Bücher veröffentlicht von William B Eerdmans Publishing Co

The apostle Paul was a cross-cultural missionary, a Hellenistic Jew who sought to be all things to all people in order to win them to the gospel. In this provocative book Charles Cosgrove, Herold Weiss, and K. K. Yeo bring Paul into conversation with six diverse cultures of today: Argentine/Uruguayan, Anglo-American, Chinese, African American, Native American, and Russian. No other book on the apostle Paul looks at his thought from multiple cultural perspectives in the way that this one does. From the introduction outlining the authors' cultural backgrounds to the conclusion drawing together what they learn from each other, Cross-Cultural Paul orients readers to the hermeneutical struggles and rewards of approaching texts cross-culturally.

Foreword by Pope John Paul IITranslated by David GlendayA little more than a year before his death, Pope John Paul II gathered his closest aides for an extended retreat at the Vatican. During this retreat Bruno Forte offered a series of meditations revolving around Jesus' words in John 8:12: "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."Now translated by David Glenday and collected in this lovely book, these meditations draw us into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and orient us toward the mission of the church. A master of thoughtful questioning, Forte shepherds his readers through the classic Ignatian spiritual exercises: a day of purification, a day of illumination, and three days of reflection on Easter, the church, and mission.Each day includes four meditations, two reflecting on the day's theme followed by two careful considerations of scriptural texts. Forte concludes his meditations with questions that provoke deeper reflection on our own faith journeys.Thoughtful, insightful, and nurturing, Forte's book has much wisdom to offer all Christians who desire to follow more closely the "Light of life."

While the average person rarely sees it, the visual arts play a subtle yet profound role in the teaching and formation of faith, both for individuals and religious communities. The Substance of Things Seen explores the intersection of art and faith, offering thoughtful reflections on the way art functions in Christian life and practice.Highly readable and featuring instructive illustrations, this book is meant to engage church leaders as well as artists in constructive conversation about the critical role that art can play in the renewal of Christian education, worship, and study. It also challenges anyone who thinks the arts are only of marginal importance to the religious life. Robin Jensen considers here a broad range of topics relevant to Christian faith and culture, including the construction of sacred space, the use of art in worship and spiritual formation, the way that visual art interprets sacred texts, and the power and danger of art from a historical and contemporary perspective.

In the wake of the What Would Jesus Do? movement, Allen Verhey's Remembering Jesus takes a serious look at what Jesus really did and what he might do in the strange world of contemporary ethics. Verhey asserts that following Jesus requires remembering him, and this entails immersing ourselves in Scripture and Christian community, where the memory of Jesus is found. This book, which promises to be Verhy's magnum opus, explores how Christians can practice medical, sexual, economic, and political ethics with integrity. An ideal text for courses in Christian ethics, Remembering Jesus is also a valuable resource for pastors and general readers in search of readable, biblically based guidance for living in today's complex world.

This accessible, engaging work explores the major theological dimensions of John's Gospel, including God, the world and its people, Jesus, the crucifixion and resurrection, the Spirit, faith, and discipleship. Craig Koester's Word of Life is notable for its comprehensive treatment of themes and its close, careful focus on the biblical text, on the narrative itself. In his introduction Koester provides a succinct overview of the Gospel and shows how disputes about John's theology throughout history have significantly shaped the church and wider society. In the course of his discussion, such expressions as being "born again" and Jesus as "the way" -- which evoke both interest and uneasiness today -- become much clearer in the context of the Gospel as a whole. Koester interacts with the best of current research and makes creative proposals about how to understand the many aspects of John's theology. His clear and highly readable guide to the theology of John's Gospel will appeal to a wide range of readers.

Nursing involves skill, judgment, compassion, and respect for human life whether or not the nurse is a Christian. Is there anything distinctive, then, about Christian nurses?The authors of Transforming Care address the question of how Christian faith molds nursing practice. Suggesting that such faith entails something more essential than evangelism or a certain position on moral dilemmas, they deal with the ordinary, everyday nature of nursing practice.The first part of the book articulates the relationship between Christian faith and nursing practice while analyzing the concepts of nursing, person, environment, and health common to nursing literature. The second part describes and evaluates nursing practice in three different health care contexts: acute care settings, mental health facilities, and community care contexts. Sidebars throughout the book offer thought-provoking quotations from well-known authors and nursing experts.ContributorsCheryl BrandsenBart CusvellerMary Molewyk DoornbosMary FlikkemaRuth E. GroenhoutArlene HoogewerfKendra G. HotzClarence JoldersmaBarbara Timmermans

Here, finally, is a much-needed review and analysis of the divergent interpretations of Paul. With a clear head and winsome sense of humor, Stephen Westerholm compares the traditional understanding of Paul to more recent readings, drawing on the writings of key figures in the debate both past and present.Westerholm first offers a detailed portrait of the "Lutheran" Paul, including the way such theologians as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley have traditionally interpreted "justification by faith" to mean that God declares sinners "righteous" by his grace apart from "works." Westerholm then explores how Paul has fared in the twentieth century, in which "New Perspective" readings of Paul see him teaching that Gentiles need not become Jews or observe Jewish law to be God's people. The final section of the book looks anew at disputed areas of Paul's theological language and offers compelling discussion on the place of both justification by faith and Mosaic law in divine redemption.

This book offers the first sustained attempt to read the Gospel of Mark both as an ancient biography and as a form of ancient rhetoric. Ben Witherington applies to Mark the socio-rhetorical approach for which he is well known, opening a fresh new perspective on the earliest Gospel.Written when the fledging Christian faith was experiencing a major crisis during the Jewish war, Mark provides us with the first window on how the life and teachings of Jesus were presented to a largely non-Jewish audience.According to Witherington, the structure of Mark demonstrates that this Gospel is biographically focused on the identity of Jesus and the importance of knowing who he is--the Christ, the Son of God. This finding reveals that Christology stood at the heart of the earliest Christians' faith. It also shows how important it was to these earliest Christians to persuade others about the nature of Jesus, both as a historical figure and as the Savior of the world.