The Black Church is an institution that emerged in rebellion against injustice perpetrated upon black bodies. How is it, then, that black women's oppression persists in black churches that espouse theological and ethical commitments to justice? The book engages the Chalcedonian Definition as the starting point for exploring the body as a moral dilemma. It reveals how the body of Christ has historically posed a problem for the church, and has produced a Christian trajectory of violence that has resulted in the breaking of the body of Christ. A survey of the black body as an American problem provides the lens for understanding how the theological problem of body has functioned as a social dilemma for black people. An exploration of the black Social Gospel as the primary theological trajectory that has approached the problem of embodied difference reveals how body injustice, namely sexism, functions behind the veil of race in black churches.

In this engaging series of Advent meditations, David Rhodes uses stories and experiences from the streets of the inner city to help us rediscover the startling message of the gospel. Sometimes humorous, often moving, the book makes adventurous reading. If we run the risk of loving, we soon learn the meaning of vulnerability. Mary knew from the beginning that life with the Christ-child was not going to be easy. Perhaps we should expect it to be no less challenging to live as Christ's disciples today. Lisa Friend, who worked as a prostitute before coming to faith, writes: 'How can you believe you are worth anything if you have been told all your life that you are less than nothing? David Rhodes writes about us, the outcasts. He communicates the radical challenge of God's love to the Church and to Christians everywhere.' 'If you buy only one book this Christmas, then this is the one to go for.' Reform magazine. ' . . . urges us to look beyond the brightly lit shops and glitter of lights to see the true angels of Christmas, many of whom wear 'ragged trousers'.' The War Cry. "'This book may disturb, it may infuriate, but it may lead to a new realisation of Christmas and if that sounds trite, believe me it is not.'" Digest

Glory in our Midst explores the key themes of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany and Candlemas, setting them within a liturgical context. It can be read either cover to cover or used meditatively throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons, taking us daily more deeply into the mystery of the incarnation and inspiring us to make it a real and vivid part of our lives. Using bible stories and prayer, Michael Perham explores how the meaning of Christ's coming is revealed and, behind that unfolding, how key elements emerge in the Christian understanding of God himself. Michael Perham is well known for his many reflective and liturgical publications, which have inspired, challenged and strengthened many on their spiritual journeys. Michael Perham is the Bishop of Gloucester and was an architect of Common Worship. He has written extensively on liturgy, worship and spirituality and his books include New Testament Handbook of Pastoral Liturgy and Signs of Your Kingdom.

The philosophical and theological study of aesthetics has a long and rich history, stretching back to Platos identification of ultimate goodness and beauty, together representing the eternal form. Recent trends in aesthetic theory, however, characterised by a focus on the beautiful at the expense of the good, have made it an object of suspicion in the Orthodox Church. In its place, Greek theologians have sought to emphasise philokalia as a truer theological discipline. Seeking to reverse this trend, Chrysostomos Stamoulis brings into conversation a plethora of voices, from Church fathers to contemporary poets, and from a Marxist political theorist to a literary critic. Out of this dialogue, Stamoulis builds a model for the re-appropriation of Orthodoxys patristic and Byzantine past that is no longer defined in antithesis to the Western present. The openness he proposes allows us to perceive afresh the world shot through with divinity, if only we can lift our gaze to see it. Dismantling the false dichotomy, philokalia or aesthetics, is the first step.

The Virgin of Guadalupe, though quintessentially Mexican, inspires devotion throughout the Americas and around the world. This study sheds new light on the long-standing transnational dimensions of Guadalupan worship by examining the production of sacred space in three disparate but interconnected locations - at the sacred space known as Tepeyac in Mexico City, at its replica in Des Plaines, Illinois, and at a sidewalk shrine constructed by Mexican nationals in Chicago. Weaving together rich on-the-ground observations with insights drawn from performance studies, Elaine A. Pena demonstrates how devotees' rituals - pilgrimage, prayers, and festivals - develop, sustain, and legitimize these sacred spaces. Interdisciplinary in scope, "Performing Piety" paints a nuanced picture of the lived experience of Guadalupan devotion in which different forms of knowing, socio-economic and political coping tactics, conceptions of history, and faith-based traditions circulate within and between sacred spaces.

