*Contending for the Truth is an example of the practical application of the theory laid out in Theology and Apologetics: An Examination of How and Where They Intersect*

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. - Psalm 119:105

Dive into the complex and sometimes dangerous waters of Christian doctrine. Contending for the Truth deals with many of the doctrines that are either highly debated or are commonly held beliefs that do not hold up to scrutiny.

In this book, theology meets apologetics as 13 contentious topics are dissected to discover what Scripture says about them. But be warned! The truth may come as a shock to those who are unprepared. Are you ready to be challenged in your faith? In Contending for the Truth, you will find answers to questions like:

• Is religious freedom a good thing?
• Is the Bible truly inerrant?
• Is the moral argument worth having in our apologetics repertoire?
• Who are the sons of God in Genesis 6?
• Is biblical revelation an effective method for determining the origins of the universe?

Contents

Introduction

1. Why God?
2. The Moral Argument
3. Truth
4. The Inerrancy of Scripture
5. Gnosticism: A Biblical and Historical Response
6. Biblical Forgiveness
7. Biblical Church Discipline
8. Is Christianity a Religion or a Relationship?
9. Religious Freedom
10. Scientific Naturalism v Creationism
11. Young Earth v Old Earth Creationism
12. Sons of God
13. The Doctrine of Election

A Brief Call to Action

Also by L. J. Anderson

Bibliography

How 7 Transformational Events in 1776 Paved the Way for Today's Post-Christian West

With dizzying social transformations in everything from gender to social justice, it may seem like there's never been a more tumultuous period in history. But a single year in the late 18th century saw a number of influential transformations--or even revolutions--that changed the social trajectory of the Western world. By understanding how those events influenced today's cultural landscape, Christians can more effectively bear witness to God's truth in a post-Christian age.

In Remaking the World, Andrew Wilson highlights 7 major developments from the year 1776--globalization, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Enrichment, the American Revolution, the rise of post-Christianity, and the dawn of Romanticism--and explains their relevance to social changes happening today. Carefully examining key documents and historical figures, Wilson demonstrates how a monumental number of political, philosophical, economic, and industrial changes in the year of America's founding shaped the modern West into a WEIRDER society: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic. This thoroughly researched yet accessible book offers a unique historical perspective on modern views of family, government, religion, and morality--giving Christians the historical lens they need to understand today's post-Christian trends and respond accordingly.

• Relevant Cultural and Historical Analysis: Skillfully connects key ideas and events from the past to the present
• Comprehensive: Examines important developments from 1776, including the American Revolution, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; James Watt's steam engine; Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations; and Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
• Informative: Covers key historical figures, including John Adams, Edmund Burke, and David Hume
• Biblical: Equips and encourages readers to share the gospel in a post-Christian world
• A Great Resource for Pastors, Scholars, and Readers of Carl Trueman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

The most engaging collection of the French mystics' writings now available

Twenty-first century Christians are now discovering the wisdom of this controversial theologian and spiritual thinker. Fenelon showed how it was possible to have devotion and faith in the original Age of Reason. In many respects, rationality still rules today in religion and culture, and as a result, Fenelon speaks to modern Christians wanting deeper faith and a meaningful inner life.

His writings have never been as accessible as they are now in these lively new translations. The Complete Fénelon includes more than one hundred of Fenelon's letters of spiritual counsel, as well as meditations on eighty-five other topics. Also translated here into English for the first time are Fenelon's personal reflections on twenty-one seasons and holidays of the Christian year. An introduction from bestselling translator Robert J. Edmonson and in-depth recommended reading and bibliography make this the first place to start in any study of Francois Fenelon.

François Fénelon was a seventeenth-century French archbishop who rose to a position of influence in the court of Louis XIV. Amid the splendor and decadence of Versailles, Fénelon became a wise mentor to many members of the king's court. Later exiled for political reasons, he set out to improve the lot of peasants of his diocese. His letters of counsel and spiritual meditations have found a wide audience for more than three centuries.

For as long as he can remember, Blake K. Healy has seen angels and demons. He sees them as clearly as he would see you if you were standing right in front of him. He sees angels dancing in worship services and whispering words of encouragement in people's ears. He also sees demons latching on to people and perpetuating addiction and bitterness in their hearts.

The Veil chronicles how Blake matured in this gifting, while overcoming the fear and confusion of what he saw, how he learned to use his gift of seeing for God's glory, and how to teach others to do the same.

