In Plantation Church, Noel Leo Erskine investigates the history of the Black Church as it developed both in the United States and the Caribbean after the arrival of enslaved Africans. Typically, when people talk about the "Black Church" they are referring to African-American churches in the U.S., but in fact, the majority of African slaves were brought to the Caribbean. It was there, Erskine argues, that the Black religious experience was born. The massive Afro-Caribbean population was able to establish a form of Christianity that preserved African Gods and practices, but fused them with Christian teachings, resulting in religions such as Cuba's Santeria. Despite their common ancestry, the Black religious experience in the U.S. was markedly different because African Americans were a political and cultural minority. The Plantation Church became a place of solace and resistance that provided its members with a sense of kinship, not only to each other but also to their ancestral past. Despite their common origins, the Caribbean and African American Church are almost never studied together. This book investigates the parallel histories of these two strands of the Black Church, showing where their historical ties remain strong and where different circumstances have led them down unexpectedly divergent paths. The result will be a work that illuminates the histories, theologies, politics, and practices of both branches of the Black Church. This project presses beyond the nation state framework and raises intercultural and interregional questions with implications for gender, race and class. Noel Leo Erskine employs a comparative method that opens up the possibility of rethinking the language and grammar of how Black churches have been understood in the Americas and extends the notion of church beyond the United States. The forging of a Black Christianity from sources African and European, allows for an examination of the meaning of church when people of African descent are culturally and politically in the majority. Erskine also asks the pertinent question of what meaning the church holds when the converse is true: when African Americans are a cultural and political minority.

After a century during which Confucianism was viewed by academics as a relic of the imperial past or, at best, a philosophical resource, its striking comeback in Chinese society today raises a number of questions about the role that this ancient tradition-re-appropriated, reinvented, and sometimes instrumentalized-might play in a contemporary context. The Sage and the People, originally published in French, is the first comprehensive enquiry into the "Confucian revival" that began in China during the 2000s. It explores its various dimensions in fields as diverse as education, self-cultivation, religion, ritual, and politics. Resulting from a research project that the two authors launched together in 2004, the book is based on the extensive anthropological fieldwork they carried out in various parts of China over the next eight years. Sebastien Billioud and Joel Thoraval suspected, despite the prevailing academic consensus, that fragments of the Confucian tradition would sooner or later be re-appropriated within Chinese society and they decided to their hypothesis. The reality greatly exceeded their initial expectations, as the later years of their project saw the rapid development of what is now called the "Confucian revival" or "Confucian renaissance". Using a cross-disciplinary approach that links the fields of sociology, anthropology, and history, this book unveils the complexity of the "Confucian Revival" and the relations between the different actors involved, in addition to shedding light on likely future developments.

In ’n tyd wat gekenmerk word deur misdaad en geweld, is dit nie altyd maklik om moedig voort te beur nie. Maar met God aan ons sy is enigiets moontlik. Dit is die boodskap in Milanie Vosloo se dagboek Moed vir elke môre.

Die 366 verkwikkende oordenkings sal vroue inspireer om elke dag met nuwe moed aan te pak. Met temas soos moed om weer te begin, moed om vróú te wees, moed om te glo, moed om te huil, moed om vas te byt, moed om te kniel en nog vele meer, lei Milanie Vosloo vroue om hulle ware vrouwees daagliks moedig uit te leef.

Moed vir elke môre met sy eenkleur-bladontwerp is bedoel vir elke vrou wat vasgevang en oorweldig voel. Dit sal haar inspireer om die lewe weer reguit in die oë te kyk.

"God's grace is the most incredible and insurmountable truth ever to be revealed to the human heart."--John Bunyan In 1661 English writer and preacher John Bunyan was jailed for twelve years after refusing to give up his spiritual mission. During this time, he wrote his most enduring work and influential allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress, which has since been published in over 200 languages. This 90-day devotional highlights the eternal truths contained in The Pilgrim's Progress that transcend the allegory into your walk with Jesus. Through these insightful readings, you will be shown the practical help the Holy Spirit provides and how to discern the hindrances of the enemy so you can live a victorious and joyful Christian life. John Bunyan said, "It is always hard to see the purpose in wilderness wanderings until after they are over." May you receive wisdom and strength from Christian's extraordinary journey of faith as you embark on your own adventure toward the Celestial City.

A helpful handbook on doctrinal theology Pieper's

Is daar kommer in jou hart, of onbeantwoorde vrae? Neem dit na God toe in gebed!

