Kirjahaku

The church was established to serve the world with Christ-like love, not to rule the world. It is called to look like a corporate Jesus, dying on the cross for those who crucified him, not a religious version of Caesar. It is called to manifest the kingdom of the cross in contrast to the kingdom of the sword. Whenever the church has succeeded in gaining what most American evangelicals are now trying to get – political power – it has been disastrous both for the church and the culture. Whenever the church picks up the sword, it lays down the cross. The present activity of the religious right is destroying the heart and soul of the evangelical church and destroying its unique witness to the world. The church is to have a political voice, but we are to have it the way Jesus had it: by manifesting an alternative to the political, “power over,” way of doing life. We are to transform the world by being willing to suffer for others – exercising “power under,” not by getting our way in society – exercising “power over.”

Perhaps no theological topic is more hotly debated within evangelical Christianity these days than God's foreknowledge. Is the future exhaustively settled, or does it include possibilities ("maybes")? In encountering such questions, a growing number of evangelicals are becoming dissatisfied with the classical view of foreknowledge and have accepted an alternative, open view of God. In God of the Possible theologian Greg Boyd offers an accessible introduction to the freewill theism position. Boyd begins by laying out and critiquing the "motif of future determinism," which forms the basis of the classical view of foreknowledge. He goes on to explicate several scripture passages that depict the future as partially open and that God therefore knows it as such. He then discusses some practical areas in which he thinks the open view can make a positive difference. Finally, Boyd addresses the most frequently asked questions and typical objections raised against the open view. An appendix explores other passages supporting the open view of God and the future. Exploring issues of foreknowledge, freedom, and the future, Boyd presents biblical, theological, and philosophical insights into the openness issue in this introductory, yet provocative, book. While geared particularly for a lay readership, more advanced students of theology will also benefit from his presentation."

Greg Boyd and his father, Ed, were on opposite sides of a great divide. Greg was a newfound Christian, while his father was a longtime agnostic. So Greg offered his father an invitation: Ed could write with any questions on Christianity, and his son would offer a response. Letters from a Skeptic contains this special correspondence. The letters tackle some of today's toughest challenges facing Christianity, including Do all non-Christians go to hell? How can we believe a man rose from the dead? Why is the world so full of suffering? How do we know the Bible was divinely inspired? Does God know the future? Each response offers insights into the big questions, while delivering intelligent answers that connect with both the heart and mind. Whether you're a skeptic, a believer, or just unsure, these letters can provide a practical, common-sense guide to the Christian faith.

Christianity Today 2008 Book Award (Biblical Studies)Even mature Christians have trouble defending the person and divinity of Christ. The Jesus Legend builds a convincing interdisciplinary case for the unique and plausible position of Jesus in human history. He was real and his presence on the planet has been well-documented.The authors of the New Testament didn't plant evidence, though each writer did tell the truth from a unique perspective. This book carefully investigates the Gospel portraits of Jesus--particularly the Synoptic Gospels--assessing what is reliable history and fictional legend. The authors contend that a cumulative case for the general reliability of the Synoptic Gospels can be made and boldly challenge those who question the veracity of the Jesus found there.

A "Holy Habit" That Will Change Your Life!Experience true spiritual transformation: invite God's presence into your life! Popular author, theologian, and pastor Gregory Boyd shows you how--simply, practically, and effectively--in this thoughtful and accessible book. Discover:How to pray continuallyWhat it means to "take every thought captive"How to wake up to God’s ever-present love God is closer to you than the air you breathe.He is present in every given moment. Wake up to his presence! Turn off the mental chatter that keeps you from seeing his glory. Embrace the holy habit of inviting God's presence into your life, and be transformed!We long to be transformed. Yet our minds are filled with endless trivia and self-centered chatter. To-do lists. Worries about the past. Speculation about the future. We forget to live in the present moment . . . and to invite God to be with us there.After reading classic contemplative authors Brother Lawrence, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, and Frank Laubach, theologian and pastor Gregory Boyd longed to experience the presence of God for himself. For two decades, he's attempted to implement the "practice of the presence of God" in his own life . . . sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. What he's learned as a fellow pilgrim on his spiritual journey can help you find true spiritual transformation as you begin to practice the discipline of inviting God into every moment."I've become absolutely convinced that remaining aware of God's presence moment-by-moment is the single most important task in the life of every follower of Jesus," Boyd writes. "I'm convinced this challenge is implied in our commitment to surrender our life to Christ, for the only real life we have to surrender to him is the one we live moment-by-moment." Join Boyd on this transformational journey of a lifetime!