In the face of religious and cultural diversity, some doubt whether Christian faith remains possible today. Critics claim that religion is irrational and violent, and the loudest defenders of Christianity are equally strident. In response, Desire, Faith, and the Darkness of God: Essays in Honor of Denys Turner explores the uncertainty essential to Christian commitment; it suggests that faith is moved by a desire for that which cannot be known. This approach is inspired by the tradition of Christian apophatic theology, which argues that language cannot capture divine transcendence. From this perspective, contemporary debates over God's existence represent a dead end: if God is not simply another object in the world, then faith begins not in abstract certainty but in a love that exceeds the limits of knowledge. The essays engage classic Christian thought alongside literary and philosophical sources ranging from Pseudo-Dionysius and Dante to Karl Marx and Jacques Derrida. Building on the work of Denys Turner, they indicate that the boundary between atheism and Christian thought is productively blurry. Instead of settling the stale dispute over whether religion is rationally justified, their work suggests instead that Christian life is an ethical and political practice impassioned by a God who transcends understanding.

A little God time is what all mothers need but can rarely find in the craziness of everyday life. This daily devotional encourages mothers of all ages to carve out some time for the refreshment and renewal found in God's presence. When life demands your attention, find some time in your day to reflect on the God who truly desires to be with you.

The next installment in the critically praised lectionary series that focuses on women's stories. In this second volume of the three-volume Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, widely praised womanist bible scholar and priest Wil Gafney selects scripture readings that emphasize women's stories. Focusing especially on the Gospel of Mark, Year B of A Women's Lectionary features Gafney's fresh, inclusive, and thought-provoking translations of every reading, alongside commentary on each reading. Designed for liturgical use or scriptural study, this resource offers a new perspective on the Bible and the liturgical year. “Gafney's paradigm-shifting scholarship will influence biblical preaching and teaching for generations to come." —National Catholic Reporter

This is the indispensable companion for worship planning for the Episcopal Church. Following the three-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle and the church calendar year, this is the all-in-one liturgical season planner for worship. Included are suggestions for each season: rites, blessings, prayers, litanies, pageants. Readings, psalms, worship, and formation, and hymn suggestions are compiled for each Sunday and holy day. Presiders and preachers, worship team leaders, musicians, Christian educators, sacristans, and altar guilds will find this to be the perfect resource, putting all the elements for planning worship and seasonal observances in one handy volume.

This book offers a systematic, chronological analysis of the role played by the human senses in experiencing pilgrimage and sacred places, past and present. It thus addresses two major gaps in the existing literature, by providing a broad historical narrative against which patterns of continuity and change can be more meaningfully discussed, and focusing on the central, but curiously neglected, area of the core dynamics of pilgrim experience. Bringing together the still-developing fields of Pilgrimage Studies and Sensory Studies in a historically framed conversation, this interdisciplinary study traces the dynamics of pilgrimage and engagement with holy places from the beginnings of the Judaeo-Christian tradition to the resurgence of interest evident in twenty-first century England. Perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, from history to neuroscience, are used to examine themes including sacred sites in the Bible and Early Church; pilgrimage and holy places in early and later medieval England; the impact of the English Reformation; revival of pilgrimage and sacred places during the nineteenth and twentieth Centuries; and the emergence of modern place-centred, popular 'spirituality'. Addressing the resurgence of pilgrimage and its persistent link to the attachment of meaning to place, this book will be a key reference for scholars of Pilgrimage Studies, History of Religion, Religious Studies, Sensory Studies, Medieval Studies, and Early Modern Studies.

