It is intended to instruct the faithful, and satisfy their pious desires. There might, perhaps, have been some reason to fear, at the very outset, that the mere title of Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, however it might attract many persons to read this book, might also deter many others. Arrested by the first words, they might be led to form an inaccurate idea of the devotion. To remove this difficulty, it has been thought well to explain in the beginning, what is understood by devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Experience has proved, that there is no one, who, after seeing in what it consists, does not agree, that it is reasonable, solid, and most useful, for our salvation, as well as for our perfection

    Sociologist Rodney Stark surveys the birth and growth of religions around the world—from the prehistoric era of primal beliefs; the history of the pyramids found in Iraq, Egypt, Mexico, and Cambodia; and the great "Axial Age" of Plato, Zoroaster, Confucius, and the Buddha, to the modern Christian missions and the global spread of Islam. He argues for a free-market theory of religion and for the controversial thesis that under the best, unimpeded conditions, the true, most authentic religions will survive and thrive. Among his many conclusions:Despite decades of faulty reports that early religions were crude muddles of superstition, it turns out that primitive humans had surprisingly sophisticated notions about God and Creation.The idea of "sin" appeared suddenly in the sixth century BCE and quickly reshaped religious ideas from Europe to China.Some major world religions seem to lack any plausible traces of divine inspiration.Ironically, some famous figures who attempted to found "Godless" religions ended up being worshiped as Gods.Most people believe in the existence of God (or Gods), and this has apparently been so throughout human history. Many modern biologists and psychologists reject these spiritual ideas, especially those about the existence of God, as delusional. They claim that religion is a primitive survival mechanism that should have been discarded as humans evolved beyond the stage where belief in God served any useful purpose—that in modern societies, faith is a misleading crutch and an impediment to reason. In Discovering God, award-winning sociologist Rodney Stark responds to this position, arguing that it is our capacity to understand God that has evolved—that humans now know much more about God than they did in ancient times.

    Goodbye, Good Men uncovers how radical liberalism has infiltrated the Catholic Church, overthrowing traditional beliefs, standards, and disciplines.

    Unbaptized, Augustine indulged in a life of lust before finally confessing and converting. Lane Fox recounts Augustine's sexual sins, his time in an outlawed heretical sect, and his gradual return to spirituality. Magisterial and beautifully written, Augustine is the authoritative portrait of this colossal figure at his most thoughtful, vulnerable, and profound.

    This was the England of Shakespeare, Jonson, and Bacon; the era of the Gunpowder Plot and the worst outbreak of the plague. Jacobean England was both more godly and less godly than the country had ever been, and the entire culture was drawn taut between these polarities. This was the world that created the King James Bible. It is the greatest work of English prose ever written, and it is no coincidence that the translation was made at the moment "Englishness," specifically the English language itself, had come into its first passionate maturity. The English of Jacobean England has a more encompassing idea of its own scope than any form of the language before or since. It drips with potency and sensitivity. The age, with all its conflicts, explains the book.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

    Known as the father of the Protestant Reformation, no single figure has had a greater impact on Western Christianity except perhaps Augustine. In Luther on the Christian Life, historian Carl Trueman introduces readers to the lively Reformer, taking them on a tour of his historical context, theological system, and approach to the Christian life. Whether exploring Luther's theology of protest, ever-present sense of humor, or misunderstood view of sanctification, this addition to Crossway's Theologians on the Christian Life series highlights the ways in which Luther's eventful life shaped his understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Ultimately, this book will help modern readers go deeper in their spiritual walk by learning from one of the great teachers of the faith.

    She was a woman of courage, humility, spirit, and resolve, and her response to the angel Gabriel shifted the tectonic plates of history.   Join popular Biblical scholar Scot McKnight as he explores the contours of Mary’s life, from the moment she learned of God’s plan for the Messiah, to the culmination of Christ’s ministry on earth. McKnight dismantles the myths and also challenges our prejudices. He introduces us to a woman who is a model for faith, and who points us to her son. "McKnight is absolutely right that the domesticated image of Mary, and the silenced Mary of Protestantism who only shows up quietly at Christmas, need to be dismissed as unhistorical. It is time for a Mary upgrade in the Evangelical world, and Scot McKnight has both the hardware and the software to deliver the goods. Highly recommended!"     -Ben Witherington, Professor of New Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary “In all of the gospels, Mary may be the most overlooked character.  She has become an unwitting dividing line between Catholics and Protestants, while we have missed the remarkable story of her life.  Scot McKnight peels back the layers of controversy to reveal this compelling woman, in whom God found such great favor.”             -Nancy Ortberg, columnist, Today’s Christian Woman “Scot McKnight courageously embarks on the quest for the Historical Mary and succeeds brilliantly. I’ll never be able to look at that powder blue Mary figurine in the Christmas nativity scene the same way again!”             -Joseph B. Modica, University Chaplain, Eastern University "I have often wondered about the real Mary. How did she feel?  What did she know?  Who was she?  Mary emerges from the pages of Scot McKnight's book as a woman with the spiritual depth to believe an angel's bizarre message and the boldness to call for justice in an oppressive, unjust world.  But like us, Mary had to struggle to understand God's way of working out his redemptive plan.  She hadn't expected a Messiah who would die, hadn't anticipated that a sword would pierce her soul.  Like us, she didn't have Jesus all figured out. But she grappled with reality, trusted God, and remained faithful to his call on her life.  That both challenges me and gives me hope."             -Lynne Hybels, Willow Creek Community Church              Author, Nice Girls Don't Change the World Want to learn more about Mary? Join Protestant writer (Born Again and Again) Jon M. Sweeney as he delves into the mystery, history and imagination surrounding the life and legends of the Virgin Mary. Sweeney's new book explores the four gospels, the non-canonical Gnostic gospels, the Qur'an, medieval and Renaissance art, mystical writings of figures such as Beatrice of Nazareth and Anna Catherine Emmerich, the teachings of Bernard of Clairvaux, Martin Luther and various little-known mystics, contemporary novels and art, and throughout twenty centuries of

