This book is the catechism (the word means "instruction") that will serve as the standarad for all future catechisms.The Catechism draws on the Bible, the Mass, the Sacraments, Church tradition and teaching, and the lives of saints. It comes with a complete index, footnotes and cross-references for a fuller understanding of every subject. Using the tradition of explaining what the Church believes (the Creed), what she celebrates (the Sacraments), what she lives (the Commandments), and what she prays (the Lord's Prayer), the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers challenges for believers and answers for all those interested in learning about the mystery of the Catholic faith. Here is a positive, coherent and contemporary map for our spiritual journey toward transformation.The Catechism of the Catholic Church is, as Pope John Paul II calls it, "a special gift."

    The apostle Paul found that spiritual closeness in his own fellowship with the Father. "A Call to Spiritual Reformation" investigates the Epistles, claiming that Christians today can still achieve the confidence Paul enjoyed by following his life-shaping principles and searching for a deeper devotional experience. (67)

    Yet this book emanates with a special poignancy out of Peterson's own crisis experience as a pastor. Peterson tells about the "abyss," the "gaping crevasse," the "chasm" that he experienced, early in his ministry, between his Christian faith and his pastoral vocation. He was astonished and dismayed to find that his personal spirituality, his piety, was inadequate for his vocation -- and he argues that the same is true of pastors in general. In the book of Jonah -- a parable with a prayer at its center -- Peterson finds a subversive, captivating story that can help pastors recover their "vocational holiness." Using the Jonah story as a narrative structure, Peterson probes the spiritual dimensions of the pastoral calling and seeks to reclaim the ground taken over by those who are trying to enlist pastors in religious careers.

    From them a deep understanding of true discipleship emerges.

    Now the very best of John MacArthur’s Christian living titles have been updated to feature a fresh look and study guides for both personal and group reflection. Am I really saved? Am I going to heaven? How can I know for sure? Every believer has wrestled with these questions at some point in their journey. Saved Without A Doubt,/i examines Scripture to uncover the truth of salvation, while addressing tough questions that can hinder our faith. Readers will develop a Bible-based theology of salvation and be encouraged to securely rest in their personal relationship with Christ.

    R. C. Sproul takes theology down from the dusty shelves of theological libraries and expounds in clear and simple terms more than one hundred major Christian doctrines. He offers readers an essential understanding of the Christian faith that will kindle a lifelong love for truth, which is foundational to maturity in Christ. Here are theologically sound explanations of the biblical concepts every Christian should know, written in a way that we all can understand. Sproul's homespun analogies and illustrations from everyday life make this book interesting, informative, and easy to read.

    In the more than eight decades since Hastings our understanding of Jesus, the Evangelists and their world has grown remarkably. New interpretive methods have illumined the text, the ever-changing profile of modern culture has put new questions to the Gospels, and our understanding of the Judaism of Jesus' day has advanced in ways that could not have been predicted in Hasting's day. But for many readers of the Gospels the new outlook on the Gospels remains hidden within technical journals and academic monographs. The Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels bridges the gap between scholars and those pastors, teachers, students and lay people desiring in-depth treatment of select topics in an accessible and summary format. The topics range from cross-sectional themes (such as faith, law, Sabbath) to methods of interpretation (such as form criticism, redaction criticism, and death of Jesus) to each of the four Gospels as a whole. Some articles--such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinic traditions and revolutionary movements at the time of Jesus--provide significant background information to the Gospels. Others reflect recent and less familiar issues in Jesus and Gospel studies, such as divine man, ancient rhetoric and the chreiai (aphorisms). Contemporary concerns of general interest are discussed in articles covering such topics as healing, the demonic and the historical reliability of the Gospels. And for those entrusted with communicating the message of the Gospels, there is an extensive article on preaching from the Gospels. TheDictionary of Jesus and the Gospels presents the fruit of evangelical New Testament scholarship at the end of the twentieth century--committed to the authority of Scripture, utilizing the best of critical methods, and maintaining dialog with contemporary scholarship and challenges facing the church.

