The Beatitudes offer a summary of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount - a succinct summary of his essential teaching. In probing the meaning of these eight verses, Michael Crosby cuts to the heart of Matthew's Gospel: a spiritual message that is at once personal and deeply social. Crosby posits that Matthew's Gospel was written for a more affluent church community. As such, his Gospel offers a particularly telling challenge to First-World Christians. To pray in the spirit of the Beatitudes is to answer a radical call to conversion: a journey into God's Reign of peace, justice, mercy, and renewal.

Bits of wisdom, advice, and must-have information every woman needs for life.

With an ever-widening world and many seasons of influence, women need insight for the countless areas and ways they are called upon to be wise. The five fun sections of The Essential Five are Popular and Pursued, Classy and Fabulous, Domestic Goddess, Fetching and Fit, and Does It All.

Lists include: Ways to Make Sure You Don't Ruin a First Date Strategies for Surviving Awkward Business Functions Ways to Make Your House Look Clean...Fast Spas Worth Traveling Around the World For Secrets for Eating Out When You're On a Diet Annual Appointments You Should Make...and Keep Ways to Stay Motivated at the Gym Steps of CPR Legal Documents You Should Have...Just in Case Body Language Signals You Don't Want to Send (or Maybe You Do )

Christians talk about the Holy Spirit, but rarely know how to recognize the Spirit's presence and activity in the world. Luke is the most illuminating gospel writer on the topic of the Holy Spirit. Luke writes about Jesus as the messiah anointed by the Holy Spirit, and about the church as the Spirit-empowered fellowship in the Mediterranean world of the first century. These meditations on Luke-Acts attempt to discern how the winds of the Spirit have blown in the lives of Jesus, his disciples, and the earliest Christians so that we can track and participate in the works of the Holy Spirit in the global village of the 21st century.

Offering an interdisciplinary, international and philosophical perspective, this comprehensive Research Handbook explores both perennial and recent legal issues that concern the modern state and its interaction with religious communities and individuals. Providing in-depth, original analysis the book includes studies of a wide array of nation states, such as India and Turkey, which each have their own complex issues centred on law, religion and the interactions between the two. Longstanding issues of religious liberty are explored such as the right of conscientious objection, religious confession privilege and the wearing of religious apparel. The contested meanings of the secular state and religious neutrality are revisited from different perspectives and the reality of the international human rights protections for religious freedom are analysed. Timely and astute, this discerning Research Handbook will be a valuable resource for both academics and researchers interested in the many topics surrounding law and religion. Lawyers and practitioners will also appreciate the clarity with which the rights of religious liberty, and the challenges in making these compatible with state law, are presented. Contributors include: R. Ahdar, F. Ahmed, R. Albert, R. Barker, B.L. Berger, J.E. Buckingham, J. Burnside, P. Dane, J. Harrison, M.A. Helfand, M. Hill, M. Kiviorg, A. Koppelman, I. Leigh, J. Neo, Y. Rosnai, R. Sandberg, S.D. Smith, P.M. Taylor, H.-M. ten Napel, K. Thompson, F. Venter