Christian Ethics provides a biblical, historical, philosophical and theological guide to the field of Christian ethics. Prominent theologian David S. Cunningham explores the tradition of 'virtue ethics' in this creative and lively text, which includes literary and musical references as well as key contemporary theological texts and figures.

Three parts examine:

• 
  
• the nature of human action and the people of God as the 'interpretative community' within which ethical discourse arises
• 
  
• the development of a 'virtue ethics' approach, and places this in its Christian context
• 
  
• significant issues in contemporary Christian ethics, including the ethics of business and economics, politics, the environment, medicine and sex.

This is the essential text for students of all ethics courses in theology, religious studies and philosophy.

Over the past twenty years, scholars in a wide variety of academic disciplines have been giving increasing attention to rhetoric - the study of persuasive argument. In Faithful Persuasion David S. Cunningham offers the contemporary era's first sustained account of the relationship between rhetoric and Christian theology. Cunningham argues that Christian thinkers should abandon their attempts to codify argumentation within the canons of formal logic and suggests that they should instead come to a more organic understanding of the process of persuasion. This rhetorical approach to theology can cast new light on longstanding theological controversies and establish a new agenda for the study of the methods, sources, and norms of Christian theology. Drawing chiefly upon the rhetorical insights of Aristotle, and on the reappropriation of Aristotle's views by numerous modern rhetoricians - ranging from John Henry Newman to Kenneth Burke and Chaim Perelman - Cunningham establishes a firm foundation from which to support his central assertion that "Christian theology can best be understood as a form of persuasive argument". In addition, he explores the implications of a rhetorical method for studies in doctrinal formulation, biblical exegesis, and church history. Written for theologians, clergy members, and laypeople with a strong interest in theology, this book will introduce readers to the richness of the rhetorical tradition and its important implications for the discipline of Christian theology.

The third volume of Thomas Merton's journals chronicles Merton's attempts to reconcile his desire for solitude and contemplation with the demands of his new-found celebrity status within the strictures of conventional monastic life.

Christian Ethics provides a biblical, historical, philosophical and theological guide to the field of Christian ethics. Prominent theologian David S. Cunningham explores the tradition of a ~virtue ethicsa (TM) in this creative and lively text, which includes literary and musical references as well as key contemporary theological texts and figures.

Three parts examine:

• the nature of human action and the people of God as the a ~interpretative communitya (TM) within which ethical discourse arises
• the development of a a ~virtue ethicsa (TM) approach, and places this in its Christian context
• significant issues in contemporary Christian ethics, including the ethics of business and economics, politics, the environment, medicine and sex.

This is the essential text for students of all ethics courses in theology, religious studies and philosophy.

In Ecological Ethics and the Human Soul: Aquinas, Whitehead, and the Metaphysics of Value, Francisco J. Benzoni addresses the pervasive and destructive view that there is a moral gulf between human beings and other creatures. Thomas Aquinas, whose metaphysics entails such a moral gulf, holds that human beings are ultimately separate from nature. Alfred North Whitehead, in contrast, maintains that human beings are continuous with the rest of nature. These different metaphysical systems demand different ethical stances toward creation. Benzoni analyzes and challenges Thomas's understanding of the human soul, his primary justification for the moral separation, arguing that it is finally philosophically untenable. The author finds promising the alternative metaphysics of Whitehead, for whom human beings are a part of nature-even if the highest part; all creatures have a degree of subjectivity and creativity, and thus all have intrinsic value and moral worth, independent of subjective human valuation. Further, though there is difference, there is no moral gulf between God and the world. God is truly affected by the experience of creatures. Benzoni argues that if this vision of moral worth is articulated with sufficient force and clarity, it could help heal the human relation to our planet. "Eminently clear in concept and analysis, profound in insight, and precise in reasoning, this book not only contributes a distinguished study of Aquinas but also reshapes contemporary ecological ethics by relating it to basic issues of metaphysics. Both subsequent moral theory attentive to Aquinas and subsequent formulations of ecological ethics will be incomplete without taking account of Benzoni's argument."-Franklin I. Gamwell, Shailer Mathews Distinguished Service Professor of Religious Ethics, the Philosophy of Religion, and Theology, The University of Chicago Divinity School "In the introduction and conclusion, Francisco Benzoni makes clear the broader significance of this work for the field of ecological ethics and the future well-being of the human species on this earth. One can learn a great deal about the philosophy of both Aquinas and Whitehead in working through these pages."-Joseph Bracken, Xavier University