This new and updated version of The Veil also includes a brief guide on how to begin growing in the gift of seeing in the spirit yourself, as well as an appendix of scriptural references to the spirit realm and angels, along with Blake's commentary on these passages.

What is the philosophy of religion? How can we distinguish it from theology on the one hand and the psychology/sociology of religious belief on the other? What does it mean to describe God as eternal? And should religious people want there to be good arguments for the existence of God, or is religious belief only authentic in the absence of these good arguments?

In this Very Short Introduction Tim Bayne introduces the field of philosophy of religion, and engages with some of the most burning questions that philosophers discuss. Considering how religion should be defined, and whether we even need to be able to define it in order to engage in the philosophy of religion, he goes on to discuss whether the existence of God matters. Exploring the problem of evil, Bayne also debates the connection between faith and reason, and the related question of what role reason should play in religious contexts. Shedding light on the relationship between science and religion, Bayne finishes by considering the topics of reincarnation and the afterlife.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Hell on earth is real. The toxic fusion of big oil, Evangelical Christianity, and white supremacy has ignited a worldwide inferno, more phantasmagoric than anything William Blake could dream up and more cataclysmic than we can fathom. Escaping global warming hell, this revelatory book shows, requires a radical, mystical marriage of Christianity and biology that awakens a future beyond white male savagery.

Timothy Morton argues that there is an unexpected yet profound relationship between religion and ecology that can guide a planet-scale response to the climate crisis. Spiritual and mystical feelings have a deep resonance with ecological thinking, and together they provide the resources environmentalism desperately needs in this time of climate emergency. Morton finds solutions in a radical revaluation of Christianity, furnishing ecological politics with a language of mercy and forgiveness that draws from Christian traditions without bringing along their baggage. They call for a global environmental movement that fuses ecology and mysticism and puts race and gender front and center. This nonviolent resistance can stage an all-out assault on the ultimate Satanic mill: the concept of master and slave, manifesting today in white supremacy, patriarchy, and environmental destruction. Passionate, erudite, and playful, Hell takes readers on a full-color journey into the contemporary underworld--and offers a surprising vision of salvation.

Although utterly convinced of the truth of Christianity, Anselm of Canterbury struggled to make sense of his religion. He considered the doctrines of faith an invitation to question, to think, and to learn; and he devoted his life to confronting and understanding the most elusive aspects of Christianity. His writings on matters such as free will, the nature of truth, and the existence of God make Anselm one of the greatest theologians and philosophers in history, and this translation provides readers with their first opportunity to read his most important works within a single volume.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring

What is faith? It usually means religious belief, and sometimes diverse religions are grouped together as 'faiths', with reference to 'faith leaders' or 'faith schools'. What we have faith in matters, and that involves our reason, involving claims to truths that affect everyone. Faith is not just a personal attribute, like tastes, but should be open to public examination and debate.

In this Very Short Introduction, Roger Trigg argues that all faith needs reason. He puts contemporary discussions into historical perspective, particularly in the context of Christianity. The author argues that faith also involves a commitment to action and that matters for all social life. Because religion is typically directed at what is seen as of crucial importance for human life, faith should not be marginalized or privatized. It will permeate every idea of how people should behave, and has a role in the public square, however respectful it should be to competing views within a democracy.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Read their book and be illuminated; ignore it at your peril. - Jordan Peterson, New York Times bestselling author of 12 Rules for Life

Provides a frame for lost souls. - Jonathan Pageau, renowned liturgical artist, writer, and public speaker

WE LIVE TODAY in the aftermath of what philosopher Charles Taylor described as the great dis-embedding. While we once commonly understood our relationship to nature as being a part of the greater whole, we now find ourselves separate and isolated from its perpetual flow, desperately trying to inhabit an impossible Frankensteinian view from nowhere.

Some claim we're above nature and capable of bending it to our will. Others diagnose our state as beneath nature, not worthy of participating in its cycles. They say we're a scourge, and the planet would be better off without us.

This paradoxical confusion about our species' role in the Cosmos has a common denominator.

After unknown thousands of years of faith in the inherent meaning in and of life, since the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment, a dark wave of nihilism has washed across our global village. We've mistaken part of life's complex experience, the problems, and waved away the greater emergent whole of their meaning.

How did this meaning crisis happen?

Awakening from the Meaning Crisis: Origins traces the history of what led to our contemporary malaise, offering scientific, spiritual, and philosophical interweaving threads that ground us in the troubling truth of our extraordinary evolution.

