Based on Charles Bryant's bestselling book, Rediscovering Our Spiritual Gifts, Penn has developed a workbook that helps leaders guide participants through a seven-week study endeavor of discovering their spiritual gifts. Designed to be a companion resource for Bryant's book, this workbook offers a basic understanding of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Missy Buchanan candidly shares both the heartaches elderly adults face and the hope they can find as they navigate the process of aging.

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.

This book asserts that the better one understands the causes of behavior, the better one can apply that knowledge to produce a better world. It describes the mechanisms that cause human behavior, such as freedom of will, in a manner consistent with religious beliefs. It also asserts that all avenues for studying human behavior, like intuition and prayer, are acceptable and necessary. Thus, when studying the agent of human action, we must rely on faith, logic, and intuition, in addition to the full use of empirical science. Principles of Psychology for People of God begins with a description of the nervous system and continues with chapters on development, perception, internal states, learning, memory, and the ultimate selection of behaviors. Nevertheless, it steadfastly emphasizes that behavior is not produced by physical mechanisms alone, but also by a non-material spirit that can transcend some inheritances and environments.

In Recovering American Catholic Inculturation, McNeil follows the case of Bishop John England, who chose to govern the Diocese of Charleston with a Constitution that assigned rights and responsibilities to the church's membership. He argues that this was not a case of simple accommodation to Enlightenment rationality and autonomous individuality. Bishop England's adaptation of Catholicism should be understood as both a retrieval and an application of theoretical thinking to the practical judgment of specific contexts on the basis of reason and pragmatic esthetics. Social conflicts of interest are resolved through the allowance of an exercise of faith and reason within contexts wherein we understand and experience the truth of the situation is never final and that "good" and the "better" are not private, subjective, static nor simply progressive. Contemporary critics have often resorted more to static categories and political projections onto the earlier American experience than is warranted by a close study of the original texts of the founders of the American Republic or, particularly for this study, a personage such as John England. The study concludes that a re-embarkation on the road of inculturation is long overdue for American Catholicism. This book holds appeal for American historians, philosophers interested in the liberal tradition and autonomous individualism, epistemologists exploring rationality, aesthetics, and knowledge, Catholic theologians and Church historians, and all educated Catholics.

In this book, the authors present exhaustive literary and theological textual analyses of all Jesus' teachings, on prayer, parables, and model prayer. Jesus' teachings on prayer are compared with his own practice and examples recorded in the text. In the appendix, stylistic analysis is employed to compare Jesus' prayer with Greek cultic prayer. The authors conclude that prayer for Jesus was the authentic communication of a life acting out the commandments of God.

This volume contains two closely related studies: Echoes of the Shema and Our Father's Footprints. The term Shema is derived from the initial word to hear in the Old Testament: "Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut. 6:4). Hence, God is deserving of ardent adoration and unqualified commitment. Morris A. Inch discusses God as Spirit, Light, and Love and also touches on divine holiness, grace, and compassion. The second study picks up with Jesus' allusion to God as our Father (Matt. 6:9). While this reference is primarily related to his authority, Jesus pointedly ties in his benevolent character. In this regard, he exclaims: "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matt. 7:11). This quotation invites us to reflect on such associated themes as God's faithfulness, generosity, resolve, forgiveness, and creativity. Echoes of the Shema and Our Father's Footprints will be a useful text for those interested in exploring the inviting realm of biblical theology.

Intricately Connected contains academic papers presented by Kim at various international conferences in the fields of biblical studies, literary criticism, and intertexuality. The articles examine the question of how various literatures connect to consciousness and culture at personal and collective levels. The focus is on the functionality of literature across time and space and addresses such questions as: How do later books of the Bible, such as Jeremiah, utilize consciousness and ideas from earlier times, such as those found in the book Deuteronomy? How does Toni Morrison link African-American experience of today with experience of slavery hundreds of years ago? How does the film Da Vinci Code (2006) assess and manipulate the received tradition of the Lord's Supper?

0|Muslim women in Australia are at the forefront of a culture war, and not necessarily by choice. As visible representatives of Islam, veiled women face discrimination and abuse, and carry the stigma of a culture frequently deemed unacceptable and inferior. Despite these adverse conditions, Muslim women have demonstrated a remarkable resilience by maintaining their presence in the public domain and by continuing to make a positive contribution to Australia. The experiences of Muslim women in Australia cannot be typecast as a sisterhood of oppressed females. Challenging Identities questions the assumption of incompatible 'Australian values' and 'Islamic values', and provides valuable first-person accounts from the lives of Muslim women in Australia.

In the past thirty years there has been a sea change in North American intellectual life regarding the role of religious commitments in academic endeavors. Driven partly by post-modernism and the fragmentation of knowledge and partly by the democratization of the academy in which different voices are celebrated, the appropriate role that religion should play is contested. Some academics insist that religion cannot and must not have a place at the academic table; others insist that religious values should drive the argument. Faithful Imagination in the Academy takes an approach based on dialogue with various viewpoints, claiming neither too much nor too little. All the authors are seasoned academics with many significant publications to their credit. While they all know how the academy operates and how to make worthwhile contributions in their respective disciplines, they are also Christians whose religious commitments are reflected in their intellectual work.

