His daily exposure to the power, politics, and personalities in the seat of Roman Catholicism gave him a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on an institution that is far less monolithic and unified than it first appears. Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place where Curia cardinals fight private wars, scandals threaten to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past is continually upended by the practical considerations of modern life. Thavis takes readers from a bell tower high above St. Peter’s to the depths of the basilica and the saint’s burial place, from the politicking surrounding the election of a new pope and the ever-growing sexual abuse scandals around the world to controversies about the Vatican’s stand on contraception, and more. Perceptive, sharply written, and witty, The Vatican Diaries will appeal not only to Catholics (lapsed as well as devout) but to any readers interested in international diplomacy and the role of religion in an increasingly secularized world.

    The selections, which are substantial in length, provide a generous sampling of Merton's vast output. +

    And more than helping you find your way out, this book will help you find your way through that place.

    The Appeal to Heaven flag holds great significance as it relates to America’s founding, God’s eternal covenants, and our present hope for this nation.In An Appeal To Heaven, Dutch Sheets takes you on a journey of discovering the role you were designed to play in America’s history. This short book is packed with powerful insights that will help you pray for America and leave you equipped to be part of her restoration. You have a role to play in this story.Are you ready to take your place?

    This study is for any woman who wants to move beyond simply knowing about God to really knowing God in a very personal way. Join Wendy as she teaches how the very names of God reveal His character and heart.This study will help women to:  Realize their infinite worth as they explore the nature of the God who created and formed them.  Live with bold assurance that their God is a personal God who sees them, hears them, and knows them by name.  Walk confidently in knowing both who they are and Whose they are.  Arm themselves with seven tools to pray more confidently and effectively in any situation or circumstance.  Transform their walk with Jesus as they discover how He fulfills the Old Testament names of God. This book includes biblical and historical background insights, practical application, and a memory verse for each chapter. The study may be completed individually or with a small group. Chapters Include: Elohim: The One Who Created You El Roi: The One Who Sees You Jehovah Nissi: The One Who Stands Guard Over You Jehovah Rapha: The One Who Heals You More Magnificent Names Can be used alone or with I Know His Name: A DVD Study (9780310089018).Inscribed is a collection of Bible studies that lead women to not just survive but thrive by encouraging them to immerse themselves in the Word of God.

    Indeed, argues Sayers, if Christians don't steep themselves in doctrine, then the Christian Faith -- and the world outside the Faith -- will descend into chaos.Each of us must choose: creed . . . or chaos! This book shows why there's no way you can avoid that choice -- and it helps you to choose wisely.

    . . wide-eyed children gathered 'round a beach fire, listening to a father's stories of the high seas . . . an expansive, you-can-see-forever view from the top of Pike's Peak . . . another view from a Stryker frame, where an active young woman learns she will never walk again . . . heading down a church aisle to marry the man she loves . . . looking into the eyes of a child in a wheelchair, and seeing the family God has prepared for a loving heart . . . sitting by the pool of Bethesda, reflecting on the miracle of healing God has performed in her heart . . .The God I Love brings to life these and many other moments. It offers an eternal perspective from a woman in a wheelchair who affirms that the God she knows and loves is the center, the peacemaker, the passport to adventure, the joy ride, and the answer to her deepest longings. Raised in an active, adventurous family, Joni Eareckson Tada worked hard and played hard to keep up with her older sisters and athletic father--until one day a diving accident left her a quadriplegic. But the tragedy that could have ended her life was in reality the beginning of an amazing, constantly unfolding story of grace that has touched the lives of millions worldwide and brought Joni unexpected joy and fulfillment.In this book, Joni unveils the God whom she has found to be faithful through over thirty years as a paralytic. This is not the story of a woman who has all the answers or who is very different from you. Joni struggles with the same fears, questions, and heartaches we all have in common. But as the weeks and months turn into years, and the years into decades, she meets her Savior at every turn.In this book, you'll discover that he is there for you as well, no matter what your circumstance or situation may be. Written with beauty, feeling, and amazing honesty, The God I Love captures the heart and soul of one woman's powerful, deeply personal journey of hope. It is a sojourn from a naïve child's belief to a tempered faith that transforms and transcends personal tragedy, bringing light to the darkest places and good out of the most difficult situations, and offering glimpses of the glory that awaits God's children.

     By unveiling truly bizarre alliances, revisiting centuries-old ghostly events still haunting the birthplaces of religion, unraveling complex threads of history to discern the difference between myth and prophecy, and providing a thorough explication of the religious texts underlying all of this madness in the context of the times in which they were written, Baigent presents a very different view of the past, present, and future than that perpetuated by many loose interpretations of scripture. What are faith force multipliers? Which members of the U.S. military top brass have fought to employ them? Which world leader belongs to a secret messianic society called the Hojjatieh? What is the Chalcedon Foundation? And what is the correlation between its tenets, those of sharia law, and the fulfillment of end-time prophecies? The answers to these questions and others will intrigue, mystify, and enrage you, whether you're a person of faith or a staunch secularist. But the author's goal is not simply to shock the reader—it is to help diffuse the time bomb that has been set by the hard-liners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In the end, Baigent asks these questions to deliver an urgent message: that spiritual yearning is actually a deep and personal issue of awareness, one that can bring hope and tolerance to the world, rather than the self-superiority and control that are born of fear and conflict.

