The first book-length study of the vital role Regular Baptists played in creating the modern Southern Baptist denominationThe origins of the Southern Baptist Convention, the world's largest Protestant denomination, is most often traced back to the colorful, revivalist Separate Baptist movement that rose out of the Great Awakening in the mid-1700s. During that same period the American South was likewise home to the often-overlooked Regular Baptists, who also experie...

A generation of biblical scholars have sparked a revolution in thinking about the apostle Paul. Now, bible scholar and progressive Christian pastor Eric C. Smith is helping Christians see how that revolution makes a difference for people engaged in the work of justice and inclusion. In Paul the Progressive, Smith revisits Paul in light of modern biblical scholarship, telling the story of a Paul who challenged the norms of his day, broke down barriers of gender and ethnicity, and re-imagine...

John A. Broadus (1827–95) was a highly influential Southern Baptist leader, preacher, scholar, and educator during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He cofounded the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which today is among the largest seminaries in the world. Broadus’s enduring impact on American preaching stems in part from his 1870 homiletics manual, a widely adopted textbook that ministers continue to use today. A prominent southerner before and after the Civil War, Broadus ...

In recent years scholars have re-evaluated the "parting of the ways" between Judaism and Christianity, reaching new understandings of the ways shared origins gave way to two distinct and sometimes inimical religious traditions. But this has been a profoundly textual task, relying on the writings of rabbis, bishops, and other text-producing elites to map the terrain of the "parting." This book takes up the question of the divergence of Judaism and Christianity in terms of material--the ...

The political systems, economic forces, and cultural powers that shape modern life often seem too large to understand and too entrenched to challenge. It's easy to wonder where an individual fits within such overwhelming structures, or whether meaningful change is even possible. But this struggle is not new. In By What Power, Eric C. Smith serves as your guide through the book of Acts, helping you discover how a small movement found its voice under the shadow of the Roman Empire. Rather th...

John Leland (1754-1841) was one of the most influential and entertaining religious figures in early America. As an itinerant revivalist, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to connect with a popular audience, and contributed to the rise of a "democratized" Christianity in America. A tireless activist for the rights of conscience, Leland also waged a decades-long war for disestablishment, first in Virginia and then in New England. Leland advocated for full religious freedom for all-not merel...

Baptists in America began the eighteenth century a small, scattered, often harassed sect in a vast sea of religious options. By the early nineteenth century, they were a unified, powerful, and rapidly-growing denomination, poised to send missionaries to the other side of the world. One of the most influential yet neglected leaders in that transformation was Oliver Hart, longtime pastor of the Charleston Baptist Church. Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America is the first moder...

This is a book about monsters.Monsters who love us. Monsters who hate us. The monsters we nurture, and the monsters we become. They may be imperceptibly small or unimaginably vast, completely devoid of thought or filled with incomprehensible rage and hunger, but regardless of scale or motivation, they cannot be ignored.On these pages, you will meet an artist who plays with the geometry of madness, a child who refuses to accept the rules of loss, and a mind unravelled by the...

"Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells's New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series.Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, t...

Do you want to live a life free from shame, guilt, and self destructive behaviors? Are you tired of feeling as if you are constantly walking around with an unbearable weight on your shoulders? If you have answered yes to any of these questions you feel this way because you are struggling with forgiveness. Not because of what anyone has done to you but because of what you have done to someone else and are now doing to yourself.When you are full of anger and resentment life can becom...

Are you tired of dreaming and never achieving? Can you feel in your spirit that you are living below your capabilities? Do you wonder why some people are successful in life and others are not? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, keep reading! This book is a practical guide to getting ahead and becoming a winner. It contains a basic approach that will teach you how to develop and sustain the attitude required for success.The majority of people feel as if they are stu...

Over the past twenty years, more than 12,000 pages of scholarly research on Joseph Smith have been published as part of the Joseph Smith Papers, with thousands more being prepared right now. These pages are filled with insights into Joseph, but most have not yet been shared in a way that makes the accessible to a broader audience. This collection of short essays will help close this gap and bring insights into Joseph to Latter-day saints, both those who are struggling with questions about ...