God's Babies

God's Babies
Author: John McKeown
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2014-12-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1783740523

The human population's annual total consumption is not sustainable by one planet. This unprecedented situation calls for a reform of religious cultures that promote a large ideal family size. Many observers assume that Christianity is inevitably part of this problem because it promotes "family values" and statistically, in America and elsewhere, has a higher birthrate than nonreligious people. This book explores diverse ideas about human reproduction in the church past and present. It investigates an extreme fringe of U.S. Protestantism, including the Quiverfull movement, that use Old Testament "fruitful" verses to support natalist ideas explicitly promoting higher fecundity. It also challenges the claim by some natalists that Martin Luther in the 16th century advocated similar ideas. This book argues that natalism is inappropriate as a Christian application of Scripture, especially since rich populations’ total footprints are detrimental to biodiversity and to human welfare. It explores the ancient cultural context of the Bible verses quoted by natalists. Challenging the assumption that religion normally promotes fecundity, the book finds surprising exceptions among early Christians (with a special focus on Saint Augustine) since they advocated spiritual fecundity in preference to biological fecundity. Finally the book uses a hermeneutic lens derived from Genesis 1, and prioritising the modern problem of biodiversity, to provide ecological interpretations of the Bible's "fruitful" verses.

Mitzvoth Ethics and the Jewish Bible

Mitzvoth Ethics and the Jewish Bible
Author: Gershom M. H. Ratheiser
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2007-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 056702962X

Ratheiser's study provides the framework for a non-confessional, mitzvoth ethics-centered and historical-philological approach to the Jewish bible and deals with the basic steps of an alternative paradigmatic perspective on the biblical text. The author seeks to demostrate the ineptness of confessional and ahistorical approaches to the Jewish bible. Based on his observations and his survey of the history of interpretation of the Jewish bible, Ratheiser introduces an alternative hermeneutical-exegetical approach to the Jewish bible: the paradigm of examples. His study concludes that the biblical text is a collection of writings designed and formed from a specifically ethical-ethnic outlook. In other words, he regards the Jewish bible to be written as an etiology of ancient instruction by ancient Jews to Jews and for Jews. As such, it serves as a religious-ethical identity marker that provides ancient Jews and their descendants with an etiology of Jewish life. Ratheiser regards this religious-ethical agenda to have been the driving force in the minds of the final editors/compilers of the biblical text as we have it today.

What the Bible Says About God the Redeemer

What the Bible Says About God the Redeemer
Author: Jack Cottrell
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 599
Release: 2000-09-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1579105238

Part of a three book series on theology, which includes God the Creator and God the Ruler, Cottrell expounds upon the three major elements of God as revealed in the scriptures: providence, redemption and creation.

Prophetic Drama in the Old Testament

Prophetic Drama in the Old Testament
Author: David Stacey
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2018-09-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725240351

Most books on the prophets contain a page or two on what is usually called “prophetic symbolism,” but full-scale treatments are remarkably few, and in English entirely lacking. Dr. Stacey examines all the evidence in detail, considers the various explanations of the phenomenon that have been offered, gives particular attention to the apparent link with magic, and provides a model whereby these dramatic actions can be properly understood. This book is significant for the study of Hebrew religion; it also paves the way for further investigation of similar actions in the New Testament.

Paul's Use of the Old Testament

Paul's Use of the Old Testament
Author: E. Earle Ellis
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2003-03-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1592441947

The use of the Old Testament in the New has long been recognized as an important field of research,Ó writes the author. Too often, however, the emphasis placed upon rabbinic and Hellenistic influences has tended to subordinate and obscure the unique place of the Old Testament in the minds and theology of the early Christian writers.Ó The purpose of this volume is to discover the rationale underlying the Pauline usage both in its textual manifestation and in its theological application.Ó The author concludes that, while rabbinic Judaism has influenced the mechanics of Pauline citation, one must look to the apostolic Church and to Christ Himself to find the primary source of the apostle's understanding and use of the Old Testament.Ó

Old Testament Theology

Old Testament Theology
Author: Paul R. House
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 658
Release: 2012-11-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830866183

Paul R. House provides a comprehensive theology of the Old Testament, carefully exploring each Old Testament book, thematically summarizing its content, and showing its theological significance within the whole of the Old Testament canon. Student friendly and useful to a wide audience, this impressive work has proved a profitable read for many.