Many have asked thequestion "Can I findmeaning in life" This isbecause we as humanbeings need to feel thatour lives count forsomething that they aresignificant. It is linked toour selfesteem. To feel unimportant is to feelinadequate and this is a difficult burden to bear.Enjoying a meaningful life is therefore a preciousthing and something that is worthwhilesearching for. However if our existence isultimately meaningless if there's no God to obeyand no immortality to enjoy then our individualactions become utterly futile. This book is apersonal apologetic that is thoughtprovoking forboth Christians and nonChristians.

Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) is popularly celebrated for his fascinating spiritual life. How could one man, one deeply spiritual man, serve as both a traditional Oglala Lakota medicine man and a Roman Catholic catechist and mystic? How did these two spiritual and cultural identities enrich his prayer life? How did his commitment to God, understood through his Lakota and Catholic communities, shape his understanding of how to be in the world? To fully understand the depth of Black Elk's life-long spiritual quest requires a deep appreciation of his life story. He witnessed devastation on the battlefields of Little Bighorn and the Massacre at Wounded Knee, but also extravagance while performing for Queen Victoria as a member of "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Wild West Show. Widowed by his first wife, he remarried and raised eight children. Black Elk's spiritual visions granted him wisdom and healing insight beginning in his childhood, but he grew progressively physically blind in his adult years. These stories, and countless more, offer insight into this extraordinary man whose cause for canonization is now underway at the Vatican.

The Body of Christ is a traumatised body because it is constituted of traumatised bodies. This monograph explores the nature of that trauma and examines the implications of identifying the trauma of this body. Constructing new ways of thinking about the narratives at the heart of the Christian faith, 'Broken Bodies' offers a fresh perspective on Christian theology, in particular the Eucharist, and presents a call to love the body in all its guises. It offers new pathways for considering what it means to 'be Christian' and explores the impact that the experience of trauma has on Christian doctrine.

The magnificent series of biblical commentaries known as Black's New Testament Commentaries (BNTC) under the General Editorship of Professor Morna Hooker has had a gap for far too long - it has lacked an up to date commentary on the Fourth Gospel.
Professor Andrew Lincoln now fills this gap with his excellent new commentary. The key questions for scholars are gone into thoroughly- questions of historicity, the use of historical traditions and sources, relationship to the Synoptics, authorship, setting, first readers and Professor Lincoln makes his own position on these issues abundantly clear.
The Fourth Gospel raises a number of problems generally known as The Johannine Question. According to tradition the Gospel was written by St John the Apostle. The authenticity of the tradition is examined in the introduction but the textual issues are examined within the commentary itself. For example one problem is that Chapters 15 and 16 seem in early versions to have preceded chapter 14. Chapter 21 must have been a later addition. The purpose of the Gospel as stated in Chapter 20 v 31 is to strenghten the reader's faith in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God. But even the celebrated prologue has given rise to much speculation, whereas most commentators believe it is the key to the Gospel as a whole.
These issues are meat and drink to scholars but in Professor Lincoln's expert hands they are extremely interesting and highly pertinent to our contemporary understanding of the Gospel.

Adapted from their book True Beauty, mother/daughter authors Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre expose the lies of our culture-defined sense of beauty.

God's Word provides us with a path to freedom when we look to the source, the Beautiful One who is eternal. We reject conformity with the world's standards to be transformed Christ-like character.

Uses the ESV Bible translation in Scripture references. Pack of 25 tracts (pamphlets).

Whether we have an audience of one or thousands, our words have influence and impact. The question is are they having the influence we want? Ross Hjelseth draws on more than four decades of career experience in athletics and education in this guide to choosing the right words at the right time - words that inspire, encourage, guide, teach, empathize, and elevate. The author shares maxims gleaned from teachers, coaches, and leaders, together with his own observations, to help you: - empower yourself and those you care about - develop leadership skills and insights to better serve others - build relationships through listening, speaking, and observing others - appreciate the importance of practice, hard work, discipline, perseverance, and motivation - determine when to use positive or negative reinforcement Each chapter concludes with several inspirational quotes from coaches and leaders, as well as thoughtful questions to help you make a meaningful difference in your life and the lives of others. Serve people in every context and renew your focus on gratitude, encouragement, and teamwork with the lessons in Winning Words.

Rene Girard holds up the gospels as mirrors that reveal our broken humanity, and shows that they also reflect a new reality that can make us whole. Like Simone Weil, Girard looks at the Bible as a map of human behavior, and sees Jesus Christ as the turning point leading to new life.

The title echoes Jesus' words: "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven". Girard persuades us that even as our world grows increasingly violent the power of the Christ-event is so great that the evils of scapegoating and sacrifice are being defeated even now. A new community, God's nonviolent kingdom, is being realized -- even now.

