Religious ministry and clergy Books

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Book SynopsisUsing a variety of sources and disciplinary angles, this book shows the many and varied ways in which pastoral care came to play such an important role in the day to day lives of medieval people. 1 volume, 335-page, 17-chapter, English-language survey of study of medieval pastors (priests, bishops, abbots, abbesses, popes, etc.) and their relationship to their respective congregations (1215-1536).Trade Review"This volume has much to offer. [...] the individual essays in this collection will surely enrich our understanding of medieval pastoral care, the transmission of religious knowledge, and the nature of lay-clerical interactions." Adam Davis, Denison University. In: The Medieval Review, 11.03.20. "des analyses pointues de dossiers d’archives (notamment pour les conflits opposant les fidèles à leur curé), de textes extrêmement variés, de traités théologiques les plus savants aux recueils d’exempla en vernaculaire, permettent de repérer des manières locales et évolutives de s’approprier les pastoralia, de les enseigner, les recevoir et mettre en pratique leurs conseils touchant autant aux dogmes et croyances qu’aux pratiques et gestes de piété." Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu, in Revue d'Histoire Eccléstastique 2012, pp. 466-468.Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction – Ronald J. Stansbury 1. Historiography and the work of Lenoard Boyle – Joseph Goering PASTORAL CARE AND THE LAITY 2. Teaching the Creed and Articles of Faith in England: 1215-1281 – Andrew Reeves 3. Preaching and Pastoral Care in the Thirteenth Century – Ronald J. Stansbury 4. The Sheep as Shepherds: Lay Leadership in Pastoral Care – William Dohar 5. The Role of Ritual Purity in the 13th Century Attempt to Reform Pastoral Care – C. Colt Anderson 6. Implicit Anti-Semitism in Explicit Pastoral Care: The Role of the Eucharist in Spreading Common Stereotypes – Timothy M. Kovalcik 7. Conflict in the Parish: Antagonistic Relations Between Clerics and Parishioners – Michelle Armstrong-Partida 8. Guido of Monte Rochen’s Manipulus Curatorum and Sermonic Intention – Anne Thayer 9. Three’s a Crowd: Women, Men, and Priests in the Late Medieval Confessional – Beth Allison Barr 10. Grazing in Many Fields and Drinking Bitter Waters: Robert Grosseteste’s Theology of the Pastoral Care – James R. Ginther PASTORAL CARE IN MALE AND FEMALE RELIGIOUS LIFE 11. “‘Pure religion and undefiled… is this’: Religious Orders and Pastoral Care in the Late Middle Ages – Greg Peters 12. Spiritual Role Models: How Monks Thought Nuns Should Interpret the Old Testament – Laura Michele Diener 13. Crux a cruciatu dicitur: Preaching Self-Torture as Pastoral Care in Twelfth-Century Religious Houses.” – C. Matthew Phillips 14. An Illiterate Pope and his Book: Pope Celestine V and Pastoral Care – George Ferzoco 15. The Informiringheboeck (1510): Spiritual Guidelines for Religious Women – Sabrina Corbellini 16. Practical Pastoral Care: Vowesses in Northern England in the Later Middle Ages – Susan M. B. Steuer 17. ‘Persevere! … God Will Help You!’: Thomas a Kempis’s Sermons for the Novices – Mathilde van Dijk Bibliography of all Works Cited (Primary and Secondary Sources) Index

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Book SynopsisIn A Companion to Priesthood and Holy Orders in the Middle Ages, a select group of scholars explain the rise and function of priests and deacons in the Middle Ages. Though priests were sometimes viewed through the lens of function, the medieval priesthood was also defined ontologically–those marked by God who performed the sacraments and confected the Eucharist. While their role grew in importance, medieval priests continued to fulfil the role of preacher, confessor and provider of pastoral care. As the concept of ordination changed theologically the practices and status of bishops, priests and deacons continued to be refined, with many of these medieval discussions continuing to the present day.Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations 1 Introduction Greg Peters 2 Apostolic Successors: Priests and Priesthood, Bishops and Episcopacy in Medieval Western Europe Robert Swanson 3 Ordinatio and the Priesthood in the Early Middle Ages and its Visual Depiction Roger E. Reynolds 4 Priesthood in the Byzantine Empire Augustine Casiday 5 Married Clergy in Eastern and Western Christianity David Hunter 6 The Imago Christi in the Bishop, Priest and Clergy Roger E. Reynolds 7 Priests and the Eucharist in the Middle Ages John F. Romano 8 The Priesthood and the Sacrament of Marriage Charles J. Reid, Jr. 9 Teaching Confession in Thirteenth-Century England: Priests and Laity Andrew Reeves 10 Reforming Priests and the Diverse Rhetorics of Ordination and Office from 1123-1418 C. Colt Anderson 11 The Radical Renewal of Pastoral Care in the Italian Communes, 1150-1250: Prelates, Secular Clergy, and the Mendicant Orders Michael F. Cusato, O.F.M. 12 Priesthood and Holy Orders in the Middle Ages From Function to Ontology: The Shifting Diaconate of the Middle Ages William T. Ditewig Index

