Brigid M. Sackey's book is a comprehensive analysis of gender relations in religion in Ghana, using gendered anthropological tools of rare insight and originality. The book chronicles the efforts of men and women who bring a repackaged and customized Christianity and health delivery to meet with the specific cultural needs. Sackey disabuses notions of the helplessness of women in Ghana specifically (and Africa in general) as it highlights women's initiatives and assertiveness as healers and leaders of the churches they have founded, in addition to their increased involvement and participation in gender discourses and social change. Sackey also addresses the question of HIV and the AIDS epidemic, detailing how the churches, through the specific leadership of women, are supporting a national campaign on the disease. Basing her research on an exhaustive library of oral history, ethnography, theory, and case studies, Sackey has brilliantly chronicled the relentless proliferation of and innovations in African Independent Churches, and their impact on the national health delivery system and its development.

This is the first comprehensive account in English of the most feared and the most mysterious of medieval heretics. A crusade was launched to uproot them in the south of France, the Inquisition was developed to suppress them, and St Dominic founded his friars to preach against them. Their history and that of the medieval Church are inextricably mingled.

This book puts the Cathars back into the context where they belong - that of medieval Catholicism. It studies the rise and fall of the heresy from the twelfth-century Rhineland to fifteenth-century Bosnia and the Church's counteraction, peaceful and violent. Within the exposition, Italian Cathars are given their rightful place, a chapter is devoted to the puzzle of the Bosnian Church, and perspective is given to Le Roy Ladurie's brilliant but wayward "Montaillou," A final survey assesses the legacy of a heresy which still exerts its strange fascination.

This book combines scholarly investigation with lucid narrative. It is, in short, historical writing at its best and likely to become the definitive account of a subject of enduring interest and importance.

True story of survivalMother and unborn child beat cancer through faith and determination One of the truly remarkable stories of faith and determination: At age 29, Heather Choate was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was ten weeks pregnant with her sixth child. Her unborn baby became victim to the fast-spreading and highly dangerous cancer in Heather's body that already spread to her lymph nodes. Doctors told her she needed to abort her baby to save her life. Heather told them, "I'd rather die than take the life of my baby." Heather and her husband set out to find a way to save both mother and baby. The journey pushed them to the fringes of their stamina, tested the strength of their familial relationships and found them clinging to their faith like it was the last bit of thread on a lifeline. Reading true stories of survival may change your life: We all have unexpected adversity in life. It's those things that we think "will never happen to us." It could be the loss of job, the birth of a special needs child, the downturn of the economy or an unexpected health challenge. Most of us would easily crumble under such circumstances, but Heather found that its not about what happens to you, its about what you do with it. You don't have to almost die, to learn how to live and Heather shows us how. Despite adversity, nearly impossible challenges can be met, families can be strengthened and faith can sustain even the most desperate souls on their journey. She brings her role as cancer warrior into the real lives of readers, addressing topics that affect them most: dealing with doubt and insecurity, discovering who they really are, renewing their passion, negotiating family strife, releasing relentless regrets, succeeding against temptation, weathering their worst fears, pressing on against fatigue and illness, uprooting bitterness and more. Fighting for Our Lives will take you on a journey of self-examination and appreciation of the beauties of today, and the book could actually change your life. What you'll learn in Fighting for Our Lives: Don't just survive challenges, thrive through them How to use your power of choice, because it's not what happens to you that matters, its what you do about it Practical ways that faith sustains and strengthens How to deal with doubt and insecurity Best ways to release negativity and find forgiveness How to trust your inner voice

Satan prowls around, ready to pounce on our every weakness, fill us with fear, and destroy our intimate relationship with Christ. But we are not defenseless. We have weapons of warfare enabling us to be spiritually aggressive and face the devil head on. Rather than lose ground in our faith, we can live armed and dangerous!

In this handbook of militant prayers, evangelist and ex-satanist John Ramirez helps you prepare for and move into advanced combat. He covers topics such as

• strengthening your position as a warrior
• opening your spiritual eyes
• releasing the thunder of God against the devil
• loosing God's blessings
• and more!

Use your spiritual authority to cancel the devil’s plans!

In our day, a powerful revelation has been released, teaching all believers how to enter the realm of breakthrough prayer and Kingdom authority—the Courts of Heaven.

