Search results for ""Longman""

Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated on 24 March 1980 while celebrating the Eucharist. In these powerful and moving selections from his broadcast talks Romero invites us each day to move into the 'intimate space' of our conscience, to encounter ourselves there, and then to go out to create a more just world.

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If society and churches are in crisis, it may be because we are losing our ability to keep our promises. Scott Hahn restores the connection between sacred words and human action, promises and commitment. Scott Hahn argues that every society - be it nation, neighbourhood, family or Church - is held together by the power of personal commitments. When we really want to change our lives, when we want to make love endure, we mark the transition by an oath. The words we say bind us to a course of action. But the most powerful oaths of all are those that mark the Christian sacraments. In Swear to God, Hahn restores the connection between sacred words and human action, promises and commitment.

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A New Catechism of Christian Doctrine

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Jean Vanier shares his vision for creating a common good that radically changes our communities, and ourselves.

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Presents the late Cardinal’s personal reflections on themes such as prayer, solitude, and living the Christian life today. A beautiful book with full colour photographs.

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** This title will be released on Monday, October 30th but is available for pre-order now ** A superbly rich and engrossing exploration of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Paths in the Snow traces the literary allusions and echoes to be found in this beloved novel, drawing the reader deeper into the magic and meaning of Narnia. From Dante to The Wind in the Willows, and from medieval dream poetry to Dorothy L. Sayers, Paths in the Snow uncovers the literary connections which criss-cross Narnia. Stories, myth and literature played a central role in Lewis’ personal life and religious imagination: he was a professor of literature who came back to faith by seeing the Christian story as a “true myth” created by God. Untangling the fascinating network of literary allusions and sources in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe helps to bring Lewis’ vision into focus. This study also examines the time in which the first Narnia book was written, shedding light on its historical and cultural context, and how these shaped its meaning for its first readers. Paths in the Snow reveals why the Pevensie children are always shaking hands with each other and what a wartime recipe for whalemeat fritters can tell us about Narnian food. The book proceeds chapter by chapter through The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, making it ideal for reading groups or study sessions. It also provides an opportunity for readers to branch off into their own journey through the literary and theological sources which stocked Lewis’ mind. The perfect gift for any Narnian, and a valuable resource for groups, Paths in the Snow will appeal to all fans of C.S. Lewis’ work, and enable anyone to stand at the wardrobe door, and go further in.

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Voted the Dutch Theological Book of the Year 2019, Green Theology is an urgent, far-reaching Christian theological reconsideration of the relationship between God, creation, nature and human beings. Trees Van Montfoort demonstrates that ecological theology is not a sub-discipline of theology but a rediscovery of theology, focused not only on God and people, but all of creation. Drawing on the perspectives of eco-theologians from around the world, this is a ground-breaking book that redefines the scope of theology for a world in urgent need of answers.

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Based on extensive research, Naomi Lawson Jacobs and Emily Richardson have collected prophetic and transformative narratives of experience, shared directly by disabled people who have rarely been enabled to speak in Christian books about disability. By centering disabled Christians’ own stories, this book calls for churches to move from a care-based approach to disability, to one that is focused on justice, equality and access to churches for disabled Christians.

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Paul Beasley-Murray, one of the most respected Christian ministers of the last fifty years, offers fifty succinct reflections on all aspects of ministry, including pastoring, preaching, evangelism, prayer, growth, worship, family, personal care and relationships. This is essential, foundational reading for clergy of all denominations and of all levels of experience.

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Through reflections on encounters between Jesus and those he met, as described in the gospels, and significant encounters with people and places in her personal journey with God, Bishop Rachel Treweek encourages us to make new connections in our own story and to contemplate the God of encounter. Each chapter of this carefully-crafted book ends with a prayer and a space for you to journal your own reflections.

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We live in a time of increasing numbers of older people, and the Church is ageing even faster than the world around us. Yet few churches have a strategic plan for seniors’ ministry. Zechariah 8:4–5 tells us that the Church should be a great place to grow old, as well as a great place to grow up, and Tina English has written this book to show us how we can make it so. A Great Place to Grow Old offers advice and resources to help individuals and churches reach out effectively to the older people in their communities, to visit and support seniors in local care homes, and come alongside those living with dementia and their carers. It is full of inspiring stories of lives impacted by successful ministry among seniors, practical advice and guidance for churches both with and without premises for hosting work with seniors, and teaching with an underlying biblical foundation of what it means to be human, and God’s heart for people of all ages.