The Talmud chronicles the early development of rabbinic Judaism through the writings and commentaries of the rabbis whose teachings form its foundation. However, this key religious text is expansive, consisting of 63 books containing extensive discussions and interpretations of the Mishnah accumulated over several centuries. Sifting through the huge number of names mentioned in the Talmud to find information about one figure can be tedious and time-consuming, and most reference guides either provide only brief, unhelpful entries on every rabbi, including minor figures, or are so extensive that they can be more intimidating than the original text. In Essential Figures in the Talmud, Dr. Ronald L. Eisenberg explains the importance of the more than 250 figures who are most vital to an understanding and appreciation of Talmudic texts. This valuable reference guide consists of short biographies illustrating the significance of these figures while explaining their points of view with numerous quotations from rabbinic literature. Taking material from the vast expanse of the Talmud and Midrash, this book demonstrates the broad interests of the rabbis whose writings are the foundation of rabbinic Judaism. Both religious studies and rabbinical students and casual readers of the Talmud will benefit from the comprehensive entries on the most-frequently discussed rabbis and will gain valuable insights from this reader-friendly text. Complete in a single volume, this guide strikes a satisfying balance between the sparse, uninformative books and comprehensive but overly complex references that are currently the only places for inquisitive Talmud readers to turn. For any reader who wishes to gain a better understanding of Talmudic literature, Eisenberg's text is just as "essential" as the figures listed within.

The traditional Jew has always accepted the study of Torah as central to his or her way of life. But without the ability to effectively analyze and interpret the text, one misses the opportunity to gain a deep and authentic appreciation of the Torah's beauty and profundity. In Studying the Torah: A Guide to In-Depth Interpretation, Avigdor Bonchek equips the reader with the proper analytic methods to make reading the Bible both a serious pursuit and a pleasurable pastime. In order for the reader of the Torah text to delve into its veiled, but ultimately visible, layered messages, he or she must first learn the appropriate interpretive techniques. These skills are the same as those used by the classic Jewish Torah commentators (Rashi, Ramban, Ibn Ezra, and others), all of whom were experts in what scholars today refer to as a "close reading" of the text. Among the "Keys to Interpretation" discussed in this book are the significance of word order, opening sentences, repetitions, word associations, psychological dimensions, and similarities and differences between texts. Each key is illustrated by several examples that offer fresh insight into otherwise familiar text, and the author offers his own original and comprehensive in-depth interpretation of two central biblical stories: the story of Joseph and the ten plagues.

""I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved." Given in Rome by Pope Francis on November 24, 2013, the Solemnity of Christ the King, The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium) encourages all members of the faithful to a renewed personal encounter with Christ and to a greater evangelization. In his first apostolic exhortation, Pope Francis delves more deeply into the new evangelization, building on the foundation laid by Benedict XVI and John Paul II. The document discusses evangelization in the context of both the pulpit and the world. Pope Francis expresses a desire for "a 'missionary option', that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything..."(#27) Referencing Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, the Second Vatican Council, and many other Church documents, Pope Francis calls the Church to a greater evangelization that is empowered by a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. "

Written with the rigor and precision of a New Testament specialist, Preaching the Parables provides a responsible introduction to understanding and proclaiming the parables that pastors, church leaders, and seminary students will appreciate. Craig Blomberg demonstrates how the structure of a parable is key to its interpretation and thus to its exposition. He shows how a parable, when properly contemporized, can be a powerful rhetorical device, and that recognizing the elements of the parable that were atypical to everyday life leads to important surprises that will be of significance to contemporary parishioners. Each of the fifteen exemplary sermons is accompanied by an analysis that points out key interpretive decisions.

Get to the End is written about the end times, i.e. the end of the world and history as we know it. But it is written from a Catholic perspective. There are many books on the market that speak to the end times, however they are all written from a Protestant perspective and for the most part they are written by Christians from conservative churches who are generally Fundamentalist Christians. There are virtually no books written about the end times from a Catholic perspective. The few that have been written with a Catholic perspective of the end times have been written for the most part by Catholic priests and they are generally weighed down heavily in doctrine and dogma. This will be one of the first on the subject written by a Catholic layman who has a broader perspective than Catholic Doctrine and Dogma and who views himself as uniquely "in the world," but not "of the world."

