A fascinating and disturbing book. . . a literary grenade seeking to blow apart Opus Dei's benign and exalted image. . . a picture of an obsessively secretive, manipulative and sexist organization with a virtual cultlike veneration of its founder.-Boston Globe Tapia's book is a comprehensive account of the inner workings of the women's branch of Opus Dei. It should fascinate sociologists and feminist and contribute to needed self-criticism in the Roman Catholic Church. . . A best seller in Spain, and a success in Germany, Portugal and Italy, Tapia's book has important lessons not only for John Paul II and other Catholics, but for all who wish to see religion freed from the tyranny of self-proclaimed saints.-Christian Century The little I knew about Opus Dei before reading this book was enough to make me feel uneasy about the increasing strength and visibility of the organization in the Catholic Church. Tapia's book deepened my wariness into something akin to dread. Her book, however, is not a cheap or sensational expose. It is the chronicle of an intelligent and sensitive woman who served the organization in responsible positions during her 18 year sojourn as a full member. -National Catholic Reporter

A fascinating exposition of Christian online communication networks and the Internet's power to build a movement In the 1990s, Marilyn Agee developed one of the most well-known amateur evangelical websites focused on the "End Times", The Bible Prophecy Corner. Around the same time, Lambert Dolphin, a retired Stanford physicist, started the website Lambert's Library to discuss with others online how to experience the divine. While Marilyn and Lambert did not initially correspond directly, they have shared several correspondents in common. Even as early as 1999 it was clear that they were members of the same online network of Christians, a virtual church built around those who embraced a common ideology. Digital Jesus documents how such like-minded individuals created a large web of religious communication on the Internet, in essence developing a new type of new religious movement-one without a central leader or institution. Based on over a decade of interaction with figures both large and small within this community, Robert Glenn Howard offers the first sustained ethnographic account of the movement as well as a realistic and pragmatic view of how new communication technologies can both empower and disempower the individuals who use them. By tracing the group's origins back to the email lists and "Usenet" groups of the 1980s up to the online forums of today, Digital Jesus also serves as a succinct history of the development of online group communications.

Christianity in the United States has long been organized around congregations and denominations. However, a different type of organization operating outside of these traditional structures is claiming an increasingly important place in the religious market. The growth of Christian nonprofits, popularly called "parachurch" organizations, has been recognized by churchgoers and social scientists alike as an important development that is transforming the composition and dynamics of American Christianity. The size, resources, and activities of this population have made it the public face of American Christianity and altered the relationship between individuals, churches and denominations. Beyond the Congregation utilizes data on almost 2,000 of the largest and most influential Christian nonprofits in the United States to answer some of the key questions raised by these organizations. What explains the growth of Christian nonprofits? What activities are they pursuing? How are they funded and how do they use those funds? Beyond the Congregation provides a much needed examination of these issues that is accessible and informative for scholars, nonprofit executives, religious leaders and the general public.

Christianity in the United States has long been organized around congregations and denominations. However, a different type of organization operating outside of these traditional structures is claiming an increasingly important place in the religious market. The growth of Christian nonprofits, popularly called "parachurch" organizations, has been recognized by churchgoers and social scientists alike as an important development that is transforming the composition and dynamics of American Christianity. The size, resources, and activities of this population have made it the public face of American Christianity and altered the relationship between individuals, churches and denominations. Beyond the Congregation utilizes data on almost 2,000 of the largest and most influential Christian nonprofits in the United States to answer some of the key questions raised by these organizations. What explains the growth of Christian nonprofits? What activities are they pursuing? How are they funded and how do they use those funds? Beyond the Congregation provides a much needed examination of these issues that is accessible and informative for scholars, nonprofit executives, religious leaders and the general public.

The 1960s were a time of explosive religious change. In the Christian churches it was a time of innovation, from the 'new theology' and 'new morality' of Bishop Robinson to the evangelicalism of the Charismatic Movement, and of charismatic leaders, such as Pope John XXIII and Martin Luther King. But it was also a time of rapid social and cultural change when Christianity faced challenges from Eastern religions, from Marxism and feminism, and above all from new 'affluent' lifestyles. Hugh McLeod tells in detail, using oral history, how these movements and conflicts were experienced in England, but because the Sixties were an international phenomenon he also looks at other countries, especially the USA and France. McLeod explains what happened to religion in the 1960s, why it happened, and how the events of that decade shaped the rest of the 20th century.

