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Books > Christianity > Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church
Most readers first encounter Augustine's love for Scripture's words
in the many biblical allusions of his masterwork, the Confessions.
Augustine does not merely quote texts, but in many ways makes
Scripture itself tell the story. In his journey from darkness to
light, Augustine becomes Adam in the Garden of Eden, the Prodigal
Son of Jesus' parable, the Pauline double personality at once
devoted to and rebellious against God's law. Throughout he speaks
the words of the Psalms as if he had written them. Crucial to
Augustine's self-portrayal is his skill at transposing himself into
the texts. He sees their properties and dynamics as his own, and by
extension, every believing reader's own. In Christ Meets Me
Everywhere, Michael Cameron argues that Augustine wanted to train
readers of Scripture to transpose themselves into the texts in the
same way he did, by the same process of figuration that he found at
its core. Tracking Augustine's developing practice of
self-transposition into the figures of the biblical texts over the
course of his entire career, Cameron shows that this practice is
the key to Augustine's hermeneutics.
Between 1920 and 1994, the Catholic Church was Rwanda's most
dominant social and religious institution. In recent years, the
church has been critiqued for its perceived complicity in the
ethnic discourse and political corruption that culminated with the
1994 genocide. In analyzing the contested legacy of Catholicism in
Rwanda, Rwanda Before the Genocide focuses on a critical decade,
from 1952 to 1962, when Hutu and Tutsi identities became
politicized, essentialized, and associated with political violence.
This study-the first English-language church history on Rwanda in
over 30 years-examines the reactions of Catholic leaders such as
the Swiss White Father Andre Perraudin and Aloys Bigirumwami,
Rwanda's first indigenous bishop. It evaluates Catholic leaders'
controversial responses to ethnic violence during the revolutionary
changes of 1959-62 and after Rwanda's ethnic massacres in 1963-64,
1973, and the early 1990s. In seeking to provide deeper insight
into the many-threaded roots of the Rwandan genocide, Rwanda Before
the Genocide offers constructive lessons for Christian ecclesiology
and social ethics in Africa and beyond.
How can we transmit a living, personal Catholic faith to future generations? By coming to know Jesus Christ, and following him as his disciples.
As we emerge from a pandemic into a post-Christian world, these are times of immense challenge and enormous opportunity for the Catholic Church in the United States. Consider these statistics:
Fully 10 percent of all adults in America are ex-Catholics.
Nearly three-quarters of young Catholics think that they could be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday.
Catholic marriages have declined by almost two thirds since 1969, even as the number of Catholics in the United States has grown significantly.
Only one third of Catholics believe that the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at the consecration during Mass.
If the Church is to reverse these trends, the evangelizers must first be evangelized. In other words, Catholics in the pew must make a conscious choice to know and follow Jesus before they can draw others to him.
Extra features have been written especially to help you find your
way around the Bible: *All-new book introductions *How to find
Bible references *Suggested ways to begin reading *100 famous
stories *An overview of the biblical story in 40 key passages
*Where to find help in the Bible Other helps include: *Sidebar
navigation, listing the preceding or following books in the margin
of every page *New maps *Word list with simple definitions This
edition has an imprimatur from the Catholic Church.
Spanish America has produced numerous "folk saints" -- venerated
figures regarded as miraculous but not officially recognized by the
Catholic Church. Some of these have huge national cults with
hundreds -- perhaps millions -- of devotees. In this book Frank
Graziano provides the first overview in any language of these
saints, offering in-depth studies of the beliefs, rituals, and
devotions surrounding seven representative figures. These case
studies are illuminated by comparisons to some hundred additional
saints from contemporary Spanish America. Among the six primary
cases are Difunta Correa, at whose shrines devotees offer bottles
of water and used auto parts in commemoration of her tragic death
in the Argentinean desert. Gaucho Gil is only one of many gaucho
saints, whose characteristic narrative involves political injustice
and Robin-Hood crimes on behalf of the exploited people. The
widespread cult of the Mexican saint Nino Fidencio is based on
faith healing performed by devotees who channel his powers. Nino
Compadrito is an elegantly dressed skeleton of a child, whose
miraculous powers are derived in part from an Andean belief in the
power of the skull of one who has suffered a tragic death. Graziano
draws upon site visits and extensive interviews with devotees,
archival material, media reports, and documentaries to produce
vivid portraits of these fascinating popular movements. In the
process he sheds new light on the often fraught relationship
between orthodox Catholicism and folk beliefs and on an important
and little-studied facet of the dynamic culture of contemporary
Spanish America.
Of the spiritual odysseys which dominate the literature of
nineteenth-century England, Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua is
universally acknowledged as one of the greatest and yet one of the
most difficult. Newman wrote the Apologia in 1864, as a reply to
Charles Kingsley's attack on his veracity and that of his fellow
Roman Catholic clergy; the following year he revised it extensively
and thereafter amended new impressions almost until his death in
1890. This fine edition, long unavailable, has been reissued for
the centenary; it includes all the variants resulting from Newman's
revisions, in both the printed texts and the surviving manuscripts.
From beloved spiritual writer and Catholic leader Gregory Floyd
comes a moving meditation on the power of memory and how God is
often more clearly seen when we look back. This is a book about
memory, about what stays in the mind, and why. It is a book about
the presence of God in our lives and the sights, sounds, words, and
experiences that become unforgettable. Beginning with a single word
he heard in the middle of the night-one that changed his life-this
powerful memoir by Gregory Floyd asks the question: without memory,
who are we? It is a meditation on beauty, marriage, family, and
prayer, asking of the memories that each implants: what do they
reveal? Where do they lead? -and witnessing to their potential to
draw us to God.
This timely and up to date new edition of Biomedicine and Beatitude
features an entirely new chapter on the ethics of bodily
modification. It is also updated throughout to reflect the
pontificate of Pope Francis, recent concerns including ethical
issues raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, and feedback from the many
instructors who used the first edition in the classroom
General Principles of Sacramental Theology addresses a current
lacuna in English-language theological literature. Bernard
Leeming's highly respected book Principles of Sacramental Theology
was published more than sixty years ago. Since that time, there has
been a noted decrease, especially in English-language sacramental
theology, in treatments of the basic topics and principles-such as
the nature of the sacraments of signs, sacramental grace,
sacramental character, sacramental causality, sacramental
intention, the necessity and number of the sacraments, sacramental
matter and form, inter alia-which apply to all of the sacraments.
Rather than deconstruct the Church's tradition, as many recent
books on the sacraments do, Roger Nutt offers a vibrant
presentation of these principles as a sound foundation for a
renewed appreciation of each of the seven sacraments in the
Christian life as the divinely willed means of communion and
friendship between God and humanity. The sacraments bestow and
nourish the personal communion with Jesus Christ that is the true
source of human happiness. Recourse to the patrimony of Catholic
wisdom, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, can help to highlight the
sacraments and their significance within the plan of salvation.
This book will be of use in seminary, graduate, and undergraduate
courses. It is further offered as a source of hope to all those
seeking deeper intimacy with God amidst the confusion, alienation,
and disappointment that accompanies life in a fallen world. The
sacraments play an irreplaceable role in pursuing a Universal Call
to Holiness that is so central to Vatican II's teaching.
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