You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Evangelicals have traditionally held that unbelievers will be condemned without exception to eternal conscious punishment. However, increasing numbers of evangelical thinkers are declaring sympathy for conditional immortality - a position which emphasizes that God's final punishment for sin is death rather than everlasting torment and that God's promise of a re-created universe cannot be squared with the classical understanding of hell. This is a form of the more general doctrine of annihilationism, which sees hell as a realm of destruction rather than endless retribution. For some, this shift represents a dangerous dilution of evangelical faith. For others it offers a much needed corrective to a harsh misunderstanding of God's purposes. These and related issues are tackled in this report that aims to be biblical and pastoral and to be accessible to interested lay people as well as to theological specialists.
As the millennium approached, the number of independent African Pentecostal churches in Britain increased rapidly. Having assimilated classical Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement, and having begun to find ways of working with the Caribbean Pentecostal denominations, it remained to be seen how UK evangelicalism would fare with African Pentecostals. This book looks at the intricacies of the relationship at a time that provided ample opportunities to weigh the benefits and challenges of integration from every possible angle.
In 1846, the Evangelical Alliance was founded with the aim of bringing together evangelicals for common action. This is a book which helps us to understand not only our 'yesterday' as evangelicals but also our 'today' and, if we are wise, our 'tomorrow' too. Expertly written and always readable, it records the long course of one of the most significant Christian organisations in Britain today.
Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved...
How Real Is Hell? offers guidance for those in pastoral ministry as to what the Bible teaches concerning the eternal fate of the unrighteous. How can the hell-fire language of Jesus be reconciled with Paul's teachings about death and destruction and passages that appear to offer universal hope? What did people understand at the time when Jesus talked about hell, weeping and gnashing of teeth, and worms that will never die? What does the story of the rich man and Lazarus teach us about future judgment? What possibilities are valid for interpreting Jesus' phrase "eternal punishment"? Through an examination of the biblical texts, How Real Is Hell? offers arguments for and against the three main...
The topic of hell has held a strange fascination for believers through the centuries, becoming the subject of paintings, sermons, books, articles, and much more. For many it has been a source of terror, for most a wellspring of questions. Is there such a thing as hell? How long will it last? Who will go there? Is hell fair? In this study, Kim Papaioannou tackles the topic at its most foundational level, in the words and teaching of Jesus. Rather than attempt overarching and all-encompassing answers, he begins instead with a detailed study of the relevant texts and builds from there upwards. The result is a picture that is not only coherent and satisfying, but more importantly, solidly based on biblical exegesis of the most refined nature. Papaioannou concludes by putting hell into a more palatable and biblically sound perspective. Though unreservedly scholarly, the study is written in such a way that lay readers can understand and enjoy it.
Grace beyond the Grave explores the possibility of the opportunity for repentance and salvation on the other side of the grave. Stephen Jonathan, pastor and theologian, explores posthumous salvation as a viable evangelical alternative to the traditional view that death ends all possibility of salvation, doing so with humanity, integrity, and devotion to Scripture. Jonathan is not dissuaded from asking provocative questions for fear of being thought unorthodox. While scholarly, Grace beyond the Grave will be of benefit to pastors, theological students, and lay people alike. During nearly three decades of a teaching ministry, Jonathan became increasingly conscious that the common, mechanical answers to the more pressing questions are often inadequate and need revisiting. Grace beyond the Grave will both unsettle the "theologically comfortable" and reassure the open-minded in equal measure.
Practicing Ministry in the Presence of God presents a new paradigm for church ministry--one that is based on fundamental truths of the Christian faith such as the Trinity, union with Christ, and the "already" presence of the Holy Spirit in the church. This new paradigm can help busy pastors avoid "burnout" in the ministry and model Trinitarian, New Testament patterns of ministry to their people. Practicing Ministry in the Presence of God reflects the best of recent New Testament scholarship, sensitivity to the contexts of globalized postmodern cultures dominated by digital media, and practical applications for Christian life, discipleship, worship, and mission.
You look like hell, gasped a woman on TV to a disheveled man. What did she mean? What did she think hell looked like? What did the term hell contribute to her portrait? This is an example of the widespread trivializing of a once-powerful term to depict eternal damnation to mere minutia. Why does God damn the wicked to eternal punishment? Or does He? How is His judgment just? Why and how do theologians strive to modify the results of his judgment? How are we to evaluate views of hell that either soften or deny it? The doctrine of punishment of the unredeemed after death originates in the Old Testament, is developed in the intertestamental Jewish literature, and culminates in the divinely auth...
The church has always been of two minds about the spiritual value of material wealth. In its public statement, if not always in practice, it has usually taken a position on the moral high ground, renouncing excessive wealth in favor of a modest and sacrificial lifestyle. But the gospel has also been a force for self-betterment and a catalyst for social progress and the creation of wealth. Offering a detailed history of this movement, the contributors examine the relationship between faith and wealth in the Old and New Testaments and New Testament church, searching for an evangelical viewpoint on faith, health and prosperity.