Karl Barth (1886-1968) was a prolific theologian of the 20th century. Dr Gorringe places the theology in its social and political context, from World War I through to the Cold War by following Barth's intellectual development through the years that saw the rise of national socialism and the development of communism. Barth initiated a theological revolution in his two "Commentaries on Romans", begun during World War I. His attempt to deepen this during the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic made him a focus of theological resistance to Hitler after the rise to power of the Nazi party. Expelled from Germany, he continued to defy fashionable opinion by refusing to condemn communism after World War II. Drawing on a German debate largely ignored by Anglo-Saxon theology, Dr Gorringe shows that Barth responds to the events of his time not just in his occasional writings, but in his magnum opus, the "Church Dogmatics". In conclusion Dr Gorringe asks what this admittedly patriarchal author still has to contribute to contemporary theology, and in particular human liberation. This book is intended for undergraduate courses in theology and history of doctrine.

The decisive moments in life are those pivot points when we're called on to push past our fears and act with strength. With How We Learn to Be Brave, Bishop Mariann Budde teaches us to respond with clarity and grace even in the toughest times. Being brave is not a singular occurrence; it's a journey that we can choose to undertake every day. Bishop Budde explores the full range of decisive moments, from the most visible and dramatic (the decision to go), to the internal and personal (the decision to stay), to brave choices made with an eye toward the future (the decision to start), those born of suffering (the decision to accept that which we did not choose), and those that come unexpectedly (the decision to step up to the plate). Drawing on examples ranging from Harry Potter to the Gospel According to Luke, she seamlessly weaves together personal experiences with stories from Scripture, history, and pop culture to underscore both the universality of these moments and the particular call each one of us must heed when they arrive. How We Learn to Be Brave will provide much-needed fortitude and insight to anyone searching for answers in uncertain times.

This book of graces and reflections integrates thankfulness with a burning passion for justice, both of which are central to our relationship with a bountiful provider God, with the whole creation, with each other and with our brothers and sisters throughout the world who, because of greed and injustice, will not receive their daily bread. This work invites us to pray and recommit ourselves to act for justice each time we join in the simple sharing of a meal. It is also very much a celebration - of food, of diversity, of community and sharing, of creator and creation. The graces in this book are from a wide range of contributors - from Iona Community members, associates and friends, from other religious communities and houses of welcome, from humanitarian organisations, from different faiths and traditions.

In Bringing the Sacred Down to Earth, Corinne Dempsey offers a comparative study of Hindu and Christian, Indian and Euro/American earthbound religious expressions. She argues that official religious, political, and epistemological systems tend to deny sacred access and expression to the general populace, and are abstracted and disembodied in ways that make them irrelevant to if not neglectful of earthly realities. Working at cross purposes with these systems, attending to material needs, conferring sacred access to a wider public, and imbuing land and bodies with sacred meaning and power, are religious frameworks featuring folklore figures, democratizing theologies, newly sanctified land, and extraordinary human abilities. Some scholars will see Dempsey's juxtapositions of Hindu and Christian religious dynamics, many of which exist on opposite sides of the globe, as a leap into a disciplinary minefield. Many have argued for decades that comparison is an outmoded, politically troubled approach to the human sciences. More recently opponents, represented by a growing number of religion scholars, are ''writing back'' in comparison's defense, asserting the merits of a readjusted, carefully contextualized, new comparativism. But, says Dempsey, the inestimable advantages of the comparative method described by religion scholars and performed in this book are disciplinary as well as ethical. As demonstrated in this stimulating book, the process of comparison can shed light on angles and contours otherwise obscured and perform the important work of bridging human contingencies and perception across religious, cultural, and disciplinary divides.

Die wêreld het meer sonneblommense nodig mense wat hulle koppe na die Son toe draai, mense wat meer en meer soos die Son wil wees eerder as giftige ivies, stink Afrikaners, stekelrige kaktusse, knieserige rosies of klaende hangkop wilgers.

Transformasie begin as ons ons deel begin doen en verantwoordelikheid aanvaar om ons negatiewe gedagtes elke dag bewustelik by die alomteenwoordige Son te vernuwe. Ons moet onsself daagliks toewy in die bestudering van die Meester Sonneblom se lieflike kwaliteite en meer van die vrug van sy liefdevolle genadige gees te kweek deur ons gedagtes by hom te vernuwe. Om ou negatiewe gewoontes en denke af te breek vra baie herhaling en volharding.

Kom ons maak dit ons doel om elke dag 'n rapsie meer na Jesus se voorbeeld van christenskap en menswees te lyk. Met hierdie 260 sonneblom dagstukkies nooi Susan jou uit na 'n avontuur van sonsoek al agter die Son aan.

Geniet die sonneblomreis.