What's special about Oneness Pentecostals?In this penetrating analysis of Oneness theology and practice, Gregory Boyd reveals the experience of four years of personal involvement in a Oneness church. Although Oneness Pentecostals' belief in Christ's deity establishes some common ground with other Christians, their aggressive denial of the Trinity has nonetheless fostered their indisputably sub-Christian ideas about God's character, about salvation, and about Christian living.

In Benefit of the Doubt, influential theologian, pastor, and bestselling author Gregory Boyd invites readers to embrace a faith that doesn't strive for certainty, but rather for commitment in the midst of uncertainty. Boyd rejects the idea that a person's faith is as strong as it is certain. In fact, he makes the case that doubt can enhance faith and that seeking certainty is harming many in today's church. Readers who wrestle with their faith will welcome Boyd's message that experiencing a life-transforming relationship with Christ is possible, even with unresolved questions about the Bible, theology, and ethics. Boyd shares stories of his own painful journey, and stories of those to whom he has ministered, with a poignant honesty that will resonate with readers of all ages.

One of the most common problems with Christians in our modern secularized world is that they don't feel the reality of Jesus. Sure, they believe in him and love him, but he somehow doesn't seem to enter their daily lives in a real sense. Some might say, "You ought to pray more." Others would advise, "You ought to witness more." While this may be true, we don't get closer to God just because we "ought to." Boyd believes that the way to true spiritual transformation and feeling the presence of God in your life comes from a little R and R: rest and reality. Boyd encourages readers to stop striving and learn to rest in an experience of Jesus as real. The best way to do this, he says, is through imaginative prayer. Experiencing Jesus will teach readers how to use God's gracious gift of creative imagination to know him better and feel his presence in their daily lives.

We human beings are burdened by our tendencies to harshly judge others and ourselves. Unfortunately for believers, this bent is as prevalent in the church as in the world.Pastor and author Gregory A. Boyd calls readers to a higher standard through understanding the true manner in which God views humanity: as infinitely worthwhile and lovable. Only an attitude shift in how we perceive ourselves in light of God's love can impact how we relate to people and transform our judgmental nature.Believers wrestling with the reality of God's love and Christians struggling with judging in the local church will appreciate this examination of how we move from a self-centered to a Christ-centered life.

Where does evil come from?If there is a sovereign creator God, as Christian faith holds, is this God ultimately responsible for evil? Does God's sovereignty mean that God causes each instance of sin and suffering? How do Satan, his demons and hell fit into God's providential oversight of all creation and history? How does God interact with human intention and action? If people act freely, does God know in particular every human decision before the choice is made? In this important book Gregory A. Boyd mounts a thorough response to these ages-old questions, which remain both crucial and contentious, both practical and complex. In this work Boyd defends his scripturally grounded trinitarian warfare theodicy (presented inGod at War) with rigorous philosophical reflection and insights from human experience and scientific discovery. Critiquing the classical Calvinist solution to the problem of evil, he advocates an alternative understanding of the sovereignty of the trinitarian God and of the reality of Satan that sheds light on our fallen human condition. While all may not agree with Boyd's conclusions, Satan and the Problem of Evil promises to advance the church's discussion of these critical issues.

