Books

Spiritual Friendship is today the best known and perhaps most influential of the thirteen surviving works of Aelred, abbot of the great English Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx from 1147 '1167. During his abbacy he built Rievaulx into a place of spiritual welcome and physical prosperity, desiring to make it a mother of mercy" to those in need. In a three-book Ciceronian dialogue Aelred defines human friendship as sacramental, beginning in creation, as God sought to place his own love of society in all his creatures, linking friends to Christ in this life and culminating in friendship with God in beatitude. This fresh new translation makes the work crisply readable, allowing the intellectual and Christian insight of this great Cistercian teacher and writer to speak clearly to today's seekers of love, wisdom, and truth.

"This book probes the beating theological heart of Luther's evangelical theology." -- Michael J. Chan, Ph.D., Concordia College

In his Galatians commentary of 1535, Martin Luther insists that "our theology" relies on the proper distinction of two kinds of righteousness: Alien and Proper. In relation to our Creator, we freely receive our "alien" righteousness from Christ who has obtained it for us through his death and resurrection. In relation to humanity and God's created order, we practice a "proper" righteousness by actively fulfilling God's commands that set down the form and pattern for good human living.

The Alien and the Proper "helps us to appropriate Luther's theology as our theology as well." -- Mark Mattes, Lutheran Bible Institute Chair of Theology, Grand View University

Luther posited that this distinction was the key to understanding our humanity. His regular use of this anthropological principle, particularly when applied to justification by faith, the nature of sin, and the proper practice of God's gift of humanity, demonstrates its centrality and importance.

In The Alien and the Proper, five authors examine the historical development of Luther's Twofold Righteousness and propose ways in which it can continue to serve Christians today. Through these essays you will learn about Luther's radical divergence from medieval theological formulations, and you will discover what it means to be human.

Essays by:

David A. Lumpp

Charles P. Arand

William W. Schumacher

Joel Biermann

Timothy Saleska

Robert Kolb (editor)

Presents every genealogy in the Bible in a simple, visual format.

The Bible contains hundreds of genealogies that fulfill many different purposes, but the significance of these genealogies can be difficult to grasp. In All the Genealogies of the Bible, Nancy Dawson visual presents every genealogy in the Bible, providing an essential guide to biblical understanding of chronology, lineage, history, and culture.

Esteemed biblical scholars Eugene Merrill and Andreas Kostenberger supplement Dawson's work with brief commentary on each genealogy. Dawson works with both complete genealogies and partial lists, piecing together names in different passages to illustrate the interrelationships of various biblical characters for deeper study.

Including more than 340 genealogies, All the Genealogies of the Bible is organized in biblical order and is equipped with tools you'll need to navigate the book easily:

A detailed table of contents

A Complete Index of Names

Comprehensive cross-referencing

A one-of-a-kind reference work, All the Genealogies of the Bible will be useful for pastors, Bible teachers, students, and anyone wanting to study the Bible more deeply from the unique vantage point of its many genealogies.

Suicide has been a historically difficult and taboo topic for the church. Christians, perhaps even more so than nonbelievers, are often appalled or distressed by this horrific act and can struggle to understand it. This is especially true when it is a fellow believer who takes his or her own life.

And She Was a Christian provides answers straight from God's Word, with a strong emphasis on the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Ideal for Christian counselors or anyone who has been affected by suicide, this book offers helpful guidance and comfort when dealing with this disturbing reality.

In Angelomorphic Christology author Charles Gieschen demonstrates that angel and angel-related traditions, especially those built upon the so-called "Angel of the Lord" figure in the Hebrew Bible, had a profound impact upon the origin, development, and shape of early Christian claims about Jesus.

Gieschen's book falls neatly into two halves. The first catalogues the various antecedents for Angelomorphic Christology--Jewish speculation about principal angels, mediator figures, and related phenomena--with chapters on "An Angelomorphic God," "Angelomorphic Divine Hypostases" (including the Divine Name, the Divine Glory, Wisdom, the Word, the Spirit and Power), Principal Named Angels, and Angelomorphic Humans. The book's second half examines the evidence for Angelomorphic Christology in early Christian literature. This portion begins with a brief overview of the principal Angel and Angelomorphic Christology from Justin to Nicea and then examines in turn the Pseudo-Clementines, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Revelation of John, the Fourth Gospel, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Pauline Corpus.

Gieschen argues that Christian use of the angelomorphic tradition did not spawn a new and variant kind of Christology, one that competed with accepted belief about Jesus for early Christians' favor, but instead shows how Christians adapted an already variegated Jewish tradition to weave a single story about a common Lord.

What is Anglicanism?

There are many associations that come to mind. Whether it is the buildings, the unique history, the prayers, or church government, often we emphasize one aspect against others. Is the Anglican church a Protestant church with distinctive characteristics, or a Catholic Church no longer in communion with Rome?

In Anglicanism: A Reformed Catholic Tradition, Gerald Bray argues that some theological trajectories are more faithful than others to the nature and history of the Church of England. Readers looking to understand the diversity, nature, and future of Anglicanism will be helped by Bray's historical examination.

Romans 1:16-For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (KJV)
"The 'power of God' is the divine and efficacious means which God uses to save men, (1) because in it the benefits obtained by the suffering and death of Christ are offered, among which are also life and eternal salvation; (2) because through the preaching of the Gospel, God works the faith in hearts through which they embrace the good things offered in the Gospel and apply them to themselves; (3) because through the Gospel faith is preserved and increased, so that we are thus 'guarded for salvation by the power of God, through faith' (1 Pet. 1:5); (4) because, in all adversities and temptations, it furnishes a life-giving consolation, so that we may be preserved to eternal life under the weight of the cross."
Gerhard's Annotations were incomplete at the time of his death; his son, Johann Ernst Gerhard, published them several years after his death. However, the Annotations are of enduring value and significance to the Church because in these first six chapters, Gerhard gives a clear treatment of the doctrine of Justification, and a model of Lutheran exegesis. Modern students of Holy Scripture will benefit from Gerhard's scholarship.

Following the publication of his revised translations in The Apostolic Fathers in English, 3rd ed., Michael Holmes, a leading expert on these texts, offers a thoroughly revised and redesigned bilingual edition, featuring Greek (or Latin) and English on facing pages. Introductions and bibliographies are generous and up to date. In the textual apparatus, existing notes have been revised and expanded, and well over 200 new notes have been added. This handsome and handy one-volume, thin-paper edition will be an essential resource for students and scholars and a joy to book lovers.