Acts of the Apostles

Religion & Spirituality

BARCLAY, WILLIAM

Christian Books & Bibles

St Andrew Pr

This book shows how, over the past half-century, the Church of Scotland has developed and evolved in a remarkable number of positive and innovative ways. It provides elders, ministers, church members and others interested in Church matters with an account of some of the big issues which face the Church, and have faced it over the course of the authorâe(tm)s own ministry.

Confidence in a Changing Church

Macdonald, Finlay A. J.

Roland Walls is a name known only by word-of-mouth and few of his teachings ever appeared in print - until now. For the first time, the view of this prophetic, wise, mischievous and deelpy loved former priest-in-charge of the famed Rosslyn Chapel are available and accessible to all, in his favourite conversational form. 'The book offers an impression of a man who thinks while he talks. While Walls is not performing an academic act, nevertheless his thoughts, convictions, questions, doubts, hope, humour, compassion, irony, almost tumble out of the pages, yet in an orderly, pure manner ... And there is much more. Hence the short conclusion must be: go and buy!' Coracle Busloads of tourists arrive at Rosslyn Chapel because it features in the blockbuster novel The Da Vinci Code. Nearby, in a slightly dilapidated building, is the home of the Community of the Transfiguration. Many people have visited this place, too. It is what Ron Ferguson calls an arena of healing, hope and inspiration . He visited it to record conversations with Roland Walls, a remarkable, popular and inspiring theologian who has many illuminating things to say about our times. EXTRACT Roland, how do you understand the kingdom of God? One of the things that is really distressing about the switch of attention from the phenomenal church to the kingdom of God - which is good, and I m wholeheartedly behind it - is that in making this tremendous shift from identifying the kingdom of God with the church, most of us go to town about building the kingdom. Now so far as I know there is no mention in the Bible whatsoever of building the kingdom, or indeed of building Jerusalem. The Lord builds up Jerusalem, and he comes down from heaven to us. And that deflected arrow from God to us is the constant temptation of the zealous and the active. It s a common thing, isn t it, this talk of building the kingdom, having a blueprint? That s right, as if we ve got a blueprint, and all we ve got to do is build it. But that overthrows the essential good news of the gospel, which is that it is all going to be gift. It s going to arrive. You re going to enter it. You re going to be invited to see it, to enter it, to be given it. And it s going to arrive from God to us. Now what do we mean then, by the kingdom of God? Is it here? Is it coming? What are we actually offering people? Well, I think the kingdom of God, in its meaning in the Aramaic and Greek, and in the Latin, regnum, means the rule of God: where God has his way, the kingdom comes. In the Lord s Prayer we pray eschatologically about the end: but we also pray fervently, Thy will be done, today, by us - but also, in spite of us. Now the kingdom comes when the will is done. So all we should do is either (a) make a space where God can himself do something, and we sit back and watch it, which is marvellous - most of the time God can t do any will of his because we re having our religious or spiritual wills fulfilled by ourselves - or (b) say, Well, look Lord, put me in the way of your will, so that I can do it by the insights and the strengths you ve given me. So in a way God s doing it, yes, through us. I believe that the kingdom can be prepared for by making a space, by following the little insignificant - seemingly insignificant - will of God, in how we spend money and how we treat one another and all the rest of it. But in the end the kingdom itself, the bliss of the kingdom, is sheer grace, nothing we can manage. So the stuff about building the kingdom is a real heresy? Yes, it s the usual Western semi-Pelagianism. When we ask anybody about the sacraments, when we talk about the Word, when we talk about prayer, theologically we know we have to avoid semi-Pelagianism - but in actual practice, especially in preaching, we get on to semi-Pelagianism, because it s so easy to invite people into some incredible challenges and all that nonsense. The word challenge another word that never appears in scripture - seems to occur until you re knee-deep in challenges after most sermons. That s right, it s all about challenge, building and great exhortations Yes! What are we going to do about it, and all that. The minister in the pulpit loves that bit of the sermon when he s done with all the exposition of the text and gets on to - well what are we going to do about it? That s one of the things that seems to run through the whole church spectrum - the challenge to build, produce some kind of results. Those who preach that show the kind of oughtness they re living with There s a real anxiety there and a terrible guilt that they haven t done this or they haven t done that. That s what gives them the nerve to tell other people. And the terrible thing is that just at the moment when the Church of Rome is reviewing what it thinks of Luther - some of them going so far as to say that one of these days he ll be declared, in some of his writings, a Doctor of the Church - the Protestant world seems to have gone on to a works thing! Recommended by Rowan Williams, John Miller, Keith O Brien, Brian Smith, Iain Torrance and Alison Newell "

