Poverty is much more than simply a lack of material resources, and it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve it. When Helping Hurts shows how some alleviation efforts, failing to consider the complexities of poverty, have actually (and unintentionally) done more harm than good. But it looks ahead. It encourages us to see the dignity in everyone, to empower the materially poor, and to know that we are all uniquely needy - and that God in the gospel is reconciling all things to himself.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove grew up in the Bible Belt in the American South as a faithful church-going Christian. But he gradually came to realize that the gospel his Christianity proclaimed was not good news for everybody. The same Christianity that sang, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound" also perpetuated racial injustice and white supremacy in the name of Jesus. His Christianity, he discovered, was the religion of the slaveholder. Just as Reconstruction after the Civil War worked to repair a desperately broken society, compromised Christianity requires a spiritual reconstruction.

In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were made. Smith helps listeners recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices.

In this classic theological treatise, the acclaimed theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1900-1981) demonstrates how the gospel may be read as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised. Jesus is a partner in the pain of the oppressed and the example of His life offers a solution to ending the descent into moral nihilism. Hatred does not empower—it decays. Only through self-love and love of one another can God's justice prevail.

Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, “I had to learn what it means to love blackness,” a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America’s racial divide as a writer, speaker, and expert helping organizations practice genuine inclusion.

Many of us feel unsteady, disoriented, even crushed after an endless string of scandals within the walls of a place meant to offer compassion and safety. Others feel forced to draw back or distance ourselves from the church. All the while, our instincts tell us this is not what Jesus wanted for his people. But what did he intend? After four decades of ministry, Anglican bishop Todd Hunter is no stranger to betrayal and pain in the church. Still, he has hope. He believes more than ever that Jesus is who the world needs and that Jesus has plans for his followers.

John Piper sounds a crucial warning in this audiobook, reminding all Christians to exercise great caution regarding "fresh" interpretations of the Bible and to hold fast to the biblical view of justification.

In The Peacemaker, Ken Sande presents a comprehensive and practical theology for conflict resolution designed to bring about not only a cease-fire, but also unity and harmony. Sande takes listeners beyond resolving conflicts to true, life-changing reconciliation with family members, coworkers, and fellow believers.

The End of Faith. The God Delusion. God Is Not Great. Letter to a Christian Nation. Best seller lists are filled with doubters. But what happens when you actually doubt your doubts? Timothy Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, addresses the frequent doubts that skeptics, and even ardent believers, have about religion.

Leading homiletician Jared Alcantara offers a practice-centered, collaborative, technologically innovative, next-generation introductory preaching textbook. The book breaks new ground by adopting a practice-based approach to teaching preaching and by using innovative technological delivery to enhance the educational experience of learners.

Why has Christianity, a religion premised upon neighborly love, failed in its attempts to heal social divisions? In this ambitious and wide-ranging work, Willie James Jennings delves deep into the late medieval soil in which the modern Christian imagination grew, to reveal how Christianity's highly refined process of socialization has inadvertently created and maintained segregated societies.

Paul and the Gift changed the landscape of Pauline studies forever upon its publication in 2015. Paul and the Power of Grace offers all of the most significant contributions from Paul and the Gift in a package several hundred pages lighter and more accessible. Additionally, John Barclay adds further analysis of the theme of gift and grace in Paul’s other letters and explores contemporary implications for this new view of grace.

With the publication of his two early works, Black Theology & Black Power (1969) and A Black Theology of Liberation (1970), James Cone emerged as one of the most creative and provocative theological voices in North America. His books offered a searing indictment of white theology and society and introduced a radical presentation of the Christian message of our time. Combining the visions of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., Cone radically reappraised Christianity from the perspective of the oppressed black community in North America.

This best-selling book by Haddon Robinson, considered by many to be the "teacher of preachers", has sold over 300,000 copies and is a contemporary classic in the field. It offers students, pastors, and Bible teachers expert guidance in the development and delivery of expository sermons. This new edition has been updated throughout and includes helpful exercises.

In this definitive biography, renowned Bible scholar, Anglican bishop, and best-selling author N. T. Wright offers a radical look at the apostle Paul, illuminating the humanity and remarkable achievements of this intellectual who invented Christian theology - transforming a faith and changing the world. For centuries, Paul, the apostle who "saw the light on the Road to Damascus" and made a miraculous conversion from zealous Pharisee persecutor to devoted follower of Christ, has been one of the church's most widely cited saints.

