<p>Mark Mattes&rsquo; hope is not only to secure believers&rsquo; consciences in Christ but also to reclaim theological and social turf which mainline Protestants have too quickly ceded to various secular agendas. The collected essays engage the reality of believers&rsquo; death and resurrection in Christ and how that bears upon the life of faith while also attending to a wide range of relevant theological topics such as scriptural authority apologetics a critique of contemporary mainline Protestant and Evangelical Catholic ethics a critique of Lutheran-Reformed ecumenism and the church&rsquo;s mission and outreach. The collection concludes with several sermons based on Old Testament lessons seeking to show how the theology embedded in the essays can be used for proclamation.</p>