Becoming a Mensch is a "user's guide" to becoming a better person, taking readers through a process of personal growth by means of modern-day vignettes that draw upon the Talmud's ancient wisdom. By examining character traits such as "kindness and compassion," "self-mastery and self discipline," and "humility and flexibility," readers of any or no faith learn what it takes to become a "mensch" -- a decent and honorable human being. Readers are introduced to the greatest sages of the Talmudic era and many modern masters of ethical behavior. Becoming a Mensch is not only a guidebook for personal growth -- it is also a useful guide for parents who want to foster the ethical development of their children.

Francis of Assisi as Artist of the Spiritual Life applies modern psychological understanding to a historical person. While most such studies have sought a comprehensive personality profile, this work focuses on one aspect - Francis' imagination - and seeks greater insight into the imaginatively inspired spiritual vision of St. Francis. An analysis of Francis' writings builds on a survey of modern views of the imagination and the approach of ORT, or Object Relations Theory. ORT, with its contention that the imaginative creation of an infant's world develops out of the earliest interactions with the maternal caregiver, highlights the way Francis formed his way of visualizing the reality around him. While any study of a person 800 years in the grave is more dependent on what is plausible than on what is determinable, this study finds numerous examples where Francis' writings display an adept use of imagination and even encourages others in that use in a manner that corresponds to an ORT perspective on tutoring the imagination.

Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson has used his unique approach to uncover the exalted ideas that the words and letters of the holy language, Hebrew, convey. This approach is especially suited to the study of Haggadah, for the holiday of Passover does not only symbolize our redemption but is also symbolic of the holy language. Pharaoh's underlying motive was to break down the barriers that separated the Jew from the Egyptian, thus effecting our spiritual downfall through assimilation. The sages teach that one of the reasons why the Jews in Egypt deserved to be redeemed was that they continued to speak Hebrew. In this way they guaranteed their distinctiveness and their sanctity.

This work comprises new insights into two Biblical passages. The first study, titled 'The Anatomy of a Prohibition, ' uses the TLG computer database to offer a new interpretation of I Timothy 2:12. The author provides insight that the TLG computer, with its data selections from 200 BC/BCE to 200 AD/CE, supports the interpretation of one of the key words 'authentein' as 'committing violent action, ' not 'having authority.' It then explores the effect of this interpretation on exegesis, gender pronouncements, hermeneutics, tradition, theology, and relevance. As a supplement, it offers a history of traditional translations, mistranslations, and interpretations. The second insight study discusses seeing the 'suffering servant' of Isaiah 40-55 as the city of Jerusalem. This 'Servant City' study is based upon a comparison with the material outside the songs and with other ANE city descriptions that are also in the first millenniu

The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand is found in all four Gospels, and is told in two of them twice. Roger David Aus primarily explores the many facets of early Palestinian Judaism which inform the story, especially in regard to the miracle-worker Elisha. He describes four major motifs in the narrative, as well as the Markan and Johannine redaction. In addition, he analyzes the account's Semitic background, genre and historicity, and its part in a miracle collection.

The God Biographers presents a sweeping narrative of the Western image of God since antiquity, following the theme of how the "old" biography of God has been challenged by a "new" biography in the twenty-first century. The new biography has made its case in free will theism, process thought, evolutionary doctrines, relational theology, and "open theism" a story of people, ideas, and events that is brought up to the present in this engaging narrative. Readers will meet the God biographers in the old and new camps. On the one side are Job, Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Aquinas, and Calvin. On the other side is a group that includes the early Unitarian and Wesleyan thinkers, the process thinkers Alfred North Whitehead, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Charles Hartshorne, and finally a new breed of evangelical philosophers. This story looks closely at the cultural and scientific context of each age and how these shaped the images of God. In the twenty-first century, that image is being shaped by new human experiences and the findings of science. Today, the debate between the old biographers and the new is playing out in the forums of modern theology, courtrooms, and social movements. Larry Witham tells that panoramic story in an engaging narrative for specialists and general readers alike.