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Book SynopsisIn Lewi Pethrus’ Ecclesiological Thought 1911-1974: A Transdenominational Pentecostal Ecclesiology, Tommy Davidsson presents a chronological survey of the ecclesiology of the Swedish Pentecostal pioneer, Lewi Pethrus (1884-1974). The presentation is the first study of its kind and it demonstrates by means of a historical analysis the underlying factors that contributed to the formation of ecclesiological beliefs among Pentecostals. The insights from the historical analysis are then applied to a global setting. By employing Roger Haight’s Transdenominational Ecclesiology, Davidsson proposes a methodology that serves as a helpful tool when assessing the unifying values that characterise highly diverse Pentecostal communities worldwide.Trade Review"Gerade darin liegt jedocht der besondere Wert des Buchs: Neben den materialen (Neu-)Erkenntnissen zur Geschichte von Pethrus' Theologie regt es dazu an, ein analytisch schärferes Instrumentarium zum Umgang mit dem Universalismus/Partikularismus-Problem innerhalb der Pentkostalismusstudien zu erarbeiten und Darstellungsformen zu finden, die der Komplexität des Forschungsgegenstands gerecht werden." - Giovanni Maltese, Theologische Literaturzeitung Vol. 141 (2017) 5.

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Book SynopsisMultiple forms of oppression, injustice, and violence today have roots in histories of colonialism. This connection to the past feels familiar for some and less relevant for others. Understanding and responding to these connections is more crucial than ever, yet some resist rather than face this task directly. Others resist oppressive postcolonial conditions. Using intercultural stories and pastoral care scholarship, this book charts pathways through five resistances (not me, not here, not now, not relevant, not possible) to awaken creative pastoral care in a postcolonial world. McGarrah Sharp recommends practices that everyone can do: believing in each other, revisiting how histories are taught, imagining more passable futures, heeding prophetic poets, and crossing borders with healthy boundaries.Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgements Illustrations Resistance Is Many Things  1 Resourcing Resistances: a Fable  2 Joining the Resistance  3 Resisting Means Many Things  4 Resisting as Pastoral Care  5 Guide to the Book  6 Invitation to Readers  7 Introduction Discussion Questions 1 Unlocking Disbeliefs: Moving through “Not Me” Resistances  1 Encountering “Not Me” Resistances  2 Unlocking Disbeliefs: Resisting Injustices in Everyday Life  3 Resistance Movements that Loosen Hinges of Healing in Everyday Life  4 Summary and Conclusion  5 Chapter 1 Discussion Questions 2 Remembering Pasts: Moving through “Not Here” Resistances  1 Encountering “Not Here” Resistances  2 Re-Membering Past “Not Here” Resistances  3 Practicing Resistance Movements: Role Playing Role Playing  4 Inviting “The Living Me” Here (without the Sugar-Coating)  5 Chapter 2 Discussion Questions 3 Re-Storying Impassable Futures: Moving through “Not Now” Resistances  1 Encountering “Not Now” Resistances: Adjudicating Possibilities, Legislating Futures  2 Re-Storying Impassable Futures  3 Pastoral Care as Resistance That Restores Possibilities and Re-Stories Dreams  4 Chapter 3 Discussion Questions 4 Amplifying Phoenix Poets: Moving through “Not Relevant” Resistances  1 Confronting “Not Relevant” Resistances  2 Vulnerabilities and Values of Resisting as Pastoral Care  3 Learning That Resistance Movements Create Dangerously  4 Moving in Search of the Phoenix Poet (or, a Necessarily Fragmentary Conclusion)  5 Chapter 4 Discussion Questions 5 Crossing Borders with Healthy Boundaries: Moving through “Not Possible” Resistances  1 I Am the Resistance  2 Border Crossing without Healthy Boundaries: Confronting “Not Possible” Resistances  3 Ethics Conundrums in an Intercultural Paradigm of Pastoral Care  4 Postcolonializing Ethics in Intercultural Pastoral Care: Soul Work  5 Learning Creative Possibilities  6 Making Resistance as Prophetic Pastoral Care  7 Conclusion  8 Chapter 5 Discussion Questions Widening the Scope: Seven Contributions and Connections to Pastoral and Practical  1 Pastoral Care Begins with a Question: “What Are You Going through?”  2 Resisting in Pastoral Care and Pastoral Theology: a Brief Historical Trajectory  3 Multiple Methodological Belonging  4 Intercultural Paradigm of Pastoral Care  5 Postcolonializing Pastoral Care: an Ongoing Creative Collaboration  6 Living Postcolonializing Processes in Practice(s)  7 Widening the Scope More: Decolonizing Theological Education Epilogue Bibliography Index of Terms and Names Index of Practices Index of Biblical Citations

