Christianity Books

Book SynopsisChristianity struggles to show how living on Earth matters for living with God. While people of faith increasingly seek practical ways to respond to the environmental crisis, theology has had difficulty contextualizing the crisis and interpreting the responses. In Ecologies of Grace, Willis Jenkins presents a field-shaping introduction to Christian environmental ethics that offers resources for renewing theology. Observing how religious environmental practices often draw on concepts of grace, Jenkins maps the way Christian environmental strategies draw from traditions of salvation as they engage the problems of environmental ethics. By being particularly sensitive to the ways in which environmental problems are made intelligible to Christian moral experience, Jenkins guides his readers toward a fuller understanding of Christianity and ecology. He not only makes sense of the variety of Christian environmental ethics, but by showing how environmental issues come to the heart of ChristianTable of Contents1. Saving Nature, Saving Grace ; Part I: Ethical Strategies ; 2. Three Practical Strategies in Environmental Ethics ; 3. The Strategy of Ecojustice ; 4. The Strategy of Christian Stewardship ; 5. The Strategy of Ecological Spirituality ; Part II: Theological Investigations ; 6. Sanctifying Biodiversity: Ecojustice in Thomas Aquinas ; 7. Environmental Virtues: Charity, Nature, and Divine Friendship in Thomas ; 8. Stewardship after the End of Nature: Karl Barth's Environment of Jesus Christ ; 9. Nature Redeemed: Barth's Garden of Reconciliation ; 10. After Maximus: Ecological Spirituality and Cosmic Deification ; 11. Thinking like a Transfigured Mountain: Sergei Bulgakov's Wisdom Ecology ; 12. Conclusion: Renovating Grace ; Notes ; Works Cited ; Index

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Book SynopsisMillions of American Christians see U.S. support for the State of Israel as a God-ordained responsibility. Millions more see the ''''special relationship'''' between the two countries as a bond that should never be challenged, much less broken. Robert O. Smith provides an in-depth look at the English Protestant tradition of Judeo-centric prophecy interpretation at the heart of this popular affinity. In 2006, John Hagee founded Christians United for Israel. Several high-level policymakers, both Christians and Jews, flocked to endorse the effort. Soon, however, questions rose about apparently anti-Catholic and anti-Islamic ideas contained in Hagee''s preaching and writing. More Desired Than Our Owne Salvation explores the content of Christian Zionist attitudes, their resonance in popular American culture, and the history of the ideas that have contributed to present realities. After discussing polling data and exploring how Black Protestant views clarify general American attitudes, Smith revisits sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant interpretations of scripture and history. The Pope and the Turk figured significantly, identified by both Luther and Calvin as the two heads of the Antichrist. Protestant exiles from England carried these ideas back to Elizabethan England, provided a nationalist twist, and set Anglo-American history on a new path.The resulting English Protestant tradition of Judeo-centric prophecy interpretation shaped Puritan identity, which was then transferred to New England, where it began informing the foundations of American vocation and self-understanding. Through its developments and adaptations, this Judeo-centric tradition provided English colonists and Anglo Americans with purpose and vision. When the State of Israel was founded in 1948, many Americans readily welcomed it as a prophetic counterpart, a country whose preservation ''''may be more desired then our owne salvation.''''Trade Reviewoffers readers a deeper understanding of Christian Zionism * Caitlin Carenen, American Hisorical Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; Introduction ; Chapter 1 Blessing the Jew: The Traits of Contemporary American Christian Zionism ; Chapter 2 Supporting the Jew: Culture, Doctrine, and American Popular Opinion on the State of Israel ; Chapter 3 Mythologizing the Jew: The Reformation Foundations of Judeo-centric Prophecy Interpretation (1530-1603) ; Chapter 4 Militarizing the Jew: Judeo-centric Prophecy Interpretation, Thomas Draxe to Joseph Mede (1608-1627) ; Chapter 5 Admitting the Jew: Parliamentary Authority, Christian Zionism, and British Imperial Identity ; Chapter 6 Typologizing the Jew: The Judeo-Centric Foundations of America's Covenantal Vocation ; Chapter 7 Systematizing the Jew: John Nelson Darby and the Putative Paternity of Christian Zionism ; Chapter 8 Politicizing the Jew: William E. Blackstone and the Mobilization of Cultural Fundamentalism ; Conclusion: Christian Zionism from the Cartwright Petition to American Empire ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisJourney into the Heart of God explores the meanings and relationships of the seasons of the Church Year as they have developed and are now received and lived. This study, holding always in view the breadth and richness of the liturgical tradition of the whole Church, is illuminated by insightful liturgical texts of the Eucharist and also of the less familiar Daily Office; it also gives attention to the people''s theology expressed in hymns from a broad spectrum of traditions, ancient and modern. Careful attention to the liturgy and its setting in the turning of the seasons reveals a profound concern for ecology and for the whole cosmos. The liturgical year as it has developed through the centuries is a work of art, the collaborative achievement of many hands and minds, resulting in an extraordinarily rich fabric with layers of insight and suggestion. The work of Christ celebrated and set forth in the Church''s year is experienced not as mere recollection of past events in salvation history, but rather as a living reality, the appropriation of the mighty acts of God alive in his people, the experience today of the life that those great historical deeds have accomplished. The Church year, sifted and tested through centuries, even millennia, of use, dramatizes and makes real a way of living, recognizing, accepting, and making use of the complexity and even the strangeness of human experience. In this way it encourages honesty, humility, growth, and maturity in those who live it.Trade ReviewIt is a book that one should read from cover to cover and then let sit. ...make it your companion, journeying with God through the cycle of faith. Highly Recommended. * The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians *Table of ContentsContents ; Preface ; Introduction ; Chapter 1. Anno Domini: Time and History ; Chapter 2. Advent ; Chapter 3. Christmas ; Chapter 4. Epiphany ; Chapter 5. Quadragesima. Lent ; Chapter 6. The Great and Holy Week ; Chapter 7. Pascha: The Pentecost ; Chapter 8. Ordinary [ordered] Time ; Chapter 9. The Sanctoral Calendar ; Chapter 10. Into the Heart of God ; Bibliography ; A Short Glossary ; Notes ; Index

