Books published by Pickwick Publications

Preaching has fallen on hard times with many questioning its relevance and even its validity as a New Testament practice. This symposium of specially commissioned essays draws together an international team of thirteen scholars and pastors to address the importance of textual preaching in the history and life of the early church, the historic church, and the contemporary church. Contributions include essays on Old Testament preaching, preaching in Hebrews, gender-sensitive preaching, preaching in the theology of Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and in Eastern Orthodoxy. It also includes essays on a range of homiletical challenges that textual preaching raises for the contemporary preacher, including genre, preaching without notes, inhabiting the text, and preaching without platitudes. A final reflection by Dave Hansen on the state of textual preaching rounds out the collection.The preaching of the gospel stands at the heart of Christian praxis. These essays make a vital contribution to the recovery of the importance of preaching, focused on the text of Scripture. Written with an eye to the pastor and practitioner as well as those in the pews and in the classroom, this is a book that should appeal to a wide range of readers.

This volume is a biblical theological critique of the Apostles' Creed and a development of the role of the Holy Spirit in the church, the world, and the personal experience of Christian faith. It addresses the creed as a historic document, an artifact of early Christian theological development, and a long-standing guide for the form and content of that faith tradition. This book is an appreciation of the Apostles' Creed in terms of its persistent pastoral effect in the church. It is also a criticism of aspects of the creed that are unbiblical and crafted for political or extraneous theological reasons by the bishops of the ancient ecumenical councils.

No one is so intimately acquainted with Schleiermacher's Christian Ethics material or with the 1821-1822 first edition of his companion volume, Christian Faith, than Hermann Peiter. The present volume is a collection of Peiter's nineteen essays and thirty reviews. Extensive English summaries are offered for all this material, and an English version for four of the essays. Professor Peiter's summary of this volume reads as follows:""This book treats of praxis in the Christian life and of Christian responsibility for the world we have in common. The following, however, forms a background for these considerations. Schleiermacher reminds his Christian brethren, who often deck themselves out with alien, borrowed plumes from morals and metaphysics, of their actual theme, that of religion, which he also designates as a kind or mode of faith. Like Luther, he also turns against both the practical misconception that considers faith itself to be a good work and the theoretical misconception that faith is a product of thinking, a theory. Whether a practitioner thinks to give thanks for one's own work or whether a theoretician hopes to find final fulfillment and justification in one's range of metaphysical ideas amounts to the same thing. Faith is the courage to be (Paul Tillich). For Schleiermacher, to want to have speculation (thus, metaphysics) and praxis without religion is the nonsalutary intention of Prometheus, who faintheartedly stole what he could have expected to possess in restful security. If taken seriously, the 'gods'-to use that pagan expression for once-are that nature to which a human being belongs. Each human being is their possession. When one steals what the gods have, one steals oneself, can thank oneself for a robbery. For a gift that is stolen, one cannot possibly be thankful. Only a pure gift awakens true joy. A human being has the chance to receive the gift that one is or is not (in case it is stolen) not from a thief but from religion. Thanks to one's birth, both physical and spiritual, one gains oneself and has oneself. To steal means to take away, to depreciate. In contrast, whoever has oneself from elsewhere is no longer extracted from oneself or from the one to whom one belongs.""

Johannine Literature offers some of the most beautiful, majestic, and profound theology contained within the entire biblical text. Within its works can be found the highest Christology, the capstone of eschatology, and the heartbreaking struggles of a community committed to Christ. However, it does not always get the attention it deserves in New Testament studies. This book seeks to remedy that by drawing together some of the most respected biblical scholars to bring their expertise to bear on various aspects of Johannine studies that are contained within the Gospel, Epistles, and the Apocalypse. These contributions have been collected as a Festschrift in honor and celebration of the career of Benny C. Aker, a preeminent scholar, teacher, and mentor.

Invariably, people who read Scripture are forced to answer the question, ""What is the 'literal sense'?"" This question is not new. In the seventeenth century, John Lightfoot--signer of the Westminster Confession of Faith and a master of Hebrew and of rabbinic writings--wrestled with the same question, and his conclusions had a profound impact in the world of hermeneutics. In an age of much animosity towards the Jews, Lightfoot embraced the insights found in the Jewish writings while staying grounded in his reformational dogmatic theology. In so doing, his exegesis could properly be considered a via media between Reformed Scholasticism and Judaism. Lightfoot's hermeneutical principles and presuppositions outlined in this book not only provide valuable insight into his thinking but also reject the previously normative notion that Reformed Scholasticism has little to offer dogmatically or exegetically. The current tensions between systematic and biblical theology, the rise of interest in Second Temple and medieval Judaica, and the never-ending question of biblical authority make What Is the Literal Sense? an important read.

