Christian Churches, denominations, groups Books

Book SynopsisResponding to Vine Deloria, Jr’s call for all people to ‘become involved’ in the struggle to protect Indigenous sacred sites, Dana Lloyd’s Land Is Kin proposes a rethinking of sacred sites, and a rethinking of even land itself.Trade Review"Until the tired and faulty precedent of Lyng is dethroned, Indigenous sacred sites in the United States will continue to suffer the consequences of being treated as mere property. Dana Lloyd challenges this paradigm in Land Is Kin by looking backward and forward, asking how such a problematic framing of sacred land as government property came to be. She explores how this knotty tangle might be undone in a way that foregrounds Indigenous sovereignty, focusing on kinship with the land and the relationship work such intimacy demands. This important book will be compelling to readers across several fields—Native American and Indigenous studies, religious studies, and law—and to communities on the ground seeking fresh insights for gaining protection of their sacred places as relatives."—Greg Johnson, professor, Department of Religious Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Sacred Claims: Repatriation and Living Tradition"This book is as refreshing as it is lucid. Where most observers consider a 1988 loss before the Supreme Court to be the end of the story for Native American sacred place protection in the land of religious freedom, Dana Lloyd presses through and beyond the language of religious freedom or wilderness to hear how Yurok, Karuk, and Tolowa peoples themselves assert their rights and responsibilities to land as kin."—Michael McNally, professor of religion, Carleton College, and author of Defend the Sacred: Native American Religious Freedom beyond the First Amendment"Dana Lloyd has written an important book. Ever since the Supreme Court decided the Lyng case in 1988, it has been used to severely limit and almost completely erase Indigenous land-based religious rights. Lloyd provides a new critique and analysis on how to understand and work around Lyng."—Robert J. Miller, coauthor of A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v. OklahomaTable of Contents Acknowledgments Foreword by Judge Abby Abinanti Introduction: The High Country 1. Land as Home in the G-O Road Trial 2. Land as Property in the Lyng Decision 3. Land as Sacred in Justice Brennan’s Dissent 4. Land as Wild in the California Wilderness Act 5. Land as Kin in the Klamath River Resolution Conclusion: Land as Sovereign Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPopular Apologist Corrects the Record on What Christianity Is All AboutThe Christianity our culture rejects may not be true Christianity at all. So many people today believe they have to be good to be accepted by God, or that the Bible is just a list of do''s and don''ts, or that God is far away and unapproachable.Instead of providing 'proofs' about God and the Bible, in this book Alex provides a reason to want to know Jesus. By sharing his own story of the loneliness and alienation of his youth, Alex taps in to universal fears of rejection and loneliness. We all seek acceptance and purpose--and there''s only one solution. Learn how to be anchored in the Truth and security that comes through Christ.

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Book SynopsisThis concise look at the major events that helped to shape Christianity is a valuable and insightful resource for pastors, teachers, and history buffs.

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Book SynopsisNo one can deny our culture is opposed to Christian values, and the influences bombarding our children''s moral development are difficult to contend with. But few parents and church leaders realize that a child''s moral development is set by the age of nine. It is therefore critical to start developing a child''s biblical worldview from the very earliest years of life.The problem is complex: parents who themselves did not receive early spiritual training leave their children''s training to the church. Yet the church often focuses on older children. The answer is for churches to come alongside parents to provide them biblical worldview training, parenting information, and counseling that will equip them to help their children become the spiritually mature church of tomorrow. This helpful and hopeful book unpacks just how to develop this kind of dynamic church/parent relationship and includes profiles of churches that are effectively ministering to children and winning the war

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Book SynopsisThe Apostolic Fathers is a critically important collections of texts for studying the first century of Christian history. Here a leading expert on the Apostolic Fathers offers an accessible, up-to-date introduction and companion to these diverse and fascinating writings. This work is easy to use and affordable yet offers a thorough overview for students and others approaching these writings for the first time. It explains the context and significance of each document and points to further reading. This new edition of a well-received text has been updated throughout and includes a new chapter on the fragments of Papias.Table of ContentsContentsPreface to the Second EditionFor the ReaderIntroduction: What Are the Apostolic Fathers?1. The Letter of Barnabas2. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (The Didache)3. The Letters of Ignatius4. The Fragments of Papias5. The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians6. The Martyrdom of Polycarp7. The First Letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (1 Clement)8. The Second Letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (2 Clement)9. The Shepherd of Hermas10. The Letter to DiognetusGlossaryIndex

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Book SynopsisThis accessible history of monasticism recovers the riches of the monastic tradition for contemporary spiritual formation and devotional practice.Table of ContentsContentsIntroduction: The Monastic ImpulsePart I: Anthony to Benedict1. The Origins of Christian Monasticism2. Of Anchorites and Cenobites3. The RulePart II: Benedict to Bernard4. The Flowering of Benedictine Monasticism5. Other Voices: Celtic, Frankish, and Eastern Monasticism6. Challenges of Christendom7. The Road to ReformPart III: Bernard to Luther8. The Cistercians, Carthusians, and Other Reforming Orders9. Regular Canons, Hospitallers, and the Military Orders10. The Friars11. Decline or Development? Lay Piety and Religious Life in the Late Medieval EraPart IV: Luther to Merton12. The Reformers and Counter-Reformers13. Protestants and Monasticism after the Reformation14. Continuing Roman Catholic Monastic PracticeEpilogue: Monasticism Today and Tomorrow

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Book SynopsisA respected scholar surveys the most recent century of Christian history, highlighting epochal changes in global Christianity.Table of ContentsContentsList of FiguresForeword by Mark A. NollIntroduction: From Jesus to the End of Christendom1. World Christianity: The Gilded Age through the Great War2. Christian Lives: Practices and Piety3. Politics and Persecution: How Global Politics Shaped Christianity4. Confessional Families: Diverse Confessions, Diverse Fates5. On the Move: Christianity and Migration6. One Way among Others: Christianity and the World's ReligionsEpilogue: Future Hope and the Presence of the PastAppendix 1: African Independence and ColonizersAppendix 2: Asian Independence and ColonizersIndex

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Book SynopsisShows how the creeds and confessions represent the collective wisdom of the church throughout history, providing a unique vantage point from which to study the Christian faith.Table of ContentsContents 1. Introduction Part 1: The Era of the Creeds (AD 100-500) 2. The Creedal Impulse in Scripture and the Early Church 3. A Christian Empire and Creedal Standardization 4. A Creed for the Entire Church: The Nicene Creed 5. Explaining the Nicene Creed: The Chalcedonian Definition 6. A Local Creed with Traditional Authority: The Apostles' Creed 7. A Creedal Anomaly with Staying Power: The Athanasian Creed Part 2: Exploring Creedal Theology (500-900) 8. Clarifying Chalcedon in the East 9. The West Charts Its Own Theological Course 10. Creedal Dissension and the East-West Schism Part 3: From Creeds to Confessions in the West (900-1500) 11. Setting the Stage for Medieval Developments 12. Catholic Confessions in the High Middle Ages Part 4: The Reformation and Confessionalism (1500-1650) 13. The Crisis of the Reformation 14. Early Protestant Confessions 15. New Generations of Protestant Confessions 16. Catholic and Orthodox Responses to Protestant Confessions 17. Protestant Confessions in the Late Reformation Part 5: Confessions in the Modern World (1650-Present) 18. The New Grammar of Modern Confessions Conclusion Index

