Books in the Wycliffe Studies in Gospel, Church, and Culture series

Close our eyes and most of us can recite the Lord''s Prayer by heart. It is as familiar as childhood memories. In some church traditions, we say the prayer together nearly every week, as a community standing before God. We call on those so familiar words and the comfort and direction they offer. The comfort that God is holy, that his kingdom is coming, that he provides just enough, and that he can protect us from ourselves and from evil. The direction that we are to worship him, that we are part of this kingdom-coming work, that we have the discipline of forgiveness as almost a daily task, and that we are vulnerable to temptation, so being on guard is a fine idea.The Wycliffe College faculty featured in this book take the Lord''s Prayer line by line and excavate it for its forgotten meaning and its neglected treasure. Each brief essay, pondering each line of this foundational prayer, guides us more deeply into the very things the Lord''s Prayer requests: a sense of God''s holiness, a sense of our own truest selves--broken and redeemed--and a glimpse of his kingdom, coming.""Don''t let the commonness of the title--The Lord''s Prayer--fail to hold your attention. Scholars with a warm and humorous touch bring into our conversation the very heart of the Gospel. I love its two-level input: as a guide in devotional prayer, and as a teacher/preacher utilizing its golden insights. Pick up multiple copies, making them special gifts to friends who, like me, need a refresher on what Jesus gave in modeling prayer.""--Brian C. Stiller, Global Ambassador, World Evangelical Alliance""Traditionally, Christian formation involved memorization of the Lord''s Prayer. Mere rote? Hardly. This series of sermons by the Wycliffe College faculty shows how rich and laden the prayer is with Christology and ecclesiology, and from these, with spiritual direction and cultural critique. This short book is highly appropriate for parish adult education or group devotion.""--George Sumner, Episcopal Bishop of Dallas""In an increasingly complex and fragmented world, The Lord''s Prayer takes us back to spiritual ground zero--rooting us in the fundamentals of faith and prayer. Karen Stiller deftly edits various reflections of a well-known and often assumed prayer in such a way that we can engage, interact, and learn. There is a consistency throughout these brief essays that serves the praying person living in an inconsistent world."" --Barry Parker, Rector, St. Paul''s Bloor Street, TorontoKaren Stiller is a senior editor of Faith Today magazine, freelance writer, and general editor of Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century, and co-author of Shifting Stats Shaking the Church: 40 Canadian Churches Respond and Going Missional: Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches Who Have Embraced Missional Life.

An idol is a good thing. It is good because God created it. Nothing exists that God did not create and God created all things good. So sex can be an idol, but before it was an idol it was a good creation of God. Materialism is an idol, but to have a material world was God's idea in the first place. Workaholism is an idol, but work is itself a good gift of God. What turns these good gifts of God into idols is what we have done with them. So we have common forms of idolatry expressed in consumerism, individualism, narcissism, careerism, and hedonism; while there are less familiar expressions found in omnism, fatalism, Gnosticism, relativism, positivism, and reductionism. We have put these and other things on a pedestal and made them into mini-gods. In the end they fail to deliver what they promise.These twelve mediations on a scriptural passage by faculty members of Wycliffe College, Toronto, emphasize that the good news is that God can redeem idols. Each one can be restored to its proper place in God's created order and placed under God's authority. ""In Confronting the Idols of Our Age, the 'isms' of our era are addressed from the perspectives of the whole range of a theological faculty, each in his or her own unique voice. It offers a clear, coherent, and evangelically informed critique, while the wit and personal address of the seminary sermon seems an especially appropriate medium for the subject. It would be well suited for a lay audience thinking about the Gospel and postmodern culture, and I commend it highly.""--George W. Sumner, Episcopal bishop of DallasThomas P. Power is Adjunct Professor of Church History and Theological Librarian, Wycliffe College, Toronto.

