From Shame To Glory

Each woman named in Matthew’s record of the genealogy of Jesus made a journey from shame to glory. Grandmothers of Jesus included a prostitute, an adulterer, a nomad, and a trickster. His mother became pregnant before marriage. Certainly, Jesus heard the stories of his ancestors and utilized their life lessons as he made his way to the cross. For in spite of the laws and mores of their culture, these women displayed qualities of vision, risk, courage, truthfulness, and openness to God’s gifts—all qualities Jesus would rely on in his own journey from shame to glory. Reverend Valerie Fons and Christian Educator Nancy Regensburger share a unique, compelling, and positive presentation of the five women in the first book of Matthew while highlighting how God acts through the weak and powerless to bring forth glory. Through bible study, history lessons, introspective questions, poignant anecdotes, and opportunities for personal reflection, Fons and Regensburger provide a pathway to glory and inspiration for modern women seeking insight on their own spiritual journeys. From Shame to Glory offers an interpretation of the genealogy of the significant women in the heritage of Jesus Christ that provides bible study group guidance and inspiration for anyone passionate about embracing God’s grace and wisdom.

Shame is everywhere. Whether it's related to relationships, body image, work difficulties, or a secret sin, we all experience shame at some point in our lives. While shame can manifest itself in different ways—fear, regret, and anger—it ultimately points us to our most fundamental need as human beings: redemption. Shame never disappears in solitude, and Heather Davis Nelson invites us to not only be healed of our own shame but also be a part of healing for others. She shines the life-giving light of the gospel on the things that leave us feeling worthless and rejected, giving us courage us to walk out of shame's shadows and offering hope for our bondage to brokenness. Through the gospel, we discover the only real and lasting antidote to shame: exchanging our shame for the righteousness of Christ alongside others on this same journey.

In this classic volume, written at the height of the Cold War, with a new preface of 2006, Peter Viereck, one of the foremost intellectual spokesmen of modern conservatism, examines the differing responses of American and European intellectuals to the twin threats of Nazism and Soviet communism. In so doing, he seeks to formulate a humanistic conservatism with which to counter the danger of totalitarian thought in the areas of politics, ethics, and art.The glory of the intellectuals was the firm moral stance they took against Nazism at a time when appeasement was the preferred path of many politicians; their shame lay in their failure to recognize the brutality of Stalinism to the extent of becoming apologists for or accomplices of its tyranny. In Viereck's view, this failure is rooted in an abandonment of humane values that he sees as a legacy of nineteenth-century romanticism and certain strands of modernist thought and aesthetics.Among his targets are literary obscurantism as personified by Ezra Pound, the academicization of literary culture, the rigidity of adversarial avant-gardism, and the failure of many writers and cultural institutions to conserve the very heritage their political freedom and security depend on. Viereck represents their attitude in a series of satirical dialogues with Gaylord Babbitt, son of Sinclair Lewis' embodiment of conservative philistinism. Babbitt Junior is as unreflective as his father, but the objects of his credulity are the received ideas of liberal progressivism and avant-garde mandarinism. Ultimately, Viereck's critique stands as a timely rebuke to the extremism of both left and right.

Humans are hardwired for awe. Our hearts are always captured by something—that’s how God made us. But sin threatens to distract us from the glory of our Creator. All too often, we stand in awe of everything but God. Uncovering the lies we believe about all the earthly things that promise us peace, life, and contentment, Paul Tripp redirects our gaze to God’s awe-inducing glory—showing how such a vision has the potential to impact our every thought, word, and deed.

Hiding behind the Muslim woman’s veil is a heart longing for honor but often covered in shame. Meeting her will transform us all. Muslim women are coming out of hiding and telling their stories. With courageous voices, they disclose tales of shame and a fierce desire to be valued. We hold our breath as they whisper accounts of Jesus dressed in light, coming to them in dreams, offering honor in the place of shame, freedom instead of oppression. Their tales narrate a secret reality for all of us. We all long to be known, to be valued, to be rescued. We all are in desperate need of a Savior. In Covered Glory, you will meet Muslim women living in a culture with an honor-shame worldview that perpetuates their shame. As you discover how these women find freedom when they uncover their true identity, you will find that shame affects each one of us. Learn that while… shame tells us we are unworthy, truth tells us we were made to be loved shame tells us we are nobody, Jesus tells us, “You are somebody to me” shame tells us we are broken, God’s Word tells us healing comes from him It is only when we begin to understand the honor-shame gospel that we are set free. And so is our Muslim neighbor when we learn to tell her of the love of Jesus in a language she understands: the language of honor and shame.

Each woman named in Matthew's record of the genealogy of Jesus made a journey from shame to glory. Grandmothers of Jesus included a prostitute, an adulterer, a nomad, and a trickster. His mother became pregnant before marriage. Certainly, Jesus heard the stories of his ancestors and utilized their life lessons as he made his way to the cross. For in spite of the laws and mores of their culture, these women displayed qualities of vision, risk, courage, truthfulness, and openness to God's gifts-all qualities Jesus would rely on in his own journey from shame to glory. Reverend Valerie Fons and Christian Educator Nancy Regensburger share a unique, compelling, and positive presentation of the five women in the first book of Matthew while highlighting how God acts through the weak and powerless to bring forth glory. Through bible study, history lessons, introspective questions, poignant anecdotes, and opportunities for personal reflection, Fons and Regensburger provide a pathway to glory and inspiration for modern women seeking insight on their own spiritual journeys. From Shame to Glory offers an interpretation of the genealogy of the significant women in the heritage of Jesus Christ that provides bible study group guidance and inspiration for anyone passionate about embracing God's grace and wisdom.

An Honorific Gospel: Biblically Faithful & Culturally Relevant Christians engaged in communicating the gospel navigate a challenging tension: faithfulness to God’s ancient, revealed Word—and relevance to the local, current social context. What if there was a lens or paradigm offering both? Understanding the Bible—particularly the gospel—through the ancient cultural “language” of honor-shame offers believers this double blessing. In Honor, Shame, and the Gospel, over a dozen practitioners and scholars from diverse contexts and fields add to the ongoing conversation around the theological and missiological implications of an honorific gospel. Eight illuminating case studies explore ways to make disciples in a diversity of social contexts—for example, East Asian rural, Middle Eastern refugee, African tribal, and Western secular urban. Honor, Shame, and the Gospel provides valuable resources to impact the ministry efforts of the church, locally and globally. Linked with its ancient honor-shame cultural roots, the gospel, paradoxically, is ever new—offering fresh wisdom to Christian leaders and optimism to the church for our quest to expand Christ’s kingdom and serve the worldwide mission of God.