Preaching And Religious Debate

Cliffe Knechtle offers clear, reasoned and compassionate responses to the tough questions skeptics ask.

We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

Losing Faith in Faith records Dan Barker's dramatic journey from devout soul-winner to one of America's most prominent freethinkers.Following his "calling" at age 15, Dan Barker worked as a missionary, ordained minister, associate pastor, touring evangelist, Christian songwriter, performer and record producer. After preaching for 19 years, Barker "lost faith in faith." Throwing out the bath water, he discovered: "There is no baby there!"Today Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., (www.ffrf.org) frequently represents freethought on the talkshow circuit and at personal appearances, concerts, and debates around the country, turning his experience as a former minister into ammunition against superstition and irrationality.In Losing Faith in Faith, Barker explains why he left the ministry. He also offers a definitive, compelling analysis of why he rejects belief in a god and the claims of religion. He explores the fallacies, inconsistencies, and harm of Christian doctrine and theistic dogma. In its place, he issues an appealing and compassionate invocation of freethought, reason, and humanism.Losing Faith in Faith is both a challenge to believers and an arsenal for skeptics.

Today, traditional forms of preaching are being scrutinized and challenged. The biblical sermon is not immune to the pressure to evolve or even fall by the wayside, leaving pastors and seminary students confused over how best to communicate to today’s listeners. In this forward-looking textbook, Kenton Anderson delivers a strong call to current and future ministers to indeed choose to preach biblical sermons, despite the obstacles to doing so. While preaching itself is non-negotiable, the exact form it takes can be much more flexible, allowing people to hear from God as they hear his Word preached. Rather than presenting one model or process for preparing a sermon, Anderson explains several available options. As you discern your message from the Bible, will you begin with the text (deductive) or with the listener (inductive)? Will you focus on the idea (cognitive) or the image (affective)? The choices you make lead to five possible sermon structures: • DECLARATIVE—make an argument • PRAGMATIC—solve a mystery • NARRATIVE—tell a story • VISIONARY—paint a picture • INTEGRATIVE—sing a song Each model is described in detail and related to well-known contemporary preachers, including John MacArthur, Rick Warren, Eugene Lowry, and Rob Bell. This book equips you with a variety of tools for your preaching tool kit. A CD-ROM with additional helpful resources is included, as well as discussion questions and practical exercises.

The Kingdom of God is here! The defining message of Dr. Myles Munroes life and worknow available for the first time as a packaged collection. While many remember Dr. Munroe for delivering exceptional teaching on topics such as purpose, potential, vision, praise and worship, leadership, and even relationships, perhaps no revelation has been more important for the individual believer as his message on the Kingdom of God. Dr. Munroe served as a pioneer and prophetic voice, summoning people to experience and enjoy the fullness of their salvation in Christ. This came through discovering their purpose, unlocking their potential, and walking the earth as Kingdom citizens, fueled by Heavens vision. Dr. Munroe now stands among the great cloud of witnesses in Heaven, still beckoning us onward to become representatives and ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. His voice continues to challenge Christ-followers around the world to fulfill their destinies. Today, Dr. Munroes Kingdom message is more crucial than ever. In this hour of turmoil and upheaval, embrace your Kingdom purpose!

Every Sunday all over the world people rise up and claim to speak in the name of God. It is an astonishing thing to do and an astonishing claim to make. It is small wonder that the sermon has been the focus of debate, discussion and investigation. It has been dismissed as irrelevant in today's culture and has become the butt of numerous jokes and caricatures. Yet the claim persists that these human words in some way can become God's message to these hearers. This collection of twenty-nine articles by international experts in the area of homiletics coincides with the revival of interest in preaching over the last twenty-five years. It is practical without being merely tips for preachers; and it offers the necessary theoretical discussion for anyone who wants to take the art of preaching seriously. No important issue has been omitted and, taken as a whole, the book constitutes a first class introduction to the principles, processes, context and theology of preaching. Contributors include: Walter Brueggemann, David Buttrick, Fred Craddock, Edward Farley, John Killinger, Richard Lischer, Thomas Long, Elaine Lawless, Jolyon Mitchell, Cheryl Sanders and Thomas Troeger.

We are sure that from the outset, the title of this book has raised eyebrows. It has been the topic of many heated conversations, and perhaps most of all, it has probably caused a lot of consternation among our fellow ministers of the Gospel. This book is not designed to bash any preacher. However, this book does have a twofold purpose.First, it is to expose and mitigate the negative impact, that those individuals who are peddlers of the Word of God, as identified by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 2:17, are having on the church and especially on those in the church who are still babes in Christ and vulnerable to this brand of corrupt pulpit rhetoric. Further, this book is designed to also hopefully open the eyes of all believers, old and new, veterans or rookies, who are also listening and taking heed to the pulpit peddlers pimpish rhetoric and missing the true intent and nature of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ!Second—and equally, if not more, importantly—this book sets the record straight and resolves the controversy surrounding the preaching of prosperity from the pulpit. This book engages both the topic and the reader from what is written in God's Word. We avoid popular opinions as well as our own wisdom. Instead, this book resolves the prosperity controversy based on what God has said about it in His inspired Word. By the time you get to the end of this book, you will be certain that it is God's will to bless you, based on His riches in glory. However, you will also be certain that God does so according to His individual will for each of us and that He is able to exceedingly and abundantly give above all we can think or ask.

This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.