Edith M. Humphrey

A Week In the Life of Ephesus

Fiction

“Students and scholars have already enjoyed the meticulous historiography, sensitive literary analysis, imaginative flair, and theological depth of David DeSilva's previous writings, which range in genre from novel to New Testament introduction. In this volume, A Week in the Life of Ephesus, he conjoins these manifest strengths, taking the reader on an intriguing expedition to that ancient city in a crucial week of September in 89 CE. Through the eyes of ancient Christians in Ephesus, portrayed vividly in all their psychological and relational complexity, we come face-to-face with the perennial temptation to accommodate idolatry, with its attending commercial and political implications. DeSilva's compelling and suspenseful narrative of persons, families, and various strata of society is enhanced by helpful historical and cultural information offered in sidebars.”

Between Interpretation and Imagination

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Among many books on the work of C. S. Lewis, this one is unique. Written from the perspective of a biblical scholar who is also an Eastern Orthodox Christian, Between Interpretation and Imagination offers a challenging reconstruction and critique of the formative influences on Lewis, an intriguing glimpse of his informal musings as judiciously excavated from marginal notes of books that he owned and personal letters, and an exhilarating and often surprising exploration of allusions and echoes from the Bible and other classical sources in the beloved Chronicles of Narnia. Especially welcome are the compelling reading of The Horse and His Boy and the exposition of Aslan’s lively triumph over death and evil in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which supplements a more familiar appreciation of his willing death for the ‘son of Adam.’”

Christosis

Theology

“Here is one of those rare theses that prove themselves both mature and invaluable in method, substance, and analysis. Blackwell's well-considered philosophical grounding, illuminating analysis, judicious adaptation of previous typologies, clarifying charts, comprehensive knowledge of contemporary scholarship, and sensitivity to debates between East and West make for a compelling and exciting argument.”

Creator Spirit

Theology

“Guthrie has offered to a varied audience a study that is both challenging and captivating as it traces how and in what way the Holy Spirit is active in sanctified human artistry. Indeed, Creator Spirit itself reflects the beauty that its author seeks to describe. First, the book displays admirable proportion, balancing an analysis of the arts (music, visual art, dance) with theological, philosophical, and cultural concerns. Next, it provides keen pleasure for the reader in terms of its lively and compelling style and its rich content. Finally, it moves admirably toward a satisfying telos, even if, with all other human projects, it is not perfect. That perfection is instead attributed to the Author and Creator of all, whom this book glorifies, as Guthrie rejoices in the gifts and in the Gift, the Spirit who humanizes those who receive.”

Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew

Theology

“This book is useful and exhilarating! Hans Boersma takes us on a tour of those 'elements that help us to read Scripture . . . as a sacrament'—Christology, (Platonic) metaphysics, providence, church, and heaven. His insistence on the mystagogical telos of Scripture, coupled with a penetrating critique of today's common exegetical methods, retrieves patristic approaches (Irenaeus, Athanasius, Origen, Augustine, and many others) that are still devalued today. Here exploration and polemic are conjoined, so some may want to engage the author vigorously in, for example, his exuberant claims for Christian Platonism, or his insistence that entry into the divine life is contemplative rather than active in nature. Finally Boersma commends to ourminds and hearts the image of full-blooded scriptural exegesis as 'an exploration of an enchanted forest that holds ever deeper mysteries' when we maintain Scripture's 'proper penultimacy' to life in Christ.”

For the Glory of God

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“For the Glory of God is a study of worship that seeks a biblical theology and eschews mere pragmatism. Especially helpful is Block's close attention to both Testaments and to the debates of church history--though the Western church is better covered than the East. Here is a conscientious scholar with a pastor's heart, whose work will benefit worshipers in general and church leaders in particular, even those who do not agree with all of his conclusions.”

In the Breaking of the Bread

Preaching & Worship

“Father Leander Harding invites us to reflect with him upon the journey of the Eucharist--a journey marked by thanksgiving, congregational and personal response to the Word, the 'timefulness' of God's deep presence, and an effective concern for God's world. Both newcomers and those acquainted with liturgy will have their eyes and hearts opened by means of this pastor's mature wisdom and also by his infectious wonder as a worshipping child of God.”

John

“Both the specialist and the less informed student will find here a careful and faithful reading that traces the actual contours of the narrative while not ignoring historical considerations, literary context, patristic traditions, and contemporary scholarly debate. Professor Thompson’s main concern is to ‘illumine the witness’ of the evangelist and so to train the lens thoroughly on that witness’s ‘understanding of Jesus—who he was, what he did, and what that means.’ This she does, with grace and erudition.”

Liberal Learning and the Great Christian Traditions

“Jenkins and Yonan gather representatives of major traditions who suggest to evangelicals that a classical education is essential to an informed Christian life. The discussion includes Orthodox and Catholic contributions, consistent with the growing evangelical attraction towards the Great Tradition. Here we find compelling reasons from the Fathers, careful thought, and contemporary analysis, for an education that 'leads out' from shadows into light, going beyond pragmatics towards truth, beauty, and the good.”

Participating in Christ

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Participating in Christ demonstrates how Pauline justification/righteousness is seamlessly interwoven with transformation--indeed, with what later church theologians shockingly called 'theosis.' Gorman offers both careful (and typically provocative) exegeses of key texts and an exhilarating panorama into which these close analyses are cunningly fitted.”

Scripture as Real Presence

Theology

“A splendid and scholarly study! Here is required reading for any who are rightly intrigued by the renewed concern for the theological interpretation of Scripture. With astute awareness of contemporary prejudices, Boersma disarms both the Protestant rigorist who may be scandalized by the patristic emphasis on human virtue, and the historicist who dismisses ancient spiritual interpretation as arbitrary. All the while, he carefully and lovingly retrieves winsome writings of various church fathers, who taught that Scripture itself participates in the life of Christ and vitally changes the interpreter and the church when received according to that conviction.”

The Nicene Creed

Theology

“In the introduction, we hear that ‘the creeds are precisely the medicine we need’ because of their ‘densely packed summaries of the Christian faith.’ One could say the same of this book, which commends itself as a wonderful tool—indeed, a treasure trove—for those prepared to follow the authors in unpacking these rich phrases that Christians have recited for centuries. Here is a powerful antidote that helps us to ‘overcome our contemporary allergy to truth’ as we lean deeply into the Nicene Creed, understanding how it addressed the problems of its day and continues to speak powerfully to our own age.”

The Sense of the Call

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“The Sense of the Call issues both a timely challenge and a ceaseless invitation. . . With conviction and concreteness, Marva Dawn leads us to embrace the gifts of God, the catholic disciplines and teachings of the Church, and the mission of our passionate God, who calls us to participate in the Kingdom and the priesthood. Even where the reader may disagree with her particular diagnosis of ills in Church or society, Dawn consistently and graciously points us toward the One who is the source and fulfillment of all authentic life in the Spirit. Above all, she recalls the Joy that is showered upon those who, in service and restful celebration, find their sustenance in the triune God.”