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Book SynopsisClergy suffer from certain health issues at a rate higher than the general population. Why are pastors in such poor health? And what can be done to help them step into the abundant life God desires for them?Although anecdotal observations about poor clergy health abound, concrete data from multiple sources supporting this claim hasn''t been made accessible--until now. Duke''s Clergy Health Initiative (CHI), a major, decade-long research project, provides a true picture of the clergy health crisis over time and demonstrates that improving the health of pastors is possible. Bringing together the best in social science and medical research, this book quantifies the poor health of clergy with theological engagement. Although the study focused on United Methodist ministers, the authors interpret CHI''s groundbreaking data for a broad ecumenical readership. In addition to physical health, the book examines mental health and spiritual well-being, and suggests that increasing positivTable of ContentsContentsPreface: The Birth of the Duke Clergy Health Initiative1. Creatures Doing the Creator's Work2. When Work Is Holy: Highs and Lows of Ministry Work3. Slowed Down and Overwhelmed: Clergy and Depressive Symptoms4. A Practical Guide to Combating Stress Symptoms5. The Pastor's Paradox: Clergy Health and Disease6. Feeling Alive: The Role of Positive Emotions7. Clergy Flourishing: In Their Own Words8. The Lord Bless You and Keep YouAppendix: Recommendations for Clergy Health Programs

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Book SynopsisThe Middle Ages are often thought of as an era during which cruelty was a major aspect of life, a view that stems from the anti-Catholic polemics of the Reformation. Daniel Baraz makes the striking discovery that the concept of cruelty, which had been...Trade ReviewThe ambiguity of cruelty, whereby it might be used both to excoriate the torturer and glorify the martyr, to demonize the criminal and justify the law, or to explain why the English were superior to the French, is also nicely brought out. Here, then, is a useful lesson in the immense difficulties, as well as in the valuable rewards that come from asking the right questions, in dealing with the elusive history of ideas. * Virginia Quarterly Review *For Baraz, the treatment of cruelty is a cultural issue and must be considered apart from the actual practice of violence.... His argument is sound and thoroughly convincing. Because he carefully provides the historical context for each episode that he discusses, Medieval Cruelty is suitable both for general readers and experts. -- David S. Sefton, Eastern Kentucky University * History *An important and imaginative study in intellectual history, this book informs us about the use of a powerful concept over centuries and simultaneously warns against easy assumptions about correspondence between text and context. -- Richard W. Kaeuper, University of Rochester * American Historical Review *

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Book SynopsisIn Creating Cistercian Nuns, Anne E. Lester addresses a central issue in the history of the medieval church: the role of women in the rise of the religious reform movement of the thirteenth century. Focusing on the county of Champagne in France, Lester reconstructs the history of the women's religious movement and its institutionalization within the Cistercian order.The common picture of the early Cistercian order is that it was unreceptive to religious women. Male Cistercian leaders often avoided institutional oversight of communities of nuns, preferring instead to cultivate informal relationships of spiritual advice and guidance with religious women. As a result, scholars believed that women who wished to live a life of service and poverty were more likely to join one of the other reforming orders rather than the Cistercians. As Lester shows, however, this picture is deeply flawed. Between 1220 and 1240 the Cistercian order incorporated small independent communities Trade ReviewAnne Lester's Creating Cistercian Nuns is a wonderful achievement. This book reconstructs ground-up a whole new socioreligious landscape in and around the country of Champagne while also contributing broadly to a new and evolving narrative of women's religious life in the thirteenth century. Lester's craft in this first monograph is remarkably mature, an ability to construct landscape and narrative out of the raw stuff of documentary records and to do so in pleasing prose. -- John Van Engen * Speculum *Lester examines the transition and transformation of informal communities of religious women living the apostolic life—characterized by charity, penitential piety, and poverty—into organized communities of Cistercian nuns after the Fourth Lateran Council (1215).... The author concentrates on Champagne, where some twenty Cistercian convents were established in the 13th century, and her impressive analysis of unpublished archival sources offers new perspectives on the dynamics of religious reform and the monastic life after 1215. * Choice *The book will be a welcome addition to the academic study of monastic and church history and gender studies. -- Mary Forman * ABR *With Creating Cistercian Nuns, Anne Lester has made a vital contribution to our understanding of the deeply nuanced relationship between the thirteenth-century women's religious movement in Champagne and the apparatus of the Cistercian order. It fills several important lacunae and reconfigures the historiography. This is a book that will be read for some time to come. -- David Winter * Canadian Journal of History *Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsOn Currencies, Names, and TranscriptionsList of Abbreviations and Short TitlesIntroduction: Written Fragments and Living Parts1. Concerning Certain Women: The Women's Religious Movement in Champagne2. Cities of Refuge: The Social World of Religious Women3. Under the Religious Life: Reform and the Cistercian Order4. The Bonds of Charity: The Special Cares of Cistercian Nuns5. One and the Same Passion: Convents and Crusaders6. A Space Apart: Gender and Administration in a New Social LandscapeEpilogue: A Deplorable and Dangerous State: Crisis, Consolidation, and CollapseAppendix: Cistercian Convents and Domus-Dei of ChampagneBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisHistorians typically single out the hundred-year period from about 1050 to 1150 as the pivotal moment in the history of the Latin Church, for it was then that the Gregorian Reform movement established the ecclesiastical structure that would ensure Rome's dominance throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. In Before the Gregorian Reform John Howe challenges this familiar narrative by examining earlier, pre-Gregorian reform efforts within the Church. He finds that they were more extensive and widespread than previously thought and that they actually established a foundation for the subsequent Gregorian Reform movement.The low point in the history of Christendom came in the late ninth and early tenth centuriesa period when much of Europe was overwhelmed by barbarian raids and widespread civil disorder, which left the Church in a state of disarray. As Howe shows, however, the destruction gave rise to creativity. Aristocrats and churchmen rebuilt churches and constructed new oTrade ReviewA comprehensive and accessible survey of two hundred years of church history.... A richly textured and arresting image of a world rooted in its Carolingian past yet foundational to the expansionist and ecumenical church of the later Middle Ages.... Indispensible to any medieval history syllabus. * H-Soz-Kult *Howe calls upon a truly impressive array of evidence and scholarship from the fields of history, literature, liturgical studies, art and architectural history, and theological studies in support of his argument, and scholars will profit immensely from perusing his footnotes. The book is loaded with important insights and asides.... Most importantly, Howe's work lands another hammer blow on the older, confessionally-driven, top-down paradigm of church reform... and does so in a style that is self-consciously accessible to specialist and non-specialist readers. * SPECULUM *Builds on a good deal of recent research which emphasises the deep roots of later developments, and draws attention to the diversity and vitality of religious life at this time.... He succeeds in evoking interest in the tenth-century Church. * English Historical Review *There is much of use here: the stress on the physical, acoustic and aesthetic aspects of developments in the tenth and early eleventh centuries is welcome, and these sections bring together a wide range of recent literature. Mediterranean areas, especially Italy, receive due attention... the emphasis on Byzantine ideas is refreshing. * Journal of Ecclesiastical History *An extensively researched, engagingly written, and nicely illustrated book.... Howe draws upon his own impressive research to demonstrate the numerous contacts between the Roman and Greek churches. * American Historical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Pre-Gregorian Reform? 1. "Wolves Devouring the Lambs of Christ" 2. "Enter Confidently into the War of the Lord God" 3. "A White Mantle of Churches" 4. "To Rouse Devotion in a Carnal People" 5. "Following in the Footsteps of the Saints" 6. "When My Soul Longs for the Divine Vision" 7. "Learning Is Part of Holiness" 8. "The Body Is Not a Single Part" 9. "One Shepherd Presides over All Generally" Epilogue: A Pope Captured, A Church Triumphant

