Paul Moser

In this book, Paul Moser explains how self-sacrificial righteousness of a reparative kind is at the heart of Paul's gospel of God. He also shows how divine self-sacrifice authenticates that gospel via human reciprocity toward God in reconciliation. A basis for this reciprocity lies in a teaching of ancient Judaism that humans are to reciprocate toward God for the sake of an interpersonal relationship that is righteous and reconciled through voluntary self-sacrifice to God. Moser demonstrates that Paul's gospel calls for faith, including trust, in God as reciprocity in human self-sacrifice toward God. Although widely neglected by interpreters, this theme brings moral and evidential depth to Paul's good news of reparative redemption from God. Moser's study thus enables a new understanding of some of the controversial matters regarding Paul's message in a way that highlights the coherence and profundity of his message.

In this book, Paul Moser explores Jesus' role as God's filial inquirer and clarifies a method of inquiry regarding Jesus, one that offers a compelling explanation regarding his experiential impact and his audience's response. Moser's method values the roles of history and moral/religious experience in inquiry about him, and it saves inquirers from distorting biases in their inquiry. His study illuminates Jesus' puzzling features, including his challenging question for inquirers of him (Who do you say I am?), his distinctive experience of God as father, his reference to himself as 'the son of man', his attitude toward his suffering and death, his unique role in the kingdom of God, and his understanding of his allegedly miraculous signs and of his parables and good news. The book also makes sense of evidence for the reality and the main purpose of Jesus.

The Apostle Paul defined the moral values of love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness as 'the fruit of God's Spirit.' Paul Moser here argues that such values are character traits of an intentional God. When directly experienced, they can serve as evidence for the reality and goodness of such a God. Moser shows how moral conscience plays a key role in presenting intentional divine action in human moral experience. He explores this insight in chapters focusing on various facets of moral experience – regarding human persons, God, and theological inquiry, among other topics. His volume enables a responsible assessment of divine reality and goodness, without reliance on controversial arguments of natural theology. Clarifying how attention to moral experience can contribute to a limited theodicy for God and evil, Moser's study also acknowledges that the reality of severe evil does not settle the issue of God's existence and goodness.

In this book, Paul Moser explains how self-sacrificial righteousness of a reparative kind is at the heart of Paul's gospel of God. He also shows how divine self-sacrifice authenticates that gospel via human reciprocity toward God in reconciliation. A basis for this reciprocity lies in a teaching of ancient Judaism that humans are to reciprocate toward God for the sake of an interpersonal relationship that is righteous and reconciled through voluntary self-sacrifice to God. Moser demonstrates that Paul's gospel calls for faith, including trust, in God as reciprocity in human self-sacrifice toward God. Although widely neglected by interpreters, this theme brings moral and evidential depth to Paul's good news of reparative redemption from God. Moser's study thus enables a new understanding of some of the controversial matters regarding Paul's message in a way that highlights the coherence and profundity of his message.

In this book, Paul Moser explores Jesus' role as God's filial inquirer and clarifies a method of inquiry regarding Jesus, one that offers a compelling explanation regarding his experiential impact and his audience's response. Moser's method values the roles of history and moral/religious experience in inquiry about him, and it saves inquirers from distorting biases in their inquiry. His study illuminates Jesus' puzzling features, including his challenging question for inquirers of him (Who do you say I am?), his distinctive experience of God as father, his reference to himself as 'the son of man', his attitude toward his suffering and death, his unique role in the kingdom of God, and his understanding of his allegedly miraculous signs and of his parables and good news. The book also makes sense of evidence for the reality and the main purpose of Jesus.

A young man in full rebellion against his Catholic education is swept up not by an addiction to drugs or alcohol, but to something every bit as powerful and potentially destructive: the overwhelming state of ecstasy brought on by his single-minded drive to live a solitary, ascetic life. Grappling with an affluent but empty upbringing, he stumbles upon what he comes to call the "atomic weapons" of eastern religious practices and is ultimately confronted with not only devastatingly pleasurable sensations arising from solitary meditative practices and self-denial, but also with their inexplicable, sudden loss. From a suicidal low point, he manages a slow recovery with the aid of a thoroughly unusual collection of saviors, including a brilliant young nun, an enigmatic old restaurant owner and his wife, and a fiery French lover. It is a decades-long journey from the despair of irreparable loss to the blossoming of acceptance.