As a Christian, why do you wear a cross? That single question sparked a fire in Mike Beecham to understand why the dominant symbol of Christianity was the instrument of Jesus's death. His passion led him to a lifelong pursuit to better understand the deeper meanings, symbolisms, and complexities of the cross. In Understanding the Mystery of the Cross Mike Beecham shares his discoveries regarding: • the connection between the original fall of man and Jesus's crucifixion • the multifaceted purpose of the cross • the ramifications of Jesus's crucifixion today • the irrational contempt for the cross in modern society • and the symbolic nature of the cross Through scripture and the knowledge gained from years of biblical research, Mike Beecham will guide you to a better appreciation of the cross. This book will you give you greater insight into what Jesus sacrificed at his crucifixion. You will have a better sense of everything that the cross truly symbolizes. You will gain knowledge on your purpose as a Christian that can only be found by Understanding the Mystery of the Cross.

"Christianity is a religion founded on the mystery of the cross of Christ." --Leo the Great At the center of Christianity sits the cross of Christ. From the beginning, Christ's followers celebrated the cross as a symbol of their faith. It was honored in church worship, carved into rough tombstones, pressed onto loaves of bread and set out as a sign of sanctuary. The cross represented what Christians believed, who they hoped for and how they approached life. In this thoughtful book Judith Couchman takes up forty images of the cross from early Christianity. As we discover the meaning and significance of each of these uses, we learn a little more about the early church. More than that, she helps us focus on the meaning of the cross and the Savior's sacrifice. Ideal for Lenten devotional reading and appropriate for any season of the church calendar, this book includes original illustrations of each cross image. The Mystery of the Cross will enrich your understanding of Christian tradition and draw you into Christ's presence.

In Preaching and Preachers, the author states unapologetically his attitudes about his role in the church and explains his methodology, all the while addressing various problems and questions that have been put to him.

Humans have long searched for an adequate answer to an age-old question: If God is good, why do we suffer? An entire book of the Bible, Job, is dedicated to the problem of God and human suffering. Theologians across continents and centuries have debated the intricacies, inconsistencies, and assumptions the question elicits. And of course, many have turned to Jesus's own suffering, and his horrible death at the cross, in search of understanding. All too often, the resulting approaches to the mystery of suffering, though linked to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures and traditions, fail to satisfy contemporary hearts and minds. The Mystery of God and Suffering draws guidance from the Gospel of John and the letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians, and focuses on God's overflowing love in creation as a foundation for understanding Jesus's death and its implications for those who follow him. This work offers an alternative vision, one emphasizing incarnation over atonement, for all those who find themselves uneasy or even oppressed by the notion of a vindictive God who demands the suffering and death of his son. The Mystery of God and Suffering also speaks to a larger audience, comprised of all those who suffer and search for meaning in their suffering. With a focus on the eternal concepts of life and love that are not simply integral to but inseparable from a God who is good, as well as on insights of believers through the ages, The Mystery of God and Suffering offers wise guidance for our journey into the abyss of suffering.

“This book is a little masterpiece: it informs and it explores, it recounts history and it provokes a religious quest. It is a personal book, yet it explores the great questions of theology; it is full of learning, but not ponderous; it is written from the perspective of faith, but is not off-putting to the inquirer.” -Thomas O’Loughlin, Professor of Historical Theology University of Wales Lampeter “Andreopoulos explains the gesture and meaning and history of why Christianity has needed symbols and signs through the ages. Throughout, his writing is as inspiriting as a restorative benediction.” -ALA Booklist “The book succeeds at translating the significance of the sign of the Cross into something personal and immediate.” -Publishers Weekly “The Christian of today grows quickly from the innocent child into adulthood and demands understanding of any simple behavior. ‘Why to sign with the crossing? Where did this practice begin? When and how?’ Andreas Andreopoulos, with his book, helps to answer these questions.... [H]e immerses us into the illuminating obscurity of the Holy Tradition.” -Protopresbyter Kyrillos Leret-Aldir, Orthodox Christian Comment

Spiritual Depression is one of the great classics of the modern Church and tackles the big question: If Christianity is such "good news" why are its followers often unhappy? Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was possibly the greatest Christian preacher and teacher of the twentieth century. A medical doctor by training, Spiritual Depression draws together his professional understanding of the mind with a profound understanding of Christian teaching and the Bible. Spiritual Depression diagnoses the causes of the ill feeling that many Christians experience. It prescribes the practical care that is needed to lift people's spirits and bring them freedom, power and joy. Spiritual health is possible and this book explains how everyone can grasp it for themselves.

The following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader ought to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived by a crude and perverse love of reason. Now one class of such men endeavor to transfer to things incorporeal and spiritual the ideas they have formed, whether through experience of the bodily senses, or by natural human wit and diligent quickness, or by the aid of art, from things corporeal; so as to seek to measure and conceive of the former by the latter. Aeterna Press