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Book SynopsisBarbara H. Rosenwein here reassesses the significance of property in the tenth and eleventh centuries, a period of transition from the Carolingian empire to the regional monarchies of the High Middle Ages. In To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter she...Trade Review"The import of the title is that Cluny's property lay in a neighborhood, that is, an area with little, if any, central authority. The charters appear at first sight to be simply records of property transactions, but they are not: Rosenwein has shown they are alliances in the making, feuds being ended, and they reveal a vast network of patronage. . . . This is an important and trailblazing book well worth the effort that has gone into it."—Eric John, Catholic Historical Review"Although Rosenwein relies heavily on quantitative evidence, her clear and often polished prose style enlivens her information considerably. Her command of the scholarly literature is likewise very impressive. The author not only gives a definitive answer to some questions regarding Cluny's property but also stimulates the posing of new questions. This book shows how quantitative social history should be done."—Robert C. Figuerira, Speculum"To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter is an important addition to the knowledge of an exemplary monastery. Rosenwein has developed new techniques for studying monastic property holdings and given a new insight into early medieval society."—John B. Freed, The Historian"Rosenwein has studied the nature of Cluny's ownership of land, the character of its claims to its property, and its tutelage of the lands of the subject houses, with the benefit of direct access to and familiarity with the resources in Dijon and Münster. She also seeks to bring to bear the methods and findings of social history and anthropology. Her book thus offers a fascinating and inviting apercu of what modern methods and resources may make possible when applied to large bodies of charter material in general and especially to the charters of Cluny."—H. E. J. Cowdrey, American Historical Review"Rosenwein . . . probes the charters and cartularies of Cluny. The results provide marvelous insights into the ways in which medieval property was conceived. . . . Rosenwein's conclusions about the social and symbolic meaning of medieval property are a healthy corrective to the anachronism that property has always been judged in narrowly economic terms."—Albert J. Schmidt, Continuity and Change"Barbara H. Rosenwein has combined research on monastic property records with new insights into the nature of medieval property and social relations. She gracefully integrates textual analysis, prosopography, and new computer techniques."—Constance B. Bouchard, University of Akron"For over a generation, the analytical techniques developed by Charles-Edmond Perrin and Georges Duby have enriched medieval social history. In To Be the Neighbor of Saint Peter, Barbara H. Rosenwein goes beyond them and shows that by asking the right questions one can know more than the institutional networks of individual lives."—Fredric L. Cheyette, Amherst College

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Book SynopsisBouchard provides a fresh perspective on social and ecclesiastical life in the High Middle Ages, drawing on a vast range of primary sources to reveal the surprisingly close relationship between monasteries and the nobility.Trade ReviewSword, Miter, and Cloister is an exemplary piece of scholarship. The work is beautifully presented: good maps, index, bibliography. Noteworthy is Bouchard's care to include wives and daughters in the genealogical notes; this makes the work especially useful as a reference for questions of Burgundian genealogy. * American Historical Review *

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Book SynopsisIsle of the Saints recreates the harsh yet richly spiritual world of medieval Irish monks on the Christian frontier of barbarian Europe. Lisa Bitel draws on accounts of saints' lives written between 800 and 1200 to explain, from the monks' own...Trade ReviewBitel's book is exceptionally well researched and very well written. It sums up a huge amount of work done on Irish monasticism over the past fifty years. * Commonweal *

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Book SynopsisFrancis Oakley addresses late-medieval church history in its own terms, pointing out not only discontinuities but also continuities with earlier medieval experience. "By doing so," he writes, "I hope to have avoided the distortions and refractions...Trade Review"Few scholars can match Francis Oakley's grasp of the complex issues facing the Christian church during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; fewer still can write about such issues with Oakley's clarity and graceful style. This book offers a marvelously readable survey of the problems and personalities that dominated European religious life in the later Middle Ages."—Speculum

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Book SynopsisIn a work based on a meticulous analysis of sources, many of them previously unexplored, Catherine M. Mooney upends the received account of Clare of Assisi''s founding of the Order of San Damiano, or Poor Clares. Mooney offers instead a stark counternarrative: Clare, her sisters of San Damiano, and their allies struggled against a papal program bent on regimenting, enriching, and enclosing religious women in the thirteenth century, a program that proved largely successful.Mooney demonstrates that Clare (1194-1253) established a single community that was soon cajoled, perhaps even coerced, into joining an order previously founded by the papacy. Artfully renaming it after Clare''s San Damiano with Clare as its putative mother, Pope Gregory IX enhanced his order''s cachet by associating it also with Clare''s famous friend, Francis of Assisi. Mooney traces how Clare and her allies in other houses attempted to follow Francis''s directives rather than the pope''s, divested themselveTrade Review"Mooney's book accomplishes a rare feat: it is both a vital contribution to the study of Clare of Assisi and the religious worlds of which she is a part and an accessible case study of how the best and most careful work of historical scholarship in the study of religion is undertaken." * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *"Catherine Mooney has provided not only an invaluable handbook for the study of the Clarist rules but also a thought-provoking reappraisal of the traditional portrait of St Clare and the origins of the order that bears her name." * Parergon *"In this impressive display of scholarship, Catherine Mooney exposes some long-standing myths about Clare of Assisi and the historical context in which Clare lived, not only broadening the documentary sphere in which the lives of Clare and her sisters in religion are viewed, but also rethinking what the results of this increased scope mean." * Renaissance Quarterly *""Mooney's work is compelling and is an important contribution to Franciscan scholarship. As she demonstrates, penitential communities were diverse in the thirteenth century. However, Mooney also emphasizes that common among them was their insistence upon determining their own form of life amid interference from ecclesiastic authorities that sought to regularize them. Therefore, beyond the study of Clare and the penitential movement in Italy, the monograph also raises questions about the experiences of female penitential communities in other regions in medieval Europe, such as the Low Countries and France." * Medieval Feminist Forum *"[N]ot a traditional biography, Mooney's careful reading of the sources-about Clare herself, the origins of the Order of San Damiano, and the papacy's steadfast attempts to impose greater standardization and enclosure on female religious communities during the early thirteenth century-reveal a woman who was firmly committed to her faith, and determined to resist any attempts to prevent her from fulfilling her understanding of her vocation. Mooney scrutinizes a variety of sources-letters, papal documents, vitae, religious rules, and canonization testimonies-in order to better contextualize Clare and her contemporaries." * Speculum *"What makes Mooney’s book commendable is her meticulous scrutiny of the contemporary sources and the close reading of legal texts, chronicles, letters and the acts of the saint’s canonisation which result in a well-founded and reliable representation of Clare’s guidance of and her struggles for the religious life in San Damiano in the footsteps of St Francis and the Lesser Brothers." * Journal of Ecclesiasticl History *"Clare of Assisi and the Thirteenth-Century Church is a great gift to contemporary women religious, whether Franciscan or not. Too much of our actual history is smothered in the political wranglings of the clerical world and misrepresented by scholars who don’t ask biting questions (when will we stop confusing enforced conformity with reform?) but perpetuate tired old stories about our foremothers. This is the kind of thoughtful research we need from scholars today" * Magidtra *"[A] superb book about Clare of Assisi and the 1253 rule for mendicant women attributed to her. She shows herself to be a sympathetic reader of Clare’s life and writings. Catherine M. Mooney is also a historian with the audacity to challenge received readings and provide readers with a 'new narrative'...[A]n exemplary publication that provides a model of good scholarship and a firm understanding of an important figure." * The Historian *"Catherine M. Mooney’s study is researched, well-written, and responsibly balanced—an indispensable guide enabling a reader to navigate this turning point of the religious life of women." * Church History *"This book is absolutely needed for its depiction of Clare not as a woman destined to be the founder of the Order of San Damiano but as a woman caught in the middle of a struggle between the papacy and the larger grassroots reform movement of the vita apostolica." * Carolyn Muessig, University of Bristol *

