Religion Theory

What sets the historic Christian faith apart from all other religions and worldviews? Nothing less than the good news of God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ. The Protestant Reformers boldly declared the marvelous message of the gospel: Salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed in Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Together, these “alone” statements are called the five solas of the Reformation. In this book, Dr. Gabe Fluhrer explains how the five solas give us the heartbeat of the gospel and the road map for the Christian life.

We’ve all felt the weight of shame and brokenness. We long for a fresh start, but what we need most is the ability to see ourselves through God’s eyes of grace. New York City pastor Chris Durso believes grace is the central message of all Scripture. While there have been some daring heists and cunning capers throughout history, this book is about the greatest heist the world has ever seen...a daring raid where God’s son took back what the enemy had stolen, freeing us from the power of shame, sin, and Satan.

At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock of human reason. In impassioned, elegant prose, celebrated author Susan Jacoby traces more than 200 years of secularist activism, beginning with the fierce debate over the omission of God from the Constitution.

What is the meaning of the Lord’s Supper? Jesus instituted the Supper to strengthen the faith of his followers by reminding them of his promises. More than an ancient church tradition or a complex doctrinal controversy, it has practical importance in the lives of Christians today. God has always made promises to his people through covenants, and along with them given signs and meals to point to and confirm his blessings. In this book, professor Guy Prentiss Waters defines and explores the unity of the covenants in the Old and New Testaments.

In this candid book based on his own struggle with doubt, John Ortberg traces the line between belief and unbelief and finds that it's less a dividing line between hostile camps than a razor's edge that runs through every soul. His findings point toward the relief of being totally honest. Doubt … Questions … Honest faith … Outrageous hope … It's a chain reaction that can actually strengthen our relationship with God, and that, says Ortberg, is cause for celebration.

Deeply researched and a delight to listen to, The Sacred Chain provides clarity in our uncertain times, revealing a bigger picture of our world and our place within it. It is a panorama consistent with the scientific findings about who we are and where we come from that can actually bolster our faith as it engages our curiosity about ourselves, our universe, and the nature of existence itself.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 has been described as an epochal event, called the peak of 20th century Islamic revivalism and revitalization, and analyzed as the one key incident that continues to impact politics across Iran, the Middle East, and the even the world as a whole. As a phenomenon that led to the creation of the first modern Islamic Republic in the world, the revolution marked the victory of Islam over secular politics, and Iran quickly became the aspiring model for Islamic fundamentalists and revivalists across the globe, regardless of nationality, culture, or religious sect.

Does God stare down at us in unyielding disapproval? No, says author Robert Henderson. God's gaze toward us is one of kindness and love. "Understanding his heart and expression", he adds, "changes everything." God is ready to pour out his unmerited favor on his children. It is up to us to receive it. Always keying in on Scripture, global apostolic leader Robert Henderson shows how accessible the grace of God really is.

In this powerful and prophetic audiobook, nationally syndicated columnist and trusted political commentator Cal Thomas offers a diagnosis of what exactly is wrong with the US by drawing parallels to once-great empires and nations that declined into oblivion. Citing the historically proven 250-year pattern of how superpowers rise and fall, he predicts America's expiration date is just around the corner and shows us how to escape their fate.

How did we get here? All cultures have a creation story, but a little over 150 years ago, Charles Darwin introduced a revolutionary new one. We, and all living things, exist because of the action of evolution on the first simple life form and its descendants. In How Evolution Explains Everything About Life, leading biologists and New Scientist take you on a journey of a lifetime, exploring the questions of whether life is inevitable or a one-off fluke and how it got kick-started.

Although Christian believers agreed with one another that the Bible was authoritative and that it should be interpreted through commonsense principles, there was rampant disagreement about what Scripture taught about slavery. Furthermore, most Americans continued to believe that God ruled over the affairs of people and nations, but they were radically divided in their interpretations of what God was doing in and through the war.

With the same wit and insight that have characterized their previous devotionals such as Joy Breaks and OverJoyed!, Patsy Clairmont, Barbara Johnson, Marilyn Meberg, Luci Swindoll, Sheila Walsh, and Thelma Wells shine a spotlight for you on grace. Grace that cleanses your sin. Grace that guides your life. Grace that weathers life's fiercest storms and stamps every cloud with the rainbow of God's promise. Grace to grieve and laugh, give and gain, love and live. Extravagant Grace.

In his acclaimed books, renowned writer, speaker, and philosophy professor Dallas Willard explored the nature of Christian life in God's Kingdom. Yet one topic remained undisclosed: Willard's understanding of heaven and eternal life. In the months before his death, Willard engaged in moving and insightful conversations about the meaning of life and the life to come with close friend and theologian Gary Black, Jr. These inspiring dialogues were steeped in biblical theology as well as practical wisdom grounded in the here-and-now.

Color Theory is a 15-year accumulation of over 10,000 hours of theological study, person-person interviews, and meditation sessions used to curate a body of written work that hypothesizes the importance and usage of color, the existence of light frequency collective consciousness, and a multi-dimensional light universe.

In Two Nations Under God, Tom Doyle presents reasons why the U.S. should show concern for Israel. In three parts, Doyle explains the history of Israel, why it affects us, and how to help through prayer. Best of all, readers will learn throughout that, despite the headlines, there is plenty of good news coming from the Middle East. Doyle reports on the increasing number of Muslims converting to Christianity, profiles local disciples and church planters, and provides helpful timelines, comparison charts, photographs, and more to keep every detail concerning Israel in perspective.

Based on a wealth of documents long buried in the Vatican archives, Prisoner of the Vatican tells the story of the Church's secret attempt to block the unification of Italy and seize control, not in ancient times, but in the late 19th century. For more than 50 years, the pope was a self-imposed prisoner within the Vatican walls, planning to flee Italy, to return only as the restored ruler of Rome and the Papal States.

In his first memoir, Richard Dawkins shares a rare view into his early life, his intellectual awakening at Oxford, and his path to writing The Selfish Gene. This is an intimate memoir of the childhood and intellectual development of the evolutionary biologist and world-famous atheist and how he came to write what is widely held to be one of the most important books of the 20th century.

"Candy Jones" was the stage name of Jessica Wilcox who became famous as a model and "pinup girl" in the early 1940s. Her story seems too bizarre to be true. One of America's most famous models, brainwashed by the CIA? Yes, it is another example of truth being stranger than fiction. The story begins with Candy's wedding to Long John Nebel, New York's most successful radio talk-show host. During the wedding, and regularly thereafter, Candy's personality would seem to shift. She would suddenly change from her affable, self-effacing self to a brusque, aggressive "stranger".

John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce suffered lifelong opposition and endured for the causes of gospel truth, missionary zeal, and political justice. They found, in solid doctrine and humble joy, the tough roots for habitual tenderness in response to their adversaries - without doctrinal or moral flinching. They are examples of remarkable grace. In the third book of the Swans Are Not Silent series, best-selling author John Piper looks at the lives of these three great men and how they not only endured great opposition but did so with joy and without bitterness.

In 1765, 11 years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur'an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire numerous books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and travel, taking extensive notes on Islam as it relates to English common law. Jefferson sought to understand Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and America.