Help children understand the sacrament of Baptism with this scrapbook record of the day they were welcomed into the Church. An introduction for elementary school children, along with pages for photographs, prayers, and memories, make this an excellent gift for your child and a helpful teaching tool.

In this book, Ligita Ryliskyte addresses what is arguably the most important and profound question in systematic theology: What does it mean for humankind to be saved by the cross? Offering a constructive account of the atonement that avoids pitting God's saving love against divine justice, she provides a biblically-grounded and philosophically disciplined theology of the cross that responds to the exigencies of postmodern secular culture. Ryliskyte draws on Bernard J. F. Lonergan's development of the Augustinian-Thomist tradition to argue that the justice of the cross concerns the orderly communication and diffusion of divine friendship. It becomes efficacious in the dynamic order of the emergent universe through the transformation of evil into good out of love. Showing how inherited theological traditions can be transposed in new contexts, Ryliskyte's book reveals a Christology of fundamental significance for contemporary systematic theology, as well as the fields of theological ethics and Christian spirituality.

"Pardo's study provides a persuasive criticism of the widespread assumption that the process of Christianization in Mexico can be conceived as the imposition of a complete and fool-proof system that did not accept doubts or compromises. "The Origins of Mexican Catholicism" will become an invaluable tool for future researchers and enrich future debates on the subject."
---Fernando Cervantes, Bristol University, UK
"Pardo does an excellent job of balancing and contrasting sixteenth-century Catholic theology with Nahua thought and belief."
---John F. Schwaller, University of Minnesota

At first glance, religious conversion may appear to be only a one-way street. When studying sixteenth-century Mexico, one might assume that colonial coercion was the driving force behind the religious conversion of the native population. But "The Origins of Mexican Catholicism" shows how Spanish missionaries instead drew on existing native ceremonies in order to make Christianity more accessible to the Nahua population whom they were trying to convert.
Osvaldo F. Pardo explains that religious figures not only shaped native thought, but that indigenous rituals had an impact on the religion itself. This work illustrates the complex negotiations that took place in the process of making the Christian sacraments available to the native peoples, and at the same time, forced the missionaries to reexamine the meaning of their sacraments through the eyes of an alien culture.
For Spanish missionaries, ritual not only became a focus of evangelical concern but also opened a window to the social world of the Nahuas. Missionaries were able to delve into the Nahua's notions of self, emotions, andsocial and cosmic order. By better understanding the sociological aspects of Nahua culture, Christians learned ways to adequately convey their religion through mutual understanding instead of merely colonial oppression.
Given its interdisciplinary approach, this book will be of interest to specialists in Latin American intellectual and literary history, the history of religion, and anthropology, and to anyone interested in cross-cultural processes.

Penitential practice in the Holy Roman Empire 900-1050, examined through records in church law, the liturgy, monastic and other sources. This study examines all forms of penitential practice in the Holy Roman Empire under the Ottonian and Salian Reich, c.900 - c.1050. This crucial period in the history of penance, falling between the Carolingians' codification of public and private penance, and the promotion of the practice of confession in the thirteenth century, has largely been ignored by historians. Tracing the varieties of penitential practice recorded in church law, the liturgy, monastic practice, narrative and documentary sources, Dr Hamilton's book argues that many of the changes previously attributed to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries can be found earlier in the tenth and early eleventh centuries. Whilst acknowledging that there was a degree of continuity from the Carolingian period, she asserts that the period should be seen as having its own dynamic. Investigating the sources for penitential practice by genre, sheacknowledges the prescriptive bias of many of them and points ways around the problem in order to establish the reality of practice in this area at this time. This book thus studies the Church in action in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the reality of relations between churchmen, and between churchmen and the laity, as well as the nature of clerical aspirations. It examines the legacy left by the Carolingian reformers and contributes to our understanding of pre-Gregorian mentalities in the period before the late eleventh-century reforms. SARAH HAMILTON teaches in the Department of History, University of Exeter.

In a sacramental ecology, divine grace is to be found in the evolutionary emergence of life. The 'Epic of Evolution' is the scientific story that reveals that we live in an approximately 14 billion year old universe on a planet that is approximately 4.6 billion years old and that we are a part of the ongoing process of life that has existed on Earth for roughly 4 billion years. Nature's Sacrament focuses on the religious and ecological significance of the evolutionary epic in an effort to seamlessly connect the ecological value attributed as a part of an understanding of the evolutionary connectedness of life on Earth, with the Divine grace understood to be present in Christian sacramental worship. David C. McDuffie is a faculty member in the Religious Studies Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where his primary teaching schedule includes courses in World Religions, Religion in America, Christian History, Religion and Environment, and Religion and Politics. Broadly, his research and teaching interests involve the subject area of Religion and Culture, which includes but is not limited to the relationships between religion and politics, science, and health care. This is his first book.