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Book SynopsisIn a work based on a meticulous analysis of sources, many of them previously unexplored, Catherine M. Mooney upends the received account of Clare of Assisi's founding of the Order of San Damiano, or Poor Clares.Trade Review"Mooney's book accomplishes a rare feat: it is both a vital contribution to the study of Clare of Assisi and the religious worlds of which she is a part and an accessible case study of how the best and most careful work of historical scholarship in the study of religion is undertaken." * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *"Catherine Mooney has provided not only an invaluable handbook for the study of the Clarist rules but also a thought-provoking reappraisal of the traditional portrait of St Clare and the origins of the order that bears her name." * Parergon *"In this impressive display of scholarship, Catherine Mooney exposes some long-standing myths about Clare of Assisi and the historical context in which Clare lived, not only broadening the documentary sphere in which the lives of Clare and her sisters in religion are viewed, but also rethinking what the results of this increased scope mean." * Renaissance Quarterly *""Mooney's work is compelling and is an important contribution to Franciscan scholarship. As she demonstrates, penitential communities were diverse in the thirteenth century. However, Mooney also emphasizes that common among them was their insistence upon determining their own form of life amid interference from ecclesiastic authorities that sought to regularize them. Therefore, beyond the study of Clare and the penitential movement in Italy, the monograph also raises questions about the experiences of female penitential communities in other regions in medieval Europe, such as the Low Countries and France." * Medieval Feminist Forum *"[N]ot a traditional biography, Mooney's careful reading of the sources-about Clare herself, the origins of the Order of San Damiano, and the papacy's steadfast attempts to impose greater standardization and enclosure on female religious communities during the early thirteenth century-reveal a woman who was firmly committed to her faith, and determined to resist any attempts to prevent her from fulfilling her understanding of her vocation. Mooney scrutinizes a variety of sources-letters, papal documents, vitae, religious rules, and canonization testimonies-in order to better contextualize Clare and her contemporaries." * Speculum *"What makes Mooney’s book commendable is her meticulous scrutiny of the contemporary sources and the close reading of legal texts, chronicles, letters and the acts of the saint’s canonisation which result in a well-founded and reliable representation of Clare’s guidance of and her struggles for the religious life in San Damiano in the footsteps of St Francis and the Lesser Brothers." * Journal of Ecclesiasticl History *"Clare of Assisi and the Thirteenth-Century Church is a great gift to contemporary women religious, whether Franciscan or not. Too much of our actual history is smothered in the political wranglings of the clerical world and misrepresented by scholars who don’t ask biting questions (when will we stop confusing enforced conformity with reform?) but perpetuate tired old stories about our foremothers. This is the kind of thoughtful research we need from scholars today" * Magidtra *"[A] superb book about Clare of Assisi and the 1253 rule for mendicant women attributed to her. She shows herself to be a sympathetic reader of Clare’s life and writings. Catherine M. Mooney is also a historian with the audacity to challenge received readings and provide readers with a 'new narrative'...[A]n exemplary publication that provides a model of good scholarship and a firm understanding of an important figure." * The Historian *"Catherine M. Mooney’s study is researched, well-written, and responsibly balanced—an indispensable guide enabling a reader to navigate this turning point of the religious life of women." * Church History *"This book is absolutely needed for its depiction of Clare not as a woman destined to be the founder of the Order of San Damiano but as a woman caught in the middle of a struggle between the papacy and the larger grassroots reform movement of the vita apostolica." * Carolyn Muessig, University of Bristol *

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Book SynopsisStudies the relationships cultivated by mediums between the living and the dead. Based on extensive fieldwork among espiritistas and their patrons in Havana, this book makes the surprising claim that Spiritist practices are fundamentally a project of developing the self.Trade ReviewA major empirical contribution to the debate about anti representationalism and posthumanism that has been agitating the entire discipline of anthropology in recent years."—Stephan Palmié, author of The Cooking of History: How Not to Study Afro-Cuban Religion "The most provocative and complete portrayal of contemporary Cuban espiritismo available. It underscores the embodied character of espiritista practices and offers a dynamic portrayal of espiritista mediums' crucial roles within a complex of Afro-Cuban religions that includes ocha, palo monte, and other faiths."—Reinaldo L. Román, author of Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898–1956

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Book SynopsisWithout pretending to be a complete Orthodox ecclesiology, Icon of the Kingdom of God addresses the most important topics related to the Church. It progresses according to one's experience of the Church from baptism, to the family, parish, Liturgy, and priesthood, followed by analyses of synodality and nationality.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on extensive data gathered from archives, interviews, and ethnographic observation, The Glass Church examines the spectacular collapse of The Crystal Cathedral to better understand both the strength and fragility of Robert H. Schuller's ministry. The apparent success of the ministry obscured the tensions that threatened its future.Trade Review"The Glass Church is an excellent example of what can be gained from exercising the sociological imagination, and tells an engaging story about the changing fortunes of one of America’s most entrepreneurial pastors. Martí and Mulder capably weave together analytical perspectives and empirical insights, exploring the very useful alliterative framework of constituency, charisma, and capital as well as the problems resulting from rapid religious growth." -- John P. Bartkowski * author of Remaking the Godly Marriage *"The Glass Church offers a riveting account of the rise and fall of Robert Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral. The story contains lessons for churches large and small. I couldn’t put it down." -- Mark Chaves * author of American Religion: Contemporary Trends *Table of ContentsContents Preface Chapter 1 Constituency, Charisma, and Capital Chapter 2 The Imperative of Church Growth Chapter 3 Migrants to Orange County, California Chapter 4 The Possibility Thinker Chapter 5 No Hippies in the Sanctuary Chapter 6 Dig a Hole, Schuller Chapter 7 Always a New Project Chapter 8 When the Glass Breaks Coda Ends and Beginnings Appendix Research Methodology Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAl-Qadi al-Nu 'Man was the chief legal theorist and ideologue of the North African Fatimid dynasty in the tenth century. This book focuses on Islamic legal theory, which presents a legal model in support of the Fatimids' principle of legitimate rule over the Islamic community.Trade Review[Disagreements of the Jurists] is very important for students of jurisprudence and for reconstructing fiqh's development. * The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences *This book will be useful especially to those who are interested in the history of law andthe history of the Fatimids. * Speculum *

