Cross Justice

Cross Justice
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2015-11-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316407143

For Alex Cross, the toughest cases hit close to home-and in this deadly thrill ride, he's trying to solve the most personal mystery of his life. When his cousin is accused of a heinous crime, Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown for the first time in over three decades. As he tries to prove his cousin's innocence in a town where everyone seems to be on the take, Cross unearths a family secret that forces him to question everything he's ever known. Chasing a ghost he believed was long dead, Cross gets pulled into a case that has local cops scratching their heads and needing his help: a grisly string of socialite murders. Now he's hot on the trail of both a brutal killer, and the truth about his own past-and the answers he finds might be fatal.

Humanitarian Jesus

Humanitarian Jesus
Author: Christian Buckley
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2010-05-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1575674912

A resurgence of the Social Gospel is energizing many evangelicals, but what does the Bible say about the role of humanitarian works in the Christian life? As new covenant believers, Christians are called to a specific central task: to be ministers of God's message of salvation for sinners. At the same time, the New Testament justifies nearly every concern of the revitalized Social Gospel. Care for the poor and needy, reconciliation of social and racial divisions, and nurture for the sick and abused -- all can be biblical and Christ-honoring activities. Ryan Dobson and Christian Buckley have a message for believers on either side of the battle lines hardening around today's Social Gospel. To those on the Religious Left, they say: "Don't forget that Jesus Christ died to save sinners, not to bring about political change." To those on the Religious Right, they say: "Don't forget that Jesus spent much of his time helping the sick, the poor, and the needy." A corrective and a call to action all in one, Humanitarian Jesus shows that evangelism and good works coexist harmoniously when social investment is subservient to and supportive of the church's primary mission of worship, evangelism, and discipleship. In accessible and non-academic style, Dobson and Buckley outline the biblical case for humanitarian concern. They also engage the topic through interviews with leading Christian thinkers, activists, and humanitarian workers -- including Franklin Graham, Gary Haugen, Ron Sider, Tony Campolo, and many more -- seeking to define a broadly biblical approach to good works that all Christians can join hands around.

Atonement, Law, and Justice

Atonement, Law, and Justice
Author: Adonis Vidu
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2014-08-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1441245324

Adonis Vidu tackles an issue of great current debate in evangelical circles and of perennial interest in the Christian academy. He provides a critical reading of the history of major atonement theories, offering an in-depth analysis of the legal and political contexts within which they arose. The book engages the latest work in atonement theory and serves as a helpful resource for contemporary discussions. This is the only book that explores the impact of theories of law and justice on major historical atonement theories. Understanding this relationship yields a better understanding of atonement thinkers by situating them in their intellectual contexts. The book also explores the relevance of the doctrine of divine simplicity for atonement theory.

Healing the Gospel

Healing the Gospel
Author: Derek Flood
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 125
Release: 2012-08-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1621894215

Why did Jesus have to die? Was it to appease a wrathful God's demand for punishment? Does that mean Jesus died to save us from God? How could someone ever truly love or trust a God like that? How can that ever be called "Good News"? It's questions like these that make so many people want to have nothing to do with Christianity. Healing the Gospel challenges the assumption that the Christian understanding of justice is rooted in a demand for violent punishment, and instead offers a radically different understanding of the gospel based on God's restorative justice. Connecting our own experiences of faith with the New Testament narrative, author Derek Flood shows us an understanding of the cross that not only reveals God's heart of grace, but also models our own way of Christ-like love. It's a vision of the gospel that exposes violence, rather than supporting it--a gospel rooted in love of enemies, rather than retribution. The result is a nonviolent understanding of the atonement that is not only thoroughly biblical, but will help people struggling with their faith to encounter grace.

Atonement, Justice, and Peace

Atonement, Justice, and Peace
Author: Darrin W. Snyder Belousek
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 685
Release: 2011-12-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0802866425

In this substantial study Darrin W. Snyder Belousek offers a comprehensive and critical examination of penal substitution, the most widely accepted evangelical Protestant theory of atonement, and presents a biblically grounded, theologically orthodox alternative. Attending to all of the relevant biblical texts and engaging with the full spectrum of scholarship, Belousek systematically develops a biblical theory of atonement that centers on restorative -- rather than retributive -- justice. He also shows how Christian thinking on atonement correlates with major global concerns such as economic justice, capital punishment, "the war on terror," and ethnic and religious conflicts. Thorough and clearly structured, this book demonstrates how a return to biblical cruciformity can radically transform Christian mission, social justice, and peacemaking.

Evil and the Justice of God

Evil and the Justice of God
Author: N. T. Wright
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2013-03-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 083083415X

N.T. Wright explores all aspects of evil and how it presents itself in society today. Fully grounded in the story of the Old and New Testaments, this presentation is provocative and hopeful; a fascinating analysis of and response to the fundamental question of evil and justice that faces believers.

Stand Your Ground

Stand Your Ground
Author: Douglas Brown, Kelly
Publisher: Orbis Books
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2015-05-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1608335402

"The 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, an African-American teenager in Florida, and the subsequent acquittal of his killer, brought public attention to controversial "Stand Your Ground" laws. The verdict, as much as the killing, sent shock waves through the African-American community, recalling a history of similar deaths, and the long struggle for justice. On the Sunday morning following the verdict, black preachers around the country addressed the question, "Where is the justice of God? What are we to hope for?" This book is an attempt to take seriously social and theological questions raised by this and similar stories, and to answer black church people's questions of justice and faith in response to the call of God. But Kelly Brown Douglas also brings another significant interpretative lens to this text: that of a mother. "There has been no story in the news that has troubled me more than that of Trayvon Martin's slaying. President Obama said that if he had a son his son would look like Trayvon. I do have a son and he does look like Trayvon." Her book will also affirm the "truth" of a black mother's faith in these times of stand your ground."--

Living in the Shadow of the Cross

Living in the Shadow of the Cross
Author: Paul Kivel
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2013-10-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1550925415

How our dominant Christian worldview shapes everything from personal behavior to public policy (and what to do about it) Over the centuries, Christianity has accomplished much which is deserving of praise. Its institutions have fed the hungry, sheltered the homeless, and advocated for the poor. Christian faith has sustained people through crisis and inspired many to work for social justice. Yet although the word "Christian" connotes the epitome of goodness, the actual story is much more complex. Over the last two millennia, ruling elites have used Christian institutions and values to control those less privileged throughout the world. The doctrine of Christianity has been interpreted to justify the killing of millions, and its leaders have used their faith to sanction participation in colonialism, slavery, and genocide. In the Western world, Christian influence has inspired legislators to continue to limit women's reproductive rights and has kept lesbians and gays on the margins of society. As our triple crises of war, financial meltdown, and environmental destruction intensify, it is imperative that we dig beneath the surface of Christianity's benign reputation to examine its contribution to our social problems. Living in the Shadow of the Cross reveals the ongoing, everyday impact of Christian power and privilege on our beliefs, behaviors, and public policy, and emphasizes the potential for people to come together to resist domination and build and sustain communities of justice and peace. Paul Kivel is the award-winning author of Uprooting Racism and the director of the Christian Hegemony Project. He is a social justice activist and educator who has focused on the issues of violence prevention, oppression, and social justice for over forty-five years.

God, Justice, and Society

God, Justice, and Society
Author: Jonathan Burnside
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 583
Release: 2011
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199759219

What is the real meaning of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'? Where did the idea for the 'Jubilee 2000' and 'Drop the Debt' campaigns come from? Here, Burnside looks at aspects of law and legality in the Bible, from the patriarchal narratives in the Hebrew Bible through to the trials of Jesus in the New Testament.