Christianity & Culture

Justice Awakening: How You and Your Church Can Help End Human Trafficking

Justice Awakening is a handbook for Christians who want to bring an end to human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Pastor and activist Eddie Byun provides biblical foundations for understanding God’s heart for justice and the oppressed. He offers practical, on-the-ground steps that any believer or church can take, from youth groups to men’s ministries, orphan care ministries to short-term and long-term missions. Discover what you can do to be part of the solution. And join God’s movement for freedom and justice for all. Includes discussion questions and prayer guides for group use.

Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian: A Kingdom Corrective to the Evangelical Gender Debate

Regarding gender relations, the evangelical world is divided between complementarians and egalitarians. While both perspectives have much to contribute, the discussion has reached a stalemate. Michelle Lee-Barnewall critiques both sides of the debate, challenging the standard premises and arguments and offering new insight into a perennially divisive issue in the church. She brings fresh biblical exegesis to bear on our cultural situation, presenting an alternative way to move the discussion forward based on a corporate perspective and on kingdom values. The book includes a foreword by Craig L. Blomberg and an afterword by Lynn H. Cohick.

Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian: A Kingdom Corrective to the Evangelical Gender Debate – Audiobook

Regarding gender relations, the evangelical world is divided between complementarians and egalitarians. While both perspectives have much to contribute, the discussion has reached a stalemate. Michelle Lee-Barnewall critiques both sides of the debate, challenging the standard premises and arguments and offering new insight into a perennially divisive issue in the church. She brings fresh biblical exegesis to bear on our cultural situation, presenting an alternative way to move the discussion forward based on a corporate perspective and on kingdom values. The book includes a foreword by Craig L. Blomberg and an afterword by Lynn H. Cohick.

Politics and the Way of Jesus: A Kingdom Perspective

Politics is an allegiance-grabbing force that dominates our culture and demands primacy in our lives. More than ever, followers of Jesus need to understand God’s perspective on the important roles of politics and government while being clear on who has the ultimate authority in our lives. This short, clear book unpacks how Christians can find in Scripture the wisdom and guidance crucial to navigating this political age.

Tapestry of Grace: Untangling the Cultural Complexities in Asian American Life and Ministry

Why do the first generation still act like that? Why can’t we try some new ideas? Why are the second generation so lazy? Why are the second generation so disrespectful? Isn’t it a shame how the church is split between the two generations? These and many more questions reflect the tangled conflicts within the Asian American church. Cultural differences have led to many misunderstandings and conflicts. Conflicts have created bitterness and churches have split apart. How can these tangled threads be rewoven into a beautiful tapestry of God’s grace? What would it take for the Asian American church to reflect God’s grace? In Tapestry of Grace, Dr. Benjamin C. Shin and Dr. Sheryl Takagi Silzer apply their years of study and teaching to explain how the cultural complexities that occur between the different generations of the Asian American church can be untangled. Taking lessons from their own spiritual journeys, they show how each generation can experience the amazing grace of the Gospel.

Theology and Tolkien: Constructive Theology

The Lord of the Rings and other works of J.R.R. Tolkien have had a far-reaching impact on culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In print and on film, Tolkien’s works seem to be incredible epics, but religious aspects are less obvious. Yet Tolkien himself stated in his letters that the chief conflicts of his epic works were “about God, and His sole right to divine Honour,” and whether Sauron can wrest and destroy all that is good in Middle-earth. It is from this that readers awaken to the theological truths that imbue Tolkien’s works. In Theology and Tolkien: Constructive Theology, an international group of scholars consider how Tolkien’s works (and Jackson’s interpretations) can help us build better theologies for use in our world today. From essays on the music of creation in the Ainulindalë, to angels, demons, and Balrogs, to Tolkien’s theology of God, providence, evil, and love, to the eschatology of the Final Chord of the Great Music, this book invites the reader to journey through Middle-earth as the contributors engage the theology of Tolkien’s works and its impact on the world.

Biola University Contributor:
Charlie Trimm – “Gandalf, Sauron, Melian, and the Balrogs as Angels? A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Maiar in the Context of Biblical Angelology”

Think Christianly: Looking at the Intersection of Faith and Culture

Think Christianly is about seizing the opportunities we have every day to speak the life Jesus offers into our culture. Tragically, many such opportunities pass us by unclaimed—either because we don’t notice them or we have not prepared ourselves to enter into them. And those around us seem to grow increasingly unwilling to hear anything the church has to say. Jonathan Morrow helps church leaders envision and implement ways for their congregations to “think Christianly” about contemporary questions and to speak in informed, engaging ways.

Winsome Persuasion: Christian Influence in a Post-Christian World

How are Christians to engage the broader culture? How might we be both persuasive and civil, and both challenge the beliefs of others and offer love and respect? The task of bearing faithful witness to Jesus is complicated by persistent—and not altogether baseless—cultural stereotypes. In our post-Christian society, thoughtful Christians are considering again how to engage the dominant culture as a minority, a counterpublic, amid varying perceptions and misperceptions. Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer’s Winsome Persuasion presents a model for cultural engagement that integrates communication theory, theology, and Scripture. Penetrating, wise, and relentlessly practical, this timely book includes test cases and historical examples, such as William Wilberforce and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Women and Men in Ministry: A Complementary Perspective

Are we working together as well as we could be? The role of women in the church is an ongoing debate within the church. On one side are those who say there is no difference between men and women. On the other side are those who severely limit women who want to offer ministry to the church. Judith TenElshof and Robert Saucy take the middle approach. Believing that the modern views have denied the distinctions between men and women, TenElshof and Saucy take the complementarian approach. They argue that while men and women are equal, God has given different roles to each, and that these roles rely on each other to be fully effective.

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