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Philip Arnold utilizes a collaborative method, derived from the ‘Two-Row Wampum’ (1613) and his 40 year relationship with the Haudenosaunee, in exploring the urgent need to understand Indigenous values, support Indigenous Peoples, and to offer a way toward humanity’s survival in the face of ecological and environmental catastrophe.Trade ReviewWhat is distinctive about this book is the focus on Indigenous values and the ecological and human crisis we are living in." - David Carrasco, Harvard UniversityTable of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Collaborations in the Heartland of the Haudenosaunee - Determining an Interpretive Location 2. Indigenous Values 3. Paying Attention 4. Habitation 5. Exchange 6. Discovery and Indigeneity Epilogue Value Change for Survival Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Philip Arnold utilizes a collaborative method, derived from the ‘Two-Row Wampum’ (1613) and his 40 year relationship with the Haudenosaunee, in exploring the urgent need to understand Indigenous values, support Indigenous Peoples, and to offer a way toward humanity’s survival in the face of ecological and environmental catastrophe.Trade ReviewWhat is distinctive about this book is the focus on Indigenous values and the ecological and human crisis we are living in." - David Carrasco, Harvard University

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Book SynopsisAn investigation into how Catholicism was lived and experienced in the Archdiocese of Oaxaca during Mexicos turbulent late 1800s and early 1900s.Trade Review“Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism is an important and much-needed exploration of the evolution of religion, both popular and ecclesiastical, from the late nineteenth century to the coming of Lázaro Cárdenas in 1934. Shrewdly avoiding stark dichotomies in favor of understanding how popular needs and practices interacted with church projects, Edward Wright-Rios offers multifaceted insight into the religious experience of turn-of-the-century Oaxacans.”—Terry Rugeley, author of Of Wonders and Wise Men: Religion and Popular Cultures in Southeast Mexico, 1800–1876“Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism is original, important, and deeply and creatively researched. A pioneering regional study of church and religion in the early twentieth century, it makes an important contribution to the literature on negotiated modernity in Latin America and to an understanding of the local reworking of Catholicism in Oaxaca in a time of troubles for the church and the Mexican polity. It is a rare achievement.”—William Taylor, author of Magistrates of the Sacred: Priests and Parishoners in Eighteenth-Century Mexico“[A]n imaginative, complex, and valuable work. With ample sources, it offers a powerful portrait of institutional revival. With few sources, creatively worked, it eloquently recovers the elusive heartbeat of Indian Catholicism and women’s ever-evolving sense of devotional place. By connecting these realms, Revolutions provides fresh and sophisticated insights into the interactions of Catholicism and modernity. Students of Mexico and religion must read it.” -- Matthew Butler * Bulletin of Latin American Research *“Wright-Rios’s ability to weave together church documents, popular accounts, and oral histories, as well as to engage contradictory sources, leaves us with a refreshing institutional and cultural portrayal of Mexican Catholicism.” -- Bonar L. Hernández Sandoval * Hispanic American Historical Review *“Faith is a difficult thing to research. However, in his work Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism, Edward Wright-Rios does a wonderful job exploring just this topic. . . . Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism, and its well-researched and presented stories, are invaluable to anyone interested in religiosity in contested spaces, gender-faith-power relationships, and the power of popular devotions in the midst of cultural encounter zones (border spaces). . . . It also serves as a powerful instructional tool with stories that are compelling and at times surprising. . . .” -- SilverMoon * Ethnohistory *“Gracefully written and informed by a wide-ranging grasp of religion’s intersections with political and economic life, especially in Oaxaca’s Indian communities, this endlessly absorbing book sets a new standard for twentieth-century Mexican religious history and should inspire comparative regional research for years to come.” -- Pamela Voekel * American Historical Review *“The text in Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism is undeniably a significant and laudable academic undertaking. . . . Wright Rios brings to life the complexities of faithful devotion in the regional Catholic communities, the dynamic and sometimes contentious relationship between clergy and laypersons, as well as the ongoing negotiation and evolving interpenetration of Catholic religious traditions and indigenous customs and understandings of faith and the Divine. . . .[C]ertainly it should be hoped that more work from Wright-Rios is on the horizon.” -- Mark Noll * Missiology *“Wright-Rios’s meticulously researched, engaging, and cautiously argued study is a model of balanced scholarship and essential reading for anyone interested in Mexican religious history.” -- Adrian A. Bantjes * Catholic Historical Review *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Moving the Faithful 1 Part I. ReformThe Clergy and Catholic Resurgence 1. An Enterprising Archbishop 43 2. Crowning Images 73 3. The Spirit of Association 98 Part II. RevelationIndigenous Apparitions and Innovations 4. Catholics in Their Own Way 141 5. Christ Comes to Tlacoxcalco 164 6. The Second Juan Diego 206 7. The Gender Dynamics of Devotion 242 Picturing Mexican Catholicism 271 Notes 291 Bibliography 335 Index 355