A Year of Devotional Readings to Help You Abide in Him

Understanding God's heart is the key to understanding life. For, it is his heart that designed redemption through Jesus. From his heart sprang the beauty of world, the wonder of the universe, the creativity of all humankind, and a specific love for you. His heart is the blueprint of all human hearts, and knowing his heart reveals the origin of goodness and bounty he endowed to us.

In Knowing the Heart of God, 365 entries will take you closer to our vastly amazing and tenderly intimate God. You will encounter a daily instalment of encouragement and insight, guidance and wisdom to:

• Understand the heart of God and your own heart
• Discover the purpose of your heart's deep desires
• Unravel the dynamics between parents and children, husbands and wives
• Fight the spiritual battle for your heart
• Connect intimately with the Father each day

God longs for you to know his heart, to tap into his love and plans for you. He designed you to long for the same. Knowing the Heart of God will satisfy your hardwired need to know him and will take you? Day by day? Closer and closer to the God who loves you.

The History of the Church of Abingdon is one of the most valuable local histories produced in the twelfth century. It provides a wealth of information about, and great insight into, the legal, economic, and ecclesiastical affairs of a major monastery. Charters and narrative combine to provide a vital resource for historians. The present edition, unlike its Victorian predecessor, is based on the earliest manuscript of the text. A modern English translation is provided on facing pages, together with extensive introductory material and historical notes.
This volume covers the period from the reputed foundation of the abbey and its estates to c.1071. Volume II, already published, covers from c.1071- c.1164.

The astonishing growth of Christianity in the global South over the course of the twentieth century has sparked an equally rapid growth in studies of ''World Christianity, '' which have dismantled the notion that Christianity is a Western religion. What, then, are we to make of the waves of Western missionaries who have, for centuries, been evangelizing in the global South? Were they merely, as many have argued, agents of imperialism out to impose Western values? In An Unpredictable Gospel, Jay Case examines the efforts of American evangelical missionaries in light of this new scholarship. He argues that if they were agents of imperialism, they were poor ones. Western missionaries had a dismal record of converting non-Westerners to Christianity. The ministries that were most successful were those that empowered the local population and adapted to local cultures. In fact, influence often flowed the other way, with missionaries serving as conduits for ideas that shaped American evangelicalism. Case traces these currents and sheds new light on the relationship between Western and non-Western Christianities.

This book is available either individually, or as part of the specially-priced Arguments of the Philosphers Collection.

In the last decades of the 17th century, the feast of Christmas in Lutheran Germany underwent a major transformation when theologians and local governments waged an early modern "war on Christmas," discouraging riotous pageants and carnivalesque rituals in favor of more personal and internalized expressions of piety. Christmas rituals, such as the "Heilig Christ" plays and the rocking of the child (Kindelwiegen) were abolished, and Christian devotion focused increasingly on the metaphor of a birth of Christ in the human heart. John Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio, composed in 1734, both reflects this new piety and conveys the composer's experience living through this tumult during his own childhood and early career. Markus Rathey's book is the first thorough study of this popular masterpiece in English. While giving a comprehensive overview of the Christmas Oratorio as a whole, the book focuses on two themes in particular: the cultural and theological understanding of Christmas in Bach's time and the compositional process that led Bach from the earliest concepts to the completed piece. The cultural and religious context of the oratorio provides the backdrop for Rathey's detailed analysis of the composition, in which he explores Bach's compositional practices, for example, his reuse and parodies of movements that had originally been composed for secular cantatas. The book analyzes Bach's original score and sheds new light on the way Bach wrote the piece, how he shaped musical themes, and how he revised his initial ideas into the final composition.

This is a beautifully crafted and clearly written introduction to Christianity over its 2000 year history, concentrating on the interaction between the sacred and the secular. This book is a practical response to the experience of teaching in a variety of different settings from university undergraduates, through WEA, to parish groups. This book will thus adopt an approach radically different to that of many general Church histories in terms of length, structure and presentation. The broad underlying theme of the book will be the interaction between Christianity and the secular world, exploring how one has shaped and been shaped by the other, reflecting the title of the book. In order to achieve this, the book will not attempt to cover the whole of Christian history (this has been done frequently by others), but rather it will focus on a number of specific themes and chronological periods. The four themes will be Belief, Practice, Organisation and Propagation. There will be four chronological divisions, chosen as pivotal in the development of Christianity, and reflecting the conventional divisions of history into ancient, medieval, early and later modern. This will enable the book to be used as either a general introduction to Christian history or as a starting point for further investigation of one or more periods. The periods are: The Imperial Church (300-500) The Medieval Church (1050-1250), The Reformation Church (1450-1650) The Modern Church (1800-2000). There will be included maps, timelines, quotations from primary source material, a glossary and a further reading section.