This volume is the product of scholars of various backgrounds, specialties and agendas bringing forth their most treasured findings regarding the Chinese Catholic Church. The chapters in this book covering the church from 1900 to the present trace the development of the Church in China from many historical and disciplinary vantage points.

In the course of the nineteenth century, the boundaries that divided Protestants, Catholics and Jews in Germany were redrawn, challenged, rendered porous and built anew. This book addresses this redrawing. It considers the relations of three religious groups-Protestants, Catholics, and Jews-and asks how, by dint of their interaction, they affected one another.Previously, historians have written about these communities as if they lived in isolation. Yet these groups coexisted in common space, and interacted in complex ways. This is the first book that brings these separate stories together and lays the foundation for a new kind of religious history that foregrounds both cooperation and conflict across the religious divides. The authors analyze the influences that shaped religious coexistence and they place the valences of co-operation and conflict in deep social and cultural contexts. The result is a significantly altered understanding of the emergence of modern religious communities as well as new insights into the origins of the German tragedy, which involved the breakdown of religious coexistence.

John Dunne calls his latest book A Vision Quest, borrowing the term from Native American tradition where a youth, coming of age, keeps a solitary vigil, seeking spiritual power and knowledge through a vision. Dunne seeks a vision like that of the great circle of love an old Bedouin described to Lawrence of Arabia,"The love is from God and of God and towards God." The modern vision of the world is one of evolution, life arising from matter, intelligence arising from life. The ancient vision was one of emanation, everything cascading down from the One. Dunne imagines bringing the two together into a great circle, everything coming from God and returning to God, where everything is "from God and of God and towards God." This inspirational work features a series of meditations by Dunne, enriched by his wide-ranging insights and quotations from the areas of theology, philosophy, and literature.

The Second Vatican Council endorsed an engagement with the modern and secularized world through a renewed proclamation of the Gospel. John Paul II described this as the New Evangelization, and in 2010, Benedict XVI confirmed this priority by creating the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization to 're-propose the perennial truth of the Gospel.' The New Evangelization was the subject of the Synod of Bishops in 2012 and in 2014 Pope Francis gave his reflections on the topic in Evangelii Gaudium. The New Evangelization draws on material presented and discussed at the conference 'Vatican II, 50 Years On: The New Evangelization' organised by Leeds Trinity University on 26-29th June 2012. Part I traces the historical and theological links between the Council and the New Evangelization. Part II examines the renewed understanding of the Church as a result of the Council and the extent to which it is shaped by civilization. Part III analyzes the nature of the New Evangelization and its outworking in today's multifarious context of cultures, religions and societies. Part IV deals with the implementation of the New Evangelization by different communities and organizations and the issues this raises. In the Introduction and Conclusion, the editors reflect on the New Evangelization in the light of significant developments since 2012.

The Life of Peter the Iberian by John Rufus records the ascetic struggle of a fifth-century anti-Chalcedonian bishop of Mayyuma, Palestine. Cornelia Horn presents a historical-critical study of the only substantial anti-Chalcedonian witness to the history of the conflict in Palestine and analyses the formative period of fifth-century anti-Chalcedonian hierarchy, theology, and its ascetic expression. Important themes are pilgrimage as an ascetic ideal and asceticism as source of theological authority. Archaeological data on many places in the Levant and textual sources in Syriac, Coptic, Greek, Armenian, and Georgian are examined. This book contributes to our understanding of the origins of anti-Chalcedonian theology and the influence of asceticism on its development, the Christian topography of the Levant, and the history of the anti-Chalcedonian movement in Palestine.

Catherine Pepinster charts the relationship between the British and the papacy in the modern era, looking at how this relationship is coloured by its turbulent past. Despite the enmity of previous centuries, Pepinster uncovers surprising instances of influence of the papacy in British politics, the collaboration between Pope and politicians on key issues, the 'stealth minority' of Catholics occupying major positions in public life, and the modern relationship between the Papacy and the Crown. In addition Pepinster analyses the crucial role that Britain has played in Rome, uncovers the unexpected role of the British Foreign Office in the appointment of Pope Francis, and discusses the modern style of the papacy and how this functions on a global scale. Featuring exclusive interviews with Cardinals Nichols and Murphy-O'Connor, Rowan Williams, Lord Patten and former British Ambassadors to both the Holy See and Italy, this account of the contemporary relationship between Great Britain and the Pope offers both fundamental evidence and penetrating insights into this most fascinating of political relationships.

