Die grundsätzlichste Studie zur Frage, wie führende islamische Theologen weltweit das Verlassen des Islam bestraft sehen wollen.

English stories all around the Christian Top-Hit "10,000 Reasons"

34 frische und gut recherchierte Argumente zum Thema »Gibt es Gott oder nicht?« Wie wir mit dieser Frage umgehen, prägt so oder so zutiefst unser Leben. Dieses Büchlein gibt dir neue und überraschende Hinweise aus den Natur- und Geisteswissenschaften, aus der Geschichte sowie aus Erlebnissen und Erfahrungen von Menschen. Eine Einladung zu kritischem Denken, zum Schmunzeln über dich selbst und zum Neu-Beginnen.

People in non-western societies conceive of personhood and personality in ways which overlap with but are not at all identical with western (European, American) conceptions. In their desire to comprehend the concept of man belonging to different societies and cultures ethnographers mostly started from the features defining their own concept of man, including particularly their own concept of the soul, and looked for comparable elements in the culture they studied. In this way they did indeed find material which when pieced together produced something which had similarities with their own concept of man. But they were for the most part blind to other features which defined over and above that notions of body, soul, mind and spirit in the cultural setting they studied. Moreover their knowledge of the language was limited. Often the result was a description containing serious gaps, possibly only contributing non-essentials, falsely evaluating essentials, and in extreme cases leading to the conclusion that the foreign concept of body, soul, mind and spirit was somehow identical with that of Europe and the West. This study about the inhabitants of Chuuk (Federated States of Micronesia) in the Western Pacific is different. It starts strictly from the features defining Chuukese concepts of personhood using the vocabulary and other features of their language in order to work out the so-called emic categories the islanders use to make sense of the world which is their living space. The author is professor of anthropology. He spent five years of fieldwork in the South Pacific, and has visited Africa, Asia and South America for research on many occasions.

Mit der Veröffentlichung der 28. Auflage des ?Nestle-Aland? (2012) und der 5. Auflage des Greek New Testament (2014) trat die neutestamentliche Textforschung in eine neue Phase. Für die Rekonstruktion des Ausgangstextes wurde eine neue wissenschaftliche Methodik angewandt, die sogenannte Kohärenzbasierte Genealogische Methode (nach der englischen Übersetzung kurz: CBGM). Sie verbindet die Möglichkeiten einer computergestützten Analyse der Abweichungen zwischen den Handschriften mit den bewährten philologischen Ansätzen der klassischen Textkritik. Die CBGM hat sich in Fachkreisen weitgehend durchgesetzt. Bisher fehlte allerdings eine gut geschriebene Einleitung, mit der sich auch Nicht-Spezialisten mit ihr vertraut machen können. Diese Einleitung liegt nun vor. Zwei junge, international renommierte Wissenschaftler geben hier einen Überblick über die Arbeitsweise der CBGM und klären Schlüsselbegriffe wie Genealogische Kohärenz, Textflussdiagramm, lokales/globales Stemma etc. Viele Schaubilder erleichtern das Verständnis. In englischer Sprache. Die Autoren Tommy Wasserman, ist Professor of Biblical Studies an der Ansgar Teologiske Høgskole in Lund/Schweden. Peter J. Gurry, ist Assistant Professor of New Testament am Phoenix Seminary in Arizona/USA.

Mit der Veröffentlichung der 28. Auflage des ?Nestle-Aland? (2012) und der 5. Auflage des Greek New Testament (2014) trat die neutestamentliche Textforschung in eine neue Phase. Für die Rekonstruktion des Ausgangstextes wurde eine neue wissenschaftliche Methodik angewandt, die sogenannte Kohärenzbasierte Genealogische Methode (nach der englischen Übersetzung kurz: CBGM). Sie verbindet die Möglichkeiten einer computergestützten Analyse der Abweichungen zwischen den Handschriften mit den bewährten philologischen Ansätzen der klassischen Textkritik. Die CBGM hat sich in Fachkreisen weitgehend durchgesetzt. Bisher fehlte allerdings eine gut geschriebene Einleitung, mit der sich auch Nicht-Spezialisten mit ihr vertraut machen können. Diese Einleitung liegt nun vor. Zwei junge, international renommierte Wissenschaftler geben hier einen Überblick über die Arbeitsweise der CBGM und klären Schlüsselbegriffe wie Genealogische Kohärenz, Textflussdiagramm, lokales/globales Stemma etc. Viele Schaubilder erleichtern das Verständnis. In englischer Sprache. Die Autoren Tommy Wasserman, ist Professor of Biblical Studies an der Ansgar Teologiske Høgskole in Lund/Schweden. Peter J. Gurry, ist Assistant Professor of New Testament am Phoenix Seminary in Arizona/USA.

