Leading Southern Baptist and Evangelical scholars (R. Albert Mohler Jr., Ed Stetzer, Timothy George, etc.) discuss the most significant challenges within denominationalism and evangelicalism.

In this collection of essays, sixteen Southern Baptist leaders address key issues of theology, polity, and practice to ascertain the future of the Southern Baptist Convention in particular and evangelicalism in general.

The Southern Baptist Convention is currently facing issues that challenge its identity, heritage, and future. In The SBC and the 21st Century, Revised Edition, key leaders address critical issues such as: · Will the SBC grow more unified around shared convictions and mission or will it fragment over secondary concerns and tertiary doctrinal differences? · Will the SBC be able to maintain a distinct Baptist identity while engaging and partnering with the broader evangelical community? · Will the SBC be willing to reimagine its structures, programs, and efforts to effectively reach the world for Christ or will it risk being a past-tense denomination? This volume not only promotes meaningful dialogue, it calls leaders throughout the SBC into action. Extensive thought, research, assessment, and wisdom from some of the SBC’s brightest minds have been poured into this volume with the intent of rendering a helpful contribution to SBC life that will propel forward the collective work of Southern Baptists well into the 21st century.

This project addresses the influence and role of the Southern Baptist (SB) expository preaching methodology by examining the role of expository preaching, its innate characteristics, and its espousal by SB pastors and theologians in the twentieth century for influencing personal and social values and politics in the twenty-first century.

An essential new reference work for students and general readers interested in the history, dynamics, and influence of evangelicalism in recent American history, politics, and culture. What makes evangelical or "born-again" Christians different from those who identify themselves more simply as "Christian"? What percentage of Americans believe in the Rapture? How are evangelicalism and Baptism similar? What is the influence of evangelical religions on U.S. politics? Readers of Evangelical America: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Religious Culture will learn the answers to these questions and many more through this single-volume work's coverage of the many dimensions of and diversity within evangelicalism and through its documentation of the specific contributions evangelicals have made in American society and culture. It also illustrates the Evangelical movement's influence internationally in key issues such as human rights, environmentalism, and gender and sexuality.

Worship, Tradition, and Engagement is designed to honor the life, scholarship, and influence of Timothy George, the founding dean of Beeson Divinity School. Timothy George is one of the premier evangelical scholars and leading statesmen of this generation. This volume reflects on the many themes of Dean George's life and ministry, including theology, church history, gospel, church, worship, tradition, and engagement. The book, edited by David S. Dockery, James Earl Massey, and Robert Smith, Jr., includes essays by some of the most notable scholars and leaders of our day, including Kevin Vanhoozer, Robert P. George, Albert Mohler, Graham Cole, Gerald Bray, Elizabeth Newman, Richard Mouw, Thomas Guarino, Will Willimon, and several others. Each author makes a distinctive and significant contribution to this important project, bringing depth and breadth to this thematic volume designed to honor scholar and Christian leader, Timothy George.

A perennial challenge for theological education is the integration of what is learned in the classroom with students’ church life and ministry. Is there a connection? How can greater connection be fostered? Many seminaries earnestly wrestle with these questions. Whereas some of the underlying issues are common to all seminaries, others are influenced by the cultural context in which theological education, church life, and ministry take place. In additional to cultural factors, the history, lifestage, and current state of the church and of theological education are different in each context. The integration of theology, church, and ministry is crucial to the effectiveness of a Chinese seminary. The great need for theological education for Chinese Christian leaders has rightly been sounded and should continue to be, but simultaneously seminaries must think seriously about how to promote quality theological education. Beginning with a programmatic article by Dr. David Dockery, a leading proponent for effective integration, this book represents the efforts and reflection of experienced scholar-practitioners who work out a vision for integration in the context of a diaspora Chinese seminary in San Jose, California.

To borrow imagery from C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Timothy George’s perspective as a historical theologian is the wardrobe that we can walk through to get to Narnia, an exciting new place where we discover the wonderful works of Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther, Wesley, and many others. George is one of the most respected church historians, theologians, and Christian educators of our time. But how did this Baptist preacher from Tennessee become a premier church historian and follow in the footsteps of great historians like the Harvard scholar George Huntston Williams (who was a Unitarian), the Duke scholar David Steinmetz (who was a Methodist), and the Yale scholar Jaroslav Pelikan (who was a Lutheran and later Eastern Orthodox)? This book will uncover how each of these influences contributed to George’s eye-opening, heart-warming, and kingdom-advancing approach to the study of church history.

This volume offers a landmark analysis of the trinitarian impulses in contemporary worship music used by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC). It considers whether the lyrics from the most commonly used PAOC songs are consistent with this Evangelical group’s trinitarian statement of faith. Colin Gunton’s trinitarian theology provides the theological rationale for eight original and qualitative content analyses of these songs. Three major areas are considered—the doctrine of God, human personhood, and cosmology. Making use of Gunton’s notions of relationality, particularity, and perichoresis, along with several key Pentecostal scholars, this book serves as a helpful descriptive and prescriptive theological resource for the dynamic practice of a trinitarian faith.

Evangelical Christianity in the United States is currently in a dramatic state of change. Yet amidst this sometimes tumultuous religious environment a rather unique blend of both ancient and contemporary Christian theology has found its way into the hearts and minds of emerging generations of Christians. The Theology of Dallas Willard both describes and conveys the essence of this increasingly popular and perhaps mediating view of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Blending both a prophetic critique with pastoral encouragement, Willard's unique understanding of the reality present within a life lived as a disciple of Jesus in the kingdom of God is attracting both new and traditional Christians to reconsider their faith.