Papal collectors recovered monies due from the clergy to the Apostolic Chamber and in the late Middle Ages were an important factor in the communication between the Papacy and the Church as a whole, particularly as in some countries they assumed the functions of diplomatic representatives. The study examines all aspects of collectorship including a comparison of the financial revenue it yielded it different European countries. The volume also includes a prosopographic study of the collectors and sub-collectors in the German-speaking areas of Europe, complete with bibliographic references on the members of this group.

Create a small, strong congregation that is dedicated to advancing God's mission The twenty-first century is the century of small, strong congregations. More people will be drawn to small, strong congregations than any other kind of congregation. Yes, there are mega-congregations; Their number is increasing greatly. Nevertheless, across the planet, the vast majority of congregations will be small and strong, and the vast majority of people will be in these congregations. With uncommon wisdom Kennon L. Callahan--today's most noted church consultant--moves ahead of conventional thinking and in Small, Strong Congregations offers his unique vision of the church of the future. This important book chronicles the emergence of a vast number of congregations that are questioning the bigger-is-better notion in church membership. These congregations are deliberately small, active, and happy in their dedication to creating strong church communities that advance God's mission. Step by step, Kennon Callahan shows pastors and other church leaders how they can develop the values and specific qualities helpful to shape and strengthen their own small congregations.Written to be a hands-on guide, Small, Strong Congregations offers practical suggestions for creating mission and service, compassion and shepherding, community and belonging, self-reliance and self-sufficiency, worship and hope, teams and leaders, space and facilities, and giving and generosity. This wise resource is filled with illustrative examples that show clearly how myriad small churches have created solid, vigorous congregations.

Faced with crisis, lack of direction, or just plain "stuckness," many congregations and their leaders are content to deal only with surface issues and symptoms only to discover that the same problems keep recurring, often in different, and more serious, ways. In The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Christian educator and consultant Israel Galindo takes leaders below the surface of congregational life to provide a comprehensive, holistic look at the corporate nature of church relationships and the invisible dynamics at play. Informed by family systems theory and grounded in a wide-ranging ecclesiological understanding, Galindo unpacks clearly the factors of congregational lifespan, size, spirituality, and identity and shows how these work together to form the congregation s hidden life. He provides useful tools for diagnosing and understanding how one s congregation fits into the various categories he names and suggests what leadership skills are necessary to get beyond the impasse of surface issues and help the congregation achieve its mission. The Hidden Lives of Congregations provides one of the most far-reaching looks into the invisible nature of faith communities written in recent years. For seminaries and divinity schools, it provides a standard text for getting a solid start in congregational practices; for experienced pastors, it provides support for renewing ministry; for lay leaders and committees, it offers insight to deepening mutual ministry. Israel Galindo has written an indispensable manual that leaders will return to repeatedly for new wisdom and guidance"

"Preaching today", says Kennon Callahan," is less about law and more about grace. It is about inviting people to discover God's grace, perhaps for the first time, and touching their lives in a powerful, personal, helpful way." Callahan, who has helped tens of thousands of church leaders and pastors through his dynamic workshops and seminars, sees the sermon as a shared event for the pastor and the congregation who are gathered to discover the good news for this day and the week to come. He sees preaching as a sign of grace, compassion, community, and hope. Preaching Grace encourages pastors to develop the approach to preaching that matches with their unique gifts and strengths. Through focusing on these strengths, pastors will discover more fully their own personal preaching style and advance the sermons that will stir and inspire their congregations-to discover the grace of God, the compassion of Christ, and the healing hope of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine an organizational model for church leadership that enables the entire team to unleash their full potential. The joy and vigor coming from a collective strength, intelligence, and skill in the community of leaders not only brings greater potency but better yields for your ministry. What would it be like to see this kind of healthy leadership reproduced into the second, third, and fourth generation, on multiple strands? Leveraging the metaphor Ori Brafman popularized in his NYT best-selling book, The Starfish and the Spider, Rob Wegner, Lance Ford, and Alan Hirsch show: How to take a close look at your church's organizational structure and how to adapt instead of simply adopt a certain kind of structural approach. How churches can function without a rigid central authority, making them nimbler in reacting to external forces. How seeding starfish networks inside today's churches will prepare the church of tomorrow to be agile while maintaining the accountability to be effective. The Starfish and the Spirit is about creating a culture where church leaders view themselves as curators of a community on a mission, not the source of certainty for every question and project. It's about creating a team of humble leaders "in the middle" of the church, not at the top--leaders who naturally reproduce multiple generations of leaders, from the middle out.

