Daniel L Akin

Jesus's final command to his disciples was to make disciples of all nations. But who are the nations? How do we know we are being obedient to the task? Do our current lists of ethnolinguistic people groups sufficiently answer the question? For the last fifty years, missiologists and missionaries have discussed this topic, but much of the conversation has been focused on definitions that give little attention to biblical theology. When we explore how the Bible describes ""the nations,"" we find some other categories that have been overlooked, forgotten, or set aside in the development of missions strategy. Geography is one of these categories. However, this is not simply bringing current geo-political entities back into our missions strategy. Instead, Matthew Hirt is calling on missiologists, missions researchers, and missionaries on the field to discover how people groups identify their own geographies and, in turn, how that geography contributes to a people group's identity.

This book explains the basic tenets of Christology that a college student would encounter in a basic Christology class. The book is written in three different sections. The first section focuses upon primary Christological passages, which include a limited survey of Christology in the New Testament. The second section reviews the Christological Councils, limited to the first four ecumenical councils (i.e., Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon). The third section deals with the application of Christology, correlating the biblical witness with the councils, preaching Christology to a contemporary church, and summarizing the Christological content for the contemporary church. The book is a textbook for an introductory Christology class. As such, it will meet the needs of professors who are trying to find an introductory work that surveys the many aspects of teaching Christology. It will also be a valuable tool for pastors as an easy-to-read reference for sermon building and Sunday school lessons, and youth directors as an accessible tool to teach basic foundational Christological truths to their youth group. ""Eight master guides chart a path through the complex and sometimes confusing terrain of early Christological developments. As they navigate from Colossians to Chalcedon, they describe ditches to avoid and significant forks in the road. Throughout the journey, they set their sights upon the final destination of contemporary application. In the end, they lead the reader safely home to a robust Christology for the twenty-first century."" --Paul Hartog, Faith Baptist Theological Seminary ""Christology is the heart and soul of the church. But, as Jones and the other contributors show, the church throughout history has wrestled to articulate carefully the significance of Jesus for his day and ours. Here is an introduction that takes seriously the Scripture, history, and tradition. It demonstrates that the question, 'Who do you say that I am' remains as relevant today as it was in the first century AD."" --David B. Capes, Wheaton College Marvin Jones is the assistant professor of theology and church history at Louisiana College. He is the author of The Beginning of Baptist Ecclesiology (2017) and Basil of Caesarea: His Life and Impact (2014).