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Book SynopsisA history examining the interactions between church authorities and Mexican parishioners—from the late-colonial era into the early-national period—shows how religious thought and practice shaped Mexicos popular politics.Trade Review“A Flock Divided is an elegantly written and insightful work that casts new light on religious practice in the Americas. O’Hara has revitalised the study of race, religion, and politics in Latin America setting a new standard for historians interested in these themes.” - Alexander Hidalgo, Itinerario“A Flock Divided is a well-researched and well-written book that makes several important contributions to the discipline. . . . O’Hara also adds significantly to our understanding of cultural, social, and politicaldevelopments in this transitional period of Mexican history.” - Jim Norris, Western Historical Quarterly“A Flock Divided is based on careful archival research and offers new insights into the often hidden practices of local Catholicism and the role of religion in identity formation. . . . [T]his is an impressive work that merits careful attention.” - Brian Larkin, Hispanic American Historical Review“A Flock Divided is true to its title. It is a rich, revisionist history that confounds old notions of indigenous passivity and obsolescence by bringing to light a trove of new sources and interpretations that furnish great insight into what being Indian was about over the longue durée. It is a welcome contribution to the history of early Mexico.” - Susan Schroeder, Journal of Latin American Studies“[T]his is a brilliant and readable book that helps to elucidate the divisiveness of the parish system in Mexico during periods when the official government(vice-regal or republican) was trying to get rid of caste boundaries in the Catholic Church. O’Hara does an incredible job of showing how parishioners and priests alike were frustrated by some government edicts and how they manipulated other edicts to their own benefit. . . . O’Hara should be commended for a job well done.” - Jonathan Truitt, Bulletin of Latin American Research“Carefully researched, engagingly written, and strongly argued, A FlockDivided will be mandatory reading for scholars and students of colonial andnineteenth-century Spanish America for many years to come.” - Matthew Restall, Journal of Social History“A Flock Divided is a pioneering work that contributes to a new understanding of Mexican history. It sheds light on many topics, including the intricacies of colonial and republican politics, the limitations of reform projects imposed by the church and by the state, the often difficult relationship between priests and parishioners, and the religious bases of civil society. This brilliant book also shows how much church documents reveal about popular culture and politics, from the persistence of ethnicity and race in shaping urban identities to the continuing importance of the parish and religious devotions as the locus of sociability.”—Silvia Marina Arrom, author of Containing the Poor: The Mexico City Poor House, 1774–1871“Based almost entirely on extensive new archival research, primarily in ecclesiastical records, A Flock Divided is an original, thought-provoking, and compelling contribution to scholarship on late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-century Mexico. Through subtle analysis and graceful writing, Matthew D. O’Hara illuminates the multiple intersections among race, religion, and politics.”—Margaret Chowning, author of Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752–1863“[A Flock Divided] rests on an extensive base of sources from Mexican and Spanish archives, published documents, and secondary works on religious culture and Mexican colonial society. Recommended.” -- V. H. Cummins * Choice *“A Flock Divided is an elegantly written and insightful work that casts new light on religious practice in the Americas. O’Hara has revitalised the study of race, religion, and politics in Latin America setting a new standard for historians interested in these themes.” -- Alexander Hidalgo * Itinerario *“A Flock Divided is based on careful archival research and offers new insights into the often hidden practices of local Catholicism and the role of religion in identity formation. . . . [T]his is an impressive work that merits careful attention.” -- Brian Larkin * Hispanic American Historical Review *“A Flock Divided is true to its title. It is a rich, revisionist history that confounds old notions of indigenous passivity and obsolescence by bringing to light a trove of new sources and interpretations that furnish great insight into what being Indian was about over the longue durée. It is a welcome contribution to the history of early Mexico.” -- Susan Schroeder * Journal of Latin American Studies *“[T]his is a brilliant and readable book that helps to elucidate the divisiveness of the parish system in Mexico during periods when the official government(vice-regal or republican) was trying to get rid of caste boundaries in the Catholic Church. O’Hara does an incredible job of showing how parishioners and priests alike were frustrated by some government edicts and how they manipulated other edicts to their own benefit. . . . O’Hara should be commended for a job well done.” -- Jonathan Truitt * Bulletin of Latin American Research *“Carefully researched, engagingly written, and strongly argued, A Flock Divided will be mandatory reading for scholars and students of colonial andnineteenth-century Spanish America for many years to come.” -- Matthew Restall * Journal of Social History *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: The Children of Rebekah 1 Part I. Institutions and Ideas 1. Geographies of Buildings, Bodies, and Souls 17 2. An Eighteenth-Century Great Debate 55 Part II. Reform and Reaction 3. Stone, Mortar, and Memory 91 4. Invisible Religion 123 Part III. Piety and Politics 5. Spiritual Capital 159 6. Miserables and Citizens 185 Conclusion. The Struggle of Jacob and Esau 221 Notes 239 Bibliography 281 Index 303

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers a powerful argument that Catholics and Catholicism had a more pervasive and impeding influence on postrevolutionary state formation in Mexico than historians have recognized or acknowledged.Trade Review"Religion and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico should establish itself as a key text in Mexican revolutionary history. The author has done a prodigious quantity of research and organized it expertly, producing an original and convincing analysis of a major theme: Church-state conflict in the postrevolutionary period. The issue permeated Mexican politics, and its exploration opens a window onto a variety of other themes, including state building, education, land reform, gender, ethnicity, violence, and local politics and elections."—Alan Knight, author of The Mexican Revolution"This important book forces a rethinking of the efficacy and influence of agrarian and cultural revolutions not only in Mexico but throughout the world. In what is nothing short of a massive reappraisal of the pivotal presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas, Ben Fallaw demonstrates how conservative Catholic opposition at the local and state levels consistently obstructed Cardenista reform. Based on his detailed reconstruction of circumstances and events in four very different Mexican states, he reminds us that conditions differed enormously among locales, even between two villages in the same state. His research is blockbuster in every possible way."—Terry Rugeley, author of Of Wonders and Wise Men: Religion and Popular Cultures in Southeast Mexico, 1800–1876“In this impressively researched, organized, and written work, Fallaw (Colby College) examines one of the major themes facing Mexico in the 1930s—the conflict between the Catholic Church and the state.” -- J. B. Kirkwood * Choice *“…the author provides one of the best portraits of how the Mexican state’s anticlericalism, rationalist educational reforms, land reform, anticlerical agitation, and indigenism were intertwined and thus galvanized opponents.” -- Edward Wright-Rios * American Historical Review *“Fallaw’s study proves utterly striking, as his study details in multiple ways clerical and governmental failures to serve the basic needs of an impoverished and poorly educated public. His study reveals some of the ways that widespread cultural ignorance of the complex material cultural needs of the Mexican population persisted during the postrevolutionary period.” -- Marjorie Becker * Catholic Historical Review *“[Fallaw’s] careful marshaling of evidence and his sound analysis make clear why agrarian reform and changing religious practice and devotion were extremely difficult to achieve.” -- Linda B. Hall * Hispanic American Historical Review *"Overall, Religion and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico is one of the most important books on twentieth century Mexico of the last ten years. Original, thoroughly researched, and ambitious in scope, the work is a must read for those interested in revolutionary Mexico, modern Catholic sensibilities, or the overlap of politics and religion." -- Benjamin Smith * The Americas *“Ben Fallaw’s extraordinary new book, Religion and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico, ostensibly explains religious violence in four Mexican states: Campeche, Hidalgo, Guerrero, and Guanajuato. In the process, however, Fallaw tells us much more. Challenging a number of widely held assumptions about this period, he describes convincingly how and why the revolutionary project failed in the countryside.” -- Stephanie Mitchell * The Latin Americanist *"This is a superbly researched and enduring contribution to the history of the Mexican Revolution and Latin America’s political and religious history. For the many researchers who continue to ponder how Mexico’s regions responded to national institutions and discourses, Fallaw’s book will be indispensable." -- Thomas Rath * Journal of Latin American Studies *"This is a prodigiously researched work that weaves together the specificity of four cases within a satisfying analytic framework. It is likely to encourage further work on religion and state formation." -- Jeffrey Mosher * EIAL *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix List of Abbreviations xi Glossary xv Introduction 1 1. The Church and the Religious Question 13 2. Catholic-Socialists against Anti-Priests in Campeche 35 3. "The Devil Is Now Loose in Huejutla": The Bishop, the SEP, and the Emancipation of the Indian in Hidalgo 63 4. Beatas, Ballots, and Bullets in Guerrero 101 5. "Un sin fin de mochos": Catholic Cacicazgos in Guanajuato 157 Conclusion: The End of the Religious Question 219 Notes 227 Bibliography 295 Index 317

