The Angels Of Light And The Powers Of Darkness

Recent years have brought an unexpected revival of popular interest in angels. Books professing to draw back the curtain on the unseen angelic world filled entire bookstore shelves. Here, as if to mock the cold universe of modernity, were the stories of numerous and warm encounters with angelic beings. But who are angels, and what is their nature and purpose in the biblical scheme of things? Are the biblical stories to be taken literally or symbolically, or should they be relegated to another day and age? How have the great theologians of the church regarded the angels? And most important, what are the nature and role of angels in God's cosmos and his redemptive plan? Stephen Noll answers these questions in this detailed exploration of angels in the tapestry of Scripture. Here is a biblical-theological study of angels, Satan and the powers that fills a significant gap and will command the attention of serious students of scripture.

Recent years have brought an unexpected revival of popular interest in angels. Books professing to draw back the curtain on the unseen angelic world filled entire bookstore shelves. Here, as if to mock the cold universe of modernity, were the stories of numerous and warm encounters with angelic beings. But who are angels, and what is their nature and purpose in the biblical scheme of things? Are the biblical stories to be taken literally or symbolically, or should they be relegated to another day and age? How have the great theologians of the church regarded the angels? And most important, what are the nature and role of angels in God's cosmos and his redemptive plan? Stephen Noll answers these questions in this detailed exploration of angels in the tapestry of Scripture. Here is a biblical-theological study of angels, Satan and the powers that fills a significant gap and will command the attention of serious students of scripture.

What is the truth about spiritual warfare? How should you engage in spiritual warfare?

Conceiving of Christianity as a "worldview" has been one of the most significant events in the church in the last 150 years. In this new book David Naugle provides the best discussion yet of the history and contemporary use of worldview as a totalizing approach to faith and life. This informative volume first locates the origin of worldview in the writings of Immanuel Kant and surveys the rapid proliferation of its use throughout the English-speaking world. Naugle then provides the first study ever undertaken of the insights of major Western philosophers on the subject of worldview and offers an original examination of the role this concept has played in the natural and social sciences. Finally, Naugle gives the concept biblical and theological grounding, exploring the unique ways that worldview has been used in the Evangelical, Orthodox, and Catholic traditions. This clear presentation of the concept of worldview will be valuable to a wide range of readers.

The starting point for the book is the following anomoly: If Jesus lived as has been supposed at the beginning of the 1st century AD, the only NT documents written by a near contemporary, the Epistles of St Paul, make no mention of him as an historical figure, neither do they record any of his sayings, but rather they talk of him as a vision or mystical experience of the risen Christ. Further, the same is true of the earliest Christian non-NT texts, such as the Epistles of St Clement, roughly contemporary with Paul. Furthermore, contemporary records of the region from non-Christian sources, such as those by the Jewish historian Josephus, fail to mention Jesus at all where we would expect them to; the mentions that there are have recently been shown to be later interpolations by medieval Christian apologists - the gospel accounts of Jesus and his millieu are inaccurate in all major respects e. g. the relative dates of Herod and Pilate, if contemporary Roman and Jewish historians, who had no theological axe to grind, are taken as measure. By comparative textual studies, the author shows that the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and sayings were written approximately 100 years after Jesus is supposed to have lived, and so 100 years later than alleged contemporaries such as Paul, Clement, Josephus etc.

In this provocative, intelligent, and highly original addition to the Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library, Susan R. Garrett argues that angel talk has never been merely about angels. Rather, from ancient times until the present, talk about angels has served as a vehicle for reflection on other fundamental life questions, including the nature of God's presence and intervention in the world, the existence and meaning of evil, and the fate of humans after death. In No Ordinary Angel, Garrett examines how biblical and other ancient authors addressed such questions through their portrayals of angels. She compares the ancient angel talk to popular depictions of angels today and considers how the ancient and modern portraits of angels relate to Christian claims about Jesus. No Ordinary Angel offers important insights into the development of angelology, the origins of Christology, and popular Western spirituality ranging from fundamentalist to New Age. In doing so, it provokes stimulating theological reflection on key existential questions.

In Angels Dark and Light, Gary Kinnaman provides a thoroughly biblical guide to the world of angels. He pulls back the curtain on this fascinating supernatural phenomenon, exploring the nature and purpose of these heavenly encounters. He includes stories about ordinary people who have experienced angelic visitors.