Justification is not a relic of the past - it has direct relevance to us as Christians today. We often struggle with the thought of justification because of human pride; "I can't be that bad" and so justification is often undermined, wrongly presented or just plain ignored. Scripture though, is brutally clear: we have a real problem - the prospect of our lives marred by wrong-doing being laid out before an almighty God who is pure and will not forever let wrong go unpunished. We can't earn our way out of our predicament - as this is just "rubbish" according to the apostle Paul. We need something else, someone who can take the hit we so richly deserve - leaving us to be declared innocent instead.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is intimately bound up with the glory of Christ Himself. Moreover, all of the major themes of Christian theology are vitally informed by the person and work of our glorious Lord. Aware of these connections, Ryan McGraw gives us a big-picture view of the gospel that begins with the eternal plan of salvation, moves through the covenants of works and of grace, traces every stage of Christ's incarnation and work, and concludes with His reign in the church. Throughout the book, careful attention is given to the importance of the Trinitarian nature of God and the believer's union with Christ. Here is a call to faith in and fellowship with Jesus, demonstrating how the glory of Christ is truly the best news anyone can embrace.

"I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. . . . In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?" With compelling honesty John Stott confronts readers with the centrality of the cross in God's redemption of our pain-filled world.

Can we see triumph in tragedy, victory in shame? Why should an object of Roman distaste and Jewish disgust be the emblem of our worship and the axiom of our faith? And what does it mean for us today?

From one of the foremost preachers and Christian leaders of his generation, The Cross of Christ is a classic, accessible, and compelling look at the work of Christ. At the cross Stott finds the majesty and love of God disclosed, the sin and bondage of the world exposed. More than a study of the atonement, this book brings Scripture into living dialogue with Christian theology and contemporary issues. What emerges is a pattern for Christian life and worship, hope and mission.

In honor of John Stott's one hundredth birthday, this centennial edition includes an updated foreword by Alister McGrath and a new timeline of Stott's life. A study guide equips individuals and groups to more deeply reflect on and apply the book's message.

This is a challenging and important book. At stake in the current debate over religious pluralism is the issue, not only of evangelism and mission, but also of the Christian claim to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. George Sumner leads readers through both the challenges and possibilities raised by this debate, and he outlines a distinctive new method for assessing from a Christian standpoint the claims and practices of neighboring faiths.

The crux of Sumnerbs approach is a position he calls bfinal primacy, b a position that (1) sets non-Christian religions in relation to the unique mediating role of Jesus Christ, and (2) relates their truth claims to the overall scheme of grace. Sumner shows the effectiveness of this position in practical terms, using final primacy as a frame of reference for a number of twentieth-century theologies, namely those of Barth, Rahner, and Pannenberg, and as a way of examining both Indian and African theologies against their respective backgrounds of Hinduism and tribal practices.

Additionally, the book serves as an excellent introduction to the history of interfaith thought. Sumner surveys the ways religious pluralism has been handled in the past, including its treatment in the Enlightenment period in the work of figures like Schleiermacher, Lessing, Smart, and Konstantine. Sumnerends his work by facing head on the difficult question of bdialogue.b Final primacy, he says, redefines the mean of dialogue even as it promotes it, and he tells how in most thought-provoking terms.

Both provocative and stimulating, "The First and the Last" provides valuable reading for anyone interested in theology, interfaith dialogue, and missions.