In a world of hype, we may buy into the idea that, through Jesus, we'll be healthier and wealthier as well as wiser. So what happens when we become ill, or depressed, or bankrupt? Did we do something wrong? Has God abandoned us? As a child, Michael Horton would run up the down escalator, trying to beat it to the top. As Christians, he notes, we sometimes seek God the same way, believing we can climb to him under our own steam. We can't, which is why we are blessed that Jesus descends to us, especially during times of trial. In A Place for Weakness, formerly titled Too Good to Be True, Horton exposes the pop culture that sells Jesus like a product for health and happiness and reminds us that our lives often lead us on difficult routes we must follow by faith. This book offers a series of powerful readings that demonstrate how, through every type of earthly difficulty, our Father keeps his promises from Scripture and works all things together for our good.
What beliefs are core to the Christian faith? This book is here to help you understand the reason for your hope as a Christian so that you can see it with fresh sight and invite others into the conversation.
A lot of Christians take their story--the narratives that give rise to their beliefs--for granted. They pray, go to church, perhaps even read their Bible. But they might be stuck if a stranger asked them to explain what they believe and why they believe it.
Author, pastor, and theologian Mike Horton unpacks the essential and basic beliefs that all Christians share in a way that is easy to understand and applicable to our lives today. And in a way that will make you excited to be a Christian!
Core Christianity covers topics like:
Includes discussion questions for individual or group use. This introduction to the basic doctrines of Christianity is perfect for those who are new to the faith, as well as those who have an interest in deepening their understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
The first volume of Michael Horton's magisterial intellectual history of spiritual but not religious as a phenomenon in Western culture
Discussions of the rapidly increasing number of people identifying as spiritual but not religious tend to focus on the past century. But the SBNR phenomenon and the values that underlie it may be older than Christianity itself. Michael Horton reveals that the hallmarks of modern spirituality--autonomy, individualism, utopianism, and more--have their foundations in Greek philosophical religion. Horton makes the case that the development of the shaman figure in the Axial Age--particularly its iteration among Orphists--represented a divine self. One must realize the divinity within the self to break free from physicality and become one with a panentheistic unity. Time and time again, this tradition of divinity hiding in nature has arisen as an alternative to monotheistic submission to a god who intervenes in creation. This first volume traces the development of a utopian view of the human individual: a divine soul longing to break free from all limits of body, history, and the social and natural world. When the second and third volumes are complete, students and scholars will consult The Divine Self as the authoritative guide to the spiritual but not religious tendency as a recurring theme in Western culture from antiquity to the present.Pilgrim Theology is a map for Christians seeking to better understand the core beliefs of their faith.
Even though it's the study of God, theology has a reputation for being dry, abstract, and irrelevant for daily living. But theology is a matter of life and death. It affects the way you think, the decisions you make, the way you relate to God and the world.
Reformed theologian and professor Michael Horton wrote Pilgrim Theology as a more accessible companion to his award-winning systematic theology The Christian Faith: widely praised for its thorough treatment of the biblical and historical foundations of Christian doctrine.
In Pilgrim Theology, his focus is in putting the study of theology into the daily drama of discipleship. Each chapter will orient you toward a clear understanding about:
Through accessible chapters on individual doctrines, as well as frequent Key Distinction boxes that succinctly explain the differences between important themes, you'll gain an understanding of doctrines that may have sounded like technical seminary terms to you before: justification, sanctification, glorification, union with Christ, and others.
You have a working theology already--an existing understanding of God. It's the goal of Pilgrim Theology to help you examine that understanding more closely and have it challenged and strengthened.
Theology--the study of God--is a concern for every believer, not just theologians or those in ministry. It's the goal of good theology to humble us before the triune God of majesty as we come to understand him better. This is a book of and about good theology.
Award-winning author, theologian, and professor Michael Horton wrote The Christian Faith as a book of systematic theology and doctrine that can be preached, experienced, and lived, as well as understood, clarified, and articulated. It's written for a growing cast of pilgrims--in ministry and laity--who are interested in learning about Christ as a way of living as a Christian. Who understand that knowing doctrine and walking in practical Christianity are not competing interests.