As a believer operating in the courts of heaven, you have been granted the legal right to issue divine restraining orders against satan and his demons!

Through revelatory insights, Biblical examples, and supernatural testimonies, Dr. Francis Myles invites you to enter Heaven’s courtrooms, step into your place of spiritual governance, and release divine restraining orders that destroy the schemes of the enemy!

• This groundbreaking teaching will empower you to:
• Restrain the devil’s power against your life.
• Increase your spiritual authority as a judge in the Courts of Heaven.
• Identify and overcome the “Delilah Spirit” that aims at your destiny.
• Apply practices modeled by key biblical figures to issue divine restraining orders.

A definitive history of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement and an intriguing reference for persons outside the movement, "The Century of the Holy Spirit" details the miraculous story of Pentecostal/Charismatic growth--in the U.S. and around the world. This book features five chapters by the premier Pentecostal historian, Vinson Synan, with additional contributions by leading Pentecostal/Charismatic authorities--David Barrett, David Daniels, David Edwin Harrell Jr., Peter Hocken, Sue Hyatt, Gary McGee, and Ted Olsen.

Features include:

• Explains and analyzes the role of all major streams, including women, African-Americans, and Hispanics
• Thoroughly illustrated with photographs, charts, figures, maps, and vignettes
• 4-color fold-out timeline/genealogy tree
• 16 full-color pages, plus black-and-white photos throughout
• Includes bibliographies and indexes

Drawing from six decades of Scripture-based teaching and study in the original Greek and Hebrew, the late Derek Prince clearly explains the foundation for Christian faith, salvation, baptism, the Holy Spirit, laying on of hands, the believer's resurrection, and eternal judgment. This revised book, which has been translated and distributed worldwide in more than sixty languages, offers Christians evrything they need to develop a strong, balanced, spirit-filled life, including a comprehensive index of topics and a compelte index of Scripture verses.

In Mormon Christianity Stephen H. Webb becomes the first respected non-Mormon theologian to explore in depth what traditional Christians can learn from the Latter-Day Saints. Richard Mouw's recent work, Talking with Mormons, focuses on making the case that Mormons are not a cult and that Christians should tolerate them. But even Mouw, sympathetic as he is, follows all other non-Mormon theologians in declining to accept Mormons as members of the Christian family. They are not a cult, Mouw writes, but rather a religion related to be set apart from traditional Christianity. Mormons themselves are adamant that they are Christian, and eloquent writers within their own faith have tried to make this case, but no theologian outside the LDS church has ever tried to demonstrate just how Christian they are. Webb writes neither as a critic nor a defender of Mormonism but as a sympathetic observer who is deeply committed to engaging with Mormon ideas. His book is unique in taking Mormon theology seriously and providing plausible and in some instances even persuasive alternatives to many traditional Christian doctrines. It can serve as an introduction to Mormonism, but it goes far beyond that. Webb shows that Mormons are indeed part of the Christian family tree, but that they are a branch that extends well beyond what most Christians have ever imagined. Rather than accusing Mormons of heresy, Webb shows how they are innovative. His account of their creative appropriation of the Christian tradition is meant to inspire more traditional Christians to reconsider the shape of many basic Christian beliefs. At the same time, he also holds up a friendly mirror to Mormons themselves as they become more public and prominent in American religious debates. Yet Webb's book is not all affirming and celebratory. It ends with a call to Mormons to be more focused on Christian essentials and an invitation to other Christians to be more imaginative in considering Mormon alternatives to traditional doctrines.

On the surface, it appears that little has changed for Amish youth in the past decade: children learn to work hard early in life, they complete school by age fourteen or fifteen, and a year or two later they begin Rumspringa - that brief period during which they are free to date and explore the outside world before choosing whether to embrace a lifetime of Amish faith and culture. But the Internet and social media may be having a profound influence on significant numbers of the Youngie, according to Richard A. Stevick, who says that Amish teenagers are now exposed to a world that did not exist for them only a few years ago. Once hidden in physical mailboxes, announcements of weekend parties are now posted on Facebook. Today, thousands of Youngie in large Amish settlements are dedicated smartphone and Internet users, forcing them to navigate carefully between technology and religion. Updated photographs throughout this edition of Growing Up Amish include a screenshot from an Amish teenager's Facebook page. In the second edition of Growing Up Amish, Stevick draws on decades of experience working with and studying Amish adolescents across the United States to produce this well-rounded, definitive, and realistic view of contemporary Amish youth. Besides discussing the impact of smartphones and social media usage, he carefully examines work and leisure, rites of passage, the rise of supervised youth groups, courtship rituals, weddings, and the remarkable Amish retention rate. Finally, Stevick contemplates the potential of electronic media to significantly alter traditional Amish practices, culture, and staying power.

