Mulled Psalms is a book of poetry. Using the metaphor of mulled cider or wine, it is a collection of carefully brewed, distilled, and spiced beverages. The basic ingredient in each of these 150 poems is the biblical psalm of the corresponding number. Thus, the length, subject, tone, and other aspects of a specific poem resemble that of the original psalm. Because each psalm was mulled individually, at varying times and temperatures of Spirit-fire, each comes alive as a new entity. Many are...
What, pray tell, does a faithful urban ministry require if not a triadic relationship of prayer, justice, and hope? Could such a theologically conjunctive relationship of prayer, justice, and hope fortify urban ministry and challenge students and practitioners to ponder and practice beyond the box? Frequently, justice is collapsed to charity, hope into wishful thinking or temporarily arrested despair, and prayer a grasp at quick-fix interventions. An urban ministry's steadfast public and...
In Christians and Jews Together, Stuart Dauermann challenges Christians and Jews to discover new ways to partner together in serving what God is up to in the world. He imaginatively connects the thinking of Paul the Apostle with the Prophet Ezekiel, forming a previously unexplored bridge between Jews and Christians. This is an excellent resource for Christians seeking new ways to understand and share their faith within the context of deep respect for their Jewish neighbors, relatives, and...
The Book of Unknowing meditates on John's confrontation with the incandescent Jesus, a figure of our desire for immortality. Guiding us through the Gospel's coming to grips with Jesus, the poet David Sten Herrstrom prefers sparking the imagination to arguing a thesis, as he explores John's own obsessions, such as image (light), symbol (water), sign (water to wine), shapeliness (symmetry), loves (Peter, Mary's), and above all, words (the Word, the body of Jesus). The result...
Believing that the needs of beleaguered Christian communities in turbulent times would be best met by resourcing the life of Jesus, Mark wrote a Gospel that was at once plain and subtle, fast-paced and yet profound. The essence of being a follower of Jesus was therefore clarified, so that such communities might differentiate the essential from the trivial and be fortified in their testimony to the one, true gospel. This commentary attempts to expound the artistry of Mark in achieving all this in...
Christian faith is continually challenged by the tension between certainty and mystery. A historic faith can seem threatened by the uncomfortable x that God continues to work in a rapidly changing culture. The Bartender is a fable about the messiness and unpredictability of lives being opened up to God through relationships characterized by deep listening and looking for the ongoing work of God in the world. The parallel and sometimes intersecting paths of two men on different spiritual journeys...
Steve Stanton, the Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the World Observer Gazette, has been covering events of the Middle East for many years. Stanton's adventures begin when he receives a priority assignment from his Managing Editor: «Our sources tell us of a new national movement sweeping Judea. Apparently the king pin of this movement, is Yeshua bar Joseph of Nazareth See what is going on in Judea and report back!» Stanton was as intrigued as he was excited about the assignment. The country was...
Karl Barth saw Chapter 15 as the center of 1st Corinthians, arguing that a misunderstanding of the resurrection underlies all the problems in Corinth. In this volume, he develops his view of biblical eschatology, asserting that Chapter 15 is key to understanding the testimony of the New Testament. Barth understood the last things not as an end to history but as an end-history with which any period is faced. "He only speaks of last things who would speak of the end of all things, of their...
A good quotation states an insight so shrewdly that not only do you get it, but you can't seem to forget it. It loves to make you slow down and savor truth. These neat little extended metaphors deserve to be heard, examined, and challenged. Quotations present truth in capsule form. Many reflect the wisdom of earlier times; others bring insights that are fresh and contemporary. Some support the status quo; others challenge it. So They Say is a collection of more than seventy quotes, along...
The outrageous idea of this book is that God wants to use professors as professors to reach others, transform the academy, and meet the needs of the world. God is on a mission to redeem and restore this fallen world, and as members of one of the most influential institutions in society, Christian professors in the university play an important role in that mission. Becoming a missional professor will require a clear vision of God's heart for the lost as well as humankind's purpose and...
In 1861 a young farmer, drafted into the Confederate Army, was wounded in battle and sent home to die. For two days he lay on a railway platform, begging passengers to contact his family in the hills. At last, an old slave who had purchased a wagon along with his freedom gently loaded him into his cart. The old man drove him to his family's farm, bathed his wounds in a stream, carried him to his cabin, and delivered the soldier to his astonished young wife. By Faith and By Love is the...