Als der amerikanische Missionar Paul Washer 2002 diese Predigt auf einer Jugendkonferenz hielt, wirkte sie auf die anwesenden ca. 5000 jungen Leute wie ein Schock! Weder der Prediger noch die Zuhörer ahnten, dass diese Botschaft ? in viele Sprachen übersetzt und im Internet verbreitet ? einmal Millionen von jüngeren und älteren Menschen aufrütteln würde. Er prangert mit aller Schärfe Evangelisations-Methoden an, welche die »enge Pforte« und den »schmalen Weg« weithin ausblenden und eine »billige Gnade« ohne echte Buße anbieten. Auch wenn dieser Vortrag Überspitzungen enthält und auf amerikanische Verhältnisse anspielt (die allerdings immer mehr auch bei uns sichtbar werden), wurde der Inhalt und der ursprüngliche Vortragsstil nicht verändert. Diese Schrift wird sicher auf Empörung oder Verachtung stoßen ? aber andererseits bei vielen Lesern eine heilsame Selbstprüfung, Demütigung und Korrektur bewirken.

Christians who want to share the truth about God with their Muslim friends understandably try to encourage them to read the Bible. Unfortunately, many Muslims believe that Jews and Christians have corrupted the books that God has given them. As a consequence, Muslims are hesitant about reading the Bible. Given this antagonism among a large percentage of Muslims towards Christianity in general and the Bible in particular, there is a need to prepare the ground before a Muslim can be persuaded to read the Bible. To stimulate Muslims to read the Scriptures, we need to find common ground between their world view and the Bible. This book argues that we find such common ground in the book of Proverbs. The universal character of the book of Proverbs makes it a useful bridge between the truth of God and those outside the Christian faith, including Muslims. The use of proverbs is very common in many Muslim cultures. God's wisdom found in the book of Proverbs resembles the content of proverbial sayings in many Muslim cultures. Therefore using this book as a tool in sharing theWord of God with Muslims can create openings where there were none. Muslims are familiar with the Solomon of Scripture because he is mentioned in the Qur'an, but most have never read his words. The wisdom God gave Solomon is a natural link to Muslim people so they can come to know more about God. The book of Proverbs is one of the most valuable tools, particularly in combination with local proverbs, to lead our Muslim friends from accepting familiar truth, to embrace less familiar truth, and then to worship the One who said ?I am the truth? (John 14:6).

Kurze Darstellung der Theologie und des Anliegens des Reformators Martin Bucer, die zu aktuellen Fragestellungen der Einheit unter Christen führt.

Eine wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung über die historische Glaubwürdigkeit der neutestamentlichen Auferstehungsberichte. During his seminary studies, Ross became acquainted with the positions of the ?new atheists.? Ross observed that one of these scholars, Richard Carrier, was making bold assertions about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Carrier claimed that Jesus was a mythical figure, and that the notion of the resurrection of Jesus Christ came from preceding pagan ?dying and rising gods.? In addition to this claim, Carrier also asserted that there were many contradictions that he observed within the books of the New Testament to include its resurrection narratives, and that the disciples hallucinated the risen Jesus Christ. As he began his Ph.D. thesis, Ross was curious how Carrier?s aforementioned claims regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ would fare if analyzed by accepted principles of evidence that are used to bring criminal offenders into and through the criminal justice system. Would Carrier?s positions on the resurrection meet these standard principles of evidence? In this volume, Ross distills these accepted principles of evidence, developed from long recognized canons of criminal law, and applies them to Carrier?s claims about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether an atheist or a Christian, you will find this rigorous analysis of a scholar?s claims by legal principles both stimulating and educational. Ross retired in 2014 as a Senior Inspector from the U.S. Marshals Service after serving in federal and local law enforcement for 26 years. During his career, Ross served in a wide variety of positions to include: police officer, undercover vice/narcotics detective, SWAT team member, fugitive hunter, protective investigator, sex-offender investigator, asset seizure investigator, etc. Midway through his career with the U.S.M.S., Ross began his seminary education. Since that time, Ross has earned a BS in Religion (Liberty University), an MA in Religion (Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary), an MA in Christian Apologetics (BIOLA University), and a PhD in Missiology/Christian Apologetics (North-West University, South Africa). Since his retirement, Ross has functioned in various roles for Ratio Christi, a national campus apologetics ministry, to include being a member of the national staff, a regional director, and leading a Ratio Christi chapter at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, NC. Along with his duties for Ratio Christi, Ross founded ?Shield Your Faith,? a ministry dedicated to sharing the great evidence for faith in Jesus Christ from an evidentiary perspective. Since retiring, Ross has also taught Christian apologetics on the seminary level as well. Ross is married to Andrea, his lovely wife of 29 years, has two adult children, and resides in Kernersville, N.C. U.S.A.

