To Nativity and Beyond


Book Description

Packed with practical ideas and original, ready-to-use seasonal material, this volume will be widely welcomed by hard-pressed ministers and worship leaders looking for fresh inspiration at a time of the year when there are always extra services to plan and as they seek new ways of enabling the familiar Christmas stories to be heard afresh amid the commercial frenzy.From the beginning of Advent right through to Epiphany, this volume offers: • Reflective introductions to the distinctive biblical emphases of each of the seasons • Responsive gathering and opening prayers • Interactive prayers of thanksgiving • Seasonally themed intercessions • Children’s addresses and activities • Sermon helps, scriptural meditations and reflections • New seasonal prayers of consecration for communion • Simple seasonal ceremonies, such as for lighting the Advent wreath




Corpus Christologicum


Book Description

A compendium of approximately three hundred texts--in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Ethiopic, Syriac, Coptic, and other languages--that are important for the study of Jewish messianism and early Christology. In recent decades, the study of Jewish messianic ideas and how they influenced early Christology has become an incredibly active field within biblical studies. Numerous books and articles have engaged with the ancient sources to trace various themes, including "Messiah" language itself, exalted patriarchs, angel mediators, "wisdom" and "word," eschatology, and much more. But anyone who attempts to study the Jewish roots of early Christianity faces a challenge: the primary sources are wide-ranging, involve ancient languages, and are often very difficult to track down. Books are littered with citations and a host of other sometimes obscure writings, and it can be difficult to sort them all out. This book makes a much-needed contribution by bringing together the most important primary texts for the study of Jewish messianism and early Christology--nearly three hundred in total--and presenting the reader with essential information to study them: the critical text itself (with apparatus), a fresh translation, a current bibliography, and thematic tags that allow the reader to trace themes across the corpus. This volume aims to be the starting point for all future work on the primary sources that are relevant to messianology and Christology. About the Author Gregory R. Lanier (PhD, University of Cambridge) is Associate Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He has written extensively on early Christology and published Old Testament Conceptual Metaphors and the Christology of Luke's Gospel (Bloomsbury, 2018); Septuaginta: A Reader's Edition (Hendrickson, 2018); and Is Jesus Truly God? How the Bible Teaches the Divinity of Christ (Crossway, 2020). He also serves as associate pastor of River Oaks Church in Lake Mary, Florida.




Nativity


Book Description

Exquisite artwork with gold foil and a skillfully written text convey the universal appeal of the Christmas story to children of all ages The account of Jesus’ birth, familiar to children around the world, is powerfully retold here. Giotto’s unsurpassed fresco cycle of the Nativity brings the story to vibrant life, while Geraldine Elschner’s thoughtful text engages readers young and old.




Beyond the Manger


Book Description

Through prayerful and imaginative stories, this Christmas devotional will help you enter into Christmas Time with fresh eyes and an open heart. You will hear the imagined voices of familiar Christmas characters, like Mary and Joseph, the innkeeper, and one of the Magi, as well as the voices of other people who might have been at that miraculous event of Jesus’ birth or met him later in life—like a thief who tried to steal the gifts of the Magi, the innkeeper’s son, and many more. Each story invites you to encounter the transformative power of Christ’s presence that is still at work in our world today, changing lives and the world. These stories will move you beyond the manger, beyond the familiar stories of Christmas Time, into a spiritual oasis amid the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. Starting on Christmas Day and lasting through the first week or two of January, this devotional encourages you to open your heart and mind in holy, prayerful imagination and let the Holy Spirit lead you to new encounters with Jesus. This devotional can be used by individuals, in small faith-sharing groups, with teens, and with families with younger children.




Beyond the White Fence


Book Description

Katie discovers that the valley behind her grandmother's garden is more mysterious than it seems. After tumbling into tenth-century England and encountering Saint Edith of Wilton along with her wild animal menagerie, she is helped home, wondering whether her adventure was truly real. But after Katie, her cousins, and a neighborhood friend are drawn back in time once again, she realizes her grandmother's garden gate is a portal into faraway worlds, where patron saints are real people making real-life decisions.Join Katie and her cousins as they mingle with Rachel and Jacob, meet Saint Mary Magdalene up close, trek across the sand with the matriarchs Naomi and Ruth, and have a nail-biting adventure with the heroic Saint Katherine of Alexandria. In seeing the richness of the family of God, they glimpse how very much they are a part of it all.A chapter book for ages 9 to 15




We Were There


Book Description

On a winter night long ago, a baby boy was born in a stable with only the animals to witness his arrival. But it wasn’t just the cows and donkeys and soft little lambs who were present. Smaller, less loved creatures were there, too: the snake, the scorpion, the cockroach, and others. Lyrically written by Eve Bunting and luminously illustrated by Wendell Minor, this beautiful book offers a unique and moving perspective on the Christmas story. It reminds us that all God’s creatures, both great and small, celebrated the arrival of the Christ child.




Birth 2012 and Beyond


Book Description

Explaining how the planet’s myriad crises are actually the birth pangs of a new Earth, this inspired exploration is Barbara Marx Hubbard’s prophetic call for a planetary shift. It explores the aftermath of the coming planetary renaissance that she has heralded for decades, and introduces an established popular global movement to cocreate a massive transition around a symbolic “Planetary Birthday” event on December 22, 2012. This volume features 12 evolutionary pioneers’ commentary on the author’s key themes of collective birth and conscious evolution, aiming to foster the emergence of a sustainable planetary civilization. Featured contributors include Ervin Laszlo, Michael Beckwith, Jack Canfield, Jean Houston, and Neale Donald Walsch.




Circle of Wonder


Book Description

A touching Christmas tale from Jemez Pueblo, illustrated in color by the author.




The Beyond Trilogy


Book Description

All three novels in the devotional author’s Christian fantasy saga inspired by the works of George MacDonald and C.S. Lewis. The Garden at the Edge of Beyond When a middle-aged man embarks on an enlightening and dreamlike theological journey, he awakens to a new reality—with a profound new outlook on life. Heaven and Beyond When a tragedy ends a man’s mortal life, his journey through eternity begins. Traveling across the realms of heaven and earth, his notions of each are turned upside down. Hell and Beyond A prominent atheist dies unexpectedly and goes to hell. Or so it appears . . . but nothing is what it seems in this engrossing allegorical novel about the afterlife.




Heaven and Beyond


Book Description

The author of The Garden at the Edge of Beyond continues his Christian fantasy saga as a tragedy on Earth sends a man on a journey through eternity. The man started his Easter Sunday at sunrise, as he did every year. Amidst the beauty of God’s creation, there was no indication that the day’s events were about to change his life forever . . . literally. When a terrorist attack takes his life, those left behind on Earth mourn the loss of a good man taken too soon. But in truth, the man’s life continues on, with new horizons opening up before him. As the man travels through the realms of heaven and earth, he finds his notions of both to be turned upside down. “Phillips has offered a breathtaking and important addition to the world of traditional theological allegory, joining Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and C.S. Lewis’ Pilgrim’s Regress . . . It is beautiful beyond describing and stunning in its impact.” —William Paul Young, author of The Shack