The Word of God as it has been received by the church has embedded in it dozens of songs. Each of these songs has a story to tell us about God and God''s people. In brief meditations, twelve faculty at Wycliffe College explore Songs of Scripture in this volume to answer the questions ""Why do Scriptures tell us to sing? What are we to sing? What does singing make of us?"" Each of these meditations will give you a new appreciation for God''s gift of songs. By singing the words of Scripture, we tune our hearts to God''s song.""In recent decades, much has been written on the importance of the Psalms in worship and private devotion. In contrast, the Canticles have been relatively neglected. This collection of sermons is a timely reminder of their importance in worship, and expounds their original setting set out their message for today. All those involved in the theology of worship will find this collection extremely valuable.""--Bryan D. Spinks, Professor, Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School""Come, Let Us Sing to the Lord is a wonderful collection of sermons that remind us the songs of the church are the songs of scripture. We would be wise to absorb well this complete collection along with its individual parts, and use them to create the foundation of an acoustical theology for the church''s song in the twenty-first century.""--Eric Mathis, Director, Center for Worship and the ArtsKatherine Kennedy Steiner teaches liturgy and music at Wycliffe College. Her research is on music and liturgy in the medieval church, for which she received a Mellon Fellowship at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, working on her book project, The Second City: Notre Dame Polyphony and English Liturgy at St Andrews Cathedral.

Redemption and Relationship is an edited collection of essays written by Wycliffe College faculty, originating as homilies within the morning prayer chapel service. Each meditation follows the narrative in the book of Exodus, centering on two principal aspects of Israel's experience with Yhwh during this significant period in its national life: their redemption from Egypt and their discovery of Yhwh's identity through their relationship with him. At the end of each meditation the reader will find several questions which help facilitate further reflections for one's devotional life or a small group setting.Andrew C. Witt (PhD, University of St. Michael's College) is an adjunct professor at Wycliffe College in Toronto, ON, and has taught courses on the Psalms, the Old Testament, and Biblical Hebrew.

How can we live in the world without falling either to the dangerous pitfalls of Christian legalism or the lure of unbridled hedonism, especially in a generation that rejects most formal expressions of Christianity? Saint Paul suggests that there is only one way--to walk in step with the Spirit, while bearing the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives. Because this is a daily process, one fraught with success and failure, the following volume of essays seek to articulate how the Christian can prepare themselves for life in the Spirit, following Paul's admonition to "keep in step with the Spirit" (Gal 5:25) as we move closer and closer to meeting our Lord.The Visible Shape of Christ Life in Us: Meditations on the Fruit of the Spirit is a collection of essays originally preached in the Founders Chapel of Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, in the fall semester of 2018. Originally intended for a diverse audience of students, faculty, and professional clergy, these essays represent the best of Anglican theological insight in the context of the greater Christian community. They are intended for personal reflection, and daily devotion--a welcoming, accessible addition to any theological collection.

Beginning with the desires of our hearts and ending with the priesthood of all believers, this series of meditations traces a path through some central concerns of the Reformation. Along this path, the authors, all faculty at Wycliffe College, engage with biblical passages which were important at that time and remain just as vital today in working out what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be the people of God. It seems appropriate, given the central place Scripture had for the reformers, that we should follow their lead in looking to the Bible in the context of the life of the church. While some church communities enthusiastically proclaim their Reformation roots, others look askance at particular reformers and seek to distance themselves from the whole of the Reformation. Yet the Reformation is not an era we in the West can simply ignore; it is bred in our bones, runs through our veins, and shapes our life together in myriad ways. These meditations are not simply historical explorations or an exercise in documenting past events. Rather, the authors grapple with questions which we continue to struggle with today--questions of faith and grace, sin and salvation, work and worship. These meditations will provoke discussion and broaden our theological understanding while guiding us into a deeper understanding of the faith.""This anthology of sermons draws us into the heart of the Reformation. The reader can hear the voices of the Wycliffe Faculty as they eloquently and elegantly address the salient thoughts of the Reformers. Ranging from diverse themes, such as the Law/Gospel dichotomy, idolatry, grace, the priesthood of believers, the primacy of Scripture, and the absence of God, they bring the Word itself nearer to us all. A faithful compendium and an engaging read.""--Andrew Stirling, Senior Minister, Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto""The Word Is Near You brings the Protestant Reformation's unique emphasis on Scripture out of history's archives and close to home. By rediscovering the Reformation with all its strengths and weaknesses, we who are its children will better understand ourselves and what God is saying now. This fresh, insightful, multifaceted read will assist us in listening with greater discernment to God's voice and in speaking God's word with increased clarity in the church and society today.""--Paul Louis Metzger, Professor of Theology & Culture, Multnomah University & SeminaryPeter M.B. Robinson is the Professor of Proclamation, Worship, and Ministry at Wycliffe College.

