In his latest collection Philip C. Kolin explores how men and women given over to God live lives of service and sacrifice while they look to their heavenly reward.

Wholly Citizens addresses the relation between the church and the world in light of the Reformation teaching of the two realms—especially as presented by Luther. Rather than exploring again the usual texts of Luther from the 1520’s, this book begins with a careful reading of Luther’s Commentary on Psalm 81 (1531), and then considers subsequent interpreters of Luther, both faithful and otherwise, and the dubious legacy they have left the church. The book argues that both the corporate church as well as individual believers are responsible for the world, and that each must speak directly about and to the world in meaningful ways. The final section of the book addresses the concrete situation facing believers in the early 21st century in light of faithful Reformation teaching about the two realms. Following this path leads to conclusions not entirely expected, including the forthright rejection of “a wall of separation” between church and state, and also a rebuke of the familiar clamor for the preservation of the rights of Christians and the church. Heedless of the status quo, Wholly Citizens offers an engaging and bracing picture of Christian life in today’s world—a picture framed in theological truth.

2012 Reprint of Original 1894 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Many have come to discover the writings of William Law through the publication of selections of his work edited by Andrew Murray. "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" (1728) deeply influenced the chief actors in the great Evangelical revival. John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, Henry Venn, Thomas Scott, and Thomas Adam all express their deep obligation to the author. "The Serious Call" also affected others deeply. Samuel Johnson, ] Gibbon, Lord Lyttelton and Bishop Home all spoke enthusiastically of its merits; and it is still the only work by which its author is popularly known. It has high merits of style, being lucid and pointed to a degree. Though not the most popular, perhaps the most interesting, original and suggestive of all Law's works are those he wrote in his later years, after he had become an enthusiastic admirer of Jacob Boehme, the Teutonic theosopher. From his earliest years, he had been deeply impressed with the piety, beauty and thoughtfulness of the writings of the Christian mystics. However, it was not till after his accidental meeting with the works of Boehme, about 1734, that pronounced mysticism appeared in his works.

Austin details his struggle to find a replacement for a personal God who intervenes in human affairs and natural processes. He finds clues for a new concept of God in the sciences, psychology, and the writings of the mystics of eastern and western faiths.

Wholly God is for both those who are just beginning their Christian journeys and those believers who need a fuller understanding of the whole biblical story, who may know the stories but do not see how they form the larger, cohesive Story. With the passion of a teacher, the humanity of a master storyteller, and the authenticity of a sojourner, Sandy Faulkner tells the Old Testament story without sugar coating but with a genuine love for the characters--even the bad ones--and devotion to the main character of the story, who is both holy and wholly God. Through her light conversational approach, Faulkner makes the ancient biblical stories come alive for readers today. After all, as she puts it, The Holy Bible tells a story. It's a long story. It's one story . . . of amazing love. My prayer is that you will discover you are amazingly loved.

The doctrine of divine simplicity has long played a crucial role in Western Christianity's understanding of God. It claimed that by denying that God is composed of parts Christians are able to account for his absolute self-sufficiency and his ultimate sufficiency as the absolute Creator of the world. If God were a composite being then something other than the Godhead itself would be required to explain or account for God. If this were the case then God would not be most absolute and would not be able to adequately know or account for himself without reference to something other than himself. This book develops these arguments by examining the implications of divine simplicity for God's existence, attributes, knowledge, and will. Along the way there is extensive interaction with older writers, such as Thomas Aquinas and the Reformed scholastics, as well as more recent philosophers and theologians. An attempt is made to answer some of the currently popular criticisms of divine simplicity and to reassert the vital importance of continuing to confess that God is without parts, even in the modern philosophical-theological milieu.