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Waiting on the Word is an exploration of the gift of preaching and of becoming an effective communicator – someone who is able to connect with people’s innate desire for God. In an age of soundbites and information overload, Lorraine Cavanagh believes that we can lose sight of God’s real work in the world. Through waiting on the Word that abides in the preacher’s own heart, and in the hearts of the people, the preacher can learn to speak the deep truth which comes with knowing God and which will teach and inspire. This unique book also gives practical advice for dealing with conflicting emotions, resistance and passive aggression, as well as for improving voice projection and the confident use of space.

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‘I have met thousands of LGBT+ Christians around the world, and have witnessed the work of the Holy Spirit moving through them in the most profound ways. I have been blown away by how many Christian leaders have reached out to tell me that they too have felt the Spirit of God nudging them to step forward and embrace LGBT+ people as faithful members of Christ’s Church. I have watched as societies around the world have stepped closer and closer to affirming and embracing LGBT+ people as equal and essential parts of their communities. And I have seen true revival breaking forth in the midst of LGBT+ Christian communities.’ In Our Witness, Brandan Robertson has collected the powerful testimonies and experiences of LGBT+ Christians living in active and influential faith today. Some have faced rejection and marginalisation from parts of the Church; some have found fulfilment and blessing through reconciliation of their faith and their sexuality within the Church; and some bear witness to the great and fruitful revival that the Holy Spirit is bringing about through the lives of the LGBT+ Christian community. These are stories of faith, hope, love and life, and testimony to a wonderful new work of God in our world today. This unique DLT edition includes a number of stories of LGBT+ Christians from the UK and Ireland.

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After decades of political consensus, we are entering a time in which everything about the way we live today, and about how our society and communities are structured, is up for discussion. Many people are feeling empowered to ask: What kind of world do we want to live in? One that works for a few, or one that works for the common good? What part can Christians play in building a future of hope, peace, equality and justice? Reclaiming the Common Good is a collection of essays which consider these themes. Beginning with an explanation of the history and meaning of the term ‘common good’, it explores how the sense of working for this ideal has been lost. Focussing, biblically, on issues such as welfare, austerity, migration, environment, peace and justice, it provides a compellingly fresh and insightful analysis on the state of the world today, and offers a realistic vision of how it could be better. This vision is rooted in the idea of a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, as suggested in the book of Revelation. This collection has been compiled and edited by Virginia Moffatt, a writer, community activist and former Chief Operating Officer of the belief and values think-tank, Ekklesia. Its other contributors are: Dr Patrick Riordan SJ, John Moffatt SJ, Simon Barrow, Bernadette Meaden, Dr Simon Duffy, Rev. Vaughan Jones, Savitri Hensman , Ellen Teague, Edward P. Echlin, Henrietta Cullinan, Susan Clarkson and Rev. Dr Simon Woodman.

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Arising out of a game of 'hide and seek' played with two young children, Cardinal Basil Hume made each hiding place a setting for a discovery of something new about the spiritual life. He chose the title because, as he put it, 'my spiritual life is more a wandering in Blunderland than resting and relaxing in Wonderland. I would guess that most of us would say the same. What matters, however, is that minds and hearts should be involved in the search for God, where the seeking and the finding go hand in hand.' This is one of the best loved religious books, enchanting young and old, believer and sceptic.

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Brings a deep understanding of the scriptural roots of the Church's teaching and a new verve and freshness of language to the subject of confession.

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We live in a world full of distractions, where lack of time and the pressures of daily living contribute to our spiritual lives becoming sometimes treated with less priority, sometimes forgotten altogether. This is a book for the forgetful-hearted; those who frequently forget God in their lives, even when they desperately want to remember him. Lucy Mills asks what it means to remember God? Here she suggests that it is about more than simply ‘knowing’ things – it is about how we live. Forgetful Heart is a beautifully-written book, full of personal testimony, biblical reflection and practical challenges and advice.

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Brilliantly explores how portraits can help us relate to other people in an intentional and expectant way* Written in an accessible manner, this is a book that will deepen our empathy for friends and strangers* Uses a three-step method of noticing, responding, and reflecting to help us recognise ourselves and others in portraits* I found the approach of this book to be transformational in my own spiritual journey'' ~ Dr Anne Moseley, Faculty member, Oxford Centre for Mission StudiesOur lives are made up of a complex web of relationships with those we initially get to know through their face. The quality of these relationships influences what we believe and value, and how we think and behave. Focussing on the human face, Stephen Girling explores how portraits can help us relate to other people in a new way. Outlining a three-step method of noticing, responding, and reflecting, he gives the reader a tool with which we can go beyond the face in a portrait to see something of the eternal'

