The Life of Christiana of Markyate gives an exceptionally vivid account of the struggles of a young girl, vowed at an early age to celibacy, to escape the matrimonial snares set by her parents and her friends. She was born of well-to-do burgesses of Huntingdon in the opening years of the twelfth century, who succeeded in betrothing her to a local nobleman. But the marriage was not consummated, and eventually she escaped, became a recluse and a nun, and the prioress of a small community at Markyate in Hertfordshire, under the patronage of the abbot and monks of St Albans, who made the famous St Albans' Psalter for her. The Life, written by one of her chaplains largely from her own reminiscences, was discovered, or rediscovered, by C.H. Talbot in a Cotton Manuscript in the British Library. First published by the Clarendon Press in 1959, it is now reissued. It is one of the remarkable discoveries of our time, and a classic of historical literature.

This lively, accessible book reveals the character - and timeliness - of Alexander Pope's thinking and art. G. Douglas Atkins focuses on the religious position of a poet who would not abandon the Roman Catholic Church. In our own highly partisan culture, such a position offers an important example. Bringing his expertise in religion and literature to bear, Atkins establishes that Pope was, as an anti-sectarian, not a Deist but a Catholic, a layman, and essayist. Through comparison with John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, and T.E. Eliot, this study sheds new light on 'The Universal Prayer, ' 'An Essay on Criticism, ' Moral Essays, and the four-part Dunciad. Ultimately, Pope emerges as a religious poet of the first rank.

Pope John Paul II was the second longest serving pope in history and the longest serving pope of the last century. His presence was influential not only to Catholics, but also throughout the world. The Encyclicals of John Paul II is the first book to focus in depth on the pope's fourteen encyclicals, through which he communicated many of the key themes of his papacy. The first part of the book includes helpful background information-a brief biographical sketch of John Paul II's life, his intellectual formation, and central theological themes of his papacy, including some of the major controversies of the 20th century. The first section of the book also provides invaluable background on the nature of an encyclical, including the history of this papal document. The second part of the book provides a thorough commentary on these encyclicals. The encyclicals are grouped by theme, introduced individually, and analyzed to trace broad themes through John Paul II's work and theology. The Encyclicals of John Paul II provides an important discussion of these key documents from John Paul II's papacy.

Here is the book that converted C. S. Lewis from atheism to Christianity. This history of mankind, Christ, and Christianity is to some extent a conscious rebuttal of H. G. Wells' Outline of History, which embraced both the evolutionary origins of humanity and the mortal humanity of Jesus. Whereas Orthodoxy detailed Chesterton's own spiritual journey, this book illustrates the spiritual journey of humanity, or at least of Western civilization. A book for both mind and spirit.

John Foxe's ground-breaking chronicle of Christian saints and martyrs put to death over centuries remains a landmark text of religious history. The persecution of Christians was for centuries a fact of living in Europe. Adherence to the faith was a great personal risk, with the Roman Empire leading the first of such persecutions against early Christian believers. Many were crucified, put to the sword, or burned alive - gruesome forms of death designed to terrify and discourage others from following the same beliefs. Appearing in 1563, Foxe's chronicle of Christian suffering proved a great success among Protestants. It gave literate Christians the ability to discover and read about brave believers who died for expressing their religion, much as did Jesus Christ. Perhaps in foretelling, the final chapter of the book focuses upon the earliest Christian missions abroad: these, to the Americas, Asia and other locales, would indeed see many more martyrs put to death by the local populations.

Incompatible with God's Design is the first comprehensive history of the Roman Catholic women's ordination movement in the United States. Mary Jeremy Daigler explores how the focus on ordination, and not merely "increased participation" in the life and ministries of the church, has come to describe a broad movement. Moving well beyond the role of such organizations as the Women's Ordination Conference, this study also addresses the role of international and local groups. In an effort to debunk a number of misperceptions about the movement, from its date of origin to its demographic profile, Daigler explores a vast array of topics. Starting with the movement's historical background from the early American period through the early twentieth century to Vatican II and afterward, she considers the role of women (especially Catholicism's more religious adherents) in the movement's evolution, the organization of the ordination movement in the United States, the role and response of clergy and Vatican teachings, the reality of international influences on the U.S. movement, and the full range of challenges-past and present-to the ordination movement. Incompatible with God's Design is compelling reading for any student of theology and women's studies, as well as those interested in staying abreast with the changing role of women within the U.S. Roman Catholic Church.

