Christology in Review: A Layman's Take on Books about Christology


Book Description

The subject of early Christology is at the heart of the Christian faith. Believers in Jesus have been pondering the question that Jesus himself asked his disciples in Caesarea Philippi: "Who do you say that I am?" (Matt 16:15). Scholars have labored for years to answer this question from a variety of perspectives and they've come to some drastically different conclusions. In Christology in Review Nick Norelli collates a number of book reviews on the topic of early Christology that originally appeared on his blog Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. The reviews contained in this volume range in length and focus but they all offer critical interaction with scholarship from one end of the spectrum to the other.




Christology


Book Description

In this revised introduction, an internationally respected scholar explores biblical, historical, and contemporary developments in Christology. The book focuses on the global and contextual diversity of contemporary theology, including views of Christ found in the Global South and North and in the Abrahamic and Asian faith traditions. It is ideal for readers who desire to know how the global Christian community understands the person and work of Jesus Christ. This new edition accounts for the significant developments in theology over the past decade.




Gentle and Lowly


Book Description

Christians know that God loves them, but can easily feel that he is perpetually disappointed and frustrated, maybe even close to giving up on them. As a result, they focus a lot—and rightly so—on what Jesus has done to appease God’s wrath for sin. But how does Jesus Christ actually feel about his people amid all their sins and failures? This book draws us to Matthew 11, where Jesus describes himself as “gentle and lowly in heart,” longing for his people to find rest in him. The gospel flows from God’s deepest heart for his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering. These chapters take readers into the depths of Christ’s very heart for sinners, diving deep into Bible passages that speak of who Christ is and encouraging readers with the affections of Christ for his people. His longing heart for sinners comforts and sustains readers in their up-and-down lives.




Christ the Heart of Creation


Book Description

In this wide-ranging book, Rowan Williams argues that what we say about Jesus Christ is key to understanding what Christian belief says about creator and creation overall. Through detailed discussion of texts from the earliest centuries to the present day, we are shown some of the various and subtle ways in which Christians have discovered in their reflections on Christ the possibility of a deeply affirmative approach to creation, and a set of radical insights in ethics and politics as well. Throughout his life, Rowan Williams has been deeply influenced by thinkers of the Eastern Christian tradition as well as Catholic and Anglican writers. This book draws on insights from Eastern Christianity, from the Western Middle Ages and from Reformed thinkers, from Calvin to Bonhoeffer – as well as considering theological insights sparked by philosophers like Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein. Christ the Heart of Creation concerns fundamental issues for Christian belief and Williams tackles them head-on: he writes with pellucid clarity and shows his gift for putting across what are inevitably complex ideas to a wide audience.




Discovering the God Who Is


Book Description

“The minister gently guided my mother away from the grave to a waiting car. I moved behind them in a grim stupor. I was confused. I was hurt. I was angry. One question pierced my soul…’Who are you, God? And why do you do the things you do?’” Thus began Sproul’s search for ultimate truth and a personal encounter with the living God. In Discovering the God Who Is, readers will journey with Sproul to discover for themselves the magnificence of God’s character and being, His power and personality. Sproul asks the questions many of us wonder about God: Is the Bible the Word of God? What is righteousness? What is the difference between a moral and a legal right? How does God create something from nothing? Does God change His mind? Sproul communicates deep truths in a fresh and easy-to-understand style. Join R. C. Sproul as he shares his passion for God and excites the reader to dig deep and know the God who is alive, who is real, who relates to each one of us in our lives.




Did the First Christians Worship Jesus?


Book Description

To answer the title question effectively requires more than the citing of a few texts; we must first acknowledge that the way to the answer is more difficult than it appears and recognize that the answer may be less straightforward than many would like. The author raises some fascinating yet vexing questions: What is worship? Is the fact that worship is offered to God (or a god) what defines him (or her) as "G/god?" What does the act of worship actually involve? The conviction that God exalted Jesus to his right hand obviously is central to Christian recognition of the divine status of Jesus. But what did that mean for the first Christians as they sought to reconcile God's status and that of the human Jesus? Perhaps the worship of Jesus was not an alternative to worship of God but another way of worshiping God. The questions are challenging but readers are ably guided by James Dunn, one of the world's top New Testament scholars.




Jesus


Book Description




How God Became Jesus


Book Description

In his recent book How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher From Galilee historian Bart Ehrman explores a claim that resides at the heart of the Christian faith— that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God. According to Ehrman, though, this is not what the earliest disciples believed, nor what Jesus claimed about himself. The first response book to this latest challenge to Christianity from Ehrman, How God Became Jesus features the work of five internationally recognized biblical scholars. While subjecting his claims to critical scrutiny, they offer a better, historically informed account of why the Galilean preacher from Nazareth came to be hailed as “the Lord Jesus Christ.” Namely, they contend, the exalted place of Jesus in belief and worship is clearly evident in the earliest Christian sources, shortly following his death, and was not simply the invention of the church centuries later.




Christology in the Making


Book Description

This excellent study of the origins and early development of Christology by James D. G. Dunn clarifies in rich detail the beginnings of the full Christian belief in Christ as the Son of God and incarnate Word. By employing the exegetical methods of "historical context of meaning" and "conceptuality in transition," Dunn illumines the first-century meaning of key titles and passages within the New Testament that bear directly on the development of the Christian understanding of Jesus.




A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles


Book Description

Does God Still Do Miracles Today? A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles will give you confidence in and awareness of the supernatural realm as you learn how to flourish spiritually by experiencing more miraculous interventions in your life and ministry. Internationally renowned philosopher J. P. Moreland looks at the nature of miracles and explains why bearing and receiving credible testimony to God's miraculous acts is a crucial feature of a mature Jesus-follower. He also shows how to distinguish a real miracle from a mere coincidence. Miracles bring comfort to believers, strengthening faith in God and creating boldness in our lives. While miraculous healings have occurred frequently throughout church history, Moreland provides data showing how the last fifty years have seen a massive outbreak of miracles and supernatural activity. Today, he argues, the church should humbly expect to see more of these miraculous works of God than we do. Moreland looks at topics like: The relationship between sickness and suffering, along with two different ways to pray for healing How to discern clearly the difference between a genuine miracle and a mere coincidence How to increase your faith that petitionary prayer really works and what to make of unanswered prayer Six ways God speaks to us and advice for hearing God wisely and biblically The role angels play in our lives, how they appear to us, and how to combat demonic influence The biblical basis for most Near-Death Experiences and what we can learn from them A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles increases your expectation and hope that God can and often does miraculously intervene to bring help and comfort. Moreland shows that it makes rational sense to step out and engage in employing Kingdom power and to strengthen courage to witness and act on behalf of the gospel of Jesus. Filled with inspiring, credible, motivating accounts of miracles, he covers five different kinds of supernatural activities and provides practical wisdom about how to begin practices such as healing prayer and learning to deal with the demonic.