In this provocative collection of essays, scientists, theologians, ethicists, and biblical scholars look at eschatology through their various lenses.

Surely you've lain awake at night to ponder life beyond time? Or dreamed restlessly of those multi-honored beast of Revelation? Or became frustrated because you don't know how to properly use your athame? How about all those times you came across a theological word that battered your brain? No problem. History and Mystery: The Complete Eschatological Encyclopedia of Prophecy, Apocalypticism, Mythos, and Worldwide Dynamic Theology has arrived, Here, just for you, are four volumes of exhaustive information that every student, teacher and interested person everywhere needs to know. Over 8000 defined words and phrases, 60 exploratory essays, and mini-sections of relational materials await. Before you know it, you'll be the best informed reader in your neighborhood and most of the next state over.

Does neuroscience show that all our ideas about law and ethics are false? David Opderbeck answers this question with a broad and deep survey of the relationship between theology, science, and ethics. He proposes that Christian theology, which narrates the humanity and divinity of Christ, in conversation with the new Aristotelianism in the philosophy of science, provides a path through secular and religious fundamentalisms alike.

Contemporary Christian critique often talks about postmodernism apocalyptically, in terms of cultural crisis and decline; instead, the contributors to this volume believe that there is a new place for Christian entrées on the academic Smorgasbord of postmodernity, and they see the postmodern turn as an opportunity for fresh perspectives on the spiritual dimensions of reading literature. These twenty scholars are an eclectic group, differing in theological and theoretical commitments, but all identifying as Christian. In this collection they enter into dialogue with a wide range of contemporary literary theorists and theoretical perspectives, and offer new readings of primary texts informed by both these theoretical constructs and their Christian faith. "The manuscript strikes out in important new directions in its sympathetic reading of postmodern theory from a Christian perspective, and, even more significantly, in its careful and measured dialogic approach to the relationship of Christian thought and contemporary literary theory." Daniel Coleman, Canada Research Chair in Critical Ethnicity and Race Studies, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University "Too often Christian literary critics and theologians have preemptively dismissed postmodern theory, even as secular critics have been equally dismissive about the contributions that the Christian faith tradition makes to the study of literature. This volume successfully brings these two worlds together in innovative, at times challenging, and always rich ways. I do not know of a similar volume in existence, a work that gathers in one convenient publication a wide-ranging set of discussions of contemporary literary theory by Christian scholars. The editor has gathered an impressive and important set of papers here, and I believe the volume will raise much interest and provoke a good deal of constructive debate." Susan VanZanten Gallagher, Professor of English, Director, Center for Scholarship and Faculty Development, Seattle Pacific University

The Holy Trinity and the Gambler is fiction that reads like an exceptional study of essentialism, spirituality, and inner growth. Author Rudy Pizarro writes with clarity and insight regarding man's tendency to reveal his true nature through destructive behavior. Dan was a chronic gambler in Sin City. His reputation was one of excess in all areas of his life - wine, women, and gambling were his gods. Meeting financial ruin, Dan had to find a way to support his lifestyle and resorted to selling illegal drugs. Unfortunately, a drug deal goes bad and Dan is sent to prison for ten years. What he learns in prison changes him forever. Counsel from a visiting apostate preacher and service as the prison's gardener reveals to Dan the beauty and scope of God's awesome love and power. Dan connects with an intelligence that transcends his earthly world and begins a journey that joins him to his true self and the one Divine Nature -- the Holy Trinity -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity and the Gambler is a remarkable account of a man's journey to save himself and his spirit through communion with Nature, God's supreme contribution to humankind.

Marjorie Suchocki's ground-breaking work "The End of Evil: Process Eschatology in Historical Context (SUNY, 1988) serves as the backdrop for a series of essays by distinguished Christian philosophers and theologians on the usefulness of process thought for the articulation of a contemporary Christian Eschatology in the light of postmodernism and contemporary natural science.

The notion of Christianity as a religion of peace was severely tested during the Middle Ages, when killing in the name of God became a sanctified act. In this book, Tim Rayborn traces the development of the early Crusades, Christian views of war and violence, and its attitudes toward Islam, primarily during the turbulent period of the 11th and 12th centuries (with some attention to earlier centuries). A marked shift in Christian perceptions of its own identity coincided with a considerably more martial and aggressive approach to nonbelievers both inside and outside of Europe. This wide-ranging study includes such topics as the background to the First Crusade, the Knights Templar, Bernard of Clairvaux, the Cistercian Order, the works of Peter the Venerable, apocalyptic hopes and fears, and martyrdom in the context of Christian conflicts with Islam. Focusing on French monastic writings, the book also examines papal documents, Spanish polemics, crusade chronicles, and other works. This is a survey of research on these important subjects, and serves as both a reference work and a point of departure for further study.

This book covers a broad spectrum of current perspectives in theology, including evangelical, liberal, liberationist, feminist, and postmodern approaches. A textbook for introductory theology classes in seminaries and colleges, this wide-ranging collection of essays also represents the best available resource for any reader seeking to explore and understand the diversity of current trends in theology and ethics.

Politics & Apocalypse is the inaugural issue of the Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture series. To most, the word apocalypse signifies destruction, death, the end of the world. The literal definition is "revelation" or "unveiling," the basis from which renowned theologian Reneacute; Girard builds his own view of Biblical apocalypse. In this volume, some of the major thinkers about the interpenetration of politics and religion-including Eric Voegelin, Leo Strauss, and Carl Schmitt-are scrutinized by some of today's most qualified scholars, all of whom are thoroughly versed in Girard's groundbreaking work.