Discovering the Spirit of Ubuntu Leadership introduces a new leadership model which takes into account the history, culture and economic environment of African women leaders to understand, discover, observe and share their personal leadership experiences.

Exploring the role of imagination in trauma recovery, the author shares the arresting dreams and stories of traumatized adolescents. Describing the impact of trauma on adolescent health and development, the author provides promising research into the use of breathing skills, HRV Biofeedback, and dream work to promote healthy breathing, emotion regulation, and restorative dreaming. Research suggests that these interventions can decrease post-traumatic distress and assist in the creation of meaningful posttraumatic narratives. The author explores the role of embodied imagination in adolescent spiritual development and posttraumatic growth. These interventions provide clinicians and pastoral caregivers with simple and effective ways of helping adolescents heal from trauma in holistic and dynamic ways that respect the integrated constitution of the human person.

This eye-opening volume examines ways in which religious institutions can be misused to mask illegal financial dealings, and steps law enforcement can take to combat these criminal activities. The chapters review legal rights and responsibilities of churches and the types of loopholes that can allow unscrupulous practices to flourish. This book offers local and global proposals for the study and practice of improving financial transparency for religious organizations, and assessing and curbing monetary crimes within their ranks. A sampling of criminal cases of financial wrongdoing by churches and temples spotlights the ingenuity involved in such scams as well as in the ongoing fight against them. Included in the coverage: * Religious freedom in the U.S. and Brazilian constitutional orders * Government regulation of religious organizations * Criminal investigations and cases involving financial crimes practiced by and through religious institutions * International religious activities and legal cooperation for repatriation of assets * Payments through illegal and disguised means, and the misuse of churches, temples, and charitable organizations *Proposals to improve the war against financial crimes within temples and churches Its unique subject matter and depth of information makes Churches, Temples, and Financial Crimes distinctly useful for professionals involved in efforts to curb this form of crime, particularly law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, and judges.

Pastors and counselors regularly minister to people whose marriages or families are in crisis. Tempers run high and feelings are brought low when a marriage is hurting or a family is in disarray. Pastors and counselors need practical, biblical help in order to connect their theological training to the reality of modern messy relationships. These how-to training manuals provide relevant, user-friendly equipping for pastors, counselors, lay leaders, educators, and students, enabling them to competently and compassionately relate God's Word to marriage and family life.

The Alleluia Community is a unique Christian community of over three hundred committed charismatic Christians in Augusta, Georgia, who live a covenant and ecumenical lifestyle. Emerging from the Charismatic Renewal Movement of the 1960s, members of Alleluia have maintained a lively charismatic dimension of the Christian tradition with a willingness to make a life-time covenant commitment to each other. Since 1973, this group of people has exhibited heroic virtue, self-sacrifice, humility, deference for one another, and service to others outside their boundaries. They claim to be guided by the Holy Spirit in their daily lives. Their leaders lead with a strong sense of service and Christian love and a willingness to lay down their own agendas. A major feature of these covenant makers is that they strive for daily Christian unity while being committed to one of the twelve-plus various denominations and fellowships. Swenson had the opportunity of living among these people for twenty months. During this time, he used a mixed method approach involving over one hundred interviews and three hundred instruments to create both qualitative and quantitative measures of the lives of these people. To structure their story, he used the dilemmas of the institutionalization of religion from the scholarship of Thomas O'Dea and secularization theory. The data gathered give abundant evidence that these Alleluia faithful have substantively resisted the secular influence so common in Western culture.