Christopher A. Stephenson offers the first critical study of the major theologians of pentecostalism, one of the fastest growing and most influential religious traditions in the world. Drawing on the scholarship of Myer Pearlman, E. S. Williams, French L. Arrington, Simon K. H. Chan, Frank D. Macchia, Amos Yong, and others, Stephenson establishes four original categories that classify recent pentecostal theologians' methodologies in systematic/constructive theology. The four categories are based on the arrangement of Biblical texts, the relationship between theology and Christian spirituality, doctrine concerning the kingdom of God, and pneumatology as a base for philosophical and fundamental theology. Stephenson analyzes each methodological type, then suggests a pentecostal theological method that builds on the strengths of each. He then offers his own, original contribution: an argument for a reciprocal relationship between pentecostal spirituality and doctrine that follows the pattern of lex orandi, lex credendi, and develops a doctrine of the Lord's supper as a demonstration of this reciprocal relationship. Types of Pentecostal Theology provides critical insight into such fundamental issues as the relationship between theology and philosophy, the dynamic between scripture and tradition, and similarities and differences between recent pentecostal theology and other currents in contemporary theology.

This major textbook is a newly researched historical study of Evangelical religion in its British cultural setting from its inception in the time of John Wesley to charismatic renewal today.

The Church of England, the Church of Scotland and the variety of Nonconformist denominations and sects in England, Scotland and Wales are discussed, but the book concentrates on the broad patterns of change affecting all the churches. It shows the great impact of the Evangelical movement on nineteenth-century Britain, accounts for its resurgence since the Second World War and argues that developments in the ideas and attitudes of the movement were shaped most by changes in British culture.

The contemporary interest in the phenomenon of Fundamentalism, especially in the United States, makes the book especially timely.

Following three years of ethnomusicological fieldwork on the sacred singing traditions of evangelical Christians in North-East Scotland and Northern Isles coastal communities, Frances Wilkins documents and analyses current singing practices in this book by placing them historically and contemporaneously within their respective faith communities. In ascertaining who the singers were and why, when, where, how and what they chose to sing, the study explores a number of related questions. How has sacred singing contributed to the establishment and reinforcement of individual and group identities both in the church and wider community? What is the process by which specific regional repertoires and styles develop? Which organisations and venues have been particularly conducive to the development of sacred singing in the community? How does the subject matter of songs relate to the immediate environment of coastal inhabitants? How and why has gospel singing in coastal communities changed? These questions are answered with comprehensive reference to interview material, fieldnotes, videography and audio field recordings. As one of the first pieces of ethnomusicological research into sacred music performance in Scotland, this ethnography draws important parallels between practices in the North East and elsewhere in the British Isles and across the globe.

Where is God when my suffering seems never-ending? Can I really find joy in this fallen world? This powerful book confronts these questions with stories of the author's near-death experience, a daughter's suicide attempt, mental illness, and numerous other gripping stories that demonstrate not only that God is present when we need him, but that through our trials we can find true intimacy with him. Author Randy Kay recounts how, as a former devout agnostic, he survived a near-fatal accident while searching for the truth--and when he met the One he sought to disprove, his journey changed from a life of extreme trials into one of genuine joy. In these pages, Kay offers his testimony to show readers how God uses suffering and brokenness to build an intimate and indestructible relationship with him, while breaking down barriers and ushering the reader into an authentic relationship with the Author of love.

Ask the perfect questions and receive answers full of wisdom with this easy-to-use guide. Learn from your parents the time honored traditions and habits that have made them who they are today, including their views on spirituality, what they learned in their youth, how they feel about parenting, and much more! With over 300 questions, this guide is a sure way to help you know your parents better.