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Book SynopsisThrough the lives of religious women in colonial Lima, a new understanding of the ways in which pious Catholic women engaged with material and immaterial notions of the sacred or were themselves objectified as conduits of the divine in spiritual narratives.Trade Review"Important reading for those interested in women’s expressions of devotion in colonial Lima and modes of theorizing spiritual practices more generally. . . . Particularly valuable for giving voice (and body) to female figures and their devotional models." -- Gabrielle Greenlee * H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews *"Nancy Van Deusen offers a suggestive and rewarding path to analyze how women felt and embodied their relation to God and the divine in seventeenth-century Lima. . . . This work is a notable contribution to understanding the complexities of women’s spirituality." -- Asunción Lavrin * Catholic Historical Review *"This is a powerful monograph that creatively embraces the fragmentary and contradictory texts and objects that mystical women left behind." -- Karen B. Graubart * American Historical Review *"Van Deusen is deft at uncovering fascinating and little-known women whose lives reveal a spectrum of behaviors, beliefs, and activities that shed new light on early modern devotional practices." -- Erin Kathleen Rowe * HAHR *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Part I. Material and Immaterial Embodiment 1. Rosa de Lima and the Imitatio Morum 23 2. Reading the Body: Mystical Theology and Spiritual Actualization in Early Seventeenth-Century Lima 47 3. Living in an (Im)Material World: Ángla de Carranza as a Reliquary 71 Part II. The Relational Self 4. Carrying the Cross of Christ: Donadas in Seventeenth-Century Lima 95 5. María Jacinta Montoya, Nicolás de Ayllón, and the Unmaking of an Indian Saint in Late Seventeenth-Century Peru 117 6. Amparada de mi libertad: Josefa Portocarrero Laso de la Vega and the Meaning of Free Will 143 Conclusion 167 Notes 175 Bibliography 231 Index 259

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Book SynopsisThrough the lives of religious women in colonial Lima, a new understanding of the ways in which pious Catholic women engaged with material and immaterial notions of the sacred or were themselves objectified as conduits of the divine in spiritual narratives.Trade Review"Important reading for those interested in women’s expressions of devotion in colonial Lima and modes of theorizing spiritual practices more generally. . . . Particularly valuable for giving voice (and body) to female figures and their devotional models." -- Gabrielle Greenlee * H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews *"Nancy Van Deusen offers a suggestive and rewarding path to analyze how women felt and embodied their relation to God and the divine in seventeenth-century Lima. . . . This work is a notable contribution to understanding the complexities of women’s spirituality." -- Asunción Lavrin * Catholic Historical Review *"This is a powerful monograph that creatively embraces the fragmentary and contradictory texts and objects that mystical women left behind." -- Karen B. Graubart * American Historical Review *"Van Deusen is deft at uncovering fascinating and little-known women whose lives reveal a spectrum of behaviors, beliefs, and activities that shed new light on early modern devotional practices." -- Erin Kathleen Rowe * HAHR *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Part I. Material and Immaterial Embodiment 1. Rosa de Lima and the Imitatio Morum 23 2. Reading the Body: Mystical Theology and Spiritual Actualization in Early Seventeenth-Century Lima 47 3. Living in an (Im)Material World: Ángla de Carranza as a Reliquary 71 Part II. The Relational Self 4. Carrying the Cross of Christ: Donadas in Seventeenth-Century Lima 95 5. María Jacinta Montoya, Nicolás de Ayllón, and the Unmaking of an Indian Saint in Late Seventeenth-Century Peru 117 6. Amparada de mi libertad: Josefa Portocarrero Laso de la Vega and the Meaning of Free Will 143 Conclusion 167 Notes 175 Bibliography 231 Index 259

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Book SynopsisStemming from two conferences, held in 1994, and 1996, Prophecy and Diplomacy: The Moral Doctrine of John Paul II explores the general orientations and the specific applications of the moral teaching of Pope John Paul II.

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Book SynopsisWhite Eagle, Black Madonna charts the remarkable journey of the Polish Catholic community from its tenth-century origins on the eastern edge of medieval Christendom to the twenty-first century, when a Pole occupied the See of Peter. One constant has been Catholicism’s profound influence over Poland’s political, social, and cultural life.Trade Review"No scholar outside of Poland can match Robert Alvis' broad erudition about Polish Catholic history. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the Church's millennium in northeastern Europe, reflecting the most up-to-date research on a wide range of topics. Alvis doesn't shy away from controversial issues, but his presentation is consistently balanced and fair. For those interested in the history of the Catholic Church, this book will fill a significant gap by explaining the distinct characteristics of Polish religiosity. Specialists in Polish history, meanwhile, will gain a much richer understanding of the role of Christianity in Poland's past, which turns out to be much more nuanced and complex than we typically imagine." -- -Brian Porter-Szucs University of Michigan "Perhaps more than any other nation, Poland has been influenced throughout its history by its relationship to the Roman Catholic Church. For over a millennium, Poles have defined themselves in great part as members of this church. White Eagle, Black Madonna is the first work in English to examine this important religious-national nexus from its beginnings to the present day. Profoundly researched and written in an engaging manner, this book deserves a broad readership." -- -Theodore Weeks Southern Illinois University, CarbondaleTable of ContentsList of Illustrations and Maps Preface A Timeline of Poland's Political and Ecclesiastical History 1 Baptized into Christendom (966-1138) 2 Chaos and Consolidation (1138-1333) 3 Baptized into Power (1333-1506) 4 The Promise and the Peril of Liberty (1506-1648) 5 Deluge and Illusions (1648-1764) 6 Reform, Romance, and Revolution (1764-1848) 7 The Gospel and National Greatness (1848-1914) 8 From Captivity to Cataclysm (1914-1945) 9 From Stalinism to Solidarity (1945-1989) 10 From Triumph to Turmoil ( after 1989) Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAn engrossing account of the way religion and the technological imagination come together in the world’s largest religious transhumanist organization.Table of ContentsPreface | ix A Note on Names and Terms | xxiii Series Zero: “Children of God would try to play God” | 1 Part I: Dramatis personae First Series: Mormonisms | 55 Second Series: Transhumanisms | 76 Third Series: Mormon Transhumanism | 94 Part II: Mormon/Transhuman Fourth Series: Kolob runs on Domo | 113 Fifth Series: Discipline, Belief, and Speculative Religion | 136 Part III: Science Fictions Sixth Series: Freezing, Burying, Burning | 161 Seventh Series: “as if awakening from a night’s sleep” | 211 Eighth Series: Worlds without End | 240 Ninth Series: Queer Polygamy | 256 Series: Problems, Planes, and Lines of Flight | 293 Acknowledgments | 303 Notes | 307 Bibliography | 327 Index | 353