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Book SynopsisIn Theology, Empowerment, and Prison Ministry Meins G.S. Coetsier offers a new scholarly account of Karl Rahner’s theological anthropology and the prison pastorate with a contemporary expansion for meaning, seeking an antidote to the suffering and isolation of those incarcerated with a “theology of empowerment.” Drawing on prison ministry theorists and practitioners, and on the experiences of Viktor Frankl, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Etty Hillesum, the book argues that Rahner’s views on prison ministry are significant and encouraging but limited regarding the needs and demands of 21st-century prison ministry. In a convincing, perceptive, and groundbreaking study, Coetsier goes beyond Rahner with ecumenical and interreligious perspectives, reminding us all of our human dignity, of meaning and transformation, of our liberation, creativity, hope and community.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Abbreviations Introduction 1 Karl Rahner’s Anthropology and Gaudium et Spes  Introduction  1 Karl Rahner’s Theological Anthropology  2 Anthropology of Gaudium et Spes  3 Anonymous Christianity  Conclusion 2 Karl Rahner on the Prison Pastorate  Introduction  1 Finding Christ in Prisoners (Christus in den Gefangenen)  2 Finding Ourselves in the Prisoners  3 The Hidden Truth of Our Own Situation  Conclusion 3 Rahner’s Limitations – Responses and Challenges  Introduction  1 Where Rahner’s Anthropology and “The Prison Pastorate” Fall Short  2 Response to Rahner’s Limitations  3 Two Further Questions  Conclusion 4 Rahner’s Edges – Incarceration from a Prisoner’s Perspective  Introduction  1 The Will to Meaning  2 Three Mental Stages  3 Prison Perspectives  Conclusion 5 Beyond Rahner – Towards a Theology of Prison Ministry  Introduction  1 The Situation of Prisoners Today  2 The Need for a Theology of Empowerment  3 Elements of a Theology of Empowerment (Theologie der Stärkung)  Conclusion Conclusion Chronology Bibliography Plates Index

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Book SynopsisWas the Catholic Church responsible for European imperialism? Activists say yes, the Church says no. This book examines the key papal document from 1493. It finds that the Church played no role in English colonization. However, Pope Alexander VI may have intended to bless Spanish imperialism. Either way, over the next 150 years, Spain saw its empire as a gift from him. For many imperialists and many colonial subjects, Spain received its right to rule Indigenous lands straight from the Pope’s hand.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Abstract Keywords  Inter caetera Introduced: Pope Francis Confronts Colonial History in Canada  1 Inter caetera Remembered: Current Catholic-Indigenous Controversies  2 Inter caetera Complicated: the Plural Rationales for European Colonization  3 Inter caetera Situated: Canonical, Historical, and Geopolitical Contexts  4 Inter caetera Interpreted: Debate across the Atlantic  5 Inter caetera Inverted: Las Casas (Mid-1500s)  Inter caetera Assessed: Alexander’s Enduring Role in Spanish Imperialism

