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Why is the most important text in the Bible a psalm, more specifically, Psalm 82? Because this psalm portrays genuine divinity as an unwavering commitment to justice, defined as attention to and provision for the most vulnerable. Furthermore, according to Psalm 82, the well-being of the human family depends on divine justice, as does peace on earth and a stable future for the planet. The Psalms historically have nurtured a form of spirituality that is person-centered and that invites people to identify with the range of emotions expressed in the Psalter’s praises and laments. This is good, but the Psalms do more! Beginning with Psalm 82, this volume involves a re-reading of the traditional psalmic genres, including the enthronement psalms, royal psalms, a torah psalm, the laments, the songs of praise, the psalms of assurance, and the Songs of Zion. Such a re-reading reveals that the Psalms also nurture an activist spirituality that invites people to join God in God’s work of establishing justice and peace on a creation-encompassing scale. The world depends on it!
"A book you will want to read and read again." -- Eugene Peterson Afterword by Bono. How can we find a more transparent, resilient, and fearless life of faith? The book of Psalms has been central to God's people for millennia, across all walks of life and cultural contexts. In reading it, we discover that we are never alone in our joys, sorrows, angers, doubts, praises, or thanksgivings. In it, we learn about prayer and poetry, honesty and community, justice and enemies, life and death, nations and creation. Open and Unafraid shows us how to read the psalms in a fresh, life-giving way, and so access the bottomless resources for life that they provide. "David Taylor’s take is 'open and unafraid' alright. He really goes there, exposing himself before God in the most beautiful way. He might have called the book Naked, because if you don’t find your own self feeling a little exposed here, it might be time to take some armor off." -- Bono, from the Afterword "A book that you will want to read and read again, and yet again, in order to discover the wisdom of the Psalms that shows us how to walk in the life-giving way of Jesus." -- Eugene Peterson, from the Foreword "A winsome, accessible entry into the Book of Psalms…Connects the poetry of the psalms to real-life wonders and struggles." -- Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary "Taylor reads these biblical prayers with Dr. Seuss, rappers, and other poets, along with theologians and the daily news....Guides readers in tracing out patterns of holy speech that have the potential for healing our hearts and our communities." -- Ellen F. Davis, Duke Divinity School "I have always loved the psalms--for their defiant devotion, their deep joy, and their brutal yet beautiful honesty. And after reading this fantastic book about them, I love them even more." -- Matt Redman, worship leader and song writer "In these fraught and fearsome days, we need the psalms more than ever. And we need more faithful artists and thinkers like David Taylor to mine the infinite gifts the psalms offer across the ages." -- Karen Swallow Prior, author of Fierce Convictions
Why is the most important text in the Bible a psalm, more specifically, Psalm 82? Because this psalm portrays genuine divinity as an unwavering commitment to justice, defined as attention to and provision for the most vulnerable. Furthermore, according to Psalm 82, the well-being of the human family depends on divine justice, as does peace on earth and a stable future for the planet. The Psalms historically have nurtured a form of spirituality that is person-centered and that invites people to identify with the range of emotions expressed in the Psalter’s praises and laments. This is good, but the Psalms do more! Beginning with Psalm 82, this volume involves a re-reading of the traditional psalmic genres, including the enthronement psalms, royal psalms, a torah psalm, the laments, the songs of praise, the psalms of assurance, and the Songs of Zion. Such a re-reading reveals that the Psalms also nurture an activist spirituality that invites people to join God in God’s work of establishing justice and peace on a creation-encompassing scale. The world depends on it!
How do the arts in worship form individuals and communities? Every choice of art in worship opens up and closes down possibilities for the formation of our humanity. Every practice of music, every decision about language, every use of our bodies, every approach to visual media or church buildings forms our desires, shapes our imaginations, habituates our emotional instincts, and reconfigures our identity as Christians in contextually meaningful ways, generating thereby a sense of the triune God and of our place in the world. Glimpses of the New Creation argues that the arts form us in worship by bringing us into intentional and intensive participation in the aesthetic aspect of our humanity—that is, our physical, emotional, imaginative, and metaphorical capacities. In so doing they invite the people of God to be conformed to Christ and to participate in the praise of Christ and in the praise of creation, which by the Spirit’s power raises its peculiar voice to the Father in heaven, for the sake of the world that God so loves.
"Throughout the journey of my worst nightmare—my descent into a dark, sad valley—the Holy Spirit would remind me of truths that comforted my soul and sustained my life." After the sudden death of their three-year-old son, Cameron Cole and his wife found themselves clinging to Christ through twelve key theological truths—truths that became their lifeline in the midst of unthinkable grief. Weaving together their own story of tragic loss and abiding faith, Cole explores these twelve life-giving truths to offer hope and comfort to those in the midst of tragedy.
Widely regarded as the modern C. S. Lewis, N. T. Wright, one of the world’s most trusted and popular Bible scholars and the bestselling author of Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope, presents a manifesto urging Christians to live and pray the Bible’s Psalms in The Case for the Psalms. Wright seeks to reclaim the power of the Psalms, which were once at the core of prayer life. He argues that, by praying and living the Psalms, we enter into a worldview, a way of communing with God and knowing him more intimately, and receive a map by which we understand the contours and direction of our lives. For this reason, all Christians need to read, pray, sing, and live the Psalms. By providing the historical, literary, and spiritual contexts for reading these hymns from ancient Israel’s songbook, The Case for the Psalms provides the tools for incorporating these divine poems into our sacred practices and into our spirituality itself.
Eugene H. Peterson speaks to Christians who realize the necessity for prayer and yearn for it but who find their prayer unconvincing and unsatisfying. Addressing the causes of this dissatisfaction, Answering God offers guidelines for using the Psalms as dynamic tools for prayer.
A readable and powerful call, by a leading Old Testament scholar, to pray with and through the Psalms. Walter Brueggemann pushes his readers to recognize the full gamut of passions reflected in the Psalms: joy and exultation but also disappointment, sorrow, anger, resentment, even the desire for vengeance. We are invited into a daring relationsh...
Youth ministry is an essential part of most evangelical churches. And yet, there is a surprising lack of resources written specifically for youth workers focused on viewing all aspects of youth ministry through a gospel-focused lens. Featuring contributions from a host of experienced youth workers from a wide variety of churches, this how-to manual offers guidance related to every facet of youth ministry, from planning short-term mission trips to working with parents. Theologically rooted yet eminently practical, this handbook will equip youth leaders to effectively shepherd the young people under their care—training them to live faithfully in their homes, churches, and schools.