Explores, with a compelling method, the distinctiveness of Jesus' role as God's filial inquirer of those who inquire of him.

Jesus Christ for Contemporary Life is an understanding of Jesus as the Word of God, grounded in what can be known historically of Jesus and informed by subsequent reflection upon him, which hopes to help shape a Christian identity characterized by "bounded openness." Don Schweitzer moves from the historical Jesus to the present in three parts. In the first part Schweitzer develops an understanding of Jesus as the Word of God, who became incarnate to give the goodness and beauty of God further expression in time and space. Second, he explores how various atonement theories articulate ways in which Jesus empowers people to further express this beauty and goodness in their own lives. And finally, Schweitzer explores how Jesus relates to people in the church, to the events and movements in history, to other religions, and to Christians in their dialogue with God in prayer.

The goodness of God is one of the most revolutionary truths of the Bible, but our generation has lost faith in the goodness of God. The image you carry in your heart of God and what He is like will dramatically affect your life, character, and destiny. Do you believe God can be your hero? Do you believe God has a good heart? Do you believe that God can transform you into the type of Christian that you always wanted to be? When we begin to understand and believe what it means when the Bible boldly declares that "God is good always," our lives will begin a breathtaking transformation, as we rise up to be a mighty witness for our Lord. Anyone who has been touched with the goodness of God cannot come away the same. The goodness of God encompasses everything that God is, and is a perfect representation of all His characteristics. The goodness of God is the foundation of all His works, plans, and purposes. If we are to understand what God is like, we must first know that He is good, and not evil. The devil works tirelessly to keep the truth of the goodness of God lost in the mindset of this world, and marshals all of his forces to cause confusion about the true character of our God. The goodness of God is the pinnacle point of the spiritual battle that rages all around us. Understanding the goodness of God is first and foremost in spiritual warfare, because without this, you can never stand for God faithfully

Within the Christian theological tradition there has always been a variety of perspectives on hell, usually distinguished according to their views about the duration of hell’s torments for the damned. Traditionalists maintain that the suffering of the damned is everlasting. Universalists claim that eventually every person is redeemed and arrives in heaven. And conditional immortalists, also known as “conditionalists” or “annihilationists,” reject both the concept of eternal torment as well as universal salvation, instead claiming that after a finite period of suffering the damned are annihilated. Conditionalism has enjoyed somewhat of a revival in scholarly circles in recent years, buoyed by the influential biblical defense of the view by Edward Fudge. However, there has yet to appear a book-length philosophical defense of conditionalism . . . until now. In Hell and Divine Goodness, James Spiegel assesses the three major alternative theories of hell, arriving at the conclusion that the conditionalist view is, all things considered, the most defensible position on the issue.