Life is hard . . . then you die. It’s as simple as that. Dead bodies stay dead. So in this modern, scientific age, how can any reasonable person possibly believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead? Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy turned out to be myths. How is Jesus’s Resurrection any different? How can there possibly be any credible evidence for an event that happened two thousand years ago? The resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in the history of the world—if it’s true. If Jesus did rise, then he is God, the ultimate reality itself. In him, you can find the meaning of life, the secret of happiness, and the way to eternal life. Raising Jesus provides the evidence to show that it really is true. In this era of “alternative facts,” Raising Jesus relies on the most balanced and up-to-date scholarship to shed trustworthy new insights into the evidence. It does this in an easy-to-follow, systematic way using engaging illustrations to reveal the logic of complex arguments. Most importantly, it deals head on with the biggest problem most people in our modern, scientific age have with the resurrection: the philosophical objection that dead people simply don’t come back from the dead. Raising Jesus ultimately shows how believing Jesus rose from the dead is, in fact, the most reasonable conclusion you can make.

A landmark in the conversation about race and religion in America. "They put him to death by hanging him on a tree." Acts 10:39 The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning. While the lynching tree symbolized white power and "black death," the cross symbolizes divine power and "black life" God overcoming the power of sin and death. For African Americans, the image of Jesus, hung on a tree to die, powerfully grounded their faith that God was with them, even in the suffering of the lynching era. In a work that spans social history, theology, and cultural studies, Cone explores the message of the spirituals and the power of the blues; the passion and of Emmet Till and the engaged vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.; he invokes the spirits of Billie Holliday and Langston Hughes, Fannie Lou Hamer and Ida B. Well, and the witness of black artists, writers, preachers, and fighters for justice. And he remembers the victims, especially the 5,000 who perished during the lynching period. Through their witness he contemplates the greatest challenge of any Christian theology to explain how life can be made meaningful in the face of death and injustice.

"In one of the Book of Mormon's most magisterial passages, the lord of a vineyard looks over his beloved olive trees with great sorrow and strives to redeem them. This parable symbolizes Jesus Christ's labors to save not only individual souls, but an entire world. Perhaps more than any other Book of Mormon prophet, Jacob manifests the same divine anxiety, having been born in a 'wild wilderness' and inheriting the task of uniting a divided people."--Inside front cover.

The meaning of Jesus's execution on a Roman cross is one of the most divisive issues in contemporary theological discourse because issues related to the goodness of God and the place of suffering in the Christian life are at stake. Although it is important to locate that discussion in the context of the range of New Testament perspectives on the soteriological significance of the cross, it is also important that we recover the meaning of the cross as a metaphor for discipleship. In the end, the event of Jesus’s death cannot be understood apart from the character of his life. This book will contribute to New Testament studies but also serve related discussions in theology and Christian formation. Reframing New Testament Theology is a series that fulfills the need for brief, substantive, yet highly accessible introductions to central questions and themes raised by study of the New Testament. A significant defining question will serve as the point of departure and will frame the discussion. Students will be drawn into an active, theological engagement with the New Testament and related materials by the subsequent analysis.

For centuries symbols have been used as a means of identification, often in an immediate, compact and powerful way. For some 2,000 years Christianity has had a symbol that is universally recognized - a simple cross. Yet the cross represents not the character, life or teaching of the founder of Christianity, but the gruesome way in which he was put to death while still in his early thirties. For millions today a cross has become little more than a charm or good luck bracelet, tattooed on their bodies or worn as jewellery. The huge gap between the original event and the current symbol therefore raises some massive questions: Why has the symbol remained so universally popular? Was there anything unique about the crucifixion of Jesus? Why was he put to death? What difference can it make to me today? Here is a booklet that answers all these questions - and many more.

A rhyming text consisting of questions about the meaning of the cross that is seen in churches and about how Jesus must have felt explains how it fit into God's plan, what happened to Jesus, and what part it has in the life of Christians.

Few treatments of the death of Jesus Christ have made a point of accounting for the gruesome, degrading, public manner of his death by crucifixion, a mode of execution so loathsome that the ancient Romans never spoke of it in polite society. Rutledge probes all the various themes and motifs used by the New Testament evangelists and apostolic writers to explain the meaning of the cross of Christ. She shows how each of the biblical themes contributes to the whole, with the Christus Victor motif and the concept of substitution sharing pride of place along with Irenaeus's recapitulation model.

Christians worldwide have been blessing themselves with the sign of the cross for centuries. But few who use this simple, familiar gesture know its impact as a powerful prayer. Author Bert Ghezzi shows how this potent prayer engages the Holy Spirit and affirms Christian identity. With insights derived from Scripture, church teachings, and personal experience, Ghezzi encourages people to utilize this powerful sign in their daily life. Drawing on the fascinating history of the sign of the cross, Ghezzi reveals six dynamic truths of the spiritual life that God gives. The Sign of the Cross brings forth an opening to God, renewal of baptism, mark of discipleship, acceptance of suffering, defense agains the devil, and victory over self-indulgence. This inspirational book brings to life the blessings of this ancient prayer and guides Christians to a renewed experience of God.

"The Cross Before The Watching World" takes a realistic look at the rapidly disintegrating society and asks questions about moral collapse.