Mark Allan Powell

Called by God to Serve

Church Leadership & Ministry

“Called By God To Serve offers lessons in church leadership couched in the form of brief devotions. These Bible-based materials are both spiritually enriching and eminently practical, ready for immediate use in most Christian congregations. They will help typical council members to discern the way of God in dealing with real-life scenarios involving budget decisions, plumbing problems, and pouting teenagers. Above all, they will help congregational leaders to view their church as a family of faith, to keep their focus on the mission of Jesus Christ to which they are called, and to trust God with enthusiastic hope in the promises of the gospel.”

Can We Trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus?

Apologetics

“Bart Ehrman and Craig Evans are two of the most highly respected scholars working in the field of historical Jesus studies today. They agree on a great deal, but render strikingly different verdicts on the reliability of historical information reported in the New Testament Gospels. This book allows us to listen in on their lively discussion—more dialogue than debate—and to decide not only what we think but also why it matters. Many Christian believers will want to engage these questions, and Robert Stewart has provided us with a helpful guide for doing so.”

Discipleship: A Lifelong Spiritual Pilgrimage

Discipleship & Christian Education

“There are many books on spiritual growth, but this is surely one of the best. In clear and simple language, Jones offers the average churchgoer a pathway to the deeper spiritual life. Jones draws on his diverse experiences in Baptist, Catholic, and Lutheran churches, and on the lessons of a personal life marked by tragedy but filled with joy. His book evinces a mature piety and a contagious enthusiasm for the life God wants us all to have; his suggestions are biblically sound, theologically rich, and eminently practical.”

Eve Isn't Evil

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In this wonderful book, Julie Faith Parker offers an empathetic encounter with Scripture that allows feminists to discover the empowering potential of biblical texts they might otherwise be prone to dismiss. The book reads like a casual conversation one might have over a cup of coffee or a glass of sparkling rosé. Readers will inevitably be convinced of two things: feminists can love the Bible—and Bible lovers can (and probably should) be feminists!”

Getting "Saved"

Theology

“Explores the role of divine enablement in soteriology, demonstrating how different New Testament authors develop that theme in diverse and sometimes surprising ways. . . . Provocative and revelatory, these studies shed new light on biblical texts and will provide new avenues for Jewish-Christian dialogue.”

Inductive Bible Study

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“I have personally used Bauer and Traina’s method of inductive Bible study for more than twenty-five years and can testify to its effectiveness for understanding Scripture in ways that are both academically responsible and pastorally relevant. The approach allows Scripture to reveal itself, to speak on its own terms in ways that overcome the limitations and presuppositions of its readers. It allows the Bible to surprise us, challenge us, comfort us, or correct us in the very fashion that the original authors and the God who inspired them would want. This volume presents that time-honored approach for a new generation—and it is a remarkable achievement! Students will appreciate a text that is so immediately accessible and, eventually, will come to treasure this volume as a handbook to be consulted repeatedly throughout their professional careers.”

Introducing the New Testament

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Introducing the New Testament offers the beginning student an engaging tour through a collection of writings whose importance would be difficult to measure and hard to exaggerate. The content and essential message of these ancient works is described in simple but dynamic language that reveals why they continue to inspire and challenge readers two millennia later and half a world away. Numerous sidebars and relevant explanations provide background information for understanding the original intent of the writings in ways that could not be grasped without such assistance. Fueled by both a commitment to critical scholarship and an appreciation for the theological significance of these documents, this book is an excellent text for presenting the New Testament as historical literature that continues to serve modern religious needs.”

Jesus

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Donald Capps' study fills a void in what is fast becoming a congested and redundant field of inquiry. Combining the best of historical scholarship with new insights drawn from psychological studies, he gives us a Jesus who is more than the sum of his words and deeds, a Jesus who feels, who relates, who experiences the world he seeks to transform even as he is inevitably transformed by it.”

Jesus on Trial

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This new edition of Sloyan's classic study offers a significant contribution to historical Jesus research and to ongoing efforts at improving the climate of contemporary Christian-Jewish relations. His exegetical expertise and knowledge of extra-biblical sources are matched by a dispassionate commitment to inquiry that refuses to settle for convenient solutions or to claim more than the evidence will allow.... Taking issue with many recent studies on the execution of Jesus, Sloyan demonstrates an exemplary devotion to critical responsibility, which, in the long run, will prove more satisfying than the 'quick fix' suggestions that have been proffered.”

