Salvation History

Delves into the biblical origin for each of these masterpieces of God's love.Gray guides readers through the Gospels, showing Christ's deliberate acts to inaugurate these sacred signs as the foundation of the New Covenant.

Salvation history can be thought of as twofold: one is that God Himself personally takes action and the other is God has humans act. An example of the latter is Exodus in which God had Moses lead the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. The skin garment that God made with slain animals for the fallen Adam is an example of the former. Adam's fall is the very starting point of God's saving acts in human history. In His saving acts, God utilized his sin as the means of salvation. However, God's plan on saving human beings began far ahead of the creation of Adam, for omniscient God already knew of Adam's fall before the world had begun. As Apostle Peter confirms, God's will to save lost sinners was planned from the very beginning and Jesus Christ was chosen before the creation of the world as our Savior. In His saving plan, Almighty God reversed all the negatives that would arise from Adam's fall into positives, triumphing over them by the cross. We need to be clothed in the robe of righteousness, the garments of salvation through Jesus Christ. The fig leaf coverings sewn by human efforts cannot cover our nakedness. In essence, the grace of salvation originates from God, not from fallible humans. Current human history has been heading towards a thorough restoration of God's image. When the full and perfect restoration of God's image is accomplished, salvation history will finally be complete. Although heavily infected by sin, we have constantly been advancing towards the perfect restoration of God's image and likeness. When Jesus Christ returns to us, our defiled image of God will be transformed into His perfect likeness. On the day when He appears, as Apostle John says, we shall be like Him. That day will be the very end of human history. On that very day, at long last, God's redemptive plan will be completed.

John Bergsma’s popular Bible Basics for Catholics, which has sold more than 60,000 copies, offers readers an accessible vision of salvation history as it unfolds in the Bible, showing readers how the Bible points us to the saving life and work of Jesus. This new edition includes an additional chapter on covenant fulfillment in the Book of Revelation. Bergsma brings to his theology a combination of academic expertise, pastoral wisdom, and unique playfulness. Bible Basics for Catholics is based on Bergsma’s popular Introduction to Theology course at Steubenville. As a teacher, Bergsma has an uncanny ability to make complex ideas understandable and faith-inspiring while staying true to both Catholic teaching and biblical scholarship. Readers will begin to see the Christian understanding of salvation by walking through the Old Testament, going through the great stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the great kings and prophets of Israel, and culminating in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Analyzes Johannes von Hofmann's entire theological oeuvre.

The United States has a long history of religious pluralism, and yet Americans have often thought that people’s faith determines their eternal destinies. The result is that Americans switch religions more often than any other nation. Lincoln Mullen traces the history of the distinctively American idea that religion is a matter of individual choice.

The book traces the role of Judaism and the Jewish people in God's plan for the salvation of mankind, from Abraham through the Second Coming, as revealed by the Catholic faith and by a thoughtful examination of history. It will give Christians a deeper understanding of Judaism, both as a religion in itself and as a central component of Christian salvation. To Jews it reveals the incomprehensible importance, nobility and glory that Judaism most truly has. It examines the unique and central role Judaism plays in the destiny of the world. It documents that throughout history attacks on Jews and Judaism have been rooted not in Christianity, but in the most anti-Christian of forces. Areas addressed include: the Messianic prophecies in Jewish scripture; the anti-Christian roots of Nazi anti-Semitism; the links between Nazism and Arab anti-Semitism; the theological insights of major Jewish converts; and the role of the Jews in the Second Coming. "Perplexed by controversies new and old about the destiny of the Jewish people? Read this book by a Jew who became a Catholic for a well-written, provocative, ground-breaking account. Some of the answers most have never heard before." Ronda Chervin, Ph.D., Hebrew-Catholic

'Anthony Hoekema brings to the study of biblical prophecy and eschatology a maturity that is rare among contemporary works on the subject. Free of sensationalism, he evinces a reverence for the Scriptures and a measured scholarship...One of the best studies on eschatology available.' ---Christianity Today