These sermons make a strong exegetical and homiletical case, each based upon specific biblical texts, for the central biblical claim for God's radical, unconditional, and universal grace to humankind. They address a variety of themes and texts for Ordinary Time, with the intent of surprising the reader, preacher, or hearer with a fresh and attention-getting perspective on the gospel message. This volume is filled with sermons that deal in every case with profound biblical and theological i...

This volume is a biblical theological critique of the Apostles' Creed and a development of the role of the Holy Spirit in the church, the world, and the personal experience of Christian faith. It addresses the creed as a historic document, an artifact of early Christian theological development, and a long-standing guide for the form and content of that faith tradition. This book is an appreciation of the Apostles' Creed in terms of its persistent pastoral effect in the church. It is also a...

Psychology and theology interface at four levels: theory development, research process, data collection, and clinical operation. At each level they connect in the model of humanness (anthropology) forming and functioning there; and in that model of humanness it is in personality theory that psychology illumes theology and that psychology illumines theology. A theologian who does not take full advantage of the way psychology illumines theology is not serious about the work of theology. A ps...

This volume presents the narrative of the author's personal spiritual journey, which is marked by numerous constructive life-changing paranormal experiences that can only be accounted for as special initiates of the divine spirit providing intimations and illuminations. These events are set in the context of the rich literature available, which reports similar events in the lives of many other persons, under both normal and extreme circumstances. The author, a clinical psychologist and pas...

Probing the Frontiers of Biblical Studies is a seventeen-chapter anthology on biblical studies. It has been crafted as an extended and respectful thank you note to one of the most insightful scholars of biblical studies, David J. A. Clines of Sheffield University in England. He is credited with providing guidance to, and shaping the thought of, two generations of scholars who focus on essential approaches to understanding the Bible, with particular attention given to the Old Testament and ...

Oedipus in Jerusalem begins with the unexpected meeting of the blinded Oedipus and the biblical prophet Nathan outside of Thebes. As the play unfolds, Nathan brings Oedipus to the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem for a formal trial with regard to his actions of patricide and his subsequent incest with his mother. The author of this play uses the characters and facts that exist in Oedipus Rex, the Athenian tragedy by the Greek playwright Sophocles, but employs the Sanhedrin to reach a dramatica...

This book offers a way to engage with the Bible as a set of sacred texts that can serve as a song sheet for believers in exile-those people Bishop John Shelby Spong calls the "church alumni association." This includes those internally displaced persons of faith who have not yet become spiritual refugees but who feel the pressure to conform to traditional expressions of faith that no longer serve as springs of living water for the journey of life. These ancient texts come from another world...