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An essential guide book for preachers, focusing not on why we preach, nor what we preach, but on how to live and serve as a preacher* For preachers and those wanting to become preachers alike* Full of practical advice and spiritual inspirationMaybe you're considering becoming a preacher? You have things you want to say, and ways you want to serve. But could you do it? Should' you do it?How can you tell if it's a Call? Maybe you want to preach and dread it. Or perhaps you're someone who has preached for decades. You want to break free from tired, tiring thought patterns? You have joy inside, which doesn't show up in your preaching? Or are you're bored by already knowing what you're going to say next week? Perhaps you want to find the Bible new' again. Being a preacher is not merely the task of developing and delivering a message. It is about who you are how you live and serve, your presence among those to whom you preach. This book is about the mindful things and the practical things

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This rich volume collects 47 sermons by the late priest and theologian Father Robert D. Crouse – one of the finest contemplative theological minds of our age. They are arranged to follow the principal celebrations of the ancient Christian Year – from Advent to Pentecost, while a second, companion volume (The Soul’s Pilgrimage Volume II: The Descent of the Dove and the Spiritual Life) completes the year – so they can be read in step with the liturgical seasons. A Preface by former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams highlights some of the connecting threads of the sermons – in particular the theme of Divine Friendship offered by the Gospel. The inspired clarity of these sermons brings to life the perennial truth of the Church year as a path of holiness for all believers. This is a volume for those who want to enter into the pattern of spiritual growth and nourishment that the Christian year has always made available but is here renewed for our time.

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'I have come to realise that during all the years I thought I was in search of Julian of Norwich, she has been in search of me and all her fellow Christians. It is a joy to look round today and see how many of us she has found.' ~ Few people, even in Norwich, knew anything about Julian when her 600th anniversary was celebrated in 1973. Among them was Sheila Upjohn, in spite of having lived in Norwich most of her life and studying mediaeval literature at university. So she set out to find the reason Julian's book had been hidden for centuries, and why it is so startlingly relevant today. In Search of Julian of Norwich reads like a spiritual detective story as Sheila uncovers clues in Julian's city, her century, and above all in a perceptive analysis of the major themes of The Revelations of Divine Love. Whether you are a seasoned traveller or just setting out, this new edition of In Search of Julian of Norwich, published to mark Julian’s 650th anniversary, is essential reading, with new information and insights that have matured over half a century.

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Christ and the Chocolaterie is an original, innovative Lent course written by Hilary Brand for small groups or individuals, inspired by the film Chocolat starring Juliette Binoche. It suggests clips from the film, group discussion questions, exercises and meditations, and relevant Bible passages for a powerful aid to Lenten reflection. It also includes appendices on the curious history of chocolate, the unfair economics of chocolate and ideas for a chocolate feast. Twenty-one years since it was first published, Hilary has updated the course for this new edition, which still has so much to inspire those who read and discuss it, on what it means to be human and the power of change.

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As Charles III is crowned King of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and Defender of the Faith, this timely book explains the Christian symbolism of the coronation, and the unique significance of Christian monarchy in the history of the British Isles. God Save the King explores the theme of sacred kingship, its origins in primal religion, its central role in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and its representation in modern popular culture. The book also analyses the particular relationship in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth between sovereign and church, the monarch’s traditional roles as protector of Protestantism and Defender of the Faith, and how these are being reinterpreted in the context of a multi-faith and multi-cultural Britain. With the inclusion of fascinating details of sacred engagements in the annual royal calendar and little-known rituals, this book represents a celebration and an exploration of sacred monarchy as it has been understood and practised over the centuries and of its continuing relevance today. This is an indispensable and essential guide to the history, structure and symbolism of the coronation service, including lively anecdotes about things that have gone wrong in past ceremonies. It will provide the perfect companion for all who wish to understand the significance and symbolism of what will happen on 6 May.

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Beauty and Meaning publishes, for the first time, the sixteenth T. S. Eliot Memorial Lectures, written and delivered by The Most Reverend Metropolitan Anthony Bloom at the University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom, on consecutive evenings from the 1st to the 4th of November 1982. The first lecture addresses Meaning, and the ways we relate to things only insofar as they mean something to us. In the second and third lectures, Metropolitan Anthony discusses Beauty and its moral characteristics. The fourth lecture considers Ugliness, its significance and creative potential. These remarkable texts recall the profound spiritual wisdom, the wit and the compassion, of one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers and broadcasters on the Christian life. The book is enhanced with a Foreword by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and helpful footnotes by the collection’s editor, James Heywood.