Mole Under the Fence: Conversations With Roland Walls

Ferguson, Ron

People know the words of the Lord's Prayer by heart. With the words repeated so often, the freshness and meaning begins to disappear. William Barclay goes right back to the original Biblical texts and translates them, providing surprising and fascinating insights along the way. Readers are guaranteed to find new insight and a fresh understanding. This book is one of a series and each title will have an introduction by one of today's most valued writers.

Lord's Prayer: What the Bible Tells Us about the Lord's Prayer (Insights)

The miracles of Jesus fulfil multiple functions, not least as part of Christ's ministry. They are a demonstration of God's power and Jesus' love for people of all castes and gender. Here, William Barclay unveils all the intention and significance of these amazing acts. Ideal for Bible study individually or in groups. With an insightful and inspiring introduction from poet, Kenneth Steven.

Miracles: What the Bible Tells Us About Jesus' Miracles (Insights)

A fundamental tenet of Christianity is forgiveness, but that doesn't make it any easier. Barclay explores the key stories that New Testament has to offer on the theme of forgiveness, offering instruction, comfort and, most importantly, understanding. With an inspiring Foreword by Margaret Forrester.

Forgiveness: What the Bible Tells Us about Forgiveness (Insights)

Reference

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

â€˜I have seen people who hated themselves confronted with the transforming thought that they, even they, were loved by God. Barclay believed that absolutely everyone, no matter how darkened by evil they may have been, will at the end be enfolded in the love of God. This estimate of the unfailing energy of the gift of love is present throughout this selection of Barclayâ€™s writing on Love.â€™ From the Foreword by John MillerThese insights show us the all-encompassing breadth of the love of God â€" for those who rest in the love of God and for those who spurn it. All are included in the vast and inclusive love of God. The mainspring of Godâ€™s being is love.Cutting through all the commercialism and superficiality that are increasingly typical of the great Christian events and themes, the Insights series brings the Bible vividly to life.

Love: What the Bible Tells Us about Christian Love (Insights)

How did Christianity come to Scotland? A sixteen-hundred-year-old fog of mystery separates us from the dawn of Christianity in Scotland â€" but there are some intriguing signposts. Roderick Grahamâ€™s thorough research challenges the myths. He reveals what Scotland was like before Ninian, Columba and Kentigern and explores the nature of the Christianity that they brought. He seeks answers to the question of Ninianâ€™s existence and the arrival of Christianity at Whithorn, why Columba came to Iona, who the mysterious Culdees were, the fate of Kentigernâ€™s mother and why Kentigern met with Columba in Paisley â€" and he unveils the pivotal role of the synod at Whitby in 664.

Pioneers of Scottish Christianity: Ninian, Columba and Mungo

Graham, Roderick

In this exciting and beautiful spiritual evocation of Iona, we find inspiring photography, brand new poems, tales recounting legends, local stories and Celtic passages from Adamnan - but there is much more to this wonderful book than a simple description of its elements can capture. It is a work of poetic, spiritual beauty. Evoking the intricacies of the island's spiritual web, the book finds half-explored coves and caves, explores the names of certain seldom-visited glens and headlands and tells people who thought they knew everything about Iona things of which they had no knowledge.

Iona: The Other Island

History

Steven, Kenneth

Sarjeant, Iain

Europe

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Books by St Andrew Pr