Theology is a grand conversation, comprised of a myriad of voices and viewpoints. A great temptation exists within theology today, however, which could signal the loss of a unique Christian identity. The creedal formulations of the early church were never meant to serve as shackles constricting further theological exploration. They were, and still are, relevant guides in assessing the crowded conversation of theology. Early creedal formulations identified and articulated primary affirmations of the biblical narrative not to put an end to the conversation but rather to focus the conversation on the unique Christian identity of God as presented in Scripture. This book examines the function of early creedal formulations as essential identity markers in theological discourse with the goal of constructing an approach to the various subcategories of systematic theology that mirrors the creedal process. This approach, termed here as "Essential Identity Markers" (or simply EIM), seeks to identify and articulate the essential identity markers of a given theological subcategory, in order to define the proper parameters for theological discourse while still allowing such discourse to develop and expand within the articulated identity markers. The EIM model constructed and proposed in this book offers an approach to theology that mirrors the creedal process and seeks to guide modern theological conversations as the community of faith continues to explore the space framed by these markers.

Early Creedal Formulations and Theological Discourse

History

Moore, Mark A.

Europe

Gcrr Press

For millennia, a fundamental question of culture and law has been the relationship between religion and ruler, or more recently between church and state. Although the term "political theology" was not always known, the question remained and was answered in various ways: theocracy, the divine right of kings, the mandate of heaven, the rule of jurists, and so forth. Almost a century ago, Carl Schmitt revived political theology and reshaped it into a less theological and more political subject with his famous notions of sovereignty and the exception. Schmitt highlighted the eternal struggle between power or authority on the one hand and positive law and political institutions on the other, arguing that law can never entirely legitimize or constrain power or authority and that the real site and source of law is the moment of exception and of "the decision." Trump and Political Theology applies this Schmittian lens to Donald Trump, an exceptional president who seems to use his executive and decision-making power to flaunt law and truth, to cripple and discredit institutions, and to bend reality to his will. The book considers first whether Trump is an aspiring Schmittian sovereign and therefore a threat to democracy. But it goes beyond Trump and Trumpism to critique and rethink political theology in the light of contemporary, especially populist and authoritarian, politics. Finally, it compels us to critique and rethink theology itself as a tool for understanding and organizing politics and society, restoring the relevance of myth and ritual and of pre-Christian and non-Christian characters like the shaman and the trickster for modern politics and social theory.

Trump and Political Theology: Unmaking Truth and Democracy

Eller, Jack David

World

Drawing significantly on the work of Emile Durkheim and Claude L vi-Strauss, this book proposes a way to navigate between two pitfalls that undermine comprehension of alien cultures and their sacred literature. First, it offers a vigorous defense of the principle of charity when interpreting religious texts. But this, then, must confront the oddity, even deep implausibility, of many religious claims. The "way out" of this dilemma takes seriously Durkheim's seminal hypothesis that religious belief systems reflect native efforts to understand the social realities of their society. It brings to bear L vi-Strauss's claim that the structure of religious narratives reflects attempts to bring intellectual order to those realities in a way we can decipher through the use of certain analytic techniques. The next major element to this book is philosophical. What are such things as social roles, institutions, and conventions? Finding possible answers to that question enables the discovery of match-ups between religious concepts-of souls, gods, demons, and the like-and social realities, giving substance to Durkheim's general thesis. But what about the Bible? The second half of this book is devoted to exploring what the implications might be for an understanding of the origins of Judaism and Christianity. It does so by applying anthropological analyses to puzzles posed by stories found in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, especially the Gospel of Matthew. The upshot is both a political reading of the texts and a conceptual re-framing of such baffling claims as the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and Transubstantiation.

Reading Sacred Texts: Charity, Structure, Gospel

Religion & Spirituality

Fales, Evan

Christian Books & Bibles

The Annotated Passover Haggadah presented here is unique, both in substance and appeal. The story is well-known and often repeated, having been translated, elaborated, neutered, abbreviated, truncated, and all but exfoliated over the many centuries. Nevertheless, the current volume makes an important contribution since, while preserving both the traditional Hebrew text along with an equally traditional English translation, it provides important analytical, philosophical, and theological perspectives on the seminal event of Jewish consciousness and self-awareness. This Haggadah is intended, notwithstanding its scholarly rigor, for practical use in family and congregational settings for those who wish, during this all-important night, to delve ever deeply into the Passover narrative, to go beyond the mere repetition of an annual ritual into a more richly rewarding and profound experience. Its overall theme is a celebration, not only of the deliverance from Egypt but of the widely disparate ways in which the Passover is observed by sundry traditions worldwide. Going beyond the "normative" observance of the Passover Seder, this Haggadah breaks new ground in referencing the increasing interest among Christians and Messianic Jews in observing the Exodus from Egypt. It underscores, via a small cadre of the world's most renowned Jewish scholars, the sanctified memory of this mighty deliverance, which remains forever emblazoned in the Jewish soul.