    The Pentateuch As Narrative focuses on the narrative and literary continuity of the Pentateuch as a whole. It seeks to disclose how the original Jewish readers may have viewed this multivolume work of Moses. Its central thesis is that the Pentateuch was written from the perspective of one who had lived under the Law of the Covenant established at Mount Sinai and had seen its failure to produce genuine trust in the Lord God of Israel. In this context, the Pentateuch pointed the reader forward to the hope of the New Covenant, based on divine faithfulness. Throughout the commentary Dr. Sailhamer pays close attention to and interacts with a wide range of classical and contemporary literature on the Pentateuch, written by Jews, Catholics, and Protestants.

    Brueggemann focuses on the metaphor and imagery of the courtroom trial in order to regard the theological substance of the Old Testament as a series of claims asserted for Yahweh, the God of Israel. This provides a context that attends to pluralism in every dimension of the interpretive process and suggests links to the plurality of voices of our time.

    

    Written originally in Latin with sentences frequently lasting nearly a half a page, Turretin's Institutes are at once familiar, profound, erudite, thorough and precise, detailed, comprehensive, historically significant, and truly Reformed, etc. Turretin organized his Institutes into 20 topics (loci) that range from "Prolegomena" (that is, very necessary introductory considerations) to "The Last Things." Each topic (locus) is organized by specific questions. The work is Elenctic (polemic or argumentitive), for a large chunk of this work is written against the Roman Catholics, Arminians, Socinians, Anabaptists, Molinists and others.Translated by George Musgrave Giger Edited by James T. Dennison Jr.Volume 1: Topics 1-10Topic I: TheologyTopic II: The Holy ScripturesTopic III: The One and Triune GodTopic IV: The Decrees of God in General and Predestination in ParticularTopic V: CreationTopic VI: The Actual Providence of GodTopic VII: AngelsTopic VIII: The State of Man Before the Fall and the Covenant of NatureTopic IX: Sin in General and in ParticularTopic X: The Free Will of Man in a State of Sin

    Tozer speaks to the current conflict and confusion about the Holy Spirit from a perspective that is balanced and biblical, yet devotional and practical.

    This sequence of powerful meditations challenges readers to reassess their own response to Jesus' death, his resurrection, and the continuing influence of his Spirit on those who follow him today.

    Sensitive and gracious, it acts as a companion to those engaging with the issues in their professional and personal lives, and in public debates. John Wyatt examines the issues surrounding the beginning and end of life against the background of current medical-ethical thought. Writing out of a deep conviction that the Bible's view of our humanness points a way forward, he suggests how Christian healthcare professionals, churches and individuals can respond to today's challenges and opportunities.

    All but unknown outside the Syrian tradition, Ephrem's rich theology of symbol, asceticism, and prayer amply deserves to stand beside his more famous Greek contemporaries.

    Complete 6 vol. set in near-fine condition. volumes 3 & 4 still shrink-wrapped.

    Shorter spiritual writings on prayer, liturgy, and the spirit of Carmel, with 5 photos and index.

    

    

    This is the first of two volumes in which Ouspensky studies the icon's development, through catacomb art, the controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries, the flowering of Russian iconography, to its present state.

    Here, the distinct yet complementary voices of Mother Teresa and Brother Roger honor prayer as the wellspring of love and compassion and illuminate it as an integral part of everday life."In reality, there is only one true prayer, only one substantial prayer: Christ himself," writes Mother Teresa. "There is only one voice of Christ. Prayer is oneness with Christ."Mother Teresa and Brother Roger first met in 1976 in Taize, France. Several months later, in Calcutta, they collaborated on what became the first of several joint appeals for Christian reconciliation. Their mutual agenda is clear -- a passionate commitment to the alleviation of human suffering and the use of prayer as a source of comfort, strength and communion with God.In their work and travels, both Mother Teresa and Brother Roger perceived a great hunger for guidance in prayer. The result is this inspirational text of short commentaries on how to use prayer in daily life. Comprised of 12 chapters, each written half by Brother Roger, Seeking the Heart of God&nbsp is their wise and lyrical offering to those whose hunger is that of the spirit.

