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In Death, the End of History, and Beyond, Greg Carey offers resources for dealing with multiple, even conflicting, ways that the Bible imagines these ultimate realities. Without opting for simplistic, predictive readings of the Scriptures, Carey instead opens the Scriptures with a breadth of insight that acknowledges its diversity of viewpoints about what lies beyond the veil, centering hope in God's action to bring good out of evil now, in our personal journeys through death, and in visions of resurrection and justice restored.

Various ideas float around about the subject of last things, leading many Christians to conclude that they don't know what to think about the subject. Yet at the core of the Christian doctrine of last things lies two simple and complementary hopes: that God ever and always offers hope for our individual futures and for the future of the whole world.In this helpful book, Allen and Cornwall explain how we don't have to subscribe to sensationalist theories or sketchy interpretations to believe in Christian hope. They walk the reader through the central biblical teachings on last things and then show the ways the church has interpreted those teachings throughout the centuries. In a respectful way, the authors demonstrate that end-time beliefs centered on the Rapture came into existence only recently, and they then offer several more life-affirming, contemporary interpretations as alternatives.The book includes a study guide and web-based appendixes designed to help pastors develop both topical and lectionary-based sermon series on Christian hope.You can access free digital preaching resources created by the authors to help preachers engage the second coming in the pulpit, including multiple sermon series options as well as approaches for those preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary. These can be found at www.wjkbooks.com/SecondComing.

The Walter Brueggemann Library brings together the wide-ranging and enlivening thought of popular biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann over his storied career. Each volume collects previously published work on a biblical theme that has deeply informed Brueggemann's scholarship, in an accessible digest for readers who want to freshly engage his prophetically minded but approachable writing on the topic.In Hope Restored, Brueggemann points us toward energizing hope for an alternative life of social equity and thriving. In Brueggemann's work, hope is not understood as easy optimism but as an honest facing of the unjust structures that human beings have created and a call to lean into the deep symbols of Scripture that imagine the alternative way of God, restoring solidarity and relationship that have been eroded by the violence of empire. According to the witness of Scripture, the divine presence is never settled into the arrangements and structures of the status quo. It provokes God's people to imagine beyond what they see and beyond their own selfish interests. Hope is always strongest among those who grieve and are willing to insistently critique the complacent, death-dealing social order that coddles the privileged and keeps its foot on the neck of those seen as "other" and to imagine new, whole-making realities on the horizon.Hope Restored takes readers through the unfolding possibilities for a liberated human imagination in Scripture. Brueggemann envisions the Torah-including the divine promises made to Israel's ancestral matriarchs and patriarchs, the travails of the exodus and its memory, and the giving of the law-as a collective effort to form a multigenerational community marked by gratitude and solidarity with the marginalized. The historical and prophetic books articulate the hope of shalom in the midst of brutal political violence driven by self-interested nations in which the people of God are often implicated. A deep consideration of Daniel offers a vision of resistance against and an ultimate righting of the abuses of sociopolitical machinations-through both human and divine means. The Psalms lead us into the space of lament, protest, and demand for God to make manifest new visions of life and justice that carry over into Jesus' story of the aggrieved widow who gives a judge no peace until he grants her justice.Exploring models of hope that are expressed through critique, persistence, vision, and holy inspiration in the Hebrew Bible and that find continued resonance in the traditions of Jesus, Brueggemann locates in the Scriptures a tenacious shalom that breaks through the rocky ground of struggle and suffering. This gritty, wide-awake hope is willing to be dissatisfied and to cry out against the oppressor, while reaching forward to imagine new alternatives with creativity and freedom, to bring into reality a social order that benefits and cares for all.Questions for reflection are included at the end of each chapter, making this book ideal for individual or group study.

This collection of prayers by noted Hebrew Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann can be used in both public worship and private devotion. These prayers run the gamut from particular days in the church year to special moments in the lives of worshiping communities to events playing out on the world stage. In all cases, the prayers spur us toward acts of justice and peacemaking and call on God to heal and restore God's hurting and broken people.