Impeccably sourced and written with a perfectly paced narrative flair, Vervaeke and Mastropietro's work is an indispensable sense-maker for our time.

Standing at the crossroads of psychology and religion, this catalyzing work applied the scientific method to a field abounding in abstract theory. William James believed that individual religious experiences, rather than the precepts of organized religions, were the backbone of the world's religious life. His discussions of conversion, repentance, mysticism and saintliness, and his observations on actual, personal religious experiences - all support this thesis. In his introduction, Martin E. Marty discusses how James's pluralistic view of religion led to his remarkable tolerance of extreme forms of religious behaviour, his challenging, highly original theories, and his welcome lack of pretension in all of his observations on the individual and the divine.

How (Not) to Be Secular is what Jamie Smith calls your hitchhiker's guide to the present -- it is both a reading guide to Charles Taylor's monumental work A Secular Age and philosophical guidance on how we might learn to live in our times.

Taylor's landmark book A Secular Age (2007) provides a monumental, incisive analysis of what it means to live in the post-Christian present -- a pluralist world of competing beliefs and growing unbelief. Jamie Smith's book is a compact field guide to Taylor's insightful study of the secular, making that very significant but daunting work accessible to a wide array of readers.

Even more, though, Smith's How (Not) to Be Secular is a practical philosophical guidebook, a kind of how-to manual on how to live in our secular age. It ultimately offers us an adventure in self-understanding and maps out a way to get our bearings in today's secular culture, no matter who we are -- whether believers or skeptics, devout or doubting, self-assured or puzzled and confused. This is a book for any thinking person to chew on.

Banned in Russia, Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You was deemed a threat to church and state. The culmination of a lifetime's thought, it espouses a commitment to Jesus's message of turning the other cheek. In a bold and original manner, Tolstoy shows his readers clearly why they must reject violence of any sort--even that sanctioned by the state or the church--and urges them to look within themselves to find the answers to questions of morality.
In 1894, one of the first English translations of this book found its way into the hands of a young Gandhi. Inspired by its message of nonresistance to evil, the Mahatma declared it a source of independent thinking, profound morality, and truthfulness. Much of this work's emotional and moral appeal lies in its emphasis on fair treatment of the poor and working class. Its view of Christianity, not as a mystic religion but as a workable philosophy originating from the words of a remarkable teacher, extends its appeal to secular and religious readers alike.

Many books that challenge religious belief from a skeptical point of view take a combative tone that is almost guaranteed to alienate believers or they present complex philosophical or scientific arguments that fail to reach the average reader. This is undoubtably an ineffective way of encouraging people to develop critical thinking about religion. This unique approach to skepticism presents fifty commonly heard reasons people often give for believing in a God and then raises legitimate questions regarding these reasons, showing in each case that there is much room for doubt. Whether you're a believer, a complete skeptic, or somewhere in between, you'll find this review of traditional and more recent arguments for the existence of God refreshing, approachable, and enlightening.From religion as the foundation of morality to the authority of sacred books, the compelling religious testimony of influential people, near-death experiences, arguments from Intelligent Design, and much more, Harrison respectfully describes each rationale for belief and then politely shows the deficiencies that any good skeptic would point out. As a journalist who has traveled widely and interviewed many highly accomplished people, quite a number of whom are believers, the author appreciates the variety of belief and the ways in which people seek to make religion compatible with scientific thought. Nonetheless, he shows that, despite the prevalence of belief in God or religious belief in intelligent people, in the end there are no unassailable reasons for believing in a God.For skeptics looking for appealing ways to approach their believing friends or believers who are not afraid to consider a skeptical challenge, this book makes for very stimulating reading.

An introduction to the contemporary debate between science and religion. The author describes her journey as a preacher who is trying to learn what the insights of quantum physics, the new biology, and chaos theory can teach the believer.

Belief: surely it's a relic from the past, a hangover from a superstitious age that is totally out of sync with today's rational, science-led culture?

'A timely, often bracing and always highly stimulating book.' Tom Holland, author of Dominion and co-host of The Rest is History

In today's science-driven, rational world, belief is dismissed as an artefact of a bygone era - something absurd at best, harmful at worst. The prevailing narratives paint belief as primitive, weird, even dangerous.

But as life grows ever more confusing and our societies more atomised, contemplating something bigger than ourselves has never been more vital.