    Most Christians have a nodding acquaintance with bits of it; few would claim to have mastered its complex arguments, its sudden changes of mood, or even the question of why Paul wrote it in the first place. This course begins with a bird's eye view of the letter, seeing it holistically before moving to the parts. Then Professor Wright focuses on the individual sections, assessing their contribution to that whole. He examines some of the most controversial and difficult passages in detail (3:21-4:25, 7:7-8:11 and 9-11) before standing back and capturing a last awesome view of the breathtaking theological and missionary vision which Paul offers to his readers.

    Pink from 1922 to 1953.Pink's works are considered classics of modern Calvinism.

    In this she is, as the title indicates, a mirror of the Church, the people of God. She reflects what we are called to be.While this work cannot help but discuss aspects of Mariology, it is not so much a study as it is a pilgrimage. Reflecting on and following Mary's example, as Father Cantalamessa presents it here, we enter into a pilgrimage of listening and obedience to God's Word.

    The work is presented in a well-bound large print format. Using traditional English the book has the fixed texts for all the daily services of the Orthodox Church. Clear rubrics set out in red ink explain how the form of the services varies between Sundays and weekdays, fasting seasons etc. This edition also includes extracts from the variable texts of the Menaion, Triodion and Pentecostarion. An absolute must for any student of Christian liturgy.

    Today the debate over who Jesus is rages on. Has the Bible bound Christians to a narrow and mistaken notion of Jesus? Should we listen to other gospels, other sayings of Jesus, that enlarge and correct a mistaken story? Is the real Jesus entangled in a web of the church's Scripture, awaiting liberation from our childhood faith so he might speak to our contemporary pluralistic world? To answer these questions we need to know what story Jesus claimed for himself. Christopher Wright is convinced that Jesus' own story is rooted in the story of Israel. In this book he traces the life of Christ as it is illuminated by the Old Testament. And he describes God's design for Israel as it is fulfilled in the story of Jesus.

    Charles Kraft explains how demons operate, how to resist their influence, and how to cast them out in Jesus' name. This book provides the practical and spiritual help Christians need, both to defeat dark angels in their own lives and to minister God's freedom and healing to others. Kraft uses the experience of his ministry to teach the reader ways to overcome the works of Satan.

    He tells the captivating story of how slaves and the children of slaves used this music to affirm their essential humanity in the face of oppression. The blues are shown to be a "this-worldly" expression of cultural and political rebellion. The spirituals tell about the "attempt to carve out a significant existence in a very trying situation."

    This meticulously researched book recounts how the early sixteenth-century Reformers, steering a course between the old Latin rites on the one hand and the Anabaptist movement on the other, developed a baptismal service that they understood to be reformed according to Scripture. Hughes Oliphant Old's study shows the Reformed baptismal rite to be well thought out, pastorally sensitive, and theologically profound.

    Maximilian Kolbe's insights on Mary's spousal relationship with the Holy Spirit, and her active role in salvation history.

    In this modernised abridgement of John Owen's famous work, Dr R. J. K. Law makes its powerful teaching readily accessible to modern readers.

    This book represents a long overdue modern comprehensivepresentation of the total thought of Aquinas. While traditional studies of Aquinas invariably deal with either his philosophy or his theology, Davies introduces the full range of Aquinas's thinking, relating it to writers earlier and later than Aquinas himself. The book will be of considerableinterest to professional theologians and philosophers, as well as to those with particular interest in medieval thinking. It is designed to be accessible to the general reader who has no specialist knowledge of medieval thought or professional training in philosophy or theology.