The late Katie Geneva Cannon was the founder of womanist ethics. Her work continues to generate new explorations of womanist moral thought. In this volume, leading womanist ethicists and theologians come together to continue Cannon's work in four critical areas: justice, leadership, embodied ethics, and sacred texts. The goal is to continue Cannon's pursuit of a world of inclusivity and hope while realistically analyzing the discrimination, disenfranchisement, and systemic hatred that stand as obstacles to the world.Contributors include Emilie Townes, Shawn Copeland, Eboni Marshall Turman, Angela Sims, Paula Parker, Nikia Robert, Alison Gise Johnson, Vanessa Monroe, Faith B, Harris, Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Melanie Jones, and Renita Weems.

Austen Hartke's groundbreaking, best-selling book is now updated and expanded with new insights and terminology, plus new materials for study groups, preaching, and pastoral care.In 2014, Time magazine announced that America had reached "the transgender tipping point," suggesting that transgender issues would become the next civil rights frontier. Years later, many people-even many LGBTQIA+ allies-still lack understanding of gender identity and the transgender experience. Into this void, trans biblical scholar Austen Hartke brings a biblically based, educational, and affirming resource to shed light and wisdom on gender expansiveness and Christian theology. This new edition offers updated terminology and statistics, plus new materials for congregational study, preaching, and pastoral care.Transforming deftly weaves ancient and modern stories that will change the way readers think about gender, the Bible, and the faith to which Jesus calls us. Hartke helps readers visualize a more inclusive Christianity, equipping them with the language, understanding, confidence, and tools to change both the church and the world.

This volume offers complete liturgies- from the call to worship to the closing charge, with prayers and litanies for every need in between-for all worshiping occasions for the season after Pentecost of Year C. Part of the Connections commentary series, these worship resources help congregations illuminate the connections between Scripture and liturgical rhythms. ¿A "Making Connections" essay precedes each liturgical season's resources, providing context for worship within the themes and purpose of the season.

The book of Revelation stands as one of the most challenging and inspiring in the Christian canon. While giving rise to much unhelpful speculation, its core message of the active sovereignty of God in a hostile world has given courage and comfort throughout Christian history. In this volume, Amos Yong analyzes the message of Revelation to its earliest readers and speaks to its ongoing meaning for believers today.The volumes in the Belief series offer a fresh and invigorating approach to all the books of the Bible. Building on a wide range of sources from biblical studies and the Christian tradition, renowned scholars focus less on traditional historical and literary angles in favor of a theologically focused commentary that considers the contemporary relevance of the text. Why then, and why now are overarching questions asked throughout the volumes in the series.

The Letter of James is the focus of the latest commentary in the Belief series. In the Letter of James, the writer sends encouragement to the early church, in the midst of the struggles and strife that marked its early days. Theologian Martha L. Moore-Keish guides the reader through the brief but important letter.

Silence is a complex matter. It can refer to awe before unutterable holiness, but it can also refer to the coercion where some voices are silenced in the interest of control by the dominant voices. It is the latter silence that Walter Brueggemann explores, urging us to speak up in situations of injustice.Interrupting Silence illustrates that...

NOW IN AN ENLARGED PRINT EDITION!In this volume, William Barclay makes the most difficult book in the Bible easier to understand. In his introduction he examines areas such as the characteristics of apocalyptic literature and the nature of Caesar worship. John was, as Barclay shows, "soaked and saturated" in the Old Testament, and most of the...

NOW IN AN ENLARGED PRINT EDITION!Here the reader meets many of the picturesque images that are identified with Revelation--the four horses and their riders, the antichrist, the woman clothed with the sun, the beast with his number, Armageddon. William Barclay helps the reader understand and interpret these and many other images drawn from...

NOW IN AN ENLARGED PRINT EDITION!Ever question what may have been meant by the statement, "You are Peter and on this rock . . ."? Are you puzzled by the cursing of the fig tree by Jesus or by his comments about moving mountains? William Barclay discusses these and many other interesting matters in this second volume of The Gospel of Matthew...

"The more we study John, the more wealth arises out of it," says William Barclay about the Fourth Gospel. In this volume, the second of two on the book of John, Barclay helps give the reader a sharpened perception of the emphases of this Gospel. Written during a time when heresies abounded, the Gospel of John clarifies both the humanity and...

NOW IN AN ENLARGED PRINT EDITION!"The Gospel according to Saint John is to many people the most precious book in the Bible," states William Barclay. In order to help uncover the tremendous wealth of this Gospel, Barclay has provided his own unique translation of the text, a detailed commentary, and a comprehensive introduction. This new edition...