Tuan Guru – founder of South Africa’s first mosque and madrasah – had been in his grave for half a century. The Cape Muslim population had exploded in size, but was sliding into decline. Many of the imams, lacking education, had become ignorant and entitled. There was unending conflict in the community, which was fought out in the Cape High Court.

In the same year, a group of concerned community elders made a call for a teacher to be sent to the Cape from Istanbul. No-one knows who these people were, but it was their intervention that saw the arrival of Shaykh Abu-Bakr Effendi, an Ottoman scholar, in early 1863.

Welcomed by those keen to learn, he faced abuse from a coterie of imams who felt threatened by him. Sadly, it is their malcontent that has so jaundiced his story for over 140 years. In this well-researched biography, Shafiq Morton reveals for the first time the true story of Shaykh Abu-Bakr Effendi, one of the stand-out historical figures in the growth of Islam at the foot of Africa.

True story of love and learning between people of different cultures. It inspires courage, and trust in God much as Corrie Ten Boom does in "The Hiding Place."

Pauli Murray (1910-1985) was a poet, lawyer, activist, and priest, as well as a significant figure in the civil rights and women's movements. Throughout her careers and activism, Murray espoused faith in an American democracy that is partially present and yet to come.
In the 1940s Murray was in the vanguard of black activists to use nonviolent direct action. A decade before the Montgomery bus boycott, Murray organized sit-ins of segregated restaurants in Washington DC and was arrested for sitting in the front section of a bus in Virginia. Murray pioneered the category Jane Crow to describe discrimination she experienced as a result of racism and sexism. She used Jane Crow in the 1960s to expand equal protection provisions for African American women. A co-founder of the National Organization of Women, Murray insisted on the interrelation of all human rights. Her professional and personal relationships included major figures in the ongoing struggle for civil rights for all Americans, including Thurgood Marshall and Eleanor Roosevelt.
In seminary in the 1970s, Murray developed a black feminist critique of emerging black male and white feminist theologies. After becoming the first African American woman Episcopal priest in 1977, Murray emphasized the particularity of African American women's experiences, while proclaiming a universal message of salvation.
The Dream Is Freedom examines Murray's substantial body of published writings as well personal letters, journals, and unpublished manuscripts. Azaransky traces the development of Murray's thought over fifty years, ranging from Murray's theologically rich democratic criticism of the 1930s to her democratically inflected sermons of the 1980s. Pauli Murray was an innovative democratic thinker, who addressed how Americans can recognize differences, signaled the role of history and memory in shaping democratic character, and called for strategic coalition building to make more justice available for more Americans.

"Cloud by Day, Fire by Night" offers a modern-day parable of one man's choices and the attitudes that can make the difference between success and failure. Sportsman, businessman, entrepreneur, devoted husband, and father, author Dennis Hurst found himself in the depths of despair following a devastating divorce. From the thrills of an early professional soccer career to the life of a high-flying business executive and head of a start-up retail business, he suddenly had to begin his life anew at the age of fifty-two. Sitting alone on the only piece of furniture in an apartment hurriedly rented with his last two thousand dollars, he pondered his fate.

Staring vacantly out the curtainless window as the drizzle outside turned into a steady downpour, he began to take stock of his life. As one who had experienced the exhilaration and rewards of professional sports, the perks and privileges of being a business executive, along with the prestige and position that such a lifestyle allows, he found his new, lowly station in life both unexpected and depressing. Or was it? To the world's way of thinking, it seemed to be; it was one step away from living out on the street, under a bridge, fighting for survival-a total unmitigated disaster.

Fortunately for Hurst, God had him exactly where he needed him and set him off on his personal journey of rediscovery.

Dominican Resonances in Medieval Iceland explores the life and legacy of Jon Halldorsson, Bishop of Skalholt (1322-39), a Dominican who had studied the liberal arts in Paris and canon law in Bologna. Combining different disciplinary approaches (literary and intellectual history, manuscript studies, musicology), this book aims to examine the conditions under which literate culture thrived in 14th-century Scandinavia. The studies included in this volume consider Jon Halldorsson's educational background and his contributions as a storyteller to Old Norse literature, focusing especially upon legendary sagas such as Clari saga and examining their link to the Dominican tradition of exempla. The volume also includes critical studies of manuscripts that contain tales and adventures, secular law and canon law, administrative writings, as well as music and liturgy from the province of Nidaros. Combining these various analytical perspectives results in rich insights with broad implications for our understanding of medieval Nordic culture. Contributors are Astrid Marner, Christian Etheridge, Embla Aae, Gisela Attinger, Gottskalk Jensson, Gunnar Hardarson, Hjalti Snaer AEgisson, Karl G. Johansson, Stefan Drechsler, Vedis Ragnheidardottir, and Vidar Palsson

"Dressed in her Catholic school uniform, a pleated, plaid skirt and sweater, in comes Jessica, a sweet, gentle looking eleven year old child, with an adult size burden hidden under the sweater that sits upon her shoulders . Dad shakily reaches out and takes Jessica's hand . The older man dying from cancer completes the circle of healing by taking the hand of the young girl about to enter intensive cancer treatment. The man in the twilight of his life gives some of his remaining energy to help heal the girl in the dawn of hers." With these words, we are all welcomed into the circle of Rabbi Herbert Morris' incredible life. His love, warmth and devotion to his family, community and Jewish heritage shines through this emotional narrative written by his daughter, using events, stories, sermons and letters from her father's life. This man lived every day wondering what he could do to be a blessing to others. Reading his story, we are all blessed to have encountered him.

This inspirational story comes from a lot of pain, difficult circumstances, and trying times. I have cried many tears in my lifetime, too many for someone who is only forty-eight. But God has helped me through each and every challenge along the way. I invite you to enter into my feelings, thoughts, and emotions as you read my autobiography.

"Thornwell (1812-1862) was one of the greatest preachers that America has ever produced. Here, I think, we have the perfect combination of brilliance of intellect and profound theological and philosophical knowledge, together with pulpit eloquence of the highest order." - Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

In 1953, Stephen Kennedy began his study of the priesthood. In 1960, he was sent to Germany to study theology; next, he travelled to Windsor, Canada, for additional study and the honing of his grasp of German. From 1964 to April of 1966, Kennedy was in a German-speaking parish in Toronto, Ontario, followed by a short stint in a parish in Quebec City. Then, came the biggest decision of Kennedy's life ...

After years of careful study, Stephen Kennedy left the Roman Catholic priesthood and turned his back on organized religion forever. Kennedy no longer wanted to be identi ed with any form of organized religion, whether Eastern or Western. In fact, Kennedy saw leaving organized religion as a departure from Western culture in general-and he has been removed from it ever since.

"A Search for There" is his enlightened autobiography, conveyed via narrative, story, and poetry-the words of a man who has gone the distance, through education to a personal understanding. Kennedy's journey led him down a path of inner peace and inner freedom. He will never return to his Christian roots, because for Kennedy, he has found something better: he has discovered his own identity and a meaning of life.