The Order of Christ Sophia (OCS) is a small New Religion which, in the short span of eight years, has evoked intense controversy. An unusual synthesis of traditional Catholicism, esoteric cosmology, and psychotherapy, the OCS already has centers in a dozen major cities in the United States. Thus far, however, it has eluded the attention of scholars of alternative religions. A schismatic offshoot of an earlier group, the Holy Order of Man, the OCS developed a distinctive set of beliefs and practices that set it apart from the mother faith. It has cultivated some curious and provocative features for a Christian-based religion, including the elevation of women to full participation and status within the evolving sacred order. Its treatment of gender is refreshingly egalitarian; women can be priests, and Mary is deified and given equal status with Jesus. Another unusual feature of the group is its emphasis on psychology and prescription of intensive psychotherapy for all members. Beyond surveying the history, doctrines and practices of this unusual group, Lewis brings data from his study of the OCS to bear on many items of conventional wisdom in the New Religions field. He shows, for example, that far from joining the Order in response to a 'youth crisis,' the average age of new OCS members is 37. This and a number of other characteristics of the OCS membership challenge generally accepted conclusions about recruits to New Religions. Lewis also examines how various theoretical models, such as Rodney Stark's influential model of religious 'success,' pan out when applied to the OCS. Lewis shows that although some of Stark's postulates are insightful, other aspects of the model are severely deficient. In addition to the six core chapters of the book authored by Lewis, three other experts contribute chapters on: the results of personality and I.Q. tests administered to member; membership attitudes; comparison of OCS with mainstream denominations; and sex roles in the OCS.

In a richly illustrated, revelatory study of Philadelphia's Germantown Avenue, home to a diverse array of more than 90 Christian and Muslim congregations, Katie Day explores the formative and multifaceted role of religious congregations within an urban environment. Germantown Avenue cuts through Philadelphia for eight and a half miles, from the affluent neighborhood of Chestnut Hill to the high crime section known as ''the Badlands.'' The congregations along this route range from the wealthiest to the poorest populations in Philadelphia. Some congregants are immigrants who find safety and support in close fellowship, while others are long-time residents whose congregations are actively involved in providing social services. Cities undergo constant change, and their congregations change with them. As Day observes, some congregations have sprung up in former commercial strips, harboring new arrivals and recreating a sense of home, and others form an anchor for a neighborhood across generations, providing a connection to the past and a hope of stability for the future. Social scientists, urban planners, and politicians have long overlooked the agency of communities of faith in the construction of the social, cultural, economic, and physical reality of life in the city. Drawing on years of research, in-depth interviews with religious leaders and congregants, and a wealth of demographic data, Day demonstrates the powerful influence cities exert on their congregations, and the surprising and important impact congregations have on their urban environments.

Richard J. Goodrich examines the attempt by the fifth-century ascetic writer John Cassian to influence and shape the development of Western monasticism. Goodrich's close analysis of Cassian's earliest work (The Institutes) focuses on his interaction with the values and preconceptions of a traditional Roman elite, as well as his engagement with contemporary writers. By placing The Institutes in context, Goodrich demonstrates just how revolutionary this foundational work was for its time and milieu.

John Henry Newman (1801-90) was brought up in the Church of England in the Evangelical tradition. An Oxford graduate and Fellow of Oriel College, he was appointed Vicar of St Mary's Oxford in 1828; from 1839 onwards he began to have doubts about the claims of the Anglican Church for Catholicity and in 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a Cardinal in 1879. His influence on both the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and the advance of Catholic ideas in the Church of England was profound.
This key volume covers the final twenty-three months of Newman's Anglican years from November 1843 to 6 October 1845. It begins with Francis Rivington's refusal to publish Lives of the English Saints because of their Roman Catholic bias, and Newman's withdrawal from the editorship after the first two volumes of the series is published by another publishing house. The whole country is watching his every move. Rumours are rife and rampant. He is accused of being in the pay of the Pope. He is also accused of being a Jesuit or about to become one. But the attacks which really hit home are those accusing him of being a liar, a sceptic, and a traitor.
In February 1845, the University of Oxford's Convocation deprives William George Ward of his BA and MA Oxford degrees; and the proposal to censure Newman's Tract 90 is vetoed by two University Proctors. Newman sets to work in earnest on his Essay on Development, the publication of which will be the signal of his intentions to become a Roman Catholic. It goes to the printers in the third week of September. From this point on, events move swiftly. It is only a matter of days before Newman is received into the Churchof Rome by Father Dominic Barberi at Littlemore on 9 October 1845.

