Empfehlungen basierend auf "Experiencing the Enneagram"

“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.”So begins Letter to a Christian Nation…www.samharris.org

Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial made a spectacle of Christian fundamentalism and brought national attention to her hometown, Rachel Held Evans faced a trial of her own when she began to have doubts about her faith. Growing up in a culture obsessed with apologetics, Evans asks questions she never thought she would ask. She learns that in order for her faith to survive in a postmodern context, it must adapt to change and evolve. Using as an illustration her own spiritual journey from certainty, through doubt, to faith, Evans adds a unique perspective to the ongoing dialogue about postmodernism and the church that has so captivated the Christian community in recent years. In a changing cultural environment where new ideas threaten the safety and security of the faith, Evolving in Monkey Town is a fearlessly honest story of survival.

New Testament scholars typically assume that the men who pervade the pages of Luke's two volumes are models of an implied "manliness." Scholars rarely question how Lukan men measure up to ancient masculine mores, even though masculinity is increasingly becoming a topic of inquiry in the field of New Testament and its related disciplines. Drawing especially from gender-critical work in classics, Brittany Wilson addresses this lacuna by examining key male characters in Luke-Acts in relation to constructions of masculinity in the Greco-Roman world.Of all Luke's male characters, Wilson maintains that four in particular problematize elite masculine norms: namely, Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist), the Ethiopian eunuch, Paul, and, above all, Jesus. She further explains that these men do not protect their bodily boundaries nor do they embody corporeal control, two interrelated male gender norms. Indeed, Zechariah loses his ability to speak, the Ethiopian eunuch is castrated, Paul loses his ability to see, and Jesus is put to death on the cross.With these bodily "violations," Wilson argues, Luke points to the all-powerful nature of God and in the process reconfigures--or refigures--men's own claims to power. Luke, however, not only refigures the so-called prerogative of male power, but he refigures the parameters of power itself. According to Luke, God provides an alternative construal of power in the figure of Jesus and thus redefines what it means to be masculine. Thus, for Luke, "real" men look manifestly unmanly. Wilson's findings in Unmanly Men will shatter long-held assumptions in scholarly circles and beyond about gendered interpretations of the New Testament, and how they can be used to understand the roles of the Bible's key characters.

“This crisp retelling of Christian history from the days of the apostles to the eve of the Reformation is filled with insight.” —Mark A. Noll, Wheaton CollegeFrom Justo L. Gonzalez, author of the acclaimed three-volume History of Christian Thought, comes the fully revised and updated second volume of The Story of Christianity. Gonzalez’s astute scholarship, lucid prose, and impassioned focus tell the narrative history of Christianity, beginning with the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century and leading all the way up to present day.

The last command Jesus gave the church before he ascended to heaven was the Great Commission, the call for Christians to "make disciples of all the nations." But Christians have responded by making "Christians," not "disciples." This, according to brilliant scholar and renowned Christian thinker Dallas Willard, has been the church's Great Omission."The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament," writes Willard. "Christian is found three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to disciples of Jesus. . . . The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples of Jesus Christ. But the point is not merely verbal. What is more important is that the kind of life we see in the earliest church is that of a special type of person. All of the assurances and benefits offered to humankind in the gospel evidently presuppose such a life and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian -- especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He or she stands on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God."Willard boldly challenges the thought that we can be Christians without being disciples, or call ourselves Christians without applying this understanding of life in the Kingdom of God to every aspect of life on earth. He calls on believers to restore what should be the heart of Christianity -- being active disciples of Jesus Christ. Willard shows us that in the school of life, we are apprentices of the Teacher whose brilliance encourages us to rise above traditional church understanding and embrace the true meaning of discipleship -- an active, concrete, 24/7 life with Jesus.

