This one is my personal favorite, of the E. M. Bounds classics on prayer. If you want a deeper relationship in prayer then this book will inspire you. If you need a clearer understanding of how to pray, this is the book for you. I highly recommend everything written by this Classic Prayer Author.

Faith, Morals, and Money is a book for our time and is the book FOR THIS MOMENT. As we as individuals and a nation anguishes over another corporation's ethical failures, a new book offers important guidance. For centuries economists have ignored the rich resource of religious wisdom about money and its uses. Business schools have paid only the slightest attention to the ethical dimensions of trade and business practices. On the other hand, we live in a marketplace and what could be more saturated with issues of right and wrong than the manner with which we acquire and use money.

This book brings to the surface the long tradition of ethical thinking and religious laws on money matters. Written clearly and with copious examples from current business practice, the author, Edward D. Zinbarg, explicates the economic thinking of the great religions of the West and the East. Zinbarg's well-documented argument is that, while our major religions have somewhat differing rules and imperatives, there is also great overlapping and complementarity. The message is particularly important at this time of intense globalization. A fascinating and timely read.

My wife gave me this book for Christmas; she new I liked C.S. Lewis and that he counted Geo MacD as his mentor. I can heartily recommend this volume to anyone. The variety of style is what struck me the most: some of these I will read aloud to my children, some made me laugh out loud, and others left me scratching my head as to what the author was alluding to. Geo MacD has great insight into human nature, revealing our innermost thoughts so we can see we are not so different from the next guy. If you have heard of the author but aren't quite sure you would like him, try this one --- you'll know instantly!

On January 6, 2002 William Lane Craig, a prolific Christian philosopher and theologian, was asked on strradio.org about his favorite apologetic books, and this was one of three that he mentioned. He said that "it was very influential as a young Christian." Unfortunatley it is out of print.

This is the book that you can't let go without reading. Edward Reid, explaing in a easy way of make a family budget, how to get out of debt, teaching the kids to understand the good use of money. Advice in how to get rid of things that we don't need at home and are killing our pockets!

Great advices in the use of the credit cards, how to undestand the use of the interest of the credits cards and the buy of a new house and so on...

And if this is not enough, the autor teach us the link beetwen the use of money and the way that God would like to spend and save our money in order to have a life free of debt.

This book worth each penny!

I'm so sure that you will learn a lot whit this book and best of all, this will help to get the control of your financial life again!

This may sound strange, but I rank this little book as one of the two greatest paperback books that a man could own. (you'll have to guess the other)
Why the stupendous claim? Edwards was one of the greatest minds ever given to the Christian Church, and he had an amazing way of seeing life, through the lenses of Scripture, and understanding, like a photo-negative, what hell must be like. Hell, like the beauties of Heaven, is unable to be expressed in human language, and therefore, it can only be "seen" through the use of symbolic language. The horror of hell can not be uttered: if a man were to see hell, he could not live. Like Paul in the vision of Heaven, there are no faculties within natural man to express what he experienced. Edwards finds a way to help.

When you read Edwards on Heaven, you feel almost "other-worldly", ("how long have I been sitting here reading this??), and when you read Edwards on Hell, the holy dread that fills your mind and emotions is overwhelming, as well as life-changing. Dr. Gerstner goes for the Truth, which he unashamedly owns, and has a true gift of representing Edwards' sight to anyone who cares to see. Gerstner does not write with "one eye on impressing the scholar", but with a deep care for the reader, almost pleading with us: "Hear Edwards! If you hear him, you will hear Paul, and therefore, you will HEAR CHRIST!".

A lot of great lessons on God's relationship to Man. He has kept God central in his writtings and there is a lot of valuable theological ideas in this book that I think would benefit students of the Scriptures on such as the importance of the role of repentance in Salvation; how God manifests first of all man's sinfulness and guilt before he is shown mercy and grace. Thus making the gospel, turly good news! Highly Christ exalting material in this book. People don't write materials with this kind of caliber anymore- or so it seems.

Although this text was written fairly recently, it is fast becoming a classic work on love, one which those who wrestle with theologies of love must take seriously. Vacek is a Roman Catholic, but his hypotheses and conclusions are not characteristic of most Catholic thought. The author is well-read and the topics covered are vast. "The central idea of this book is quite simple: (1) God loves us; (2) we love God; (3) we and God form a community; (4) we and God cooperate" (xv).

