Written by the leading and best-known experts and practitioners

The nativity is more than a warm and fuzzy feeling of longing for universal peace that envelops the earth around the end of the year. It's also not just a sign pointing to something greater in our lives. In trenchant messages that are liberally sprinkled with contemporary illustrations, Daniel Weitner reminds us that to know what Christmas is all about, we don't need to look outside Bethlehem... beyond the manger... or past the baby Jesus. Instead we should focus on the birth of Jesus the redeemer -- it is the wonderful event
"Describing earthy events with celestial significance, Daniel Weitner discerns divine activity in some of life's most mundane moments. Curious Commercials, a cluster of Advent meditations, is an excellent exposition of Incarnation theology."
Parker T. Williamson
Executive Editor, The Presbyterian Layman
A veteran of 25 years of pastoral ministry, Daniel J. Weitner is currently pastor of First Presbyterian Church in North Arlington, New Jersey, a parish situated in the heart of the Meadowlands suburbs of New York City. He holds a B.A. degree in English literature from Grove City College (Pennsylvania) and an M.Div. degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Penance and confession were an integral part of medieval religious life; essays explore literary evidence. Penance, confession and their texts (penitential and confessors' manuals) are important topics for an understanding of the middle ages, in relation to a wide range of issues, from medieval social thought to Chaucer's background. These essays treat a variety of different aspects of the topic: subjects include the frequency and character of early medieval penance; the summae and manuals for confessors, and the ways in which these texts (written by males for males) constructed women as sexual in nature; William of Auvergne's remarkable writing on penance; and the relevance of confessors' manuals for demographic history. JOHN BALDWIN's major study "From the Ordeal to Confession", delivered as a Quodlibet lecture, traces the appearance in French romances of the themes of a penitent's contrition, the priest's job in listening, and the application of the spiritual conseil and penitence. PETER BILLER is Professor of Medieval History at the University of York; A.J. MINNIS is Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of English, Yale University. Contributors: PETER BILLER, ROB MEENS, ALEXANDER MURRAY, JACQUELINE MURRAY, LESLEY SMITH, MICHAEL HAREN, JOHN BALDWIN

2019 Foreword INDIES Award, Gold for Essay With organized religion becoming increasingly divisive and politicized and Americans abandoning their pews in droves, it's easy to question aspects of traditional spirituality and devotion. In response to this shifting landscape, Sonja Livingston undertakes a variety of expeditions-from a mobile confessional in Cajun Country to a eucharistic procession in Galway, Ireland, to the Death and Marigolds Parade in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mass in a county jail on Thanksgiving Day-to better understand devotion in her own life. The Virgin of Prince Street chronicles her quest, offering an intimate and unusually candid view into Livingston's relationship with the swiftly changing Catholic Church and into her own changing heart. Ultimately, Livingston's meditations on quirky rituals and fading traditions thoughtfully and dynamically interrogate traditional elements of sacramental devotion, especially as they relate to concepts of religion, relationships, and the sacred.

"What today is Holy Saturday on the Church's calendar was certainly not Holy Saturday for those early followers of Jesus. It was a day of despair, truly a Black Saturday." (from the Foreword)
This liturgical drama provides a stark contrast to the joy and celebration of Easter morning. This service captures the reality of that Friday when our Lord was crucified. The cast includes people who were present on that final Friday -- each sharing their emotions, from the sneering soldiers, to the heart-wrenching sobs and pleas of his mother, to Christ himself.
C. Alton Robertson is Associate Professor at Alfred North Whitehead College for Lifelong Learning, University of Redlands, where he has received the Outstanding Teacher Award and the Academic Excellence Award. Robertson has served as Director of the Commission on World Mission, Acting Director of Research for the Division of Overseas Ministries of the National Council of Churches and Director of Overseas Personnel Recruitment Office in New York City. Author of many publications, Robertson earned the degrees of M.Div. (Berkeley Baptist Divinity School), M.I.A. in International Affairs and M.Phil. from Columbia University. He served five years on the staff of the National Student Christian Federation and five years as a campus minister on the staff of the Waseda Hoshien Student Center in Tokyo.

Presents the late Cardinal's personal reflections on themes such as prayer, solitude, and living the Christian life today. A beautiful book with full colour photographs.

We often hear of the lack of and the need for, strong role models in our society. This worship service, about 10 biblical women who overcame seemingly impossible situations by being faithful to God, provides just such role models, The traumatic experiences and depths of faith of these women, though poignant, are rarely considered in today's society.
These 10 women came from various levels of society and had different types of problems. Yet, they all knew God as their only hope and refuge. An excellent resource for Mother's Day, it is also great for other special occasions.
Characters included are:
- Hagar
- Sarah
- Moses' mother
- Rahab
- Deborah
- Naomi and Ruth
- Hannah
- Esther
- Elizabeth
Lynda Pujado is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and has also studied at Moody Bible Institute and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She has taught in schools in England and Spain as well as the United States. She currently resides in Palatine, Illinois, with her family.