In recent decades foreign cultures have not just loomed large for Europeans seeking holiday destinations. Since the 1960s increasing numbers of professionals such as teachers, doctors, agronomists, and other professional workers and missionaries from Europe and America have been partnering local churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America whose fellowships are often very differently organised. When preparing these specialists, development agencies and missions often overlook the knowledge and insights that ethnology and cultural anthropology have to offer, help that makes it easier for professionals to take their bearings, to be well integrated, and to go about their work more effectively. This book deals with such issues. For future theorists dealing with foreign cultures (ethnologists, anthropologists, etc.) there is now a whole range of brilliantly written textbooks. However, for development aid practitioners, whether secular workers or church workers, these introductory works are overloaded with theory and are thus difficult to digest. What has been missing until now is a simple introduction to the basic concepts which could enable a European working in foreign surroundings to come to terms with the ethnological literature relevant for his activities overseas, to recognise these essential concepts woven into the daily cultural reality of life and work, and to work with them and to bring to bear his or her own analysis. This book is a simplified introduction along these lines, not just written for the target readers just mentioned, but also for students of ethnology/cultural anthropology and for those who frequent ethnological museums. The author is professor of anthropology with relevant experience of the issues. He spent five years working in the South Pacific, and has visited Africa, Asia and South America for research on many occasions.

There is an urgent need for a deeper evangelical understanding of the theology of the cross with regard to suffering, persecution and martyrdom for Christ and its relevance for the global church in mission. Therefore 24 participants from at least 18 different countries of origin and residence met from 16 to 18 September 2009 in Bad Urach, Germany, for a consultation on ?Developing an evangelical theology of suffering, persecution and martyrdom for the global church in mission?. This was organized by the International Institute for Religious Freedom, sponsored by the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission, together with the Theological Commission and Mission Commission, and the Lausanne Theological Working Group in preparation towards the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, Cape Town 2010. As an outcome of their consultation the participants sent a message in October 2010 to the whole body of Christ and to their fellow evangelicals in particular, the Bad Urach Statement. It comes from some of those evangelicals from different parts of the globe and various contexts who have possibly most advanced in formulating an evangelical theology of suffering, persecution and martyrdom. It is not addressed from ?the West? to ?the rest?, or ?from traditional sending countries? to ?mission fields?, nor from the ?non-persecuted? to the ?persecuted?. It has rather been designed by evangelicals from contexts with various levels of persecution reading the Bible together, sharing their own contextually relevant theologies, and considering some of Christian theology and tradition together. A short popularized summary of some of the points, entitled The Bad Urach Call, is also reproduced in this volume.

Weltweit hat die Broschüre ?Trotz der Krise geht es weiter? bereits Menschen in Krisensituationen weitergeholfen. In sechs Kapiteln von ?Tipps zur Soforthilfe? bis ?In die Zukunft blicken? bietet sie praktische Tipps, wie man während und nach einer Krise für sich selbst und andere sorgen und das Erlebte emotional und geistlich verarbeiten kann. Enthalten sind auch Bibeltexte, die Trost spenden und Hoffnung stiften. Die Broschüre kann von Menschen in Krisensituationen alleine gelesen werden. Ergänzend ist aber auch Material für die Menschen verfügbar, die Menschen in Krisensituationen begleiten.

