Kevin Vanhoozer calls the church to a picture of theology that sees every person, thing and event in the light of God's act of reconciliation. Through essays on the church's worship, witness and wisdom, he shows us how a poetic imagination can answer the questions of life's meaning by drawing our attention to what really matters: the God of the gospel.

In Participation and Covenant: Contours of a Theodramatic Theology, Moes develops a theological framework that has participation in the life of God in Christ through the Spirit as its integrative center. In doing so, he enters into conversation with covenant or federal theology, particularly as it has been presented by Michael Horton, in which the integrative center is the concept of the covenant. He argues that God's fundamental relationship with humanity does not entail a covenant ontology--a fundamentally legal and ethical relationship to God, as we find in Horton's presentation--but rather an ontology of participating in God's loving presence in Christ through the Holy Spirit. For this relationship we were created, and this participation is therefore natural to us. Accordingly, a theodramatic framework that incorporates a reframed understanding of divine-human covenants and that has participation in the life of God in Christ by the Spirit as its integrative center is better able to give direction for clearly communicating the gospel in our secular culture and for properly shaping our Christian identity and practice--in the face of the secularism that affects the church, too--than Horton's framework of covenant theology.

In this fresh and engaging text, Keith Johnson examines how the discipline of theology not only leads to discipleship, but is itself a way of following after Christ in faith. Unlike other introductions that overview doctrines according to the Apostles' Creed, Johnson presents theology by describing the Christian life—being in Christ, hearing God's Word and sharing the mind of Christ.

In this inaugural volume in the Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture, Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Daniel J. Treier set forth a programmatic proposal for evangelical theology, rooted in the claim that the church's vocation is to mirror the witness of Scripture in its doctrine and discipleship.

When Zoom worship emerged in Britain during the COVID lockdown of 2020, Christians quickly turned to an art form, a form of theater, to deliver their worship. It was a quest for immanence, the very thing the Reformation dealt with by the elevation of transcendence. What an intriguing thought: Could John Calvin with his dictum regarding piety have practiced Zoom worship? Served as he was with the principle that the finite cannot contain the infinite, we must admit it looks very unlikely! At least in this Calvin saw eye-to-eye with Erasmus, but what of Luther? He may have been a comfortable Zoom worshiper, with his views that "Religious artworks are neither here nor there" and "We may have them or not as we please." Little did the church realize that it would be a step back into the past, because "what you permit you promote." The desire to use images was much more sinister than in Medieval times, as these were now images of ourselves! Regardless of the age, the image reigns supreme. What had caused the demise? Was it bereavement? It could not be bereavement of God; rather, it was the loss of the social, the bereavement of "one another." The need for "one-anothering" had forced the hand of Christians to turn to a practice completely untested. Zoom worship was born--the genie is out, and will never go back in. But in the face of the now-acceptable force of contemporary narcissism, who cares?

Defining the Nature, Process, and Mission of Dogmatic Discourse. Theologians often discuss method in a remote and preliminary way that suggests they are not yet speaking theologically when speaking methodologically. But it is also possible to reflect on the work of Christian dogmatics in a way that is self-consciously nourished by biblical reasoning, resourced by tradition, joined up with ecclesial practice, and alert to spiritual dynamics. Bringing together theologians who are actively engaged in the writing and editing of extended dogmatics projects, The Task of Dogmatics represents the proceedings of the 2017 Los Angeles Theology Conference and seeks to provide constructive accounts of the nature of the dogmatic task. The eleven diverse essays in this collection include discussions on: Identifying theology's pattern and norm. The validity and relativity of doctrinal statements. The Apostle Paul and the task of dogmatics. The retrieval of patristic and medieval theology. Each of the essays collected in this volume engage with Scripture as well as with others in the field—theologians both past and present, from different confessions—in order to provide constructive resources for contemporary systematic theology and to forge a theology for the future.