In this bold and compelling work, Gregory Boyd undertakes to reframe the central issues of Christian theodicy. By Boyd's estimate, theologians still draw too heavily on Augustine's response to the problem of evil, attributing pain and suffering to the mysterious "good" purposes of God. Accordingly, modern Christians are inclined not to expect evil and so are baffled but resigned when it occurs. New Testament writers, on the other hand, were inclined to expect evil and fight against it. Modern Christians attempt to intellectually understand evil, whereas New Testament writers grappled with overcoming evil. Through a close and sophisticated reading of both Old and New Testaments, Boyd argues that Satan has been in an age-long (but not eternal) battle against God, and that this conflict "is a major dimension of the ultimate canvas against which everything within the biblical narrative, from creation to the eschaton, is to be painted and therefore understood." No less edifying than it is provocative, God at War will reward the careful attention of scholars, pastors, students and educated laypersons alike.

Is God to blame? This is often the question that comes to mind when we confront real suffering in our own lives or in the lives of those we love. Pastor Gregory A. Boyd helps us deal with this question honestly and biblically, while avoiding glib answers. Writing for ordinary Christians, Boyd wrestles with a variety of answers that have been offered by theologians and pastors in the past. He finds that a fully Christian approach must keep the person and work of Jesus Christ at the very center of what we say about human suffering and God's place in it. Yet this is often just what is missing and what makes so much talk about the subject seem inadequate and at times even misleading. What comes through in Is God to Blame? is a hopeful picture of a sovereign God who is relentlessly opposed to evil, who knows our sufferings and who can be trusted to bring us through them to renewed life.

Not since David Strauss' Life of Jesus shook European Christianity to its foundations in the nineteenth century has any scholarly discussion of the historical Jesus made the impact on a popular level that the Jesus Seminar is presently making in America. Popular magazines have provided a remarkable amount of space for the Jesus Seminar, including Time and Newsweek which made their work cover stories. At the forefront of the movement lies the work of John Dominic Crossan and Burton L. Mack, who have popularized the Jesus as Cynic sage view. The growing popularity of this new paradigm should be of significant concern for all who hold to the historic Christian faith. To date, however, no thorough evangelical response has been provided to these revisionist views of the historical Jesus. This book is written to fill this void. It provides a serious critique of the Cynic thesis, accessible to laypeople and of interest to thoughtful observers. With interest in the quest for the historical Jesus continuing anew, Boyd's Cynic Sage or Son of God? provides an orthodox defense of the biblical Jesus.

Hvorfor måtte dette hende meg? Hvorfor grep ikke Gud inn? Har jeg ikke nok tro? Er det noe galt med meg? Kan vi skylde på Gud? Dette er fortvilede spørsmål vi stiller oss gjennom livet. Disse spørsmålene er det Gregory Boyd drister seg til å svare på i denne boka. Med eksempler fra daglig livet lar han oss bli med inn i sjelesørgerens rom. Ved enkle betraktninger og en dypere bibelsk gjennomgang trøster og opplyser han oss om Guds vesen, hans allmakt og kjærlighet i møte med denne verden.Det Gud gjør, sier Boyd, er å beordre sin velsignelse inn i tragedien, så fremtiden blir en vandring sammen med ham som alltid elsker oss. Gregory A. Boyd er født i 1957 og har siden 90-tallet utgitt mer enn 20 bøker som omhandler viktige spørsmål om den kristne tro og våre liv som kristne i verden. Han har i USA blitt ansett som en av de viktigste forsvarere av kristen tenking i dagens samfunn. Han er bosatt i St. Paul, Minnesota, hvor han er senior pastor i Woodland Hills Church. Hans mest kjente bøker er Brev fra en skeptiker (Proklamedia) fra 1994 og The Myth of a Christian Nation fra 2005, samt denne, Is God to Blame fra 2003. Søker man opp Greg Boyd på YouTube, finner man en rekke opptak av hans taler og undervisning.