    Charles Hill traces Christian views of the soul's fate in Jewish texts, the New Testament, and in early Christian writers through the mid-third century A.D. His findings lead to a provocative new assessment of the development of Christian eschatology that corrects many misconceptions of earlier scholarly research. This second edition updates and substantially expands Hill's highly respected original work published by Oxford.

    "Grace Plus Nothing" helps the reader to understand the simplicity and wonder of God's grace and to live each day in God's righteousness. Brief, positive daily readings focus on forgiveness, commitment, and praying with confidence. These and many other topics will encourage the reader to stand in God's grace—plus nothing!

    Yet, perhaps none of His teachings has been more misunderstood than this one.Some have thought of our Lord as simply a great moral leader whose aim was to help us all become better people. When we're good enough, according to this view, the kingdom of God will be established in our midst once and for all. Others see Jesus as a revolutionary with a fiery message of political upheaval. For them, the kingdom of God will come when unjust social and political structures are overthrown.In truth, the kingdom Jesus Christ proclaimed and initiated was more profound and more radical than anything any man has ever envisioned. As Dr. Lloyd-Jones shows conclusively from the Scriptures, God the Son came to earth to redeem rebellious humanity, save them from their sins, and make them the people of God.Indeed, the kingdom of God comes to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ Himself--His substitutionary death on the cross and His triumph over death and sin. Here and here alone is true hope for a lost and confused world.

    This volume presents an inspired litany of praise to the Virgin Mary by a contemporary Sufi master. The love of the author for this blessed figure, revered in both Christianity and Islam, may also sow a spiritual seed in the heart of the sympathetic reader.

    Commentary on Hebrews

    It features a thorough and readable study of the pertinent Scripture passages and looks at the practices of the early Christian church. In addition, this second edition includes a section with answers to "lingering questions" regarding immersion, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the necessity of repentance, the question of "Once saved, always saved", and the saving belief in the gospel message.

    Anthony Thiselton’s thorough approach to the growing discipline of hermeneutics takes account of a comprehensive range of theoretical models of reading and interpretation. He evaluates both the foundations on which they rest and their practical implications for Old and New Testament reading. Building on his earlier influential work, The Two Horizons, Dr. Thiselton examines theories of texts, semiotics and literature, the legacy of Patristic and Reformation hermeneutics, and the use of socio-critical theory, liberation theology, and Marxist, feminist, and black hermeneutics, and discusses every major hermeneutical theorist. This exhaustive and rigorous critique will prove valuable to anyone undertaking advanced research in hermeneutics, including teachers and students of theology and language or literary theory.

    Aquinas has traditionally been represented as a man whose ethics are overly rational, excessively formal, and too scholarly to be of much use in contemporary society. The Primacy of Love gives us a fresh look at his ethical thought and invites us to become part of his vision of the moral life as partners in God's perfect love.

    Von Balthasar probes the depths of their cloistered lives and shows how each woman gave powerful witness to the critical importance of contemplation as a means to holiness for all.

    At the start of the twenty-first century, in the pontificate of Benedict XVI, a papal visit to Russia—at the symbolic level, a major step forward in the ‘healing of memories’— appears at last a realistic hope.In addition, the schisms separating Rome from the two lesser, but no less interesting, Christian families, the Assyrian (Nestorian) and Oriental Orthodox (Monophysite) Churches, are examined. The book also contains an account of the origins and present condition of the Eastern Catholic Churches—a deeper knowledge of which, by their Western brethren, was called for at the Second Vatican Council as well as by subsequent synods and popes.Providing both historical and theological explanations of these divisions, this illuminating and thought-provoking book chronicles the recent steps taken to mend them in the Ecumenical Movement and offers a realistic assessment of the difficulties (theological and political) which any reunion would experience.