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book-length treatment in English of the Nag Hammadi text, The Thunder: Perfect Mind - a poem of 'I am' statements that has garnered a strong following in mainstream culture. This book offers a fresh, current translation (with detailed Coptic annotations) and ten chapters of introductory analysis of the text.Table of ContentsPreface to the Translation The Thunder: Perfect Mind: English Translation An Introduction to The Thunder: Perfect Mind What Kind of Literature is Thunder? Degnosticizing Thunder Literary Patterns Gendering Thunder, Thundering Gender Rumbling Cultural and Social Order Violence, Subjectivity and Identity Poetic Artistry Performing Thunder Meaning Making of Thunder in Ancient and Contemporary Contexts The Thunder: Perfect Mind, Annotated Coptic Text and English Translation

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Book SynopsisBy theorising the idea of 'formative tensions' between cultural Modernism and Christianity, and by in-depth case studies of James Joyce, David Jones, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, W. H. Auden, Samuel Beckett, the book argues that no coherent account of Modernism can ignore the continuing impact of Christianity.Trade Review“As a general introduction and overview to the relationship between modernism and Christianity, Tonning’s book is a remarkable success, one that will be of great value for both graduate students and junior scholars as they engage in the burgeoning interest in this hybrid area of study.” (Jack Dudley, James Joyce Quarterly, Vol. 52 (1), 2014)Table of Contents1. Rethinking 'Modernism and Christianity' 2. Catholic Modernisms: James Joyce and David Jones 3. Old Dogmas for a New Crisis? Hell, Usury and Incarnation in T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and W. H. Auden 4. Samuel Beckett, Modernism and Christianity Conclusion: Modernism and Christianity as a Field of Study

