Grace Overwhelming

Awarded the 2007 National Research Prize SAES/AEFA. This study is a reappraisal of John Bunyan in the light of the dissenting religious culture of the late-seventeenth century. Charges of schism and fanaticism were repeatedly levelled against Bunyan, both from within the dissenting community and without, but far from being chastened by these accusations, Bunyan responded with a religious discourse marked by a rhetoric of excess. The focus of this book is therefore upon Bunyan's overwhelming spiritual experiences, especially the representation of torment, in his literary and polemical works. The believers' suffering was an obsessive concern of dissenting ministers, even to the point where their writings are often remembered today for little else. Hitherto, most scholars have termed all the mental states that they invoke 'despair', but this simplifies the experiences at issue. A wealth of contemporary material helps to restore the nuances of seventeenth-century physical and spiritual conditions, from enthusiasm to melancholy and madness; from fear to desertion and sloth. These chapters explore fresh ways in which this subtle typology of torment and its extreme manifestations form the core of the literary expression of Restoration dissent, challenging Bunyan to represent spiritual equilibrium as the ultimate quest of the earthly pilgrimage.

This volume of simple, unpretentious poetry will hopefully direct the reader to an understanding of the marvellous and abundant grace that Jesus Christ has to offer every human being. By combining Biblical verses with the author’s thoughts, the poems shall perhaps navigate men’s hearts to an awareness of the rich mercy that Jesus wants to share with all people. When humans have thoughts surmising Christ, what may they ask themselves? How do I get to know the Saviour of mankind? What does a life lived for Christ entail? Are there aspects of my life that I need to change? How can I have a heartfelt relationship with God’s Son? The poems in this book shall assist you in finding what Christ wants to do in your life and what He has already done. The titles may cause readers to think questions of great importance: “I Have Chosen You,” “No Longer Earthbound,” “Leap Like a Deer,” “No One Can Tell God What to Do,” “The Effectual Fervent Prayer,” “Washed with Butter,” “Inward Parts,” “The Pathways of God’s Pleasure,” etc…. “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” Ephesians 2:8a

While Grace supports her artist husband, Wellington Holmes, as he recovers fully both mentally and emotionally from a deliberate plane crash, the faith-based power couple now face a new set of seasons in their lives. Grace celebrates the development of a ground-breaking Liquid Art Intelligence product, and Wellington opens the doors to the Wellington Holmes Art Academy. They are the subjects of a new movie; revel in a newfound romance; see delightful, discerning, and renewed family ties with their two children; and facilitate a growing Artist Wife Organization with national members. But it’s evident all is not well in their life seasons. Grace’s secret admirer could get her killed, and evil threats are commonplace. In Grace’s Seasons, author Sharron Bedford-Vines skillfully exploits deep-seated involvements in Grace and Wellington’s lives. In this, the second book, she features the Artist Wife Organization, detectives, an old nemesis, and new arch enemies as they surface from throughout the world disrupting their glamorous and cosmopolitan fine-art, celebrity lifestyle.

Susan O'Leary recounts the miraculous and triumphant fight of her then 9-year-old son to survive and recover from a devastating burn covering 98% of his body. The book unveils a truth of universal importance, namely, by helping others in need we canbecome their miracles.

The epistle of James is one of the most practical books in the New Testament. Focused on what the Christian life looks like in practice, this short letter highlights a crucial truth about genuine faith: it always leads to good works. In this redesigned volume in the popular Preaching the Word commentary series, Kent Hughes walks readers through James’s important teaching about what it means to follow Jesus, exploring the call to persevere through suffering, the relationship between faith and works, and the importance of taming the tongue. Accessible yet robust, this commentary will help pastors, Bible teachers, and small group leaders understand and communicate the message of the book of James with insight and clarity. Part of the Preaching the Word series.

Although literary-historical studies have often focused on the range of dissenting religious groups and writers that flourished during the English Revolution, they have rarely had much to say about seventeenth-century Baptists, or, indeed, Baptist women. Baptist Women’s Writings in Revolutionary Culture, 1640-1680 fills that gap, exploring how female Baptists played a crucial role in the group’s formation and growth during the 1640s and 50s, by their active participation in religious and political debate, and their desire to evangelise their followers. The study significantly challenges the idea that women, as members of these congregations, were unable to write with any kind of textual authority because they were often prevented from speaking aloud in church meetings. On the contrary, Adcock shows that Baptist women found their way into print to debate points of church organisation and doctrine, to defend themselves and their congregations, to evangelise others by example and by teaching, and to prophesy, and discusses the rhetorical tactics they utilised in order to demonstrate the value of women’s contributions. In the course of the study, Adcock considers and analyses the writings of little-studied Baptist women, Deborah Huish, Katherine Sutton, and Jane Turner, as well as separatist writers Sara Jones, Susanna Parr, and Anne Venn. She also makes due connection to the more familiar work of Agnes Beaumont, Anna Trapnel, and Anne Wentworth, enabling a reassessment of the significance of those writings by placing them in this wider context. Writings by these female Baptists attracted serious attention, and, as Adcock discusses, some even found a trans-national audience.

Explores how Vanity Fair transformed from its Puritan origins as an emblem of sin into a modern celebration of hedonism.