"Volume I" consists of three parts: Preliminary Notions," "Historical Overview of the Liturgy," and "Liturgical Sources." Articles and their contributors include "A Definition of Liturgy," by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB; "Liturgical Families in the East," by Ephrem Carr, OSB; "Liturgical Families in the West," by Gabriel Ramis; "Bible and Liturgy," by Renato De Zan; "Liturgy and the Fathers," by Basil Studer, OSB; "Liturgy and Ecumenism," by Patrick Lyons, OSB; "History of the Liturgy Until the Fourth Century," by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB; "History of the Eastern Liturgies," by Manel Nin, OSB; "History of the Roman Liturgy Until the Fifteenth Century," by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB; "History of the Roman Liturgy from the Sixteenth Until the Twentieth Centuries," by Keith F. Pecklers, SJ; "History of the Liturgies in the Non-Roman West," by Jordi Pinell I Pons, OSB; "Liturgical Documents of the First Four Centuries," by Basil Studer, OSB; "Byzantine Liturgical Books," by Elena Velkova Velkovska; "Other Liturgical Books in the East," by Manel Nin, OSB; "Liturgical Books of the Roman Rite," by Cassian Folsom, OSB; "Liturgical Books of the Non-Roman West," by Gabriel Ramis; "Liturgical Textual Criticism," by Renato De Zan; "Criticism and Interpretation of Liturgical Texts," by Renato De Zan; "Translation of Liturgical Texts," by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB; and "Liturgical Law," by Frederick R. McManus.

More than forty authors from Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Eastern and Western Europe have contributed to the "Handbook." Many are professors and graduates of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. Each author, while drawing material from liturgical tradition and from ancient, medieval, and modern sources, writes also from a particular research and personal interest in a subject. Although diverse in style, the authors collectively express a spirit of fidelity to the Church, to its doctrine and tradition, and to its mission. The result is a cohesive view of the meaning, purpose, and celebration of Christian worship.

"Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB, is the director of the Paul VI Institute of Liturgy in the Philippines and professor of liturgical inculturation at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. Among his publications are "Liturgies of the Future: The Process and Methods of Inculturation"and "Liturgical Inculturation: Sacraments, Religiosity, and Catechesis, "published by The Liturgical Press.""

Cardinal James Gibbons' famous and eloquent defense of Catholicism stands as one of the finest religious documents of his era, employing the Bible and devotional wisdom much more than arcane or complex theology. Writing in the 19th century, Cardinal Gibbons was moved to author this book after working for years in the priesthood. Seeking to remind readers of the vitality and merits of Catholicism, Gibbons attempts to both clarify the principles of the faith and spurn unjust criticisms. Religious concepts such as The Holy Trinity, and the important relationship the Bible has to the life of the church is investigated. The festivals and ritual sacraments that Catholics undertake, such as the taking of bread and wine to symbolize the flesh and the blood of Christ, are described in detail for their founding principles. Other traits of Catholicism, such as celibacy among the priesthood and the customs of matrimony, are explained.

This book is a cultural and intellectual history of anti-Catholicism in the period 1840-1870. The book will have two major themes: trans-nationalism and gender. Previous approaches to anti-Catholicism in the United States have adopted an exclusively national focus. This book breaks new ground by exploring the trans-Atlantic ties joining opponents of Catholicism in the United States and in France. The anticlerical works of major French writers such as Jules Michelet and Edgar Quinet flowed into the United States in the middle decades of the century. From the French perspective, the United States offered a model in combating the alleged ambitions of the Church. The literature and ideas which passed through this trans-Atlantic channel were overwhelmingly concerned with masculinity, femininity and domesticity. On both sides of the Atlantic, anti-Catholic literature was filled with images of priests or Jesuits craftily usurping the authority of fathers, of young girls tricked into entering convents and then subjected to merciless sexual and physical abuse, of families torn apart by the agents of the Church. Of course, the gender and domestic ideals underlying this opposition to Catholicism were not identical across the two societies. Nevertheless, gender and domesticity acted as a platform on which the trans-Atlantic case against Catholicism was built.

Vecsey, a professor of religion and Native American studies at Colgate University, concludes his trilogy on Native American Catholicism with a study of how Indian Catholics have tried to follow the route of two separate traditions, each with its own expectations and identities. He examines the lives of American Indian Catholics who have been leaders in their communities and in the Church and considers how these men and women have brought together their Indian and Catholic identities to accomplish a cultural and religious syncretism within themselves.

This work provides a comprehensive examination of Christian Democracy in Latin America from its nineteenth-century origins to the events of the 1990s. Lynch treats the record of Christian Democratic parties in the most crucial areas of economic concern in Latin America: chapters on land reform, nationalization, and the emergence of free market capitalism point up the relationship between politics and economics. Lynch concludes that had Latin America's Christian Democrats followed their own policy prescriptions, both they and Latin America would be better off. Instead, Christian Democrats abandoned their roots in Catholic social thought, embraced statism, and left their countries completely unprepared for the upsurge in liberal economic reform that swept Latin America in the 1980s.

This work provides a comprehensive examination of Christian Democracy in Latin America from its nineteenth-century origins to the events of the 1990s. The author treats the record of Christian Democratic parties in the most crucial areas of economic concern in Latin America: chapters on land reform, nationalization, and the emergence of free market capitalism point up the relationship between politics and economics. Lynch concludes that had Latin America's Christian Democrats followed their own policy prescriptions, both they and Latin America would be better off. Instead, Christian Democrats abandoned their roots in Catholic social thought, embraced statism, and left their countries completely unprepared for the upsurge in liberal economic reform that swept Latin America in the 1980s.

This work will be of interest to scholars and students in Latin American studies, Third World studies, political economy, comparative politics, and religion and politics.