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Book SynopsisA detailed study of this famed religious-military order, written by the world's pre-eminent Crusades historian, and focusing on the years between the First Crusade and the Knights' conquest of Malta.Trade Review'I think this is an excellently clear book and results from an original vision of the subject; it will obviously be the new standard work' - Dr Anthony Luttrell, Honorary Research Fellow, Royal Holloway College '...impressive and substantial...' - Robert Irwin, Literary ReviewTable of ContentsList of Abbreviations Explication and Acknowledgements Prologue PART I: INCEPTION Origins, c.1070-1160 Militarization, 1126-1182 Reaching Maturity, 1177-1206 The Order and the Politics of the Latin East, 1201-1244 PART II: THE MISSION Nursing the Sick and Burying the Dead Defending Christians PART III: THE ORDER Members Conventual Life The Master, his Convent and the Chapter General The Conventual Bailiffs and their Departments PART IV: ASSETS An Exempt Order of the Church The Estate in the Levant Provincial Government and the Estate in Europe PART V: THE END OF THE BEGINNING The Loss of the Mainland, 1244-1291 Interlude on Cyprus, 1291-1309 Epilogue Appendix: Masters of the Hospital Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe primary aim of this volume is to synthesize the two fields of disability studies and biblical studies. It illustrates how academic or critical biblical scholarship has shown that many texts involving disability in the Bible is much more nuanced than a casual reading or isolated proof texting may indicate.Trade Review'This book assembles an impressive array of scholars whose collective work changes the terrain of disability studies and biblical scholarship. Adding nuance and deep expertise to the discourse, Disability Studies and Biblical Literature shows us how superficial and general has been much of the previous discussion of religious attitudes toward people with disabilities in the western world. Focusing on the heterogeneity of individual biblical texts, as well as complex cultural and historical factors, these scholars give us a multifaceted understanding of the ways the ancient world saw disability through its textual representation.' - Lennard Davis, Distinguished Professor of English, University of Illinois at Chicago 'In this valuable volume, Biblical scholars introduce critical nuance to the reading of sacred texts of the Hebrew and Christian testaments by working with social and cultural models of disability. The authors refuse to hide disability behind presumably greater or more important spiritual truths. They break through ideological uses of 'disability,' including that sensibility which insists spiritual insight is more valuable than material experience. Persons living with disabilities may finally be recognized as resident actors in these texts.' - Sharon V. Betcher, author of Spirit and the Politics of Disablement 'The editors of this timely collection, which brings together high quality Biblical studies and an issue of central importance to our society, are to be commended for this pioneering and necessary initiative.' - Christopher Rowland, Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, Queen's College, Oxford UniversityTable of ContentsThe Nature of Barrenness in the Hebrew Bible; J.S.Baden The Blind, the Lame, and the Barren Shall Not Come into the House; S.Ackerman 'Like the eunuch who does not beget': Gender, Mutilation, and Negotiated Status in the Ancient Near East; T.Lemos Sexual Disabilities in the Hebrew Bible; D.T.Stewart Isaiah's Brave New World: The Disabled in Prophetic Utopian Visions; J.Schipper Whoring after Cripples: On the Intersection of Gender and Disability Imagery in Jeremiah; R.Raphael Ascription of Physical Disability as a Stigmatizing Strategy in Biblical Iconic Polemics; S.M.Olyan A Tale of Two Eunuchs: Isaiah 56:1-8 and Acts 8:26-40; S.Melcher Sensing Jesus: The Construction of the Ideal Disciple in Mark; C.R.Moss 'The Blind, Lame and Paralyzed' (John 5:3): John's Gospel, Disability Studies, and Postcolonial Perspectives; W.Carter His Feet and Ankles Were Made Strong: Signs of Character in the Man Lame from Birth; M.C.Parsons Paul's Disability: The Thorn in his Flesh; A.Y.Collins In Sickness and in Health: Ancient Rituals of Truth in the Greco-Roman World and 1 Peter; M.Henning 'The Punishment of the Devil was Apparent in the Torment of the human Body': Epilepsy in Ancient Christianity; N.Kelley

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Book SynopsisA book aimed at helping not only the bereaved, but also professional carers, relatives, friends, neighbours and colleagues of someone suffering a bereavement.

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Trade Review'Those who have read Gerard Hughes' book In Search of a Way will want to read Walk to Jerusalem. Nor will they be disappointed when they do so. To read this book is to meet a man with a passion for justice, peace, unity; a man with a lively and well-stored mind a deep spiritual life. The long trek of 1700 miles on foot did not rob him of his sense of humour. Readers will enjoy that, though they may not enjoy facing the stern realities which a reading of this book will bring before them.' -- Donald Coggan'I greatly enjoyed a Walk to Jerusalem with Gerry Hughes. It is a fascinating double journey of feet and mind with the common thread of peace-making running through both. Since it is recorded in book form, all the difficult travelling can now be done with him from an armchair.' -- Bruce Kent

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Book SynopsisExplores the theme of prayer in both poetry and prose, with contributions from Richard Harries, Gerard W Hughes, Kenneth Leech, Rowan Williams and Esther de Waal.

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Book SynopsisIn this volume of TRADITIONS OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY series, the author explores the Carmelite tradition, emphasising the formative place of the Rule. He looks at key figures such as John of the Cross, and especially considers the contribution of women to the order's life.

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Book SynopsisTraining books for church colleges and lay training courses.

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Book SynopsisSteers a clear path through the main arguments in this most difficult ethical maze. While providing a balanced account of the issues involved, makes a distinctive contribution to the debate and reaches some possibly surprising conclusions.

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Book SynopsisOffering thought-provoking approaches to the contraversial issue of homosexuality and faith, the author presents an account of Christianity that is rooted in the Catholic tradition.

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Book SynopsisThis is a presentation of the teachings of the Catholic Church. It takes the reader through the basics of the faith in a clear and orderly way.

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Book SynopsisExplores meanings of the complex word 'nature' in ancient classical thought, and the development of these in the context of the natural sciences: environmentalism, ethics, genetics and theology.

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