    Written for the 23 million Americans struggling with alcohol and drugs, it is “a clear, accurate, and comprehensive resource—for patients, their families, and helping professionals” (Anthony B. Radcliffe, M.D., former president, American Society of Addiction Medicine). Dr. Al Mooney, who lectures internationally on recovery, writing with medical and health journalists Howard Eisenberg and Catherine Dold, covers all the latest in addiction science and recovery techniques. Extensive research in neuroplasticity, for example, sheds new light on how alcohol and drugs actually alter pathways in the brain—but also how this same process, when trained in recovery, can remold the brain, making sobriety a routine way of life. A new understanding of gender and addiction leads to revised insights, techniques, and new hope for treating women in recovery. The book also covers the latest problems and treatments for prescription drugs (now more pernicious than illegal drugs); up-to-date models for intervention; and more. But what really sets the book apart is its question-and-answer format—“My wife wants me to go to AA, and I think that’s ridiculous. How can I settle this argument?” “I take a few oxycodone pills each week. They’re prescription, so they must be safe, right?” “I’ve been in this treatment center for nearly a week. I feel great. I’m cured. Why can’t I leave now?” That simple, direct approach makes the daunting journey to sobriety doable.

    The major topics of Greek grammar are treated in a useful pedagodical sequence. Among the innovative treatments are those on tense and aspect, Mood and Attitude, conditional clauses, word order and clause structure, and discourse analysis. The grammar takes account both of the traditional categories of Greek grammar and of recent discussions on structural linguistics.

    

    Special "ease" binding allows the volumes to lay open without assistance. Perfect for classroom use or personal study.

    This book draws together sermons of the peace of God, spiritual and emotional depression, unity in the body of Christ, preaching, discipline, spiritual growth, and other topics.

    This book will change the way you think and live.

    Knight shows how the means of grace together form an interrelated pattern that enables a growing relationship with God.

    Book by Sasser, Sam

    And although orthodoxy was more narrowly defined by that era than during Origen's lifetime in the third century, his speculative, Platonizing theology was not the only issue at stake in the Origenist controversy: "Origen" became a code word for nontheological complaints as well. Elizabeth Clark explores the theological and extra-theological implications of the dispute, uses social network analysis to explain the personal alliances and enmities of its participants, and suggests how it prefigured modern concerns with the status of representation, the social construction of the body, and praxis vis-à-vis theory. Shaped by the Trinitarian and ascetic debates, and later to influence clashes between Augustine and the Pelagians, the Origenist controversy intersected with patristic campaigns against pagan "idolatry" and Manichean and astrological determinism. Discussing Evagrius Ponticus, Epiphanius, Theophilus, Jerome, Shenute, and Rufinus in turn, Clark concludes by showing how Augustine's theory of original sin reconstructed the Origenist theory of the soul's pre-existence and "fall" into the body.Originally published in 1992.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

    But what does this ‘spirituality’ consist of? In Spiritual and Religious Tom Wright argues that, whether they realize it or not, people are often simply indulging in forms of ancient paganism – forms that are very similar to those that surrounded the first Christians.With his characteristic verve and incisiveness, Wright traces the parallels between the paganisms of the first and twenty-first centuries, and shows how a better understanding of God as Trinity can breathe fresh life into our understanding and communication of the gospel today.He concludes with a call to all Christians to make a choice:‘Are we . . . to water down the distinctives of Christian faith in order to make it more palatable? . . . Or are we to worship the God who is Father, Son and Spirit, and to find in that worship a renewed courage, a renewed sense of direction and a renewed hope for the future?’