This book examines the competing regimes of law and religion an offers a multidisciplinary approach to demonstrate the global scope of their influence. It argues that the tension between these two institutions results from their disagreements about the kinds of rule that should govern human life and society, and from where they should be derived.

Theology of Migration in the Abrahamic Religions is the second volume of the series Theology and Migration in World Christianity: Contextual Perspectives. It presents the theologies of migration proposed by Judaism, various Christian churches and denominations, and Islam. Sandwiched between theological considerations on migration as homecoming to God and as a plural journeying into divine self-disclosure, the nine essays on Jewish, Christian and Islamic theologies of migration, each drawing on its own tradition, discuss God's nature and ways of acting in the world, human responses to this migrant God, and the ethical, spiritual and aesthetic challenges posed by the contemporary 'Age of Migration.' Migration turns out to be not just a transitory phenomenon to be investigated by the social sciences but a fundamental human and religious way of living in God's world.

The full text of the classic King James Version with robust study notes and dozens of study resources in a convenient size to help you grow deeper in your faith. This edition is published in large KJV Comfort Print type, which was designed exclusively for Thomas Nelson to be the most readable at any size. Available for the first time in large Comfort Print, the beloved Foundation Study Bible is now more readable and helpful than ever! A rich resource for everyone longing to understand more of God's Word, whether you're a beginner or an experienced disciple, The Foundation Study Bible includes extensive study helps: verse-by-verse study and theological notes, full-color maps, a concordance, and cross-references. Featuring an easy-to-use layout that is concise and trustworthy, with straightforward and broad study notes that help you study God's truth, the KJV Foundation Study Bible is a great choice for any Bible student or church leader. Intended for both beginning and experienced students of Scripture who want a Bible that contains the key features of a study Bible in a convenient and portable size, even in large print, the KJV Foundation Study Bible is a solid foundation to build one's faith upon. Features include: The Presentation page is a special place to personalize this special gift by recording a memory or note Bible book introductions provide a concise overview of the background and historical context of the book about to be read Over 32,000 End-of-page cross references allow you to find related passages quickly and easily Concise study notes with over 293,000 words provide helpful comments on passages of Scripture Over 300 theological notes and index draw attention to important doctrinal themes Ribbon markers make it easy to navigate and keep track of where you were reading Extensive study aids: Prayers of the Bible of nearly 100 prayers in the Bible, who prayed them, and what they prayed about. Prophecies of The Messiah Fulfilled in Christ provides 43 Old Testament prophecies and where they have been fulfilled in the New Testament. Harmony of the Gospels details the life and ministry of Jesus in chronological order showing where each event and teaching occur in the Gospels. Miracles of Christ shows where you can find 37 miracles in the Gospels. Concordance with over 1,000 terms provides an alphabetical listing of important passages by key words Full color maps show the layout of Israel and other biblical locations for better context Durable and flexible Smyth-sewn binding allows the Bible to lay flat wherever you are reading Easy-to-read large 11-point KJV Comfort Print

Stepping Out of the Brain Drain is an important contribution to the intensifying debate about highly skilled migration from developing to developed countries. Addressing the issue from the perspective of Catholic social thought, the authors demonstrate that both the economic and ethical rationales for the teaching's opposition to 'brain drain' have been undermined in recent years and show how the adoption of a less critical policy could provide enhanced opportunities for poor countries to accelerate their economic development.

This book examines the relationship between chronic illness, spirituality, and healing from interdisciplinary, multicultural, and interreligious perspectives. Contributors include professionals working in traditional, holistic and integrative clinical settings, as well as religious studies scholars and spiritual practitioners from diverse religious and cultural contexts. Authors consider how biomedical care might be blended with spiritual practice that attends to the well-being of people living with chronic conditions through the mind-body-spirit-environment relationship. The book is relevant to the disciplines of health care, spiritual care, and social services; religious studies, disability studies, and cultural studies; and to people living with chronic illnesses.

