Showing titles in History

"The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind." So begins this award-winning intellectual history and critique of the evangelical movement by one of evangelicalism's most respected historians.

This is part of a series and will be easy to sell due to the person we are featuring. Jonathan Edwards is known through the churches due to his huge impact he made in his life. The Sermon Series features the sermons of pastors and evangelists from the revivals that took place around the globe.

“Destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” (Los Angeles Times)—Tattoos on the Heart is a series of parables about kinship and redemption from pastor, activist, and renowned speaker, Father Gregory Boyle. Thirty years ago, Gregory Boyle founded...

Many Christians today long to become reacquainted with their ancient ancestors in the faith. They see a deeper worship and devotion in the prayers and hymns of the early church. And they believe that the writings of the early church can shed new light on their understanding of Scripture. But where and how do we begin? Our first encounter with the writings of the church fathers may seem like visiting a far country where the language, assumptions, concerns, and conclusions are completely unfamiliar to us. Author Christopher Hall helps us through this cultural confusion.

We have misunderstood Paul, badly. We have read his words through our own set of assumptions. We need to begin with Paul's world view, to see things the way he saw them. What if "original sin" was never part of Paul's thinking? What if the idea that we are saved by faith in Christ, as Luther argued, was based on a mistranslation of Paul's words and a misunderstanding of Paul's thinking?

Spiritual seekers throughout history have sought illumination through solitary contemplation. In the Christian tradition, medieval England stands out for its remarkable array of hermits, recluses, and spiritual outsiders -from Cuthbert, Godric of Fichale, and Christina of Markyate to Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, and Margery Kempe. In The Secret Within, Wolfgang Riehle offers the first comprehensive history of English medieval mysticism in decades - one that will appeal to anyone fascinated by mysticism as a phenomenon of religious life.

Alexandria was the epicenter of Hellenic learning in the ancient Mediterranean world, yet little is known about how Christianity arrived and developed in the city during the late first and early second century CE. In this volume, M. David Litwa employs underused data from the Nag Hammadi codices and early Christian writings to open up new vistas on the creative theologians who invented Christianities in Alexandria prior to Origen and the catechetical school of the third century.

Sir Isaac Newton is well known for his laws of gravity and motion, as well as his contributions to mathematics, philosophy, and optics. Turning to theology, he outlines his discoveries about Daniel and Revelation here in his Observations.

Clarence Larkin was an important scholar of prophecy. In The Spirit World", published in 1921, he discusses the inhabitants of the spiritual world according to the Bible. Explaining the qualities of angels, he makes a distinction between the “fallen angels” and Satan’s demons and the realms which they inhabit. Larkin’s treatment of Satan and the Underworld, in the form of hell, Gehenna and Tartarus is thorough and vivid, and he explains issues like the state of the soul in death and the principles of resurrection.

Founded on Christmas Day 1119 in Jerusalem, the Knights Templar was a religious order dedicated to defending the Holy Land and its Christian pilgrims in the decades after the First Crusade. Legendary for their bravery and dedication, the Templars became one of the wealthiest and most powerful bodies of the medieval world—and the chief defenders of Christian society against growing Muslim forces.

The history of Guinness, one of the world’s most famous brands, reveals the noble heights and generosity of a great family and an innovative business. It began in Ireland in the mid 1700s. The water in Ireland, indeed throughout Europe, was famously undrinkable, and the gin and whiskey that...

In the fifth and final installment of his best-selling Jesus series, David Limbaugh digs into the New Testament epistles with passion and imagination, showing that the testimony of Jesus’ earliest followers provides irrefutable proof of his resurrection.

In The American Puritans, Dustin Benge and Nate Pickowicz tell the story of the first hundred years of Reformed Protestantism in New England through the lives of nine key figures: William Bradford, John Winthrop, John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, Thomas Shepard, Anne Bradstreet, John Eliot, Samuel Willard, and Cotton Mather. Here is sympathetic yet informed history, a book that corrects many myths and half-truths told about the American Puritans while inspiring a current generation of Christians to let their light shine before men.

Evangelical Christianity is a paradox. Evangelicals are radically individualist, but devoted to community and family. They believe in the transformative power of a personal relationship with God, but are wary of religious enthusiasm. They are deeply skeptical of secular reason, but eager to find scientific proof that the Bible is true. In this groundbreaking history of modern American evangelicalism, Molly Worthen argues that these contradictions are the products of a crisis of authority that lies at the heart of the faith.

The life story of Jesus of Nazareth, considered by billions of Christians to be the messiah prophesized in the Old Testament of the Bible, is perhaps the most famous in history. Described in detail in the New Testament, Jesus comes from both divine yet humble roots, born in a manger to a young woman, but in time he leads a fervent following as tales of his miracles spread across the Holy Land.

The Bible as we know it today is best understood as a process, one that begins in the tenth century BCE. In this revelatory account, a world-renowned scholar of Hebrew scripture joins a foremost authority on the New Testament to write a new biography of the Book of Books, reconstructing Jewish and Christian scriptural histories, as well as the underappreciated contest between them, from which the Bible arose. The Making of the Bible is the most comprehensive history yet told of the world's best-known literature, revealing its buried lessons and secrets.

In this magisterial work, leading cultural critic Mary Eberstadt delivers a powerful new theory about the decline of religion in the Western world. The conventional wisdom is that the West first experienced religious decline, followed by the decline of the family. Eberstadt turns this standard account on its head. Marshalling an impressive array of research, Eberstadt shows that the reverse has also been true: the undermining of the family has further undermined Christianity itself.  

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The definitive biography of Pope John Paul II that explores how influential he was on the world stage and in some of the most historic events of the twentieth century that can still be felt today. ""Fascinating. . . sheds light on the history of the twentieth century for...

Can Christians today read the great classics of Greco-Roman pagan literature for spiritual formation and growth in the virtues? Classical scholar Nadya Williams responds with an unequivocal "Yes!" Even in the Late Roman Empire Christian readers, like Augustine and Boethius, did just this. But...

In 1868, a French archaeologist and his team were excavating a cemetery in Egypt when they came upon a certain tomb from the eighth century. In the tomb was a monk, reclining peacefully with hands folded on his breast, clasping a small book which he believed to be sacred, holy, and inspired. This book contained the Gospel of Peter. A portion of The Gospel According to Peter had been restored to the Christian community after having been lost over a thousand years.