If you think that Jesus might have had something significant to say related to the well-being of the human race, this book is for you. If you think that Jesus' purpose was to get people into heaven after they died, this book is not for you. Actually, maybe it is, but you may not like it. Through individual and group encounters and thought-provoking questions, through poetry, prayers, icons, and meditation exercises, this companion ...
This volume provides a detailed account of the tireless, dedicated work of a small group of missionaries sent to China by the American Churches of Christ early in the twentieth century. The account includes the difficult years of preparation (1921-1928), the establishment of the Canton Mission to the onset of the Japanese threat (1929-1937), the heroic efforts during the Japanese occupation and war years (1938-1945), and finally, the work after ...
At the Margins tells the story of living and working in the Afghan program in Pakistan for three years in the early 1990s followed by a year in Niger in West Africa. The title comes from the fact that South and Central Asia and West Africa represent relative extremes in the geographical reach of Islam. Afghanistan should need no introduction. Niger may seem an odd pairing with Afghanistan, but the assignments were of a piece: large-scale commodi ...
According to Christian sources from before the middle of the third century AD, the ancient evidence is unanimous that, although there were a few slight differences as to how weekends should be observed, one thing is certain and was uncontroversial: the main day of the week for early Christians to gather and worship was not the seventh-day Saturday Sabbath, but Sunday, which they sometimes called «the first day» or «the eighth day,» or «the Lord& ...
Christmas cheers the birth of Christ with a fresh look at the festive season. English engages the rich theological and biblical themes of Advent as well as family traditions, popular carols, and legends of the holidays. Topics range from a theology of the incarnation of the Word, the role of Mary, the historical origin of December 25, the significance of Bethlehem and the star, the plight of the holy family in a hostile world, and the place of A ...
Zen and the Unspeakable God reevaluates how we study mystical experience. Forsaking the prescriptive epistemological box that has constrained the conversation for decades, ensuring that methodology has overshadowed subject matter, Jason Blum proposes a new interpretive approach—one that begins with a mystic’s own beliefs about the nature of mystical experience. Blum brings this approach to bear on the experiential accounts ...
This sweeping study of mysticism by Jess Hollenback considers the writings and experiences of a broad range of traditional religious mystics, including Teresa of Avila, Black Elk, and Gopi Krishna. It also makes use of a new category of sources that more traditional scholars have almost entirely ignored, namely, the autobiographies and writings of contemporary clairvoyants, mediums, and out-of-body travelers. This study contributes to the curren ...
Winner of the 2002 John Gilmary Shea Prize and the 2002 Howard R. Marraro Prize of the American Catholic Historical Association. When Saint Francis of Assisi died in 1226, he left behind an order already struggling to maintain its identity. As the Church called upon Franciscans to be bishops, professors, and inquisitors, their style of life began to change. Some in the order lamented this change and insisted on observing the strict poverty pract ...
