Eating Your Way Through Luke's Gospel


Book Description

Robert Karris spreads before us a delightful feast of information about food themes in the Gospel of Luke. In a lively style of writing, Karris describes the food and drink popular in Jesus' day, eucharistic implications, and the social roles Jesus assumes in relation to food.




Of Widows and Meals


Book Description

Though "community" has become a common byword in the contemporary Western church, the practice of communal sharing has effectively fallen by the wayside. Unfortunately, it is often the poor who are left wanting because we no longer come together. Reta Halteman Finger finds a solution to this modern problem by learning from the ancient Mediterranean Christian culture of community. In the earliest Jerusalem church, in holding the responsibility for preparing and serving communal meals, women were given a place of honor. With the table fellowship and goods sharing of the early church, Luke says, there were no needy persons among them (Acts 4: 34). Finger thoroughly examines this agape-meal tradition, challenging traditional interpretations of the community of goods in the Jerusalem church and proving that the communal sharing lasted for hundreds of years longer than previously assumed. "Of Widows and Meals" begins a discussion of need in community that can revolutionize the contemporary church's interaction with the world at large.




Take Back Your Temple Member Guide


Book Description

Want to start a Christian weight loss program at your church? The Take Back Your Temple Member Guide gives your support group the wisdom they need to reach their ideal weight and maintain it for life. Includes Christian health scriptures for motivation, delicious recipes, and a survival plan for handling common weight loss barriers like emotional eating, bottomless food pits, and more.




Praying Your Way through Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles


Book Description

Prayer, the raising of the heart to God, is the heart of the Christian life. For the author of Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, prayer is the habit of being in the presence of God. One of the primary ways Jesus is characterized in Luke's Gospel is that of a pray-er. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles are portrayed being in God's presence. Prayer is the topic of this book; it highlights the passages where Jesus is found praying in the Gospel and where the apostles are found praying in the Acts. From the example Jesus gives in Luke's Gospel, and from the example the apostles give in the Acts of the Apostles, the reader concludes that prayer should be a part of the life of any Christian. If Jesus himself prayed--spoke and listened to God--then how can his followers do any less? This book can be used during the Advent-Christmas Season, the Lenten Season, the Easter Season, and at any time one wants to hone his or her praying skills. This book is especially useful during the period of post-baptismal catechesis for those in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults with its focus on spiritual growth through prayer.




God Speaks Through Wombs


Book Description

In this dynamic collection of poems, Drew Jackson explores the first eight chapters of Luke's Gospel. These are declarative poems, faithfully proclaiming the gospel story in all its liberative power. Here the gospel is the "fresh words / that speak of / things impossible." This powerful poetry helps us hear the hum of deliverance—against all hope—that's been in the gospel all along.




Eats with Sinners


Book Description

If you want to follow Jesus on the incredible journey of sharing Him while sharing life with others, it’s time to eat with sinners—people just like you . . . and me. As long as people have been sharing their faith, there have been critics. Even Jesus dealt with naysayers as He spread His gospel: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2, NIV). Sometimes we worry about our reputation when we spend time with non-Christians. But more than that, we worry about the time we spend with non-Christians: Will we understand each other? Will I offend them? Will they offend me? How long will it take before this relationship falls apart? Every meal Jesus ate, He ate with sinners. And over food and drink, through stories and insights and observations and conversations, people let their guards down, and sinners came to know the love of God and the hope of salvation. Now revised and updated, Eats with Sinners helps you to let your guard down so the love of God can get out across the table to your non-Christian friends. Note: This book was originally published by Standard Publishing in November 2009 (ISBN 0784723184). The NavPress version does not include recipes!




A Dialogue between Haizi’s Poetry and the Gospel of Luke


Book Description

In A Dialogue between Haizi’s Poetry and the Gospel of Luke Xiaoli Yang offers a conversation between the Chinese soul-searching found in Haizi’s (1964–1989) poetry and the gospel of Jesus Christ through Luke’s testimony. It creates a unique contextual poetic lens that appreciates a generation of the Chinese homecoming journey through Haizi’s poetry, and explores its relationship with Jesus Christ. As the dialogical journey, it names four stages of homecoming—roots, vision, journey and arrival. By taking an interdisciplinary approach—literary study, inter-cultural dialogue and comparative theology, Xiaoli Yang convincingly demonstrates that the common language between the poet Haizi and the Lukan Jesus provides a crucial and rich source of data for an ongoing table conversation between culture and faith.




What Jesus Demands from the World


Book Description

for every healthy tree bears good fruit --; Demand #28 : love your enemies--lead them to the truth --; Demand #29 : love your enemies--pray for those who abuse you --; Demand #30 : love your enemies--do good to those who hate you, give to the one who asks --; Demand #31 : love your enemies to show that you are children of God --; Demand #32 : love your neighbor as yourself,




The Path to Salvation in Luke's Gospel


Book Description

This book investigates Luke's message of salvation in relation to socio-economic issues, and thus concerns salvation of the rich as well as the poor. With a narrative reading of Luke's Gospel built on careful examination of its socio-economic context, it demonstrates that Luke's message of salvation is best understood as: 1) Divine mercy which champions the cause of the poor and redresses the injustice of the world, 2) Its human embodiment, and 3) Divine reward promised to those who enact mercy. Wi argues that Luke's question of 'what must we do?' juxtaposes salvation with 'doing', posing interesting questions with respect to the salvation of the rich. This volume highlights good news to the poor in terms of divine mercy and justice, shows that the reception of divine mercy calls for practices, which embody it, and above all clarifies Luke's notion of salvation of the rich which will happen as participation in the salvation of the poor. Wi's conclusion challenges its readers by asking the question along with Luke's audience: What must we do?




Theatrical Theology


Book Description

Theology is inherently theatrical, rooted in God's performance on the world stage and oriented toward faith seeking performative understanding in the theatre of everyday life. Following Hans Urs von Balthasar's magisterial, five-volume Theo-Drama, a growing number of theologians and pastors have been engaging more widely with theatre and drama, producing what has been recognized as a "theatrical turn" in theology. This volume includes thirteen essays from theologians and pastors who have contributed in distinct ways to this theatrical turn and who desire to deepen interdisciplinary dialogue between theology and theatre. The result is an unprecedented collection of essays that embodies and advances theatrical theology for the purpose of enriching theological reflection and edifying the church.