Religion

Philip Schaff (1819 1893) wrote one of the finest histories of the church available. His eight-volume work, which covers Christian history from the apostles to the Swiss Reformation, incorporates discussion of ideas and ideals throughout the history of the church with the requisite facts and figures for each period of history. Each volume contains maps, charts, notes, bibliographies, and an index.

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The Holy Bible was first copied by scribes, and because of its length and the time it took to transcribe each book by hand, only the wealthy could afford a copy. It wasn't until the 1440s when Johannes Gutenberg invented his revolutionary printing press that the Bible was available to everyone. This flexibound edition of the King James version of the Bible is enclosed in a protective slipcase and includes pages on which you can record key life events such as births, christenings, and marriages.

From The Crossroad Publishing Company's Ut Unum Sint series, this is a concise overview of the relation between the seat of Peter and the bishops worldwide.

In an approach similar to that of Caught in the Crossfire, Sally B. Geis and Donald E. Messer have invited writers with divergent points of view to give "pro" and "con" responses to individual case studies, as persons of faith wrestle with life-terminating options currently being debated in religious and medical communities. The book includes summaries and questions for discussion.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus told the parable of the suffering beggar Lazarus and the rich man. Each had died, with Lazarus joining God in heaven for all eternity while the rich man was condemned to the flames of hell. "Send someone to warn my brothers," the rich man pleaded, "so they won't end up in this place of torment." But God said, "They have the prophets to warn them, your brothers can listen to them." To which the rich man responded, "Then let Lazarus return from the dead that they may believe." But God said, "They will not believe even if a man should rise from the dead."Over the last five hundred years we have witnessed a great many Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in places such as Guadalupe, Mexico; Lourdes, France; Fatima, Portugal. Each Apparition has carried a distinct, albeit similar, message. Pray the Rosary every day, sacrifice for the conversion of sinners and stop offending God. To do these things will mean the defeat of Satan and his Godless ways; an end to Communism and its worldly tendencies; and peace and harmony on earth. Regardless of the associated miracles witnessed by thousands, millions of people continue to deny the reality of the Apparitions and decry the message as a joke.This book recounts the historical life of Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes, France. A rather ordinary nineteenth century life turned upside down at the tender age of fourteen by the miraculous events that occurred in a rock Grotto near the dumping grounds of Massabielle; the many Apparitions of a Woman who identified Herself as The Immaculate Conception; the miraculous cures that were attributed to a spring of common water, the Virgin's message to mankind; and the extraordinary relevance today for all that care to listen.But as Jesus said, "Even if someone should rise from the dead there would still be unbelievers." Isn't it a pity?

A book of reflections for those seeking wisdom, guidance, encouragement, and inspiration on the road to a meaningful life

As a prominent woman juggling many roles, Maria Shriver knows just how surprising, unpredictable, and stressful everyday life can be.

In this moving and powerful book, she shares inspiring quotes, prayers, and reflections designed to get readers thinking, get them feeling, get them laughing, and help them in their journey to what she calls The Open Field--a place of acceptance, purpose, and passion--a place of joy.

I've Been Thinking . . . is ideal for anyone at any point in her life. Whether you feel like you've got it all together or like it's all falling apart--whether you're taking stock of your life or simply looking to recharge, this is the book you will turn to again and again. Like talking with a close friend, it's the perfect companion--an exceptional gift for someone looking to move forward in life with hope and grace.

Get caught!

Life is full of fumbles and stumbles. Fraught with opportunities to make mistakes, occasions to feel guilty, and the drive to "do it yourself." The pressure to be self-sufficient is high, but it isn't the life God offers.

The way of the world will direct you to try harder and work smarter so that you can take care of yourself and even make yourself successful. But the way of the cross will point toward the place where you stop striving ... stop pushing ... stop every self-initiated effort -- so that you can fall into the boundless, liberating, refreshing grace of God!

Just imagine being love-driven instead of self-propelled. Imagine abandoning your life to Jesus instead of trying to save yourself. Can you imagine exchanging your fears for that peace that passes understanding? Being relaxed and free instead of stressed-out and anxious? If you can imagine enjoying God instead of trying to repay him, then you can imagine grace.

So go ahead! Jump off the cliff of self-sufficiency. Leap out of legalism. Walk off the pier of guilt and condemnation. That's the only way you'll land in the strong arms of the Father who loves you ... the Father who catches you -- every time -- in the grip of his grace.

There is an enormous amount of archetypal power and energy to be gained from an exploration of American Indian medicine.These ancient techniques of medicine power speak to us today as they did in the past, and they open the door to a more productive and empowered future. The focus of this book is on the empowerment of the individual reader. Personal exercises are included which allow the reader to go deep within and find the balance and strength of the "wise ones," so desperately needed in our world of separation and discord.