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Book SynopsisThe story of the remarkable rise of the Iranian church, despite fierce persecution, as Iranians grow disillusioned with Islam.Trade Review“Credibly documents what appears in Iran to be the greatest response to Christ among Muslims ever known in history! From an analysis of recent political history, and the efficacy of house churches, one can now understand why so many Iranians have bowed their knee to the Lord Jesus Christ.” -- Greg Livingstone“When I want to understand what is happening behind the opaque walls surrounding modern-day Iran, I always turn to Mark Bradley. Mark’s lucid writing and extraordinary research provide the reader with an unforgettable experience of seeing what God is doing and how He is at work giving birth to His kingdom today inside the Islamic Republic of Iran. I highly recommend to any follower of Jesus Christ, Mark's latest book: Too Many to Jail.” -- David Garrison, author of A Wind in the House of Islam“We have worked with Elam for many years. We feel privileged to have personal connection with some of those whose stories you tell, and count them our friends. It is a privilege to endorse this book.” -- Stuart and Jill Briscoe“A precise, honest and informative account of ordeals of a growing (Muslim-background) Christian population inside Iran. This affirming message of perseverance, hope and faith will excite and challenge the reader... a must read.” -- Dr Mike Ansari, Director of Operations, Mohabat TV“Without exception history proves that persecution always provides fertile soil for the growth of His church through the Gospel. Read and see this truth delineated in the story of Iran.” -- Pastor Johnny Hunt, former President, Southern Baptist Convention“This is a compelling, inspirational and hopeful book. Once I started reading I could not put it down. Mark Bradley skilfully and accurately leads us through the story of the church in Iran today. This book is an act of great service to those who want to know what has happened and is happening with the church in Iran. Through reading Too Many to Jail my admiration and appreciation for the church in Iran – and Iranians - has grown along with an understanding of the circumstances in which such remarkable growth is taking place. If you are tempted to believe that God does anything the same way twice read this book and let this Iranian story teach you. If you are tempted to believe there is anything more beautiful on the planet than the church of Jesus Christ read this book and let God speak to you through the Iranian church in the middle of its weakness, empowering and glory.” -- Viv Thomas, Hon Teaching Pastor St. Paul’s Hammersmith and associate International Director OM International“Too Many To Jail is a story of “lovely pain”: a story of unfailing and costly love not only about Iranian converts and house churches, but also about the manifestation of Christ in Iranian society and cultures. On one hand it describes pain, struggles and challenges; on the other it tells of hope, growth and courage.” -- Sara Afshari“As the son of Iranian martyr, Haik Hovsepian Mehr, I can relate to many instances in this book. I admire Mark Bradley, who has so carefully researched and presented the facts about the persecuted believers in Iran. He gives a 360 degree view of the fastest growing church in the world, in the face of political and governmental oppression. Too Many to Jail is not merely an informative read that helps us stand with Iranians in prayer, but it inspires us by their stories to grow in our walk with the Lord.” -- Joseph Hovsepian Mehr, Founder/Director of Hovsepian Ministries

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Book SynopsisThe primacy of the bishop of Rome, the pope, as it was finally shaped in the Middle Ages and later defined by Vatican I and II has been one of the thorniest issues in the history of the Western and Eastern Churches. This issue was a primary cause of the division between the two Churches and the events that followed the schism of 1054: the sack of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204, the appointment by Pope Innocent III of a Latin patriarch of Constantinople, and the establishment of Uniatism as a method and model of union. Always a topic in ecumenical dialogue, the issue of primacy has appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle to the realization of full unity between Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox Christianity. In this timely and comprehensive work, Maximos Vgenopoulos analyzes the response of major Orthodox thinkers to the Catholic understanding of the primary of the pope over the last two centuries, showing the strengths and weaknesses of these positions.Covering a

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Book SynopsisExamines Metis spirituality, debunking stereotypes such as ‘all Metis people are Catholic’, and ‘Metis people do not go to ceremonies’. Fiola finds that, among the Métis, spirituality exists on a continuum of Indigenous and Christian traditions, and that Métis spirituality includes ceremonies. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Métis Spirituality: Confronting Stereotypes Chapter 2: Searching for Our Stories in Oral History Chapter 3: Combing the Written Record for Our Stories Chapter 4: A Métis-Centred Study and Approach Chapter 5: Six Red River Métis Communities Chapter 6: Meeting the Participants Chapter 7: Métis Family Relationships with Land, Language, and Identity Chapter 8: Métis Family Relationships with Culture and Religion Chapter 6: Sunnyside and the Bea Chapter 9: Exploring Self-Identification Chapter 10: Spirituality, Types of Ceremonies, and Disconnection Factors Chapter 11: Connection Factors, Impacts upon Identity, and Others’ Reactions Chapter 11: Métis Spirituality Today

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Book SynopsisThis volume, continuing the series of great medieval bishops' registers, offers material valuable for both religious and social history.The register of Archbishop William Melton is one of the largest and most comprehensive to survive. Its backbone is the institution of clergy and licences to them, papal provisions and ordination of vicars and chantries, but it also contains a wealth of material for social history. During the period it covers, the East Riding of Yorkshire was flourishing, and a number of entries in the register reflect the challenges which the newly-founded town of Kingstonupon Hull was causing for the existing parochial structure. The archbishop is shown anathematizing malefactors who stole his swans and invaded his liberties in Beverley and the river Hull, and demanding the return of stolen woolon behalf of a merchant whose ship had been wrecked in the river Humber. The register also covers the origins of one of the last monasteries to be founded in medieval England, Haltemprice, and reveals the shortcomings of monks andnuns as well as secular clergy and members of the laity; more widely, many entries reflect the tensions between outlying vills and chapelries and their mother churches. The text is presented here with introduction, apparatus, and notes which elucidate the entries. David Robinson, until his retirement County Archivist of Surrey, was awarded his PhD from the University of Cambridge.Trade ReviewA fine addition to the Canterbury and York Society series. * ARCHIVES *A worthy, valuable addition to the series that brings this significant editorial project one step closer to completion. * NORTHERN HISTORY *The edition is extremely well done. [...] A valuable, rewarding and welcome addition to the run of Canterbury and York Society publications. * JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY *Table of ContentsPreface Archdeaconry of the East Riding Index of Persons and Places Index of Subjects

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Book SynopsisThis volume brings together historians and art historians to explore the ways in which religious art was transformed by the splintering of Western Christendom that began 500 years ago with Martin Luther s Reformation. The religious turmoil of the sixteenth century has long been seen as a turning point in the history of Christian art.Table of ContentsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Art and Religious Reform in Early Modern Europe (Bridget Heal)1. Karlstadt's Wagen: The First Visual Propaganda for the Reformation (Lyndal Roper and Jennifer Spinks)2. ‘Between these Two Kingdoms’: Exile, Election, and Godly Law in Sebald Beham's Moses and Aaron (Mitchell B. Merback)3. The Unassembled Grammar of the Drawing in the Era of Reform (Shira Brisman)4. The Family at Table: Protestant Identity, Self-Representation and the Limits of the Visual in Seventeenth-Century Zurich (Andrew Morrall)5. Lutheran Baroque: The Afterlife of a Reformation Altarpiece (Bridget Heal)6. Images (Not) Made By Chance (Amy Knight Powell)7. The Art of Solitude: Environments of Prayer at the Bavarian Court of Wilhelm V (Christine Göttler)8. The Reliquary Reformed (Mia M. Mochizuki)Afterword (Joseph Leo Koerner)Index

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Book SynopsisThis book helps readers delight in being a part of relationships within the churchno matter how messy and awkward they seemwith rich theology, practical direction, and study questions for group use.

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