Jesus gave his followers seven key practices: The Lord's Supper Reconciliation Proclaiming the gospel Being with the "least of these" Being with children Fivefold ministry gifting Kingdom prayer When we practice these disciplines, God becomes faithfully present to us, and we in turn become God's faithful presence to the world. Pastor and professor David Fitch shows how these seven practices can revolutionize the church's presence in our neighborhoods, transform our way of life in the world, and advance the kingdom. Our communities can be changed when they see us practicing our faith. Go and do.

Describing a great variety of funeral ritual from major world religions and from local traditions, this book shows how cultures not only cope with corpses but also create an added value for living through the encouragement of afterlife beliefs. The explosion of interest in death in recent years reflects the key theme of this book - the rhetoric of death - the way cultures use the most potent weapon of words to bring new power to life. This new edition is one third longer than the original with new material on the death of Jesus, the most theorized death ever which offers a useful case study for students. There is also empirical material from contemporary/recent events such as the death of Diana and an expanded section on theories of grief which will make the book more attractive to death counsellors.

Bringing together prominent scholars in the sociology of religion, this collection of essays offers a framework for understanding the transition from the essentially penitential purposes of the medieval pilgrimage, to the rise of the varied spiritualities of contemporary religious tourism. Covering over 1,500 years of religious travel, these essays explore the forms of expression and experience which we must engage reflectively to better understand the idea of pilgrimage and religious tourism as an important aspect of religious affirmation. This unique volume sheds light on the transformation of the traditional religious pilgrimage into a tourist activity and examines the influence of modern culture, technology, and secularization on spiritually motivated travel.

The editors conclude that a sharp distinction between pilgrimage and religious tourism is historically unjustified. While the purposes of such travel have changed over time, they remain a part of a larger religio-cultural context, offering avenues for religious encounter, just as pilgrimage in earlier eras permitted the development of various secular dimensions. Covering such diverse topics as Pagan pilgrimage and Postmodern Traditionalism, medieval pilgrimage and disaster site visitation, the authors provide an interesting look at an often misunderstood phenomenon.

"Pastoral Care in Worship" draws on Christian heritage and illuminating psychological research to deepen and enrich the pastoral dimension of Sunday worship. There is an urgent need today to deepen and enrich the pastoral dimension of Sunday worship. This book attempts to meet that need. The practical guidance that is offered has its foundation in rigorous and comprehensive theological reflection. This reflection draws not only on the riches of the Christian heritage, but also on some wonderfully illuminating psychological research. The conversation between the two disciplines yields some very interesting and important new ideas on worship as pastoral care. Each chapter consists of a theoretical base and a number of practical suggestions and resources. Most of the prayers, litanies, and rituals are original; there are also references to other useful worship resources. This book will revolutionize the way you think about worship as pastoral care.

Traditional surveys of Christian worship have not only stressed the profound changes that occurred in the fragmenting Reformation churches of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but have also primarily focused on the theological understanding, rather than the practice, of worship. Contributors to this unique collection underline the complexity and diversity of late medieval and carly modern Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed worship practices in Europe. They examine a range of rites (baptism, marriage, and the Eucharist), elements of worship (visual art, music, prayer texts, rituals), geographic locations (Spain, Geneva, England, Sweden, Germany), and settings (home, school, and church). To illustrate the experience of worship by medieval and early modern laity and clergy, each essay is preceded by selections from key primary source documents being discussed. Contributors reveal that, contrary to the artificial separation of these two time periods by the modern academy, there was actually a great deal of continuity between medieval and early modern liturgical practices. They also demonstrate that political and social pressures were as significant as theological or doctrinal rationales when it came to modifying or retaining traditional practices. Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe offers readers a chance to understand better the societal and confessional norms that motivated late medieval and early modern Christians to maintain or change traditional Catholic worship practices. Featuring some of the most outstanding scholars in the field, this volume will be invaluable to academics interested in the Reformation, early modern studies, theology, and liturgical studies,as well as to general readers who wish to learn how their worship life was shaped in the sixteenth century.

What is the gift of Christmas wrapped in the perfect package? Author Linda Crosland brings the timeless story of the birth of Christ to life in rhyme and verse, in a contemporary way as you've never heard it before. Each full color page is illustrated in beautiful original art. Discover "The Gift" of Christmas and it will become a cherished tradition to be enjoyed each Christmas season

The contributors to this volume address the key institutions of the first and second Church, considering the development of rituals and sacraments, and the development of Church leadership, and of the Church itself. The first part of the book looks at the offices of the Church - the Apostolate and the development of other religious authorities - as well as the notion of Apostolic Tradition. The second part looks at the sacraments, with in-depth consideration of the Eucharist, and of Baptismal texts from the early Church. The essays are of interest to scholars researching the development of the early Church and of Church rituals and practices.

Baptism for the early Christians was a subject of crucial importance, and its symbolism fired the imagination of writers throughout the Christian world. Arator, the Roman sub-deacon who wrote a verse-commentary on the Acts of the Apostles in A.D. 544, was no exception. The Historia Apostolica is a work of historical importance. Written at a time of crisis, politically and theologically, it is of interest as propaganda for a papacy under threat from Constantinople. But Arator's concentration on baptismal themes offers vital evidence of the transmission of exegetical ideas in late antiquity. This book is the first major work on Arator in English and the first ever to study the Historia Apostolica as biblical commentary. Passages of particular baptismal importance are presented both in the original Latin and in a new translation, and are considered in the context of the writings of earlier Christian commentators. Hillier's study is a wide-ranging study of the popularity and potency of baptismal symbolism in the first six centuries A.D.