Jesus Remembered

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Any serious student of the historical Jesus will want to become familiar with James Dunn's thorough and somewhat unique treatment of the subject. Dunn focuses his attention on characteristic features in the early traditions concerning Jesus in order to determine the impact that the latter had on his first followers. The portrait that emerges is both convincing and thought-provoking ? an indispensable contribution to an ongoing quest to comprehend the significance of Jesus for the history of Christianity and for modern civilization.”

Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn

Discipleship & Christian Education

“Teachers will love this book! They might want to read it just for the sheer pleasure of receiving the affirmation Rhoads offers to anyone blessed to pursue such a calling. But in so doing they will also benefit from the numerous tips, tactics, perspectives, and proposals that enable classroom teaching to be engaging, hospitable, liberative, and empowering. Basically, in this book Rhoads does for actual or would-be teachers what Stephen King did for actual or would-be authors in his manual On Writing. Rhoads has always been regarded as a role-model pedagogue in his field and in this book, he offers ‘best practices’ that are eminently practical and achievable. Anyone who teaches professionally or occasionally in the fields of religion or the humanities will find this book immensely enjoyable and almost certainly useful.”

My So-Called Biblical Life

Fiction

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Reading the Bible with Giants

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Reading the Bible with Giants really is a very fine book--a useful introduction to a fascinating approach to the Bible that may seem new but is actually very old. Often witty, and very readable, this book will appeal to anyone interested in bridging the gap between what the Bible meant to its original audience and what it can mean to readers today.”

Seven Challenges That Shaped the New Testament

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“A creative and enlightening strategy for explaining some key trajectories in biblical thought. By treating the New Testament books as works-in-progress, Spencer explores how different authors deal with the ‘big ideas’ that engaged many people at the time. These authors do so in diverse and potentially contradictory ways that, Spencer demonstrates, contribute to the richness of Christian thought. This is a book that illuminates important aspects of what the New Testament authors wanted to convey while at the same time expanding our appreciation for the relevance of scriptural witness.”

The Challenge of Diversity

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“I love this book! It is an excellent guide for those who wish to draw on the rich resources of Scripture for varieties of mission and ministry in the contemporary world. Students and congregations, clergy and laity, will find that this volume enhances understanding of their own diversity and appreciation for the diversity of others.”

The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke

Theology

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

The Gospel of Matthew

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“What a wonderful tour of Matthew's theology! From beginning to end, Matthew tells a story of how God is with us, with constant invitations to respond with adoration, devotion, and the ethical worship of a God-directed life. Heil's treatment of this theme is a worthy addition to his series on worship in various New Testament writings.”

The Heroic Christ

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“An adventurous take on the Gospel of Luke that helps readers to engage the story with the same excitement accorded modern fiction. Both new readers and those familiar with the third Gospel will want to accept Fox’s invitation to inhabit this captivating narrative and, indeed, to be captured by it: here is a chance to experience the heroic tale of Jesus from within (as opposed to simply interpreting it from without).”

The Irony of Power

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“For over thirty years, Dorothy Jean Weaver has been prominent among a handful of scholars who read the Gospel of Matthew as a socially and politically engaged story about Jesus. Matthew's narrative is first and foremost a story about power--who has it, what they do with it, and what happens as a result. Weaver was perhaps the first to recognize the extent to which this story turns on irony, revealing the ultimate futility of coercive power and the triumph of vulnerable powerlessness. The present volume collects and synthesizes her work in this area in a manner that will make it accessible to a broader and more general audience. It is a book that could transform Matthean studies and/or Matthean students. Anyone who teaches or preaches on Matthew will want to become acquainted with this humble but powerful volume.”

The Oral Gospel Tradition

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“For more than thirty-five years, James Dunn has been a leading voice in New Testament studies regarding the role of oral tradition in the formation of Gospel narratives. This volume affords Dunn the opportunity to respond to criticisms of his various proposals and so to present time-honored ideas afresh for a new generation. Anyone who seeks to understand the Gospels as a living tradition will appreciate this book and benefit from Dunn’s rich contributions to the field.”