The author's focus and intention for this book was provoked by several stimuli. One is that more than 50 percent of the world's population is under twenty-five years of age, and for the most part not formed by the church. Secondly, in the coffee shop where he hangs out, when his conversation partners learn of his long career as a pastor, they inevitably ask about the church: "What in the world is the church? What is its purpose?" And thirdly, it is provoked by the lament of a very gifted j...

As the Christian church in the West moves further into the post-Christian era a dilemma rises for those thoughtful followers of Jesus Christ who find themselves in venerable, older church institutions that have become forgetful of their reason for being in the purpose of God. Such Christendom church institutions, as Henderson designates them, rather become somewhat idolatrous of their traditions, their sanctuaries, their ecclesiastical accoutrements, not to mention their dependence on a qu...

In a period of tumultuous transition for the church as it moves out of the Christendom era and into the unknowns of the post-Christian era, it is strange that so little has been written about the church's calling out of the dominion of darkness (Satan) and into the kingdom of Light (or, God's dear Son). The very word ecclesia speaks of a people "called out." In the New Testament the theme of spiritual warfare is ubiquitous, and yet is relegated to the margins in our present cultural whitew...

With the continual appearance of evidence that the emerging generation (the iGens) is not at all enamored of institutional churches, and is ignoring or forsaking them, it seemed a good time to take a step back, take a deep breath, and take a fresh look at what the church was intended to be and do in the New Testament document. The author spells out the landscape and reviews the profile of recent generations, and then sets about to set forth the church as the communal component of God's new...

For over fifty years, Eli Schwartz has inspired generations of economists through his prolific publications and dedicated in teaching. In 2008, the Martindale Center for the Study of Private Enterprise at Lehigh University invited prominent academics and practitioners—including Nobel Prize recipients, Robert Solow and Harry Markowitz, and former Chairman of the Economic Advisers to Ronald Reagan, Murray Weidenbaum—to contribute pieces that reflect their own approaches to issues that Schwar...

"Do you think, Sir, that Ireland should have joined the war against Germany?" "I mean, Sir, that the married women in Ireland, like me Ma, and lots of other fellas' mothers have loads of babies and are always having to go into hospital to have them or have to feed them and wash them. The mothers have stacks of work to do all the time and they're always carrying babies around in their bellies or in their arms." Patsy Fagan, growing up in Dublin in the 1950s, asks awkward questions of his sc...

There shall be showers of blessings. (Ezekiel 34:26)The goodness, kindness, and blessings of God did not "start" when we repented of our sins and came to Christ-because it was the goodness and mercy of God that "led us" to repentance.Romans 2:4 says that we did not know that it was the goodness and forbearance of God that leads us to repentance. This is due to the fact that before our conversion, our "spiritual birth," or our born-again experience, we were blind to spiritual things-even th...

Research into minimum income standards and reference budgets around the world is compared in this illuminating collection from leading academics in the field.From countries with long established research traditions to places where it is relatively new, contributors set out the different aims and objectives of investigations into the minimum needs and requirements of populations, and the historical contexts, theoretical frameworks and methodological issues that lie behind each appro...

This ethnography explores the Ngoma healing tradition as practiced in eastern Mpumalanga, South Africa. ‘Bungoma’ is an active philosophical system and healing practice consisting of multiple strands, based on the notion that humans are intrinsically exposed to each other and that this is the cause of illness, but also the condition for the possibility of healing. This healing seeks to protect the ‘exposed being’ from harm through augmenting the self. Unlike Western medicine, it does not s...

Railway buildings have always had a fascinating character all of their own, despite many no longer being in operational railway service. This book tells the story of how these buildings evolved alongside the development of the railway in Great Britain and examines how architects over the years have responded to the operational, social and cultural influences that define their work. Written for those with a keen interest in architecture and the railway, as well as those new to the subject, ...

Including studies on different topical issues in finance by the participants of the 8th international scientific conference “New Challenges of Economic and Business Development – 2016” this new work contains research from various European countries, specifically Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malta, and Poland. Chapters explore the impact of financial literacy on domestic economic activity in the Baltic States, the rapid rise of FinTech, which has changed the banking landscape, requiring more inn...

This edited volume will highlight recent research in derivatives modelling and markets in a post-crisis world across a number of dimensions or themes. The book addresses the following main areas: derivatives models and pricing, model application and performance backtesting, new products and market features. Particular themes encompass: - continuous and discrete time modeling, - statistical arbitrage models, - arbitrage-free pricing, risk-neutral implied densities, - equilibrium pricing app...