Stephen Wright

In Alive to the Word Stephen Wright offers a constructive introduction to preaching as an existing and varied practice throughout the church on which it is important to continue to reflect theologically, so that it is executed with developing spirituality, understanding and skill.Alive to the Word includes discussion of the full range of key components in the understanding and practice of preaching - from its basic theological rationale right through to the dynamics of live communication and its aftermath.The books begins by reflecting on the nature and the context of preaching, not least in a communications culture and moves on to setting a constructive agenda for the development of preaching as a core practice of the Christian church for the preacher, the congregation and the wider church.

Numerical Optimization presents a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the most effective methods in continuous optimization. It responds to the growing interest in optimization in engineering, science, and business by focusing on the methods that are best suited to practical problems. For this new edition the book has been thoroughly updated throughout. There are new chapters on nonlinear interior methods and derivative-free methods for optimization, both of which are used widely in practice and the focus of much current research. Because of the emphasis on practical methods, as well as the extensive illustrations and exercises, the book is accessible to a wide audience. It can be used as a graduate text in engineering, operations research, mathematics, computer science, and business. It also serves as a handbook for researchers and practitioners in the field. The authors have strived to produce a text that is pleasant to read, informative, and rigorous - one that reveals both the beautiful nature of the discipline and its practical side. There is a selected solutions manual for instructors for the new edition.

Numerical Optimization presents a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the most effective methods in continuous optimization. It responds to the growing interest in optimization in engineering, science, and business by focusing on the methods that are best suited to practical problems. For this new edition the book has been thoroughly updated throughout. There are new chapters on nonlinear interior methods and derivative-free methods for optimization, both of which are used widely in practice and the focus of much current research. Because of the emphasis on practical methods, as well as the extensive illustrations and exercises, the book is accessible to a wide audience. It can be used as a graduate text in engineering, operations research, mathematics, computer science, and business. It also serves as a handbook for researchers and practitioners in the field. The authors have strived to produce a text that is pleasant to read, informative, and rigorous - one that reveals both the beautiful nature of the discipline and its practical side. There is a selected solutions manual for instructors for the new edition.

A fresh examination of the Baptist movement, showing its growth and development to be more complex than hitherto assumed. This book challenges the orthodoxy that seventeenth-century Baptists were divided from the first into two separate denominations, 'Particular' and 'General', defined by their differing attitudes to predestination and the atonement, showing how the position was in fact much more complicated. It describes how from the foundation of the 'Generals' in 1609 there were always two tendencies, one clericalist and pacifist, influenced by the Dutch Mennonites, and one reflecting the English traditions of erastianism and local lay predominance in religion. It re-analyses the confessional struggle during and after the civil war, showing how Independent and erastian sentiment in Parliament increasingly combined to baulk Presbyterian ambition; during and partly because of this process (which they also influenced), the Baptists evolved into three recognisable tendencies. Amongst General Baptists there was a politically radical current, but also a more passive tendency which was starting to gain ground. In 1647-9 most but by no means all Particular Baptist leaders were hostile to the Levellers. The book looks at the nature of religious convictionin the New Model Army, reassessing the role and influence of Baptists in it. In the late 40s, many Baptists, soldiers and civilians, rejected formal ordinances altogether. STEPHEN WRIGHT received his Ph.D. from the Universityof London. He has been visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire and the University of North London.

We are delighted to announce that this book has been short listed for the prestigious Michael Ramsey prize for the best in theological writing. For more information please visit: www.michaelramseyprize.org.uk Preaching the Atonement explores some classic texts which throw light on the atonement. Each chapter focuses on a key Biblical passage, offering a theological commentary which will help both preachers and church members gain a deeper understanding of the atoning work of Christ. Each chapter contains a sermon on the chosen text, illustrating how these themes may be communicated to contemporary congregations. Seeking to be sensitive to the literary forms of the chosen texts, these sermons employ a range of homiletical strategies. The sermons are drawn from the works of preachers on both sides of the Atlantic. Preaching the Atonement assumes that the preacher's role is not to squeeze every passage of Scripture into the same mould. Each passage bears witness to another aspect of the many splendoured work of Christ; as the preacher invites the congregation to listen to the testimony of this cloud of biblical witnesses.

This literary study considers how the 'voice' of Jesus has been heard in different periods of parable interpretation, and how the categories of figure and trope may help us towards a sensitive reading of the parables today. This book explores what it means to seek the "voice" of Jesus" in his parables through the interpretive keys of literary tropes. Through a detailed discussion of significant periods of parable interpretation, with reference to six narrative parables peculiar to Luke's Gospel, it demonstrates the continued necessity of a creative response to an intention when confronted with figures of speech. Drawing on the long tradition of interpretation, a fresh hearing of the tone of the parables as exemplary tales is suggested, rooted in both the conditions of Jesus's contemporary culture and the Old Testament Scriptures.

This volume of thirteen original essays provides a timely analysis of African foreign policies in a post–Cold War environment where African marginalization from the global economy appears to be increasing. Three thematic essays give an overview of critical changes occurring in African foreign policies, and ten country-by-country case studies provide specific analyses of decisionmaking, intraregional relations, and the struggles over policy with external agencies, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. African Foreign Policies offers explanations for how African states are adapting to the international challenges of the late twentieth century.