Traditional interpretations of the creatures of the Bible have sanded down their sharp, unsavory edges, transforming them into celestial beings of glory and light—or chubby, happy cherubs. Those cherubs? They're actually hybrid guardian monsters, more closely associated with the Egyptian sphinx than with flying babies. And the seraphim? Winged serpents sent to mete out God's vengeance. Demons aren't at war with angels; they're a distinct supernatural species used by Satan and by God. The pattern is chilling. Most of these monsters aren't God's opponents—they're God's entourage.

In “No Nonsense Spirituality,” author and philosopher, Britt Hartley offers a groundbreaking exploration that marries the rigor of rational inquiry with the depths of human spirituality. Best of all? No faith in the unbelievable is required. Drawing from the wellsprings of science, philosophy, religion, and psychology, this illuminating work charts a course for those who seek a meaningful life without dogma or woo. Hartley draws on her work as an atheist spiritual director to provide practical guidelines for navigating a secular approach to ritual, morality, awe, transcendence, wisdom, ...

The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity—or rather, of early Christianities—through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople.

Discussions of the Bible and human sexuality often focus on a scattered handful of specific passages. But arguments about this same set of verses have reached an impasse, two leading biblical scholars believe; these debates are missing the forest for the trees. In this learned and beautifully written book, Richard and Christopher Hays explore a more expansive way of listening to the overarching story that scripture tells. They remind us of a dynamic and gracious God who is willing to change his mind, consistently broadening his grace to include more and more people.

In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be listened to in its historical context - from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries....

For the past two thousand years, Christian tradition, scholarship, and pop culture have credited the authorship of the New Testament to a select group of men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul. But hidden behind these named and sainted individuals are a cluster of enslaved coauthors and collaborators.

On June 9, 1978, the phones at the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) were ringing nonstop. On that historic day, LDS church president Spencer W. Kimball announced a revelation lifting the church's 126-year-old ban barring Black people from the priesthood and Mormon temples. It was the most significant change in LDS doctrine since the end of polygamy almost 100 years earlier. Drawing on never-before-seen private papers of LDS apostles and church presidents, Harris probes the plot twists and turns, the near-misses and paths not taken, of this incredible story.

The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human.

Author and scholar Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye explores her own personal experiences within her church community, her profession, and her battle with cancer to provide some answers about how we can learn to love and appreciate the diverse collection of experiences we’re surrounded by and subjected to. Through her faithful, compassionate lens and supported by the words of academics, scripture, and Latter-day prophets and apostles, Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye shares her personal testimony of the power of Christ to understand―and relieve―our suffering.

How did early Christians come to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the divine Son of God? This is the central question in this book. When Did Jesus Become God? is a transcribed conversation between Bart Ehrman and Michael Bird, with a helpful historiographic introduction by Robert Stewart that helps listeners understand the conclusions reached by Ehrman and Bird.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John be­came fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequi­ties that allow this curable, preventable infec­tious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year. In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story.

Historians know virtually nothing about the two decades following the crucifixion of Jesus, when his followers regrouped and began to spread his message. During this time the man we know as the apostle Paul joined the movement and began to preach to the gentiles. Using the oldest Christian documents that we have - the letters of Paul - as well as other early Christian sources, historian and scholar James Tabor reconstructs the origins of Christianity.

Even if we understand the idea that we should love people, we sometimes think we’re supposed to love them back onto our path instead of respecting their own journey. I’m not trying to love people into coming with me. I’m just loving people. THE LAW OF LOVE—loving as God loves, seeking another’s healing, expecting nothing in return—is a simple principle with profound, lifechanging implications.

In this “eloquent understanding of how death is viewed through many spiritual traditions” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Bart Ehrman recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. He discusses ancient guided tours of heaven and hell, in which a living person observes the sublime blessings of heaven for those who are saved and the horrifying torments of hell for those who are damned.

Social media influencer and podcast host April Ajoy wouldn’t have called herself a Christian Nationalist when she performed her original song “America Say Jesus” on the Jim Bakker show, or when she participated in Jesus Marches across America, or when she posted cringe-worthy videos on YouTube to campaign for Mitt Romney. April just considered herself a good Christian: faithful, Republican, and determined to make America a Christian nation once again.

The Bible Tells Me So has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

Traditional interpretations of the creatures of the Bible have sanded down their sharp, unsavory edges, transforming them into celestial beings of glory and light—or chubby, happy cherubs. Those cherubs? They're actually hybrid guardian monsters, more closely associated with the Egyptian sphinx than with flying babies. And the seraphim? Winged serpents sent to mete out God's vengeance. Demons aren't at war with angels; they're a distinct supernatural species used by Satan and by God. The pattern is chilling. Most of these monsters aren't God's opponents—they're God's entourage.

