In Granite Or Ingrained

Popular claims about the old and new covenants have diminished the gospel and narrowed the faith and spiritual life of millions of Christians. Those claims have introduced confusion about what it truly means to "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Christians earnest in their walk with the Lord will see a dynamic element of the gospel in the profound relationship between love and law. They will, perhaps for the first time, understand the apparent dichotomy of old and new covenants in the New Testament. And in the process they will be confronted with a powerful appeal and an unmistakable warning.

Enrich your personal walk with God by using this study guide to "In Granite or Ingrained?" by Skip MacCarty. Whether used alone or with fellow Christians in a dynamic small group experience, this study guide will help you review and retain the key points of the book, explore deeper aspects and applications of the major issues, and strengthen your devotional relationship with God.

Walt Whitman called the Orient "The Past! the Past! the Past!" but East Asia was remarkably present for the United States in the twentieth century. Apparitions of Asia reads American literary expressions during a century of U.S.-East Asian alliances in which the Far East is imagined as both near and contemporary. Commercial and political bridges across the Pacific generated American literary fantasies of ethical and spiritual accord; Park examines American bards who capitalized on these ties and considers the price of such intimacies for Asian American poets. l l The book begins its literary history with the poetry of Ernest Fenollosa, who called for "The Future Union of East and West." From this prime instigator of the Gilded Age, Park newly considers the Orient of Ezra Pound, who turned to China to lay the groundwork for his poetics and ethics. Park argues that Pound's Orient was bound to his America, and she traces this American-East Asian nexus into the work of Gary Snyder, who found a native American spirituality in Zen. The second half of Apparitions of Asia considers the creation of Asian America against this backdrop of trans-pacific alliances. Park analyzes the burden of American Orientalism for Asian American poetry, and she argues that the innovations of Lawson Fusao Inada offer a critique of this literary past. Finally, she analyzes two Asian American poets, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Myung Mi Kim, who return to modernist forms in order to reveal a history of American interventions in East Asia.

Perspectives on the Sabbath presents in point-counterpoint form the four most common views of the Sabbath commandment that have arisen throughout church history, representing the major positions held among Christians today. Skip MacCarty (Andrews University) defends the Seventh-day view which argues the fourth commandment is a moral law of God requiring us to keep the seventh day (Saturday) holy. It must therefore remain the day of rest and worship for Christians. Jospeh A Pipa (Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary) backs the Christian Sabbath view which reasons that ever since the resurrection of Christ, the one day in seven to be kept holy is the first day of the week. Craig L. Blomberg (Denver Seminary) supports the Fulfillment view which says that since Christ has brought the true Sabbath rest into the present, the Sabbath commands of the Old Testament are no longer binding on believers. Charles P. Arand (Concordia Seminary) upholds the Lutheran view that the Sabbath commandment was given to Jews alone and does not concern Christians. Rest and worship are still required but not tied to a particular day.

The author reveals how grace is the heart of the gospel'a liberating, life-giving and comforting melody throughout the Bible. Grace is our certainty of eternal life and God's all-encompassing acceptance. Without grace, our religious beliefs are bad news, thus this book's advice, Grace: never leave home without it! Learn how God's grace is absolute and all inclusive; something we never deserve or earn! Grace offers the most refreshing peace we will ever know. Grace is the solution to every problem and menacing crisis threatening our planet. Rightly understood, grace points exclusively and continuously to Jesus. Then why is God's gift of grace so controversial or even difficult for Christians to accept? Could it be because grace is totally unbelievable, unexpected and undeserved? Is this why legalism, the enemy of grace, is so common and hard to recognize in ourselves? Grappling with these questions, the author reveals how, from Eden to our day, cradled at the very heart of the great controversy is grace.

