His understanding of hesychasm, the monastic movement centered on solitude and unceasing prayer, is grounded in an incarnational theology: When spiritual joy comes to the body from the mind, it suffers no diminution by this communion with the body, but rather transfigures the body, spiritualizing it rejecting all evil desires of the flesh, it no longer weighs down the soul but rises up with it, the whole man becoming spirit, as it is written: 'He who is born of the Spirit is spirit' (John 3:6-8). Triads 11, 2.9 This richly documented and lavishly illustrated study of Orthodox spirituality traces the development of 'Orthodox mysticism' from the desert fathers through the patristic tradition to Byzantine hesychasm and its heritage in Russian monasticism. It shows how the work of Palamas transcends the limits of one school of spirituality and renews in its deepest essence the life of the Christian Mystery.

    Book by Sherrard, Philip

    How could this wealthy, handsome youth cast away all the advantages that were his by birth and choose instead a career of poverty and humility? How could he attract members of all strata of society to his mission? And how, when his order became established throughout Europe, could he renounce great personal power and humbly continue his life’s work?Here is Francis, from his twelfth-century boyhood to his life as a missionary roaming the very boundaries of the known world. Here too are the men and women who followed him—Bernard de Quintavalle, the rich businessman; Peter Cathanii, the lawyer; Brother Giles, the farmer’s son; Lady Clare; and so many others—all drawn together by the personal magnetism and humble faith of their leader, all re-created by bestselling novelist Elizabeth Goudge against a rich medieval canvas.

    Herbert Oliver, a Black civil rights leader from Birmingham, Alabama, spent thirteen years rethinking the racial ideologies of his day before writing No Flesh Shall Glory in the late 1950s. In clear, biblical, and unflinching language, he dismantles the dogmas of race superiority, the doctrine of racial solidarity, and the whitewashing of history and Scripture. His book is a gracious challenge to break free from oppressive ways of thinking and to see humanity as God sees us.This new edition of Rev. Oliver's 1959 work includes his paper on the church, social change, identity, and protest, originally delivered as two lectures at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1964.