Vergleicht man Bibel und Wissenschaft, so stellt man fest: Die Bibel war der Forschung in zahlreichen Aussagen lange voraus. Es brauchte Jahrtausende, bis man zum Beispiel folgende biblische Aussagen wissenschaftlich bestätigen konnte: ? Die Erde hängt über dem Nichts. ? Die Sterne sind unzählbar. ? Der Hase käut wieder. ? Der Embryo besitzt im Anfangsstadium Knäuelform. ? Die Luft hat ein Gewicht. Dieses Buch zeigt rund 30 Beispiele, in denen die Wissenschaft gegenüber der Bibel Verspätung hatte.

With an introduction by Thomas K. Johnsone

My experiences with evil have prompted me to take up studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA) for an M.A. in theology, which researches the different spirit appearances/manifestations that are classified into four main types/groups. Central to this book are my ownexperiences with evil. My border experiences with evil have taught me this: The Church must fight against evil. The Church depends on its Lord, who says: 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.' That does not mean, however, that I should sit back and do nothing.MyLord is 'God over all'! In letting me share in His Kingdom, He has assigned me a responsibility. This responsibility lies therein that I practise love and that I avoid evil or combat it consciously and appropriately. Everything else I leave to my Lord to whom I have entrusted my life, and whowill also determine it. For 25 years, the author served as missionary/pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, West Diocese. He ministered to various African congregations, ranging in size from 900 to 6,000 parishioners. During his years of service, he became acquainted with rural congregations with their classic background of African tribal culture, as well as urban congregations who had abandoned their original tribal units but were nonetheless unable to escape the traditional African religion.

Dr. Montgomery?s latest book is one that every serious reader interested in clear Christian thinking should have on a table near her most comfortable reading chair. It is filled with a wide variety of bite-sized essays that are absolutely delightful ?knowledgeable, fun, witty, and unexpected. If you have never read the work of J. W. Montgomery before, you are in for a treat. This is a book that brings together his best writing from the past with his latest essays. It?s a Christian feast of ideas that celebrates our Lord and His unfailing Word. Craig J. Hazen, Ph.D., Director, MA Program in Christian Apologetics, Biola University What makes J. W. Montgomery tick? What has driven him over a massively productive career to such wide-ranging interests as computers and Chemnitz, legal theory and apologetics, human rights and Christology, Dawkins and Duchamp? The answer is clear: the gospel of Jesus Christ and its defense, articulation, and application to the real world in which the Word became flesh, died, and rose again as the Savior. Many of our best confessional-era theologians, both Lutheran and Reformed, were ?Renaissance men,? but that?s rarely the case today. Dr. Montgomery is a glaring exception and this book is a wonderful display of that full scope of his remarkable insights. While being an ardent defender of the Lutheran confession, he is far from parochial. Even in places where one might disagree, the clarity, logic, and relentless rigor of his arguments will kindle fires in hearths that we didn?t even know we had and make us better advocates for the gospel. Dr. Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologtics, Westminster Seminary California John Warwick Montgomery (Ph.D., Chicago, D.Théol., Strasbourg, LL.D., Cardiff, Dr. [h.c.], Institute for Religion and Law, Moscow) is Emeritus Professor of Law and Humanities, University of Bedfordshire, England, Distinguished Research Professor of Apologetics and Christian Thought, Patrick Henry College, Virginia, U.S.A., and Director, International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism & Human Rights, Strasbourg, France. His legal speciality is the international and comparative law of human rights and he regularly pleads religious freedom cases before the European Court of Human Rights. He is a U.S. and U.K. citizen, the author of some fifty books in five languages, and is included in Who?s Who in America, Who?s Who in France, the European Biographical Directory, Who?s Who in the World, and Contemporary Authors. Montgomery is considered by many to be the foremost living apologist for biblical Christianity. A renaissance scholar with a flair for controversy, he lives in France, England and the United States. He is an ordained Lutheran clergyman, an English barrister, an avocat à la cour, barreau de Paris, and is admitted to practice as a lawyer before the Supreme Court of the United States. He obtained acquittals for the ?Athens 3? missionaries on charges of proselytism at the Greek Court of Appeals in 1986 and won the leading religious liberty cases of Larissis v. Greece and Bessarabian Orthodox Church v. Moldova before the European Court of Human Rights.