The Word of God as it has been received by the church has embedded in it dozens of songs. Each of these songs has a story to tell us about God and God''s people. In brief meditations, twelve faculty at Wycliffe College explore Songs of Scripture in this volume to answer the questions ""Why do Scriptures tell us to sing? What are we to sing? What does singing make of us?"" Each of these meditations will give you a new appreciation for God''s gift of songs. By singing the words of Scripture, we tune our hearts to God''s song.""In recent decades, much has been written on the importance of the Psalms in worship and private devotion. In contrast, the Canticles have been relatively neglected. This collection of sermons is a timely reminder of their importance in worship, and expounds their original setting set out their message for today. All those involved in the theology of worship will find this collection extremely valuable.""--Bryan D. Spinks, Professor, Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School""Come, Let Us Sing to the Lordis a wonderful collection of sermons that remind us the songs of the church are the songs of scripture.We would be wise to absorb well this complete collection along with its individual parts, and use them to create the foundation of an acoustical theology for the church''s song in the twenty-first century.""--Eric Mathis, Director, Center for Worship and the ArtsKatherine Kennedy Steiner teaches liturgy and music at Wycliffe College. Her research is on music and liturgy in the medieval church, for which she received a Mellon Fellowship at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, working on her book project, The Second City: Notre Dame Polyphony and English Liturgy at St Andrews Cathedral.

This book contains twelve meditations on the New Testament book of Revelation, written by theologians, biblical scholars, historians, and clergy. In short, easy-to-read selections that are profound and relevant to life, the meditations--along with three or four accompanying questions--help the reader engage more deeply with the Scripture passage. Given the potential challenges of this final book of the Christian canon, these meditations help the reader find a way to enter in and experience more fully what John, the author of the Apocalypse, wanted us to hear and see.""A facile criticism of seminaries is that their abstract theologizing seems distant from our concrete problems. Behold, I Am Coming Soon belies such effectively. It confronts the off-putting sense many have of Revelation. It offers concise exegetical insights. It shows how it witnesses in its own way to doctrines like grace and justification. Its words about heaven and God''s time offer spiritual refreshment. In sum, the book embodies what the oft-used term ''integration'' was reaching for. It will be read with profit by academic and lay audiences alike.""--George R. Sumner, episcopal bishop of DallasMari Leesment is a teaching fellow at Wycliffe College, in the Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto. She is currently completing her PhD in New Testament.

This book contains twelve meditations on the New Testament book of Revelation, written by theologians, biblical scholars, historians, and clergy. In short, easy-to-read selections that are profound and relevant to life, the meditations--along with three or four accompanying questions--help the reader engage more deeply with the Scripture passage. Given the potential challenges of this final book of the Christian canon, these meditations help the reader find a way to enter in and experience more fully what John, the author of the Apocalypse, wanted us to hear and see.""A facile criticism of seminaries is that their abstract theologizing seems distant from our concrete problems. Behold, I Am Coming Soon belies such effectively. It confronts the off-putting sense many have of Revelation. It offers concise exegetical insights. It shows how it witnesses in its own way to doctrines like grace and justification. Its words about heaven and God''s time offer spiritual refreshment. In sum, the book embodies what the oft-used term ''integration'' was reaching for. It will be read with profit by academic and lay audiences alike.""--George R. Sumner, episcopal bishop of DallasMari Leesment is a teaching fellow at Wycliffe College, in the Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto. She is currently completing her PhD in New Testament.