Knowing God As An Evangelical

The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faith How do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people—as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn’t easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort—by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others—helps to explain the enduring power of faith. Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more. A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits—but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.

For half a century, J. I. Packer's classic has helped Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory, and the joy of knowing God. Stemming from Packer's profound theological knowledge, Knowing God brings together two key facets of the Christian faith-knowing about God and knowing God through a close relationship with Jesus Christ. Written in an engaging and practical tone, this thought-provoking work seeks to renew and enrich our understanding of God. Named by Christianity Today as one of the top fifty books that have shaped evangelicals, Knowing God is now among the iconic books featured in the IVP Signature Collection. A new companion Bible study is also available to help readers explore these biblical themes for themselves.

Faithful. Triune. Beyond comparison. Triumphant over all. These words barely begin to describe the God we serve, yet he invites us to have a relationship with him. What could be more important than knowing this all-surpassing God? These five easy-to-use Bible studies, based on J. I. Packer's bestselling classic Knowing God, explore the character and actions of God throughout Scripture. They encourage us to look for God every time we read the Bible and to deepen our understanding, trust, and worship in response. In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Knowing God, this edition of the Knowing God Bible Study helps individuals and groups explore and apply biblical truths. Each session features an insightful quotation by Packer matched with a Scripture passage, reflection questions, and application ideas that will equip readers to gain a fuller knowledge of the God we worship. A leader's guide and list of suggested resources are also included. Also available: Knowing God Devotional Journal, Knowing God Study Guide, and Knowing God Fiftieth Anniversary Edition.

Over One Million Copies Sold For half a century, J. I. Packer's classic has helped Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory, and the joy of knowing God. Stemming from Packer's profound theological knowledge, Knowing God brings together two key facets of the Christian faith—knowing about God and knowing God through a close relationship with Jesus Christ. Written in an engaging and practical tone, this thought-provoking work seeks to renew and enrich our understanding of God. Knowing God was named by Christianity Today as one of the top fifty books that have shaped evangelicals. With a companion Bible study, devotional journal, and study guide, readers can explore these biblical themes for themselves in this new fiftieth anniversary edition. Also available: Knowing God Study Guide, Knowing God Devotional Journal, Knowing God Bible Study.

Here is a daily guide through one of the most treasured books of Christian spirituality: J. I. Packer's Knowing God. Each day you'll read a Scripture and a brief passage about the glory and joy of being in relationship with God. An idea at the end of each day's reading will help you to respond to God in prayer and reflection.

Though unseen and unheard, the God of the Bible exists. Religious wars and atrocities in the history of the Christian West may cause many to disbelieve in God or see Him in a negative light. God did not cause these horrors, nor is He responsible for these or any other sins of man. God is in fact love as John described Him. Much of popular culture today reviles God based upon spiritually naïve opinions. What of pain, suffering, inequity, and injustices? How can we say that God is love in the face of this reality? Understanding such difficult questions requires development of a spiritually informed perspective. Consider if the God of the Bible exists, God Almighty, our creator, surely He must be competent to reveal Himself to us. Indeed, He is competent, and biblical scripture reveals God to mankind. Yet God is an elegant personality, and scripture is an elegant message. Knowing Him and comprehending His scripture require effort. The mendicant seeking God and studying scripture must yield heart and mind to renewal, unlearn many biases, learn new and astonishing ideas, and become susceptible to God's Spirit, informing, retraining, and transforming us. Spiritual objectivity is possible. This book is the product of one adult life spent tenaciously seeking God. The author declares that the biblical God does exist. He is understandable and knowable. Life with God, with God dwelling with us and within us, is our greatest birthright. By God's design, we are all children of God. As children of God, we have a glorious spiritual inheritance available to us if only we can lift our eyes upon it and make it our own. This book has been written to help people everywhere cut through the philosophical, theological, social, cultural, and spiritual static of our times that they might walk with God as Enoch, Abraham, Moses, David, or Elijah walked. Our intimacy with God can and should be as vibrant and constant as any Bible hero we could name. To this end, bringing people into not only relationship but also spiritual intimacy with God, this book was written.

Widely recognized as a pillar of 20th-century evangelicalism, J. I. Packer has had a profound impact on millions of Christians living today. Now in his late eighties, Packer still exerts an enormous influence on pastors and laypeople around the world through his many books, articles, and recorded lectures—works that overflow with spiritual wisdom related to the Christian life. In the latest addition to Crossway’s growing Theologians on the Christian Life series, well-known pastor Sam Storms examines Packer’s legacy when it comes to the Christian and sanctification. Whether exploring Packer’s insights into prayer, Bible study, the sovereignty of God, or the Christian’s fight against sin, this accessible book offers readers the chance to learn from the best of Packer’s thinking on what true godliness really entails. Part of the Theologians on the Christian Life series.

In the present polyphony of evangelical theological epistemology, there are several authoritative approaches. Yet, the evangelical emphasis on sola scriptura demands that theological epistemology be subjected to the biblical canon. In this book, Dan-Adrian Petre argues for a canonically-derived theological epistemological framework that may foster a fuller understanding of theological knowledge formation within evangelicalism. Specifically, he explores some representative evangelical voices to identify the reasons for the contemporary epistemological variance. Petre then uses a canonical-epistemological methodology to outline a biblically-based framework. In exploring how the Scripture conceptualizes the formation of theological knowledge, the book uses cognitive linguistics to grasp the conceptual meaning of the theological knowledge formation in the Bible using prototypical case studies. The resulting epistemological implications outline a minimal epistemological model derived from the biblical canon. Using this vantage point, the author assesses the contemporary evangelical epistemological dissonance as a means of indicating a way forward for a canonical-epistemological attunement.