Best-selling Catholic author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle encourages Catholic families to reclaim a significant tradition: setting apart Sundays as a day of worship, true rest, teaching, and simply spending precious time together. In fifty-two creative chapters Donna-Marie presents fun and meaningful ideas for all fifty-two weeks of the year inspired by the seasons (both natural and liturgical), holidays, Saints days, and holy Scripture, to help keep Sundays holy, just as God said we should!

Robert Frykenberg's insightful study explores and enhances historical understandings of Christian communities, cultures, and institutions within the Indian world from their beginnings down to the present. As one out of several manifestations of a newly emerging World Christianity, in which Christians of a Post-Christian West are a minority, it has focused upon those trans-cultural interactions within Hindu and Muslim environments which have made Christians in this part of the world distinctive. It seeks to uncover various complexities in the proliferation of Christianity in its many forms and to examine processes by which Christian elements intermingled with indigenous cultures and which resulted in multiple identities, and also left imprints upon various cultures of India.
Thomas Christians believe that the Apostle Thomas came to India in 52 A.D./C.E., and that he left seven congregations to carry on the Mission of bringing the Gospel to India. In our day the impulse of this Mission is more alive than ever. Catholics, in three hierarchies, have become most numerous; and various Evangelicals/Protestant communities constitute the third great tradition. With the rise of Pentecostalism, a fourth great wave of Christian expansion in India has occurred. Starting with movements that began a century ago, there are now ten to fifteen times more missionaries than ever before, virtually all of them Indian. Needless to say, Christianity in India is profoundly Indian and Frykenberg provides a fascinating guide to its unique history and practice.

First published in 1978 and hailed by "Culture" as constituting "an important foreshadowing of issues that have become prominent in more recent anthropology," this classic book, now updated and extensively revised, examines the theological doctrines and popular notions that promote and sustain Christian pilgrimage, including their corresponding symbols and images.

Musical activity is one of the most ubiquitous and highly valued forms of social interaction in North America (to say nothing of world over), being engaged from sporting events to political rallies, concerts to churches. Moreover, music's use as an affective agent for political and religious programs suggests that it has ethical significance. Indeed, many have said as much. It is surprising then that music's ethical significance remains one of the most undertheorized aspects of both moral philosophy and music scholarship. Music for Others: Care, Justice, and Relational Ethics in Christian Music fills part of this scholarly gap by focusing on the religious aspects of musical activity, particularly on the practices of Christian communities. Based on ethnomusicological fieldwork at three Protestant churches and a group of seminary students studying in an immersion course at South by Southwest (SXSW), and synthesizing theories of discourse, formation, and care ethics oriented towards restorative justice, it first argues that relationships are ontological for both human beings and musical activity. It further argues that musical meaning and emotion converge in human bodies such that music participates in personal and communal identity construction in affective ways-yet these constructions are not always just. Thus, considering these aspects of music's ways of being in the world, Music for Others finally argues that music is ethical when it preserves people in and restores people to just relationships with each other, and thereby with God.

"I am about to share here a story about stars that dance. . . . If the very thought of seeing stars dance piques your curiosity at some deep level of your soul, then pay attention to what follows, for the walk to the Field of Stars, to Santiago de Compostela, is a journey that has the power to change lives forever."
- from the introduction

"Pilgrimage" is a strange notion to our modern, practical minds. How many of us have walked to a distant holy place in order to draw nearer to God? Yet the pilgrimage experience is growing these days in various parts of the world.

Seeking to take stock of his life, Kevin Codd set out in July 2003 on a pilgrimage that would profoundly change his life. To the Field of Stars tells the fascinating story of his unusual spiritual and physical journey on foot across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, the traditional burial place of the apostle James the Greater. Each brief chapter chronicling Codd's thirty-five-day trek is dedicated to one or two days on the road. Codd shares tales of other pilgrims, his own changes of perspective, and his challenges and triumphs along the way - all told with a disarming candor.

Seen through the eyes of a Catholic priest who honors the religious worldview that originally gave rise to these medieval odysseys, "pilgrimage" comes to life and takes on new meaning in these pages.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER Ruth is such a gift to us-her voice is strong and honest, yet believably grace-filled and kind. We learn and grow into who we want to be when Ruth's words and art lead us. -Annie F. Downs, bestselling author of 100 Days to Brave and host of That Sounds Fun podcast Become What You Behold You are in the process of becoming. Every day is an opportunity to be shaped and formed by what moves your heart...drives your thoughts...captures your gaze. Is it any wonder that where you direct your eyes and your heart matter in your day-to-day? We become what we behold when we set our hearts and minds on Christ and His redemption story here in the details of our daily lives. Not just on Sunday, not just on holidays, not just when extraordinarily hard or wonderful things happen...but today. Bestselling author and artist Ruth Chou Simons invites you on a new journey to Beholding and Becoming. With more than 850 pieces of intricate, original artwork, Ruth encourages you to elevate your gaze to the One who created all things. Today is an opportunity for God to demonstrate His love and His faithfulness in the midst of your mundane. No circumstance is too ordinary or too forgotten for Him to meet you there in worship. His transforming grace turns your "everyday ordinary" into a holy place of becoming.

