Christian Study - General

 
If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat
by John Ortberg
Out on the risky waters of faith, Jesus is waiting to meet you and offer you his Holy Spirit power that will change your life forever, deepening your faith and trust in God.
 

 
God and the World:
A Conversation With Peter Seewald
During his years as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, well-known Vatican prelate Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger has given three in-depth interviews. The first two interviews have become best selling books: The Ratzinger Report and Salt of the Earth. Because of the tremendous reception those books received, the Cardinal agreed to do another interview with journalist Peter Seewald, who had done the very popular Salt of the Earth interview. This third in-depth interview addresses deep questions of faith and the living of that faith in the modern world.  

 
Searching for God Knows What
by Donald Miller
In Searching for God Knows What, Donald Miller's provocative and funny new book, he shows readers that the greatest desire of every person is the desire for redemption. Every person is constantly seeking redemption (or at least the feeling of it) in his or her life, believing countless gospels that promise to fix the brokenness. Typically their pursuits include the desire for fulfilling relationships, successful careers, satisfying religious systems, status, and escape. Miller reveals how the inability to find redemption leads to chaotic relationships, self-hatred, the accumulation of meaningless material possessions, and a lack of inner peace. Readers will learn to identify in themselves and within others the universal desire for redemption. They will discover that the gospel of Jesus is the only way to find meaning in life and true redemption. Mature believers as well as seekers and new Christians will find themselves identifying with the narrative journey unfolded in the book, which is simply the pursuit of redemption  

 
The Case for Christ
by Lee Strobel
The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel's attempt to "determine if there's credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God." The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.
 

The Lamb's Supper:
The Mass as Heaven on Earth
The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth reawakens a surprising ancient view of the Eucharist, as the harbinger of the supernatural drama described by the New Testament book of Revelation. Catholic theologian Scott Hahn thinks that many worshippers receive the sacrament of communion without ever considering its links to the end of the world, the Apocalypse, and the Second Coming. Hahn wants to change our minds; he wants us to know that "The Mass--and I mean every single Mass--is heaven on earth." Literally. So, Hahn declares, "Now heaven has been unveiled for us with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ... Jesus Christ Himself says to you: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me' (Rv. 3:20)." Hahn's enthusiasm, as evident even from these short quotes, is considerable--and infectious. Furthermore, he delivers his arguments with great levity (demonstrated in chapter titles such as "Oath Meal"), which makes The Lamb's Supper quite a tasty read
 

 
Lost Christianities:
The Battle for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
by Bart D. Ehrman
What if Marcion's canon-which consisted only of Luke's Gospel and Paul's letters, entirely omitting the Old Testament-had become Christianity's canon? What if the Ebionites-who believed Jesus was completely human and not divine-had ruled the day as the Orthodox Christian party? What if various early Christian writings, such as the Gospel of Thomas or the Secret Gospel of Mark, had been allowed into the canonical New Testament? Ehrman (The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture), a professor of religion at UNC Chapel Hill, offers answers to these and other questions in this book, which rehearses the now-familiar story of the tremendous diversity of early Christianity and its eventual suppression by a powerful "proto-orthodox" faction. The proto-orthodox Christians won out over many other groups, and bequeathed to us the four Gospels, a church hierarchy, a set of practices and beliefs, and doctrines such as the Trinity. Ehrman eloquently characterizes some of the movements and Scriptures that were lost, such as the Ebionites and the Secret Gospel of Mark, as he outlines the many strands of Christianity that competed for attention in the second and third centuries. He issues an important reminder that there was no such thing as a monolithic Christian orthodoxy before the fourth century. While Ehrman sometimes raises interesting questions (e.g., are Paul's writings sympathetic to women?), his book covers territory already well-explored by others (Gregory Riley, The River of God; Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief), generating few fresh or provocative insights.