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Book SynopsisRanulph Higden, monk of St. Werburgh's Abbey and well-known author of the "Polychronicon" and other treatises, penned a concise and user-friendly Art of Preaching about 1346. His "Ars componendi sermones" follows a schematic common to many members of this genre and includes attributes desirable or necessary in the preacher, methods for piquing an audience's interest, the process of effective repetition, and suggestions for creating rhythmic patterns in prose. Its major focus, however, is the clear and comprehensive discussion of each thematic sermon part: the theme or scriptural text, its development in protheme and introduction, its division, subdivision, and embellishment.In structure and content, Higden's prescriptive manual has affinities to contemporary rhetorical texts, especially the "artes poeticae" and "dictaminis", and displays an analogous relationship with Ciceronian "dispositio" as developed in the "De Inventione" and "Rhetorica ad Herennium". A few of the many items of interest scattered throughout the text are Ranulph's insistence that preaching be separate from university exercises and his comments about various subjects like direct entry into heaven "post mortem", the scope of medieval optics, what and who compose the church, and the quadruple levels of scriptural exegesis.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a unique contribution to the study of children''s and youth ministry, displaying the rich theological thinking that is developing amongst Australian evangelical scholars. Many of the writers have previously presented at the Youthworks House conference, which promotes theological reflection for best practice in youth and children''s ministry in a community of youth and children''s ministers.The themes explored in this book are vitally important to pastors seeking to nurture young people as disciples of Jesus. Thirteen evangelical scholars answer questions such as: How can biblical theology shape a young person''s view of themselves? What is the biblical definition of church and how does this shape our understanding of intergenerational gatherings, family, and community? How should young Christians interact with the culture around them? And how do biblical teachings on sin, grace, and wisdom provide young people with the resources to live in today''s world?You will be challenged to reconsider how theology and exegetical study of the Bible can mold your priorities, principles, and presumptions as you exercise ministry to and with young people.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisDoes God Have a Perfect Will for Your Life? Does God have a perfect will for each Christian? Can you be absolutely certain of God’s specific will for your life? In this expanded twenty-fifth anniversary edition of his highly acclaimed work, Garry Friesen examines the prevalent view on God’s will today and provides a sound biblical alternative to the traditional teaching of how God guides us. This new edition includes these helpful resources:    • Study guide for small groups    • Responses to Frequently Asked Questions    • Guide to painless Scripture memorization Friesen tackles the very practical issues of choosing a mate, picking a career, and giving in this fresh and liberating approach to decision making and the will of God. Story Behind the BookMost Christians have been taught how to find God’s will, yet many are still unsure whether they’ve found it. God does guide His people, but the question is, “How does He guide?” After “putting out a fleece” to decide which college to attend, Garry Friesen began pondering why it was so hard to find God’s will when he had so sincerely sought it. Was he the only one who did not have 100 percent clarity for every decision? Then a new possibility struck—perhaps his understanding of the nature of God’s will was biblically deficient. Maybe there was a better way to understand HOW God guides.

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Book SynopsisGive Your Best Sermon Ever—Every Time Newly edited for today’s readers, this time-tested book combines recognized public speaking techniques with proven theories of preaching to equip you for the pulpit. Author James Braga provides pastors and message-givers anywhere in ministry with logical, step-by-step guidance to preparing and delivering effective sermons. Each chapter thoroughly defines and describes each critical component of a sermon, from the introduction to illustrations and the conclusion. 35th Anniversary Edition - Updated for the 21st Century! A How-To That Delivers Since 1969, How to Prepare Bible Messages has been a pastor’s most trusted source for preparing and delivering sermons that change lives. And for good reason. James Braga’s clear and logical method combines effective techniques for public speaking with time-tested theories of teaching. His instructions are so simple even a novice can follow them. From the title to the conclusion and the lessons in between, Braga leaves no question unanswered. How to Prepare Bible Messages is a recognized classic—and your key to powerfully conveying God’s Word to a hungry people! Story Behind the BookWhen this book was originally published in 1969, James Braga understood that in order for God’s Word to impact His sheep in a life-changing way, the messenger had to do his job exceedingly well. Now, more than thirty years later, the guidance Braga provides pastors, youth leaders, and speakers of all kinds for preparing and delivering effective Bible messages stands stronger than ever. Time-tested and true, his words provide insight, guidance, and tangible steps for answering God’s call to deliver His message with excellence.

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Book SynopsisJesus is the Reset is a 64 page booklet sold in packs of 10. Look for the complete book, Reset: Jesus Changes Everything also by Nick Hall."Each one of us has given our lives for the very message embodied in these pages, which is that Jesus really does change everything.” –Josh McDowell, Luis Palau, and Ravi Zacharias (from the foreword of Reset: Jesus Changes Everything) Do you ever wish life had a reset button like your computer does? Jesus Is the Reset is an invitation to a second chance—a do-over—to get beyond past missteps and failures and present confusion and discontent. Whether your struggle has been with such things as faith, hope, purity, habits, plans, self-image, or relationships, Nick Hall looks to God’s Word to address the traps we fall into and clarify the practical ways we can get out.   If you’re feeling stuck, it’s time for a reset—so you can embrace life as it was meant to be.  

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