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Why does the church engage in missions? Where in the Bible do we find support for this work? These questions have been asked and answered by many throughout the centuries, though rarely does the investigation span across the entire canon of Scripture. In this study Newkirk explores the breadth and depth of biblical teaching concerning God’s mission for his people and the church’s call to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. By beginning with creation and ending with new creation, this study reveals that rather than simply deriving from a few “missions verses,” the church’s call to missions is grounded in the full spectrum of biblical revelation.
The human population's annual total consumption is not sustainable by one planet. This unprecedented situation calls for a reform of religious cultures that promote a large ideal family size. Many observers assume that Christianity is inevitably part of this problem because it promotes "family values" and statistically, in America and elsewhere, has a higher birthrate than nonreligious people. This book explores diverse ideas about human reproduction in the church past and present. It investigates an extreme fringe of U.S. Protestantism, including the Quiverfull movement, that use Old Testament "fruitful" verses to support natalist ideas explicitly promoting higher fecundity. It also challen...
After creating man and woman, God's first recorded blessing upon them is "be fruitful and multiply." Like the blessings of food and health, the human experience of procreation is so common that we may overlook its importance within the biblical narrative. However, I Will Surely Multiply Your Offspring, a comprehensive examination of the progeny blessing, demonstrates that this motif is both prevalent and significant within the Old Testament by tracing its development throughout the redemptive-historical narrative. Viands identifies different progeny blessing traditions associated with the Abrahamic covenant, the Sinai covenant, and the new covenant, and describes their interrelationships as well as their relationship to the universal blessing first found in Genesis 1. This study lays the foundation for a biblical worldview of human proliferation, contributing to contemporary discussions concerning whether humans are obligated to bear children as well as procreation ethics.
“What must I do to be saved?” That question, raised in the book of Acts by the Philippian jailer, is a question for the ages. Yet what, even, does it mean to be saved? Is salvation for this life or the next? Is it purely spiritual or does it have physical and material implications? Can salvation be lost? Do we determine who will be saved or does God? What role does Christ play in salvation? Such are the seemingly unending questions soteriology strives to answer. In this eighth volume from the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology, African theologians articulate their understanding of salvation – and its widespread implications for life and practice – in conversation with Scripture and the rich diversity of an African cultural context. Salvation is examined from historical, philosophical, and theological lenses, and scholars address topics as wide-ranging as conversion, ethnicity, fertility, poverty, prosperity, the Trinity, exclusivism, African Pentecostalism, rural community, eschatology, wholeness, and atonement. It is a powerful exploration of the holistic nature of salvation as articulated in Scripture and understood by the African church.
Scholars have offered insight into the Davidic Covenant and the future hope for Israel. However, their works up to this point have overlooked a detailed influence of 2 Samuel 7 on Ezekiel 34 and 37. Therefore, reading the text of Ezekiel in relation to the original form of the Davidic Covenant may reveal further indications of the literary, theological and conceptual influence of 2 Samuel 7 and the help it provides in understanding the function of the promised ruler in Ezekiel 34 and 37. An intertextual approach proves to be relevant to establishing this influence. The intertextual approach used for the exegesis in this book establishes how biblical books are connected and proves the influence of the text of 2 Samuel on that of Ezekiel 34 and 37. The study of 2 Samuel 7 in relation to the Davidic Covenant underscores God’s faithfulness and concern for his people. Godly leadership is the kind of leadership that God desires for his people. Looking closely at the Davidic Covenant and God’s promises in Ezekiel’s text, we can see that they encompass important implications for African leadership.
The Pauline epistles are filled with beautiful and provocative metaphors for the church: it is a bride, a body, a flock, a temple. Each of these metaphors emphasizes the central unity and indivisibility of the people of God. Yet how do Christians live out this unity in the face of ethnic conflict, tribalism, and political divisions? In this powerful application of Paul’s teaching, Fabrice S. Katembo explores the mystery of the church in an African context, arguing that the greatest challenge facing God’s people is not external threat, but internal discord. Katembo draws his reader’s attention back to the unifying work of Christ, who died to abolish all walls of separation and in whom we are one, no matter the tongue, tribe, or nation. Providing an overview of Paul’s life and ministry, and engaging the work of renown theologians such as John Mbiti and Kwame Bediako, this is an excellent resource for anyone facing intercultural tensions within the church. It is also a vital reminder that far from harmless, divisions between believers threaten to cripple the body of Christ by distorting its witness, injuring its members, and separating what Christ died to unify.
In this study, Jonathan Huddleston examines Genesis as a rhetorical whole, addressing Persian-era Judean expectations. While some have contrasted Genesis' account of origins with prophetic accounts of the future, literary and historical evidence suggests that Genesis narrates Israel's origins precisely in order to ground Judea's hopes for an eschatological restoration. Promises to the ancestors semiotically apply to those who preserved, composed, and received the text of Genesis. Judea imagines its mythic destiny as a great nation exemplifying and spreading blessing among the families of the earth. Genesis' vision of Israel's destiny coheres with the postexilic prophetic eschatology, identifying Israel as a precious seed to carry forward promises of a yet-to-be-realized creation fruitfulness.
In this incisive work, Sam Ashton provides a compelling, consistent and erudite argument for a foundational approach to the matter of sexual difference, drawing on biblical and doctrinal material and using resources in their original languages. He tracks and traces the sexed body as it moves from creation, through the fall, to redemption now, and final consummation not yet. In doing so, Ashton presents what is perhaps the strongest case that can be made for 'male and female He created them'. Each chapter privileges biblical exegesis, drawing upon figures in church history (notably Augustine and Aquinas) as and when they illumine Scripture. By doing so, the book considers the difficul...
What have the Psalms to do with ethics? Readers prize the Psalter for its richly theological prayers, but into these prayers are woven a variety of ethical issues. This book explores the ethics of the Psalter by examining the four portraits of the righteous person that punctuate Book I. It begins by studying these psalms as individual compositions and then employs both the canonical approach and dialogic criticism to identify the complex relationship between the portraits' vision of the righteous life and its outcome. Does the righteous person enjoy security and the good life? The answer may be surprising, but joining the psalmist on the rocky path of the interface of faith and experience is certain to prove a formative experience.
Many Christians wonder what the Christian life is all about. They hear about “grace” but struggle to rightly understand it, much less live it. They are taught about God, but their vision of him does not always reflect the full biblical portrait of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When this happens Christians struggle to know the ways of God and how to joyfully participate in his work. The God Who Gives provides a compelling vision of Christian faith and life, helping readers discover the uniqueness of the gospel—that God's kingdom comes not by taking, but by giving—God gives Himself! We are invited into the fullness of life that can only come through the gift of God’s divine gener...