Is believer's baptism the clear teaching of the New Testament Scriptures? What are the historical and theological challenges to believer's baptism? What are the practical applications for believer's baptism today? Volume two in the NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY STUDIES IN BIBLE & THEOLOGY (NACSBT) series for pastors, advanced Bible students, and other deeply committed laypersons addresses these compelling questions.

Indeed, "Believer's Baptism "begins with the belief that believer's baptism (as opposed to infant baptism or other faith proclaiming methods) is the clear teaching of the New Testament. Along the way, the argument is supported by written contributions from Andreas Kostenberger, Robert Stein, Thomas Schreiner, Stephen Wellum, Steve McKinion, Jonathan Rainbow, Shawn Wright, and Mark Dever.

Users will find this an excellent extension of the long-respected NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY.

'What Christ Jesus taught is not what is most important, but rather what he has given humanity. His resurrection is the birth of a new faculty within human nature.' -- Rudolf Steiner In this book experienced Christian Community priest and teacher, Michael Debus, helps readers to understand the heart of religious consciousness and practical life -- the sacraments. He does so by exploring the following questions and more: -- Is baptism merely a symbolic act, or is it a reality that affects one's life? -- How should we understand the transformation of bread and wine? -- How can rituals express spiritual realities? Debus makes these complex concepts accessible to anyone who wants to understand the background and sacraments of The Christian Community. He also weaves together a discussion of historical theological developments with the evolution of consciousness. This is an insightful book for readers looking to understand the spiritual foundations of The Christian Community and its place in theological history, and its role in Christianity today.

"The heart of this book is about the ways in which the liturgy of the sacraments has been celebrated and understood in history and the ways in which the liturgy can (and should) influence how we understand the sacraments today." In the first text of its kind, renowned liturgical scholar Kevin W. Irwin offers a thorough explanation of the sacraments in their intimate relationship to liturgy. In Part 1 he traces the historical evolution of sacraments and sacramental practice from their biblical foundations through the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Part 3 concerns a theology of sacraments based on the liturgy as a major and firm foundation for understanding the theology of the sacraments today. Bridging these two main parts are two methodological chapters that describe the sources and method to be applied in Part 3. The Sacraments: Historical Foundations and Liturgical Theology is an indispensable resource for scholars and students who need to understand the sacraments as they should be understood: in their historical and theological relationships to the liturgy.

First published in 1901, this book traces the development of the Sacrament of Confession from the earliest days of Christianity to 1215, when public penance and confession was replaced by the more intimate Auricular format. The text is rigorously annotated with citations from the original sources and in the original languages. Although written primarily for Anglican clergymen, this book will be of value to anyone interested in the implementation and evolution of Sacraments and in Church history more generally.

The second edition of a classic designed for baptismal preparation and relevant to all Christians. A program for adult Episcopalians that can easily be adapted to other denominations, one-on-one spiritual mentoring, children, young adult, or intergenerational groups, and even to individuals for private meditation. The eight group sessions in this book focus repeatedly on water, first as a natural element necessary to life, then as a symbolic element necessary to spirituality. Gradually, through prayer, song, scripture, silence, poetry, visual arts, storytelling, group discussion, and personal reflection, water-as a baptismal element-gains ascendancy. No longer merely occasional refreshment, Living Water inundates, becoming life's very medium.

A leading expert shares important benchmarks for leading liturgy. Grounded in Christian liturgical theology and how ritual forms the people who practice it, this book offers the principles at work in good liturgical practice, guidance for making liturgical choices, and best practices in leading and presiding over liturgical worship. Topics include curating liturgy and leading with excellence, principles for liturgical planning and presiding, and best practices for the Eucharist and Baptism. The author draws on his wide-ranging work in ritual theory to provide a practical guide that clergy and lay leaders in the Episcopal Church will find to be an essential resource. Those in other denominations will also find this book to be a useful reference in standard setting.

Having set aside the Catholic liturgical books, the Protestant Church of England then found itself on occasion obliged to recreate certain rites as necessity arose. The volume aims at presenting a considerable number of these from manuscript and printed sources, and is furnished with ample appendices. The complexity of material involved suggests the usefulness of listing the acts and the sources drawn upon. Twenty-nine main texts are printed, together with a large number of other relevant documents.