In the tradition of the medieval cycle plays performed for education, enrichment, and entertainment, A New Corpus Christi: Plays for Churches presents 25 short plays and skits with one or two scripts for each of 21 events in the church year. The scripts range from celebratory pieces to problem plays to liturgical dramas to plays that call for no worship setting accouterments. The scripts will also provide discussion starters for Sunday school classes or small groups. And some of the plays might be grouped together as programs on particular topics such as poverty and homelessness or death and dying. This book also provides a resource for university and seminary courses in liturgics and worship.

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

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.

Reveals the yogic understanding of the power of words and images (matrika shakti) and explains how to still the mind and reveal the divinity within.

A keepsake daily writing practice journal inspired by the life and words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., drawn from Dr. King’s archives published exclusively by HarperCollins.

Few figures in world history have been as galvanizing as the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. More than fifty years after his death, his words continue to resonate, offering clarity and strength to influential thinkers, activists, and artists and to people of all ages, colors, and creeds yearning to create a better, more just, and equitable world.

Dream Journal honors Dr. King’s legacy by encouraging others to pursue their own aspirations. Featuring words of inspiration from this revered spiritual leader’s life and work, accompanied by thought-provoking images, the first annual edition of this collectible diary offers a year’s worth of prompts readers can use to think more deeply about Dr. King’s words, clarify their own intentions, define their dreams, and set future goals to transform their lives and the world around them.

Essays by a highly regarded biblical counselor. Some of these pieces exegete Scripture with a counseling perspective, while others recast specific "psychological" problems.

In The Roots of Pope Francis's Social and Political Thought Thomas R. Rourke traces the development of Pope Francis's thinking from his time as a Jesuit provincial through today. Meticulously researched, the book draws on decades of previously untranslated writings from Father Jorge Bergoglio, SJ, who went on to become archbishop and cardinal; this volume also references his recent writings as pope. The book explores the deepest roots of Pope Francis's thinking, beginning with the experience of the Jesuit missions in Argentina (1500s - 1700s), showing how both the success and tragedy of the missions profoundly formed his social and political views. Subsequent chapters explore influences from the Second Vatican Council through today regarding culture, politics, and economics. In Pope Francis's understanding, there is a perpetual tension between the attempts to redeem the social order through the Gospel and the never-ending attempts to dominate peoples and their lands through a variety of imperial projects that come from the powerful. What emerges is a profoundly Christian approach to the social, political, and economic problems of our time. The Pope is portrayed as an original thinker, independent of ideological currents, rooted in the Gospels and the tradition of Catholic social thought. In a time of division and violence, the writings of Pope Francis often point to the path of peace and justice.

Fresh, inclusive, creation-conscious prayers to nourish your soul—and the soul of your worship community. "We are called to name the extravagant wildness of God, the overflowing abundance of creation, and the deep aching need of a broken world in new words and images that speak to contemporary concerns.... [These prayers] are an invitation to pray boldly." —from the Introduction This special prayerbook is for today's Christians who find comfort in the rhythm of the traditional lectionary but long to connect with God in ways that are satisfying to the modern heart and mind. Founded on creativity, inclusivity and sharing, it encourages us to remember the divine elements of the natural world around us as we express our hopes and fears for others and ourselves. Inspiring words help us give thanks for human inventions and lament the evils of poverty, violence and oppression of all kinds while remaining mindful of God's promises of healing for a broken world. Following the annual procession of the seasons with prayers that are appropriate for personal devotion as well as for use in leading worship, these new ways to call on God will feed your soul and inspire you to find your own fresh language for thanksgiving, praise, intercession and petition, whether in your community or personal spiritual life.

You don’t have to grow old. You can live forever.

This book will help you walk in God’s promises of long-lasting health.

The Bible is full of promises related to believers having supernatural youth restored even in their advanced years. Yet few are actually walking in those promises. Instead, a huge percentage of Christians are suffering from some sort of pain, disease, or disorder and are physically and mentally exhausted. Plus, many depend on cosmetic procedures and surgeries to recapture their youthful look. But what if it were possible to tap into the youth-restoring promises the Bible says are ours? What if these revelations would enable us to run faster, serve stronger, and last longer? What if we could look better than we have in decades without cosmetic surgery and costly procedures?

Katie Souza has found secrets in the Bible that show how we can see these manifestations in every part of our bodies. In this explosive study she gives readers the keys that will enable them to tap into the fountain of youth God promised His people

Ministry has never been an easy path, and the challenges of today's changing church landscape only heighten the stress and burn-out of congregational leaders. A Guide to Ministry Self-Care offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of both the causes of stress and strategies for effective self-care. Written for both new and long-time ministers, the book draws on current research and offers practical and spiritual insights into building and maintaining personal health and sustaining ministry long term. The book addresses a wide range of life situations and explores many forms of self-care, from physical and financial to relational and spiritual.

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.

Judaism and the Economy is an edited collection of sixty-nine Jewish texts relating to economic issues such as wealth, poverty, inequality, charity, and the charging of interest. The passages cover the period from antiquity to the present, and represent many different genres. Primarily fresh translations, from their original languages, many appear here in English for the first time. Each is prefaced by an introduction and the volume as a whole is introduced by a synthetic essay. These texts, read together and in different combinations, provide a new lens for thinking about the economy and make the case that religion and religious values have a place in our own economic thinking. Judaism and the Economy is a useful new resource for educators, students, and clergy alike.