Discover positive ways to approach the problem of being unequally yoked. Now there's help, truly godly help! Using the scriptural framework of love, Beloved Unbeliever shows how to love your husband into the faith. Jo Berry interviewed dozens of women who are married to unbelievers. They shared the greatest difficulties they encounter and practical ways to handle problems. You'll learn: - How to be a suitable helper - How to deal with hurts, heartaches, and hindrances - How to shoulder spiritual responsibility -- In addition, you'll find workshop questions on each chapter, so you can follow up on the chapter with individual or group study. Beloved Unbeliever will reassure you: happiness is possible in an unequally yoked situation.

Although objects associated with the Passion and suffering of Christ are among the most important and sacred relics venerated by the Catholic Church, this is the first study that considers how they were presented to the faithful. Cynthia Hahn adopts an accessible, informative, and holistic approach to the important history of Passion relics-first the True Cross, and then the collective group of Passion relics-examining their display in reliquaries, their presentation in church environments, their purposeful collection as centerpieces in royal and imperial collections, and finally their veneration in pictorial form as Arma Christi. Tracing the ways that Passion relics appear and disappear in response to Christian devotion and to historical phenomena, ranging from pilgrimage and the Crusades to the promotion of imperial power, this groundbreaking investigation presents a compelling picture of a very important aspect of late medieval and early modern devotion.

Pam Rhodes is a passionate advocate for our heritage of splendid hymns. Hymns, she explains, help us respond to God: they are "prayers in our pockets". With her warm personal touch she describes how these hymns came to be written, and considers the perceptions they contain. This book is a treasury of fascinating detail, but it is also a source of devotion: as you consider each hymn and the story behind it you will be drawn into worship. Each reflection concludes with a short prayer.

In Erzahlte Bewegung. Narrationsstrategien und Funktionsweisen lateinischer Pilgertexte (4.-15. Jahrhundert), Susanna Fischer analyzes the function and structure of the genre of pilgrimage narratives from a literary point of view. The first part of the book is devoted to theoretical reflections and a systematic analysis of characteristic elements of pilgrimage narratives. Interpreting the texts from a narrative perspective, she focuses not only on formal characteristics but also on narrative structures and thus takes a closer look at the poetics of pilgrimage narratives. Through the detailed analysis of fourteen Latin texts about pilgrimage to the Holy Land from the 4th to the 15th century, she illustrates the development of a literary tradition with specific structural, stylistic and narrative characteristics. See inside the book.

In this delightful sleigh ride through Christmas history, Paul Kerensa answers the festive questions you never thought to ask... Did Cromwell help shape the mince pie? Was St Nicholas the first to use an automatic door? Which classic Christmas crooners were inspired by a Hollywood heatwave? And did King Herod really have a wife called Doris? Whether you mull on wine or enjoy the biggest turkey, the biggest tree or the biggest credit card bill, unwrap your story through our twelve dates of Christmas past. From Roman revelry to singing Bing, via Santa, Scrooge and a snoozing saviour, this timeless tale is perfect trivia fodder for the Christmas dinner table.

In the period between 1200 and 1500 in western Europe, a number of religious women gained widespread veneration and even canonization as saints for their extraordinary devotion to the Christian eucharist, supernatural multiplications of food and drink, and miracles of bodily manipulation, including stigmata and inedia (living without eating). The occurrence of such phenomena sheds much light on the nature of medieval society and medieval religion. It also forms a chapter in the history of women. Previous scholars have occasionally noted the various phenomena in isolation from each other and have sometimes applied modern medical or psychological theories to them. Using materials based on saints' lives and the religious and mystical writings of medieval women and men, Caroline Walker Bynum uncovers the pattern lying behind these aspects of women's religiosity and behind the fascination men and women felt for such miracles and devotional practices. She argues that food lies at the heart of much of women's piety. Women renounced ordinary food through fasting in order to prepare for receiving extraordinary food in the eucharist. They also offered themselves as food in miracles of feeding and bodily manipulation. Providing both functionalist and phenomenological explanations, Bynum explores the ways in which food practices enabled women to exert control within the family and to define their religious vocations. She also describes what women meant by seeing their own bodies and God's body as food and what men meant when they too associated women with food and flesh. The author's interpretation of women's piety offers a new view of the nature of medieval asceticism and, drawing upon both anthropology and feminist theory, she illuminates the distinctive features of women's use of symbols. Rejecting presentist interpretations of women as exploited or masochistic, she shows the power and creativity of women's writing and women's lives.