Everything pastors, parish leaders, and young adult volunteers need to know about bringing those between 20 and 40 into the active life of the church. Based on the heralded Archdiocese of Chicago outreach, this proven program for ministering to and with young adults is filled with sound principles and effective strategies.

Branded as "the new Falun Gong" by local authorities, The Church of Almighty God is the most persecuted religious movement in China today. Thousands of police officers are deployed full time to identify and arrest its members. Hundreds of thousands of its devotees are in jail. Authorities claim, perhaps hyperbolically, that it has some four million members and accuse the group of serious crimes. Yet, the movement continues to grow. In this ground-breaking study, Massimo Introvigne offers an inside look at this once-elusive movement, sharing interviews with hundreds of members and the Chinese police officers who hunt them down. The story of The Church of Almighty God is one of rapid growth, dramatic persecution, and the struggle of believers to seek asylum in countries around the world. In his telling of the story, Introvigne reconstructs the Church's idiosyncratic theology, centered in the belief that Jesus Christ has returned in our time in the shape of a Chinese woman, worshipped as Almighty God, to eradicate the sinful nature of humans, and that we have entered the third and final time period in the history of humanity: the Age of Kingdom. A major book from one of the world's leading scholars of new religious movements, Inside The Church of Almighty God is a critical addition to the scholarship of Chinese religion.

There are plenty of reasons to criticize, judge, and even walk away from the church. Many of us have been hurt and rejected. We may see church as insular and irrelevant. Despite this, Kevin Makins believes that the church still matters--perhaps more than ever. When Kevin was 23 and didn't know any better, he started a congregation with some friends who were on the edge of faith. Together they hoped to discover if the church was worth fighting for. In this brutally honest account, he shares their story of becoming a community of misfits, outcasts, and oddballs who would learn that, even with all its faults, the church is worth being a part of . . . and must be reclaimed for good. If you've been burned or burned out by the church, if you've been silenced or misunderstood, if you've left or never even joined in the first place, this candid, hopeful book is your invitation to consider what you miss out on when you give up on church--and what the church misses out on when it gives up on you.

"This book is extremely valuable. Shupe et al. have done an excellent job...highly recommended; it is a must-read."--"Criminal Justice Review"

""Bad Pastors" raises all the good questions and provides many hypothetical answers, and for these reasons alone it should be read by all sociologists of religion with an interest in wrongdoings."
--"Sociology of Religion"

Child-molesting priests, embezzled church treasures, philandering ministers and rabbis, even church-endorsed pyramid schemes that defraud gullible parishioners of millions of dollars: for the past decade, clergy misconduct has seemed continually to be in the news.

Is there something about religious organizations that fosters such misbehavior? Bad Pastors presents a range of new perspectives and solidly grounded data on pastoral abuse, investigating sexual misconduct, financial improprieties, and political and personal abuse of authority. Rather than focusing on individuals who misbehave, the volume investigates whether the foundation for clergy malfeasance is inherent in religious organizations themselves, stemming from hierarchies of power in which trusted leaders have the ability to define reality, control behavior, and even offer or withhold the promise of immortality. Arguing that such phenomena arise out of organizational structures, the contributors do not focus on one particular religion, but rather treat these incidents from an interfaith perspective.

Bad Pastors moves beyond individual case studies to consider a broad range of issues surrounding clergy misconduct, from violence against women to the role of charisma and abuse of power in new religious movements. Highlighting similarities between otherforms of abuse, such as domestic violence, the volume helps us to conceptualize and understand clergy misconduct in new ways.

Read the Introduction.