No biblical theme raises more fear or discouragement among Adventists than God's judgments, especially the pre-advent judgment. However, there is great news! The author reveals how our fear disappears when we accept Jesus, the righteous One, as our Substitute in the judgment. Learn how God's judgment illustrates His purpose of universal restoration and vindication in the context of His covenant, grace, and justification. Through a loving God's offer of justification by faith we can stand confidently in the judgment with Christ our Advocate. Discover joy in salvation by faith in Christ alone, that the pre-advent judgment is Christ-centered, not man-centered; it is not what you have done but what He has done for you! Judgment does not question your decision to accept Christ's sacrifice; it validates the decision you've already made! Finally, readers will find peaceful assurance that eternity won't begin until every human question has been answered to our satisfaction in the judgment.

In Gary Snyder and the Pacific Rim, Timothy Gray draws upon previously unpublished journals and letters as well as his own close readings of Gary Snyder's well-crafted poetry and prose to track the early career of a maverick intellectual whose writings powered the San Francisco Renaissance of the 1950s and 1960s. Exploring various aspects of cultural geography, Gray asserts that this west coast literary community seized upon the idea of a Pacific Rim regional structure in part to recognize their Orientalist desires and in part to consolidate their opposition to America's cold war ideology, which tended to divide East from West. The geographical consciousness of Snyder's writing was particularly influential, Gray argues, because it gave San Francisco's Beat and hippie cultures a set of physical coordinates by which they could chart their utopian visions of peace and love.Gray's introduction tracks the increased use of “Pacific Rim discourse” by politicians and business leaders following World War II. Ensuing chapters analyze Snyder's countercultural invocation of this regional idea, concentrating on the poet's migratory or “creaturely” sensibility, his gift for literary translation, his physical embodiment of trans-Pacific ideals, his role as tribal spokesperson for Haight-Ashbury hippies, and his burgeoning interest in environmental issues. Throughout, Gray's citations of such writers as Allen Ginsberg, Philip Whalen, and Joanne Kyger shed light on Snyder's communal role, providing an amazingly intimate portrait of the west coast counterculture. An interdisciplinary project that utilizes models of ecology, sociology, and comparative religion to supplement traditional methods of literary biography, Gary Snyder and the Pacific Rim offers a unique perspective on Snyder's life and work. This book will fascinate literary and Asian studies scholars as well as the general reader interested in the Beat movement and multicultural influences on poetry.

“The Beauty and the Glory of the Divine” by Alison M. Down is an astute look at the Exodus story that focuses on one Figure that too often remains hidden behind a monumental figure of Moses, and manifold events of the book–on God, the Leader of the Exodus. As we live in an efficiency driven society, we tend to look at actions and results as the highest priority. While the book of Exodus is indeed packed with actions, and as it results in a radical change in history, many Christians tend to overlook the main purpose of the book of Exodus. The main purpose of this, and of every other book of the Holy Scripture, and of the Word Incarnate is to reveal God the Father. Alison in her dynamic study has grabbed the very nerve of the Exodus narrative: the revelation of the Divine Holiness and other attributes and characteristics of God to sinful humankind. As this emphasis is lost–and, unfortunately, it’s been lost in too many publications–the main purpose of the book of Exodus remains only as a potential. On the other hand, Alison helps a reader to refocus from a traditional study of peoples and events of Exodus, to the God of Exodus. The study is carefully organized after the events of the Exodus, yet with each chapter, with each page we come closer not just to the Promised Land, but we come to better understand God-the true Leader of the Exodus. As a systematic theologian I see that this book is needed for two main reasons. First, it provides a unique focus of God. Second, “The Beauty and the Glory of the Divine” by Alison M. Down helps Christians to bridge what seems to be a gap between the God of the Old Testament and His Son Jesus Christ. This study is fun to read, as a reader would certainly share in Alison’s excitement over many personal discoveries. The book is also valuable as it provides numerous parallel stories and texts from other books of the Bible. That solidifies this research and makes reading more diverse and interesting. “I would certainly recommend this material to any diligent student of the book of Exodus.” --Dr. Oleg Zhigankov, PhD, Systematic and Historical Biblical Studies; Pastor North Bay and South River Churches, Ontario Conference of Seventh Day Adventists