Books published by Wipf and Stock Publishers

Romans is a missional document. Yet, strangely, while many recognize the missional aspects of Romans, few monographs are totally devoted to unpacking Romans from a missional perspective. Romans and the Mission of God does this very thing. Part one explores the background of the letter with an eye to positioning Romans in the story of the mission of God, the apostle, the Roman world, and the early church. Part two considers how Romans is a contextually shaped presentation of the gospel. A range of other aspects of the way in which Paul shapes his message for the Romans are explored including salvation history, metaphors and rhetorical techniques, and aspects of the letter including elements opposed to God, salvation ideas, human response, ethics and Christian living, and the eschaton. Part three delves into issues that arise in Romans that are important for contemporary mission. These include such things as the cosmic scope of the mission, the gospel as the power of salvation, who does evangelism, the miraculous, social justice, ecology, social transformation, generosity and hospitality, God's sovereignty and human volition, prayer, the State, culture, Israel, apologetics, and theological thinking. This is a must-read for those serious about Paul, Romans, and God's mission.

After discovering at age eleven that she was "smarter" than her mom, freshman Jen Morris has since been trying to find balance in her life. Between high school, her complicated mother, the school play, drifting friendships, and the boring church that her mom makes her attend, Jen feels like she is inadequately equipped for her life. When her most embarrassing moment happens in front of the whole school, a devastated Jen questions her existence.In the following days, Jen deals with ridicule and family, doubt and faith, the humiliation of YouTube infamy, hope, and the distancing of people close to her. Deeper acceptance of her own family, faith, and circumstances lead her to become empowered to not just focus on her own issues but to the needs of others as well.

In this book, conversion means abandoning a world view and starting over. Using this definition of conversion, the book examines four works: Augustine of Hippo's Confessions, René Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy, Bernard Lonergan's Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, and Peter Weir's The Truman Show. The main argument of this book is that all four works contain and induce conversion. That is, all four works feature an individual who abandons a worldview and starts over, and all four works exhort their engager to do the same. This book also explores the works' requirement of cognitive imitation, wherein a person replicates the mental activities of the individual who has a conversion in the work, and of private engagement, wherein a person reads or views the work while alone. The book concludes with an argument for the educational value of the four works that appropriates Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death.

Funk is an African American musical genre that causes the average listener to have an uncontrollable desire to move their feet and dance. Funknology is a synthesis of ideas designed to cause the average reader to have an irresistible urge to move their heart. As we battle the complexities of race, and the impact poor race relations have had on society, this book will prove to be a timely read. Regardless of how much thought you have given to recent racial tensions--or how active you have been in working toward solutions for them--this book will inspire you to find ways to move your feet and your heart in the direction of a Funknology of Hope, meaning long-lasting reconciliation.