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‘We are all on a journey. None of us knows where ours will take us, and when we do, and it is over, we will not be able to tell anyone what it all meant, or where it took us. This is the goal of our pilgrimage, a journey of unknowing, where what we thought we knew turns out to have been a shadow of a something leading us ever forward, ever deeper. ‘Crossroad is a story that cannot be finished yet; a story of journeys, mostly on foot, through places that in this present resonate with the lives lived in them in their long past: a shingle beach in Norfolk, a river in Cambridgeshire, a hill in what was Westmorland and an island in present Cumbria, a cave on an island in ancient Dalriata, in Iona, and Lindisfarne.’ ~ In this beautifully-written book, Charles Moseley invites you to share with him many journeys, each in their way a kind of pilgrim quest. You can read them as a guide for you to follow, literally, in his footsteps – to Iona, Lindisfarne, Walsingham, Aran. Or you can walk alongside him in the spirit of faltering honesty, wry humour, spiritual questing, and the ever-present appreciation of landscape, ancient resonances, a tasty sandwich, a pair of good boots and a trusty stick.

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God give me a beautiful home. That is what a child wrote, having just learned about the work of St George’s Crypt, which looks after the people of Leeds who don’t have any home, let alone a beautiful one. They come to the Crypt when there is nowhere left to go, no one else to turn to. Like more than a third of his colleagues, Roger Quick first came to the Crypt in need of help himself. Decades later he came back as its chaplain, and every day since then he has been moved by the courage and insight, borne of great suffering, shown by those who still pass through its doors. In Sheltering Saints he tells their stories, full of tears and laughter, pain and compassion.

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The God that we were brought up on is not big enough to be God. To be both religious and spiritual, modernity must be able to absorb the notion of a cosmic and evolving God. This notion redefines the place and purpose of humanity itself. The old notions of who is in charge, who is superior and whose theology is paramount is in a state of flux. Unless, or until, this new vision comes into play, directs our hearts, guides our business, underlies our technology, the world itself is not ready to understand or survive the horizon of Newness on which it stands.

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My Theology: The world’s leading Christian thinkers explain some of the principal tenets of their theological beliefs. ‘How can people racialised as black conceive God, Jesus, and the Spirit within contemporary concrete social and political worlds?’ asks pioneering black theologian and broadcaster Robert Beckford. ‘What would facilitate a radical theology committed to confronting racialised injustice, social inequality and environmental degradation?’ In Duppy Conqueror Beckford explains how he has recontextualised African-American black and womanist theologies of liberation to answer these questions for second and third-generation black British. His methodologies have included a correlation of linguistic concepts from black cultural history and urban life with theological concepts, and the inscription of black theology onto documentary filmmaking and contemporary gospel music.

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My Theology: The world’s leading Christian thinkers explain some of the principal tenets of their theological beliefs. ‘What do we live for? This is the question many of us ask at the end of a very long day, especially in the conflicted moments of life,’ writes Ilia Delio. ‘My answer is simple: we live to love. If we doubt love, we doubt our own existence.’ In this compelling book Delio explores the metaphysics of love at the centre of her theological thinking. From the cosmological to the theological dimensions of existence, she shows love to be the irresistible force of attraction that leads straight into the heart of God.

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Three decades after the decision to allow the ordination of women to the priesthood, nine lay women in the Church of England have written their thoughts on what it means to be committed to being 'lay' in the contemporary church and world. For more than twenty years the writers have been part of an Anglican lay women's group, meeting, sharing and reflecting together. Edgewise? collects their individual perspectives on being a lay woman in the church since the opportunity for ordination became a reality, with some threads and themes in common and others unique. The result is a fascinating, thoughtful snapshot of several lives and diverse experiences which presents rich material for reflection by all in the twenty-first-century Church of England and beyond.

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The Christian world is at a crossroads, writes Alan Ecclestone, ready to take the way of 'engagement with the Passion of Christ in the world today' or to pass into spiritual death. This classic book, winner of the Collins Religious Books Award, helps the reader find the answers within to face up to this supreme challenge.

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‘About the months leading up to Evie’s death, indeed, about the aftermath, I made a solemn vow to keep silent, and I like to think I take promises seriously. Despite what happened to Evie, I still think of those months I spent in the company of her and Richard, Ivo, Charlie and Piers as fondly as I remember anything. That we swore an oath to silence is not, necessarily, a sign of guilt. You should remember that we are the kind of people who take oaths seriously and we had more things binding us together than mere promises.’ ~ Littlemore College is in a picturesque village just outside Oxford. Its calm surroundings have seen generations of aspirant priests pray and train. As far as the outside world is concerned, human passions are restrained by devotion to a higher calling. But this is the 1990s and women are training for the priesthood for the very first time. Passions are running high and at Littlemore College’s enclosed and febrile heart, a small group of brilliant young ordinands, the favoured students of the charismatic and controversial Medievalist, Professor Albertus Loewe, are asking themselves some very dangerous questions. When Catherine Bolton arrives with her freshly-minted doctorate on Chaucer and the Church, Dr Loewe and his secretive group of students represent an irresistible challenge to her and her new friend Evie Kirkland. But just as Evie is not quite the friend she seems to be, so too the medieval passions of Dr Loewe’s group are more far reaching and intense than she could ever have imagined.