In the brutal fight that has raged in recent years over the reputation of Pope Pius XII_leader of the Catholic Church during World War II, the Holocaust, and the early years of the Cold War_the task of defending the Pope has fallen primarily to reviewers. These reviewers formulated a brilliant response to the attack on Pius, but their work was scattered in various newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals_making it nearly impossible for the average reader to gauge the results. In The Pius War, Weekly Standard's Joseph Bottum has joined with Rabbi David G. Dalin to gather a representative and powerful sample of these reviews, deliberately chosen from a wide range of publications. Together with a team of professors, historians, and other experts, the reviewers conclusively investigate the claims attacking Pius XII. The Pius War, and a detailed annotated bibliography that follows, will prove to be a definitive tool for scholars and students_destined to become a major resource for anyone interested in questions of Catholicism, the Holocaust, and World War II.

Sefer Yetzira is a sacred book of great antiquity and power, and one of Judaism's oldest texts after the Bible. In this new translation and commentary, Rabbi Worch leads us step-by-step through innermost chambers of Jewish mysticism. We are allowed to listen in to the arguments between Moses and God, to the whispered dialogue between Rabbis Akiba and Ishmael, and to those fervid and passionate practitioners of whose ecstasies these pages remain redolent. In the beginning was God's desire for us. Sefer Yetzira describes the process whereby desire materializes in the Breath of God and thence into the Ten Sephirot and twenty two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Commentaries to the Sefer Yetzira, through the ages, have reflected the spirit and yearning of those times, the genius and romance of the zeitgeist, be it philosophical, mathematical or contemplative. This commentary reflects the strikingly mystical qualities of Hasidism and the post-modern approach to text. In this book, we read how to listen for the breath of the Living God, how to hear it and breathe it back, in the mystery of our sacred kisses.

Is Jesus Reasonable? questions the logic of Jesus Christ's Words in the Holy Bible. Gerald Prichard, a Bible teacher and Ph.D. scientist, details the answers to this question. Specifically, he compares all of the conditional and procedural statements attributed to Christ to each other, as well as to all of the formal rules of human reasoning. In so doing, this book demonstrates that formal human reasoning can be an applicable method of interpreting these statements, but not generally for logical inferences nor for a few specific passages. Lastly, Dr. Prichard determines the minimal set of human conditions that together imply each of the promises conditioned upon human attitudes or actions. This analysis indicates that individual sacrifice, desire, and perseverance in following Christ's Example and individual humility are the most common human conditions associated with these promises.

Man and God is the first of three major works by Xavier Zubiri (1898-1983) on the subject of theology. All three books are posthumous publications, based on lectures given by Zubiri, a famous contemporary Spanish philosopher. Man and God is divided into three parts; the first part serving as an essential introduction to the core of the work. This section, together with the introductions by translators Joaquin Redondo and Dr. Thomas B. Fowler provide the reader with the necessary preparation to enjoy the philosophical riches of this book. Here, Zubiri suggests that God is transcendent in all things; therefore, by experiencing the world man has the fundamental experience of God. Translators Redondo, Fowler, and Dr. Nelson Orringer have sought to render the original text into natural and readable English while maintaining fidelity to the original work. This translation is the product of three experts in the thought of Zubiri, with the final revision given here collaboration between Dr. Fowler and Dr. Orringer. This translation was made possible by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

This collection of five essays and two book reviews draws on a half-year of work, from mid-2008 to early 2009. The collection begins with historical theological essays: one on the apologetics of Judaism, the other on its soteriology. Both were written in response to invitations to contribute to collections of historical theology. The second set of two essays deals with the canon of Rabbinic Judaism. This is The Jack Chester Memorial Lecture to the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies at the University of Miami. Two brief reviews complete the collection of six months of work.

Beyond Time: Defending God's Transcendence responds to the recent turn in Christian theology towards the view that God is temporal. The book develops an interdisciplinary basis, drawing on resources from historical theology, relativity and quantum mechanics, and the modern philosophy of time, to demonstrate the continued viability of the view that God transcends created time. God's presence, knowledge, activity, and personhood, as well as the more general problem of fatalism, are commonly cited arguments against timelessness, yet these issues are demonstrably inconsequential or even resolved by a robust view of divine transcendence. Beyond Time engages readers with the fascinating question of time's nature, in order to vindicate the historically orthodox view that God lives beyond time.

