Andrea Ambrosi, a country priest and a cosmopolitan Italian canon lawyer, as the two piece together the life of a long dead Korean War hero and military chaplain and fashion it into a case for eternal divinity. Joe Drape offers a front row seat to the Catholic Church's saint-making machinery—which, in many ways, has changed little in two thousand years-and examines how, or if, faith and science can co-exist.This rich and unique narrative leads from the plains of Kansas to the opulent halls of the Vatican, through brutal Korean War prison camps, and into the stories of two individuals, Avery Gerleman and Chase Kear, whose lives were threatened by illness and injury and whose family and friends prayed to Father Kapaun, sparking miraculous recoveries in the heart of America. Gerleman is now a nurse, and Kear works as a mechanic in the aerospace industry. Both remain devoted to Father Kapaun, whose opportunity for sainthood relies in their belief and medical charts. At a time when the church has faced severe scandal and damage, and the world is at the mercy of a pandemic, this is an uplifting story about a priest who continues to an example of goodness and faith.Ultimately, The Saint Makers is the story of a journey of faith—for two priests separated by seventy years, for the two young athletes who were miraculously brought back to life with (or without) the intercession of the divine, as well as for readers—and the author—trying to understand and accept what makes a person truly worthy of the Congregation of Saints in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

    Others shun any mixing of politics and faith, while still others are turned off by both.How should Christians act as citizens? Is there a clear-cut pattern we can follow? And does involvement in politics dilute the good news of the gospel for all people?In his signature, thoughtful style, Yancey tackles headlong a most contentious subject. At a time when labels define the field (red state/blue state, conservative/liberal, Tea Party/moderate), he seeks a common ground where faith and politics intersect, challenging us with five new ways to walk with grace in a world that knows all too little of it.

    Ridges brings the books of Exodus through Ruth to life with his well-known teaching skills. In addition, he provides some direction and helps for understanding 1 Samuel through Proverbs. In-the-verse notes provide a highly effective, unique teaching tool. Notes between the verses provide additional insights and teach principles and doctrines. Join the tens of thousands of readers who have experienced spiritual growth from reading and pondering the books in this series.

    Exploring the intersection of personality and spiritual practice, this book aims to consider how human uniqueness should pair with specific practices, biblical narratives and seasons in the Church calendar. Far too often spiritual formation in the Christian faith is over-simplified or omitted altogether. The Enneagram reveals an individuals areas of great strength and also humbling weakness. This book is one of the few resources on personality theory that asks the question: NOW WHAT? The first half of "Enneagram and the Way of Jesus" provides a brief analysis about the present crisis of discipleship, the origins of the Enneagram, and concise descriptions of each of the nine types for the purpose of assessment. The second half leads the reader to consider several spiritual practices based on personality--practices that both pair well and also practices that challenge the individual toward transformation. The reader will then discover biblical narratives and seasons the Church calendar where s/he should pay most attention based on type.

    Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, writing of this small group of Mormon women who've previously been seen as mere names and dates, has reconstructed these textured, complex lives to give us a portrait of who these women were and of their "sex radicalism"--the idea that a woman should choose when and with whom to bear children.

    But in her book, Wildly Optimistic, she explains that being optimistic doesn't mean you're happy all the time or that bad days don't come! It means that even on hard days, you know that it won't last, and better ones are coming. It means you're proactive in your moments of crumbling and look for lessons and opportunities and light. With her trademark honesty, optimism, and love for the Lord, Al shares how we can be hopeful even when He is silent, when too much time passes, when it's not what we wanted, when things don't work out, and when we want to give up. When we remember that we have the most powerful Being in existence on our side, even during our struggles, we can have peace. It turns out, with God, we have every reason to be wildly optimistic!

    The white slave trade was rampant, and along with all the vice crimes, murders became a weekly occurrence. Law enforcement seemed to turn a blind eye, and cries of political corruption were heard in the state capital. This scenario replayed itself over and over again during the past century as mobsters and madams ruled and murders plagued the city and county at an alarming rate.

    They consider themselves the new chosen—congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential cells, to pray and plan for a "leadership led by God," to be won not by force but through "quiet diplomacy." Their base is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have reported from inside its walls.The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power—not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites. Sharlet follows the story back to Abraham Vereide, an immigrant preacher who in 1935 organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the far right with his own polite but authoritarian faith. From that core, Vereide built an international network of fundamentalists who spoke the language of establishment power, a "family" that thrives to this day. In public, they host Prayer Breakfasts; in private, they preach a gospel of "biblical capitalism," military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao as leadership models, the Family's current leader, Doug Coe, declares, "We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't."Sharlet's discoveries dramatically challenge conventional wisdom about American fundamentalism, revealing its crucial role in the unraveling of the New Deal, the waging of the cold war, and the no-holds-barred economics of globalization. The question Sharlet believes we must ask is not "What do fundamentalists want?" but "What have they already done?"Part history, part investigative journalism, The Family is a compelling account of how fundamentalism came to be interwoven with American power, a story that stretches from the religious revivals that have shaken this nation from its beginning to fundamentalism's new frontiers. No other book about the right has exposed the Family or revealed its far-reaching impact on democracy, and no future reckoning of American fundamentalism will be able to ignore it.

