Archive for March, 2009

1st Chapters Podcast | Ep. 135 “A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards” (George M. Marsden)

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Description: Jonathan Edwards is one of the most extraordinary figures in American history. Arguably the most brilliant theologian ever born on American soil, Edwards (1703–1758) was also a pastor, a renowned preacher, a missionary to the Native Americans, a biographer, a college president, a philosopher, a loving husband, and the father of eleven children.

George M. Marsden — widely acclaimed for his magisterial large study of Edwards — has now written a new, shorter biography of this many-sided, remarkable man. A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards is not an abridgment of Marsden’s earlier award-winning study but is instead a completely new narrative based on his extensive research. The result is a concise, fresh retelling of the Edwards story, rich in scholarship yet compelling and readable for a much wider audience, including students.

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1st Chapters Podcast | Ep. 134 “Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die” (John Piper)

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

The most important questions anyone can ask are: Why was Jesus Christ crucified? Why did he suffer so much? What has this to do with me? Finally, who sent him to his sdeath? The answer to the last question is that God did. Jesus was God’s Son. The suffering was unsurpassed, but the whole message of the Bible leads to this answer.

The central issue of Jesus’ death is not the cause, but the meaning—God’s meaning. That is what this book is about. John Piper has gathered from the New Testament fifty reasons. Not fifty causes, but fifty purposes—in answer to the most important question that each of us must face: What did God achieve for sinners like us in sending his Son to die?

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1st Chapters Podcast | Ep. 133 “A Promise for Spring” (Kim Vogel Sawyer)

Monday, March 16th, 2009

England-born Emmaline Bradford pledged her life to Geoffrey Garrett and then bid him farewell when he sailed to America. Although Geoffrey anticipated only a short separation, several years passed before he was able to send for Emmaline. By then the fiery flame of her youthful love had all but died. Shocked by the conditions on Geoffrey’s Kansas sheep ranch, Emmaline wishes to return to England immediately. Geoffrey offers a compromise: If Emmaline promises to stay until spring, he’ll pay her return fare if she decides to go back to her home country. When spring arrives, will Emmaline return to England, or will she marry Geoffrey and carve out a life with him in Kansas?

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1st Chapters Podcast | Ep. 132 “Becoming the Answers to Our Prayers” (Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove)

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Activists Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove show how prayer and action must go together. Their exposition of key Bible passages provides concrete examples of how a life of prayer fuels social engagement and the work of justice. Phrases like “give us this day our daily bread” and “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” take on new meaning when applied to feeding the hungry or advocating for international debt relief.

If you hope to see God change society, you must be an ordinary radical who prays—and then is ready to become the answer to your own prayers.

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1st Chapters Podcast | Ep. 131 “Wholly Jesus” (Mark Foreman)

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Western culture has largely reduced Jesus to being an other-worldly savior of the soul pointing the way to heaven. But the messiah was far more. Ancient followers knew Jesus as one who came to redeem humanity physically mentally, spiritually and culturally. Wholly Jesus has a surprising voice in this holistic, pluralistic, ecological, peace-seeking world. And his message of transformed people transforming their world is radically unique and wonderfully freeing. In this book, discover how a fresh understanding of the holistic Redeemer provides a road map to the wholeness that so many people seek one that brings your mind, body and spirit into harmony with the full message of His love.

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