Kenosis, or self-emptying, poses a fundamental question to any theological discussion about Jesus Christ: “In becoming human, did God empty himself of any divine qualities?” Many variations on kenotic Christology have emerged over the past 200 years, most of them claiming to both preserve and highlight the true humanity and ecclesial significance of Jesus Christ. While there is much to commend in these efforts, Samuel Youngs contends that nearly all such kenotic attempts have, against their best intentions, fallen into an echo chamber of abstraction and metaphor, rendering their talk about Jesus Christ and analysis of the Gospels fundamentally “unreal” and lacking in material significance for today’s living church. Most fundamentally, many kenotic accounts pay inadequate attention to Christ’s lived accomplishment, his current presence, and the modes of praxis that he makes real in the world. In dialogue with the important movement known as Transformation Theology, Youngs unfolds a detailed critique of method and discourse in kenotic christologies. Turning then to the vibrant christological thought of Jürgen Moltmann, a different outlook on kenosis is articulated and defended, one that is relational, concrete, and praxiological.

"Incorporation" refers to the joint concept of the mutual indwelling of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit and Their mutual working together as one. These two concepts are not new in Christian thought, but they are overlooked by many Christian teachers and writers today and, consequently, by many Christians in general. The effect of this omission is that many common believers (if not their teachers!) fall easily into the mistaken view that the three of the Divine Trinity exist separably, act separably, and therefore are separably three Gods, even though most know better than to say so. This book is at one level a reaction to that mistaken view, because the writers of the New Testament were very far from it in their concept and utterance. But at stake is not just the Trinity as the capital teaching of the Christian faith (if that were not enough to be concerned about). The essence of true Christian experience is also greatly affected by our understanding of how the Triune God is in Himself and how He acts in Himself, for according to the New Testament the essence of the believers' life and living is the extension of the Triune God's mutual indwelling and mutual working together as one within them. Thus, at another level this book is a reaction to a merely moral and ethical view of the Christian life, because, again, the writers of the New Testament present the Christian life more profoundly as the believers' incorporation of the Triune God, who lives and operates within them. The content of this book is a careful consideration of the incorporation of the Triune God in Himself and with His believers as evidenced textually in the New Testament, particularly the Gospel of John through the Epistle of Jude.

Highly spiritual, the work in this collection represents both previously published and unpublished material by Olivia Ward Bush-Banks, a notable and neglected black woman writer. Including short fiction, poetry, and drama, her work fills a lacuna in the understanding of the literature of the nineteenth century.

The Making of a Personal Evangelist, as the title suggests, is more about becoming an evangelist than it is about the method employed. Jesus told us that if we follow Him He will make us to become fishers of men - He would transform us into evangelists. The Making of a Personal Evangelist is a course that lays out the life principles, that if followed, will transform men and women into evangelists even before they adopt a method. The method subsequently just becomes the tool to get the job done. This is not a book for the casual student. Both teacher and student need to be serious about reaching the lost, and about submitting to the process of becoming what they may not initially feel qualified to be. It is about allowing Jesus Christ to make them into fishers of men. For those who are willing to accept the challenge, this book will doubtless be of inestimable value.

How could a man who had an emotionally deprived and traumatic childhood find the strength later in life to enter a monastery and become a spiritual master? The Making of a Saint is the true story of the American priest and Catholic writer Thomas Merton, who lived from 1915 to 1968. He wrote more than 70 books on spirituality, pacifism and social justice, and his words influenced a generation of men to enter monasteries. By late adolescence, Merton felt completely alienated and was in a state of spiritual abjection, yet he found the path to become a spiritual master. A Psychological Study of the Life of Thomas Merton gives a psychoanalytic explanation for the early gain in strength he found, but more than psychology is required to understand Merton's subsequent spiritual growth. His journals display the healing power of Christ, as well as the healing power of writing. Author Kenneth Bragan asserts that it was an arduous process for Merton, but "I suggest it was only finally completed when he became engaged in a passionate love affair. Only then could his heart be opened to the lost mother of his childhood, and only after that happened could he go out into the world and complete his mission." Merton was monk, a mystic and a poet, but above all else, he was a great writer and a great man. About the Author: Kenneth Bragan grew up in a small coal mining town near Newcastle in the north of England, and now resides in the Lakes District of the south island of New Zealand. He worked as a psychiatrist and developed a particular interest in the healing power of writing. Publisher's website: http: //SBPRA.com/KennethBragan