The Christian Faith is divided into six parts, five of which each focus on an aspect of God, while the first part sets up an understanding and appreciation for the task of theology itself, addressing topics like:
In a manner equally as welcoming to professors, pastors, students, and armchair theologians; Horton has organized this volume in a readable fashion that includes a variety of learning features:
At the heart of this book is a deep love for and curiosity about God. Its basic argument is that a personal relationship with God goes hand in hand with the pursuit of theology. It isn't possible to know God without studying him.
In an eloquent defense of Calvinist theology, author and professor Michael Horton invites us to explore the teachings of Calvinism--also commonly known as Reformed theology--by showing how it is biblical and Christ-centered, leading us to live our lives for the glory of God.
The system of theology known as Calvinism has been immensely influential for the past five hundred years, but it's often encountered negatively as a fatalistic belief system that confines human freedom and renders human action and choice irrelevant.
Taking us beyond the caricatures and typical reactions, For Calvinism:
As a companion to Roger Olson's Against Calvinism critique and response, readers will be able to compare contrasting perspectives and form their own opinions on the merits and weaknesses of Calvinism.
How might different voices from the global church help all Christians understand the person and work of Jesus Christ better? Written by a team of leading Majority World scholars, this joint project explores and articulates a doctrine of Christ by appealing to his threefold office as prophet, priest, and king. Thus, it considers Christology not only as a central tenet of the Christian faith but, by drawing from a variety of voices throughout the worldwide church, it also points to the unified testimony of the global, catholic church.
This is the first volume in the Theology Together series, which highlights the voices of Majority World scholars, each of whom brings insights from a particular context, and places them in conversation with one another to contribute to a richer, deeper understanding of a shared faith in Christ.
Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there's a next-best-thing, if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom--the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be ordinary.
Yet pastor and author Michael Horton believes that our attempts to measure our spiritual growth by our experiences, constantly seeking after the next big breakthrough, have left many Christians disillusioned and disappointed. There's nothing wrong with an energetic faith; the danger is that we can burn ourselves out on restless anxieties and unrealistic expectations. What's needed is not another program or a fresh approach to spiritual growth; it's a renewed appreciation for the commonplace.
Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary. He provides a guide to a sustainable discipleship that happens over the long haul--not a quick fix that leaves readers empty with unfulfilled promises. Convicting and ultimately empowering, Ordinary is not a call to do less; it's an invitation to experience the elusive joy of the ordinary Christian life.
The first of a two-volume project delving into the doctrine of justification. Michael Horton seeks not simply to recover a clear message of its role in modern Reformed theology, but also to bring a fresh discovery of the gospel in a time when contemporary debates around justification have reignited.
The doctrine of justification stands at the center of our systematic reflection on the meaning of salvation and grace as well as our piety, mission, and life together. And yet, within mainline Protestant and evangelical theology, it's often taken for granted or left to gather dust in favor of modern concerns and self-renewal.
Volume 1 is an exercise in historical theology, exploring the doctrine of justification from the patristic era to the Reformation. This book:
Engaging and thorough, Justification will not only reenergize the reader--whether Protestant or Catholic--with a passion for understanding this essential and long-running doctrinal conversation, but also challenge anyone to engage critically with the history of the Church and the heart of the gospel.
The second of a two-volume project delving into the doctrine of justification. Michael Horton seeks not simply to recover a clear message of its role in modern Reformed theology, but also to bring a fresh discovery of the gospel in a time when contemporary debates around justification have reignited.
The doctrine of justification stands at the center of our systematic reflection on the meaning of salvation and grace as well as our piety, mission, and life together. And yet, within mainline Protestant and evangelical theology, it's often taken for granted or left to gather dust in favor of modern concerns and self-renewal.