In Linus or Peter? The Question of Papal Infallibility, Geis argues that the Vatican I proclamation on papal infallibility is directly rendered uncertain, if not outright discredited and disproved, by three passages in Scripture (Mt. 18:18, Lk. 10:1-16, 1 Cor. 10:4). Lexical inquiry into other Scriptural passages dealing with the Scriptural terms "rock" and "cornerstone" solidify this claim. Scrutiny of Patristic sentiment adds to the evidence, as does dating Acts' record of Peter's missionary activities. History shows a tension between wayward papal conduct and dogmatic claims, as well as records of excommunicated popes. 18:18 argues, Geis claims, for the inerrancy of the Spirit's guidance witnessed in the practice and belief of the worldwide Christian community over the millennia. The Roman rite claim for a Divinely ordained Vicariate of authoritative pronouncements, having no Scriptural basis, emerges as an impediment to Christian unity, to Christ prayer "that they may be one" (Jn. 17:20-21).

This collection of short essays, sermons, lectures, reviews, analyses, and poems is offered as a means to provoke thought, inspire imagination, and encourage conversation about the future of the church. Church renewal awaits a renewed synergy of theology, homily, and energy. Together, thought, word, and deed offer us much as we face an unforeseen future. There is much for which to be thankful, and much to be excited about as the church moves forward into the twenty-first century. A healthy future of stimulated learning, excellent leadership, and lay ministry_thought, word, and deed _may be coming toward us.

This book addresses controversial issues in contemporary church life using liturgical commentary, homiletical illustration, and theological reflection. Issues examined include: gender and sexuality, relation of lay and ordained ministries, the relation of biblical Israel and the modern state, the differences between the Hebrew Scriptures and the Old Testament, the need for careful expository preaching, and deference to tradition as well as openness to new ways. The focus here is on the Episcopal Church in America, yet the examples and pleadings have relevance to the wider Christian community.

Throughout the ages and across religious traditions, people have yearned to personally experience God and deeply connect with the Creator. In Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ori Z. Soltes traces the sweep of mysticism-this search for oneness with God-throughout the three Abrahamic traditions. This unique comparative overview begins with a definition of mysticism and a discussion of its place within religion as a whole. Soltes then explores the history of mysticism from Biblical times through the present day, highlighting the emergence of mysticism within the three traditions and how beliefs and practices converge and diverge over time. The final chapters discuss the growing interest in mysticism today through practices such as Kabbalah and how people publicly express their private encounters with God through art, literature, and other modern media.

The decline of institutionalized religion in the increasingly secularized West has been offset by the contemporary spiritual development understood in the form of emerging New Age movements. This reference presents the potpourri of spiritual and psycho-physical therapeutic practices associated with this affirmation of the individual's spiritual freedom, the expectation of a future golden age, the emphasis on self-development, and the holistic pluralism that sets the dominant pulse for innovative spirituality in the twenty-first century. The A to Z of New Age Movements furnishes profiles and explanations of New Age spokespeople and leaders, of a range of human potential and self-help practices, of countercultural spiritual developments, and of different groups and organizations that identify as New Age. The dictionary consists of over 240 individual entries along with an introduction that describes the historical foundations of the New Age orientation and its relation with contemporary Western paganism. It also presents the sociological dimension of New Age expression, as well as the kinds of criticism with which the New Age identity must contend. There is both a New Age Chronology and a bibliography also included.

GAIA shares the destiny of a living and now suffering Earth. ANIMA mundi, her myth embodies; it is the self-regulating and self-organizing flow of energy between the Sun and Moon and Earth's elemental surface and subterrain, oceans and atmosphere, together supporting the planet's species. ENERGY, the vibrant energy that surges through her biosphere is being blocked, though, coming under attack from our species' greed-driven promotion and acceptance of technology that unrelentingly destroys the conditions supporting and sustaining life. WEALTH accumulation in the name of progress is as if the legendary touch of Midas today transforms Earth's creations into lifeless forms, accelerating entropy and the global approach to disclimax. EXISTENCE itself is being pushed by our species towards the vanishing point. War over resources food, oil, water, land and fouling of the environment, pandemics, and technological nostrums hasten the day. FAILSAFE points have been passed: this study offers a broad, new look at the possibility that our planet has reached the final moment of no return."

