Theologian Harry Lee Poe and chemist Jimmy H. Davis argue that God's interaction with our world is a possibility affirmed equally by the Bible and the contemporary scientific record. Rather than confirming that the cosmos is closed to the actions of the divine, advancing scientific knowledge seems to indicate that the nature of the universe is actually open to the unique type of divine activity portrayed in the Bible.

Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Managing Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary

The author's theological inquiry is intended to raise questions of interpretation within the camp of openness theology and to direct a discussion on the implications of this movement for the charismatic/Pentecostal community. Open theism or openness theology affirms that the universe is open, the future is not settled, God is essentially relational love, and the risks of love and the threats against it are real. The author digs deep into this area of doctrine in order to question how far openness theology is willing to go. Is it only the future that is open to God, or are there perhaps unknown aspects to the past and present as well? What does God know about sin, and when does he know it? Is it possible for God to be totally absent from a person's life or even from an entire nation? If God can be absent, can he also be exceptionally present in the lives of believers? What would the divine presence and the charismata (spiritual ministries) look like in an open universe?

Scripture gives us as its underlying unity a unified doctrine of God and His order. Theology must be systematic to be true to the God of Scripture. This is one of two Systematic Theology booklets that would later become part of R. J. Rushdoony's larger Systematic Theology set.

Man has been creating gods for the last 40 000 years in order to make sense of himself and to explain life as it was primitively perceived before science developed, knowledge expanded and with it our factual understanding of where we come from, who we are and how we came to be here on our little blue planet. Not a single god had anything to do with creating you or anything at all for that matter. Not even your god, the one you were brought up and indoctrinated with. This book is an attempt to firstly explain how the universe was formed. How planets, and eventually us, evolved over a period of 13.73 billion years based on facts, derived from science, verified, peer-reviewed and corroborated and by also coming to the same conclusions using vastly different methods as opposed to creationist fairytales and superstition. If you understand the basics of evolution, then the second part in which Islam and Christianity are exposed for what they are, may give you some perspective of how ‘religion poisons everything’, in the words of the late great Christopher Hitchens. This book, is not only a consciousness raiser regarding the delusion that religion imposes and the biblical past and current violence it perpetually perpetrates, despite its desperate claims to the contrary, but also hopefully, will help to eradicate its theocratically, skewed fundamentalism where extremism finds its wings. It’s a book about truth. It is about morality and intellectual honesty and unveiling the mask of religion and exposing the delusion of blind faith through reason. Exposing these religions with their ‘cult like’ delusional inaccuracies cannot be underestimated. Our future, as a species, depends on it. In the words of Stephen Roberts: ‘When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.’ Put your belief in people and love. Imaginary gods do not deserve them. Quote “The amount of research that went into this book is prodigious – exceeding what I have seen in volume and scope in all of the PhD theses that I edited over the years!”Editor’s comment.

Iron Sharpens Iron is grounded in the conviction that humans have the capacity to transcend conventional spirituality to a genuine and wholesome faith that is dynamic rather than static, future-oriented rather than past-oriented, and owned rather than passively acquired. Classroom tested, this discussion guide is an ideal way for thoughtful Christians--in individual and group settings--to interact with timely topics. Like its companion text, Beyond Belief: Science, Faith, and the Value of Unknowing (2012), this guide is written for those who affirm the value of lifelong spiritual growth. Topics covered include the authority of scripture, the uniqueness of Christ, faith and reason, religion and science, biological evolution and morality, cosmological evolution and the nature of God, and the doctrines of salvation, resurrection, and the afterlife. This guide encourages a high degree of interaction. The discussion questions are engaging and appeal to various levels of intellectual and spiritual awareness. Sessions follow a fourfold pattern: (a) "Getting Started" provides an overview of each session; (b) "Gaining Momentum" provides questions for discussion or further reflection; (c) "Going Deeper" encourages participants to acquire further perspective; and (d) "The Essentials" summarizes key points from each chapter of Beyond Belief.

