Jesus metamorphosed. Celebrities from the past. Petrified disciples. Luminous cloud. An event as important as Christmas or Easter! Are you a preacher wondering what you can possibly say new and interesting on Transfiguration this year—to say nothing of all the Transfigurations that lie ahead of you? Are you an everyday believer curious to learn more about this holiday celebrated ievery year, yet somehow overlooked and ignored? Are you hooked on weird theological terms, intrigued by the fact that “transfiguration” is Latin for the Greek “metamorphosis” (as in butterflies and Kafka), and love to explore every wild and woolly corner of the Bible? Are you tired of Peter always getting bashed for his offer to build booths? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration needs to be at the top of your reading list! The seven ways: 1. Metamorphosis : Jesus 2. Eschaton : Elijah 3. Exodus : Moses 4. Tabernacles : Israel 5. Eyewitnesses : Peter, James, and John 6. Cloud : God the Father 7. Parousia : My Son, My Beloved Questions about the Transfiguration answered in the book: + What can it possibly mean for the eternal Lord to be transfigured, metamorphosed—changed? + Why does Luke delete the word “transfigured” from his version of the, um, well, Transfiguration? + Why does only Jesus’ clothing change in Mark’s Gospel, but his face, too, in Matthew and Luke? + Why was it Moses and Elijah, out of all possible Old Testament figures, who met with Jesus on the mountaintop? (Not because they represent “the law and the prophets”!) + Which mountain was it, anyway? + Why were Peter, James, and John the only disciples invited to see the Transfiguration? + Why was it so offensive for Peter to offer to build three booths for the three famous men? (Not because he was a babbling idiot!) + Why does God speak to Jesus at his Baptism and his Transfiguration, but not at his Resurrection? + Why doesn’t the Gospel of John have a Transfiguration story? (Or does it?) + Why doesn’t St. Paul talk about the Transfiguration? (Or does he?) + Why does Second Peter, of all oddball little epistles, talk about the Transfiguration? + Will we be transfigured someday, too? + What essential thing does the Transfiguration tell us about Jesus that his Resurrection does not?

An ambitious scholar’s lucid analysis of religion’s shifting place in the modern world. Western intellectuals have long theorized that religion would undergo a process of marginalization and decline as the forces of modernity advanced. Yet recent events have disrupted this seductively straightforward story. As a result, while religion has somehow evolved from its tribal beginnings up through modernity and into the current global age, there is no consensus about what kind of narrative of religious change we should alternatively tell. Seeking clarity, Benjamin Schewel organizes and evaluates the prevalent narratives of religious history that scholars have deployed over the past century and are advancing today. He argues that contemporary scholarly discourse on religion can be categorized according to seven central narratives: subtraction, renewal, transsecular, postnaturalist, construct, perennial, and developmental. Examining the basic logic, insights, and limitations of each of these narratives, Schewel ranges from Martin Heidegger to Muhammad Iqbal, from Daniel Dennett to Charles Taylor, to offer an incisive, broad, and original perspective on religion in the modern world. “The book should be a widely read guide to the ideas that structure many of the debates scholars are having today about the meaning of postsecularism and future of religion.” —Geoffrey Cameron, Review of Faith and International Affairs "What is the future of religion and how should we narrate its past? For all readers interested in these questions, this balanced and concise book is a must read.” —Hans Joas, Humboldt University, Berlin, and University of Chicago

Before she was baptized or knew anything about Christ, young Nenilava was called by Jesus to preach and exorcise in his name. At the age of twenty, newly married to a Lutheran catechist, she heard Jesus prompting her to intervene in a case of demon possession, and from there her ministry spread like wildfire. She spent the next sixty years of her life traveling around her native Madagascar, proclaiming Jesus’ victory over sin, guilt, and evil, and bringing countless people to faith. In this book, her firsthand account of her early ministry, as told to a Malagasy pastor, appears for the first time in English. Complementing the immediacy of her narrative, former missionary in Madagascar, James B. Vigen, recounts the last thirty years of Nenilava’s life and describes the extraordinary impact of this illiterate peasant woman on African Christianity. Sarah Hinlicky Wilson concludes the book with a far-reaching exploration of demon possession, healing from illness and sin, emergent offices of ministry, and the relevance of Nenilava for Western Christianity.

In this popular play-cycle, Sayers makes the Gospels come alive. "Her Jesus can bring tears to your eyes. You will be deeply moved--a powerful experience".--Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy.

This book is a correspondence between two theologians and friends during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–21. In it the authors reflect on the nature of God, the efficacy of prayer, the value of experience, the nature of theology itself, the importance of Christian hope, and many other topics. The style is familiar and light, rich, and full of wisdom.

Frustrated with traditional approaches to spirituality? Feeling guilty about not following a regimented devotional practice? Wishing there were a way you could embrace God in your everyday life? This book offers a way forward. Rather than prescribe another attempt at daily devotional readings, written prayers and scheduled moments of quiet meditation, Everyday Spirituality expresses the truth that much of what we already do in life is, in fact, spiritual. · Walking· Cooking· Laughing· Sleeping· Moving· Spending· . This book is an accessible introduction to an ancient yet new way of thinking and being in the world. Rather than dividing spiritual life apart from daily life, Everyday Spirituality helps the reader realize that they do as connected to God, the sacred, the holy.