The Roman Catholic Church has been criticized for many reasons, including its legalism. The growing aversion of church members to the law and the church hierarchy's juridified interpretation of Christianity is fueled by the language of ecclesiastical law (medieval legal Latin), which excludes most of the faithful from understanding and participating in debates on reforming the church's legal structure. In The Language of Canon Law, Judith Hahn explores the legal order of the Roman Catholic Church to better understand how the Roman Catholic Church communicates as a legal institution. She argues that the language of canon law reveals the political ideology of the church hierarchy, and she takes up the tools of language and law scholarship to examine and challenge that language. Examining the function of canon law language in ecclesiastical communications, she studies the character of canonical language, the grammar and terminology of canon law, and how canon law language makes use of linguistic tricks and techniques to create its typical sound. Further, Hahn discusses the comprehension difficulties that arise out of ambiguities in the law, out of transfer problems between legal and common language, and out of canon law's confusing mix of legal, doctrinal, and moral norms. An important contribution to law, language, theology, and sociology alike, this book proposes a rethinking of whether Latin is the appropriate language of a global and cross-cultural legal order like canon law, suggesting that the global church instead seek to develop a multi-language practice.

You've just heard a diagnosis that shakes your world: It's cancer. And what you long for most is the hope that everything will be okay. You are not alone. As a longtime cancer survivor, Lynn Eib knows firsthand how that feels. And as a patient advocate helping thousands facing cancer, she also knows what gives people hope. In "50 Days of Hope," Lynn shares amazing, true stories of those who have been in your shoes and discovered that when God and cancer meet, hope is never far away. Whether you're a cancer patient or walking with a loved one on a cancer journey, you'll find "50 Days of Hope" packed with the daily dose of encouragement you need.

In the seventeenth century, English Baptists existed on the fringe of the nation's collective religious life. Today, Baptists have developed into one of the world's largest Protestant denominations. Despite this impressive transformation, those first English Baptists remain chronically misunderstood. In Orthodox Radicals, Matthew C. Bingham clarifies and analyzes the origins and identity of Baptists during the English Revolution, arguing that mid-seventeenth century Baptists did not, in fact, understand themselves to be a part of a larger, all-encompassing Baptist movement. Contrary to both the explicit statements of many historians and the tacit suggestion embedded in the very use of "Baptist" as an overarching historical category, the early modern men and women who rejected infant baptism would not have initially understood that single theological stance as being in itself constitutive of a new collective identity. Rather, the rejection of infant baptism was but one of a number of doctrinal revisions then taking place among English puritans eager to further their on-going project of godly reformation. Orthodox Radicals complicates our understanding of Baptist identity, setting the early English Baptists in the cultural, political, and theological context of the wider puritan milieu out of which they arose. The book also speaks to broader themes, including early modern debates on religious toleration, the mechanisms by which early modern actors established and defended their tenuous religious identities, and the perennial problem of anachronism in historical writing. Bingham also challenges the often too-hasty manner in which scholars have drawn lines of theological demarcation between early modern religious bodies, and reconsiders one of this period's most dynamic and influential religious minorities from a fresh and perhaps controversial perspective. By combining a provocative reinterpretation of Baptist identity with close readings of key theological and political texts, Orthodox Radicals offers the most original and stimulating analysis of mid-seventeenth-century Baptists in decades.

The icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear" is widely venerated throughout the Orthodox world; a copy of the icon--brought from Mount Athos to Russia in 1877--survived both a fire and the destruction of churches under communism to come to rest at the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg. This book offers a short history of the icon's place in the Russian Orthodox Church and recounts some of the miracles associated with its veneration. Included here are stories of the help and consolation given to faithful from all walks of life, including farmers, merchants, homemakers, soldiers, dukes, duchesses, and the much loved St. Elizabeth the New Martyr.

