The author sees God as a gracious parent, intent on a restored relationship with humans. It is that ongoing effort which Ott calls the Shalom Project. Ott believes that "God wants a Shalom people," a community of the faithful who together love God and each other, and then live in the world within that strength.

God's call to the church is to love not just those who are easy to love, but those we would rather avoid or ignore. Leroy Barber, a leading voice in reconciliation and justice, provides a rousing exhortation to build relationships across barriers, offering practical advice on how to do so. Embrace the challenge to show a divided world the bridge-building power of God's love.

The biblical challenge of shalom is one which ought to draw all Christians together in a common struggle so that God's will might be done and God's kingdom might come on earth as it is in heaven. People, as well as structures, need to be transformed. People who are caught in oppressive structures need to be liberated from the values and perspectives inculcated by these structures. The shalom maker, as a result, is involved in a mission of conversion--converting people to a new understanding and way of life. This conversion, based on God's love for them in Jesus, frees them from old patterns of thought. If we struggle for shalom, we shall suffer because we are actively confronting and resisting the structures of oppression and working for the liberation of powerless and oppressed people. Shalom love is not love at a distance, not love in the abstract, not love in the rocking chair--it is the love of confrontation, of strike, of protest, and of disobedience to the structures of violence. Shalom love is suffering love because it is militant love struggling for human liberation, justice, and shalom, which is God's will for our world.

In this second book by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, she explores issues and challenges of deep concern to the Episcopal Church, the wider Body of Christ, and the world at large. Arranged thematically, her essays reflect on the travel, issues, people, and passions that have driven the first three years of her primacy. She places particular emphasis on the Millennium Development Goals, plus the turmoil within the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church in the United States.

God once declared everything in the world “very good.” Can you imagine it? A Vision of Hope for a Broken World Shalom is what God declared. Shalom is what the Kingdom of God looks like. Shalom is when all people have enough. It’s when families are healed. It’s when churches, schools, and public policies protect human dignity. Shalom is when the image of God is recognized in every single human. Shalom is our calling as followers of Jesus’s gospel. It is the vision God set forth in the Garden and the restoration God desires for every relationship. What can we do to bring shalom to our nations, our communities, and our souls? Through a careful exploration of biblical text, particularly the first three chapters of Genesis, Lisa Sharon Harper shows us what “very good” can look like today, even after the Fall. Because despite our anxious minds, despite division and threats of violence, God’s vision remains: Wholeness for a hurting world. Peace for a fearful soul. Shalom.

What does God intend for his broken creation? In this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume, Graham A. Cole seeks to answer this question by setting the atoning work of the cross in the broad framework of God's grand plan to restore the created order, and places the story of Jesus, his cross and empty tomb within it.

The Lord’s Supper (or Eucharist) has often been a subject of intense debate in the church. What is often lost in this debate is the significance of the relationship of the Eucharist to Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, which was a Passover—or Passover-like—meal. Moreover, the Last Supper connects back to various meals in Jesus’ earthly ministry. And it looks forward to the great messianic banquet as fulfillment of Jewish expectations. In exploring these connections, this book focuses on the three motifs of “new creation,” “hospitality,” and “hope” in Christ. Most significantly, when we break the bread and drink the wine (or juice) together we are asserting the reality of the new creation in Christ, affirming God’s grace, forgiveness, and cruciform love which is to be embodied in the Christian community, and anticipating the day when God’s present and ongoing work of restoration, justice, and reconciliation will ultimately prevail. The Supper, then, is basically a condensed summary of the story of God’s plan of redemption. Hesselgrave brings together biblical, theological, ethical, and social insights in a way that deepens our understanding of the meaning and practical significance of biblical texts related to this central ordinance of the church.

New Testament theology ought to be both descriptive and constructive-this is the argument of New Testament Theology: Extending the Table. According to Isaak, New Testament theology is descriptive in that it deals with the accounts that people narrate of their experience with Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the light of Easter. It is constructive in that it joins the diverse testimonies of the New Testament writers into a textured and thick space within which contemporary followers of Jesus continue to be shaped by the ancient yet living Spirit of God. Isaak's approach is historical, thematic, and theological in orientation. It explores the conversation taking place "around the table," where the writers of the NT share their guiding vision of God's saving work among them, and their passion for the Christian church engaged in God's mission. The differing perspectives of the New Testament authors are held together without reduction, forming a deep and rich space within which ongoing community reflection and praxis can take place.

N. T. Wright offers a comprehensive account and defense of his perspective on the crucial doctrine of justification. Along the way Wright responds to critics, such as John Piper, who have challenged what has come to be called the New Perspective. Ultimately, he provides a chance for those in the middle of and on both sides of the debate to interact directly with his views and form their own conclusions.

Rediscover the essential beginning of the most important story ever told. Although the Bible contains sixty-six books that usually span over a thousand printed pages, most Christians turn first—and sometimes only—to the New Testament. So often, Christian readers have little idea what to do with the Old Testament, if we read it at all. Sure, we value a few well-known stories and use a few psalms for personal devotions and for worship. Beyond that, many Christians find the Old Testament mostly confusing, troubling, or irrelevant. But to understand the Bible as the grand story that it is—the story of God’s dealings with humanity and relationship to the whole universe—we must learn to read the first three-quarters of Scripture as Jesus did, and as the New Testament teaches us to do. Walking through the arc and major themes of the Old Testament narrative, author and biblical scholar Timothy J. Geddert guides curious readers of the Word into a fruitful and fulfilling reading of the Bible’s first thirty-nine books, restoring joy in reading and studying the most important story ever told.