We know the bedrock themes upon which the Christian faith stands: creation, fall, redemption, restoration. As Christians, we live within these great moments of God’s plan for humanity and all of his creation. In other words, our lives are part of Christian theology—every part of our lives, even surgery. As a part of Zondervan’s Ordinary Theology series, The Scalpel and the Cross recounts New Testament professor Gene Green’s encounter with open-heart surgery and carefully examines the many ways in which Christian doctrine spoke into the experience. The result is a short book that avoids shallow explanations and glib promises, instead guiding readers to deeper understanding and enduring hope in the face of one of modern life’s necessary traumas.

A Harvard-educated neurosurgeon reveals his experiences—in and out of the operating room—with apparitions, angels, exorcism, after-death survival, and the miracle of hope. For the millions who have enjoyed Proof of Heaven, Heaven is Real, To Heaven and Back, and Getting to Heaven—an inspiring tale from where the veil between life and death is often at its thinnest. The Scalpel and the Soul explores how premonition, superstition, hope, and faith not only become factors in how patients feel but can change outcomes. It validates the spiritual manifestations physicians see every day and empowers patients to voice their spiritual needs when they seek medical help. Finally, it addresses the mysterious, attractive powers the soul exerts during life-threatening events.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the twelve messages given during the 2008 summer training on the "Crystallization-study of the Gospel of Luke," held June 30--July 5, in Anaheim, California. The crucial truth and burden embodied in these twelve messages may be summarized in the following two sets of statements: The highest standard of morality is the living of the Lord Jesus as the Man-Savior, whose life was a composition of God with the divine attributes and man with the human virtues to be the basic factor for His dynamic salvation. The Man-Savior's God-man living constituted a prototype for the reproduction of the God-man in the believers, who are reborn of the pneumatic Christ in their spirit and transformed by the pneumatic Christ in their soul. In order to be one with the Man-Savior in His God-man living, we need to sit at His feet and listen to His word so that we may be infused with His life for the expression of God and with His desire for our service to God unto the building of God. By praying ourselves into God, we are empowered in Christ to repudiate ourselves, renounce our material possessions, and follow the Man-Savior so that we may live in the reality of the economy of God to become rich toward God for the kingdom of God. We need to be today's ministers and witnesses by living and proclaiming the gospel--Christ as the jubilee of grace--for the accomplishing of God's eternal economy. If we lose our soul-life in this age and do not preserve it by lingering in the earthly and material things, we may participate in the rapture of the overcomers and stand before the Son of Man on Mount Zion. These messages are being published immediately following the training in order that they may benefit the saints who are participating in the many video trainings that are held throughout the earth.

Each day, the world’s urban population swells by almost 200,000. With every passing week, more than a million people new to cities face unexpected realities and challenges of urban life. Just like the sheer volume of people in the city, these challenges can be staggering. As with the height and breadth of our metropolises, the wonders of urban life can be breathtaking. Like the city itself, the questions and challenges of urban life are both sprawling and pulsing with vitality. As part of Zondervan's Ordinary Theology series, this volume offers a series of Christian reflections on some of the most basic and universal challenges of 21st century urban life. It takes one important dimension of what it means to be human—that human beings are made to be for God, for others, and for creation—and asks, “What are the implications of who God made us to be for how we ought to live in our cities?” This book is intended for Christians facing the riddle of urban creation care, discerning the shape of community life, struggling with the challenges of wealth and poverty, and wondering at the global influence of cities. It is meant for those whose lives and livelihoods are inextricably bound up in the flourishing of their neighborhood and also for those who live in the shadow of cities. Most of all, it is meant for those grappling with the relationship between the cities of tomorrow and the glorious city to come.

From an eminent surgeon and historian comes the “by turns fascinating and ghastly” (The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice) story of surgery’s development—from the Stone Age to the present day—blending meticulous medical research with vivid storytelling. There are not many life events that can be as simultaneously frightening and hopeful as a surgical operation. In America, tens-of-millions of major surgical procedures are performed annually, yet few of us consider the magnitude of these figures because we have such inherent confidence in surgeons. And, despite passionate debates about health care and the media’s endless fascination with surgery, most of us have no idea how the first surgeons came to be because the story of surgery has never been fully told. Now, Empire of the Scalpel elegantly reveals surgery’s fascinating evolution from its early roots in ancient Egypt to its refinement in Europe and rise to scientific dominance in the United States. From the 16th-century saga of Andreas Vesalius and his crusade to accurately describe human anatomy while appeasing the conservative clergy who clamored for his burning at the stake, to the hard-to-believe story of late-19th century surgeons’ apathy to Joseph Lister’s innovation of antisepsis and how this indifference led to thousands of unnecessary surgical deaths, Empire of the Scalpel is both a global history and a uniquely American tale. You’ll discover how in the 20th century the US achieved surgical leadership, heralded by Harvard’s Joseph Murray and his Nobel Prize–winning, seemingly impossible feat of transplanting a kidney, which ushered in a new era of transplants that continues to make procedures once thought insurmountable into achievable successes. Today, the list of possible operations is almost infinite—from knee and hip replacement to heart bypass and transplants to fat reduction and rhinoplasty—and “Rutkow has a raconteur’s touch” (San Francisco Chronicle) as he draws on his five-decade career to show us how we got here. Comprehensive, authoritative, and captivating, Empire of the Scalpel is “a fascinating, well-rendered story of how the once-impossible became a daily reality” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Managing Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary

"Now my dear thug, it's time to begin the operation" the shadow declared as they approached, scalpel glittering menacingly in the moonlight. Michael, a small time detective, recently discharged from the police is hired by the Gias family after their son is brutally murdered. But he soon finds himself involved with a mystery that goes beyond a simple killer, but instead an entire society, who is the man in the cloak and what does the dead-eyed med student have to do with it?