    First Latin American. And a new pope who chose as his first act a simple request: please pray for me.The recent resignation of Pope Benedict XVI took the world by surprise and for good reason. More than 600 years had passed since a pope last left his post.Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, is a man of prayer, a man of action, and a humble man who has always promoted others over himself. In fact, it was Bergoglio who bowed out of the running in the papal election of 2005 to facilitate the rise of Benedict XVI.However, the new pope faces a Catholic Church in crisis--a church that has lost the media pull of John Paul II and is still hounded by pedophile scandals and the filtration of documents from former papal administrations. His first year may not be an easy one, but neither this man nor the church itself has ever shied away from the challenges thrust upon them.Pope Francis is austere and simple but has vast theological training. He is a man of his time but one who also travels by subway and bus just like any other citizen. Tirelessly fighting poverty and marginalization, he is a beacon of hope for the poor, persecuted sectors of the church. Has a Catholic spring finally arrived after a very long winter?Francis is the complete biography of a humble man who has suddenly become one of the most powerful and influential men on the planet.

    Magisterial in scope, with a strong you-are-there quality, The Children is a story one of America's preeminent journalists has waited years to write, a powerful book about one of the most dramatic movements in American history. They came together as part of Rev. James Lawson's workshops on nonviolence, eight idealistic black students whose families had sacrificed much so that they could go to college. They risked it all, & their lives besides, when they joined the growing civil rights movement. Halberstam shows how Martin Luther King Jr recruited Lawson to come to Nashville to train students in Gandhian techniques of nonviolence. We see the strength of the families the Children came from, moving portraits of several generations of the black experience in America. We feel Diane Nash's fear before the first sit-in to protest segregation of Nashville lunch counters. Then we see how Diane Nash & others--John Lewis, Gloria Johnson, Bernard Lafayette, Marion Barry, Curtis Murphy, James Bevel, Rodney Powell--persevered until they ultimately accomplished that goal. After the sit-ins, when the Freedom Rides to desegregate interstate buses were in danger of being stopped because of violence, it was these same young people who led the bitter battle into the Deep South. Halberstam takes us into those buses, lets us witness the violence the students encountered in Montgomery, Birmingham, Selma. He shows what has happened to the Children since the 60s, as they have gone on with their lives.

    Internalizing society’s devaluation of the feminine, some women are killing their own natural impulses to pursue a feminist ideal that bears no relation to God’s good design. Other women struggle to conform to a fundamentalist, feminine caricature, which requires denying their full humanity and gifting.Defying both feminists and fundamentalists, Julie Roys reveals God’s true, affirming, and compelling vision for women, showing them how to reclaim what is uniquely feminine, and become healthy, balanced women of God.

    From Christian Reconstructionists, Dominionists, Quiverfull, Seven Mountains Mandate, the attacks on public schools, to birth control becoming a hot button issue, find out the leaders of the movement and their tactics. This book explains, and documents, a stealthy hijacking of the government, courts, schools, even our history, and popular culture. This work includes interviews, research, and a bibliography. The presentation is organized and systematic, while in plain English. It shares how to get involved and make a difference in your community to protect your rights and preserve democracy. The book is written by an insider who left the Religious Right, and now shares why they believe they are mandated to have dominion over every aspect of life in the United States. The author details how their vision for America is not a democracy at all. A must read. Well researched with current events included and explained. Never dull and answers all your questions.

    Rumor explores Church history myths, rumors, and false quotes to demonstrate how to think effectively about the information that swirls around us in our day. Each chapter brims with illuminating examples from scripture, history, and popular culture. By thoughtfully combining study and faith, you will be strengthened as you deepen your discipleship, avoid deception, understand tough topics, and see the hand of God in history and in your own life.

    Secret societies thrive among us, yet they remain shrouded in mystery. Their secrecy suggests, to many, sacrilege or crime, and their loyalties are often accused of undermining governments and tipping the scales of justice. The Freemasons, for example, hold more seats of power in the U.S. government than any other organization. No fewer than sixteen presidents have declared their Masonic affiliation, and there may have been more. Secret societies have infiltrated pop culture as well. Celebrity members of Kabbalah include Madonna, Demi Moore, and Elizabeth Taylor, among others.From the Mafia and the Yakuza to the Priory of Sion, Skull and Bones and the Templars, Reynolds offers an illuminating and entertaining exploration of the storiesOCoconfirmed and fabricatedOCothat surround these societies, as well as provides detailed information on their origins, initiations, rituals, and secret signs. Dispelling myths and providing gripping revelationsOCosuch as a direct historical link between the Assassins of the Middle Ages and todayOCOs Al QaedaOCo"Secret Societies" gives us a smart, surprising look at the best known and often least understood covert organizations."

    He was a kid, eighteen years old. Married, broke, flunking out of college-and about to become a father. The Marines seemed like a good way out. He figured the Nam couldn't be any worse than home. He was wrong.Publishers Weekly says "Chilling...It tells how a youngster from Portland, Oregon matured in the crucible of combat...The reader is given a sense of what it's like to fight an unseen enemy who might appear anytime, anywhere and start shooting from ambush." Karl Marlantes, New York Times best selling author of "Matterhorn" calls "A Field of Innocence", "Powerful ...and riveting."Tim O'Brien, New York Times best selling author of "The Things They Carried" says, "With its raw realism and heartbreaking honesty...one of the finest Vietnam memoirs."Kirkus Review says A Field of Innocence is "Exciting and Impressive."