Church history reads like a wartime romance tragedy with the promise of a happy ending. For the church is called Christ's Bride' in Scripture. One Faith Many Transitions snapshots the pathos, defeat and victory of the heroes and villains in historic Christianity. It exposes world-views that have both aided and distorted the faith over the centuries, and how God's Spirit brings churches back into living relationship with him. It explores why Christians thought and acted as they did. Written in a way that takes the Bible seriously as a message system from the living God, One Faith analyzes historic ideas and events from a basically Evangelical perspective. It will boost the faith and historic understanding of any Christian who believes the Bible really is the word of God and the standard for church authority. It also highlights many of the crucial world-view issues Christians face today and how they arose.

Health Care. Finance reform. The future of Catholic schools. Caring for the elderly. Abortion. Abuse scandals in the church. Business management, the economy, and the very welfare of our society. Confronted with a storm of issues, all of which call for their attention and concern, contemporary Catholics often find themselves confused and uncertain, and even at odds with each other, when trying to apply their faith to the realities of the world they live in. One Faith, Many Faithful provides numerous essays or "short takes" that tackle the wide range of matters of concern to Catholics, but does so in a spirit of complete faithfulness to Catholic teaching and tradition. The collection is divided into four parts: "Religion and Ethics," "Business and Politics," "Education and Family" and "People and Ideas." William J. Byron, SJ, applies and explains principles of Catholic social teaching throughout the book, which offers the reader clarity and concise exposition of the issues that are troubling the contemporary Catholic mind. This book is for all Catholics who want to move beyond the limited scope of contemporary debates and actually apply the ancient principles of their faith to difficult issues. Book jacket.

Is the Great Commission apolitical? "Faith & Freedom" links the missionary principle to movements of freedom and democracy around the world; and shows how missionary leads to political freedom.

Three leading Christian educators offer a survey of faith formation from various perspectives: biblical, theological, pastoral, practical, and global. They present a biblical theology of faith formation for individual and congregational life and show how faith can be formed through the life and mission of the local church through practices such as communal worship, Bible study, and mission. They also explore the faces of faith formation in multicultural and global contexts. The book includes practical exercises for those beginning in ministry and reflection questions.

“What must I do to be saved?” That question, raised in the book of Acts by the Philippian jailer, is a question for the ages. Yet what, even, does it mean to be saved? Is salvation for this life or the next? Is it purely spiritual or does it have physical and material implications? Can salvation be lost? Do we determine who will be saved or does God? What role does Christ play in salvation? Such are the seemingly unending questions soteriology strives to answer. In this eighth volume from the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology, African theologians articulate their understanding of salvation – and its widespread implications for life and practice – in conversation with Scripture and the rich diversity of an African cultural context. Salvation is examined from historical, philosophical, and theological lenses, and scholars address topics as wide-ranging as conversion, ethnicity, fertility, poverty, prosperity, the Trinity, exclusivism, African Pentecostalism, rural community, eschatology, wholeness, and atonement. It is a powerful exploration of the holistic nature of salvation as articulated in Scripture and understood by the African church.

How important is religion for young people in America today? What are the major influences on their developing spiritual lives? How do their religious beliefs and practices change as young people enter into adulthood? Christian Smith's Souls in Transition explores these questions and many others as it tells the definitive story of the religious and spiritual lives of emerging adults, ages 18 to 24, in the U.S. today. This is the much-anticipated follow-up study to the landmark book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Based on candid interviews with thousands of young people tracked over a five-year period, Souls in Transition reveals how the religious practices of the teenagers portrayed in Soul Searching have been strengthened, challenged, and often changed as they have moved into adulthood. The book vividly describes as well the broader cultural world of today's emerging adults, how that culture shapes their religious outlooks, and what the consequences are for religious faith and practice in America more generally. Some of Smith's findings are surprising. Parents turn out to be the single most important influence on the religious outcomes in the lives of young adults. On the other hand, teenage participation in evangelization missions and youth groups does not predict a high level of religiosity just a few years later. Moreover, the common wisdom that religiosity declines sharply during the young adult years is shown to be greatly exaggerated. Painstakingly researched and filled with remarkable findings, Souls in Transition will be essential reading for youth ministers, pastors, parents, teachers and students at church-related schools, and anyone who wishes to know how religious practice is affected by the transition into adulthood in America today.

Original Scholarly Monograph