The inevitability of death in our broken world means that grief and mourning are a normal part of the human experience. Too often, though, this normal journey of grief is cut short by a culture intent on pretending bad things don''t really happen. In A Road Too Short for the Long Journey, readers are invited to consider how we might travel this road of mourning with those who grieve and how we might join them as partners in a reorientation of the world experienced through loss.""A Road Too Short for the Long Journey is a poignantly engaging work. It is an important contribution that aids in the understanding of one of life''s most momentous tasks: navigating significant loss. Openly vulnerable and unmistakably authentic, the personal encounters with grief disclosed by the book''s contributors allow its readers profound touchpoints with their own life-loss experiences. The knowledge provided alongside this personal narrative creates a powerful potential for transformative healing space.""--Cynthia McGrady, Clinical Psychologist, Associate Professor, and Director of Marriage & Family Therapy at Fresno Pacific University Biblical Seminary""This book is a gift. I value its practical wisdom and scholarly insight. Even more, I''m moved by the deep honesty and sensitivity with which it explores grief as a dimension of human experience. Reading the real-life stories it contains is a holy exercise, a rare invitation to listen to the voices of those whose lives have been touched indelibly by loss. This volume has enhanced my ministry and enriched my humanity.""--Cory Seibel, Pastor of Lifelong Faith Formation, Central Baptist Church, Edmonton; Affiliate Professor, Taylor SeminaryQuentin P. Kinnison, is Associate Professor of Christian Ministry & Leadership and the division chair of the Biblical & Religious Studies division at Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California. He is author of Transforming Pastoral Leadership (2016) and coauthor with Julie M. Lane of Welcoming Children with Special Needs: Empowering Christian Special Education through Purpose, Policies, and Procedures (2014).

Dr. Norman L. Geisler has been called the ""father of evangelical Christian philosophy."" He has written more than one hundred books and taught at universities and top seminaries for some fifty-six years. He was the first president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society and the founder and first president of the International Society of Christian Apologetics. He has spoken or debated in more than two dozen countries and held pastoral/pulpit ministries in four states. Many view him as a cross between Thomas Aquinas and Billy Graham. No one has done more to communicate the modern challenges of the Faith to the ""average"" Christian, to the church, and to the academy. This volume offers creative and constructive essays from twenty-three contributors, all notable in their own right, who preserve and propagate Dr. Geisler''s ideas and express appreciation for his influence. Those who know him best say he is ""true, faithful, and blessed by God!""""What a privilege to endorse this book I Am Put Here for the Defense of the Gospel. This Festschrift in honor of Dr. Norman Geisler honors a man I have edited, studied, and interviewed. We have debated together and even written a book together. As you read through this book you will learn about apologetics, philosophy, theology, worldview, ethics, and religion. Learn from the men and women who were able to learn about these subjects from the master apologist.""--Kerby Anderson, President, Probe Ministries; Host, Point of View radio talk showEdited by Terry L. Miethe (PhD, PhD, DPhil Oxon Cand.), Professor at Tennessee State University.

This long-standing series provides the guild of religion scholars a venue for publishing aimed primarily at colleagues. It includes scholarly monographs, revised dissertations, Festschriften, conference papers, and translations of ancient and medieval documents. Works cover the sub-disciplines of biblical studies, history of Christianity, history of religion, theology, and ethics. Festschriften for Karl Barth, Donald W. Dayton, James Luther Mays, Margaret R. Miles, and Walter Wink are among the seventy-five volumes that have been published. Contributors include: C. K. Barrett, Francois Bovon, Paul S. Chung, Marie-Helene Davies, Frederick Herzog, Ben F. Meyer, Pamela Ann Moeller, Rudolf Pesch, D. Z. Phillips, Rudolf Schnackenburgm Eduard Schweizer, John Vissers

Pittsburgh Theological Monograph - New Series General Editor - Dikran Y. Hadidian