    With their mouths they claim that Jesus is their Lord, but with their actions they demonstrate their allegiance to money, sex, and personal self-fulfillment."In this candid and challenging book, Sider addresses an embarrassing reality: most Christians' lives are no different from the lives of their secular neighbors. Hedonism, materialism, racism, egotism, and many other undesirable traits are commonplace among Christians. Rather than simply a book bemoaning the state of American Christianity today, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience offers readers solutions to repair the disconnect between belief and practice. While it's not easy medicine to take, this book is a much-needed prophetic call to transformed living.

    Jones delivers a provocative examination of the unholy relationship between American Christianity and white supremacy, and issues an urgent call for white Christians to reckon with this legacy for the sake of themselves and the nation.As the nation grapples with demographic changes and the legacy of racism in America, Christianity’s role as a cornerstone of white supremacy has been largely overlooked. But white Christians—from evangelicals in the South to mainline Protestants in the Midwest and Catholics in the Northeast—have not just been complacent or complicit; rather, as the dominant cultural power, they have constructed and sustained a project of protecting white supremacy and opposing black equality that has framed the entire American story. With his family’s 1815 Bible in one hand and contemporary public opinion surveys by Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in the other, Robert P. Jones delivers a groundbreaking analysis of the repressed history of the symbiotic relationship between Christianity and white supremacy. White Too Long demonstrates how deeply racist attitudes have become embedded in the DNA of white Christian identity over time and calls for an honest reckoning with a complicated, painful, and even shameful past. Jones challenges white Christians to acknowledge that public apologies are not enough—accepting responsibility for the past requires work toward repair in the present. White Too Long is not an appeal to altruism. Drawing on lessons gleaned from case studies of communities beginning to face these challenges, Jones argues that contemporary white Christians must confront these unsettling truths because this is the only way to salvage the integrity of their faith and their own identities. More broadly, it is no exaggeration to say that not just the future of white Christianity but the outcome of the American experiment is at stake.

    Access to the needs of every neighbor on the planet is wide open in a way that has never before been true in human history, awakening Christians to the reality of injustice and the depth of suffering in our world today. Evangelical interest, in particular, has been on the rise. But reactions can all too easily range from impulsive fits of activism without true understanding to paralyzing despair. Here two authors with firsthand experience in the justice movement encourage us to ground our call to justice in sound biblical and theological teaching as we engage with the most critical global needs of our time. The authors connect justice to Scripture, the character of God, and the long traditions of the church so that our passion meets perseverance and justice becomes an enduring and integrated part of our life and faith.

    He frees readers to abandon any posing or pretending in favor of an honest, no-spin relationship with a God who claims them as his own.Each day includes a Scripture reference and an inspirational original prayer, born from both moments of great faith and moments of crisis. Like a modern-day book of Psalms, Everyday Prayers is a year's worth of growing in grace that readers will lean on year after year.

    Though Jesus was in truth his Savior, and even his Lord, Phillips felt challenged to understand more of the remarkable life lived two thousand years ago in Palestine. Then came a crisis in his spiritual pilgrimage when circumstances forced him to open the book of his life in a new way, and delve more deeply into the fundamental why of Jesus' life.Challenged to discover the New Testament imperative for his life, Phillips takes a fresh look at the Bible to find out what is the essence, the foundation, of spirituality. Boiled down. The raw reality of the gospel. No frills. No excess baggage. No trite little phrases learned in Sunday school or youth group.He discovers a key that gives validity to an entire life's purpose and perspective as a Christian for right now. Not in some grandiose, far-reaching way . . . but the link between belief and practice, between eternity and now, between Christianity as a world religion, and Christianity as a practical guidebook for going about the business of life in the trenches. For if ever a man walked in harmony between ultimate purpose and the next five minutes, that man was Jesus Christ. And that key to Jesus' life was obedience.

    While the gospel is exploding throughout the global south, Western civilization faces militant assaults from aggressive secularism and radical Islam. Will the church resist the seductive shaping power of advanced modernity? More than ever, Christians must resist the negative cultural forces of our day with fortitude and winsomeness. What is needed is followers of Christ who are willing to face reality without flinching and respond with a faithfulness that is unwavering. Os Guinness describes these Christians as impossible people, those who have hearts that can melt with compassion, but with faces like flint and backbones of steel who are unmanipulable, unbribable, undeterrable and unclubbable, without ever losing the gentleness, the mercy, the grace and the compassion of our Lord. Few accounts of the challenge of today are more realistic, and few calls to Christian courage are more timely, resolute--and hopeful. Guinness argues that we must engage secularism and atheism in new ways, confronting competing ideas with discernment and fresh articulation of the faith. Christians are called to be impossible people, full of courage and mercy in challenging times.

    Richards and bestselling author of Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It's Too Late and Infiltrated: How to Stop the Insiders and Activists Who Are Exploiting the Financial Crisis to Control Our Lives and Our Fortunes, defends capitalism within the context of the Christian faith, revealing how entrepreneurial enterprise, based on hard work, honesty, and trust, actually fosters creativity and growth. In doing so, Money, Greed, and God exposes eight myths about capitalism, and demonstrates that a good Christian can be a good capitalist.