Spirituality in Dark Places explores the spiritual consequences and ethics of modern solitary confinement. Jeffreys emphasizes how solitary confinement damages our spiritual lives, focusing particularly on how it destroys our relationship to time and undermines our creativity. Solitary inmates experience profound temporal dislocation that erodes their personal identities. They are often isolated from music, art, and books, or find their creativity tightly controlled. Informed by experiences with inmates, chaplains, and employees in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Jeffreys also evaluates the ethics of solitary confinement, considering but ultimately rejecting the argument that punitive isolation justifiably expresses moral outrage at heinous crimes. Finally, Jeffreys proposes changes in solitary confinement in order to mitigate its profound damage to both prisoners and human dignity at large.

This is the first Polish ethnological monograph to present how biblical themes function in folk culture in the context of rituals, customs and iconographic records and is based on ethnographic sources collected in Polish rural communities from central Poland to diasporas in Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine in 1989-96. It shows how biblical plots used to undergo interpretation, at the same time, infiltrating common sense knowledge. The novelty here is the joint analysis of themes from both Testaments, presenting the narrations in accordance to the way the local community perceived its identity. The biblical typology, influencing culture through tradition and liturgy, inspired a symbolic order adjusted to cyclic conceptions of time and space, characteristic of rural culture

This book takes a new look at one of the most contentious periods in American history. The battles over schools that surrounded the famous Scopes "monkey" trial in 1925 were about much more than evolution. Fundamentalists fought to maintain cultural control of education. As this book reveals for the first time, the successes and the failures of these fundamentalist campaigns transformed both the fundamentalist movement and the nature of education in America. In turn, those transformations determined many of the positions of the "culture wars" that raged throughout the twentieth century.

Just as a potter uses a "rib" to exert pressure and give shape to clay vessels spinning on a wheel, so God has used the practice of mentoring to shape leaders from the times of ancient Israel to the modern church. This book provides a theological and historical foundation for the practice, inviting the modern supervisor and seminarian to step into the church's rich heritage of mentors and mentees by offering selected vignettes of these relationships in the lives of such influential leaders as Gregory the Great, St. Augustine, John Newton and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. By tracing out the spiritual formation of some of the most influential leaders in church history, Brian Williams shows how certain patterns of mentoring relationships have been pivotal for the people of God in ages past. He then combines the wisdom of the classical discipline of spiritual direction with the tradespractice of apprenticeship to offer us a practical model for mentoring today. The book concludes with a number of tools, forms, and practical suggestions to help shape and guide this demanding but rewarding practice. The Potter's Rib will challenge experienced pastors and seminary students alike to take seriously the role of mentoring in becoming the pastors they are called to be. Brian A. Williams, a graduate of Regent College, is involved in local ministry in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The first account of the dissolution of the monasteries for fifty years-exploring its profound impact on the people of Tudor England "This is a book about people, though, not ideas, and as a detailed account of an extraordinary human drama with a cast of thousands, it is an exceptional piece of historical writing."-Lucy Wooding, Times Literary Supplement Shortly before Easter, 1540 saw the end of almost a millennium of monastic life in England. Until then religious houses had acted as a focus for education, literary, and artistic expression and even the creation of regional and national identity. Their closure, carried out in just four years between 1536 and 1540, caused a dislocation of people and a disruption of life not seen in England since the Norman Conquest. Drawing on the records of national and regional archives as well as archaeological remains, James Clark explores the little-known lives of the last men and women who lived in England's monasteries before the Reformation. Clark challenges received wisdom, showing that buildings were not immediately demolished and Henry VIII's subjects were so attached to the religious houses that they kept fixtures and fittings as souvenirs. This rich, vivid history brings back into focus the prominent place of abbeys, priories, and friaries in the lives of the English people.