Kent Eilers

Two renowned theologians open up the reality of God's glory in this book, offering readers a dynamic foundation for glorifying God in the twenty-first century. Drawing from Christian spirituality, liturgy, poetry, hymns, iconography, seminal "glory" texts in the Bible, the Nicene Creed, and theologians throughout the ages who caught sight of the glory of God in diverse ways, this book explores the immensely rich and generative soteriological theme of glorification. It shows students how to integrate theology into the life of faith and demonstrates how the practices of Christian worship influence theological thinking. Metaphors, descriptions, evocations, concepts, narratives, and more highlight the amazing, abundant reality of glorification. This is the first book in the Soteriology and Doxology series. These introductory textbooks cover key topics in soteriology, providing substantive treatments of doctrine while pointing to the setting of theology in doxology. Series editors are Kent Eilers and Kyle C. Strobel.

"Could reading theology turn you toward God in astonished worship? Could it enliven your reading of Scripture? Could it move you toward your true self in Christ? Could it turn you toward your neighbors in self-giving love? Could it unmask your prejudices? Could it dethrone your idols? Should we hope for anything less?" In this illuminating introduction, Kent Eilers invites Christians of all backgrounds into the practice of reading theology. With a classroom-tested approach, Eilers shows how theology can form the imagination and enhance "the human capacity for perceiving reality beyond the surface of things"--allowing Christians to see and experience God in the everyday. He then guides readers through the essential facets of theology so that it can begin to feel familiar and accessible, even (and especially) to beginners with no prior experience. Written conversationally and illustrated beautifully with art by Chris Koelle, Reading Theology Wisely is welcoming and engaging in every respect. Eilers takes a well-rounded approach to his subject, utilizing Scripture and the wisdom of past thinkers as well as references to film and the arts--including a special emphasis on architecture as part of an ongoing metaphor of "inhabiting texts" as we do physical spaces. Each chapter ends with a prayer and questions for reflection and discussion, followed by a "theology lab" in which readers can put the content of the preceding chapter into practice.

Faithful to Save is an exposition and analysis of Pannenberg's doctrine of reconciliation as it appears in his three-volume Systematic Theology. It suggests that this doctrine is best approached by bearing in mind its three most salient characteristics, all of which are inter-dependent, and when kept in view make the essential tenets of Pannenberg's account transparent: God acts freely and immediately in and for creation; history is a function of the faithfulness of God to his creation; reconciliation is an expression of this faithfulness towards sinful creation - God's 'holding fast' to creation despite its self-destructive self-assertion. On the basis of a detailed examination of the central texts, it argues that Pannenberg's doctrine of reconciliation at once marks out God's action in the world as the true Infinite and issues an invitation to consider how such a God extends himself in reconciling love to his creatures so that their finite creatureliness is at every turn affirmed and found to be in the end 'good'.

Faithful to Save is an exposition and analysis of Pannenbergs doctrine of reconciliation as it appears in his three-volume Systematic Theology. It suggests that this doctrine is best approached by bearing in mind its three most salient characteristics, all of which are inter-dependent, and when kept in view make the essential tenets of Pannenbergs account transparent: God acts freely and immediately in and for creation; history is a function of the faithfulness of God to his creation; reconciliation is an expression of this faithfulness towards sinful creation Gods holding fast to creation despite its self-destructive self-assertion. On the basis of a detailed examination of the central texts, it argues that Pannenbergs doctrine of reconciliation at once marks out Gods action in the world as the true Infinite and issues an invitation to consider how such a God extends himself in reconciling love to his creatures so that their finite creatureliness is at every turn affirmed and found to be in the end good.