In his mid sixties, Jay Lerner was still at the top of his game, a partner at a prestigious New York law firm, married for over forty years to his college sweetheart, father of three successful children and adoring and adored grandfather of seven grandchildren all living within an hour of Jay's Westport Connecticut home. His life was productive, fulfilling until one day in the late winter of 2006, a piece of mail arrived at his home. In the mail was a letter, actually a notice, addressed to Jay's father, dead over ten years, that taxes on a condominium apartment in Forest Hills, Queens, were unpaid and overdue and that unless paid within thirty days the tax lien would be foreclosed. Jay's investigation into the mysterious tax claim led him to an apartment that his family had rented for a few years in the 1950s, but never, to Jay's knowledge, had been owned by his father. Not only did Jay learn that his father had secretly bought the apartment, but also that he used it to provide a home for his long time mistress and for trysts over a thirty year period starting while Jay and his sister still lived with the family in their new home in another part of Queens, an affair that continued to the end of his father's life. The love affair was further revealed in considerable detail by letters that his father had written which were given to Jay by a sister of his father's paramour. The story culminates with a further discovery, one that would change Jay's life and his family's permanently. In the course of telling the story Jay reveals details of his life as a lawyer including many vignettes that are filled with humor and warmth.

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The year 2003 marked the tercentenary of the birth of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), the man perpetually hailed as "America's most original religious thinker." Edwards's impact, both on colonial religious life and on the Anglo-American world of his day, was internationally acknowledged, and his legacy for the century and a half and more after his death in 1758 has been profound. Even to this day, Edwards's life is studied and his writings consulted on a global basis more than any other American theologian. The most significant scholarly conference marking the Edwards tercentenary took place in October 2003 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The papers from that gathering are presented in this volume. They represent much of the best and most recent work being done on Edwards and reflect the wide diversity of approaches to his life, thought, and legacy.

Long recognized as ???America's theologian???, Jonathan Edwards (1703???1758) is seen as instrumental in the Great Awakening of the 1740s that gripped much of New England and that laid the groundwork for an American Protestant religious identity. This Cambridge Companion offers a general, comprehensive introduction to Jonathan Edwards and examines his life and works from various disciplinary perspectives including history, literature, theology, religious studies, and philosophy. The book consists of seventeen chapters written by leading religious scholars, historians and literary critics on Edwards' life, work, and legacy. The Companion will be an invaluable aid to teachers and scholars and will be imminently accessible to those just encountering Edwards for the first time.

A roadmap to success for tomorrow's leaders The EQ Leader provides an evidence-based model for exceptional leadership, and a four-pillar roadmap for real-world practice. Data collected from thousands of the world's best leaders and their subordinates reveals the keys to success: authenticity, coaching, insight, and innovation. By incorporating these methods into their everyday workflow, these leaders have propelled their teams to heights great enough to highlight the divide between successful and not-so-successful leadership. This book shows you how to put these key factors to work in your own practice, with clear examples and concrete steps for improving skills and competencies. New data from the author's own research into executive functioning describes the neurological aspects of leadership, and a deep look at the leaders of tomorrow delves into the fundamental differences that set them apart and fuel their achievement. Leadership is changing, both in look and practice; strictly authoritative approaches are quickly losing ground as today's workers discover the power of collaboration and the importance of interpersonal awareness. This book provides step-by-step guidance for leading from within this space, with evidence-based approaches for success. * Lead authentically to inspire and motivate others * Support employee's needs and nurture development * Communicate with purpose, meaning, and vision * Foster ingenuity, imagination, and autonomous thinking An organization's success rests on the backs of its leadership. At all levels, true leadership is about much more than management and task distribution it's about commitment, collaboration, nurturing talent, developing skills, fostering relationships, and so much more. The EQ Leader integrates the essential factors of successful leadership into a concrete blueprint for the future's leaders.

