For Mary Rose O’Reilley a year tending sheep seemed a way to seek a spirituality based not on “climbing out of the body” but rather on existing fully in the world, at least if she could overlook some of its earthier aspects. The Barn at the End of the World follows O’Reilley in her sometimes funny, sometimes moving quest. Though small in stature, she learns to “flip” very large sheep and help them lamb. She also visits a Buddhist monastery in France, where she studies the practice of Mahayana Buddhism, dividing her spare time between meditation and dreaming of French pastries.

    A mother of two, a Christian, and a lifelong resident of middle America, Lenz was bewildered by the pain and loss around her--the empty churches and the broken hearts. What was happening to faith in the heartland?From drugstores in Sydney, Iowa, to skeet shooting in rural Illinois, to the mega churches of Minneapolis, Lenz set out to discover the changing forces of faith and tradition in God's country. Part journalism, part memoir, God Land is a journey into the heart of a deeply divided America. Lenz visits places of worship across the heartland and speaks to the everyday people who often struggle to keep their churches afloat and to cope in a land of instability. Through a thoughtful interrogation of the effects of faith and religion on our lives, our relationships, and our country, God Land investigates whether our divides can ever be bridged and if America can ever come together.

    "Why I Am a Lutheran explores the foundational teachings of the Christian church. In each chapter, Daniel Preus calls upon more than 20 years of pastoral experience to reveal Jesus as the center of the Christian faith. As he addresses central doctrines such as sin and grace, Law and Gospel, the person and work of Jesus Christ, worship, the Sacraments, and the office of the ministry, Preus keeps the focus on Jesus Christ--who is "always and only at the center of all Christian teaching."

    He examines the seven levels of consciousness of the human personality mapped by the work of Jean Piaget, Carol Milligan, and Lawrence Kohlberg, and leads readers to the consciousness that Jesus called the Kingdom of Heaven--the highest level of spiritual development.Marion shows how inner spiritual growth has always been the true essence of Christian practice and shares his own spiritual experiences within a "Christ-focused" framework.Pioneering, transcendent, and grounded, "Putting on the Mind of Christ" will permanently alter the landscape of 21st-century Christianity.

    Written by Archbishop Dolan who spent many years training priests, this is the surprisingly comprehensive book every priest should read to prepare for the years to come.

    I was inspired to write it by the writer and diarist, Anais Nin, who was a mentor to me in the early seventies. My hope was that it would aid young women artists in their development and that reading about my struggles might help them avoid some of the pitfalls that were so painful to me. I also hoped to spare them the anguish of 'reinventing the wheel", which my studies in women's history had taught me was done again and again by women, specifically because we have not had access to our foremothers' experience and achievements-one consequence of the fact that we still learn both history and art history from a male-centered bias with insufficient inclusion of women's achievements. I must admit that when I re-read Through the Flower, I winced at some of the unabashed honesty; at the same time, I am glad that my youthful self had the courage to speak so directly about my life and work. I doubt that I could recapture the candor that allowed this book to reflect such unabashed confidence that the world would accept revelations so lacking in self-consciousness. And yet, it is precisely this lack that helps give the book its flavor, the flavor of the seventies, when so many of us believed that we could change the world for the better, a goal that has been-as one of my friends put it-'mugged by reality". And yet, better an overly idealistic hope that the world could be reshaped for the better than a cynical acceptance of the status quo. At least we tried-and I'm still trying. Perhaps I'm just too old now to change. Judy Chicago 2005

    Instead of clinging to grace, we strive for good and believe that the Christian life means hard work and a sweet disposition. As good girls, we focus on the things we can handle, our disciplined lives, and our unshakable good moods. When we fail to measure up to our own impossible standards, we hide behind our good girl masks, determined to keep our weakness a secret.In Grace for the Good Girl, Emily Freeman invites women to let go of the try-hard life and realize that in Christ we are free to receive from him rather than constantly try to achieve for him. With an open hand and a whimsical style, Emily uncovers the truth about the hiding, encouraging women to move from hiding behind girl-made masks and do-good performances to a life hidden with Christ in God.

    But this poignant volume is more than a sequel to the runaway best-seller, A Severe Mercy: it is a continuing autobiography, and an engrossing chronicle of Vanauken's writings, and always, a challenge to live the spiritual life. Under the Mercy also mirrors the times during which Vanauken redefined his life. He takes readers through the turbulent sixties, that decade of campus unrest when he—as a college professor—became directly involved in civil rights and the peace movement. Caught up in the Spirit of the Age, Vanauken drifted from the Spirit of God. But gentle nudges from God led him back towards the Obedience. It was a chance rereading of one page of mentor C. S. Lewis that was used as a channel of grace. He corrected his errant course and was soon again under the Mercy. His spiritual journey led him to eventually cross the English channel to Rome and become a Roman Catholic. Under the Mercy is a vivid record of a then wayward disciple's return to the Obedience—an intensely personal and moving story. What a great book Vanauken has written on plain Christianity! It's a fine work. - Dr. Clyde Kilby Thomas Howard remains one of the most insightful and delightful religious writers today. He combines profundity with genuine style. - James Hitchcock, St. Louis University Sheldon Vanauken, author of the best-seller A Severe Mercy, has been a professor of History and English at Lynchburg College, Virginia, and is also the author of Gateway to Heaven.