The Annotated Passover Haggadah

Judaism

In the Deep South of the United States, there has been a strong respect placed on the value of God and country, and this was always seen as a virtue. However, over the past few years, a healthy view of patriotism has blurred with concepts of nationalism. In a deeply divided nation, how should the Christian church view patriotism? These are weighty questions that need to be answered from a biblically evangelical perspective. This book seeks to take a comprehensive look at the topic by examining how the Bible frames patriotic duty as a proper alternative to both nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Both are misguided as nationalism seeks to exalt one's country against others while cosmopolitanism seeks to ignore divinely-ordained boundaries. This book also investigates how American history has framed the popular discourse about patriotism, which has resulted in both American unity and division. Biblical concepts such as loyalty in friendships, family, and land will be considered as a way to make sense of the nature of healthy patriotism. Approaching the subject with the Apostle Paul in mind, who was himself a dual-citizen in his own day, this book then explores the concept of patriotism with a discussion of two contemporary moral issues: the role of the flag in the church and the prevalence of patriotic liturgy.

Biblical Patriotism: An Evangelical Alternative to Nationalism

Wyatt, Adam

The chapters in this book combine to show that it is exceedingly improbable to the point of refutation for the god of Orthodox Theism to exist. The main problem is an evidential one regarding horrendous suffering. A perfectly good god would be opposed to it, an all-powerful god would be capable of eliminating it, and an all-knowing god would know what to do about it. The existence of horrendous suffering in the world leads us to think that god is either not powerful enough to eliminate it, or does not care enough to eliminate it, or is just not smart enough to know what to do about it. The book also addresses issues relating to the lack of objective evidence for miracles, the absurdity of theistic myths, the relationship of horrendous suffering to differing theologies and religious faiths, the horrendous nature of the biblical god, the horrendous actions done because of religious faith, and how these considerations can lead reasonable people away from religion. The authors discuss these issues philosophically, theologically, apologetically, biblically, religiously, historically, and personally. It's an excellent model for how philosophers, apologists, and theologians should've been discussing this problem decades ago.

God and Horrendous Suffering

Atheism

The purpose of this book is to show how fundamentalist attempts to harmonize and suppress contradictions between the four Gospels are misguided because they fail to see that most "contradictions" actually represent purposeful editorial changes of one Gospel by the writer of another. The successive evangelists were trying to make new and different points. There is nothing more pious than understanding the text.\nHarmonization cheats readers of the Bible by preventing them from discerning the richness and variety of Gospel teachings. Harmonizers see themselves as champions of Scripture, but they are, ironically, suppressing a proper understanding of the very texts that they profess to honor and adore. To recognize the plurality of Gospel teachings allows readers to strip off the threadbare straitjacket that has long been imposed on the text by theologians, which then allows people to read the Gospels each on their own terms.\nThis book forces readers to ask: Do you love the Bible or your theology of the Bible?

When Gospels Collide

Price,Robert

Luke: Illuminating the Sage of Galilee (The Hebraic Gospels)

Hanson, Kenneth L

Although it has long been known that The Amityville Horror: A True Story was a fraud, until now, no assessment of the extent of the fraud or account of how it was planned has been published. In this book, The Amityville Horror: An Inquest into Paranormal Claims, investigatorFrank Zindler reveals how the story was concocted by the Lutzes (the protagonists of the horror-house tale) in collusion with the lawyers for Ronald DeFeo, Jr.-the man who murdered six members of his family in the house at 112 Ocean Avenue prior to its purchase by the financially strapped Lutzes. 
Zindler's day-by-day investigation of the infamous 28-day "ordeal" is a textbook example of how to investigate claims of demonic possession and other supernatural yarns. It draws upon everything from weather records for the demonic days to court records of a trial in which the Lutzes and the lawyers sued each other for fraud; from polygraph reports to interviews with priests, police, and other Amityville persons mentioned in the original book to the auction inventory of possessions provided by the realtor who sold the house to the Lutzes. Demonstrating extensive plagiarism from the novel The Exorcist, Zindler's deconstruction of Jay Anson's "True Story" is the definitive critique of a hoax that since 1977 has grown into a half-billion-dollar industry that feeds upon public ignorance and superstition. 
Finally, Zindler reveals the lasting effects of the abuse suffered by the Lutz children, and a straight line is drawn from the New Testament belief in demons to the beliefs of the Q-Anon insurrectionists who invaded the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The Amityville Horror: An Inquest into Paranormal Claims

Biographies & Memoirs

Zindler, Frank R.

True Crime

Evangelicals need help from Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) in cultivating an ethic fueled by the rescuing work of Christ. This 19th-century Victorian-era pastor from a London megachurch helped provide a gospel compass that directed Christians in both the head and the heart in their approach to the troubles of society. His work assists American evangelicals in this part of the 21st century by addressing some of the significant issues of the present time: patriotism/nationalism, racism, and religious liberty.\nThis book analyzes the sermons of Charles Spurgeon to construct a gospel-centered ethic toward the vulnerable and downtrodden of society. Many of the events and situations that marked his day parallels the circumstances of the present day. Spurgeon's approach (from both preaching and writing) provides the present evangelical world with a necessary template to move forward biblically and ethically.

Destroying Everything Bad in the Land: Implementing Charles Spurgeon's Gospel-Centered Ethic Toward The Vulnerable in Society

Perry, Matthew R

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