A dramatic tension confronts every Christian believer and interpreter of Scripture: on the one hand, we encounter images of God commanding and engaging in horrendous violence: one the other hand, we encounter the non-violent teachings and example of Jesus, whose loving, self-sacrificial death and resurrection is held up as the supreme revelation of God's character in the New Testament. How do we reconcile the tension between these seemingly disparate depictions? Are they even capable of reconciliation?The Crucifixion of the Warrior God takes up this dramatic tension and the range of proposed answers in an epic constructive investigation. Over two volumes Gregory A. Boyd argues that we must take seriously the full range of Scripture as inspired, including its violent depictions of God. At the same time, we must take just as seriously the absolute centrality of the crucified and risen Christ as the supreme revelation of God.Developing a theological interpretation of Scripture that he labels a "cruciform hermeneutic," Boyd demonstrates how Scripture's violent images of God are completely reframed and their violence subverted when they are interpreted through the lens of the cross and resurrection.

In some way or another most of us are "stuck"-in a secret sin we can't control or maybe by an inability to stand up for ourselves.In Escaping the Matrix, authors Gregory A. Boyd and Al Larson use the vehicle of The Matrix film trilogy to argue that our struggles with habitual sin, thought patterns, damaged emotions, and phobias happen because we do not know how to take charge of the way we experience reality. The authors draw on biblical and psychological insights to provide practical resources for helping believers escape the matrix of the world system that ensnares them. While this book is aimed at the newest generation of Christian readers, all ages will be inspired by the book's innovative strategies for experiencing a deeper life in Christ.

This accessible yet comprehensive primer helps readers understand the breadth of viewpoints on major issues in evangelical theology, with chapters using the popular multiple-views format. This third edition of a well-received textbook (over 60,000 copies sold) has been updated and revised throughout. It examines positions taken by evangelical scholars on seventeen seminal issues. In addition, it offers end-of-chapter "For Further Reading" sections, an extensive glossary, and an appendix that addresses contrasting views on fifteen additional issues in contemporary evangelicalism.

En meget interessant bok, der en far som er ateist, skriver brev til sin sønn som er teolog. Faren utfordrer sønnen på mange av de spørsmål folk har i dag: Hvordan kunne Gud som er god skape Satan? Hva med all nøden i verden? En brevveksling som strakte seg over tre år og som førte til at faren til slutt ble en kristen.

Questions about divine providence have preoccupied Christians for generations: to what degree does God concern himself with and intervene in the affairs of everyday life? This book introduces readers to four prevailing views on divine providence, with particular attention to the questions of human free will, the problem of evil, and God's perception of time.Volume contributors and their basic viewpoints are: Paul Helseth - God causes every creaturely event that occurs. William Lane Craig - through his "middle knowledge," God controls the course of worldly affairs without predetermining any creatures' free decisions.Ron Highfield - God controls creatures by liberating their decision-making. Gregory Boyd - human decisions can be free only if God neither determines nor knows what they will be.Introductory and closing essays by Dennis Jowers give relevant background and guide readers toward their own informed beliefs about divine providence.Four Views on Divine Providence helps readers think theologically and biblically about all the issues involved in exploring this doctrine. The point-counterpoint format reveals the assumptions and considerations that drive equally learned and sincere theologians to disagreement with each other. It unearths the genuinely decisive issues beneath a philosophically dense debate. The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.

A long history of biblical exegesis and theological reflection has shaped our understanding of the atonement today. The more prominent highlights of this history have acquired familiar names for the household of faith: Christus Victor, penal substitutionary, subjective, and governmental. Recently the penal substitutionary view, and particularly its misappropriations, has been critiqued, and a lively debate has taken hold within evangelicalism. This Spectrum Multiview volume offers a "panel" discussion of four views of atonement maintained by four evangelical scholars. The proponents and their views are: Gregory A. Boyd: Christus Victor viewJoel B. Green: Kaleidescopic viewBruce R. Reichenbach: Healing viewThomas R. Schreiner: Penal Substitutionary view Following an introduction written by the editors, each participant first puts forth the case for their view. Each view is followed by responses from the other three participants, noting points of agreement as well as disagreement. This is a book that will help Christians understand the issues, grasp the differences and proceed toward a clearer articulation of their understanding of the atonement. Spectrum Multiview Books offer a range of viewpoints on contested topics within Christianity, giving contributors the opportunity to present their position and also respond to others in this dynamic publishing format.