The Labrang Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Amdo and its extended support community are one of the largest and most famous in Tibetan history. This crucially important and little-studied community is on the northeast corner of the Tibetan Plateau in modern Gansu Province, in close proximity to Chinese, Mongol, and Muslim communities. It is Tibetan but located in China; it was founded by Mongols, and associated with Muslims. Its wide-ranging Tibetan religious institutions are well established and serve as the foundations for the community's social and political infrastructures. The Labrang community's borderlands location, the prominence of its religious institutions, and the resilience and identity of its nomadic and semi-nomadic cultures were factors in the growth and survival of the monastery and its enormous estate. This book tells the story of the status and function of the Tibetan Buddhist religion in its fully developed monastic and public dimensions. It is an interdisciplinary project that examines the history of social and political conflict and compromise between the different local ethnic groups. The book presents new perspectives on Qing Dynasty and Republican-era Chinese politics, with far-reaching implications for contemporary China. It brings a new understanding of Sino-Tibetan-Mongol-Muslim histories and societies. This volume will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate student majors in Tibetan and Buddhist studies, in Chinese and Mongol studies, and to scholars of Asian social and political studies.

Over the centuries, theological studies have grappled with the comprehension of Truth and Goodness. However, theology, unlike philosophy, has neglected serious scrutiny of the study of Beauty or Aesthetics. Jo Ann Davidson's Toward a Theology of Beauty investigates this omission. Why should aesthetic dimensions be ignored in theology's quest for ultimate truth? Davidson convincingly states that these would contribute to the ongoing search for a more comprehensive perception of the divine. This book contends that theology is incomplete and impoverished without fundamental deliberations within aesthetic values. A survey of the literature up to the present currently reveals that theological studies, by and large, do not yet realize the extent to which it might be enriched by the biblical aesthetic. God's own nature, His Word in both Testaments including narratives, poetry, literary structures, and vocabulary are all embedded in aesthetic expressions. A systematic study of the biblical aesthetic is one that calls for attention and this book offers a solid and thought-provoking beginning.

Holy War, Just War explores the "dark side" in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism by examining how the concept of ultimate value contributes to religious violence. The book states that religion has within its own conceptual tools the resources to understand its own dark side and that religious people must subject their religion to a moral vision of goodness and constrain those parts that make for violence and hatred.

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 is a rich, informative, and inspiring compendium of the Christian tradition of prayer and contemplation from the earliest days of the Church to the present day. Included are selections from St. Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, St. Clement of Rome, St. Gregory of Nyssa, John Cassian, St. Augustine, St. Gregory of Sinai, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, St. Francis de Sales, St. Vincent de Paul, Lancelot Andrewes, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Edith Stein, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Pope John Paul II. Levering has selected readings that capture how Christian saints and spiritual leaders through the ages have understood what prayer is, why we pray, and how we pray. The selections also integrate the Eastern Orthodox and Western understandings of prayer and contemplation. The book is perfect for study, meditation, and inspiration.

Holy War, Just War explores the 'dark side' in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism by examining how the concept of ultimate value contributes to religious violence. The book states that religion has within its own conceptual tools the resources to understand its own dark side and that religious people must subject their religion to a moral vision of goodness and constrain those parts that make for violence and hatred.

Over the centuries, theological studies have grappled with the comprehension of Truth and Goodness. However, theology, unlike philosophy, has neglected serious scrutiny of the study of Beauty or Aesthetics. Jo Ann Davidson's Toward a Theology of Beauty investigates this omission. Why should aesthetic dimensions be ignored in theology's quest for ultimate truth? Davidson convincingly states that these would contribute to the ongoing search for a more comprehensive perception of the divine. This book contends that theology is incomplete and impoverished without fundamental deliberations within aesthetic values. A survey of the literature up to the present currently reveals that theological studies, by and large, do not yet realize the extent to which it might be enriched by the biblical aesthetic. God's own nature, His Word in both Testaments including narratives, poetry, literary structures, and vocabulary are all embedded in aesthetic expressions. A systematic study of the biblical aesthetic is one that calls for attention and this book offers a solid and thought-provoking beginning.

By carefully examining a handful of great exemplars of teaching from various spiritual traditions and cultural contexts, this book breaks new ground in helping both prospective and practicing teachers discover and deepen their sense of spiritual calling. The masters examined in this book are found in many venues. Some appear in biographies, such as Yogananda, the great Hindu saint of the 20th century, in his Autobiography of a Yogi, or Eugene Herrigel and his Zen archery master in Zen in the Art of Archery. Some are enshrined in literature, such as St. Thomas More in Robert Bolt's dramatization of More's life, A Man for All Seasons. Others, like the Yaqui medicine man Don Juan in Carlos Castaneda's Journey to Ixtlan, occupy an intriguing region that moves on the misty boundaries between biography and fiction. A few even reside in academia-among them the Jewish theologian Martin Buber, author of the 20th century theological classic I and Thou. In encountering these exemplars of spiritual teaching, each teacher may discover and uniquely appropriate ways to further his or her own spiritual growth as a teacher, as well as the growth of his or her students in the most traditional to the most experimental school settings. Special emphasis is placed on the perspectives and needs of public school teachers and administrators. At the end of each chapter are "Topics for Discussion" and "Topics for Research" to stimulate further thought and research.