Everywhere there are voices calling for a new Reformation, marked by a return to the older sources of Christian wisdom, and for drinking anew the inspiration of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, the church fathers, those from the monastic tradition and the medieval Christian mystics. This anthology of original sources in contemporary English, structured in a meditational mode, could well be the rich resource you are looking for in hearing the ancient Christian wisdom. Here are the deep wells of theological and spiritual insight that could guide you in walking a renewed path of faith in our precarious world. These voices from the past may well help you in living against the tide of late modernity with its rationality and utilitarianism that cannot sustain a well-lived and well-loved life. This book could sustain the hope for a renewed world through life lived in the presence of the healing and empowering God.

With the world turned upside down by the global pandemic, people of faith aligned to the upside-down kingdom of Jesus, are asking, how do we sing the Lord's song in these times? How do we now live, worship, and serve amid such upheaval, insecurity, fear, grief, and social isolation? Is it just to endure the worst, or to seek the best by walking the way of the cross? Is there an invitation to renewed kingdom citizenship of heaven and earth? Our backgrounds will impact our responses as will our prayers, our scripture reflections, our worship, and our willingness to put the center of ourselves outside, to offer unlimited space for others. With backgrounds in medicine, physics, economics, missiology, theology, social activism, pastoral care, and spiritual companioning, these writers engage such questions. There is a cruciform shape to their reflections, and to the prayers and liturgies they include. We glimpse the One who is with us and for us in these troubled times, sharing our laments, fostering kingdom-heartedness, igniting our passions, offering tender mercies, decluttering our hearts, making peace, instilling courage, and inviting our participation. Though in crisis times our poverty of spirit is amplified, the kingdom of heaven is wide open. With contributions from: Terry Gatfield Athena Gorospe Ross McKenzie Tim MCowan Paul Mercer Sarah Nicholl Charles Ringma

Read about Gregory the Great, Boniface, Charlemagne, Constantine, Methodius, Vladimir, Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Sienna, John Wyclif and John Hus.

We are living in an age of confusion and uncertainty. This has also impacted the Christian church. It is important, therefore, to get some ground under our feet. And we will need more than only a Sunday service. There are things we will need to do ourselves to strengthen our faith. A Pocket Christian Catechism may be of help. It contains the basics of the Christian faith, such as prayers, creedal statements, and reflections on the work of Christ, as well as the blessing of the Holy Spirit, the church, the sacraments, and our engagement with the world. Like taking part of the church into daily life and work, this book can be read while on public transportation, having a coffee break, or going for a walk. If used regularly, A Pocket Christian Catechism can nurture one’s inner being. What is held in one’s heart gives solid ground to one’s feet.

Herman Bavinck's four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is one of the most important theological works of the twentieth century. Leading Bavinck expert John Bolt edited that work, which has received wide acclaim. Now Bolt brings forth a recently discovered manuscript from Bavinck, in print for the first time, which serves as a companion to Reformed Dogmatics. Reformed Ethics mines the moral teachings of the early church and medieval and Puritan spirituality while addressing a variety of topics, offering readers Bavinck's mature reflections on ethical issues. This book is the first of three planned volumes.

An alternative, uniquely Christian response to the growing global challenges of deep religious difference In the last fifty years, millions of Muslims have migrated to Europe and North America. Their arrival has ignited a series of fierce public debates on both sides of the Atlantic about religious freedom and tolerance, terrorism and security, gender and race, and much more. How can Christians best respond to this situation? In this book theologian and ethicist Matthew Kaemingk offers a thought-provoking Christian perspective on the growing debates over Muslim presence in the West. Rejecting both fearful nationalism and romantic multiculturalism, Kaemingk makes the case for a third way—a Christian pluralism that is committed to both the historic Christian faith and the public rights, dignity, and freedom of Islam.

As I reflected on working in a Teen Challenge Youth Emergency Accommodation Shelter, I began to realize that in serving others, I too had been greatly served. I didn’t work at the shelter to receive blessings or any such thing. My understanding was that I worked there to help others less fortunate than I, in obedience to God’s will for my life. But I did get blessed. Abundantly! It’s a spiritual dynamic that when we serve others, we are also served. As I served the homeless youth in Brisbane, Australia, God served me through those very same homeless teenagers. The lives and issues I faced were used by God to grow and mature me as a Christian. Without knowing it themselves, different residents were used by God to speak to my heart and teach me his ways. It came through reminders of God’s grace toward me in my adolescent years. I gained insights on how to grow the ministry using scriptural leadership principles. I also saw the power of prayer in action. God used all those things, and more, to give direction and purpose to my life and work. I went to serve others and God served me.

How are we to sustain activism and compassion amidst the never-ending crises of the twenty-first century? While the concern for social justice is deeply biblical, cynicism, burnout, and despair are all too common side effects when action is divorced from contemplation. To effectively serve as the hands and feet of Jesus, the church must attend to the revitalization of its inner life through the spiritual practices which feed, support, and sustain the work of the kingdom. Rather than the fragmentation and dualism that have led denominations to choose between prayer and service, evangelization and justice, the church must integrate heart, mind, and body in order to fulfil its calling to transform the world from within. Drawing from Scripture and a wide range of Christian traditions – from the monastic to the evangelical – this book inspires its readers to integrate spiritual renewal and prophetic witness for the glory of God and the good of his creation.

This is a short, accessible analysis of Christianity that focuses on its social and cultural diversity as well as its historical dimensions.