The language of perfection crops up regularly in the Bible, from Noah ("a just man and perfect in his generations," KJV) to Jesus ("be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect," NRSV). Is flawless behavior what God expects, the only standard of righteousness that can satisfy him? Jewish tradition has long questioned this Christian assumption. Since Sanders and the New Perspective on Paul, it has come under increasing challenge from many directions. In Reclaiming Human Wholeness, Kent Yinger provides an in-depth examination of what the Bible intends with this perfection-wholeness language and of its impact on theology and spiritual life. Rather than calling to an unreachable perfection, the God of the Bible desires our flourishing and wholeness.

Imagine a rope braided out of seven strands of twine, forming a circle so that even the ends of the rope are woven together. That is an image of human wholeness. This book proposes seven aspects to human wholeness: intellectual, psychological, emotional, physical, sexual, spiritual, and aesthetic. After examining each of these aspects, this work presents a spirituality of relationship. It also explores how human wholeness is a basis for relationship. Two people relating to each other out of each person's wholeness provide the occasion for an experience of the divine. All relationships begin with some connectivity to an aspect of human wholeness. As both parties enter more deeply into their relationship, more connectivity is achieved. By reflecting on the experiences of one's life in dialogue with a trusted friend, a person discovers the freedom to be who he or she is in the presence of the other and receives back the gift he or she offers to the other in total freedom. This transcendent aspect of a relationship can enable friends to discover God in each other, as each other. Jesus serves as a model for human relating; in him all aspects are woven together into a whole human being.

God wants to rescue you from the things that diminish or destroy your spirit, mind, body, relationships, and other aspects of your humanity. Jesus came to offer salvation and healing to the total person—to restore broken individuals to a place of wholeness and well-being. Comprehensively covered topics include the anointing of the Holy Spirit, spiritual antidotes for anxiety, today’s miracles, a balanced perspective of physical healing, and the discipline of prayer, as well as many others. In Pursuit of Wholeness presents definitive steps to receiving personal transformation through the gift of salvation and its relationship to wholeness for the entire person. Many current books on supernatural Christianity rely heavily on personal testimonies and little on sound interpretation of the biblical text. In Pursuit of Wholeness corrects this imbalance and opens up this world in a way that is biblically sound and practically relevant. Explore the meaning and benefits of salvation as you experience the fullness and wholeness of God’s love and grace in your life—today.

This title explores the meaning of Christian theology in light of the scientific discoveries of our age. Like Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry, Delio opens out eyes to the omni-active, all-powerful, all-intelligent Love that forms and guides the interrelatedness and interbeing of everything and everyone - ourselves included.

The Holy Spirit provides access to relationship with and reflection on the Triune God. In West Africa, Christians approach the Triune God in a way that challenges the Jewish-Christian memory. Deeply rooted in their ancestral memory, where living is relationality, they embrace the Trinitarian faith, the economy of the relational God-Christ-Spirit, by expanding and reinventing their indigenous experience of God, deities, spirits, and ancestors. Christian faith-practice is marked by the spectacular dominance of the Holy Spirit, whose charisms reflect the operations of deities. African Initiated Churches (AICs), Protestant and Catholic charismatic movements, experience God-Spirit's liberating and healing hand for the enhancement and realization of communal and individual destiny (what one expects from a concerned providential deity). This book argues that the emergent West African Trinitarian imagination is in harmony with Hebrew insight into the One and Only Yahweh of the patriarchs that assumed the dimensions of Elohim, God--experienced as a sound of sheer silence by Elijah, and proposed in utter weakness as the Only God by Deutero-Isaiah--the God that Jesus called Abba, Father. As Spirit and Life, the Holy Spirit, which is the source of all charisms (Origen), is our link to the Trinity.

The authors combine clinical psychology and spiritual direction to create a practical model of spirituality that integrates theology, psychology, and an understanding of individual frailties in a new way. Spiritual Wholeness draws on counseling experience with more than 400 clergy and pinpoints the human problems, traps, and temptations awaiting those who choose the clergy role. Clergy will learn to develop and maintain a psychologically healthy spirituality in relationships with others. Judicatory executives and therapists working with clergy will gain insight into addiction problems and how to help clergy move toward greater emotional and spiritual health.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself for teaching such trash! God does not have feelings. He is absolutely perfect and impenetrable. There is no point of contact, of any sort, between God and anything we would identify as human emotion!” This message, left on David Crump’s answering machine by an angry phone caller, is the starting point of this investigation into what Scripture actually teaches about emotion and God. An engaging blend of biblical study, historical theology, and personal testimony, Feeling Like God takes the reader on a journey to understand God as revealed in Scripture. It shows that following Jesus Christ means bringing our feelings to God, rather than trying to suppress them, and shows how expressing emotion is something central to what it means to be created in God’s image.

Wholeness is about removing invisible boundaries from our lives that keep us from realizing our highest potential. In order to live an outer life without limits, we have to uncover and address the inner limitations that hide in our blind spots. This life-changing book explains that regardless of where you are in life, Wholeness will take you higher. Wholeness will elevate your sense of fulfillment in life, produce healthier, more rewarding relationships, and will position you for optimum success in every endeavor. International thought leader and pastor Touré Roberts explains we can't always choose the experiences that keep us from being whole, but we can take control of our lives today and bring healing to any broken area. Key chapters include an in-depth relationship guide titled "Two Halves Don't Make a Whole." "The Cracked Mirror" shows how unprocessed experiences can negatively shape our view of self, others, and the world around us. "Ghosts of the Past" gives powerful, practical tools for avoiding the traps of the past and ensuring that we enter into the amazing future that God has planned for us. Wholeness is filled with wisdom garnered from Touré's own life--raised by a single mom, narrowly escaping the trappings of inner-city life, and finding success in corporate America. His insight is further broadened by his role as founder of one of the most influential churches in the nation, with over fourteen years pastoring thousands of millennials, couples, families, and a diverse group of individuals. Wholeness will take you on a transformational journey that won't leave you the same. Concluding with a "Wholeness Test," Wholeness will help you track and maintain your progress while walking out your journey to your full potential.

Western Civilization is wealthier, but it isn’t happier. We are the richest people ever to walk the face of the earth, but according to research, we aren’t becoming happier. Families and communities are increasingly fragmented, loneliness is skyrocketing, and physical and mental health are on the decline. Our unprecedented wealth doesn’t seem to be doing us much good. Yet, when we try to help poor people at home or abroad, our implicit assumption is that the goal is to help them to become like us. "If they would just do things our way, they’d be fine!" But even when they seem to pursue our path, they too find that the American Dream doesn’t work for them. What if we have the wrong idea altogether? What if the molds we are using to help poor people don’t actually fit any of us? What if the goal isn’t to turn other countries into the United States or to turn America’s impoverished communities into its affluent suburbs? In Becoming Whole (building on the best-selling When Helping Hurts), Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic look at the true sources of brokenness and poverty and uncover the surprising pathways to human flourishing, for poor and non-poor alike. Exposing the misconceptions of both Western Civilization and the Western church about the nature of God, human beings, and the world, they redefine success and offer new ways of achieving that success. Through biblical insights, scientific research, and practical experience, they show you how the good news of the kingdom of God reshapes our lives and our poverty alleviation ministries, moving everybody involved towards wholeness.