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the final nine messages given during the spring 2017 term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "The Mending Ministry of John." The overall subject of John's writings, which include his Gospel, his Epistles, and Revelation, is that the Triune God wants to dispense Himself into His chosen people as their life and life supply to make them divine so that they may express Him in full and for eternity. In Revelation John presents the consummate vision in the Bible and the ultimate fulfillment of God's eternal economy--the New Jerusalem. The mending ministry of John, carried out in the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, is for the living out and the working out of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is lived out by the believers becoming the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem is worked out by the believers building the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate answer to the Lord's prayer in John 17 for the glorification of the Triune God through the oneness of the believers built into the Triune God. This city is the City of Jehovah, the city of life, the holy city, and the city of glory. Even in the Old Testament the prophets describe this city as a person that is one with Jehovah. Isaiah says, "They will call you the City of Jehovah" (60:14), and Ezekiel concludes his prophecy by declaring that "the name of the city from that day shall be, Jehovah Is There" (48:35). The City of Jehovah means that Jehovah is in His redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite people and that they are in Him. Jehovah Is There refers to the presence of Jehovah Himself who will be united, mingled, and incorporated with His people to be one entity--the great, corporate God-man. The New Jerusalem is also the city of life. The Christ ministered by John is for the dispensing of the Triune God as life into man's tripartite being. Out of such a ministered Christ, the children of God are brought forth by receiving the eternal life. They then partake of the fellowship of the eternal life by abiding in the Lord and walking in the light. They are taught by the anointing to enjoy the virtues of the divine birth with the divine seed. As a result, they become the testimony of Jesus--the lampstands as the expression of the Triune God--to be the firstfruits and the harvest as the expression of life and the bride of the Lamb as His increase and satisfaction. Moreover, the New Jerusalem is the holy city. God's living word--His breathing out as the divine breath into the believers--works within them to separate them from the world and to saturate them with the divine nature to make them a holy city, the corporate and ultimate Holy of Holies as the reality of Zion. To live out and work out the New Jerusalem, the believers partake of the divine nature of the Father by exercising their spirit to enjoy God as Spirit (the nature of God's person) and by remaining in the divine fellowship to enjoy God as love (the nature of God's essence) and as light (the nature of God's expression). Furthermore, the New Jerusalem is the city of glory. The Lord wants to occupy every room in our being, and He desires that we would be filled with His riches unto the fullness of God so that there would be glory to God in the church. The Father will be glorified when His many sons are thus filled with the Triune God. To be filled with the Triune God of glory for His corporate expression, the believers must cooperate with the Spirit, who is daily operating in them, by their allowing the Spirit to infuse and transmit all the riches of the Triune God into them. All believers need to be open to this Spirit to allow the Triune God to fill them, to flow through them, and to overflow out of them so that there would be the full expression of the Triune God in the church as the reality of the Body of Christ. This Body will in turn consummate in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate expression of the consummated Triune God in and through man. The New Jerusalem is the church as the reality of the Body of Christ in its ultimate state and consummation. To live out the New Jerusalem is to grow up into Christ, the Head, by the mingling of God with man, and to work out the New Jerusalem is to function out from the Head for the building up of the Body of Christ. Only the Body of Christ will remain forever as the unique mutual abode of God and man so that God as the Spirit and man as the bride, becoming a married couple, are mingled and incorporated together to be one entity--a great, corporate God-man. Thus, the issue of John's mending ministry is the accomplishing of the goal of God's economy, which is to obtain the enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation of the consummated Triune God with the regenerated believers--the New Jerusalem in eternity.

The church's vocation is to treasure the gospel and live it out. The late theologian John Webster believed Christian preachers and theologians should be principally concerned with the proclamation of this news. At the center of that proclamation is our salvation in Christ. In this compilation of homilies, John Webster explores the various contours of the salvation accomplished for us in Christ and displays for preachers a model of theological exegesis that understands that the gospel is the heart of holy Scripture. Readers of Christ Our Salvation will be presented with a feast of "theological" theology for Christian proclamation.

When New Testament writers mention God's pledge to grant his Holy Spirit, their words depict more than just a simple promise to make available his comfort. Rather, they describe a nonrefundable down payment on all the blessings of heaven and a commitment that God will never abandon us until he has completed his work in our lives. In 'The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit', Donald T. Williams presents a comprehensive study of the Holy Spirit, helping readers answer their most pressing questions about the Holy Spirit, including: ÓIs the Holy Spirit working today? ÓHow can I recognize gifts of the Holy Spirit in my life?Ó ÓWhat about speaking in tongues?Ó ÓHow do I know my life is sealed by the Holy Spirit?Ó ÓHow can I identify true assurance of salvation from the Holy Spirit?Ó With its readable style, chapter summaries, ideas for practical application, and questions for further reading, this book is an excellent guide for serious personal or group study of the Holy Spirit. If you are considering serious study of the Holy Spirit - at any level - start with this book.

The Apostle Paul in II Corinthians 2:14b has in mind the sweet fragrance of a Roman general’s victory parade, telling us that the knowledge of Christ is a sweet fragrance to all who believe in and receive Him. Once we know Christ, we are to make that fragrance known in every place. The Author does just that in To Know Him And To Make Him Known, sharing her extraordinary experiences in her search for a relationship with Jesus and the triumph of receiving Him. Now, through her book, she is fulfi lling the mandate - To Know Him And To Make Him Known – inspiration for you!