The Chautauqua Institution was started in 1874 by the Normal Department of the Methodist Episcopal Church as a two-week program to instruct Sunday school teachers of all Protestant denominations. The program proved to be a popular combination of worship, education, and recreation and each year brought thousands of visitors to the beautiful shores of Chautauqua Lake. As Chautauqua became a model of for lifelong learning and the good use of leisure time, hundreds of similar sites were built across the continent. The Chautauqua program included lectures, classes, symphony concerts, opera, theater, art, and recreations such as golf, tennis, swimming, and sailing. In time, the movement embraced all denominations and faiths. Today Chautauqua offers a vacation filled with many opportunities in a setting that could be from a century ago.

Formation of Character is the fifth volume of Charlotte Mason's Homeschooling series. The chapters stand alone and are valuable to parents of children of all ages. Part I includes case studies of children (and adults) who cured themselves of bad habits. Part II is a series of reflections on subjects including both schooling and vacations (or "stay-cations" as we now call them). Part III covers various aspects of home schooling, with a special section detailing the things that Charlotte Mason thought were important to teach to girls in particular. Part IV consists of examples of how education affected outcome of character in famous writers of her day. Charlotte Mason was a late nineteenth-century British educator whose ideas were far ahead of her time. She believed that children are born persons worthy of respect, rather than blank slates, and that it was better to feed their growing minds with living literature and vital ideas and knowledge, rather than dry facts and knowledge filtered and pre-digested by the teacher. Her method of education, still used by some private schools and many homeschooling families, is gentle and flexible, especially with younger children, and includes first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through books in each school subject, conveying wonder and arousing curiosity, and through reflection upon great art, music, and poetry; nature observation as the primary means of early science teaching; use of manipulatives and real-life application to understand mathematical concepts and learning to reason, rather than rote memorization and working endless sums; and an emphasis on character and on cultivating and maintaining good personal habits. Schooling is teacher-directed, not child-led, but school time should be short enough to allow students free time to play and to pursue their own worthy interests such as handicrafts. Traditional Charlotte Mason schooling is firmly based on Christianity, although the method is also used successfully by secular families and families of other religions.

In this 3 series of Unspoken Sermons, George MacDonald states his theological views and among other things. The work itself is a Christian classic spoken of highly by C.S. Lewis. In his introduction to George MacDonald: An Anthology, C. S. Lewis wrote of MacDonald's theology: "This collection, as I have said, was designed not to revive MacDonald's literary reputation but to spread his religious teaching. Hence most of my extracts are taken from the three volumes of "Unspoken Sermons." My own debt to this book is almost as great as one man can owe to another: and nearly all serious inquirers to whom I have introduced it acknowledge that it has given them great help-sometimes indispensable help toward the very acceptance of the Christian faith." Never one to shy away from a difficulty, MacDonald explores some of the most challenging and perplexing passages in the Gospels, each time rising to newer heights in his elucidation of the mysteries of Gods Love.

The three decades since the founding of MSUU (Ministerial Sisterhood Unitarian Universalist) have seen not only a remarkable increase in the percentage of women in professional ministry but an equally remarkable transformation of the nature of ministry itself. Reading these sermons affords an opportunity to see what's been on women's (and men's) minds and how these concerns have contributed to the changes --Rev. Dr. Marni Harmony, Minister, First Unitarian Church of Orlando, Florida, and Founding Member of MSUU told through sixteen award-winning sermons. It is also the story of women in ministry and their rise from a tiny minority to over half of the Unitarian Universalist ministers in only twenty-five years. issues that concern both women and men. Often drawing on historical women's lives and words for inspiration, thirteen women and three men explore the challenges of living lives of integrity and faith in today's world. By sharing their insight and wisdom, these authors encourage all who share their words to live more authentic lives and do what they can to work for a more just world.