This volume studies how the literary elements in the Qur'an function in conveying its religious message effectively. It is divided into three parts. Part one includes studies of the whole Qur'an or large segments of it belonging to one historical period of its revelation; these studies concentrate on the analysis of its language, its style, its structural composition, its aesthetic characteristics, its rhetorical devices, its imagery, and the impact of these elements and their significance. Part two includes studies on individual suras of the Qur'an, each of which focuses on the sura's literary elements and how they produce meaning; each also explores the structure of this meaning and the coherence of its effect. Part three includes studies on Muslim appreciations of the literary aspects of the Qur'an in past generations and shows how modern linguistic, semantic, semiotic, and literary scholarship can add to their contributions.

This study investigates the procedural techniques, significance, and the tangible effects of the laying on of hands in the New Testament. The author investigates the background of the New Testament practice by conducting investigation in the Old Testament and contemporary Judaism and the Graeco-Roman and Near-Eastern literature. The main chapters are exegetical, each discussing a particular use of the laying on of hands in the New Testament: for blessing, healing, reception of the Spirit and ordination. A special attention is given to the inner process of transfer of power through physical contact. It is the author's conclusion that in the New Testament the gesture always signifies transfer of some positive materia: blessing, 'life-force', the Spirit and charismata. In the final section, an attempt is made to gauge the possibility of any uniformity in the significance of the various New Testament uses of the laying on of hands.

James Joyce's famous description of the Roman Church, 'Here Comes Everybody, ' may have presaged the developing Catholic Studies programs in U.S. Catholic higher education. Some of these essays were first delivered as lectures in the 'Here Comes Everybody' series to inaugurate the establishment of the Braegelman Program of Catholic Studies at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. The authors gathered here begin to suggest something of the depth and breadth of the living Catholic Intellectual Tradition. They are leading the way in new and important discussions. These programs are about more than Catholic institutions exploring and asserting their identity. Surely those involved seek rigorous engagement with the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, examining religious ideas and ideals, and participating in the study of Catholic thought and culture. They seek dialogue with Catholics of all mindsets, with Christians from other denominations, believers from other faith traditions and all who seek the truth.

James Joyce's famous description of the Roman Church, "Here Comes Everybody," may have presaged the developing Catholic Studies programs in U.S. Catholic higher education. Some of these essays were first delivered as lectures in the "Here Comes Everybody" series to inaugurate the establishment of the Braegelman Program of Catholic Studies at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. The authors gathered here begin to suggest something of the depth and breadth of the living Catholic Intellectual Tradition. They are leading the way in new and important discussions. These programs are about more than Catholic institutions exploring and asserting their identity. Surely those involved seek rigorous engagement with the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, examining religious ideas and ideals, and participating in the study of Catholic thought and culture. They seek dialogue with Catholics of all mindsets, with Christians from other denominations, believers from other faith traditions and all who seek the truth.

Saint Leander, Archbishop of Seville describes the life of Leander, who brought the Catholic faith to Spain in the late sixth century, becoming a saint after his death in c. 600 AD. Despite inheriting great wealth and his sister's exposure to high society, Leander became a monk and persuaded his sister to give up wealth and opportunities for marriage in order to become a nun. Detailing how he persuaded her to join a convent and his celebration of his country's acceptance of the true faith, this book provides a new perspective of Leander's Byzantine parents and two brothers, Fulgentius and Isidore. When besieged by the Arian king, Liuvigild, Leander's parents and sister escaped to Carthage. Later in life, Leander taught Isidore to take over after him in Seville.

The Catholic Church on Marital Intercourse traces the development of the Church's theology of marital sexuality from New Testament times to the present day. The early ecclesial leaders promoted a theology of sexuality based on Stoicism's biological perception that sexual activity was solely for the purpose of reproduction. Only in the early twentieth century did a few theologians begin to move beyond discussing "the purposes of marital intercourse" to discussing the meaning that the marital act might have for the spouses themselves. With the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), a new and positive view of marital sexuality emerged recognizing the Pauline view that the couple's marital acts express their love for each other along the lines of Christ's love for his church (Ephesians 5). In sum, The Catholic Church on Marital Intercourse treats the way in which the Catholic Church has moved away from an attitude of conditional acceptance of marital intercourse on the basis of its utility to recognition that the dynamics of sexual union are both good and holy, not only because that is the way children are conceived, but also because the marital act enhances the love of husband and wife for each other.