Covenant And Calling

No other issue in recent times has proved as potentially divisive for the churches as that of same-sex relationships. At the same time as many countries have been moving towards legal recognition of civil partnerships or same-sex marriage, Christian responses have tended towards either finding alliances with proponents of conservative social mores, or providing what amounts to theological endorsement of secular liberal values. Against both trends, Robert Song’s book advances a theological account of marriage and sexuality which appeals to the central biblical theme of the fulfilment of creation in Christ, but is also open to the possibility of same-sex relationships. Rejecting treatments of the Bible which concentrate on a small number of well-rehearsed texts on same-sex relationships to the exclusion of the Bible’s overarching narrative, this book provides a fresh interpretation of the Christian tradition and defends a vision of the church which embraces a plurality of callings, to marriage, celibacy, and covenant partnership.

"The Mystery of Christ is well-written, displays ample knowledge of issues discussed concerning covenant theology by Baptists and paedobaptists, grounds its arguments in scriptural exegesis and theology, recovers old arguments for a new day, presents a cohesive map of the covenants of Scripture, and exalts our Lord Jesus Christ, the last Adam, throughout." -- from cover review by Richard C. Barcellos

A Sacred Covenant: The Spiritual Ministry of Nursing focuses on the nurse's personal spiritual needs. Grounded in biblical passages taken from both Old and New Testament scripture, it provides a broad spiritual foundation. Each chapter begins with a scripturally oriented nursing meditation and ends with a biblically themed nurse's prayer. Anecdotes from practicing nurses are woven throughout each chapter to illustrate the spiritual themes.

"The book surveys the origins of the doctrine of the covenant of works. The doctrine originates in the patristic era and fully flowers in the sixteenth century among Reformed theologians. The doctrine develops from a web of biblical texts and becomes codified in confessions of the seventeenth century. But in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, support for the doctrine began to wane until Reformed theologians in the twentieth century outright rejected it. There were, however, theologians who continued to promote the doctrine because they continued to use the same interpretive methods as earlier proponents of the doctrine"--

In this second volume of his long-anticipated five-volume collection of parashat hashavua commentaries, Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks explores these intersections as they relate to universal concerns of freedom, love, responsibility, identity, and destiny. Chief Rabbi Sacks fuses Jewish tradition, Western philosophy, and literature to present a highly developed understanding of the human condition under Gods sovereignty. Erudite and eloquent, Covenant Conversation allows us to experience Chief Rabbi Sacks sophisticated approach to life lived in an ongoing dialogue with the Torah.

Covenant and Commandment at first seeks to establish that the heart of Hebrew faith and thought is a vision of God as one who makes covenants - with Israel, with all humankind, and, indeed, with the whole creation. As a covenant-maker, God binds himself through his promises. It is Israel's conviction that God is the kind of God who makes promises and keeps them. This conviction, as Christian contends, has given creative power and shape to the whole of Hebrew and Christian history.As the books continues, C. W. Christian contends that the Hebrew law, especially that expression called the Ten Commandments, can best be understood as a joyful response to God's covenant grace, a response that embraces every aspect of our being: community with God, with each other, and with God's world. Each of the commandments is then examined to discover how it may provide guidance in living unto God and in human community.Covenant and Commandment is ideal for either personal or group study on the nature and use of the Ten Commandments. A study guide with relevant questions is provided for reflection and discussion.

Robert Rollock is best remembered today for the role he played in the development of Reformed covenant theology, a role defined especially by the uniquely mature treatment of a pre-fall covenant of works discovered in his thought. However, scholarship on Rollock's covenant thought has until now been based almost entirely on an early modern English translation of Rollock's Tractatus de vocatione efficaci (1597), and has overlooked discussion of the covenant of works found both in Rollock's 1596 Quaestiones et responsiones aliquot de Foedere Dei, deque Sacramento quod foederis Dei sigillum est and his 1593 Romans commentary. This volume offers the first complete English translation of Rollock's 1596 catechism as well as English translations of relevant sections from his Romans commentary that deal with the subject of God's covenants with man. Thus this volume stands to offer students of Reformed covenant theology a better understanding of Rollock's thought and the contribution he made to the evolution of Reformed theology, particularly on the matter of God's covenant with humankind before the fall.