What difference would it make for Old Testament theology if we turned our attention from the more dramatic, forceful "mighty acts of God" to the more subdued, but more realistic themes of later writings in the Hebrew Bible? The result, Mark McEntire argues, would be a more mature theology that would enable us to respond more realistically and creatively to the unprecedented challenges of the present age.

What difference would it make for Old Testament theology if we turned our attention from the more dramatic, forceful "mighty acts of God" to the more subdued, but more realistic themes of later writings in the Hebrew Bible? The result, Mark McEntire argues, would be a more mature theology that would enable us to respond more realistically and creatively to the unprecedented challenges of the present age.

If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated--Voltaire. God is love--1 John 4:8Portraits of God painted with words have ranged from prehistoric conceptions of the Earth Mother to more elaborate sophisticated visions: God as craftsman, a multiple deity, an illusion, one's highest self, the Omega point.... This book presents sixty-some selections, including many fascinating exchanges in the 16th-19th centuries that constitute the main body of modern Western philosophy, religious or otherwise.

What could stoneware pottery, eagles, ants, salt, and the Magi possibly have in common? According to author Greg Hinnant, they each teach invaluable lessons about God’s top priority for Christians—maturing us and conforming us to the image of His Son. Word Portraits: Five Illustrations of the Mature Christian combines relevant research and insightful Bible teaching to “paint” five colorful, detailed portrayals of mature Christians. Specifically, these portrayals describe: redeemed, enduring vessels of honor; New Testament wise men and women; high-flying eagle Christians; Christians who follow the wise ways of ants; and indispensable, “salt of the earth” Christians. If you do not want God to change you, you do not want this book. But if you do, this inspiring book offers fascinating facts, thought-provoking Bible expositions, and probing questions that will stir you to rise and seek life’s highest good and, ultimately, the only goal worth pursuing—to be like Jesus!

Is the Trinity biblical? Is it necessary to affirm God as three persons in one being? Despite a renewed interest in the Trinity in recent years, many Christians, including most evangelicals, either relegate the Son of God to creaturely status or repudiate the personhood of the Holy Spirit. In addition, numerous scholars affirm that the doctrine of the Trinity is not clearly revealed in Scripture. Is the Trinity merely a philosophical construction, or is it essential to orthodox Christianity? Drawing on hermeneutics and biblical and historical theology, Malcolm Yarnell crafts a careful and clear response to these issues through exegesis of pivotal texts from both testaments. He meticulously examines the foundational Hebrew confession known as the Shema, Matthew's great commission, the divine relations in the Gospel of John, Paul's Corinthian benediction, the opening hymn of Ephesians, and the throne room vision of the Apocalypse. Also considered are the relationships of language to revelation and history to metaphysics, along with recent appeals to recover patristic exegesis and the Christian imagination. He also challenges the reader to discern the implications of the Trinity for personal salvation as well as corporate worship.

Mark McEntire continues the story begun in Portraits of a Mature God, extending his narrative beyond the conclusion of the Hebrew Bible as Israel and Israel’s God moved into the Hellenistic world. The “narrative” McEntire perceives in the apocryphal literature describes a God protecting and guiding the scattered and persecuted, a God responding to suffering in revolt, and a God disclosing mysteries, yet also hidden in the symbolism of dreams and visions. McEntire here provides a coherent and compelling account of theological perspectives in the writings of Hellenistic Judaism.

What is God like? Answering this is the great quest of human existence. Because God is so different from us, we struggle to describe him. While doctrinal statements about God certainly have their place in Christian understanding, the Bible more often uses God's actions and roles to help us know him better. Indeed, some of the most helpful insights in Scripture arise when God is compared to something else: a rock, an eagle or a tower. And many "human" metaphors--metaphors taken from the world of actions and relationships--bring us even closer to understanding of God. In Portraits of God, Allan Coppedge suggests we look carefully at God as our Father, Redeemer, King, Judge, Priest and Creator. These portraits taken together give us an understaning of the Holy One for which no single category is adequate. These images work their way through the whole of Scripture. They are the doorway allowing us into the mysteries of God's very being. In Portraits of God, Coppedge offers a comprehensive survey, picturing a God who wants to be known personally and who has profoundly communicated himself. Coppedge finds the inexhaustible nature of God to be one of holiness reflected in and best described by the language of diverse roles. Approaching God in this way transforms us, as churches and individuals, to reflect God's own holy character. This is a book for students, pastors and churchgoers alike. Anyone desiring to know more deeply and wholly the Christian God revealed in the Bible will find in Portraits of God a treasure of scholarship and truth.

Why isn't life everything we expected it to be? And why doesn't our faith resolve our frustrations and problems? Kevin Myers, the founding pastor of 12Stone Church, a congregation of more than 30,000 active attenders near Atlanta, believes the reason we don't experience a transformed life is that we fail to grow up spiritually. We focus on developing physically, intellectually, emotionally, and financially, yet our faith remains immature and anemic. In this powerful new book, Myers offers a deep yet simple roadmap to a grown-up faith through understanding the whole context of the Bible, developing spiritual intimacy with God, and gratefully embracing holy obedience. As you understand the Bible and the big picture of God's story with humanity, you begin to find answers to life's most compelling questions. As you begin to understand God more, your longing and ability to experience spiritual intimacy with him increases, as does your desire to obey what God asks of you and your ability to follow through. This is the way to the bigger life, a life even better than you expected--or even dreamed possible.

"Scott Shauf compares the portrayal of the divine in Acts with portrayals of the divine in other ancient historiographical writings, the latter including Jewish and wider Greco-Roman historiographical traditions. This book explores especially how the divine is represented as involved in history, the nature of divine retribution, the partiality or impartiality of the divine toward different sets of people, and the portrayal of divine control over seemingly purely natural and human events. Acts is shown to be engaging historiographical traditions of the author's own day but also contributing unique historiographical perspectives."--