    

    Spiritual Life Pseudo-Macarius: The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and The Great Letter translated and edited with an introduction by George A. Maloney, S.J., preface by Kallistos Ware If the love of God dwells within you, it is necessary that such love bring forth other fruit, such as fraternal love, meekness, sincerity, perseverance in prayer, and zeal and all virtues. But since the treasure is precious, so also great are the labors, necessary to obtain it. From the Great Letter George A. Maloney, S.J., provides a great service by bringing to the public the first modern English translation of the spiritual homilies and Great Letter of Pseudo- Macarius, a Syrian monk of the fourth century whose identity is still the subject of scholarly investigation. The Fifty Homilies, in the form of a practical, monastic pedagogy, reveal the typical traits of Eastern Christian asceticism, with particular emphasis on the spiritual combat, the action of the Holy Spirit, and the importance of interior prayer. The Great Letter discusses the purging of the passions to bring the Christian into a state of tranquility and integration, and addresses the monastic community with instructions regarding organization, humility, and prayer. +

    For this remarkable story, Barnett interviewed more than sixty Germans who were active in the Confessing Church, asking them to reflect on their personal experiences under Hitler and how they see themselves, morally and politically, today. She provides a haunting glimpse of the German experience under Hitler, but also gives a provocative look into what it has meant to be a German in the twentieth century.

    New Testament scholar Murray Harris examines all New Testament references to Jesus as God, believing that the titles of Jesus encapsulate the early Christian understanding of the role and status of Jesus, and contending that the title of Theos has not received adequate attention from biblical scholars.i

    The first two parts of the book describe the role of women in terms of culture, rites of passage, and daily life. Attitudes toward birthing and naming, marriage and widowhood, polygamy, prostitution, and death are all explored. The third part focuses on the church, reviewing biblical attitudes toward women, and showing how African women can and should contribute to the life of the Christian church. Contributors: Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro - Mercy Amba Oduyoye - Rosemary N. Edet - Anne Nasimiyu-Wasike - Daisy N. Nwachuku - Rabiatu Ammah - Judith Mbula Bahemuka - Lloyda Fanusie - Bernadette Mbuy Beya - Teresa M. Hinga - Anne Nachisale Musopole - R. Modupe Owanikin - Teresa Okure

    MooreIn this book Stephen D. Moore offers a dazzling new reading of the Gospels of Mark and Luke, applying the poststructuralist techniques of Derrida, Lacan, and Foucault to illuminate these texts in a way that no one has done before. Written with wit and a sensitivity to words--and wordplay--that is reminiscent of Moore's fellow countryman James Joyce, the book is also deeply learned, impressive in its detailed knowledge of previous scholarship as well as in the challenges it presents to that scholarship.Moore argues that whereas the language of the Gospels is concrete, pictorial, and often startling, the language of modern gospel scholarship tends to be propositional and abstract. Calling himself a New Test-what-is-meant scholar, he approaches the Gospels of Mark and Luke as though they were pictograms or dreamwork to decipher and interpret, writing a response that is no less visceral and immediate than the biblical texts themselves.

    He finds the case for dependence in the strong sense tenuous.

    pain, heroes

    He wrote in virtually all the genres--fiction, drama, sermons, poetry, criticism, fantasy--but is perhaps best remembered as one of the greatest and most enduringly influential of the Victorian writers for children. Sixteen essays--five reprints and eleven original--analyze MacDonald's work for children. All the full-length fantasies--At the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, The Lost Princess--and the major short pieces--"The Light Princess," "The Golden Key," "Cross Purposes," "The Giant's Heart" receive extended commentary. Contributors: Celia Anderson, Melba Battin, A. Waller Hastings, Cynthia Marshall, Rod McGillis, Michael Mendelson, Nancy-Lou Patterson, Stephen Prickett, William Raeper, Frank Riga, Cordelia Sherman, Joseph Sigman, Lesley Smith, and Nancy Willard.

    

    They include early Fathers like St Irenaeus and St Clement of Alexandria, as well as later writers like Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Sergius Bulgakov and Hans Urs von Balthasar. This text investigates what they said and why. In doing so, it also serves as an introduction to the whole area of theological aesthetics. Besides exploring the connection between the Holy Spirit and beauty, it ranges more widely by considering topics such as divine glory, inspiration and the eschatological character of beauty. Its discussions bring together two areas of lively interest in contemporary Christianity: the theology of the Holy Spirit and theological aesthetics.

