Showing titles in History

“Believe me” may be the most commonly used phrase in Donald Trump’s lexicon. Whether about building a wall or protecting the Christian heritage, the refrain is constant. And to the surprise of many, about 80 percent of white evangelicals have believed Trump. Historian John Fea is not surprised - and in Believe Me he explains how we have arrived at this unprecedented moment in American politics. In this audiobook, Fea challenges his fellow believers to replace fear with hope, the pursuit of power with humility, and nostalgia with history.

In 2010, using a specialized robotic camera, authors Tabor and Jacobovici, working with archaeologists, geologists, and forensic anthropologists, explored a previously unexcavated tomb in Jerusalem from around the time of Jesus. They made a remarkable discovery. The tomb contained several ossuaries, or bone boxes, two of which were carved with an iconic image and a Greek inscription. Taken together, the image and the inscription constitute the earliest archaeological evidence of faith in Jesus’ resurrection.

We live in a society that has largely abandoned moral standards and Christian principles. Unkept campaign promises, false advertising, exaggerated tax exemptions, employee theft - compromise has become a way of life. Such moral concession has even invaded the church. Faced with an opportunity to proclaim Christ to unbelievers, we feel intimidated and keep silent. Or we water down God's word on ethical issues at work or in our community to avoid rejection. Too often we prefer hypocrisy to integrity.

From the Upper Room of Pentecost to Azusa Street in Los Angeles, God has used prayer movements throughout history to change the world. Over fifteen years ago, a group of students gathered for a prayer vigil in Chichester, England—and the prayers they started haven’t stopped. Out of that first meeting came 24-7 Prayer: an international movement of prayer, mission, and justice that has reached Chinese underground churches, Indian slums, Papua New Guinea jungles, ancient English cathedrals, and even a brewery in Missouri.

What if Christ has already returned? The Second Coming of Christ has been "coming soon" ever since 1850, when John Nelson Darby popularized his brand of end times dispensational rapture theology. Many Christians today are unaware that the version of biblical prophecy they've been taught is not what the Church believed for the first 1,800 years. It's time to leave behind the "End Times" and discover an astounding truth - Christ has already returned and our participation is essential to making all things new.

Beginning with the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, this fully revised and updated second volume of The Story of Christianity continues the marvelous history of the world's largest religion. Award-winning historian Justo González brings to life the people, dramatic events, and theological debates that have shaped Protestantism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy.

Getting to know the Church Fathers means getting to know our own roots. It means knowing more deeply who we are as we learn more and more about who they are. The early Christians are our ancestors, our common genealogy, our family. When we look to our roots, what do we see?

The Christian church of the early centuries spread throughout much of Asia, Africa, and Europe, spoke many languages, was situated within diverse cultural settings, and had varied worship practices; yet it maintained a vital unity on core teachings. In The Global Church - The First Eight Centuries: From Pentecost through the Rise of Islam, author Donald Fairbairn helps listeners understand both the diversity and unity of the church in this pivotal era.

Looking back to the crisis of the Reformation and beyond, Unbelievers shows how, long before philosophers started to make the case for atheism, powerful cultural currents were challenging traditional faith. These tugged in different ways not only on celebrated thinkers such as Machiavelli, Montaigne, Hobbes, and Pascal, but on men and women at every level of society whose voices we hear through their diaries, letters, and court records. Ryrie traces the roots of atheism born of anger, a sentiment familiar to anyone who has ever cursed a corrupt priest, and of doubt born of anxiety.

Embark on a transformative journey with Systematic Theology for Beginners: A Comprehensive Introduction to Christian Doctrine. This definitive guide is crafted to illuminate the foundational truths of Christianity, providing both new believers and seasoned Christians with a thorough and accessible understanding of key theological principles. Imagine unlocking the profound mysteries of your faith, equipped with the knowledge to deepen your relationship with God. This book is designed to be your trusted companion in this spiritual adventure. Here’s what awaits you inside: Crystal Clear ...

In this dazzling global history that charts five centuries of innovation and change, Alec Ryrie makes the case that Protestants made the modern world. Protestants introduces us to the men and women who defined and redefined this quarrelsome faith. Some turned to their newly accessible bibles to justify bold acts of political opposition, others to support a new understanding of who they were and what they could and should do. Above all, they were willing to fight for their beliefs.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Christianity offers answers to the secular world's criticism of Christianity's history, traditions, and beliefs. You think you know about Christianity, but did you know: God likes "organized religion" - it's clear from both the New and Old Testaments; Christians have always believed that men and women are equal; the correct pronoun for angels is "he"; science was stillborn everywhere outside the Christian West; Christianity, which first taught the world to value victims, is now the victim of a victimhood culture; and more.

People get a thrill from hearing about knights in shining armor racing across the battlefield and doing all kinds of works of chivalry. This is an audiobook about some of the best-known knights of the Middle Ages. Best of all, this is not fiction. The Knights Templar were very real, and their story is amazing.

The growth of the nones in American society has been dramatic. In 1972, just five percent of Americans claimed "no religion" on the General Social Survey. In 2018, that number rose to 23.7 percent, making the nones as numerous as both evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics. Every indication is that the nones will be the largest religious group in the United States in the next decade. Burge's accessible book draws from carefully curated datasets, some tracking changes in American religion over a long period of time.

Orthodoxy, first published 1908, is Chesterton's spiritual autobiography. Subtitled, 'The romance of faith', Chesterton declares that people need a life of 'practical romance; the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure.'

Cultural Christians in the Early Church, which aims to be both historical and practical, argues that cultural Christians were the rule, rather than the exception, in the early church. Using different categories of sins as its organizing principle, the book considers the challenge of culture to the earliest converts to Christianity, as they struggled to live on mission in the Greco-Roman cultural milieu of the Roman Empire.

This book welcomes listeners to appreciate the origins of Christianity within the Roman world in which early Christianity got its first foothold. It does that by immersing listeners in the life and culture of two thriving first-century towns—Pompeii and Herculaneum. Those towns (destroyed in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE) act as showpieces of the world into which the early Christian movement was spreading.

In this “eloquent understanding of how death is viewed through many spiritual traditions” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Bart Ehrman recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. He discusses ancient guided tours of heaven and hell, in which a living person observes the sublime blessings of heaven for those who are saved and the horrifying torments of hell for those who are damned.

This is a book of wisdom and insight that explains how providential are the trials through which the Catholic Church is now passing. All these themes receive new clarity and depth from Cardinal Ratzinger.

In the midst of our hectic, overscheduled lives, caring for the soul is imperative. Now, more than ever, we need to pause - intentionally - and encounter the Divine. Soul care director Barbara Peacock illustrates a journey of prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care from an African American perspective. She reflects on how these disciplines are woven into the African American culture and lived out in the rich heritage of its faith community.