In The Lost Meaning of the Seventh Day, Sigve K. Tonstad recovers the profound and foundational understanding of God that can be experienced in the seventh day. He shows that Scripture has consistently asserted that the Sabbath of Creation is the Sabbath of the whole story of how God makes right what has gone wrong in the world. Tonstad argues that the seventh day is the symbol of God¿s faithfulness precisely when God¿s presence seems to be in doubt. He demonstrates how God, through the seventh day, seeks the benefit of all creation. Inevitably, this leads to an investigation of how this universal symbol became obscured. This sweeping work of biblical theology and historical analysis traces the seventh day as it is woven throughout Scripture and the history of Christianity. Its twenty-seven chapters consider, among other things, the relationship of the seventh day to freedom, to social conscience, to the ¿greatest commandment,¿ and to the enigmatic ¿rest that remains.¿ Tonstad engages the move away from the seventh day in early Christian history, the mindset in medieval Christianity, and the sobering long-term implications leading all the way to the Holocaust and the ecological crises in our time. The Lost Meaning of the Seventh Day will engage, illuminate, provoke, and ultimately inspire readers who enjoy a serious work presented in a style that is ¿luminous¿ and a ¿delight to read.¿

The biblical story is about more than sin and salvation. It is about the creator's purposes and the fulfillment of those purposes in the climactic revelation of God's glory in Sabbath with creation. Christ Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the one through whom all things are created and all things are fulfilled. We are creatures made in God's image, called to develop and govern the earth in service to God. The exercise of human responsibility in this age plays a major part in the revelation of God's glory. Every vocation matters for creation's seventh-day fulfillment: family, friendships, worship, civic responsibility, and our work in every sphere of life. The Son of God became one with us. He died for sinners while they still rebelled, and he was raised to life as the last Adam--the life-giving Spirit of the age to come. Christ is reconciling all things to God, including all that belongs to the responsibility of God's sixth-day royal priesthood. That is why God's promise in Christ is that those who die in the Lord will rest from their labors and their deeds will follow them.

In the Fourth Commandment, God instructs us to observe the Sabbath and to withdraw temporarily from the stress and pressures of our secular activities. This books helps us understand the Sabbath as God's gift and an opportunity for each of us to renew ourselves and experience personal transformation. Step-by-step this guide shows how to observe the Sabbath in our homes each week and includes commentary on every potential ritual, prayer, and song. It should serve as both an introduction to and a program for designing one's own way of observing the Sabbath.

From the acclaimed author of Brothers and To Live: a major new novel that limns the joys and sorrows of life in contemporary China. Yang Fei was born on a moving train. Lost by his mother, adopted by a young switchman, raised with simplicity and love, he is utterly unprepared for the tempestuous changes that await him and his country. As a young man, he searches for a place to belong in a nation that is ceaselessly reinventing itself, but he remains on the edges of society. At age forty-one, he meets an accidental and unceremonious death. Lacking the money for a burial plot, he must roam the afterworld aimlessly, without rest. Over the course of seven days, he encounters the souls of the people he’s lost. As Yang Fei retraces the path of his life, we meet an extraordinary cast of characters: his adoptive father, his beautiful ex-wife, his neighbors who perished in the demolition of their homes. Traveling on, he sees that the afterworld encompasses all the casualties of today’s China—the organ sellers, the young suicides, the innocent convicts—as well as the hope for a better life to come. Yang Fei’s passage maps the contours of this vast nation—its absurdities, its sorrows, and its soul. Vivid, urgent, and panoramic, The Seventh Day affirms Yu Hua’s place as the standard-bearer of modern Chinese fiction.

When was the last time you heard a sermon on the theological importance of play? What do rest, eating, studying -- and sex -- have to do with the Kingdom of God? Strangely, although these activities together take up much of our time, they seldom receive much discussion from a biblical point of view. In The Rest of Life Ben Witherington explores these subjects in the light of biblical teaching about the Kingdom of God and the Christian hope for the future. He shows why and how all the normal activities of life should be done to the glory of God and for the edification of others. Focusing as it does on practical, everyday matters in an accessible style, this topical study is ideal for both individual reading and small-group discussion.

This Oxford Handbook contains 39 original essays on Seventh-day Adventism. Each chapter addresses the history, theology, and various other social and cultural aspects of Adventism from its inception up to the present as a major religious group spanning the globe.

One man’s quest to find the oldest Bible scrolls in the world and uncover the story of the brilliant, doomed antiquarian accused of forging them. In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira—archaeological treasure hunter and inveterate social climber—showed up unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the oldest copy of the Bible in the world. But before the museum could pony up his £1 million asking price for the scrolls—which discovery called into question the divine authorship of the scriptures—Shapira’s nemesis, the French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced the manuscripts, turning the public against him. Distraught over this humiliating public rebuke, Shapira fled to the Netherlands and committed suicide. Then, in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Noting the similarities between these and Shapira’s scrolls, scholars made efforts to re-examine Shapira’s case, but it was too late: the primary piece of evidence, the parchment scrolls themselves had mysteriously vanished. Tigay, journalist and son of a renowned Biblical scholar, was galvanized by this peculiar story and this indecipherable man, and became determined to find the scrolls. He sets out on a quest that takes him to Australia, England, Holland, Germany where he meets Shapira’s still aggrieved descendants and Jerusalem where Shapira is still referred to in the present tense as a “Naughty boy”. He wades into museum storerooms, musty English attics, and even the Jordanian gorge where the scrolls were said to have been found all in a tireless effort to uncover the truth about the scrolls and about Shapira, himself. At once historical drama and modern-day mystery, The Lost Book of Moses explores the nineteenth-century disappearance of Shapira’s scrolls and Tigay's globetrotting hunt for the ancient manuscript. As it follows Tigay’s trail to the truth, the book brings to light a flamboyant, romantic, devious, and ultimately tragic personality in a story that vibrates with the suspense of a classic detective tale.

Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Managing Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary