Those two months--between the time Pope Benedict announced his retirement up until the election of Pope Francis--were a deeply spiritual and important period for the Cardinal. In this eBook original, he reflects on that most exciting of times. By turns, witty, provocative, and inspiring Cardinal Dolan gives a first hand account of what happened during those days and what it means for the future of the Church.

    It is about shedding light, not heat. It's about reframing the argument so hearts can be opened and minds can be inspired. How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice is a new sort of apologetics. It is for those moments when you are thrust into the spotlight as the token Catholic whether the spotlight is simply at the office water cooler or whether it is front and center at the in-laws Thanksgiving celebration. How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice gives Catholics a fresh way of explaining the Church's teaching on contentious issues humanly, compellingly, and succinctly.But this book does not pretend to suggest it is as simple as memorizing a speech. Every conversation is different. Every day's news cycle will bring new arguments and new challenges. Instead, it is a book about what the issues really are and where the criticisms are coming from so you can understand and communicate effectively.

    These twelve central affirmative principles of Christian faith are built on the three great loves that the Bible reveals: love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self. They reflect commitments to environmental stewardship, social justice, and artistic expression as well as openness to other faiths. Transcending theological and culture wars, inclusive and generous in spirit and practice, these principles ask believers and seekers alike to affirm their Christian faith in a fresh way.

    Although the whole of Francis's life was based on his belief in God, he was the least dogmatic of saints, seeing himself as God's troubadour or fool. It is unnecessary to share his faith in order to appreciate his soaring achievements. His life (1182-1226) was rich in its succession of dramas. After his debauchery as a young playboy, merchant and soldier-he fought at the Battle of Collestrada--he stripped naked in court, abandoned everything he owned and devoted his life to the poorest and sick. The all-embracing relationship between him and Clare enriched each as man and woman. On his missions he walked over the Pyrenees barefoot, was shipwrecked and crossed the lines during the Fifth Crusade to parley with the sultan in Egypt. In 1224 marks similar to Christ's wounds appeared on his hands, feet and side, the first recorded case of the stigmata. His feelings for creation, epitomized in his sermon to the birds, stimulated the realism of the Italian Renaissance artists; his vernacular poems inclined Dante to write The Divine Comedy in Italian, not Latin. The first religious order he founded, for men, had a radical effect on social justice and the developing universities in Europe; his second order, the Poor Clares, soon numbered hundreds, including royalty and half a dozen saints; his third, for laity sworn to peace, helped destroy the military power of feudalism. Men like Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Cervantes and Galileo allegedly joined the Third Order. But, above all, it is through his universal love that he has influenced the world for nearly eight centuries, drawing more than three million people every year to his tomb in Assisi.

    He explains Matthew's challenge to let go of the conventional wisdom that comes with contemporary American culture. Each of seven talks brings us closer to the heart of the Sermon. Rohr contrasts conventional wisdom with the wisdom of Christ and draws the listener into the Kingdom of God, the end of the world and the experience of enlightenment. He explains that each generation lives in end times, that the Kingdom is for those willing to let go of all cultural idolatry (past and present) and that those who live in reality travel a path of life which unfolds into freedom. This series is a powerful call to follow Jesus Christ in the commandments of the New Testament. Talk 1: Awakening the Heart: Recognizing Cultural Idolatry Talk 2: Voices of the World: Social Institutions Talk 3: Table Fellowship: Alfalfa Sprouts and Gravy Talk 4: Matthew's Gospel: Charter for a New World Order Talk 5: Transformation: Jumping Off the Tower Talk 6: The Sermon and Conventional Wisdom Talk 7: Love and Power, Power and Love

    A Palestinian Christian theologian shows how the reality of empire shapes the context of the biblical story, and the ongoing experience of Middle East conflict.

    H. Tawney addresses the question of how religion has affected social and economic practices. He tracks the influence of religious thought on capitalist economy and ideology since the Middle Ages, shedding light on the question of why Christianity continues to exert a unique role in the marketplace. In so doing, the book offers an incisive analysis of the morals and mores of contemporary Western culture.Religion and the Rise of Capitalism is more pertinent now than ever, as today the dividing line between the spheres of religion and secular business is shifting, blending ethical considerations with the motivations of the marketplace. By examining the period that saw the transition from medieval to modern theories of social organization, Tawney clarifies the most pressing problems of the end of the century. In tough, muscular, richly varied prose, he tells an absorbing and meaningful story. And in his new introduction, which may well be a classic in its own right, Adam Seligman details Tawney's background and the current status of academic thought on these issues, and he provides a comparative analysis of Tawney with Max Weber that will at once delight and inform readers.

    Focused on the human dilemma of sin and redemptive grace, theology has considered the doctrine of creation to be mainly an overture to the main drama of human being`s relationship to God. What value does the natural world have within the framework of religious belief? The crisis of biodiversity in our day, when species are going extinct at more than 1,000 times the natural rate, renders this question acutely important.Standard perspectives need to be realigned; theology needs to look out of the window, so to speak as well as in the mirror. Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love leads to the conclusion that love of the natural world is an intrinsic element of faith in God and that far from being an add-on, ecological care is at the centre of moral life.

    Not big enough, not nice enough, not fast or hip enough.The American dream is based on wanting more. But does God's dream for the world look like the American Dream?In this five-week study, unpack what the patterns of God's kingdom look like compared to the patterns of our world. What is the value of enough, and how do we become more like the God who is close to the poor, the hungry, the meek, and the merciful?Economy of Love will challenge individuals to join in community, journeying together as they begin to consider a new standard of living-a personal economic threshold oriented not around the size of a monthly paycheck, but around the value of enough.

    

    At the heart of this new way of thinking about worship is the role of the worship curator. Many practical examples are used to illustrate ways in which worship, both inside and outside the church building, can be curated and delivered for spiritual formation and mission. The Art of Curating Worship provides a new language and practice for designing worship with the potential for transforming our experience of God. The Art of Curating Worship promotes a new vocabulary to help worship curators work out how and why and where worship can best engage their community, inside and outside the church, in transformative encounters with God.

    Translating his biblical scholarship into simple, elegant language, he offers a compelling and wise reflection on the real Jesus--not the reconstructed historical figure but the resurrected Christ, a living savior we can encounter every day.Living Jesus elucidates the mystery of Jesus' resurrection and its central role in the Christian experience. It explores the diversity and fullness of the New Testament views of Christ, revealing how each book's perspective can deepen our understanding of Jesus. Profoundly insightful, Living Jesus offers valuable lessons on how we can accept the Gospels' powerful invitation to an authenic Christian spirituality.

    Originally published as The Journey Toward Reconciliation and based on Lederach’s work in twenty-five countries across five continents, this revised and updated book tells dramatic stories of what works—and what doesn’t—in resolving and transforming conflicts. A section of resources for congregations and small groups offers litanies, discussion questions, resource lists, and practical ideas for peacemaking in everyday life.“Lynne and I feel deeply called to the work of peacemaking these days. We know it is very near to the heart of the One we serve. No one’s writings have helped us more than John Paul Lederach’s.”—Bill Hybels, co-founder and senior pastor, Willow Creek Community Church

    This unique book offers a timeless solution for the spiritual and skeptical alike.Combining story-driven reflections with visual and written prayers, this simple 40-day prayer guide will help you reconnect with God as you rediscover your own ongoing conversation with Him. Using the familiar refrains in the Lord's Prayer as a guide, this groundbreaking resource invites you to reconnect with God creatively and organically.

    It argues that Marxism shares in good measure both the content and functions of Christianity and does so because it inherits it from Christianity. It details the religious attitudes and modes of belief that appear in Marxism as it developed historically from the philosophies of Hegel and Feuerbach, and as it has been carried on by its latter-day interpreters from Rosa Luxemberg and Trotsky to Kautsky and Lukacs. It sets out to show that Marxism, no less than Christianity, is subject to the historical relativity that affects all ideologies. This new edition has been updated to take account of the collapse of Communism in the former Eastern bloc and whether Marxism, in particular, is still relevant to those who seek a changed social order today.