Together in one special volume, selections from the best of beloved bestselling author C. S. Lewis's classic works for readers contemplating the "grand miracle" of Jesus's resurrection. Preparing for Easter is a concise, handy companion for the faithful of all Christian traditions and the curious to help them deepen their knowledge and consideration of this holy season-a time of reflection as we consider Jesus's sacrifice and his joyous rise from the dead. Carefully curated, each selection in Preparing for Easter draws on a major theme in Lewis's writings on the Christian life, as well as others that consider why we can have confident faith in what happened on the cross.

These papers are the proceedings of the third international Exeter symposium, and promote an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of the medieval mystical tradition in England. This is an area of study which does not fruitfully lend itself to any single academic discipline in isolation; here, theologians, historians, literary crtitics, textual scholars, those engaged in the study of semiotics and those involved in the practice of psychiatric medicine exchange ideas and explore together the differing aspects which engage them in this field of study. CONTRIBUTORS: R. BRADLEY, R. ALLEN, R. COPELAND, M. MOYES, J. HOGG, F. WOHRER, A. BALDWIN, S. DICKMAN, D. WALLACE

In 1986, the remains of a man dressed as a pilgrim, complete with boots, a stout staf and a cockleshell, were accidentally uncovered in Worcester Cathedral. Who was he? Why had he been accorded burial in this place? What do his grave-goods mean? We can never know for sure, but sufficient evidence exists to suggest that the man was Robert Sutton, a wealthy dyer, and that he had been on the long pilgrimage to Compostela. Using a whole range of resources, Kathering Lack vividly brings to life Sutton's journey across war-torn and plague-ridden medieval Europe to the tomb of St James. Her exhilarating book will be of value not only to those concerned with medieval spirituality, but to the great number of people drawn to pilgrimages old and new. "Everystage of that first day's walk remained for ever etched on his mind. He had travelled this road before, several times, but mounted, as a solidly affluent citizen. Now he was on foot, conspicuously dressed and making such low progress that at times the view hardly changed from one hour to the next." The Cockleshell Pilgrim

The Miracle of Amsterdam presents a "cultural biography" of a Dutch devotional manifestation. According to tradition, on the night of March 15, 1345, a Eucharistic host thrown into a burning fireplace was found intact hours later. A chapel was erected over the spot, and the citizens of Amsterdam became devoted to their "Holy Stead." From the original Eucharistic processions evolved the custom of individual devotees walking around the chapel while praying in silence, and the growing international pilgrimage site contributed to the rise and prosperity of Amsterdam. With the arrival of the Reformation, the Amsterdam Miracle became a point of contention between Catholics and Protestants, and the changing fortunes of this devotion provide us a front-row seat to the challenges facing religion in the world today. Caspers and Margry trace these transformations and their significance through the centuries, from the Catholic medieval period through the Reformation to the present day.

This book examines the collection of prayers known as the Qumran Hodayot (= Thanksgiving Hymns) in light of ancient visionary traditions, new developments in neuropsychology, and post-structuralist understandings of the embodied subject. The thesis of this book is that the ritualized reading of reports describing visionary experiences written in the first person "I" had the potential to create within the ancient reader the subjectivity of a visionary which can then predispose him to have a religious experience. This study examines how references to the body and the strategic arousal of emotions could have functioned within a practice of performative reading to engender a religious experience of ascent. In so doing, this book offers new interdisciplinary insights into meditative ritual reading as a religious practice for transformation in antiquity.

Invites readers to use their own voices to enliven personal and collective worship. What ideas, hopes, dreams, and laments do the words of worship stir in our hearts and minds? What images of God swirl up out of our communal prayers and hymns to shape what we believe and who we are as people of faith? We know that words can heal and draw us together, or words can hurt and divide. Christian communities proclaim and embody this wisdom each time we celebrate God's Word made flesh in Jesus. Words for worship that arise from worshiping communities themselves, that give voice to their particular laments and joys, hold an oft-overlooked power. These communal words are both shaped by and spiral out to speak to global concerns. Leaders and worshipers in differing contexts write and speak in a wide variety of ways. As such, this book is for pastoral leaders, chaplains, and other ministers who imagine, craft, and offer worship words for each Sunday-and in the diversity of everyday moments.

