Explores Blake's esoteric and religious influences

Approaching myth as the structuring principle of intentionality, Wonders Divine: The Development of Blake's Kabbalistic Myth analyzes the evolution of William Blake's myth in the illuminated books. With numerous reproductions of the visual and references to the verbal art, Spector traces the profound shift that occurred in Blake's subjective consciousness from the earliest prose tracts through the final prophecy, Jerusalem.

Wonder, a topic of perennial Christian interest, draws us into fundamental questions about God and the things of God. In God and Wonder: Theology, Imagination, and the Arts, internationally recognized theologians, artists, and ministers weigh in on the place of wonder in Christian thought, attending to the ways that wonder informs our thinking about the arts, imagination, the church, creation, and the task of theology. What is the place of wonder in the Christian life? How can a theology of imagination contribute to our understanding of God and the world? What does wonder have to do with the life of the church in preaching, teaching, and worship? How might reflection on wonder enhance our understanding of place, vocation, and family? In God and Wonder readers enter a rich and insightful conversation about how cultivating wonder and the gift of imagination can revitalize our understanding of the world.

This one-of-a-kind reference volume provides focused study on the often-neglected portions of the New Testament: Acts, Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation. Expert contributors present more information than any other single work—dealing exclusively with the theology, literature, background, and scholarship of the later New Testament and the apostolic church.

This book relates the value present in the natural world and in human creativity to an underlying purpose which it traces in creation. It opens by invoking the wonder aroused by nature's value and celebrated by poets, and moves to a cosmic purpose as the best explanation of this value. Natural evils are considered and set in their evolutionary context. Human creativity is later related to inspiration, and to traditional theistic teaching about the purpose of human life. Criticisms of "the value approach" are considered, together with the quest for meaning, and fears that Darwinism undermines it, which are found to be illusory. New ground is broken through this response to the spectre of bleakness. The author's previous studies of meaningful work are applied to the question of the nature of a worthwhile life and life's meaning. While the world's value is argued to point to creation by a transcendent lover of value, human beings are shown to be capable of augmenting that value through their creativity (not least through activities such as craftsmanship and gardening). In integrating the themes of value, creativity and purpose, the book contributes a new synthesis to the literature of philosophy, environmental studies and theology.

Through a systematic analysis of the conflicts emerging when the public church encounters the public world, The Scandal of Pentecost argues that the public advent of the church stands in continuity with the public scandal of the incarnate and crucified Christ. The book traces the contours of this scandal in the confrontation of the dominant ruling hermeneutic of authority with a Christian hermeneutic of resistance. This highlights the brokenness of the human condition manifested by the church in the drunkenness of the disciples, the speaking in other tongues, the baptism with the Spirit, the empowerment of the flesh, and its public witness to a scandalized world. The effects of the scandal transform both the disciples' individual and communal witness and their public recognition as the church. Through the lens of a symbolic hermeneutic, the public witness of the church at Pentecost reveals a Christian scandal of anthropological proportions: with the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh the church emerges as the symbol of humanity.

What if you could have a conversation with Jesus Himself? What would He say to you? That's the concept of the classic devotional God Calling, which has encouraged, challenged, and informed millions of readers around the world. Its daily entries continue to speak to readers today as it first did almost seventy years ago—and now, this Christian classic is presented in a full-color gift edition featuring bonus prayers, poems, and questions for further thought. Containing the complete, unabridged text of God Calling, this handsome new edition promises an entire year’s inspiration.

The Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics is an essential resource for anyone seeking to defend the Christian faith with clarity and confidence. This comprehensive volume offers in-depth explanations of key topics and arguments within the field of apologetics, making it an invaluable tool for pastors, teachers, students, and laypeople alike. Organized alphabetically for easy reference, each entry addresses significant theological issues, common objections, and the core truths of Christianity. Whether you're responding to questions about the existence of God, the reliability of Scripture, or contemporary challenges such as atheism and moral relativism, this encyclopedia provides biblically grounded, logically sound, and practically applicable answers. With over 220 books authored, Edward D. Andrews draws from his extensive experience and study to offer readers well-researched and scripturally supported content. The Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics not only equips you to answer critics but also deepens your understanding of the Christian worldview and strengthens your faith. In a world where questions about faith and truth are more pressing than ever, this encyclopedia is a trusted guide to help you stand firm in the truth and proclaim the gospel boldly.

In 2012 Dr. Marina Marin Pradel, an archivist at the Bayerische Stattsbibliotek in Munich, discovered that a thick 12th-century Byzantine manuscript, Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, contained twenty-nine of Origen’s Homilies on the Psalms, hitherto considered lost. Lorenzo Perrone of the University of Bologna, an internationally respected scholar of Origen, vouched for the identification and immediately began work on the scholarly edition that appeared in 2015 as the thirteenth volume of Origen’s works in the distinguished Griechische Christlichen Schrifsteller series. In an introductory essay Perrone provided proof that the homilies are genuine and demonstrated that they are, astonishingly, his last known work. Live transcripts, these collection homilies constitute our largest collection of actual Christian preaching from the pre-Constantinian period. In these homilies, the final expression of his mature thought, Origen displays, more fully than elsewhere, his understanding of the church and of deification as the goal of Christian life. They also give precious insights into his understanding of the incarnation and of human nature. They are the earliest example of early Christian interpretation of the Psalms, works at the heart of Christian spirituality. Historians of biblical interpretation will find in them the largest body of Old Testament interpretation surviving in his own words, not filtered through ancient translations into Latin that often failed to convey his intense philological acumen. Among other things, they give us new insights into the life of a third-century Greco-Roman metropolis, into Christian/Jewish relations, and into Christian worship. This translation, using the GCS as its basis, seeks to convey, as faithfully as possible, Origen’s own categories of thought. An introduction and notes relate the homilies to the theology and principles of interpretation in Origen’s larger work and to that work’s intellectual context and legacy.