Eric Kemp successively Oxford don, cathedral Dean, and diocesan Bishop, was born in 1915 and served the Church of England in full-time ministry until 2001. His influence on the life and work of the Church of his baptism since the end of the Second World War has been immense. Historian, canon lawyer, architect of synodical government, pastor and administrator, he has been a leading light in the Catholic movement in the Church of England and a doughty fighter for all the causes at the heart of that historic witness to this essential component of Anglican identity. One of the greatest minds in the Church of his generation, he was, as Bishop of Chichester for 28 years, also one of its wisest and entlest pastors. As a member of Convocation and the Church Assembly since 1949 and then of General Synod, there are few key people in the life of the Church in the twentieth century that Bishop Kemp has not known personally. In the pages of this book are charming and perceptive reminiscences of a huge variety of people including Geoffrey Fisher, Michael Ramsey, Robert Runcie and his celebrated predecessor in Chichester, George Bell. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the recent history of the Church of England and for those who have a care and concern for its future.

Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, and Edward Rice were college buddies who became life-long friends, literary innovators, and spiritual iconoclasts. Their friendship and collaboration began at Columbia College in the 1930s and reached its climax in the widely acclaimed magazine, which ran from 1953 to 1967, a year before Merton's death. Rice was founder, publisher, editor, and art director; Merton and Lax two of his steadiest collaborators. Well-known on campus for their high spirits, avant-garde appreciation of jazz and Joyce, and indiscriminate love of movies, they also shared their Catholic faith. Rice, a cradle Catholic, was godfather to both Merton and Lax. Merton, who died some 30 years before the other two, was the first to achieve fame with his best-selling spiritual autobiography, "The Seven-Story Mountain". Lax, whom Jack Kerouac dubbed "one of the great original voices of our times," eventually received recognition as one of "America's greatest experimental poets, a true minimalist who can weave awesome poems from remarkably few words" ("New York Times" Book Review). He spent most of the last 35 years of his life living frugally on one of the remotest of the Greek isles. After Jubilee folded, Rice wrote 20 books on world culture, religion, and biography. His 1970 biography of Merton, "The Man in the Sycamore Tree", was judged too intimate, forthright, and candid by those who, in Lax's words, "were trying so hard to get pictures of [Merton's] halo that they missed his face." His biography of the 19th century explorer and "orientalist" Sir Richard Burton became a "New York Times" bestseller. This book is not only the story of a 3-way friendship but a richly detailed depiction of the changes in American Catholic life over the past sixty-some years, a micro history of progressive Catholicism from the 1940s to the turn of the twenty-first century. Despite their loyalty to the church, the three often disagreed with its positions, grumbled about its tolerance for mediocrity in art, architecture, music, and intellectual life and its comfortableness with American materialism and military power. And each in his own way engaged in a spiritual search that extended beyond Christianity to the great religions of the East.

The Saints Way: My Personal Journey to Discovery shares the inspirational story of William St. George and how he overcame personal struggles and relied on his lessons learned to become a whole person who eventually fulfilled his dreams, goals, and desires.

Through his entertaining anecdotes, Bill weaves in the kind of motivational life lessons that will encourage others to look into their own past while effectively questioning the present, ultimately bridging a gap to a happier life. At age eighteen, Bill began to question his life and knew he needed to make changes in order to have a life worth living. Eventually, he was able to unlock the mystery of who he was and what he was meant to do with his life. By providing insight into the how's, what's, and why's of life through his own perspective, Bill is able to inspire others to search for the truth while building self-esteem, perseverance, and an unwavering faith in God.

For those who have a strong desire to make positive changes in their own lives, Bill's passion for sharing his personal experiences, successes, failures, and thoughts about how to live a complete life will hearten anyone to take the first steps toward achieving lifelong peace and joy.

Author Allesley Officer has had just one wish her entire life-to be loved. Even though she has always known the Creator of the universe cared for her, she never truly understood the depth of His love until her life became a suicidal travesty. Officer begins her memoir by candidly detailing her life as a young girl growing up in the inner-city of Kingston, Jamaica. Born to a twenty-one-year-old unwed mother of two other children, Officer's journey was often difficult as she was shuttled back and forth between her mother and father's homes. Repeatedly molested by first a stepsister and then a family friend, Officer relays how she finally told her father-and was shocked when he did nothing. As she shares the details of her lifelong battle with suicidal thoughts and images fueled by years of sexual abuse, low self-esteem, and self-loathing, she also provides hope to others by illustrating how she was eventually able to rise above life's challenges and learn to love herself once again. "Telling My Story: The Journey of a Ghetto Girl" shares one woman's poignant journey of survival that will remind women everywhere to never forget their inner beauty, no matter how difficult life becomes.

