Though the Christian church has a well-developed theology of Godward-facing remorse about sin, it has paid little attention to the interpersonal implications of the remorse that people feel when they wrong one another. Since the nineteenth century, important work has been done by psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, ethicists, scientists, and lawyers that has implications for the way theologians might think about remorse. This book draws on the biblical record in its ancient setti...

Many endorse the idea of personal forgiveness without fully understanding its complexity and subtlety. This book is a careful and detailed theological exploration of personal forgiveness. It sets forgiveness in its ancient and biblical context, as well as drawing on contemporary debates among philosophers, psychological therapists, and international relations theorists. Forgiveness is written in a clear, accessible style for both the specialist and the non-specialist, and even the most dif...

Anthony Bash offers new insights into forgiveness from a biblical perspective, taking into account important findings in philosophy, politics and psychology.The book explores what the Bible says about forgiveness so that we can better experience its regenerative and renewing effects. It also looks at what the Bible says in the light of two thousand years of thought about forgiveness. It does so in the belief that, if forgiveness is to be meaningful, it must be just...

Forgiveness has often been viewed as a religious obligation but is increasingly being advocated as a means of healing, release and promoting wellbeing. Forgiveness is variously viewed as a duty, virtue or cure, but when it comes to practising forgiveness in real life we find it is always caught up in the complexity of the situation. This book shines a light on how we tend to think about forgiveness in practice, including examples from social work, family therapy, chaplaincy and criminal ju...

Both outside and inside of the church, many people today are increasingly uncomfortable with hell. They wonder: How could it be fair to punish anyone for eternity? Will Jesus really condemn millions simply for not believing the right things about him? Isn’t God a God of love, not vengeance? The top-notch contributors to Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven? tackle these and other questions with an even-handed survey of the Bible’s teaching on this difficult subject. Together, the...

'It has been slowly dawning on me over many years that there is a fundamental problem deep at the heart of Christian faith and practice as I have known them . . . we have all forgotten what the four Gospels are about.'With that surprising assertion, Tom Wright launches this ground-breaking work in which he helps us to see the gospel story in radically a new light, and to acknowledge that, for many generations, the Church has been avoiding its full impact and holdin...

Paul is the most powerful human personality in the history of the Church. A missionary, theologian, and religious genius, in his epistles he laid the foundations on which later Christian theology was built.In his highly original introduction to Paul's life and thought, E. P. Sanders, whose research on Paul has substantially influenced recent scholarship, pays equal attention to Paul's fundamental convictions and the sometimes convoluted ways in which they were worked out.

Two billion people today identify as Christians, with the implication that Jesus is the focus of their relationship with God, and their way of living in the world. Such followers of Jesus are now more numerous and make up a greater proportion of the world's population than ever before. Despite its decline in the West, Christianity is rapidly increasing in areas such as Africa and China. Richard Bauckham explores the historical figure of Jesus, evaluating the sources and concluding that the...

Vaughan Roberts explores seven of the difficulties Christians may have to endure and positive ways to deal with them.The Bible warns of a mixed experience in this life. We live in a fallen world and have to fight continually against earthly temptations, but we do so as heaven's citizens, already enjoying some of salvation's great blessings.Vaughan Roberts calls us to realism. Christians will struggle with battles such as image, lust and doubt. But he also urges us to seek s...

What really happened back in the first century, in Jerusalem and around the Sea of Galilee, that changed the shape of world history? Who is this figure that emerges from history to have a profound impact on culture, ethics, politics, and philosophy? Join historian John Dickson on this journey through the life of Jesus. This book, which features a self-contained discussion guide for use with Life of Jesus DVD, will help you and your friends dig deeper into what is known about Jesus’ life an...

"Fresh, exciting, challenging and mind-stretching" Christian HeraldNow an SPCK Classic, this is probably the most popular modern introduction to the four Gospel portraits of Jesus. It is written by an internationally respected biblical scholar and Christian communicator.Time and again, this book delights the reader as it points out nuances of wording and presentation that are so often the clues to the gospel writer's mind and to his response to the figure o...

Throughout history, most Christians have believed that Adam and Eve were actual persons, of whom we are all descendants. Some Christians today, however, readily dismiss the historical consensus, arguing that those same Christians also believed the earth was the center of the universe. Understandably, there are reasons to doubt the traditional view . . . and yet rarely are those doubts humbly subjected to serious scholarship.C. John Collins invites both doubts and scholarship to the...