How possible is it for the state to steer family values and relationships? How do we assess claims of harm and benefit from state action and inaction? What kind of engagement should we seek between the state and our personal lives? The evidence presented includes state engagements with separating couples, lone parents, retired people, black families, disabled people, pregnant teenagers and young people negotiating adulthood. The range of perspectives, data, and cross-nation-state comparisons, helps readers to come to their own conclusions.

This book explores the diverse ways of researching and theorizing the body. It draws together a range of empirical work on different themes, each taking the body and its study as its central problematic. It creatively combines contributions on disability, illness, scars, sleep, complementary medicine, and running, as well as the lifecourse themes of childhood, youth and death. The different approaches to reaching the body examined through these contributions include autobiography, case studies, interviews, and participant observation.

There has been a notable upsurge of interest in the body in empirical and theoretical study and debate. Contributions to this book move these debates forward by considering a range of bodies as active in their own construction in social and economic processes. The authors consider the body as a site of agency, resistance, and compromise and reflect upon the reluctance of sociology to engage with the body and notions of embodiment.

It was while reading HusserI's Cartesian Meditations that the subject of the present volume first occurred to me. And in a way I am offering a somewhat oblique commentary on HusserI's Meditations - "oblique" because it is not a systematic elucidation of the entire text. Nonetheless, it is primarily with the task of the Meditations that I am concerned. It is there that the antipathy between natural anguage and HusserI's quest for certainty come clearIy into focus. (Other texts are cited insofar as they shed light on this central work or illustrate the fact that HusserI did not significantly alter his position on the problem. ) My purpose here is to further sharpen that focus, showing that the consciousness within the phenomenological reductions is essentially language using. Working with the Wittgensteinian insight regarding "pri vate languages," I attempt to show that a language-using con sciousness cannot effectively divorce itself from its social context and is unable, therefore, to perform the radical phenomenological reductions. Solipsism, then, is never a genuine problem, but nei ther is the elimination of all existential commitments a genuine possibility. Finally, I conclude that language-use bridges the distinction between essence and existence, the transcendental and the transcendent, the ideal and the real-making the phenomeno logical method incapable of providing the apodictic foundations on which all metaphysics and science will be rebuilt."

When Friday the 13th premiered in 1980, the film introduced moviegoers to a new kind of cinematic terror - shocking, visceral, graphic and relentless. Spawning ten popular sequels to date, the series has become the most successful horror franchise of all time, and the character of "Jason" an icon known around the world as the first name in evil. Now, uncensored and in their own words, over two hundred alumni of the series recall a quarter-century's worth of behind-the-scenes stories - the struggles, feuds, foibles, controversies and calamities. Fully illustrated with over five hundred never-before-seen photos, rare archival documents and production materials, this is the ultimate oral and visual memoir of the most successful horror franchise in the history of motion pictures.

The Vatican. The Inquisition. Contraception. Celibacy. Apparitions and miracles. Plots and scandals. The Catholic Church is seldom out of the news. But what do its one billion adherents really believe, and how do they put their beliefs into practice in worship, the family, and society? This down-to-earth account goes back to the early Christian creeds to uncover the roots of modern Catholic thinking. It avoids getting bogged down in theological technicalities, and throws light on aspects of the Church's institutional structure and liturgical practice that even Catholics can find baffling: why go to confession? How are people made saints? What is 'infallible' about the Pope? Topics addressed include: * scripture and tradition * sacraments and prayer * popular piety * personal and social morality * reform, mission, and interreligious dialogue Lawrence Cunningham, a theologian, prize-winning writer and university teacher, provides an overview of Catholicism today which will be indispensable for undergraduates and lay study groups.

