Desire. Conviction. Character. Story. Practice. Institution.The Shape of Our Lives digs into how these six factors—often operating beneath our consciousness—profoundly affect our spiritual formation, both as individuals and congregations. As Christians across America grapple with the value and purpose of church, this accessible volume provides a roadmap for exploring what motivates and forms us. The Shape of Our Lives equips readers to look beneat...

What role do varied understandings of the church play in the doctrine and interpretation of Scripture?In The Church's Book, Brad East explores recent accounts of the Bible and its exegesis in modern theology and traces the differences made by divergent, and sometimes opposed, theological accounts of the church. Surveying first the work of Karl Barth, then that of John Webster, Robert Jenson, and John Howard Yoder (following an excursus on interpreting Yode...

On the weekend of April 22, 2012 the St. Anne's Church website received thousands of visitors. That Sunday, in the New York Times Magazine, an article appeared about the Rev. Dr. Amy E. Richter competing in a physique competition. The strong reactions to the article got Richter and her husband and fellow clergyperson, the Rev. Dr. Joseph Pagano, thinking about the scandal of the Incarnation. The claim that God entered fully into our flesh-and-blood human existence makes some of us squeamis...

In this fine new commentary on Paul's letter to the Philippians, Stephen Fowl notes that for the great premodern commentators of the Christian tradition, the literal sense of Scripture is always regulated by theological concerns. Thus, unlike commentaries that simply append theology to historical criticism, Fowl's volume displays disciplined attention to the text of Philippians in ways that enhance rather than frustrate theological inquiry.While Fowl engages the great scholars of th...

Christians have been interpreting Scripture with an aim of deepening their life with God and each other from the very beginning of the church. The past twenty years or so have witnessed an explosion of scholarly writing devoted to the theological interpretation of Scripture. Stephen Fowl, as an active participant in and contributor to the burgeoning literature, has written an ideal companion for guests at the "large and somewhat chaotic party," introducing them to important people, texts, ...

Has reading scripture become stale or lifeless in your church?Do competing understandings of the Bible cause division in your congregation?In The Form of the Word: Making Sense of Scripture in the Body of Christ, New Testament scholar Stephen E. Fowl offers the expertise of a teacher and the guidance of a pastor to help readers come to a deeper and more expansive understanding of the biblical story.This clear and accessible book is for:...

No one purposefully chooses to become an idolater. No one consciously abandons the living God to fall prey to a pantheon of earthly gods. Yet idolatry has a way of subtly seeping into the cracks of human life.In Idolatry, Stephen E. Fowl explores how believers lapse into idolatry, a process he insists is much different from the decision of those who have rejected belief in God. He asserts that the Old Testament’s account of Israel’s idolatry as dramatic folly and betrayal ...

In this guide Stephen E. Fowl introduces students to both theological fruit and critical issues of the letter to the Ephesians.On the theological front, Fowl shows how Ephesians offers an unparalleled cosmic vision of the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus, of the role of heavenly powers in the universe, and of how the community of Christians is to engage with those powers. Fowl also opens up the major identity questions Ephesians shows existed for early Christians...

Even though it was written some two millennia ago, Ephesians still speaks to Christians today in themes quite familiar to the modern reader. In a context where the church had become overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, Gentile, the Christian community needed to be reminded of the priority of Israel and the astonishing work of reconciliation that God willed to accomplish in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now available as a casebound, this volume in the highly acclaimed Ne...

Get the most out of your Bible.In clear, simple language, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth helps you accurately understand the different parts of the Bible—their meaning for ancient audiences and their implications for you today—so you can uncover the inexhaustible wealth of God's Word.More than three quarters of a million people have turned to How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth to inform their reading of the Bible. This fourth...

Theology is for everyone. Everyone is a theologian of sorts. Theology simply means thinking about God and expressing those thoughts in some way. But sloppy theology is a problem. As Christians, our thoughts about God need to coincide with what He has said about Himself in the Bible. With his clear understanding of the Scriptures and unpretentious writing style, Charles Ryrie has written Basic Theology for every student of God's Word, from the devotional student to the seminary stu...

An upper-level introduction to the Old Testament that offers students a thorough understanding of three key issues: historical background, literary analysis, and theological message.This second edition of An Introduction to the Old Testament integrates recent developments in Old Testament scholarship. It has many distinctive features that set it apart from other introductions to the Old Testament:It's committed to a theologically evangelical ...