Vacek's main contention is that the love of God must be the center of Christian life and theology. To offer such a theology of love, Vacek undertakes a phenomenological orientation, which pays close attention to human experience. In particular, the author admits that Christian experience is privileged.

Vacek argues that Christians are mistaken to claim that agape is the Christian love. Rather, contends the author, philia represents the most complete Christian love; philia "holds pride of place among Christian loves" (xvi). In fact, Vacek claims that "the central thesis of [my] book . . . is that communion or philia is the foundation and goal of Christian life" (280).

Chapter one argues that a love relation with God implies a distinctively Christian moral life. This moral life entails certain emotions and values or what Vacek calls "orthokardia": "The ordered affections that unite us with God, ourselves, other people, and the world" (5). It is the Christian's relation with God that makes the Christian life distinctive.

The second chapter addresses the nature of love, and he notes that "most philosophical and theological writing, when it speaks of 'love,' does not analyze what love is, but rather assumes it has an evident meaning" (34). Avoiding this mistake, Vacek defines love as "an affective, affirming participation in the goodness of a being (or Being). Woven into this description are two strands. Any theory of love has to account for our experience of wanting to be with or have those we love, and delighting when we do so. Love unites. A theory of love also must account for our experiences of wanting for the beloved" (34 [italics in the original]). He further defines love as an emotional, affirming participation in the dynamic tendency of an object to realize its fullness.

The doctrine of God that Vacek envisions includes a God who is truly related to creation. The author describes the God-world relation as "love-as-participation" (95). This means that while God is free to create; God is also bound to that which is created.

God's identity is united, but not wholly so, with history. Humans have autonomy vis-à-vis God, but their freedom depends upon deity. Vacek suggests that creaturely cooperation with the activity of God is required for the full expression of love in the world.

When addressing the extent and duration of love that should be expressed by lovers, Vacek argues that "love tries to enhance the well-being of the beloved, and it does so not only in the short term and for this or that person but in the long run for as many persons" (182). However, "because God loves not only us but others and also all of creation, we cannot . . . conclude that what God is doing in the world will always be entirely for our good. Some loss to our own well-being will be necessary" (188).

In chapters five through nine, Vacek addresses issues typically subsumed under an exploration of three kinds of love: agape, eros, and philia. He claims that we may love the beloved for the sake of the beloved, for our own sake, or for the sake of the relationship we have with the beloved. He calls these love relations "agape, eros, and philia," which means that he distinguishes each by his phrase "for the sake of." In his chapter, "Agape," Vacek gives insightful critiques of the work of both Anders Nygren and Gene Outka. He argues that agape "is centered on the beloved's value and is directed toward the enhancement of that value. It is a faithful love that is spontaneous, generous, and willing to sacrifice" (191). In later chapters, Vacek also argues for a positive theological case for self-love.

In the final two chapters, Vacek addresses issues related to friendship love. Although his approach to Christian love is a pluralist one in that he affirms the value of both eros and agape, Vacek notes in these chapters his central thesis that "communion or philia is the foundation and goal of the Christian life" (280). By philia, he "means affectively affirming members of a community for the sake of the communally shared life" (287-88). It is this friendship love that constitutes a mutual relationship with God. "Philia creates, expresses, and enhances a mutual relationship. philia fulfills us, but that fulfillment is not its primary consideration" (311). Vacek argues that theological focus on agape or eros without philia tends to promote individualism.

While duties to strangers are important for the Christian, they are not the paradigm for Christian living. Instead, Christians begin with the special relationships that they have with those who are near and dear, especially with God. "This book arises the convictions that God relates to us in special relationships, that human selfhood begins in such relations, particularly in the family, and that the fullness of human personhood is possible only through deep philia relationships" (312).

Hammett presents a well-articulated challenge for the church in his book. Beginning with an assessment of "what's wrong," Hammett moves the reader toward theologically sound and practical ways for a more authentic way of being and doing church in the 21st century. Highly recommended.

I have to say, this book he wrote with his wife is as informative as his lectures.
While the events described in Murdered happened prior to the end of the Cold War, the story gives us pause-we really HAVE to start thinking about what our tax dollars are supporting-dictators and death squads are the same whether they are on the right or the left-to support them in the name of fighting communism or terrorism is immoral.