Ostracized at school, Brandan thought he had finally found his community when he joined the local church. But he soon realized that they were as intolerant as his peers at school had been—if not more so. After agonizing years of repressing his true identity, he discovered that God’s table had always had a place for him. Jesus’ love knows no bounds, embracing everyone unconditionally.

In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be listened to in its historical context - from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries....

Prophetic gifts without love are nothing. But what does love look like through the gift of prophecy? Four verses penned nearly 2,000 years ago capture one of the world's greatest descriptions of love. These verses embedded in the context of instruction on spiritual gifts unveil 13 secrets for healthy function of the gift of prophecy within society, and they are the ultimate prophetic protocol.

The scholarship of theology and religion teaches us that the God of the Bible was without a body, only revealing himself in the Old Testament in words mysteriously uttered through his prophets, and in the New Testament in the body of Christ. The portrayal of God as corporeal and masculine is seen as merely metaphorical, figurative, or poetic. But, in this revelatory study, Francesca Stavrakopoulou presents a vividly corporeal image of God: a human-shaped deity who walks and talks and weeps and laughs, who eats, sleeps, feels, and breathes, and who is undeniably male.

“Women of faith, discussing complicated things.” That’s how authors Susan Hinckley and Cynthia Winward describe At Last She Said It, and they don’t expect the knots to untangle themselves. Even with two very different personalities and a decade or so between them, as their friendship developed they kept stumbling onto what felt like an uncanny amount of common ground in their church experiences. Often their conversations ended with, “Why isn’t anyone talking about this? Someone should do a podcast!” So they did.

Drawing on a collection of lectures that N. T. Wright delivered from 1999 to 2015, God in Public brings together the message of Jesus—in its larger biblical context—and the challenges of the contemporary public and political worlds. In this book, Wright challenges the West's response to 9/11 and then expands to discuss a more Jesus inspired way of approaching the public problems we find ourselves in, based on following Jesus' life and teachings.

In “No Nonsense Spirituality,” author and philosopher, Britt Hartley offers a groundbreaking exploration that marries the rigor of rational inquiry with the depths of human spirituality. Best of all? No faith in the unbelievable is required. Drawing from the wellsprings of science, philosophy, religion, and psychology, this illuminating work charts a course for those who seek a meaningful life without dogma or woo. Hartley draws on her work as an atheist spiritual director to provide practical guidelines for navigating a secular approach to ritual, morality, awe, transcendence, wisdom, ...

Jeremy Steele knows what it means to suck as a Christian—because he's an expert. How to Not Suck as a Christian takes an unflinching look at the ways Christians often miss the mark, from misusing scripture and manipulating others to failing at basic empathy.

In Creation, Power and Truth, N. T. Wright invites listeners to consider the crucial ways in which the Christian gospel challenges and subverts the intellectual, moral and political values that pervade contemporary culture. In doing so, he asks searching questions about three defining characteristics of our time: neo-gnosticism, neo-imperialism and postmodernity.

Countless Christians are deconstructing the fear-based faith they were handed, but many don’t want to give up on God—they want to love and be loved by Jesus without hateful or abusive theology. If you’re one of these believers, this feminist, anti-racist, LGBTQ-affirming devotional will take you on a journey of spiritual reenchantment. Featuring 40 devotions on God’s radical and liberating salvation, it’s here to help you heal your church hurt, restore your sense of community, and embrace Jesus’s heart-healing forgiveness.

"I'm spiritual but not religious." It's a phrase that's often used to explain why, although they don't go to church, people still feel that life must have some kind of transcendent meaning. But what does this "spirituality" consist of? In Spiritual and Religious N. T. Wright argues that, whether people realize it or not, they are often simply reverting to forms of ancient paganism that are very similar to those that confronted the earliest Christians.

Based on a careful analysis of the earliest Christian documents and recent archaeological discoveries, The Jesus Dynasty offers a bold new interpretation of the life of Jesus and the origins of Christianity. The story is surprising, controversial, and exciting as only a long-lost history can be when it is at last recovered.

According to Joseph Smith, in September of 1823, an angel appeared to him and directed him to a hill near his home. Buried there, Smith found a box containing a stack of thin metal sheets, gold in color and covered with what appeared to be ancient engravings. Exactly four years later, the angel instructed Smith to translate the plates into English. When the text was published, a new religion was born.