Alister McGrath offers a fresh perspective on belief, presenting it not as a weakness of rational thought but as an essential tool for navigating uncertainty. Elegant and thought-provoking, Why We Believe reveals how belief provides meaning in the face of existential despair, how it fosters community and offers solace.

As society moves beyond the dismissive rhetoric surrounding people of faith, here is a powerful manifesto for the re-enchantment of the Western mind.

'Scholarly, compulsively readable and with gems of information on every page... a must read.' Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie, author of A Field Guide to the English Clergy

*Contending for the Truth is an example of the practical application of the theory laid out in Theology and Apologetics: An Examination of How and Where They Intersect*

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. - Psalm 119:105

Dive into the complex and sometimes dangerous waters of Christian doctrine. Contending for the Truth deals with many of the doctrines that are either highly debated or are commonly held beliefs that do not hold up to scrutiny.

In this book, theology meets apologetics as 13 contentious topics are dissected to discover what Scripture says about them. But be warned! The truth may come as a shock to those who are unprepared. Are you ready to be challenged in your faith? In Contending for the Truth, you will find answers to questions like:

• Is religious freedom a good thing?
• Is the Bible truly inerrant?
• Is the moral argument worth having in our apologetics repertoire?
• Who are the sons of God in Genesis 6?
• Is biblical revelation an effective method for determining the origins of the universe?

Contents

Introduction

1. Why God?
2. The Moral Argument
3. Truth
4. The Inerrancy of Scripture
5. Gnosticism: A Biblical and Historical Response
6. Biblical Forgiveness
7. Biblical Church Discipline
8. Is Christianity a Religion or a Relationship?
9. Religious Freedom
10. Scientific Naturalism v Creationism
11. Young Earth v Old Earth Creationism
12. Sons of God
13. The Doctrine of Election

A Brief Call to Action

Also by L. J. Anderson

Bibliography

In refreshing challenge to the common presumption that knowing involves amassing information, this book offers an eight-step approach that begins with love and pledge and ends with communion and shalom. Everyday adventures of knowing turn on a moment of insight that transforms and connects knower and known. No matter the field--science or art, business or theology, counseling or athletics--this little manual offers a how-to for knowing ventures. It offers concrete guidance to individuals or teams, students or professionals, along with plenty of exercises to spark the process of discovery, design, artistry, or mission.

Take one man who rejects authority and religion, and leads a punk band. Take another man who wonders whether vertebrates arose in rivers or in the ocean, is fascinated by evolution, creativity, and Ice Age animals. Put them together, what do you get? Greg Graffin, and this uniquely fascinating book. --Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel

Anarchy Evolution is a provocative look at the collision between religion and science, by an author with unique authority: UCLA lecturer in Paleontology, and founding member of Bad Religion, Greg Graffin. Alongside science writer Steve Olson (whose Mapping Human History was a National Book Award finalist), Graffin delivers a powerful discussion sure to strike a chord with readers of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion or Christopher Hitchens God Is Not Great.

In this passionate polemic, Graffin argues that art and science have a deep connection. He describes his own coming-of-age as an artist and the formation of his naturalist worldview over the past three decades. Anarchy Evolution sheds new light on the long-standing debate on religion and the human condition. It is a book for anyone who has ever wondered if God really exists.

A classic work by the great Jesuit theologian and anthropologist whose writings were not allowed to be published until after his death.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was more famous after his death in 1955 than during his life when he worked as a geologist in France and in China where he was one of the discoverers of Peking Man.

The Divine Milieu is an essential companion to Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man and expands on the spiritual message so basic to his thought. He shows how man's spiritual life can become a participation in the destiny of the universe.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A nuanced exploration of the role of religion in our lives, drawing on insights of the past to build a faith for our dangerously polarized age--from the New York Times bestselling author of The History of God

Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. Why has God become unbelievable? Why is it that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God in a way that veers so profoundly from the thinking of our ancestors?

Answering these questions with the same depth of knowledge and profound insight that have marked all her acclaimed books, Armstrong makes clear how the changing face of the world has necessarily changed the importance of religion at both the societal and the individual level. Yet she cautions us that religion was never supposed to provide answers that lie within the competence of human reason; that, she says, is the role of logos. The task of religion is to help us live creatively, peacefully, and even joyously with realities for which there are no easy explanations. She emphasizes, too, that religion will not work automatically. It is, she says, a practical discipline: its insights are derived not from abstract speculation but from dedicated intellectual endeavor and a compassionate lifestyle that enables us to break out of the prism of selfhood.