Angus Buchan is jou gebedsvennoot met die 365 kort, kragtige en Skrifgebaseerde gebede. Elke gebed word afgerond met ’n sleutelvers en aanhaling, asook ’n praktiese wenk om geloofsgroei in jou lewe aan te moedig. Wat jy ook al nodig het – of dit geduld, vrede, vreugde of genade is – Sakpas-gebede vir elke dag sal jou lei om jou hart oop te maak teenoor jou Skepper en só jou verhouding met Hom te verinnig.

Vind nuwe krag en inspirasie wanneer jy met jou Skepper praat en sy troos, liefde en genade ervaar.

In Successful Women Think Differently, Valorie Burton helps women create new thought processes that empower them to succeed in their relationships, finances, work, health, and spiritual life. In this powerful and practical guide, women will gain insight into who they really are and receive the tools, knowledge, and understanding to succeed.

You Are Capable of Far More Than You Know

The most successful women make decisions differently, set goals differently, and bounce back from adversity differently. The difference is not so much about the steps they take, but how they think in the face of obstacles and opportunities on the path to success. The truth is, scientific studies are proving what the ancient wisdom of Scripture has shown all along: You are what you think.

Award-winning author and life coach Valorie Burton teaches research-based, spiritually grounded habits that help you:

• Identify and enhance your thinking style and mindset
• Unlock the resilience-boosting power of positive emotion
• Replace overwhelm and regret with clarity and contentment
• Become more decisive and confident
• Bounce back from setbacks faster and stronger than ever

With over 100 self-coaching questions, this book helps you lay the foundation for authentic success – a life of true purpose, resilience and joy.

Die eise van die lewe maak dit dikwels moeilik om die eggenoot, ma, dogter of vriendin te wees wat jy wil wees. Hoe bemoedigend om te weet jy is nie die enigste vrou wat so voel nie! Vroue van die Bybel fokus op 52 besondere vroue van die Bybel wat dieselfde uitdagings in hulle lewe en geloof ervaar het as wat die moderne vrou daagliks het.

Elke week fokus op die lewe van een van hierdie 52 vroue, met:

• ’n Inspirerende blik op haar lewe (Maandag)
• Meer inligting oor haar leefwêreld (Dinsdag)
• ’n Kort Bybelstudie oor haar lewe en hoe jy dit in jou lewe kan toepas (Woensdag)
• Bybelse beloftes (Donderdag)
• ’n Gebed (Vrydag)

Vroue van die Bybel bevat ook:

• ’n Tematiese indeks
• ’n Lys en tydlyn van die vroue van die Bybel
• ’n Lys van die vroue in Jesus se stamboom
• ’n Lys van die vroue in Jesus se lewe en bediening

Vroue van die Bybel is perfek vir individuele of groepstudie. Dit bied nuwe perspektiewe wat jou verhouding met God sal versterk en vir jou ’n dieper waardering sal gee vir die vroue wat voor jou geleef het.

Chapters 22 and 23 of 2 Kings tell the story of the religious reforms of the Judean King Josiah, who systematically destroyed the cult places and installations where his own people worshipped in order to purify Israelite religion and consolidate religious authority in the hands of the Jerusalem temple priests. This violent assertion of Israelite identity is portrayed as a pivotal moment in the development of monotheistic Judaism. Monroe argues that the use of cultic and ritual language in the account of the reform is key to understanding the history of the text's composition, and illuminates the essential, interrelated processes of textual growth and identity construction in ancient Israel. Until now, however, none of the scholarship on 2 Kings 22-23 has explicitly addressed the ritual dimensions of the text. By attending to the specific acts of defilement attributed to Josiah as they resonate within the larger framework of Israelite ritual, Monroe's work illuminates aspects of the text's language and fundamental interests that have their closest parallels in the priestly legal corpus known as the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17-26), as well as in other priestly texts that describe methods of eliminating contamination. She argues that these priestly-holiness elements reflect an early literary substratum that was generated close in time to the reign of Josiah, from within the same priestly circles that produced the Holiness Code. The priestly composition was reshaped in the hands of a post-Josianic, exilic or post-exilic Deuteronomistic historian who transformed his source material to suit his own ideological interests. The account of Josiah's reform is thus imprinted with the cultural and religious attitudes of two different sets of authors. Teasing these apart reveals a dialogue on sacred space, sanctified violence and the nature of Israelite religion that was formative in the development not only of 2 Kings 23, but of the historical books of the Bible more broadly.