Long recognized as 'America's theologian', Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is seen as instrumental in the Great Awakening of the 1740s that gripped much of New England and that laid the groundwork for an American Protestant religious identity. This Cambridge Companion offers a general, comprehensive introduction to Jonathan Edwards and examines his life and works from various disciplinary perspectives including history, literature, theology, religious studies, and philosophy. The book consists of seventeen chapters written by leading religious scholars, historians and literary critics on Edwards' life, work, and legacy. The Companion will be an invaluable aid to teachers and scholars and will be imminently accessible to those just encountering Edwards for the first time.

More than two decades after its original publication, Thomas G. Alexander's Mormonism in Transition still engages audiences with its insightful study of the pivotal, early years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Serving as a vital read for both students and scholars of American religious and social history, Alexander's book explains and charts the Church's transformation over this 40-year period of both religious and American history. For those familiar with the LDS Church in modern times, it is impossible to study Mormonism in Transition without pondering the enormous amount of changes the Church has been through since 1890. For those new to the study of Mormonism, this book will give them a clear understanding the challenges the Church went through to go from a persecuted and scorned society to the rapidly growing, respected community it is today. From the Second Edition Foreword by Stephen J. Stein: "Thomas Alexander confronts the reality of change and does not try to disguise it or hide it in the shadow of earlier traditions. Rather, he acknowledges that Mormonism in 1930 was radically different from what it was in 1890 or at the time of its origins. He catalogues change without apology. In fact, Alexander celebrates change as the basis for the continuing success the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints enjoys."

In his mid sixties, Jay Lerner was still at the top of his game, a partner at a prestigious New York law firm, married for over forty years to his college sweetheart, father of three successful children and adoring and adored grandfather of seven grandchildren all living within an hour of Jay's Westport Connecticut home. His life was productive, fulfilling until one day in the late winter of 2006, a piece of mail arrived at his home. In the mail was a letter, actually a notice, addressed to Jay's father, dead over ten years, that taxes on a condominium apartment in Forest Hills, Queens, were unpaid and overdue and that unless paid within thirty days the tax lien would be foreclosed. Jay's investigation into the mysterious tax claim led him to an apartment that his family had rented for a few years in the 1950s, but never, to Jay's knowledge, had been owned by his father. Not only did Jay learn that his father had secretly bought the apartment, but also that he used it to provide a home for his long time mistress and for trysts over a thirty year period starting while Jay and his sister still lived with the family in their new home in another part of Queens, an affair that continued to the end of his father's life. The love affair was further revealed in considerable detail by letters that his father had written which were given to Jay by a sister of his father's paramour. The story culminates with a further discovery, one that would change Jay's life and his family's permanently. In the course of telling the story Jay reveals details of his life as a lawyer including many vignettes that are filled with humor and warmth.

Alternative religious groups have had a profound influence on American history-they have challenged the old and opened up new ways of thinking about healing, modes of meaning, religious texts and liturgies, the social and political order, and the relationships between religion and race, class, gender, and region. Virtually always, the dramatic, dynamic history of alternative religions runs parallel to that of dissent in America.

Communities of Dissent is an evenhanded and marvelously lively history of New Religious Movements in America. Stephen J. Stein describes the evolution and structure of alternative religious movements from both sides: the critics and the religious dissenters themselves. Providing a fascinating look at a wide range of New Religious Movements, he investigates obscure groups such as the 19th-century Vermont Pilgrims, who wore bearskins and refused to bathe or cut their hair, alongside better-known alternative believers, including colonial America's largest outsider faith, the Quakers; 17th- and 18th-century Mennonites, Amish, and Shakers; and the Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Black Muslims, and Scientologists of today.

Accessible and comprehensive, Communities of Dissent also covers the milestones in the history of alternative American religions, from the infamous Salem witch trials and mass suicide/murder at Jonestown to the positive ways in which alternative religions have affected racial relations, the empowerment of women, and American culture in general.

"This book will take its place in libraries next to the finest worksabou;this creative thinker." -- Religious StudiesReview

..". gives a fine sense of the present state and thefuture direction of Edwards studies... Recommended for upper-division undergraduateand graduate students." -- Choice

..". this volume opensup new windows, not only on previously neglected texts of Jonathan Edwards, but onthe larger cultural functions and effects of those texts." -- Journal of theHistory of the Behavioral Sciences

Here is a compact survey ofcurrent Edwards scholarship. These essays present groundbreaking contemporaryscholarship focusing on the writings of the 18th-century American philosopher andtheologian Jonathan Edwards. They range widely across the Edwardsian canon, including his most prominent and important published texts -- Religious Affectionsand The Nature of True Virtue -- as well as unfamiliar treatises andsermons.