What would it look like if women built a lectionary focusing on women's stories? What does it look like to tell the good news through the stories of women who are often on the margins of scripture and often set up to represent bad news? How would a lectionary centering women's stories, chosen with womanist and feminist commitments in mind, frame the presentation of the scriptures for proclamation and teaching? The scriptures are androcentric, male-focused, as is the lectionary that is dependent upon them. As a result, many congregants know only the biblical men's stories told in the Sunday lectionary read in their churches. A more expansive, more inclusive lectionary will remedy that by introducing readers and hearers of scripture to "women's stories" in the scriptures. A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, when completed, will be a three-year lectionary accompanied by a stand-alone single year lectionary, Year W, that covers all four gospels.

"Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church. Our struggle today is for costly grace." And with that sharp warning to his own church, which was engaged in bitter conflict with the official nazified state church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer began his book Discipleship (formerly entitled The Cost of Discipleship). Originally published in 1937, it soon became a classic exposition of what it means to follow Christ in a modern world beset by a dangerous and criminal government. At its center stands an interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount: what Jesus demanded of his followersand how the life of discipleship is to be continued in all ages of the post- resurrection church. "Every call of Jesus is a call to death," Bonhoeffer wrote. His own life ended in martyrdom on April 9, 1945. Freshly translated from the German critical edition, Discipleship provides a more accurate rendering of the text and extensive aids and commentary to clarify the meaning, context, and reception of this work and its attempt to resist the Nazi ideology then infecting German Christian churches.

This book is the first to examine the depth, complexity and uniqueness of global Christian pilgrimage, travel and tourism, and how they manifest in terms of both supply and demand. It explores the places and spaces of production and consumption of this increasingly important tourism phenomenon. The volume considers the foundational elements of the attractiveness of places according to Christian thinking - spirit of place, scriptural connections, art and architecture, contrived/themed environments, programmed events, volunteer travel opportunities, and visiting local communities by way of solidarity tourism and mission work. It includes a wide range of examples from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and North America and will be of interest to researchers and students in religious studies, tourism, pilgrimage studies, geography, anthropology and Christianity studies.

Contemporary worship music shapes the way evangelical Christians understand worship itself. Author Monique M. Ingalls argues that participatory worship music performances have brought into being new religious social constellations, or "modes of congregating". Through exploration of five of these modes-concert, conference, church, public, and networked congregations-Singing the Congregation reinvigorates the analytic categories of "congregation" and "congregational music." Drawing from theoretical models in ethnomusicology and congregational studies, Singing the Congregation reconceives the congregation as a fluid, contingent social constellation that is actively performed into being through communal practice-in this case, the musically-structured participatory activity known as "worship." "Congregational music-making" is thereby recast as a practice capable of weaving together a religious community both inside and outside local institutional churches. Congregational music-making is not only a means of expressing local concerns and constituting the local religious community; it is also a powerful way to identify with far-flung individuals, institutions, and networks that comprise this global religious community. The interactions among the congregations reveal widespread conflicts over religious authority, carrying far-ranging implications for how evangelicals position themselves relative to other groups in North America and beyond.

Lori Erickson always wanted to be a travel writer, so she started pitching stories to editors. And she started writing. What she found as she traveled and wrote was that sacred places exerted a special pull on her. And she noticed that her own faith was changing as a result.Holy Rover is a record of Erickson's pilgrimages-some as close as a state or two away from her native Iowa, others across the world. Erickson reflects on her Lutheran upbringing, her flirtation with Wicca, and her admiration of Tibetan Buddhism. She writes compellingly about the healing shrine of Lourdes alongside her son's serious illness as a baby.Along the way, Erickson describes her encounters with spiritual leaders who include the Chief Priest of Asatru, a Trappist monk at Thomas Merton's Gethsemani Abbey, a Lakota man who directs a retreat lodge at the holy site of Bear Butte in South Dakota, and a nun at the Abbey of St. Hildegard in Germany. Each gives her valuable insights into her own spiritual journey, and she is ultimately drawn back to faith.