    Habad was founded by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1813) who established a Hasidic community in Belorussia and who set forth the new Habad doctrine in a book entitled Tanya (Likutey Amarim). This doctrine expounded the mystical ideas underlying the quest for God. Its essential innovation lay in the formulation of a religious outlook which concentrated upon perceiving the divinity: its essence, its nature, the stages of its manifestation, its characteristics, its perfection, its differing wills, its processes, the significance of its revelation and the possibilities of its perception. This conception generated a profound transformation of religious worship and was the cause of great controversy throughout the Jewish world.

    This book reveals Niebuhr's passion for the development of an intellectually equipped, socially concerned Christian ministry.

    The problems of creation, of evil, of revelation, and of ethics are all treated as special cases of the general problem of relating the finite to the infinite, the many to the one. The authors focus on the unifying theme of mediation, the means by which the Absolute relates to the here and now. The principal figures studied include Philo, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Isaac Israeli, Avicenna, Ibn Gabirol, Al-Ghaz�l�, Abraham Ibn Daud, Maimonides, Averroes, Albertus Magnus, Aquinas, Gersonides, Nahmanides, Ibn Falaquera, Narboni, Albalag, Leone Ebreo (Judah Abarbanel), and Spinoza, as well as such Kabbalistic thinkers as Bahir, Cordovero, Luria, Moses de Leon, Ya'akov ben Sheshet, Isaac the Blind, Menahem Renanti, Shem Tov ben Shem Tov, Azriel of Gerona, Alemanno, Luzzato, Cordovero, and Abraham Herrera.The authors include David Winston, John Dillon, Carl Mathis, Bernard McGinn, Arthur Hyman, Alfred Ivry, Lenn E. Goodman, Menachem Kellner, David Burrell, Idit Dobbs-Weinstein, David Bleich, Seymour Feldman, Steven Katz, Moshe Idel, David Novak, Hubert Dethier, Richard Popkin, and Robert McLaren. Taken together, these essays offer an impressive historical survey of the ideas, achievements, and philosophic struggles of a group of men who worked to form a unique and durable tradition that bridged the gap between rival confessions and sects--mystics, rationalists, and empiricists; Jews, Christians, and Muslims. This is a philosophic source whose vitality is not yet exhausted.

    Long seeks both to explain how this contradiction came about and to provide a convincing theological argument for pacifism. Long puts forth a vision of faithfulness that will inspire United Methodists to be a community of resistance--a people cultivating the virtues of holiness and peaceableness--in a world of war.

    Methodist worship book, black hardcover, third printing, February 1993.

    It is not too much to call The Ritual of New Creation revolutionary, nor too much to think of it as the next absolutely required text for anyone who wants to come to grips with the issue of Jewish identity as an intellectual construction rather than as an habitual response or a nostalgic tour through memory and memorabilia."I find this book brilliantly argued throughout and admirably sustained. Through closely-reasoned exegesis and dialectic, Finkelstein scarcely misses a beat. He has a subtle mind that is capable of grasping not only the dialectics of self-doubt in which Harold Bloom's thought is saturated but also the nuances of shifting and flexible argument that characterize Walter Benjamin's. Moreover, his prose is fully equal to the task of understanding: supple and muscular where close reasoning is called for; taut and epigrammatic where concision and summary are demanded." -- Mark Shechner, State University of New York, BuffaloFinkelstein examines a wide range of recent Jewish writing, including poetry, fiction, and literary criticism, in order to determine the changes such writing has undergone in its exposure to modern and postmodern conditions of culture. Featuring discussions of such figures as Gershom Scholem, Harold Bloom, George Steiner, Cynthia Ozick, and John Hollander, The Ritual of New Creation explores certain themes that recur in modern Jewish literature: the relation of the sacred to the secular in Jewish writing; the role of loss and exile; "wandering meaning" and textual transformation. This is a book for all readers interested in modern Jewish literature, but especially for readers concerned with literary theory, the relations of text and commentary, and the fate of literary traditions in the contemporary and postmodern cultural milieu.Norman Finkelstein is Professor of English at Xavier University. He is the author of The Utopian Moment in Contemporary American Poetry.