What does it cost to follow Jesus? For these men and women, the answer was clear. They were ready to give witness to Christ in the face of intense persecution, even if it cost them their lives. From the stoning of Stephen to Nigerian Christians persecuted by Boko Haram today, these stories from around the world and through the ages will inspire greater faithfulness to the way of Jesus, reminding us what costly discipleship looks like in any age. Since the birth of Christianity, the church has commemorated those who suffered for their faith in Christ. In the Anabaptist tradition especially, stories of the boldness and steadfastness of early Christian and Reformation-era martyrs have been handed down from one generation to the next through books such as Thieleman van Braght's Martyrs Mirror (1660). Yet the stories of more recent Christian witnesses are often unknown. Bearing Witness tells the stories of early Christian martyrs Stephen, Polycarp, Justin, Agathonica, Papylus, Carpus, Perpetua, Tharacus, Probus, Andronicus, and Marcellus, followed by radical reformers Jan Hus, Michael and Margaretha Sattler, Weynken Claes, William Tyndale, Jakob and Katharina Hutter, Anna Janz, Dirk Willems. But the bulk of the book focuses on little-known modern witness including Veronika Loehans, Jacob Hochstetler, Gnadenhutten, Joseph and Michael Hofer, Emanuel Swartzendruber, Regina Rosenberg, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, Johann Kornelius Martens, Ahn Ei Sook, Jakob Rempel, Clarence Jordan, Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, Tulio Pedraza, Stanimir Katanic, Samuel Kakesa, Kasai Kapata, Meserete Kristos Church, Sarah Corson, Alexander Men, Jose Chuquin, Norman Tattersall, Katherine Wu, and Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria. This book is part of the Bearing Witness Stories Project, a collaborative story-gathering project involving Anabaptist believers from many different traditions.

The spiritual exercise of making decrees finds its precedent in both Old and New Testaments--the practice means simply quoting God's promises back to him, "reminding" him of what he has said. This kind of prayer is one of the most vital forms of intercession. In fact, the practice of decreeing God's Word not only builds our faith but transforms our lives. In this powerful and enlightening book, bestselling author and entrepreneur Patricia King helps readers grasp the power of inspired and finely tuned prayer. King explains how to * find specific texts of Scripture for your need * counter problems with God's Word * speak truth into reality * understand the difference between confessing the Word, proclaiming the Word, and decreeing the Word * and more Join countless believers who love the Word of God and honor its authority through their prayers. Accept the challenge to pray the words of Scripture boldly--in God's timing, for his will and purposes.

Reedited and reprinted by Kenneth E. Hagin and Dr. Roy Hicks, this in-depth study clearly proves to believers that Christ died for their sicknesses just as He died for their sins.

The author defines Yesterday's Radicals as nineteenth-century Anglican Broad Churchmen and Unitarians, and aims in his book to demonstrate the affinities between them and the manners in which they influenced each other. The Broad Churchmen constituted the progressive wing of the Anglican Church, who were interested in science, Biblical criticism, a rational approach to religion, and who were leaders in the attempt to relate the Church's teaching to the new thoughts and conditions of the nineteenth century. But they were not alone. The Unitarians were possessed of a similar spirit, and came to regard reason and conscience as the criteria of belief and practice. This book demonstrates the growing respect between them, as they tried to grapple with the problems of their day. It lucidly takes the reader through the ramifications and complexities of Biblical criticism, and discusses the answers given to the problems of Biblical inspiration and miracles, amongst others. It demonstrates how Unitarians and Broad Churchmen affected each other, and that much of which is now taken for granted in enlightened theological circles was developed by Yesterday's Radicals. The author traverses territory not previously opened up in this way, for the affinity between these groups has hitherto not been the subject of analysis. This pioneering study was awarded the Earl Morse Wilbur Prize for Historical Research.

What does it mean to pursue an intimate relationship with God? intimacy, obedience, and the miraculous as a blueprint for all believers. Combining sound biblical teaching with keen insight and compelling personal accounts from others, Dr. Clark invites us to go deeper by exploring the following questions: How do we achieve true intimacy in our relationship with God? What does it mean to express faith that results in the miraculous? What does the Bible say about the balance between obedience and grace? A clear understanding of the integral relationship between intimacy and obedience provides a framework in today's world for glorifying God, particularly through the miraculous, as Dr. Clark has so profoundly demonstrated during his many years of ministry. He longs for you to renew your knowledge of God's deep love for His children and how fervently God desires a life of intimate friendship with you.