Many powerful voices are influencing our grandchildren, from those at home and in their schools to those in the world of entertainment and media. What can you as a grandparent do to speak wisdom and godliness into their lives? Biblical Grandparenting is a full-length leadership book that places grandparenting ministry on a firm scriptural foundation. It is ideal for pastors and church leaders as well as for use in the classroom at seminaries.

Even in Beethoven's day the 'Moonlight' Sonata was a popular favourite. This 1999 book provides an accessible introduction to the Sonatas Opp. 27 and 31 (including The 'Moonlight' and 'The Tempest'), aimed at pianists, students, and music lovers. It begins with the works' historical background - the emergence of a 'piano culture' at the end of the eighteenth century, Beethoven's aristocratic milieu in Vienna, and his oft-quoted intention to follow a new compositional path. An account of the sonatas' genesis is followed by a discussion of their reception history, including a survey of changing performing styles since the mid-nineteenth century. The concept of the Sonata quasi una Fantasia is examined in relation to the cult of artistic sensibility in early-nineteenth-century Vienna. The study concludes with a critical introduction to each sonata.

Part prayer collection, part memoir, this book features 52 reflections on great prayers throughout history, from Psalms and Isaiah and such noted theologians as Augustine, C.S. Lewis, and Thomas Merton.

These days more and more people are scheduling getaways to retreat centers for their spiritual well-being--over 1.2 million Catholics alone during 1997. Located throughout the United States and Canada, these centers cater to the needs of people seeking quiet time, regardless of religious affiliation. Retreat possibilities range from one day of solitude surrounded by nature, to a few days of quiet time under the guidance of a resident spiritual director, to a week experiencing the rigorous rhythms of community monastery life.

In A PLACE FOR GOD, Timothy Jones shares the wisdom of his pilgrimages to retreat centers as diverse as a mountaintop hermitage overlooking the Pacific and a monastic oasis on Chicago's South Side. First he explains everything about retreats: what they are, why people go, how to prepare, what to pack, and what to do while there. Then he provides an extensive directory of over 250 retreat centers in all fifty states and Canada, complete with all the information readers need to contact the retreat center that is right for them. A PLACE FOR GOD is the perfect resource for anyone who wants to find spiritual fulfillment or simply a place to get away.

The Gothic and the Carnivalesque in American Culture offers a new account of the American Gothic. Gothic studies, the field that explores horrid and frightful narratives, usually describes the genre as exploring genuine historical fears, crises and traumas, yet this does not account for the ways in which the genre is often a source of wicked delight as much as it is of horror – its audiences laugh as often as they shriek. This book traces the carnivalesque tradition in the American Gothic from the nineteenth into the late twentieth century. It discusses the festivals offered by Poe, Hawthorne and Irving; the celebrations of wickedness offered by the Weird Tales writers, including H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith; the curious aura attached to Ray Bradbury’s stories; the way in which hosted horrors in comics and on television in the 1950s and 1960s taught their mass audiences how to read the genre; Stephen King’s nurturing of a new audience for Gothic carnivals in the 1970s and 1980s; and the confluence of Gothic story and Goth subculture in the 1990s. Introduction: Ballyhoo Chapter One: Theory, Practice and Gothic Carnival Chapter Two: ‘The Delight of its Horror’ – Poe’s Carnivals and the Nineteenth-Century American Gothic Chapter Three: Weird Tales and Pulp Subjunctivity Chapter Four: Ray Bradbury and the October Aura Chapter Five: Hosted Horrors of the 1950s and 1960s Chapter Six: Stephen King, Affect and the Real Limits of Gothic Practice Chapter Seven: Every Day is Halloween – Goth and the Gothic Conclusion: Waiting for the Great Pumpkin

Even in Beethoven's day everyone was talking about the "Moonlight" Sonata. This is a comprehensive introduction to Beethoven's most popular piano sonata, together with the four other sonatas in Op. 27 and Op. 31. Aimed at pianists, students and music lovers, it gives an account of the sonatas' historical background, their changing performance styles, and offers an accessible critical introduction to the music.

Many of us worry about our kids getting pulled under by our culture's negative currents. We try to shout over the roar of media blitzes, misguided values in the schools, and peer pressure. And we wonder how to raise faithful children.

For parents who sometimes feel they haven't done enough, Jones provides ideas for taking small steps toward communication and intimacy, showing you how to take advantage of teachable moments by fully "focusing on the present."