    Thérèse of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and Mother Teresa—who wouldn't want these women as friends and guides? Lively, determined, devout but never passive, they were all straight-shooters with an abundance of common sense. They were also deeply in love with God, clinging to him with a tenacity that freed them to do the impossible. Using the Great Commandment as her guide, Gina Loehr focuses on how each of these women lived out one particular aspect of the command to love God with heart, mind, and soul and neighbor as self. Practical tips offer suggestions on how to be like the Teresas and points for reflection drive the lessons home. These friends of God will help you become, as they were, expert in living out Christ's perfect law of loveThe audio edition of this book can be downloaded via Audible.

    She considers how a camera can help readers open “the eyes of the heart.”More than a book on photographic technique, Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice is about cultivating photography as a spiritual practice. Adapting the monastic practice of lectio divina (sacred reading) into a form of visio divina (sacred seeing), spiritual director and Benedictine oblate Christine Valters Paintner invites readers to a new way of viewing the world—through the lens of a camera. Paintner guides readers through six themes connecting the medium of photography with the Christian spiritual life. Each theme provides a photographic journey in which the reader does not simply take images, but receives images and learns to see with “the eyes of the heart” (Eph 1:18). Photos by the author are included.

    Watching her father die had shattered the image of God Egan grew up with and undermined the theology she studied in school; she embarked on her pilgrimage full of hope and dread at the same time. Fumbling is the moving journal of Egan’s experiences as she and her boyfriend traveled from the Pyrenees in southern France through the valleys of Navarra and westward through Spain to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, said to contain the remains of Saint James. The idea of pilgrimage rests on the belief that in some places the Divine is especially available to human beings and that the journey itself—the time spent as a pilgrim—is transformative, cleansing, and purifying. Egan was well versed in theories about grieving and the purpose of a pilgrimage, but it was through walking eight or ten hours a day that she first began to understand what grief really was and to recognize God’s presence in everyday people and places. With humor and unabashed honesty, Egan records her struggles to deal with muddy roads, blistering heat, and grouchy moods. She describes fellow pilgrims of many nationalities, the humble abodes that provide them shelter, and the beautiful, often challenging, landscape. Each incident, encounter, and hard-won mile shapes her internal journey. The repetitiveness of walking frees her to meditate for long periods, the rhythm of her breathing awakens an awareness of the connections of breath, life, and God so central to the teachings of Hebrew and Christian scriptures, and the most unlikely events—from discovering chickens in church to the pleasure of having a pizza at a train station—remind her that prayer is as at once as simple and as profound as seeing and acknowledging the joys and beauty of life. A story of overcoming anger and sadness and finding joy and redemption, Fumbling illuminates the power of grief to enhance our relationship with God.

    As a result, many women are discouraged. Some, particularly young women, respond by leaving the organized church . . . or walking away from the faith altogether. Containing personal interviews with women and new research from George Barna, The Resignation of Eve is a field report on what women have to say about how they've been affected by their experiences within the church. It is crucially important because, across the board, the research shows that women are driving changes in the church . . . so what will happen if they resign?Inviting women to speak for themselves, The Resignation of Eve is a must-read, life-changing book for women who have been engaged in the Christian church as well as their pastors and ministry leaders.

    Though he sees dark horizons, his ultimate answer is one of Christian hope.

    In a world of chaos and conflict, we want a place of comfort and peace.In Placemaker, Christie Purifoy invites us to notice our soul's desire for beauty, our need to create and to be created again and again. As she reflects on the joys and sorrows of two decades as a placemaker and her recent years living in and restoring a Pennsylvania farmhouse, Christie shows us that we are all gardeners. No matter our vocation, we spend much of our lives tending, keeping, and caring. In each act of creation, we reflect the image of God. In each moment of making beauty, we realize that beauty is a mystery to receive.Weaving together her family's journey with stories of botanical marvels and the histories of the flawed yet inspiring placemakers who shaped the land generations ago, Christie calls us to cultivate orchards and communities, to clap our hands along with the trees of the fields, to step into our calling to create, to make a place in the place God made for us. Placemaker is a timely yet timeless reminder that the cultivation of good and beautiful places is not a retreat from the real world but a holy pursuit of a world that is more real than we know.

    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.