In a world of swift and sweeping cultural transformations, few have seen changes as rapid and dramatic as those experienced by the Urapmin of Papua New Guinea in the last four decades. A remote people never directly "missionized," the Urapmin began in the 1960s to send young men to study with Baptist missionaries living among neighboring communities. By the late 1970s, the Urapmin had undergone a charismatic revival, abandoning their traditional religion for a Christianity intensely focused on human sinfulness and driven by a constant sense of millennial expectation. Exploring the Christian culture of the Urapmin, Joel Robbins shows how its preoccupations provide keys to understanding the nature of cultural change more generally. In so doing, he offers one of the richest available anthropological accounts of Christianity as a lived religion. Theoretically ambitious and engagingly written, his book opens a unique perspective on a Melanesian society, religious experience, and the very nature of rapid cultural change.

A study of cultural change through the study of the Christianization of the Urapmin, a Melanesian society in Papua New Guinea.

In a world of swift and sweeping cultural transformations, few have seen changes as rapid and dramatic as those experienced by the Urapmin of Papua New Guinea in the last four decades. A remote people never directly "missionized," the Urapmin began in the 1960s to send young men to study with Baptist missionaries living among neighboring communities. By the late 1970s, the Urapmin had undergone a charismatic revival, abandoning their traditional religion for a Christianity intensely focused on human sinfulness and driven by a constant sense of millennial expectation. Exploring the Christian culture of the Urapmin, Joel Robbins shows how its preoccupations provide keys to understanding the nature of cultural change more generally. In so doing, he offers one of the richest available anthropological accounts of Christianity as a lived religion. Theoretically ambitious and engagingly written, his book opens a unique perspective on a Melanesian society, religious experience, and the very nature of rapid cultural change.

One of my greatest challenges as Senior Pastor and Church leader was figuring out how to get people to think for themselves. Rather than sitting in the pews dutifully waiting for me to tell them what they should think, I longed for congregations that would dive into God's word on their own to feast on His word. What you hold in your hands is a meticulous, well thought invitation to take your seat at the banquet table to eat a serving of "meat" that is so large it might test your ability to digest it all in one read. Are Christians Sinners? will not tell you what to think, but might challenge everything you do think about sin, your identity, and what God really thinks about you. Warning, this book could be dangerous to anyone who wants to remain a defeated, pitiful victim stuck at the foot of the cross, hoping God doesn't give them what they feel they deserve. -Dr. Louis Angone Founding Pastor, New Community Christian Church Cofounder and Cochairman, AKD Enterprises _____________________________________________________________________________________________ There has only ever been one way to obtain the miraculously transformed life in Christ that we hope for, and that is through our faith in God. Are Christians Sinners? will take everything that you thought you understood about sin and your identity in Christ and completely turn it upside down. Prepare to see the path to freedom that is so direct you will wonder why you never learned this before. Prepare to read revelations from God that will astound you and instantly draw you closer to Him. Prepare to truly understand that, through our faith, we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus and that we truly have the power living within us to conquer sin once and for all.

"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." —2 Peter 3:18 How do Christians grow? Few question the call of the Bible to grow in godliness, but the answer to exactly how this happens is often elusive. In this book, Dane Ortlund points believers to Christ, making the case that sanctification does not happen by doing more or becoming better, but by going deeper into the wondrous gospel truths that washed over them when they were first united to him. Drawing on wisdom from figures throughout church history, Ortlund encourages readers to fix their gaze on Jesus in the battle against sin, casting themselves upon his grace and living out their invincible identity in Christ.

How do you find and maintain a balance between faith, grace, and works? On the one hand, there's grace, and on the other, a new morality that weighs motive equally with action. If you have never struggled with your own moral weaknesses, if you have never looked in the mirror and wondered whether a believer was staring back at you, if you have never felt a twinge of terror while reading "Not everyone who says to be 'Lord, Lord", will enter into the kingdom of heaven", then this book is not for you. But if you struggle with faith and want to know what genuine Christian faith looks like, "Righteous Sinners" will help you examine faith, grace, and works and the conflicting teaching that abounds on this issue to help you come to a clearer understanding of what it means to be a "righteous sinner".

The seven deadly sins are generals leading a vast and deadly army. The soldiers are a variety of sins and misdeeds, and the capital sins are the officers who sent them on their nefarious tasks. With the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas as his guide, best-selling author Kevin Vost tackles the deadly sins one-by-one, showing how they take root in our soul and give birth to offspring — other sinful thoughts and deeds that help it reach its sinful goals. You’ll learn how they attacks us, and how they become ingrained habits that prevent virtue from raising us to heaven. Indeed, these sins hold us down to earth — and possibly, ultimately, even much lower. The deadly sins can be conquered, and in these pages you’ll learn the methods employed by saints to vanquish vicious habits and replace them with virtuous ones. Follow the advice in this book, and you’ll soon strike at the head of sin and walk more positively in the light and love of Christ. You’ll also learn: Which sin can truly be called the deadliest in the world Why there are only seven deadly sins What takes place within our souls when we grapple with sin The relationship between vices and sins - and how to sever their bonds How each and every deadly sin is outnumbered by several opposite virtues Six deadly dominoes: Do you know the sins that almost always cause us to commit additional sins? How “the mother of the virtues” dethrones “the queen of the vices” Seven sacramental and saint-sanctioned strategies to call forth God’s graces to grapple with each deadly sin