In The Secret Message of Jesus, McLaren clears away the dust of 2,000 years of the Christian religion to get to the most important questions facing Christendom: Could it be that the church has misunderstood or, in some cases, intentionally distorted Jesus' core message?

With his trademark brilliance, generosity of spirit, and clear pastoral calling, Brian McLaren synthesizes an accessible and inviting understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

Best-selling author John Ortberg shares how Jesus' influence has swept over history and how his vision of life continues to impact humanity today. Jesus' impact on our world is highly unlikely, widely inescapable, largely unknown, and decidedly double-edged. It is unlikely in light of the severe limitations of his earthly life; it is inescapable because of the range of impact; it is unknown because history doesn't connect dots; and it is doubled-edged because his followers have wreaked so much havoc, often in his name.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove grew up in the Bible Belt in the American South as a faithful church-going Christian. But he gradually came to realize that the gospel his Christianity proclaimed was not good news for everybody. The same Christianity that sang, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound" also perpetuated racial injustice and white supremacy in the name of Jesus. His Christianity, he discovered, was the religion of the slaveholder. Just as Reconstruction after the Civil War worked to repair a desperately broken society, compromised Christianity requires a spiritual reconstruction.

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church. Not since the Reformation five centuries ago have so many Christians come together to ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who best represents them is author and pastor Brian McLaren. In this much anticipated book, McLaren examines ten questions facing today's church - questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is....

Richard Rohr Rohr goes through the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, explaining the historical and cultural context of each verse and offering guidance for what it means for Christians today.

For decades Americans were vaguely aware that Islamist barbarians were in the deserts of the Middle East and in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, executing "infidels" and raiding villages with unrecognizable names. The Muslim world seemed far away, remote, and irrelevant to our daily lives. Then came the terrorist attack of 9/11, followed by attacks at Fort Hood, the Boston Marathon, San Bernandino, Orlando, and more. Now terrorists seem to be emerging everywhere, unleashing senseless death and destruction on our nation.

We are living in historic times. Not since the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s has our country been as vigorously engaged in the reconciliation conversation. There is a great opportunity right now for culture to change, to be a more perfect union. However, it cannot be done without the church, because the faith of the people is more powerful than any law government can enact.

A trailblazer in the civil rights movement, John M. Perkins led voter registration efforts in 1964, worked for school desegregation in 1967, and was jailed and tortured in 1970. He is no less zealous today as he sees a new generation of freedom fighters battling the same issues and the same systems he has spent his life working to correct.

How did violence and power seep into our understanding of faith and grace? For those troubled by this trend toward the sword, perhaps there is a better way. What if the message of Jesus differs radically from the drumbeats of war we hear all around us? Using his own journey from war crier to peacemaker and his in-depth study of peace in the Scriptures, author and pastor Brian Zahnd reintroduces us to the gospel of peace.

In this sequel to his best seller, The Myth of a Christian Nation, Dr. Gregory Boyd issues a clear call to manifest God’s beauty and revolt against evil—with Jesus’ life as our example. Passionate theology and practical insight combine to create a guidebook for simple, radical, Christlike living.

The belief that all lives matter is at the heart of our founding documents - but we must admit that this conviction has never truly reflected reality in America. Movements such as Black Lives Matter have arisen in response to recent displays of violence and mistreatment, and some of us defensively answer back, "All lives matter". But do they? Really? This audiobook is an exploration of that question.

The greatest revolution of all time was about to begin.... When Pontius Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he thought he was putting an end to the Jewish uprising that had been threatening the authority of the Roman Empire. What Pilate didn't realize, however, was that the real revolution was just getting started.

Malestrom builds on and expands previous books by Carolyn Custis James to explore the idea of manhood, a growing issue both in the wider culture and in the church. Until now the entire discussion has been largely reduced to Western conceptions. Instead James here shows how our culture's narrow definitions of manhood are upended when we consider the examples of men in the Bible and Jesus' gospel.

If You Can Keep It is at once a thrilling review of America's uniqueness, and a sobering reminder that America's greatness cannot continue unless we truly understand what our founding fathers meant for us to be. The book includes a stirring call-to-action for every American to understand the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is America. It also paints a vivid picture of the tremendous fragility of that experiment and explains why that fragility has been dangerously forgotten.