Few issues arouse as much passionate debate as the relationship between church and state. Political parties and coalitions have long jockeyed for position in the battle to either keep the two separate, or to unify them in one nation indivisible from God. While the battle has been raging in the political arena, figures from academia, the media, and myriad other vantage points, have commented on the context and constitutionality of laws governing religious expression.

In Law and Religion, Stephen M. Feldman brings together the many perspectives that have shaped policy on this important national issue. In giving voice to the political left and right, as well as to cultural, philosophical, sociological and historical perspectives, the book serves as an even-handed treatment of an issue all too often clouded by biases. Contributors ranging from Stanley Fish to Richard John Neuhaus explore issues extending from religious morality and religious freedom, to fundamentalism, the separation of church and state, religion and public schooling, and liberal political theory. Comprehensive in scope, Law and Religion will stand as an important reference for anyone seeking to further understand this complex and highly emotional topic.

This elegant Bible edition honors the beauty and richness of the New King James Version in a convenient portable size with essential study tools and traditional red-letter text for the Words of Christ. The New King James Version in the Sovereign Collection reflects the legacy and majesty of the King James Version Bible produced more than 400 years ago, but in language updated for today. This beautiful Bible, which contains design flourishes that pay tribute to the Bible produced in 1611, comes in a convenient portable size with essential study tools and traditional red-letter text for the Words of Christ. The Sovereign Collection continues Thomas Nelson's long history and stewardship publishing Bibles, featuring elegant letter illustrations leading into each chapter combined with clear and readable Comfort Print (R), connects you to the legacy of faith, and inspires your time in the Word to be enjoyable and fruitful. Features include: Line-matched classic 2-column format for a comfortable reading experience Book introductions provide a concise overview of the background and historical context of the book about to be read Words of Christ in red help you quickly identify Jesus' teachings and statements Extensive end-of-page cross references allow you to find related passages quickly and easily Translation notes provide a look into the thinking of the translators with alternative translations that could have been used and textual notes about manuscript variations Presentation page to personalize this special gift by recording a memory or a note Concordance for looking up a word's occurrences throughout the Bible Full-color maps show a visual representation of Israel and other biblical locations for better context Two satin ribbon markers for you to easily navigate and keep track of where you were reading Gilded page edges help protect the edge of the page and provide a polished look Durable and flexible Smyth-sewn binding so the Bible will lay flat in your hand or on a desk Easy-to-read 9.5-point NKJV Comfort Print (R)

A Top Ten Book for Parish Ministry in 2017, Academy of Parish Clergy A Jesus Creed 2017 Book of the Year (Honorable Mention) From facing wild beasts in the arena to governing the Roman Empire, Christian women--as preachers and philosophers, martyrs and empresses, virgins and mothers--influenced the shape of the church in its formative centuries. This book provides in a single volume a nearly complete compendium of extant evidence about Christian women in the second through fifth centuries. It highlights the social and theological contributions they made to shaping early Christian beliefs and practices, integrating their influence into the history of the patristic church and showing how their achievements can be edifying for contemporary Christians.

In Righteous Gentiles: Religion, Identity, and Myth in John Hagee's Christians United for Israel, Sean Durbin offers a critical analysis of America's largest Pro-Israel organization, Christians United for Israel, along with its critics and collaborators. Although many observers focus on Christian Zionism's influence on American foreign policy, or whether or not Christian Zionism is 'truly' religious, Righteous Gentiles takes a different approach. Through his creative and critical analysis of Christian Zionists' rhetoric and mythmaking strategies, Durbin demonstrates how they represent their identities and political activities as authentically religious. At the same time, Durbin examines the role that Jews and the state of Israel play as vehicles or empty signifiers through which Christian Zionist truth claims are represented as manifestly real.

There is a huge disconnect between the official account of church demise and the death of faith peddled in political and media circles, and the vitality of churches in every corner of the country. Why do the pundits ignore what is happening? Sean Oliver-Dee counters that the ongoing health of the church is being ignored because it contradicts three myths that the 'new establishment' wants to assert: that the gradual death of religion is a good excuse to ignore the views of Christians; that encouraging Christianity to die will benefit society; and that scientific progress will necessarily cause the death of faith. The growth of the church runs contrary to all three assertions. It's time to challenge the myths.