In the nineteenth century there was a definite divide between those who read Coleridge as a religious thinker and those who read him as a poet. Even now, readers and critics find it hard not to consider one aspect of his work to the exclusion of the other. Here David Jasper considers Coleridge as a poet, literary critic, theologian and philosopher, seeing him as occupying a representative place in European and English Romantic thought on poetry, religion and the role of the artist. His earliest writings are closely linked to his mature religious and critical thought, and his greatest poems, 'Kubla Khan', 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and the 'Dejection' Ode, are a necessary prelude to the prose writings of the middle period of Coleridge's life. Self-reflection upon the processes of creating poetry and art, particularly in the Biographia Literaria, is an important development in Coleridge's sense of the relation of the finite to the infinite through the inspiration of the poet. Attention to the nature of inspiration, imagination and irony in creative writing leads directly to his later discussions of man's need of a divine redeemer and the nature of divine revelation. In the later poetry, attention is given to the theme of self-reflection in which spiritual growth is part and parcel of poetic development, each balancing the other. The final part of the book considers Coleridge's later prose, linking his reflections upon poetry with an epistemology, which he learnt principally from Kant and Fichtee in a discussion of revelation and radical evil. In conclusion, Coleridge's religious position is summed up through the late, and still unpublished notebooks, and the fragmentary remains of the long-projected Opus Maximum. The last chapter links Coleridge with a more recent debate on the nature of inspiration, poetic and divine, which arises out of Austin Farrer's Bampton Lectures The Glass of Vision.

Post-Christendom Studies publishes research on the nature of Christian identity and mission in the contexts of post-Christendom. Post-Christendom refers to places, both now and in the past, where Christianity was once a significant cultural presence, though not necessarily the dominant religion. Sometimes ""Christendom"" refers to the official link between church and state. The term ""post-Christendom"" is often associated with the rise of secularization, religious pluralism, and multiculturalism in western countries over the past sixty years. Our use of the term is broader than that however. Egypt for example can be considered a post-Christendom context. It was once a leading center of Christianity. ""Christendom"" moreover does not necessarily mean official public and dominant religion. For example, under Saddam Hussein, Christianity was probably a minority religion, but, for the most part, Christians were left alone. After America deposed Saddam, Christians began to flee because they became a persecuted minority. In that sense, post-Saddam Iraq is an experience of post-Christendom--it is a shift from a cultural context in which Christians have more or less freedom to exercise their faith to one where they are persecuted and/or marginalized for doing so.

Since being elected to the Chair of St. Peter on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis has given unique shape to the meaning of the new evangelization. With his emphasis on the concept of encounter, and his stunning expression of pastoral ministry in Evangelii gaudium, the present pontiff has breathed new life into the Christian vocation to evangelize. This book brings together the voices of fifteen American Catholic scholars around the theme of Pope Francis and the Event of Encounter. Inaugurating the new series, Global Perspectives on the New Evangelization, this book incorporates a variety of approaches and questions in order to amplify the theology behind the pontificate of Pope Francis and the most recent developments in the new evangelization. Among the topics treated in the book are mercy, ecology, doctrine, culture, and the life and ministry of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The reader will be delighted with an array of perspectives that promise to give inspiration for embarking on further frontiers of the new evangelization.""The Church''s emphatic call for a new evangelization began with Pope Paul VI, has journeyed through the pontificates of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and now continues with Pope Francis. This commendable volume accentuates, in fifteen thoughtful and innovative essays, Pope Francis''s understanding of the new evangelization as a fourfold encounter: merciful encounters, ecological encounters, doctrinal encounters, and cultural and political encounters. Thus, this book admirably provides the needed sociological, philosophical, and theological depth to sustain and foster the Church''s renewed endeavor to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations and peoples."" --Thomas G. Weinandy, Capuchin College, Washington DC, Member of the International Theological CommissionJohn C. Cavadini is the McGrath-Cavadini Director of the Institute for Church Life and Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is the editor of several books, most recently: Mary on the Eve of the Second Vatican Council (2017) and Explorations in the Theology of Benedict XVI (2012).Donald Wallenfang, OCDS, Emmanuel Mary of the Cross, is Associate Professor of Theology at Walsh University. He is the author of Dialectical Anatomy of the Eucharist: An Etude in Phenomenology (Cascade, 2017) and Human and Divine Being: A Study on the Theological Anthropology of Edith Stein (Cascade, 2017).