Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are considered kindred religions-holding ancestral heritages and monotheistic belief in common-but there are definitive distinctions between these "Abrahamic" peoples. Shared Stories, Rival Tellings explores the early exchanges of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and argues that their interactions were dominated by debates over the meanings of certain stories sacred to all three communities. Robert C. Gregg shows how Jewish, Christian, and Muslim interpreters--artists as well as authors--developed their unique and particular understandings of narratives present in the two Bibles and the Qur'an. Gregg focuses on five stories: Cain and Abel, Sarah and Hagar, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, Jonah and the Whale, and Mary the Mother of Jesus. As he guides us through the often intentional variations introduced into these shared stories, Gregg exposes major issues under contention and the social-intellectual forces that contributed to spirited, and sometimes combative, exchanges among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Offering deeper insight into these historical moments and their implications for contemporary relations among the three religions, Shared Stories, Rival Tellings will inspire readers to consider--and reconsider--the dynamics of traditional and current social-religious competition.

Provides an extensive yet accessible guide to many ancient texts Includes artwork as well as historical writings to illuminate religious interpreters' genius and impact Explores the historical contexts of the divides between Jews, Christians, and Muslims

Christianity Today 2021 Book Award Winner: Apologetics & Evangelism Telling a Better Story clears a path to a more effective, empathetic apologetics for today—both for experienced apologists and those new to sharing their faith with others. Today's Christians often view the practice of defending their faith as pushy or unnecessary. Won't it just be taken for proselytizing? Don't many unbelievers find it offensive? Many Christians have shifted to a strategy of hoping that our lives will show Christ to our neighbors—and, while this is certainly good, it's no substitute to actively telling people about Christ. In Telling a Better Story, author Joshua Chatraw presents a new and refreshing way to engage in apologetics that will help you tell the story of Christ in a holistic, culturally-contextual manner that—while being respectful—helps unbelievers imagine a more complete happiness and a better meaning to life. Telling a Better Story will give you the tools to: Understand the cultural stories that surround us. Recognize how these secular stories have shaped the way many people think. Learn how to tell God's story in a fresh way that allows today's younger generations to see it as a more meaningful and more hopeful story than the scripts around it. Finally, you'll also learn how to deal with the perennial issues and common objections to Christianity.

From the BookTok sensation and New York Times bestselling author of Bully and Falls Boys comes the third novel in the Fall Away series. Two estranged teenagers play games that push the boundaries between love and war.... For the two years she was away at boarding school, Madoc had no word from Fallon. Back when they lived in the same house, she used to cut him down during the day and then leave her door open for him at night. Now he's ready to beat her at her own game.... Fallon can tell that Madoc still wants her, even if he acts like he's better than her. But she won't be scared away. Or pushed down. She'll call his bluff and fight back. That's what he wants right? As long as she keeps her guard up, he'll never know how much he affects her....

What Sports' Greatest Rivalries Teach Us About Loving Our Enemies... In his first book, the best-selling God & Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC, humorist Chad Gibbs explored his own struggles to balance faith in God with passion for pigskin. Now Gibbs is back asking how Christian fans can love their enemies, when we can't even love rival fans. From the cross-country culture war of Lakers vs Celtics, to the cross-state hate-fest of Alabama vs Auburn, Gibbs spent one year attending the most intense rivalry games in sports (Yankees vs Red Sox, Duke vs Carolina, and many more), observing the darker side of fan culture, and pondering the problems rivalry games present to the Christian fan. The result... Love Thy Rival, an enlightening, laugh-a-minute look at what sports' greatest rivalries teach us about one of Jesus' most difficult commands: Love your enemies.

Win more deals with the perfect sales story! “Power Messaging is a foundational element in our global marketing campaigns and sales training programs. We believe the concepts are core to engaging in customer conversations that are focused on their outcomes and what they want to achieve.” —Karen Quintos, CMO and SVP, Dell Inc. “The concepts outlined in this book are critical skills to building a world-class presales organization.” —Ken Hamel, Senior Vice President, Global Solutions and Presales, SAP “Our new messaging, using the approaches presented in this book, is great and is being widely used by our sales team. We’ve never had a year end sales meeting with content that was met with such widespread acceptance and enthusiasm.” —Jerry D. Cline, Senior Vice President, Retail Sales and Marketing, AmerisourceBergen Drug Company “The best salespeople sit across the table and make change easy for their customer by creating a succinct story and vision for what to change, how to change it, and how it will impact customer results. An enterprise focus on sales messaging, using the concepts in this book, is the hidden secret to driving incremental sales productivity and overwhelming customer success!” —Ken Powell, Vice President, Worldwide Sales Enablement, ADP “The Power Messaging techniques in this book are the foundation of how our marketing team creates our sales messages, as well as the process our field sales teams use for delivering that message in a unique and compelling way. At Kronos our results are a reflection of the power of the tool.” —Aron Ain, CEO, Kronos About the Book: In today’s highly competitive world of complex sales, commoditization of your brand is one of the greatest dangers. You must differentiate yourself from the competition—or you will lose out. And the way to do that is through customer engagement. Rather than sell your own corporate story and brand message, you need to tell customers their story—the one in which they are the heroes and they achieve success. Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer have been developing and honing their Power Messaging sales technique for more than 20 years, and now they reveal all their secrets in Conversations That Win the Complex Sale. Presenting a catalog of facts or playing 20 questions with prospective customers is the surest way to lose the sale. Peterson and Riesterer provide the tools you need to recraft your message into a compelling story that wins more deals. With Conversations That Win the Complex Sale, you’ll learn how to: Differentiate yourself from the competition by finding your “Value Wedge” Avoid parity in your value propositions by creating “Power Positions” Create a message that can literally double the number of deals you close Spike customer attention and create “Wow” in your conversations Prove all your claims without resorting to lists of boring facts and statistics Your competitors are out there telling their own corporate story—a story customers don’t want to hear. Now is the time to seize the moment. This book is the one and only source you need to reframe your sales story and turn the tables on the competition by fully engaging their would-be customers. Conversations That Win the Complex Sale helps you create and deliver messages that customers care about, giving your brand the clear edge in today’s crowded markets.