"Danny Brock's Catholicity Ain't What It Used to Be is a rich experience in practical theology, a theology for everyone, because it is a deeply personal reflection on the faith journey, the story of his own soul as a Catholic in the post-Vatican II church and in a very challenging postmodern culture. As Brock outlines the challenges of the New Evangelization facing teens, the Catholic school, religious educators, parents, and the institutional church, he describes vividly the mess we sometimes find ourselves in, and at the same time he suggests ways of stepping through that mess by bringing to life the beauty and richness of our Catholic faith and the joy of serving Jesus as we journey with young people in our Christian community. Brock's reflections serve as a GPS to help us recalculate where we find ourselves as church and in our culture today as the evangelizing community of Jesus. His unique charism in finding hope in the young persons he serves becomes a great gift of hope for the pilgrim church today." -Father James Mulligan, CSC, nationally renowned Catholic educator and author of Catholic Education: The Future Is Now

What is the proper place of the Bible in Black Churches? Baker-Fletcher explores the Bible as a uniquely authoritative text within the context of Black church worship and service to the world. He analyzes the Bible's central role in three forms of witness: translation, proclamation, and empowerment. Trusting that the Bible is authentically "God's Word" that uses human language, Baker-Fletcher affirms the uniqueness of the Bible in the church's multiple tasks of preaching, teaching, and prophetic ministries. Finally, finding proverbial wisdom in rap music, the book concludes with a case study of the book of Romans.

Religion and schooling has become a controversial issue across Europe. But we know little about how these tensions are experienced by children and their families. This groundbreaking book draws on an innovative, comparative study to examine how religious and/or secular beliefs are formed at school and in the family in five countries with very different educational systems (Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Malta, and Scotland). New information on how schools and families influence the development of children's religious identities is presented by placing the experiences of primary school children at the centre of the research, yielding fresh insights into their perspectives on religion and schooling. The book adopts a multidisciplinary perspective, thus providing a more holistic perspective on the processes at play. Importantly, it offers insights into key policy issues concerning the place of religion in the school system, illuminating current debates around religion and multiculturalism across Europe.

A fascinating and detailed report on recent miracles and miraculous cures. Contents Include - Letter of Appreciation from H.H.Pius XII - Declaration - Translator's Introduction - Miracles - Miraculous Cures - Modern Miraculous Cures in Our Experience - Miracles Associated with Holy Persons - Church Procedure for Investigating - Canonisation Miracles - The Lourdes Medical Bureau - Cures Officially Recognised as Miraculous - Scientifically Extraordinary Cures not yet Canonically Recognised - An Unusual Cure - Daniel Kylmetis - Etiology and Physiology of Miraculous Cures

Originally published many years ago, this outstanding book, now revised, is still fresh and challenging us today. It tells the story of a group of children - mostly street beggars and orphans - living in Adullam Rescue Mission in Yunan Province, China, under the care of missionaries H.A. Baker and his wife. These children experienced an immense and incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit - so great that they literally 'experienced heaven' through visions, were aware of the prescence of angels, and were able to describe in great detail what they saw. The result of these intense experiences of God was a fervent passion for worship, the Word of God, and prayer.

M. D. Faber presents a meticulous, unremitting inquiry into the psychological direction from which Christianity derives its power to attract and hold its followers. Becoming God's Children: Religion's Infantilizing Process was written, its author says, to alert readers to the role of infantilization in the Judeo-Christian tradition generally and in Christian rite and doctrine particularly. Because religion plays such an important role in so may lives, it is essential to understand the underlying appeal and significance of religious doctrines. To that end, Becoming God's Children offers the reader an in-depth account of human neuropsychological development, while unearthing the Judeo-Christian tradition's explicitly infantilizing doctrines and rites. This compelling perspective on the nature and meaning of religious behavior explores issues such as: to what extent religious faith is grounded in the mnemonic recesses of the worshipper's brain, whether believers are predisposed by both genetic makeup and environmental prompting to adhere to their religious convictions, and why some individuals are powerfully drawn to religious faith while others reject it. A final chapter explores the implications of religion's infantilizing process vis-a-vis the role of reason and scientific thought in the contemporary world.