The infamous and controversial work that made a lasting impression on both modern Protestant theology and existentialist philosophers such as Sartre and CamusWriting under the pseudonym of "Johannes de silentio," Kierkegaard expounds his personal view of religion through a discussion of the scene in Genesis in which Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command. Believing Abraham's unreserved obedience to be the essential leap of faith needed to make a full commitment to his religion, Kierkegaard himself made great sacrifices in order to dedicate his life entirely to his philosophy and to God. The conviction shown in this religious polemic—that a man can have an exceptional mission in life—informed all Kierkegaard's later writings. His "teleological suspension of the ethical" challenged the contemporary views of Hegel's universal moral system, and was also hugely influential for both protestant theology and the existentialist movement.Alastair Hannay's introduction evaluates Kierkegaard's philosophy and the ways in which it conflicted with more accepted contemporary views. This edition also includes detailed notes to complement this groundbreaking analysis of religion, and a new chronology.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Join a cold-case detective as he uncovers the truth about Jesus using the same approach he employs to solve real murder cases.Detective J. Warner Wallace was skeptical of the Bible's claims about Jesus. But he'd investigated several no-body homicide cases in which there was no crime scene, no physical evidence, and no victim's body. He wondered if the truth about the historical Jesus could be investigated in the same way.In Person of Interest, cold-case detective and bestselling author J. Warner Wallace describes his own personal investigative journey from atheism to Christianity as he carefully sifts through the evidence from history alone, without relying on the New Testament.In this book, you'll: Understand like never before how Jesus—the most significant person in history—changed the world and why he still matters today. Learn how to think like a cold-case detective by using an innovative and unique "fuse and fallout" investigative strategy, which you can also use to examine other claims of history. Explore and learn how to respond to common objections to Christianity.Creative, compelling, and fully illustrated, Person of Interest will strengthen the faith of believers while engaging those who are skeptical and distrusting of the New Testament gospel accounts.

The Christian church has a long tradition of systematic theology, that is, of studying biblical teaching on centrally important doctrines such as the Word of God, redemption, and Jesus Christ. Wayne Grudem's bestselling Systematic Theology has several distinctive features: A strong emphasis on the scriptural basis for each doctrine Clear writing, with technical terms kept to a minimum A contemporary approach, treating subjects of special interest to the church today A friendly tone, appealing to the emotions and the spirit as well as the intellect Frequent application to life Resources for worship within each chapterBibliographies in each chapter that cross-reference subjects to a wide range of other systematic theologies.

Professor of theology Stephen Wellum considers Christ's singular uniqueness and significance biblically, historically, and today, in our pluralistic and postmodern age. Christ Alone is a much-needed study and defense of the doctrine that provides coherency to the Christian faith. If the church is to proclaim the same Christ as the Reformers, we must understand and embrace solos Christus with the same clarity, conviction, urgency, and abundance of joy as the Reformers. To that end, Wellum: Recovers the Reformers' basic insights by focusing first on two teachings: the exclusive identity of Christ and his sufficient work. Follows the historical roots of the doctrine and its developments to show how the uniqueness of Christ has come under specific attack today. Retraces the storyline of Scripture, from Christ's unique identity and work as prophet, priest, and king, to the application of his work to believers and our covenantal union with him. Christ Alone seeks to recover a robust biblical and theological doctrine of Christ's person and work—and a renewed understanding that apart from Christ there is no salvation—in the face of today's challenges, unpacking why a fresh appraisal of the Reformation understanding of Christ alone is so important today. —THE FIVE SOLAS— Historians and theologians have long recognized that at the heart of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation were five declarations, often referred to as the "solas." These five statements summarize much of what the Reformation was about, and they distinguish Protestantism from other expressions of the Christian faith: that they place ultimate and final authority in the Scriptures, acknowledge the work of Christ alone as sufficient for redemption, recognize that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and seek to do all things for God’s glory. The Five Solas Series is more than a simple rehashing of these statements, but instead expounds upon the biblical reasoning behind them, leading to a more profound theological vision of our lives and callings as Christians and churches.

Renowned biblical scholar Thomas Schreiner looks at the historical and biblical roots of the doctrine of justification and offers an updated defense of this pillar of Reformed theology.Reinvigorating one of the five great declarations of the Reformation—sola fide—Schreiner: Summarizes the history of the doctrine, looking at the early church and the writings of several of the Reformers. Walks readers through an examination of the key biblical texts in the Old and New Testament that support the Reformed understanding of justification. Discusses whether justification is transformative or forensic and introduces readers to some of the contemporary challenges to the Reformation teaching of sola fide, with particular attention to the new perspective on Paul.Five hundred years after the Reformation, the doctrine of justification by faith alone still needs to be understood and proclaimed. In Faith Alone you will learn how the rallying cry of “sola fide” is rooted in the Scriptures and how to understand this doctrine in a fresh way.—THE FIVE SOLAS—Historians and theologians have long recognized that at the heart of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation were five declarations, often referred to as the "solas." These five statements summarize much of what the Reformation was about, and they distinguish Protestantism from other expressions of the Christian faith: that they place ultimate and final authority in the Scriptures, acknowledge the work of Christ alone as sufficient for redemption, recognize that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and seek to do all things for God’s glory.The Five Solas Series is more than a simple rehashing of these statements, but instead expounds upon the biblical reasoning behind them, leading to a more profound theological vision of our lives and callings as Christians and churches.