Illustrated by children around the world for children around the world. Simplified Bible text explains the main issues of the Bible.

No religion in the modern world is as feared and misunderstood as Islam. It haunts the popular Western imagination as an extreme faith that promotes authoritarian government, female oppression, civil war, and terrorism. Karen Armstrong's short history offers a vital corrective to this narrow view. The distillation of years of thinking and writing about Islam, it demonstrates that the world's fastest-growing faith is a much richer and more complex phenomenon than its modern fundamentalist strain might suggest.
"Islam: A Short History" begins with the flight of Muhammad and his family from Medina in the seventh century and the subsequent founding of the first mosques. It recounts the origins of the split between Shii and Sunni Muslims, and the emergence of Sufi mysticism; the spread of Islam throughout North Africa, the Levant, and Asia; the shattering effect on the Muslim world of the Crusades; the flowering of imperial Islam in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries into the world's greatest and most sophisticated power; and the origins and impact of revolutionary Islam. It concludes with an assessment of Islam today and its challenges.
With this brilliant book, Karen Armstrong issues a forceful challenge to those who hold the view that the West and Islam are civilizations set on a collision course. It is also a model of authority, elegance, and economy.

"Provocative . . . the book brims with splendid insights." -- Los Angeles Times

Jerusalem: the ancient City on a Hill, a place central to three major religions, a transcendent fantasy that ignites religious fervor unlike anywhere else on earth. James Carroll's urgent, masterly Jerusalem, Jerusalem uncovers the history of the city and explores how it came to define culture in both the Middle East and America.

Carroll shows how the New World was shaped by obsessions with Jerusalem, from Christopher Columbus's search for a westward route to the city, to the fascination felt by American presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Ronald Reagan. Heavenly Jerusalem defines the American imagination -- and always the earthly city smolders. Jerusalem fever, inextricably tied to Christian fervor, is the deadly -- unnamed -- third party to the Israeli-Palestinian wars. Understanding this fever is the key that unlocks world history, and the diagnosis that gives us our best chance to reimagine peace.

"I dare you to read this book and see Jerusalem, or yourself, the same way." -- Bernard Avishai, author of The Hebrew Republic

So provocative and illuminating that it should not be overlooked by anyone who cares about the future of Jerusalem. -- Jewish Journal

This Gold Medallion-nominated book opens the eyes of believers to the lives of martyrs, inspiring us to lives of unashamed faith.

Not since Fulton Sheen's majestic A Life of Christ has a writer captured for his time the beauty, the power, and the holiness of Jesus. But more than this, Jean Vanier writes with a go-to-the-heart simplicity that makes the man Jesus come alive in all his humanity, revealing his immense goodness and his bountiful love for everyone he meets. This book is the story of Jesus as it is told in the four Gospels, brought together into one meditation. The author says that, "Together they give a clear portrait of Jesus as he was and as he lived, a clear vision of his message. From his conception to his death and resurrection, we see a man manifestly sent by God to reveal God, to point to a way of universal love, of truth, of justice, and of peace."

God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you there. He wants you to be just like Jesus.

Can you think of a better offer?

Jesus felt no guilt; God wants you to feel no guilt. Jesus had no bad habits; God wants to do away with yours. Jesus had no fears; God wants the same for you. Jesus had no anxiety about death; you needn't either. God's desire, his plan, his ultimate goal is to make you into the image of Christ.

But how does this change occur? And why does the change seem so slow? If God wants me to be just like Jesus, why do I still seem just like me?

In "Just Like Jesus," Max Lucado helps you answer these questions. He helps you understand God's wonderful ways of transformation. Would you like to know more? Then read on. And remember: "God loves you just way you are, but he refuses to leave you there. He wants you to be just like Jesus."

Many people have heard of the extraordinary phenomenon of kundalini awakening, and a growing number have had firsthand experience -- in some cases, involving disturbing physical and psychological effects. This classic work documents numerous case studies to demystify the process and reassure "victims, " who sometimes fear for their own sanity.

A Leadership Network Publication

In Leading the Team-Based Church, George Cladis issues a clarioncall for ministry teams to embrace a fresh leadership model that isnot based on hierarchy, but on a process of collaboration thatmirrors the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hereminds us that today's cultural environment--where authority hasbasis in trust, innovation reaps rewards, and spirituality takesroot in life and work--has matured past the need for the hierarchyof traditional church leadership where the pastor had the finalsay. Through down-to-earth stories from his own experience andthose of clergy in both mainline and evangelical churches, Cladisoffers an exciting alternative to the traditional forms of churchleadership, enabling pastors, congregational leaders, and staff tobreathe new life into their ministries and unleash the fullpotential of the entire ministry team.