Christianity Today 2021 Book Award Winner: Apologetics & Evangelism Telling a Better Story clears a path to a more effective, empathetic apologetics for today—both for experienced apologists and those new to sharing their faith with others. Today's Christians often view the practice of defending their faith as pushy or unnecessary. Won't it just be taken for proselytizing? Don't many unbelievers find it offensive? Many Christians have shifted to a strategy of hoping that our lives will show Christ to our neighbors—and, while this is certainly good, it's no substitute to actively telling people about Christ. In Telling a Better Story, author Joshua Chatraw presents a new and refreshing way to engage in apologetics that will help you tell the story of Christ in a holistic, culturally-contextual manner that—while being respectful—helps unbelievers imagine a more complete happiness and a better meaning to life. Telling a Better Story will give you the tools to: Understand the cultural stories that surround us. Recognize how these secular stories have shaped the way many people think. Learn how to tell God's story in a fresh way that allows today's younger generations to see it as a more meaningful and more hopeful story than the scripts around it. Finally, you'll also learn how to deal with the perennial issues and common objections to Christianity.

Christians have always wrestled with how they should respond to the cultures around them. On the one hand, we recognize the goodness of God’s creation and his common grace upon all people. On the other hand, we recognize that people are sinful and that the world is hostile to God and to Christians. So what are we to do? As tensions rise between church and state, some of the loudest voices articulating answers to the question do not match what Scripture commands for the church today. Some answers threatens to undermine the pilgrim character of New Testament Christianity and the spiritual mission given to the church of making disciples. Others advocate for a more privatized faith in conflict with the more holistic emphasis of Scripture. In this easy-to-read book, Scott Aniol demonstrates that Scripture teaches contrary to both of these postures. Aniol shows that the New Testament portrays Christians as citizens of the common kingdoms of this earth, but they are ultimately exiles since they are more profoundly citizens of Christ’s redemptive kingdom. Understanding the biblical relationship between these two provides a very clear framework for preventing churches from losing their biblical mission while at the same time discipling Christians to actively engage in society around them. What the Bible prescribes for Christians in this present age is Christian faithfulness in both realms of God’s sovereign rule. Scott Aniol, PhD, is Executive Vice President and Editor-in-chief of G3 Ministries and Professor of Pastoral Theology at Grace Bible Theological Seminary.

The Bible is a frustrating book to many Christians. It’s not uncommon to hear that it’s difficult to understand. To complicate the matter, we live in a culture that dismisses the importance of God’s word altogether and we are left to wonder if Scripture has lost its impact. At a time when the world needs the wisdom of God’s word, many are skeptical as to why they should bother reading the Bible at all. Scott Womble brings hope to this bleak situation by showing how we can not only learn to read and interpret the Bible more skillfully, but also enjoy our time in study. In addition to discussing critical issues such as literary context, genre identification, and background study, Womble breaks new ground by encouraging us to both “hear” and “see” the text (semiotics). This incorporation of semiotics into the interpretive process helps us more fully interact with the word. While sound interpretation is of great importance, the end goal of Bible reading is application. For Womble, this is the crux of the matter. Scanning prominent theories of application and concluding with seven guidelines, this book is sure to help Jesus followers become more intentional doers of the word.

Theological thought has long been focused on the meaning to be found in our existence, but it has tended to neglect what it might offer to those seeking how to prolong and improve our physical existence in this world. In conversation with twentieth-century materialist art and thought, this book presents a radical theology that engages directly with the political and ecological issues of our time. The book introduces a new thinker to the theological sphere, Russian avantgarde artist Liubov Popova (1889–1924). She was a woman acknowledged for her artistic and intellectual talent and yet is never discussed in relation to the twentieth-century thinkers with whom her ideas have obvious connections. Popova’s art and thought are discussed together with thinkers like Walter Benjamin, Donna Haraway, Gilles Deleuze and Paul Tillich, along with ecotheological and theopolitical perspectives. Inspired by the activist creativity of avantgarde art, the book’s final chapter, playfully yet with deadly seriousness, presents a manifesto for radical theology today. This is a work of theological activism that demonstrates the benefit of allowing new voices into the conversations around art, spirituality and our planet. As such, it will be of keen interest to academics in Theology, Religion and the Arts and the Philosophy of Religion.