This book suggests a fresh hearing of the Gospel in the traditions of the Old Testament. Israel's affirmation of faith is many-sided. One of the dimensions which has been largely neglected in our use of Scripture are those traditions which affirm the world, celebrate culture, and affirm human responsibility and capability. Such affirmations from the Bible sound strange to our ears, but they are no less scriptural and no less Gospel. This stress and the literature which express it are, of course, not all of Scripture but they are an important element. I have argued here that for our moment in cultural history, these elements in Scripture provide our best opportunity to make contact between biblical faith and the culture in which we do our 'faithing.' To that end I have tried to penetrate the teaching and intention of the wisdom traditions, especially as they are embodied in the book of Proverbs. The study of the wisdom traditions of the Old Testament is only beginning and there are many unresolved questions. But we knowenough to suggest some directions for theological reflection. On the basis of the wisdom traditions I have tried to pay attention to the cultural world in which they had meaning, for that world was not unlike our own. --from the Foreword Contents 1. Religious Despisers of Culture 2. The Trusted Creature 3. Theology Fit for a King 4. Tempted to Commodities 5. The Meaning and Maturity for Current Theology 6. The Wise Man as a Model for Ministry 7. Uneasy Reflections from a Son of Neoorthodoxy

History Comes Alive In A Fun Way! and "God cannot support this free and blessed country unless Christians take a stand for what is right. They must vote for honest leaders and do their duty to their country as a part of their duty to God. and " and --Charles Finney Down through our nation and ’s history, men and women have taken a stand for right. They came seeking religious freedom and found that their faith in God played a role in many life-changing decisions and --in discovering new territories, in setting up new governments, in establishing what was fair and just for all. These are their stories. . . . In God We Trust presents factual information in a fun and lively way. Each narrative story highlights a person in history, focusing on how that person and ’s faith in God played an important part in the development of America. Christopher Columbus, Father Marquette, Abigail Adams, Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, Hiram Revels, and many more, come alive through the colorful illustrations, delighting young and old alike. These men and women of differing backgrounds and nationalities, brought to our nation a collective heritage of faith in God that stands the test of time and allows us the freedom of religion today. Their stories will build your faith and strengthen your trust in God for the future of our nation. and "This book will become a key for you to appreciate that our nation and ’s greatness and security rest upon faith in God. and " and --Senator John Ashcroft

A collection of humorous and nostalgic Americana stories—the beloved, bestselling classics that inspired the movie A Christmas Story Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean Shepherd: a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant—and utterly hilarious—works of comic art. In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection, and perfect detail that speaks across generations. In God We Trust, Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage “You can never go back.” Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt, and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth. A comic genius who bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.

Is there evidence to believe the Gospels? The Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—are four accounts of Jesus’s life and teachings while on earth. But should we accept them as historically accurate? What evidence is there that the recorded events actually happened? Presenting a case for the historical reliability of the Gospels, New Testament scholar Peter Williams examines evidence from non-Christian sources, assesses how accurately the four biblical accounts reflect the cultural context of their day, compares different accounts of the same events, and looks at how these texts were handed down throughout the centuries. Everyone from the skeptic to the scholar will find powerful arguments in favor of trusting the Gospels as trustworthy accounts of Jesus’s earthly life.

Never before have there been so many bibles available. With so many different translations available, how can thee be a famine for the Word? Has the text been altered? Les researched the origins of the different translations and translators, including those of the new translations. The book has an area where the New Testament changes are illustrated verse by verse.

The earliest refernces to Peter reveal a pre-gospel Christianity which had not yet come to believe that Jesus had lived and died in the recent past as described in the gospels. What emerges from critical reading of the sources is that the real Peter and Paul were bitterly divided, but that later traditions tried to represent them as working harmoniously together, and presented Peter as companion of the newly-composed gospels. Peter began to be linked with Rome in the second century A.D., only much later does this legend become elaborated so that Peter is the sole founder of the church of Rome and thus the first pope. In the final chapters, Professor Wells describes how leading church spokesmen have themselves accepted the non-historicity of much of the New Testament, and shows the varied conclusions for Christian faith they have drawn from this disturbing development.

Mary Zaia's In Dog We Trust is a heartwarming coffee table book for dog lovers As any dog lover knows, people may disappoint, betray, and leave you hanging, but dogs never do. With adorable photos of all kinds of dogs—purebreds and mutts alike—along with uplifting quotes about friendship, loyalty, and connection, In Dog We Trust is the celebration of human-canine love we all need.