This book will help seminary students and ministers with no training in accounting to expand their core management competency and church leadership skills to include basic issues of finance and accounting. It will also provide pastors/ministers with financial management orientation to become better leaders/managers of their churches and organizations. Specifically, this book is designed to bring pastors, ministers, and seminary students up to speed in the language of accounting and money in...
Jesus and Menachem places Jesus (Jeshua) in the historical context of the Roman occupation of Judea Second Temple period The fictional character of Menachem is introduced to deepen and clarify the relationship between Jesus, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots, and Rome. In a1949 review in Commentary magazine, this book is compared favorably to The Nazarene by Sholem Asch. Menachem fights the Romans at the side of the Zealot Ben-Necher, killing them as he murmurs «thou shalt not kill.»...
All of us yearn for a peaceable and just world, but some roll up their sleeves and set to work to make the dream real. Blessed Peacemakers celebrates 365 of them, one for each day of the year. Their stories are richly diverse. They share a commitment to peace and justice, but the various contexts in which they work make each of their stories uniquely instructive. The peacemakers include women, men, and children from across the globe, spanning some twenty-five hundred years. Many are persons...
The subtitle of Maggie Ross's new book captures its essence, for it is about silence and our need to behold God. Beholding is a notion that we are in danger of losing. It is often lost in translation, even by the NRSV and the Jerusalem Bible. Beholding needs to be recovered both in theology and practice. Ross is very aware of «poor talkative Christianity.» There is a twofold plea to enter into silence–for lack of silence erodes our humanity–and to behold the radiance of God. This is a...
There is a hunger in the modern world for spirituality. One vast resource of spiritual wisdom comes from the pre-Reformation church–from the martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity, through the long tradition of monasticism, to the medieval Christian mystics. These are the deep wells of Christian reflection from persons such as John Chrysostom, Augustine, Benedict, Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure, Bernard of Clairvaux, Meister Eckhart, Hildegard of Bingen, and Julian of Norwich, to mention...
Six-year-old Josef is tormented by bullies. He is rescued from his misery by an older boy, Mosche, who lives in the Jewish quarter of Worms, a city on the Rhein River. The two boys and Mosche's sister Miriam become friends, spending time together as Mosche teaches Josef to read. Miriam herself learns eagerly, though few of her eleventh-century contemporaries think it desirable to educate girls. The boys are excited to meet the beloved Rabbi Scholomo of Troyes. He is called «the rabbi of...
The Gospel of John and the Religious Quest argues that at its origin the Fourth Gospel was part of a dialogue with various religious traditions, and that to this day it is being used in active dialogue with those who live in traditions other than the Christian. In the first part of the book, Johannes Nissen analyzes a number of texts selected both for their central importance to John's theology and for their special relevance in today's religious quests and encounters. These texts...
In 1843 the Church of Scotland split apart. In the Disruption, as it was called, those who left to form the Free Church of Scotland claimed they did so because the law denied congregations the freedom to elect their own pastor. As they saw it, this fundamental Christian right had been usurped by lay patrons, who, by the Patronage Act of 1712, had been given the privilege of choosing and presenting parish ministers. But lay patronage was nothing new to the Church in Scotland, and to this day it...
In this commentary Kanagaraj examines how John projects the church as God's «new covenant community,» which, is characterized by two virtues: love and obedience. Impossible to exhibit under the old covenant based on Moses' Law, these qualities became possible by the initiative grace and faithfulness of God revealed in Jesus and demonstrated by the power of the Spirit. God's new community is an inclusive and progressive community because its witness to Jesus in a world that...
Ants are diligent when they undertake a task. In order to understand and follow the Scripture for better living, follow their example. God Likes Ants: Every Week features Andrea Gilson's thoughts, perspectives, and interpretations in a weekly reader format. Scripture verses from the Authorized King James Bible are featured and discussed with both the brand new and the lifelong Christian in mind. The stress is on salvation through faith, the sovereignty of God, Jesus as the Savior of the...
In Portrait of an Apostle Greg MaGee explores the claim that Colossians and Ephesians are works of forgery that use Paul's authoritative status to gain a hearing. This hypothesis is so often restated in recent scholarship that it is arguably the default position in the field, even though the theory is relatively untested. MaGee argues that such a view does not stand up to close scrutiny. Unsuccessful attempts to imitate Paul usually flounder in their portrayals of Paul, as is evident with...