The Beatitudes offer a summary of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount - a succinct summary of his essential teaching. In probing the meaning of these eight verses, Michael Crosby cuts to the heart of Matthew's Gospel: a spiritual message that is at once personal and deeply social. Crosby posits that Matthew's Gospel was written for a more affluent church community. As such, his Gospel offers a particularly telling challenge to First-World Christians. To pray in the spirit of the Beatitudes is to answer a radical call to conversion: a journey into God's Reign of peace, justice, mercy, and renewal.

The Lord's Prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught us, is one of the most familiar and beloved of all prayers. But familiarity has dulled its radical edge. In this close reading, Crosby shows how the "Our Father" summarizes the themes in the Gospel of Matthew, especially those of social justice. If we recite this prayer faithfully, we are responding to Jesus' call to reject the worship of idols, to engage in right relationships with our neighbors, and to commit ourselves to the project of the Kingdom of God -- that God's will may truly be done "on earth as it is in heaven."

In a world afflicted by violence, in a society marked by a growing gulf between rich and poor, in a church polarized around issues of power and authority, the example of St. Francis of Assisi remains fresh and relevant, a powerful model of the gospel in action. As award-winning author Michael Crosby points out, the memory of Francis does not simply challenge the violence and materialism of our culture. He embodies a positive, joy-filled example of humanity at its best. His mission to "repair the church" speaks directly to the crises facing the church today. His example of a nonviolent, justice-seeking, creation-centered spirituality speaks to the needs of our world and the deepest hungers of our hearts. Francis of Assisi is indeed a saint for all times.

In this courageous work, Michael Crosby offers a trenchant analysis of mandatory celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church. He shows how the imposition of celibacy has now revealed a deeper issue: the abuse of power as well as the abuse of women and homosexuals. This updated edition of Crosby's award-winning "Celibacy: Means of Control or Mandate of the Heart?" will once again reveal Roman Catholicism to be a religion with an inspiring model of evangelical life and witness.WIPF and Stock