These compelling tales from the lives of the great spiritual leaders help children to share in the heritage of world history. Twenty informative texts give a vivid account of each inspirational figure at a particular moment in his or her life: the reader witnesses the struggles and triumphs of people whose leadership and faith inspired their followers. The lives described here span over three thousand years of human history, from Moses and Buddha to Mother Teresa and the current Dalai Lama, from ancient Egypt to contemporary America. All the major world religions are introduced and brought to life: Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Hinduism, Confucianism, Baha i, and Taoism, as well as traditional North American beliefs.

Presenting cutting edge research on how religion can confront and obscure social inequalities in everyday life, Religion, Equalities and Inequalities argues that when religion is left out of social scientific analyses, it can result in incomplete analyses that conceal pathways to social inclusion and exclusion. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary group of contributors who operate at the vanguard of theoretical and empirical work on how social structures of power, institutions and bodies can generate equalities and inequalities in religion, the collection shows how religion can enable and challenge the inequities that affect people's everyday lives. Academics and students of religious studies, sociology, politics and social policy will all find this book offers useful insights into the relationship between religion and contemporary culture.

Christianity Today Book Award Winner Martin Institute and Dallas Willard Center Book Award You are what you love. But you might not love what you think. In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were made. Smith helps readers recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices. He explains that worship is the "imagination station" that incubates our loves and longings so that our cultural endeavors are indexed toward God and his kingdom. This is why the church and worshiping in a local community of believers should be the hub and heart of Christian formation and discipleship. Following the publication of his influential work Desiring the Kingdom, Smith received numerous requests from pastors and leaders for a more accessible version of that book's content. No mere abridgment, this new book draws on years of Smith's popular presentations on the ideas in Desiring the Kingdom to offer a fresh, bottom-up rearticulation. The author creatively uses film, literature, and music illustrations to engage readers and includes new material on marriage, family, youth ministry, and faith and work. He also suggests individual and communal practices for shaping the Christian life.

Irreconcilable differences drive the division between progressive and conservative Christians-is there a divorce coming? Much attention has been paid to political polarization in America, but far less to the growing schism between progressive and conservative Christians. In this groundbreaking new book, George Yancey and Ashlee Quosigk offer the provocative contention that progressive and conservative Christianities have diverged so much in their core values that they ought to be thought of as two separate religions. The authors draw on both quantitative data and interviews to uncover how progressive and conservative Christians determine with whom they align themselves religiously, and how they distinguish themselves from each other. They find that progressive Christians emphasize political agreement relating to social justice issues as they determine who is part of their in-group, and focus less on theological agreement. Among conservative Christians, on the other hand, the major concern is whether one agrees with them on core theological points. Progressive and conservative Christians thus use entirely different factors in determining their social identity and moral values. In a time when religion and politics have never seemed so intertwined, One Faith No Longer offers a timely and compelling reframing of an age-old conflict.

In 1756, Jacob Frank, an Ottoman Jew who had returned to the Poland of his birth, was discovered leading a group of fellow travelers in a suspect religious service. At the request of the local rabbis, Polish authorities arrested the participants. Jewish authorities contacted the bishop in whose diocese the service had taken place and argued that since the rites of Frank's followers involved the practice of magic and immoral conduct, both Jews and Christians should condemn them and burn them at the stake. The scheme backfired, as the Frankists took the opportunity to ally themselves with the Church, presenting themselves as Contra-Talmudists who believed in a triune God. As a Turkish subject, Frank was released and temporarily expelled to the Ottoman territories, but the others were found guilty of breaking numerous halakhic prohibitions and were subject to a Jewish ban of excommunication. While they professed their adherence to everything that was commanded by God in the Old Testament, they asserted as well that the Rabbis of old had introduced innumerable lies and misconstructions in their interpretations of that holy book. Who were Jacob Frank and his followers? To most Christians, they seemed to be members of a Jewish sect; to Jewish reformers, they formed a group making a valiant if misguided attempt to bring an end to the power of the rabbis; and to more traditional Jews, they were heretics to be suppressed by the rabbinate. What is undeniable is that by the late eighteenth century, the Frankists numbered in the tens of thousands and had a significant political and ideological influence on non-Jewish communities throughout eastern and central Europe. Based on extensive archival research in Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Germany, the United States, and the Vatican, The Mixed Multitude is the first comprehensive study of Frank and Frankism in more than a century and offers an important new perspective on Jewish-Christian relations in the Age of Enlightenment.

Christianity Today Book Award-Church and Pastoral Leadership The Gospel Coalition Book Awards Honorable Mention Pastoral leadership is in crisis. It's not just that many pastors feel overwhelmed and stressed out; many have lost their way. With the risk of burnout at an all-time high, what pastors need is not just a new leadership strategy, but a new framework for ministry-one that will help them move from survival to flourishing. In these pages, Tom Nelson looks to the biblical image of the shepherd leader in response to the contemporary context. If pastors are to lead congregations, then they must first learn what it means to be led by the Good Shepherd. Pulling from his years of experience as a lead pastor and president of a nonprofit, Nelson offers pastors and ministry leaders a timely vision for leadership that incorporates in-depth biblical teaching and whole-life discipleship. His wisdom and insight provide a roadmap for ministry resilience and longevity.

Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, is undoubtebly one of the most influential persons in history. He is not only the founder of one of the world religions, but has served as a role model for Muslims throughout history. The records of his deeds and sayings are among the most important sources in various fields of Islamic learning, such as Islamic law, ritual, piety, Sufism, or political theory. Muhammad has been a main object of research in Western scholarship on Islam, and there is a huge amount of articles and books devoted to various aspects of his life, the sources of his life and his role in Islamic tradition. These articles, however, are widely dispersed; some can be found in more popular journals and books, others in smaller, less readily available publications. It is therefore reasonable to bring together the most important articles and book chapters on Muhammad in a four volume set.