettres of the University of Lausanne, with focus on the history of interrelations between India and Europe. Maya Burger is Professor of Indian Studies and History of Religions at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lausanne, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations.

Download or read book Knowing Christ Today written by Dallas Willard and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-05-26 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when popular atheism books are talking about the irrationality of believing in God, Willard makes a rigorous intellectual case for why it makes sense to believe in God and in Jesus, the Son.

Download or read book A Beautiful Disaster written by Marlena Graves and published by Brazos Press. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interweaving biblical insights and personal narratives, this eloquently written book shows how God often uses suffering and desert experiences to form us into Christ's image. Marlena Graves shares her experiences of growing up poor in a house plagued by mental illness as a means to explore the forces God uses to shape us into beautiful people in the midst of brokenness. This book offers a window into suffering through the motif of desert spirituality, revealing how God can use our painful experiences to show himself faithful. While no one welcomes suffering, God often uses desert experiences--those we initially despise and wouldn't wish on anyone--to transform us into beautiful souls who better resemble Jesus. Graves shows how God can bring life out of circumstances reeking of death and destruction, whether those circumstances are crises or daily doses of quiet desperation. Readers who have experienced suffering and question God's purpose for it will benefit from this book, as will counselors, pastors, professors, and mentors. It includes a foreword by John Ortberg and Laura Ortberg Turner.

Download or read book The Grace of Playing written by Courtney T. Goto and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-02-10 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Believers and teachers of faith regularly know the in-breaking of God's Spirit in their midst, when revelatory experiencing unexpectedly shifts habits of thinking, feeling, and doing toward more life-giving ways of being and becoming. When the moment is right, Spirit breathes new life into dry bones. Though religious educators have much practical wisdom about facilitating learning that is creative and transformative, sharper concepts, cases, and theory can help them do it more critically and assist learners to practice openness to wonder, surprise, and authenticity. The Grace of Playing explains how we can create the conditions for revelatory experiencing by understanding it in light of playing. The notion of playing "as if" can be powerfully reclaimed from ecclesial ambivalence, casual speech, and commercial interests that often lead playing to be associated with childishness, frivolity, or entertainment. This book theorizes adults playing for the sake of faith, drawing on D. W. Winnicott's psychoanalytic theory, a revision of Jurgen Moltmann's theology of play, biblical texts, medieval devotional practices, as well as art and aesthetics that help local faith communities engage in theological reflection. Communal forms of playing in/at God's new creation provide insights into pedagogies in which learners are creating and are created anew.

Download or read book Your Best Life in Jesus Easy Yoke written by Bill Gaultiere, Ph.d. and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I was a burned out pastor and counselor when I heard Jesus say, 'Come to me... Recover your life.'" With the help of Dallas Willard who personally mentored him, Bill Gaultiere became Jesus' apprentice and learned how to live and minister to others in God's peace and power. With real life stories, fresh Biblical insights, and practical steps he invites you to enjoy "Your Best Life in Jesus' Easy Yoke." When Dallas saw the first version of this book he remarked, "This is ground- breaking! Pastors and others will come under this teaching and develop aspects of it in their own ministry." "Bill does a fantastic job of helping people understand how to live relaxed, yet empowered lives in the Father's world." Bobby Schuller, Pastor of Hour of Power "Eventually our well runs dry. Perhaps we dug into the arid ground of perfectionism, anxiety, overwork, or self-promotion. Here's a map to show us where to dig deeply into the well-spring of God's sustaining grace. I am so grateful for Bill Gaultiere, who lived Easy Yoke before he wrote it. He's helped count- less harried leaders - like me! - drink from the life-giving waters of Jesus." Larry Winger, CEO of Provision Ministries "I took my pastoral staff and elders through Easy Yoke." Steve Phillips, Lead Pastor of The Journey Church

Download or read book Life s Biggest Questions written by Erik Thoennes and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2011-06-23 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If we were to compile the biggest questions pertaining to life, we would face some daunting submissions: Does God exist? What is God like? How will it all end? In this accessible book Erik Thoennes—a preaching pastor and theology professor—asks and answers 15 of the most important questions we can ask about God, the Bible, Jesus, and the church. Readers will find his answers clear, helpful, and above all biblical. Life's Biggest Questions is a great resource for new Christians and for those looking for concise ways to answer difficult questions. Each chapter concludes with a Scripture verse for meditation and memorization, questions for application and discussion, and suggestions for further study.

Download or read book When God Says No written by Brenda Smit-James and published by Word Alive Press. This book was released on 2019-04-26 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A memoir … and a book of wisdom.” – Rev. Andy Lambkin “Brenda reminds us to live courageously in the face of adversity.” – Fr. Mark James O.P. What do we do when deep grief invades our lives? How do we negotiate the unwelcomed journey we find ourselves on? What do we do with our unspeakable pain? Even more, what do we do when we have asked God to spare the life of our loved one and he does not give the answer we hope for? In When God Says No, Brenda Smit-James tells the story of her journey with grief following the untimely death of her mother – a journey where she questioned God and his goodness, questioned whether Jesus was worth following, and questioned the relevance of the Christian life. In telling her story, Brenda shows us how grief can be engaged and not merely endured and how we can face the darkness of grief with quiet courage and, in so doing, find a way back into the light again.

Download or read book Biblical Games written by Steven J. Brams and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BACK IN PRINT with a new preface and a new chapter

Download or read book A More Christlike God written by Bradley Jersak and published by Plain Truth Ministries. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether our notions of ‘god’ are personal projections or inherited traditions, author and theologian Brad Jersak proposes a radical reassessment, arguing for A More Christlike God: a More Beautiful Gospel. If Christ is “the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God’s glory and exact representation of God’s likeness,” what if we conceived of God as completely Christlike—the perfect Incarnation of self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering love? What if God has always been and forever will be ‘cruciform’ (cross-shaped) in his character and actions? A More Christlike God suggests that such a God would be very good news indeed—a God who Jesus “unwrathed” from dead religion, a Love that is always toward us, and a Grace that pours into this suffering world through willing, human partners.