A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don't have the words to express, until now-from the creator of the popular online project of the same name. Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: "sonder." Or maybe you've watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That's called "lachesism." Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you've never actually experienced. That's "anemoia." If you've never heard of these terms before, that's because they didn't exist until John Koenig began his epic quest to fill the gaps in the language of emotion. Born as a website in 2009, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows has garnered widespread critical acclaim, inspired TED talks, album titles, cocktails, and even tattoos. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows "creates beautiful new words that we need but do not yet have," says John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars. By turns poignant, funny, and mind-bending, the definitions include whimsical etymologies drawn from languages around the world, interspersed with otherworldly collages and lyrical essays that explore forgotten corners of the human condition-from "astrophe," the longing to explore beyond the planet Earth, to "zenosyne," the sense that time keeps getting faster. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is for anyone who enjoys a shift in perspective, pondering the ineffable feelings that make up our lives, which have far more in common than we think. With a gorgeous package and beautifully illustrated throughout, this is the perfect gift for creatives, word nerds, and people everywhere.

Against some recent publications on the historical Jesus, this book argues that there was indeed an intentional last supper at which Jesus, with a messianic consciousness, fully enlisted his followers in his redemptive mission. In support of his argument, Professor Koenig examines the continuity between the last supper and the earliest church s meal practices, especially as these helped to disclose, define, and fuel outreach activities. Turning to the Pauline churches, he points out that meals did not include everyone in the eating and drinking and were understood as apocalyptic holy space, replete with charismatic phenomena. Still, in serving to build up the body of Christ, these meals also promoted missionary expansion. A number of passages not usually taken to be eucharistic, such as Romans 12 and 2 Corinthians 8-9, are then explored, showing that good cases can be made for seeing them as allusions to ritual meals and noting that many of these passages also exhibit missionary concerns. Finally, Professor Koenig links the results of his study to contemporary church life, arguing that eucharistic presence denotes all of the persons of the Trinity, the kingdom, and ourselves in a unique interplay that strengthens our vocation within God s redeeming plan. John T. Koenig is Sub-Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of New Testament at the General Theological Seminary, New York. His is the author of Rediscovering New Testament Prayer: Boldness and Blessing in the Name of Jesus (Morehouse). For: New Testament and liturgical scholars and students, clergy and eucharistic ministers, missiologists, general readers>