Volume 2 embarks on the theologically constructive task of investigating the biblical doctrine of justification in light of contemporary exegesis. Taking up the topic from a variety of theological vantage points, Horton engages with contemporary debates in biblical, especially Pauline, scholarship.
Engaging and thorough, Justification shows that the doctrine of justification finds its most ecumenically significant starting point and proper habitat in unity with Christ, where the greatest consensus, past and present, is to be found among Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant theologies.
For the Spirit, being somewhat forgotten is an occupational hazard. The Holy Spirit is so actively involved in our lives that we can take his presence for granted. As they say, familiarity breeds contempt. Just as we take breathing for granted, we can take the Holy Spirit for granted simply because we constantly depend on him. Like the cane that soon feels like an extension of the blind man's own body, we too easily begin to think of the Holy Spirit as an extension of ourselves.
Yet the Spirit is at the center of the action in the divine drama from Genesis 1:2 all the way to Revelation 22:17. The Spirit's work is as essential as the Father's and the Son's, yet the Spirit's work is always directed to the person and work of Christ. In fact, the efficacy of the Holy Spirit's mission is measured by the extent to which we are focused on Christ. The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who brings the work of the Father, in the Son, to completion. In everything that the Triune God performs, this perfecting work is characteristic of the Spirit.
In Rediscovering the Holy Spirit, author, pastor, and theologian Mike Horton introduces readers to the neglected person of the Holy Spirit, showing that the work of God's Spirit is far more ordinary and common than we realize. Horton argues that we need to take a step back every now and again to focus on the Spirit himself--his person and work--in order to recognize him as someone other than Jesus or ourselves, much less something in creation. Through this contemplation we can gain a fresh dependence on the Holy Spirit in every area of our lives.
Five Views on the Gospel presents five different perspectives on the question What is the gospel? Presenting a variety of contemporary and tradition-based perspectives, each contributor answers key questions about the nature of the gospel. Questions contributors address include:
The CounterPoints format provides a unique opportunity for each contributor to set forth their own understanding of the gospel, to interact with competing perspectives, and for the editors to sum up points of agreement and disagreement and a path forward in the debate.
The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.
Following Covenant and Eschatology and Lord and Servant, this concluding volume of a four-part series examines Christian salvation from the perspective of covenant theology. In Covenant and Salvation, Michael Horton surveys law and gospel, union with Christ, and justification and theosis, conversing with both classical and contemporary viewpoints.
In this final volume of a four-volume series, Michael Horton explores the origin, mission, and destiny of the church through the lens of covenantal theology. Arguing that the history of Israel and the covenant of grace provide the proper context for New Testament ecclesiology, Horton then shows how the church is constituted through the ascension of Christ, the Pentecost, and the Parousia and how it continues to live by the Word and sacraments. Horton's goal is to demonstrate the potential of a covenantal model for integrating the themes of the church as people and as place, with an urgent concern for contemporary practice.
How cultivating a healthy fear of God liberates us from our fear of others, our fear of the future, and even our fear of death itself.
At times the world feels like it's losing its mind. From politics to the pandemic, we live with an ever-increasing uncertainty, and many of us have grown to fear the rapid disintegration of our society and our own lives.
Recovering Our Sanity is not another self-help book about how to beat your daily fears for a better life. It's a book that will show you the gravity and glory of a God who's worthy of our fear. It's a book that will reveal how these two biblical phrases--Fear God and Do Not Be Afraid--are not contradictory but actually one coherent message.
Michael Horton--Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary--shows us that we cannot fight our fears by seeking the absence of fear altogether, but by living with a fear of God that drives out the fear of everything else. Horton will walk you through the case for the fear of God by:
Humbling, thought-provoking, and hope-igniting, Recovering Our Sanity delivers a timely message that will help you shift your focus from a human-centered obsession with self-preservation to a fixation on Christ and his salvation.
Rather than clinging to false securities and promises of immediate gratification, you can gain the lasting joy of knowing the One who has given himself to save us and who says to us, Do not be afraid.