How do the arts in worship form individuals and communities? Every choice of art in worship opens up and closes down possibilities for the formation of our humanity. Every practice of music, every decision about language, every use of our bodies, every approach to visual media or church buildings forms our desires, shapes our imaginations, habituates our emotional instincts, and reconfigures our identity as Christians in contextually meaningful ways, generating thereby a sense of the triune God and of our place in the world. Glimpses of the New Creation argues that the arts form us in worship by bringing us into intentional and intensive participation in the aesthetic aspect of our humanity—that is, our physical, emotional, imaginative, and metaphorical capacities. In so doing they invite the people of God to be conformed to Christ and to participate in the praise of Christ and in the praise of creation, which by the Spirit’s power raises its peculiar voice to the Father in heaven, for the sake of the world that God so loves.

Creation and the new creation are inextricably bound, for the God who created the world is the same God who promises a new heaven and a new earth. Bringing together theologians, biblical scholars, and artists, this volume based on the DITA10 conference at Duke Divinity School explores how the relation between creation and the new creation is informed by and reflected in the arts.

In keeping with the Scriptural witness and the theological heritage, this remarkable book examines the doctrine of creation alongside new creation. The connection between the two - creation and new creation - has drawn renewed attention in the last several decades; but the burden of Sean McDonough's argument is that this emphasis on creation and new creation has been a feature of the doctrine since the beginning, whether in the eschatological reading of Genesis 1 that predominated at least until early modern times, or the intertwining of the narratives of creation and redemption in thinkers from Irenaeus to Barth. Whilst covering the traditional elements of the doctrine, McDonough treats the important subject with a special emphasis on how these unfold in the story of what Gunton has called God's "creation project".

From a world-renowned painter, an exploration of creativity’s quintessential—and often overlooked—role in the spiritual life “Makoto Fujimura’s art and writings have been a true inspiration to me. In this luminous book, he addresses the question of art and faith and their reconciliation with a quiet and moving eloquence.”—Martin Scorsese “[An] elegant treatise . . . Fujimura’s sensitive, evocative theology will appeal to believers interested in the role religion can play in the creation of art.”—Publishers Weekly Conceived over thirty years of painting and creating in his studio, this book is Makoto Fujimura’s broad and deep exploration of creativity and the spiritual aspects of “making.” What he does in the studio is theological work as much as it is aesthetic work. In between pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer, and praise. Ranging from the Bible to T. S. Eliot, and from Mark Rothko to Japanese Kintsugi technique, he shows how unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God’s being and God’s grace permeating our lives. This poignant and beautiful book offers the perspective of, in Christian Wiman’s words, “an accidental theologian,” one who comes to spiritual questions always through the prism of art.

‘This is Wright at his best – exegete, theologian, churchman, and public intellectual rolled into one.’ Miroslav Volf ‘Wright’s crowning achievement.’ John Cottingham Building on his critically acclaimed Gifford Lectures, N. T. Wright presents a richly nuanced case for a theology based on a renewed understanding of historical knowledge. The question of 'natural theology' interlocks with the related questions of how we can conceive of God acting in the world, and of why, if God is God, the world is full of evil. Can specific events in history, like those reported in the Gospels, afford the necessary point from which to answer such questions? Widely shared cultural and philosophical assumptions have conditioned our understanding of history in ways that make the idea of divine action in history problematic. But could better historical study itself win from ancient Jewish and Christian cosmology and eschatology a renewed way of understanding the relationship between God and the world? N. T. Wright argues that this can indeed be done, and in this ground-breaking book he develops a distinctive approach to natural theology grounded in what he calls an 'epistemology of love'. This approach arises from his reflection on the significance of the ancient concept of the 'new creation' for our understanding the reality of the world, the reality of God and their relation to one another.

In this illuminating festschrift, sixteen well-known evangelical scholars celebrate the work of a man who has greatly contributed to Evangelical biblical scholarship as we know it today. G. K. Beale is renowned for his studies that explore how the writers of the New Testament used the Old Testament Scriptures in their letters, Gospels, narrative, and apocalypse. These collected essays, written by both colleagues and former students, reveal the immense appreciation that he has garnered among scholars and exegetes of all kinds.

The Methods of Grace is a through outline of the work of God's Spirit within the redemptive work of Christ. John Flavel delivers a defined theology, in the Puritan tradition, with great with evangelistic fervor. It is a work that has ..".taught thousands how to commit the keeping of their souls to Christ." John Flavel was an English Presbyterian clergyman, puritan, and author educated at home and the University of Oxford. He was ordained as a Presbyterian, later a Congregationalist. Later as a nonconformist he was ejected during the Great Ejection of 1662. After the Declaration of Indulgence 1687, he became a minister of a Nonconformist Church there. He was a prolific and popular author. Among his works are Keeping the Heart, The Fountain of Life, The Mystery of Providence.

Princeton theologian Bernhard Anderson explores the historical, mythopoeic, and theological dimensions of classic Old Restament reflections on the motif of creation. The result is an abundance of fresh insight and compelling exegesis that have implications for human life and thought today.

What does it mean to grow old? What makes later life meaningful? What gives a frail and isolated or institutionalised older person their sense of wholeness and self? This substantially updated new edition of Elizabeth MacKinlay's seminal text presents the latest theory and research to explore these questions in depth, pointing the way towards new ways of thinking about and engaging with the spirituality of ageing. Encompassing the findings of a new research study on baby boomer spirituality, the book presents a wider and more comprehensive view of ageing and spirituality, concluding that spirituality for the baby boomer generation is every bit as important as for the cohorts before them, but also fundamentally different, with fewer being practicing members of a religious faith. Drawing on in-depth interviews with older people, and containing many new ideas whilst also addressing the foundational theories and questions essential to scholarship in this field, the book also includes a new and timely chapter on the spirituality of older people in our increasingly multicultural and multifaith societies. This clear and practical text presents much-needed guidance for health and social care practitioners, chaplains, clergy and others seeking to identify and support the spiritual needs of older people, as well as students and researchers in related disciplines.

From a world-renowned painter, an exploration of creativity’s quintessential—and often overlooked—role in the spiritual life “Makoto Fujimura’s art and writings have been a true inspiration to me. In this luminous book, he addresses the question of art and faith and their reconciliation with a quiet and moving eloquence.”—Martin Scorsese “[An] elegant treatise . . . Fujimura’s sensitive, evocative theology will appeal to believers interested in the role religion can play in the creation of art.”—Publishers Weekly Conceived over thirty years of painting and creating in his studio, this book is Makoto Fujimura’s broad and deep exploration of creativity and the spiritual aspects of “making.” What he does in the studio is theological work as much as it is aesthetic work. In between pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer, and praise. Ranging from the Bible to T. S. Eliot, and from Mark Rothko to Japanese Kintsugi technique, he shows how unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God’s being and God’s grace permeating our lives. This poignant and beautiful book offers the perspective of, in Christian Wiman’s words, “an accidental theologian,” one who comes to spiritual questions always through the prism of art.