Books published by Leafwood Publishers & Acu Press

Few people have made a larger contribution to the ongoing life and health of Churches of Christ around the world than Charles Siburt. During his twenty-four years at Abilene Christian University, Siburt oversaw some fifty DMin theses- a capstone experience designed to recount best practices in congregational life. Rooted in Dr. Siburt's conviction that good theology makes a difference in the lives of people, The Effective Practice of Ministry is a collection of thirteen of those research projects, covering the most critical topics facing churches today: spiritual formation, leadership development, catechesis, preaching, and missional initiatives in the larger community. In honor of Dr. Siburt, this anthology is meant to inspire and encourage effective, embodied praxis in the ministry of the church.

Imago Dei brings together a collection of poets who merge faith, literature, and art as a form of worship and inspiration. An anthology of the best poems published in the journal Christianity and Literature over the past sixty years, Imago Dei brings together in one volume poetry which exemplifies the richness and variety of the art. These poems find beauty in the concrete and particular, but they also ask the big questions: Why do we exist? Who is God? Where do we find God? What does the Incarnation mean? When does God speak to us, and why is God silent? These poets all have in common an awareness of human experience as part of a grand narrative, of the imago dei embedded in human nature, and of the sense of connection to something much larger than themselves. These are poems written from within a theological tradition, though they are not necessarily traditional in form or expression. They upset the usual in their originality; they are worded words, connected to our earthly life but pointed toward the Kingdom of God; they are redemptive words made flesh. Included in the over one hundred poets represented here are Wendell Berry, Mark Jarmon, Jeanne Murray Walker, Dana Gioa, Martha Serpas, Luci Shaw, and Robert Siegel. All of the poets in this collection grapple with what Imago Dei means for them as readers, writers, artists, teachers, and students.

The Rochester College Sermon Seminar and the series of books it has inspired have been built on the conviction that Christian preaching today needs revision. Such reforming begins with a close and faithful reading of Scripture, an engagement so serious that the world of Scripture ultimately sets agendas and invents expectations for meaningful life...In this present volume, too, we wish to grant the book of Hebrews the opportunity to pull all of us into the world it envisions, allowing it the power to judge, convict, and form us into a community God desires. This is not an easy task for several reasons, most notably the fact that the world of Hebrews is quite alien from our own...Like previous volumes in the Rochester Lectures on Preaching, the current work is divided into two parts. The first is a collection of four related essays meant to orient the reader to the world clearly conceived in Hebrews. The second half appropriates this orientation with sermons for particular Christian congregations. - Excerpts from David Fleer's Introduction

The context for this book is rooted in the life of the local church. We desire to integrate biblical scholarship and homiletical theory with the task of preaching Luke/Acts. Our prayer is that the responsible integration of these resources will increase the ability of the Holy Spirit to empower preachers for faithful proclamation of God's word. To that end we give God the glory. - From the editor's Introduction.

This is a follow-up to volume one. What did the second century Christian leaders say about The Early Christian Doctrine of Scripture, The Canon of the New Testament, The Muratorian Canon, Spiritual Gifts, Demons and Exorcism, Angels, Freedom of Religion, Great Women of the Ancient Church, plus many other chapters.

These studies in early church history cover various aspects of the church life of early Christians. They focus on the second century. What did the second century Christian leaders say about faith, baptism, infant baptism, worship services, the Lord's Supper, prayer, singing, church organization, mercy and the role of women? New Testament texts bearing on the topic are listed at the beginning of each chapter. We are talking about the same community of people, the same church, as existed in the New Testament. Such writings have an important bearing on the interpretation of the Scriptures.