Haunted by the Holy Ghost is a geographical, chronological and spiritual autobiography. The author describes the place of his birth: a farm in semi-arid Swisher County in the Texas Panhandle in depression/Dust Bowl days. He describes his schooling at a two-room rural school through elementary years, and his years at a small town high school. The author reflects upon the richness as well as the poverty of those days. He describes his struggles with his call to ministry as a haunting by the Holy Ghost. The reader is taken on a travelogue of the places in which the author and his wife ministered. The spiritual aspect of their lives is always on or just below the surface. At times the author waxes homiletical and theological, with occasional narrations of humorous incidents.

School days in Guiana, Glasgow and Fife, two years in the Army and six years studying Medicine turned the boy into a doctor. Dreaming dreams with Avril, their marriage, their family and their affinity for common spiritual and material values set them on a pilgrimage of repeated challenges. Three years in a mission hospital in apartheid South Africa, conflicting interests of specialization and family responsibilities didn't deter the writer from returning to South Africa to develop the Orthopaedic Service for the Transkei before settling in Halifax, West Yorkshire. In time another phase of life beckoned. Ordained to the ministry in the United Reformed Church, churches in Newcastle, Ashington, the Borders, Pietermaritzburg, have all heard the sermon on the Hip Joint. Changing attitudes in Medicine and the Church, as in society worldwide are described from a personal, family, often humorous perspective as the journey "Against the Grain" unfolds.

A special thanks to the many people who helped make this book possible: Chet and Danielle for giving me their old computer, Martin for his never ending encouragement, my oldest brother for making me think that I could write, my brother Herbert for giving me a week's vacation at his Beach Condominium which restored my desire to finish this project, Twalla Clemmons, who always thought I should write a book, Anthony Clemmons who taught me some valuable computer skills, which made the writing easier, Mrs. Pam Bell who helped with the typing, Dr. T. Everette for proofreading the manuscript, and all his other support, and the Village People without whom I would not have survived. Finally, a special thanks to Johanna Thatch, who edited the book and who gave me her honest opinion of it, which was like raindrops falling in the garden of my spirit.

Grab your sides in laughter one minute and your box of tissue in the next as Nia Stivers's memoir, "Wobbly Legs on a Firm Foundation," invites you to find humor in our own shortcomings while letting your jaw drop at the sovereignty and goodness of our God.

"You have a progressive neuromuscular disease."
"Your father will not live to walk you down the aisle at your wedding."
"Because of your disease, you will be unable to have children of your own."
The words of her doctors rocked Nia Stivers's world. Nothing, however, could shake The Rock of Ages. These statements could have robbed her of living with joy; however, they would become opportunities for God to give new life to Nia.

Are you devastated with news you've received? Maybe you're too blessed to be depressed No matter what your stained past or your unsolved future, God wants to have His hand in it. Step out of the darkness, and allow the Creator to illuminate how He's been wooing you to Him all along. Just face it: He's in love with you.

The period 1928-1942 saw some of the greatest political and social upheavals in modern British history. Lang, as Archbishop of Canterbury, led the Church of England through this tumultuous period and was a pivotal influence in political and religious decision-making. In this book, Robert Beaken provides a new perspective on Lang, including his considerable relationship with the royal family. Beaken also shows how Lang proved to be a sensitive leader during wartime, opposing any demonisation of the enemy and showing compassion to conscientious objectors. Despite his central role at a time of flux, there has been little written on Lang since the original biography published in 1949, and history has not been kind to this intellectually gifted but emotionally complex man. Although Lang has often been seen as a fairly unsuccessful archbishop who was resistant to change, Beaken shows that he was, in fact, an effective leader of the Anglican community at a time when the Church of England was internally divided over issues surrounding the Revised Prayer Book and its position in an ever-changing world. Lang's reputation is therefore ripe for reassessment. Drawing on previously unseen material and first-hand interviews, Beaken tells the story of a fascinating and complex man, who was, he argues, Britain's first 'modern' Archbishop of Canterbury.

How the love of truth led a young man from Franklin County, Tennessee through twelve states, three provinces, and two spiritual battles. Gaston Collins came from a time and place shaped by the pioneer spirit of David Crockett and the Godly spirit of David Lipscomb. The greatest influence on his life, though, was the Word of God. He wanted to know it, to live it, and to share it with as many as possible. Many old, family photographs are included in the print editions and some are not of publishing quality. They are included, however, in the belief that a low-resolution picture is better than no picture. Most of the appendices are writings of E. Gaston Collins, including a 24 page booklet published in 1924.