Contemporary evangelicals have built a "salvation culture" but not a "gospel culture." Evangelicals have reduced the gospel to the message of personal salvation. This book makes a plea for us to recover the old gospel as that which is still new and still fresh. The book stands on four arguments: that the gospel is defined by the apostles in 1 Corinthians 15 as the completion of the Story of Israel in the saving Story of Jesus; that the gospel is found in the Four Gospels; that the gospel was preached by Jesus; and that the sermons in the Book of Acts are the best example of gospeling in the New Testament. The King Jesus Gospel ends with practical suggestions about evangelism and about building a gospel culture.

In The Audacity of Peace, Scot McKnight sketches a peace ethic, or a peace witness, that embraces the embodied self-denial of Jesus to the point of the cross, which through the resurrection is vindicated by God. As such, a peace ethic volitionally and communally participates in the cruciform pattern of the life of Jesus. Through the power of God's grace and the indwelling Spirit of God, the participant in the way of Jesus is transformed into a Christoform life. A peace ethic is a lived theology whose discerning witness transcends the specific principles and ideas of that theology.

In the My Theology series, the world's leading Christian thinkers explain some of the principal tenets of their theological beliefs in concise, pocket-sized books.

The book of Acts shows the spread of the gospel—from a band of apostles all the way to the Roman Emperor. Luke, the writer of Acts, highlights the mission the church is on to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. But the mission is not of their own making. It's God's, and his mission is the unifying factor for everyone involved, then and now.

Luke's account of the early church shines a light on our purpose today. Scot McKnight shows how we are called by God to participate in God's mission in the world to redeem it through Jesus Christ.

• What does this mission look like in all its ups and downs and unexpected twists?
• How does being a part of this godly mission open us to virtues like courage, generosity, and ethnic-sensitivity?
• How do we understand and apply the core message of Luke to our circumstances and conditions?

Exploring the links between the Bible and our own times, McKnight shares perspectives that reveal the enduring relevance of the Book of Acts for our lives today. Ideal for personal reflection or group study, Acts will help you see God in the biblical context so you can hear from God in your context.

In the New Testament Everyday Bible Study Series, widely respected biblical scholar Scot McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides:

• Original Meaning. Brief, precise expositions of the biblical text and offers a clear focus for the central message of each passage.
• Fresh Interpretation. Brings the passage alive with fresh images and what it means to follow King Jesus.
• Practical Application. Biblical connections and questions for reflection and application for each passage.

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context.

In Galatians, Paul reminds us of the total sufficiency of Jesus in securing our salvation, and of the leadership of the Holy Spirit for living it out. Calling us back to the simplicity of Christ, Galatians is as critically important for us today as it was when Paul first penned it. Exploring the links between the Bible and our own times, Scot McKnight shares perspectives on the letter to the Galatians that reveal its enduring relevance for our twenty-first-century lives.

To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's context, each passage is treated in three sections:

• Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
• Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
• Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.

This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

The book of James calls us to wisdom. Paul’s letter to the Galatians compels us to a liberated life in the Spirit. Exploring the links between the time these words were written and our own times, Scot McKnight reveals the enduring relevance and importance of these two letters for our lives today.

James and Galatians both speak words of life to believers in the first century and in the twenty-first century:

• James offers us practical and relevant wisdom about the speech we use (especially considering modern means of communication), the trials we face, and the specific dangers of wealth.
• Galatians reminds us of the total sufficiency of Jesus in securing our salvation, and of the leadership of the Holy Spirit for living out our faith.

Ideal for personal reflection or group study, James and Galatians will help you see God in the biblical context so you can hear from God in your context.

In the New Testament Everyday Bible Study Series, widely respected biblical scholar Scot McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides:

• Original Meaning: Brief, precise expositions of the biblical text and offers a clear focus for the central message of each passage.
• Fresh Interpretation: Brings the passage alive with fresh images and what it means to follow King Jesus.
• Practical Application: Biblical connections and questions for reflection and application for each passage.

Parakeets make delightful pets. We cage them or clip their wings to keep them where we want them. Scot McKnight contends that many, conservatives and liberals alike, attempt the same thing with the Bible. We all try to tame it. McKnight's The Blue Parakeet calls Christians to stop taming the Bible and to let it speak anew to our heart.

McKnight challenges us to rethink how to read the Bible, not just to puzzle it together into some systematic belief but to see it as a Story that we're summoned to enter and to carry forward in our day.

Emphasizing the historical distance between the New Testament and our contemporary culture, The Sermon on the Mount by Scot McKnight, part of the new The Story of God Bible Commentary series, offers helpful contextual insights for those seeking to discern how to live out the Bible in today’s world. Perfect for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and lay people alike, this highly anticipated series provides a clear and compelling exposition of the text in the context of the Bible’s overarching story. The authors move away from “application” language, which has been criticized as being too simplistic, encouraging instead a wider perspective and discussion of how the biblical story can be lived today.

Offering a new type of application commentary for today’s context, the Story of God Bible Commentary series explains and illuminates Scripture as God’s Story, with each New Testament text examined as embedded in its canonical and historical setting, in order to foster discernment in living the story faithfully and creatively with and for the Church in the 21st Century.

“Fasting is the body talking what the spirit yearns, what the soul longs for, and what the mind knows to be true.”

— Scot McKnight

Christianity has traditionally been at odds with the human body. At times in the history of the church, Christians have viewed the body and physical desires as the enemy. Now, Scot McKnight, best-selling author of The Jesus Creed , reconnects the spiritual and the physical in the ancient discipline of fasting.

Inside You'll Find:

• In-depth biblical precedents for the practice of fasting;
• How to fast effectively—and safely;
• Different methods of fasting as practiced in the Bible;
• Straight talk on pitfalls, such as cheating and motivation.

The Ancient Practices

There is a hunger in every human heart for connection, primitive and raw, to God. To satisfy it, many are beginning to explore traditional spiritual disciplines used for centuries . . . everything from fixed-hour prayer to fasting to sincere observance of the Sabbath. Compelling and readable, the Ancient Practices series is for every spiritual sojourner, for every Christian seeker who wants more.