Books published by William B Eerdmans Publishing Co

In How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Larry Hurtado investigates the intense devotion to Jesus that emerged with surprising speed after his death. Reverence for Jesus among early Christians, notes Hurtado, included both grand claims about Jesus' significance and a pattern of devotional practices that effectively treated him as divine. This book argues that whatever one makes of such devotion to Jesus, the subject deserves serious historical consideration.Mapping out the lively current debate about Jesus, Hurtado explains the evidence, issues, and positions at stake. He goes on to treat the opposition to -- and severe costs of -- worshiping Jesus, the history of incorporating such devotion into Jewish monotheism, and the role of religious experience in Christianity's development out of Judaism. The follow-up to Hurtado's award-winningLord Jesus Christ (2003), this book provides compelling answers to queries about the development of the church's belief in the divinity of Jesus.

New Testament scholar James D. G. Dunn has published his research on Christian origins in numerous commentaries, books, and essays. In this small, straightforward book designed especially for a lay audience, Dunn focuses his fifty-plus years of scholarship on elucidating the New Testament witness to Jesus, from Matthew to Revelation. Dunn's Jesus according to the New Testament constantly points back to the wonder of those first witnesses and greatly enriches our understanding of Jesus.

"A collection of meditations on Christian life that locate noteworthy current events, cultural trends, and particular occasions within the larger story of Scripture"--

"A spiritual introduction to Christian theology Christian belief can be understood neither entirely through doctrine nor entirely apart from it. Doctrine is the starting point, the seed of faith, from which springs forth flourishing life in the fellowship of the church. But that growth occurs only when theology and spirituality are held together in a relation of reciprocal influence. With decades of combined experience in both the church and the academy, Mark McIntosh and Frank Griswold prioritize the life-giving relationship between theology and spirituality in this immersive introduction to the Christian faith. Drawing inspiration and guidance from Christianity's greatest mystical theologians-including Augustine, Maximus the Confessor, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and Catherine of Siena-McIntosh and Griswold unfold essential doctrines and illuminate the transformative power of Christian belief. The result is a book that propels readers beyond abstract knowledge to an experience of the living mystery who is God"--

"In this fresh and original monograph on the ecclesiology of John Calvin, Tadataka Maruyama sifts exhaustively through the corpus of Calvin's writings-in both Latin and French-to crystalize the French reformer's conception of the Christian church. After elucidating Calvin's influence from other reformers such as Jacques Lefáevre, Guillaume Farel, and Martin Bucer, Maruyama shows how Calvin's ecclesiology evolved throughout his life while remaining firmly rooted in key principles and interests. Maruyama discerns three phases in Calvin's ecclesiology:Catholic ecclesiology-in which Calvin saw the church as a unified and ideal institution situated both above and within historyReformed ecclesiology-in which Calvin described the concrete, historical form of the Christian church over against the Catholic ChurchReformation ecclesiology-in which Calvin came to understand the Christian church as an eschatological reality situated in a broader European context, which Calvin portrayed as the "theater of God's providence"This trajectory mirrors the way the Protestant Reformation was focused on reforming particular churches while also reimagining the Christian world as a whole. Indeed, as Maruyama thoroughly illustrates, Calvin never lost sight of his original vision of reforming the church of his French homeland even as his work grew into a much larger movement"

"A book for those who have experienced the spiritual trauma of fundamentalist Christianity, in which the author shows how a more authentic faith can be raised from the ashes of disillusionment"--

Originally published in France by Les âeditions des âelâephants in 2020 under title: Le cadeau.

Watsons critical approach enables modern readers of the Bible to break free of fraught scholarly assumptions in order to better understand early Christian identity formation and beliefs.

Why Reading Matters for Ministry. The Pastors Bookshelf shows how worthwhile reading is more about formation than information.

Theology of Scripture in Ecclesial Context. Brad East explores recent accounts of the Bible and its exegesis in modern theology and traces the differences made by divergent, and sometimes opposed, theological accounts of the church.

Reading Paul. A collection of Jonathan Linebaughs most important work on Paul.

"This biography follows Nelson Mandela from his work with the African National Congress, to his imprisonment on Robben Island, to his extraordinary rise to the presidency"--