In May 1962, as the struggle for civil rights heated up in the United States and leaders of the Catholic Church prepared to meet for Vatican Council II, Pope John XXIII named the first black saint of the Americas, the Peruvian Martin de Porres (1579 1639), and designated him the patron of racial justice. The son of a Spanish father and a former slavewoman from Panama, Martin served a lifetime as the barber and nurse at the great Dominican monastery in Lima. This book draws on visual representations of Martin and the testimony of his contemporaries to produce the first biography of this pious and industrious black man from the cosmopolitan capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. The book vividly chronicles the evolving interpretations of his legend and his miracles, and traces the centuries-long campaign to formally proclaim Martin de Porres a hero of universal Catholicism."

The meditations of St. Francis of Sales on the loving nature of God and the Holy Spirit contain abundant spiritual insight - this edition contains all twelve of his books, complete and unabridged with annotations. A superb compendium of thoughts which examine the multi-faceted nature of holiness in the Christian religion, the Treatise on the Love of God is lauded for its immense expressions of emotional and spiritual depth. The supreme will of God, acting in myriad ways, is shown to be the origination of all love on the Earth. The author discusses topics such as God's influence over his creations, the manner in which men often shun or repulse the love of God, and how such love - when accepted - can progress a living soul's fulfillment. Following the lessons of God will result in benevolence, yet such a following requires humbleness: we must concede to God being the source of all that is good, loving and worthy in the universe.

This book provides enough food for thought for those who want to find out more or even raise some objections to Leonard's assertions and arguments. On the whole, it is a heart searching and thought-provoking book.

Pope John Paul II was the second longest serving pope in history and the longest serving pope of the last century. His presence was influential not only to Catholics, but also throughout the world. The Encyclicals of John Paul II is the first book to focus in depth on the pope's fourteen encyclicals, through which he communicated many of the key themes of his papacy. The first part of the book includes helpful background information-a brief biographical sketch of John Paul II's life, his intellectual formation, and central theological themes of his papacy, including some of the major controversies of the 20th century. The first section of the book also provides invaluable background on the nature of an encyclical, including the history of this papal document. The second part of the book provides a thorough commentary on these encyclicals. The encyclicals are grouped by theme, introduced individually, and analyzed to trace broad themes through John Paul II's work and theology. The Encyclicals of John Paul II provides an important discussion of these key documents from John Paul II's papacy.

The Life of Christiana of Markyate gives an exceptionally vivid account of the struggles of a young girl, vowed at an early age to celibacy, to escape the matrimonial snares set by her parents and her friends. She was born of well-to-do burgesses of Huntingdon in the opening years of the twelfth century, who succeeded in betrothing her to a local nobleman. But the marriage was not consummated, and eventually she escaped, became a recluse and a nun, and the prioress of a small community at Markyate in Hertfordshire, under the patronage of the abbot and monks of St Albans, who made the famous St Albans' Psalter for her. The Life, written by one of her chaplains largely from her own reminiscences, was discovered, or rediscovered, by C.H. Talbot in a Cotton Manuscript in the British Library. First published by the Clarendon Press in 1959, it is now reissued. It is one of the remarkable discoveries of our time, and a classic of historical literature.

Pilgrimage, Politics, and International Relations addresses issues of global politics, from cooperation to conflict, and shows how a religious metaphor, the pilgrim, can help us to rethink our concepts of self, agency, and community in a time of changing world order. Making a standout contribution to post-secular IR theory and drawing on constructivism and the English school, this book presents a novel take on the concept of pilgrimage to explore political, sociological, theological, and philosophical thinking.