    Bold questions about a deeply divisive issue.

    The sixteenth century was a period of fierce theological controversy and no doctrine concerned contemporaries more than the vexed issue of the Eucharist. Scholars have always found it notoriously difficult to determine Cranmer's conviction on this central matter of the Christian faith. This and many other questions that have long troubled Cranmer scholars receive fair and full treatment in this absorbing study. This book re-establishes itself as the definitive exposition of Cranmer's doctrine of the Eucharist.

    The tenth in a series of twelve treatises the English reformer wrote between 1374 and 1382, On Simony forms an integral part of the writings generally considered his summa. Basing his condemnation of simony on an idiosyncratic concept of dominion developed in earlier treatises, Wyclif argues that the church, with its spiritual message and mission, has no right to temporal power or temporal goods. Viewing simony as a form of theft, the selling of spiritual things over which it has no dominion, Wyclif advocates the removal of all property from the church - by secular force, if necessary - and the abolition of ecclesiastical patronage. In the Introduction to this first-ever English translation, Professor McVeigh traces the history of simony in the church and describes the circumstances prompting Wyclif to develop his theory of dominion, showing the decisive influence of this theory on his concept of simony. A brief discussion of the treatise's influence on later reformers, both inside and outside England, follows a thorough, chapter-by-chapter analysis of the treatise itself.

    He explores the relationship between pastoral care and authority, concluding that there is a need for pastors to re-join the community and to identify with the people in it.This involves a movement away from some current professional models towards a positive evaluation of the diversity of religious experience and perspectives among the churched and unchurched alike.

    In every instance the image in question is treated not as a distinct work of art but rather as an integral element in an edifice that has as its unshakable foundation the Resurrection of Christ.

    Demaray.

    He shows that it has been commonplace to divide Augustine's thought into earlier and later phases, the former being more philosophically informed than the latter. Wetzel's contention is that this division is less pronounced than it has been made out to be. The author shows that, while Augustine clearly acknowledges his differences with philosophy, he never loses his fascination with the Stoic concepts of happiness and virtue, and of the possibility of their attainment by human beings. This fascination is seen by Wetzel to extend to Augustine's writings on grace, where freedom and happiness are viewed as a recovery of virtue. The notorious dismissal of pagan virtue in 'The City of God' is part of Augustine's family quarrel with philosophers, not a rejection of philosophy per se. Augustine the theologian is thus seen to be a Platonist philosopher with a keen sense of the psychology of moral struggle.

    Ethicist John Kilner draws on biblical materials to develop a basic ethical approach for dealing with difficult end-of-life situations and the allocation of limited medical resources. Arguing that a biblically based medical ethics must be God-centered, reality-bounded, and love-impelled, Kilner grapples honestly with the personal and social dilemmas that arise in the face of death. Topics covered include euthanasia, suicide, quality of life, living wills, and the distribution of vital treatments.

    RobinsonThis volume is a joy to read. -- Schuyler BrownIt is an outstanding commentary, the first to use the Wirkungsge-schichte, the understanding of the text throughout the centuries, to interpret the text itself. --Eduard Schweizer

    In a world disordered by sin, Scripture describes God's goal as a reordering of corrupted creation, according to William J. Dumbrell. The author takes into account current positions as he looks for the big eschatological picture with the same thorough approach to biblical theology he brought to The End of the Beginning and Covenant and Creation. In the resulting thematic survey students are allowed to draw their own conclusions about the Bible's overall position on the climactic scenes of history. Ultimately they learn to conceive of eschatology less as an expectant construction of future events than as a theological approach to comprehending what God is doing today.