The Second Virgin Birth

Do we have the technology enabling Christ to be born again of a second virgin mother? A six year old little girl in Alabama knows we do. The Pope is afraid we do. The world asks 'should we if we can?' The book follows the life of a little girl in Alabama who goes completely insane at the age of six and is confined to a state mental hospital. In a strange twist of fate, she is chosen, 'by God, ' to become the mother of his son, the next Madonna in the second coming of Christ. Explore her life as there are those who adore and worship her and there are those who loathe her and will do anything to end her life before her son is born. This story is a true 'can't put it down' book.

A profound exploration of how to hold on to hope when our unchanging faith collides with a changing culture, from two respected Christian storytellers and thought leaders. “Offers neither spin control nor image maintenance for the evangelical tribe, but genuine hope.”—Russell Moore, president of ERLC As the pressures of health warnings, economic turmoil, and partisan politics continue to rise, the influence of gospel-focused Christians seems to be waning. In the public square and popular opinion, we are losing our voice right when it’s needed most for Christ’s glory and the common good. But there’s another story unfolding too—if you know where to look. In Gospelbound, Collin Hansen and Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra counter these growing fears with a robust message of resolute hope for anyone hungry for good news. Join them in exploring profound stories of Christians who are quietly changing the world in the name of Jesus—from the wild world of digital media to the stories of ancient saints and unsung contemporary activists on the frontiers of justice and mercy. Discover how, in these dark times, the light of Jesus shines even brighter. You haven’t heard the whole story. And that’s good news.

"This volume sustains, and more than sustains, Dr. Machen's reputation as not only one of the world's foremost New Testament scholars but as one of the ablest defenders of historic Christianity. His former books, 'The Origin of Paul's Religion' (1921), 'Christianity and Liberalism' (1923) and 'What is Faith?' (1925), have so whetted the appetites of their thousands of readers that the announcement of a new book by Dr. Machen fills them with eager expectancy---whatever may be their theological position. It will be recalled that Mr. Walter Lippmann, whose theological position is about as far removed as possible from that of Dr. Machen's, in his widely read book, 'A Preface to Morals', not only speaks of Dr. Machen as 'both a scholar and a gentleman' but says of his book, 'Christianity and Liberalism': 'It is an admirable book. For its acumen, for its saliency, and for its wit, this cool and stringent defense of orthodox Protestantism is, I think, the best popular argument produced by either side in the current controversy. We shall do well to listen to Dr. Machen.' Dr. Machen's latest book, it is true, like 'The Origin of Paul's Religion', moves throughout in the field of exact scholarship. It would be difficult to point to a book anywhere that is more thorough-going in its recital and examination of all that bears upon the subject with which it deals. But while this is the case, Dr. Machen writes so simply and lucidly that men and women of intelligence everywhere, whatever their standing as technical scholars, will be able to read it with understanding and profit. Certainly no minister or Bible teacher of adults can afford to ignore this book. To the reviewer at least it is a source of much satisfaction to know that what is confessedly the most exhaustive and most scholarly book on the problem of the Virgin Birth of Christ ever published, at least in English, has been written by a man who after having acquainted himself with everything of importance that has been written on the subject since the first century, no matter in what language, holds to the historic belief of the Christian Church that its founder was born without human father, being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary." -Samuel Craig

In what remains a widely discussed issue in contemporary theology, J. Gresham Machen's The Virgin Birth of Christ acts as both an introduction to the subject, and a window into American 'Princeton' theology in the early twentieth century. Machen undertakes an encyclopaedic study of the different perspectives on the virgin birth. He begins with a close reading of the scriptural accounts, comparing and contrasting the stories of Jesus' birth told in Luke and Matthew. Secular historical accounts are then considered, as well as possible alternative theories, including the likelihood of the story being of early Jewish or Pagan origin. Machen's study was the definitive work on the virgin birth for the majority of the twentieth century, and remains an invaluable resource, both as an apologetic work and as a time capsule of theological progress.

The traditional claim that Mary remained a virgin during the very act of giving birth to Jesus is one of the least known and least understood aspects of Marian doctrine today. Has the contemporary Church retreated from this claim? In Vessel of Honor, Fr. Brian Graebe provides a solid introduction to the historical development of the doctrine and its reception in modern Catholic theology. He shows that, far from being responsible for its contemporary occlusion, the Second Vatican Council did much to reaffirm the traditional understanding of Mary’s perpetual virginity against its radical reinterpretation in the mid-twentieth century. Fr. Graebe demonstrates that the Council’s underappreciated work on Mary’s perpetual virginity must be seen as part of the legacy of Vatican II. Perhaps the most significant and timely contribution of this book is its illumination of the Council’s revival of the patristic association of Mary with the Church. At a time when many claim Vatican II weakened the Church’s commitment to Sacred Tradition, Vessel of Honor amplifies the Council’s clarion call to the Church to receive and preserve God’s revelation with virginal fidelity. Mary’s physical intactness is an icon of the deposit of faith. Vessel of Honor is an important book both for modern Mariology and for the proper reception of the Second Vatican Council.