John Warwick Montgomery ist sowohl lutherischer Theologieprofessor als auch bedeutender Menschenrechtsanwalt mit Zulassung in Frankreich, England und den USA. Der international anerkannte "elder statesman" der evangelikalen politischen Ethik legt hier Studien zu Religionsfreiheit, Ethik, Abtreibung, Wiederheirat, Euthanasie, Mafiabekämpfung usw. vor. In englischer Sprache.

"A central question in Christian ethics is the relationship between the moral prin- ciples we should follow within the Christian community and the ethics followed in the secular societies in which we live. Our dilemma is that we have received a revelation of God?s moral will in the Bible and in creation which must shape the identity of believers over against unbelieving cultures, while our neighbors follow the ethics of other worldviews which concern us deeply. Remember the Holocaust, where the ethics of a secular ideology wreaked destruction in an entire society. How should we, as Christians whom God has called to a distinct identity, participate in the moral considerations that will shape our cultures and communicate some of our convictions in a way that brings moral light into our worlds? Johnson offers the insight gained by 20 years of teaching ethics in secular universities in Europe and North America. First he addresses questions of sex, marriage, and family; then questions of work and economics; and finally theological and philosophical foundations.

Most Europeans do not realise to what extent the world in which they live is shaped by the Bible and Christianity. This book looks at the origins of hospitals, universities, music, social welfare, human rights, the religiously neutral state, liberal democracy, humanism, modern science, and many more. The Christian faith created a common cultural space for the peoples of Europe but also determined national identities. It inspired the founders of the European integration after World War II, and it was a decisive factor in the overthrow of communism some thirty years ago. The author honestly looks at the dark pages written by churches in the past: their connection with state violence, colonialism, intolerance, capitalism, slavery, and especially antisemitism. However, its severest critics in these areas were Christians, taking their inspiration from the Gospel! Paradoxically, Europe is deeply marked by the Christian faith and at the same time by its abandonment. The author describes the rise of secular Europe: the decline of religion, the cultural dechristianisation, the rise of secular ideologies and lifestyles. He then looks at today's society, at secular, religious and demographic trends, post-secular trends in the public and political spheres, and the statistical state of Christianity in different parts of Europe. Special attention is given to committed, nominal and cultural forms of Christianity, and to typical barriers and bridges for the Gospel among seculars and postmoderns. As the author unveils the past and unravels the present, he gives hope: the message to which we owe so much is still 'good news' for Europeans today.

This book examines the implications of Newbigin's understanding of the Kingdom of God for his theology of mission. Newbigin's theological thinking is based on an eschatologically oriented historical understanding of revelation. The gospel tells God's story with his world. In Christ the reign of God has been revealed on earth, yet its final consummation is still to come. Five areas are explored which are affected by this eschatological framework: (1) It provides the reference point for an integrative understanding of mission as witness in both word and deed. (2) The historical character of the revelation makes the gospel part of public truth in contrast to private truth. The gospel is neither a religious way for private salvation nor the establishment of a world immanent theocracy. (3) The church does not constitute the kingdom but is called to be "firstfruits, instrument, and sign" of God's reign. (4) The verification of the truth the church witnesses to occurs only at the end of time. (5) In the meantime the credibility of the biblical tradition can only be advocated provisionally and witnessed to in the religiously pluralistic context the church finds itself in.

En toda Europa los cristianos y musulmanes viven en estrecha proximidad entre sí. Desafortunadamente, en esencia no se conocen entre ellos. ¿Qué es lo que impide que los cristianos compartan sus vidas con los musulmanes? El curso Compartiendo Vidas ha sido desarrollado para ayudar a los cristianos en Europa a vencer sus actitudes negativas: tanto el temor al Islam y a los musul-manes como los prejuicios y las sospechas hacia el Islam y los musulmanes. Este curso está pensado para ayudar a los cristianos a aprender a responder con gracia y así, compartir sus vidas con los musulmanes.