    He trudged around the United States and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than fifty women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. While previous accounts of his life have been distorted by hagiography or polemical expose, John Turner provides a fully realized portrait of a colossal figure in American religion, politics, and westward expansion.After the 1844 murder of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Young gathered those Latter-day Saints who would follow him and led them over the Rocky Mountains. In Utah, he styled himself after the patriarchs, judges, and prophets of ancient Israel. As charismatic as he was autocratic, he was viewed by his followers as an indispensable protector and by his opponents as a theocratic, treasonous heretic.Under his fiery tutelage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defended plural marriage, restricted the place of African Americans within the church, fought the U.S. Army in 1857, and obstructed federal efforts to prosecute perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. At the same time, Young's tenacity and faith brought tens of thousands of Mormons to the American West, imbued their everyday lives with sacred purpose, and sustained his church against adversity. Turner reveals the complexity of this spiritual prophet, whose commitment made a deep imprint on his church and the American Mountain West.

    He lives in Canberra. In 1858, fourteen-year-old French cabin boy Narcisse Pelletier was aboard the trader Saint-Paul when it was wrecked off the eastern tip of New Guinea. Scrambling into a longboat, Narcisse and the other survivors crossed almost 1000 kilometres of the Coral Sea before reaching the shores of Far North Queensland. If not for the local Aboriginal people, Narcisse would have perished. For seventeen years he lived with them, growing to manhood and participating fully in their Uutaalnganu world. Then, in 1875, his life was again turned upside down.Drawing from firsthand interviews with Narcisse after his return to France and other contemporary accounts of exploration and survival, and documenting the spread of European settlement in Queensland and the brutal frontier wars that followed, Robert Macklin weaves an unforgettable tale of a young man caught between two cultures in a time of transformation and upheaval.

    One will learn communion's origin deepen his relationship with God and be challenged in discipleship.

    Each story appears on the day and month that it occurred and includes questions for reflection and a related Scripture verse.

    Here is the first English biography for middle graders on Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish Franciscan who, at Auschwitz, offered himself in exchange for the life of a man with two children. The biography covers Kolbe's early life, his work as a journalist, and his founding of Niepokalanow, the world's largest friary. Kolbe's act of love and faith teaches young readers important lessons that Christianity means more than just going to church, that the Holocaust actually happened, and that saints can be as real and modern as the person standing next to you in line. For first-hand research, the author traveled to Poland to visit where Kolbe lived and to interview people who actually knew him, including his cousin, his secretary, and one of his students. In addition, the foreword is by Ted Wojtkowski, a fellow camp prisoner and now a well-known Polish American who was standing close to Kolbe when he made his offer of self-sacrifice. Kolbe's story is ideal for children of Polish descent, parochial schools, parish libraries, classes in cultural diversity, and classes on World War II or the Holocaust. And, while written simply enough for children, this book will move all readers showing just how much the human spirit can achieve. +

    A study of Machen's thought and career that says much about the issues that unsettled mainstream Protestantism's hold on American intellectual and cultural life.

    But in this book, suffused with the methods (though thankfully not the tortured vocabulary) of postmodern critical suspicion, the Confessions is more hindrance than help at seeing the "many Augustines" who have been lost behind Augustine's own self-presentation. The Augustines that O'Donnell sketches include the aspiring social climber who transferred his ambitions from society to church; the bitter and dogged polemicist; and "Don Quixote of Hippo," whose "fantasy world of earliest Christianity has come eerily to be real." O'Donnell's pace is quick, his writing is sharp and there are lively and provocative interpretations on nearly every page. But his jaundiced portrait does not quite seem to do justice to the African bishop's perennial appeal, which O'Donnell acknowledges in characteristically backhanded fashion: "Call it codependency or Stockholm syndrome at its mildest; call it religious partisanship at its most extreme, but even Augustine's severest modern critics find something attractive or fascinating about the man and his work." Readers of this book will certainly wonder why. For O'Donnell, it seems, familiarity has bred contempt.

    Saved from a life of slave trading, John Newton was fully aware of the depths from which he was pulled. In this autobiography, revised and updated for today's readers by Dennis Hillman, Newton relates the events that led him from unimaginable sin and spiritual bondage to a life of ministry and renewal--transformed by God's amazing and inexhaustible grace.Discover the timeless story of John Newton's conversion and the true meaning of the familiar words, "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see."