Matthew Meadors's Books

When You Come Home

By: Matthew Meadors

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What happens when forgiveness, adoption and reconciliation converge in the form of a tiny baby? Miracles occur and lives are changed. A baby is left on an orphanage doorstep in Chongqing, China. Born with a heart defect and no chance of survival without surgery, her only hope is an elderly caregiver named Chien, a God of love and his son Yesu. A world away, in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, a woman named Katie Phelps has dreamed of becoming a mother her whole life but there are two problems: she can't get pregnant and her husband Aaron isn't convinced he wants to be a father. Growing up fatherless in the inner city left a hole in Aaron's heart that he'd blocked off from everyone - including God. As they stumble through the trying and expensive world of fertility, then into the equally complex world of foreign adoption, emotional battles and heart-wrenching decisions threaten to rip their marriage apart until God moves to bring them together in unforeseen ways.

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Page Count

301

Publisher

Lulu.com

Published Date

ISBN 10

0615264425

ISBN 13

9780615264424

Teaching Through Song in Antiquity

Didactic Hymnody Among Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians

By: Matthew E. Gordley

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Teaching Through Song in Antiquity

Didactic Hymnody Among Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians

By: Matthew E. Gordley

While scholars of antiquity have long spoken of didactic hymns, no single volume has defined or explored this phenomenon across cultural boundaries in antiquity. In this monograph Matthew E. Gordley provides a broad definition of didactic hymnody and examines how didactic hymns functioned at the intersection of historical circumstances and the needs of a given community to perceive itself and its place in the cosmos and to respond accordingly. Comparing the use of didactic hymnody in a variety of traditions, this study illuminates the multifaceted ways that ancient hymns and psalms contributed to processes of communal formation among the human audiences that participated in the praise either as hearers or active participants. The author finds that in Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian contexts, many hymns and prayers served a didactic role fostering the ongoing development of a sense of identity within particular communities.

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Page Count

476

Publisher

Mohr Siebeck

Published Date

ISBN 10

3161507223

ISBN 13

9783161507229

The Colossian Hymn in Context

An Exegesis in Light of Jewish and Greco-Roman Hymnic and Epistolary Conventions

By: Matthew E. Gordley

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The Colossian Hymn in Context

An Exegesis in Light of Jewish and Greco-Roman Hymnic and Epistolary Conventions

By: Matthew E. Gordley

The suggestion that the New Testament contains citations of early Christological hymns has long been a controversial issue in New Testament scholarship. As a way of advancing this facet of New Testament research, Matthew E. Gordley examines the Colossian hymn (Col 1:15-20) in light of its cultural and epistolary contexts. As a result of a broad comparative analysis, he claims that Col 1:15-20 is a citation of a prose-hymn which represents a fusion of Jewish and Greco-Roman conventions for praising an exalted figure. A review of hymns in the literature of Second Temple Judaism demonstrates that the Colossian hymn owes a number of features to Jewish modes of praise. Likewise, a review of hymns in the broader Greco-Roman world demonstrates that the Colossian hymn is equally indebted to conventions used for praising the divine in the Greco-Roman tradition. In light of these hymnic traditions of antiquity, the analysis of the form and content of the Colossian hymn shows how the passage fits well into a Greco-Roman context, and indicates that it is best understood as a quasi-philosophical prose-hymn cited in the context of a paraenetic letter. Finally, in view of ancient epistolary and rhetorical theory and practice, an analysis of the role of the hymn in Colossians suggests that the hymn serves a number of significant rhetorical functions throughout the remainder of the letter.

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Page Count

320

Publisher

Mohr Siebeck

Published Date

ISBN 10

3161492552

ISBN 13

9783161492556

God's Word Alone---The Authority of Scripture

What the Reformers Taught...and Why It Still Matters

By: Matthew Barrett

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God's Word Alone---The Authority of Scripture

What the Reformers Taught...and Why It Still Matters

By: Matthew Barrett

Scholar and pastor Matthew Barrett retraces the historical and biblical roots of the doctrine that Scripture alone is the final and decisive authority for God's people. God's Word Alone is a decisive defense of the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Revitalizing one of the five great declarations of the Reformation—sola Scriptura—Barrett: Analyzes what the idea of sola Scriptura is and what it entails, clarifying why the doctrine is truth and why it's so essential to Christianity. Surveys the development of this theme in the Reformation and traces the crisis that followed resulting in a shift away from the authority of Scripture. Shows that we need to recover a robust doctrine of Scripture's authority in the face of today's challenges and why a solid doctrinal foundation built on God's Word is the best hope for the future of the church. This book is an exploration of the past in order to better understand our present and the importance of reviving this indispensable doctrine for the Christian faith and church today. —THE FIVE SOLAS— Historians and theologians have long recognized that at the heart of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation were five declarations, often referred to as the "solas." These five statements summarize much of what the Reformation was about, and they distinguish Protestantism from other expressions of the Christian faith: that they place ultimate and final authority in the Scriptures, acknowledge the work of Christ alone as sufficient for redemption, recognize that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and seek to do all things for God’s glory. The Five Solas Series is more than a simple rehashing of these statements, but instead expounds upon the biblical reasoning behind them, leading to a more profound theological vision of our lives and callings as Christians and churches.

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