A beautifully written, theologically astute Advent study that focuses on the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

This major work offers a historical description and systematic analysis of the root causes of this global economic crisis, which the authors understand as a crisis of western civilization. Secondly, they assume (and prove) that the religions of the Axial Age were shaped by the suffering of people, deepened by the emergence of a new economy - based on money, private property and interest. They assume that the proven convergence of the Axial Age religions in responding to the social, psychological (and already ecological) consequences of the new economy can inform, motivate and empower faith communities and their members to join hands with social movements towards a new personal and collective culture of life. In part I they show the linkage between the contexts of antiquity and modernity concerning the role of money, private property and the related structures and mentalities of greed, producing suffering, and psychological, social and ecological destruction. They show how the religions of the Axial Age responded to this context in similar ways but with interesting specific emphases. In relation to today's situation we also raise the question of psychological hindrances to change in the different social classes, affected by neoliberalism, and how to overcome them. Before drawing the conclusions for present-day alliance-building between faith communities and social movements for alternatives to neoliberal globalization in Part III they offer a fundamental critique of the ambivalence of modernity in Part II.

This beautiful 52-week devotional provides Christian couples with an easy way to read Scripture, pray, and engage in spiritual discussions and activities to strengthen their relationship and marriage. Perfect for younger couples in building a strong spiritual foundation early on, it's a great resource for couples of any age or stage who want to grow closer as they follow God together. Presented in a relaxed and easy-to-use way and edited by Focus on the Family president Jim Daly and his wife, Jean, each devotional offers foundational, practical, and wise material from members of the Focus counselling staff.The content is divided into 13 sections, with topics including getting to know each other better, listening, mastering money, building a Christ-centered home, going the distance, and more. Each section is introduced by the Dalys, and each of the 52 devotions is followed with discussion questions and activities.

In thirty-one biblical, highly personal meditations, Nancy Stafford leads us to the edge of an endless sea--the vast, incomprehensible ocean of God's love. Nancy reflects upon the terrible beauty of His love, the wonder of forgiveness, waiting in His love, mystery and intimacy, and the calming reality of love that never fails. Each meditation includes a Scripture to ponder and an opportunity to respond to God in prayer. Here are memorable thoughts to cling to through the hours of the day...and night

God is life. His words impart life. A sermon should be an intimate encounter with the life-giving essence of the Word Himself. How do we as preachers extend such an encounter to our listeners? How can we offer words that transform? James T. Flynn unpacks the power of preaching to change lives and provides a new way to consider sermon preparation and delivery. Words That Transform re-images sermon-making as an experience of incarnation. A sermon begins as a seed sown in the womb of the preacher's heart through intimacy with God. That word takes upon itself flesh in the preacher's life, changing the preacher first. When proper delivery is married to imagination, the sermon's potential to transform others is realized. Using scholarship, practical teaching, and personal narrative, this book will lead preachers toward personal renewal and new power in their preaching ministry. eBook can be found on Apple iBooks.

Affirmations to Create, Heal, and Transform Teaches us the many ways we can enhance our everyday lives with the power of prayers, mantras, chants and affirmations...shows us how prayer creates change in our lives, why some doctors use prayer to treat their patients, how Gregorian chants energize the body, how visualization enhances spoken prayer, and how breathing techniques generate power. ELIZABETH CLARE PROPHET is the author of several best-selling titles, such as Soul Mates and Twin Flames in her popular Pocket Guides to Practical Spirituality series, The Human Aura, The Lost Years of Jesus and Reincarnation: The Missing Link in Christianity. She has pioneered techniques in practical spirituality, including the creative power of sound for personal growth and world transformation. Elizabeth Clare Prophet's seminars and workshops on angels, the aura, soul mates, prophecy, spiritual psychology, reincarnation, the mystical paths of the world's religions and other topics have been broadcast on more than 200 cable TV stations throught out the United States. She has also been featured on NBC's Ancient Prophecies, Donahue, Larry King Live and Nightline.