Cladis, pastor of a fast-growing mainline congregation, demonstrates how cultural changes affecting all ourinstitutions--not just the church--are making it easier to adoptthis new model of leadership. Cladis's practical advice will enableministry teams to work together in ways that both embody theChristian message and call forth the full creativity and love ofthe entire team.

Just when it seems that all that can be said has been said on thesubject of 'teams', just when one has tired of the gumming of thelabel 'team' on everything in sight, along comes perhaps the mostsignificant religious book on teams yet published. Cladisjuxtaposes the theological and cultural context for team-basedministry in a model presentation of what a conversation betweenBible, theology, and culture should look like.--Leonard Sweet, dean, The Theological School and vice president, Drew University

Grounded in the work of liberation theologians, this book considers peace, love and social justice within a democratic curriculum and underscores the importance of integrating critical discourses with Catholic education.

On the morning of February 6, 1991, Dennis Apple discovered the lifeless body of his son on their family room couch. Eighteen-year-old Denny had died without warning from what was later explained as complications due to Mono. Sixteen years later, Dennis still struggles with living in a world without his son.Life After the Death of My Son shares a glimpse of the unspeakable pain, helplessness, frustration, and eventual healing that Dennis and his wife, Buelah, have experienced since losing their son. Using excerpts from his journal--which he began the day after Denny died--Dennis explores the dark, lonely road of grieving for a child. He discloses his anger and disappointment with God, discusses his frustrations with friends and family, and shares how he's dealt with the grief attacks, which continue to sneak up and surprise him. His painful, yet promising story offers comfort and connection to those walking similar paths. With understanding and compassion, Dennis offers grieving parents insight from 10 lessons he's learned--and continues to learn. His gentle words and honest understanding will guide those with grieving hearts on their difficult journey; giving them hope; helping them to discover ways in which God is able to continue the life of the child they loved.

In possibly his most important work to date, a bestselling author and family counselor presents a revolutionary, biblically-based concept for breaking free of the past and charting a new course to a brighter future. This interactive approach is a powerful tool for anyone who has unsuccessfully tried to change.

This is a life, in stories, of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1700-1760), the founder of Hasidism. The Baal Shem Tov, or the Besht, as he is commonly called, led a revival in Judaism that put love and joy at the center of religious life and championed the piety of the common folk against the rabbinic establishment. He has been recognized as one of the greatest teachers in Jewish history, and much of what is alive and vibrant in Judaism today, in all denominations, derives from his inspiration. Abraham Joshua Heschel, who was descended from several illustrious Hasidic dynasties, wrote: "The Baal Shem Tov brought heaven to earth. He and his disciples, the Hasidim, banished melancholy from the soul and uncovered the ineffable delight of being a Jew."

I was maybe 7 or 8, and in trouble again, - sent to my room for what could have been any number of transgressions. Anyway, at that time they were putting a new bay window in our dining room and, upon some clandestine exploration, I had discovered a small hole in the operation with just a flap of tarpaper covering it. I had discovered it earlier in the day, so as I sat imprisoned in my room, a light went off in my head! I can beat this! So wearing just sox to lend stealth to my covert operation, I snuck down the back stairs, down the back hall, and (in stealth crouch) into the dinning room. Then squeezing through the hole under the window, I was out! Into the fresh air of freedom! Then as I began to make my way around the side of the house, I was stopped dead in my tracks, - PETRIFIED! I was eye to eye with my Dad coming towards me, his hands gripped to the handles of a wheel barrel. Now, my Dad was a large muscular man (having been a construction foreman and truck driver before entering seminary), and, - he was wearing his maroon T-shirt, with his muscles rippling under the strain of the weight of the wheel barrel. In a nano second I was off, - up through the hole, down the hall, up the stairs, and into bed with the covers pulled over me faster than the Road Runner could ever hope to travel. Dad never said a thing about it, but he had to have set that wheel barrel down and had a wonderful laugh, - maybe even thinking of my attempted escape, "Well, the boy shows promise!" And so it is, that I'm still trying to "escape" from things like boredom, and from the many little prisons that we all tend to surround ourselves with, including those that we make for ourselves. These writings then, are an attempt do just that, to free myself to "breath the clear clean air" of peace, truth, and love, unafraid now (well, relatively unafraid) of whoever might be "coming around the next corner" to "greet" me. So hey, maybe my thoughts and ramblings can help us both "flee the tomb". Now, - that would be really cool!