The Kingdom Within will change your life! The book resulted from a spiritual transformation that occured in 1989. After twenty years of practice and study a profound experience with higher reality suddenly manifested after a seven mile run near my home at that time in East Tennessee, USA. Suddenly my conscious awareness expanded beyond my body to include all the surroundings of the country side. I never spoke of the significance of this transformation at that time because I did not know how to put into words a spiritual realization that cant be adequately expressed in human terms. It wasnt until 1995 that the full impact of the now present awakened eternal consciousness stablilized within my being. It would have been very easy to just bath in the radiance of Gods image because His love is so fufilling yet the pressure within increased to the point in 2002 that it was time to put into words the way to the inner kingdom of eternal life. The book is for you! It stills the chaos in your life by showing you how to live and what wonder of wonders was placed in all humans at the time of their birth. If you are serious about the search for eternal life NOW and how to understand the ways of the world you need the message in this book! The Kingdom Within is a book about L E Maddens spiritual transformation that occurred 1989. He spent twenty years previous to this event studying the major spiritual teachings of the world. Why wait so many years to let others know? The book tells the reason for the delay and its importance for a complex society. With forty years of spiritual depth and wisdom presented to a spiritual seeker the steps to obtain an enlightened awarness in this lifetime is now possible! Sitting in silence for several years contemplating the meaning of life the full measure of this revelation is now available for all to use. L E Madden has worked in management and engineering capacities for industrial manufacturing firms since 1982. Balancing spirit and business he has successfully integrated the life-changing spiritual transformation of 1989 into daily life. He presently works for a Fortune 100 company as a senior process engineer. Married since 1977 with two successful adult children, he lives near Kansas City, Missouri.

From time immemorial, in every age, a set of questions has persisted, perplexing human beings. Does God exist? Where did the universe come from? Is there any purpose to our lives? Why is there so much suffering? Do we live on after death? How can we find release from suffering and sadness? For what can we hope? These have been called life’s “big questions”; they are the ones that never go away. It is the main business of religion to answer ultimate questions. To accomplish this task, every generation of believers benefits by reexamining its theology, thereby providing society with vision. A stagnant theology reflects a religion that is limited in usefulness and effectiveness. Refined by Fire is written for those who affirm the value of lifelong spiritual growth, realize the limits of logic, and embrace the paradoxes in life. This guide provides a mechanism for individuals and small groups to interact with timely theological topics such as the nature of God, Christ, Scripture, truth, faith, evil, sin, salvation, heaven, hell, creation and evolution, the role of the church, and the future of the human race. Each session (chapter) follows a threefold pattern: (a) “Getting Started” provides an initial assignment; (b) “Gaining Momentum,” the central part of the text, provides perspective; and (c) “Going Deeper” provides questions for discussion or further reflection.

The relation between Christianity and the claims of reason has been at times sharp and conflicting and at times symbiotic. Noted scholars in the church and in the secular academy have asked what Christianity has to do with culture and what the Christian mind has to say, or should be saying, by way of critique in the marketplace of ideas. In Discovering the Christian Mind, Douglas Vickers argues insightfully that prior to the question of what the Christian mind should be doing or saying is that of what the Christian mind is. Vickers shows that the true identity of the Christian mind derives from the Holy Spirit's conveyance to the soul of the grace of regeneration. The conclusion that regeneration is prior to knowing, and that those know truly who know God truly, challenges thought and opinion.

Eschatology is the study of the last things: death, judgment, the afterlife, and the end of the world. Through centuries of Christian thoughtfrom the early Church fathers through the Middle Ages and the Reformationthese issues were of the utmost importance. In other religions, too, eschatological concerns were central. After the Enlightenment, though, many religious thinkers began to downplay the importance of eschatology which, in light of rationalism, came to be seen as something of an embarrassment. The twentieth century, however, saw the rise of phenomena that placed eschatology back at the forefront of religious thought. From the rapid expansion of fundamentalist forms of Christianity, with their focus on the end times; to the proliferation of apocalyptic new religious movements; to the recent (and very public) debates about suicide, martyrdom, and paradise in Islam, interest in eschatology is once again on the rise. In addition to its popular resurgence, in recent years some of the worlds most important theologians have returned eschatology to its former position of prominence. The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology will provide an important critical survey of this diverse body of thought and practice from a variety of perspectives: biblical, historical, theological, philosophical, and cultural. This volume will be the primary resource for students, scholars, and others interested in questions of our ultimate existence.