The three volumes of The Cambridge History of Religions in America trace the historical development of religious traditions in America, following both their transplantation from other parts of the world and the inauguration of new religious movements on the continent of North America. This story involves complex relationships among these religious communities as well as the growth of distinctive theological ideas and religious practices. The net result of this historical development in North America is a rich religious culture that includes representatives of most of the world's religions. Volume 1 extends chronologically from prehistoric times until 1790, a date linked to the formation of the United States as a nation. The first volume provides background information on representative Native American traditions as well as on religions imported from Europe and Africa. Diverse religious traditions in the areas of European settlement, both Christian and non-Christian, became more numerous and more complex with the passage of time and with the accelerating present. Tension and conflict were also evident in this colonial period among religious groups, triggered sometimes by philosophical and social differences, other times by distinctive religious beliefs and practices. The complex world of the eighteenth century, including international tensions and conflicts, was a shaping force on religious communities in North America, including those on the continent both north and south of what became the United States. Volume 2 focuses on the time period from 1790 until 1945, a date that marks the end of the Second World War. One result of the religious freedom mandated by the Constitution was the dramatic expansion of the religious diversity in the new nation, and with it controversy and conflict over theological and social issues increased among denominations. Religion, for example, played a role in the Civil War. The closing decades of the nineteenth century witnessed the rising prominence of Roman Catholicism and Judaism in the United States as well as the growth of a variety of new religious movements, some that were products of the national situation and others that were imported from distant parts of the globe. Modern science and philosophy challenged many traditional religious assumptions and beliefs during this century and a half, leading to a vigorous debate and considerable controversy. By the middle of the twentieth century, religion on the North American continent was patterned quite differently in each of the three nations the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Volume 3 examines the religious situation in the United States from the end of the Second World War to the second decade of the twenty-first century, contextualized in the larger North American continental context. Among the forces shaping the national religious situation were suburbanization and secularization. Conflicts over race, gender, sex, and civil rights were widespread among religious communities. During these decades, religious organizations in the United States formulated policies and practices in response to such international issues as the relationship with the state of Israel, the controversy surrounding Islam in the Middle East, and the expanding presence of Asian religious traditions in North America, most notably Buddhism and Hinduism. Religious controversy also accompanied the rise of diverse new religious movements often dismissed as cults, the growth of mega-churches and their influence via modern technologies, and the emergence of a series of ethical disputes involving gay marriage and abortion. By the turn of the twenty-first century, the national and international religious contexts were often indistinguishable.

In the early nineteenth century, a young man belonging to the prominent Byrd family of Virginia, the grandson of William Byrd III, took up residence in the Shaker community at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Over the next two years, 1826--1828, he wrote a series of letters to his father, a federal judge in Ohio, describing his experiences and his impressions of the United Society of Believers, as the Shakers were formally called. Eventually, William S. Byrd became a convert to the society and an advocate of its beliefs and practices. His letters -- cut short by his father's death -- offer today's reader an intimate view of communal life among the Shakers at a time of considerable turmoil in their village.

In the correspondence of William S. Byrd, the Shaker experience is expressed in human terms and becomes a living faith. The letters also record the trials associated with conversion to a religion that was socially unacceptable to many Americans of the time. Some of their more poignant passages describe young Byrd's attempt to reconcile the tensions created by his membership in two families -- the one of blood and the one of faith.

Letters from a Young Shaker provides an unusually instructive commentary on life in a Shaker community, on the questions agitating the community, and on the appeal of Shakerism to Americans in the early nineteenth century. In addition to the letters, the book contains other documents bearing on William Byrd's relationship with the settlement at Pleasant Hill and an introduction placing him in the social and religious context of the period. This book will appeal to historian of American society and to anyone interested in the Shaker way of life.