This volume explores diverse ways of researching and theorizing the body. It draws together a range of empirical work on different themes, each taking the body and its study as its central problematic. It creatively combines contributions on disability, illness, scars, sleep, complementary medicine, running, as well as the lifecourse themes of childhood, youth and death. The different approaches to researching the body examined through these contributions include autobiography, case-studies, interviews and participant observation.

Many colleges and universities have begun using the language of vocation and calling to help undergraduates think about the future direction of their lives. This language is used in both secular and religious contexts, but it has deep roots in the Christian theological tradition. Given the increasingly multi-faith context of undergraduate life, many have asked whether this terminology can truly serve as a new vocabulary for higher education. If vocation is to find a foothold in the contemporary context, it will need to be re-examined, re-thought, and re-written; in short, higher education will need to undertake the project of hearing vocation differently. In this third volume on vocation from editor David S. Cunningham, the thirteen contributing scholars identify with a wide variety of religious traditions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. Some contributors identify with more than one of these; others would claim none of them. The authors met on multiple occasions to read common texts, to discuss agreements and differences, and to respond to one another's writing; some of these responses are included at the end of each chapter. Both individually and collectively, these contributors expand the range of vocational reflection and discernment well beyond its traditional Christian origins. The authors observe that all undergraduate students-regardless of their academic field, religious background, or demographic identity-need to make space for reflection, to overcome obstacles to discernment, and to consider the significance of their own narratives, beliefs, and practices. This, in turn, will require college campuses to re-imagine their curricular and co-curricular programming in order to support their students's reflection on issues of meaning, purpose, and identity.

The Vatican. The Inquisition. Contraception. Celibacy. Apparitions and miracles. Plots and scandals. The Catholic Church is seldom out of the news. But what do its one billion adherents really believe, and how do they put their beliefs into practice in worship, the family, and society? This down-to-earth account goes back to the early Christian creeds to uncover the roots of modern Catholic thinking. It avoids getting bogged down in theological technicalities, and throws light on aspects of the Church's institutional structure and liturgical practice that even Catholics can find baffling: why go to confession? How are people made saints? What is 'infallible' about the Pope? Topics addressed include: * scripture and tradition * sacraments and prayer * popular piety * personal and social morality * reform, mission, and interreligious dialogue Lawrence Cunningham, a theologian, prize-winning writer and university teacher, provides an overview of Catholicism today which will be indispensable for undergraduates and lay study groups.

The Chapels of Notre Dame celebrates the university's unique identity as a Catholic academic community where faith is treasured and diverse traditions shared and respected. This stunning large-format collection of over two hundred full-color photographs brings to life the sixty chapels located throughout Notre Dame's beloved campus, many of which are tucked away in little-known settings waiting to be discovered by readers of this volume for the first time. At Notre Dame, chapels are found in a number of academic buildings and in every residence hall. Mass is celebrated daily in some of these halls during term, and it is not uncommon to see students and staff stopping in them for moments of quiet meditation and prayer. The Chapels of Notre Dame captures these sanctuaries, as well as the older chapels, the apsidal chapels of the Basilica, and the Congregation of Holy Cross chapels. The text, by well-known Notre Dame professor Lawrence S. Cunningham, provides a picture of the worship in these chapels along with reflections on the traditions, history, architecture, and art works that adorn them. His brief descriptions evoke a powerful sense of presence, worship, and prayer. Matt Cashore's dramatic photographs include the campus landscape, interiors and exteriors of the chapels, and people worshipping in varied seasons, lighting, and moods. His photographs offer fresh ways to view the charming sloped roof of All Souls Chapel, the large collection of relics assembled from the days of Father Sorin in the Reliquary Chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Holy Cross Chapel in the new Stinson-Remick Engineering Hall, the striking stained-glass windows in the Moreau Seminary Chapel of the Sacred Heart, and the unique chapels in each of the residence halls. For alumni who have participated in baptisms, weddings, anniversary celebrations, prayer services, and other liturgical rites on campus, The Chapels of Notre Dame will not disappoint. Prospective students, members of the Notre Dame family, and friends and supporters who have seen the university only from a distance will get an inside view of one of the most beautiful campuses in the world and a unique contemplative side of Notre Dame.