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Our home, our duties and routines, our relationships, and the way we use our time, are the monasteries of our lives. It is through these practices that we build our relationship with God, that we find opportunities for contemplation, and deserts for reflection. In this beautiful little book Ronald Rolheiser turns on its head the idea that religious life is the preserve of monks and nuns. Our cloisters are the walls of our home and our work, the streets we walk, and the people with whom we share our lives. The domestic is the monastic. Chapters include: Monasticism and Family Life; The Domestic Monastery; Real Friendship; Lessons from the Monastic Cell; Ritual for Sustaining Prayer; Tensions within Spirituality; A Spirituality of Parenting; Spirituality and the Seasons of Our Lives; The Sacredness of Time; Life's Key Question.

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We all want to be happy, although ‘happiness’ can mean very different things to different people. But what if I don't feel happy? Is my life less worthwhile? And is there such a thing as lasting happiness anyway? Western society places great emphasis on the pursuit of health, wealth and pleasure, with a general expectation that having these in abundance will lead directly to The Good Life. But anxiety, depression and loneliness are rife in our communities, and it is common for people to struggle with relationships, and to feel they have a low sense of meaning and lasting fulfilment. Is there a better way for us to try to live? Andrew Parnham believes that there is, but such a way may take us in unexpected directions. In Lasting Happiness he invites us to explore this path in his company, looking beyond our immediate perceptions to consider our universal longings, the extraordinary way in which our brains engage with the world and ourselves, how healthy relationships develop and can be restored, and how meaning and fulfilment may actually be attained.

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Narcissistic mother’s syndrome is a form of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) which is present in an estimated 0.6-1.0% of the population. The condition, and abusive impact it has on hundreds of thousands of daughters around the world, receives little public attention. Writer Danu Morrigan has helped thousands of women to find a path to freedom, through her support website daughtersofnarcissisticmothers.com and her bestselling book You’re Not Crazy – It’s Your Mother. Now, Dear Daughter of a Narcissistic Mother …, her much anticipated second book, presents 100 letters written by Danu to fellow victims, containing recognition, advice, techniques and encouragement to break free and remain free from the toxicity of a relationship with an NPD mother.

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A bestseller in its original Argentinian, Francis: Life and Revolution paints an intimate portrait of Jorge Bergoglio by Elisabetta Pique, a journalist who is also a close friend of the man who became the 266th and current Pope. The warm, personal narrative is rich in character and evocation of the subject and biographer's shared Argentinian heritage, making this unique among books about Bergoglio. Pique tells the story of his upbringing, and journey through priesthood to the Vatican, the Curia and ultimately to his election as Pope. Her text includes her phone conversations with Bergoglio in the days preceding the announcement, his fears and modest denials when she told him she believed it would be him, and a fascinating never-before-reported account of the deliberations of the Conclave that elected him. Before analysing the innovations and the polemic changes driven by the new Pope, the book tells of a good natured and kind man with a wonderful sense of humour married to strong convictions who risked his own life to help the victims of illegal repression in Argentina.

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What does it mean to be a healer in the modern world? In this hope-filled and profoundly simple book, Henri Nouwen offers a radically fresh interpretation of modern ministry. Here he inspires devoted men and women who want to be of service in their church or community, but have found the traditional ways of ministry alienating and ineffective. According to Nouwen, we are called to identify the suffering in our own hearts and make that recognition the starting point of our service. We must be willing to go beyond our professional, aloof roles of service and leave ourselves open as fellow human beings with the same wounds and suffering as those we serve. We heal from our wounds.

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In this classic treatise on Christian spirituality, Rowan Williams takes us with a new eye along a road marked out by Paul, John, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and finally to Luther and St. John of the Cross. The Wound of Knowledge is a penetrating psychological and intellectual analysis of Christian spirituality from one of the finest theological minds of our day.

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‘Following the mass conversions sweeping Britain after the publication of Lives of the Improbable Saints, Dr Harrison and I thought it wise and expedient to retell yet more stories of the great ‘cloud of witnesses’ preserved in Christian tradition these two thousand years.’ Richard Coles Martyrs and miracle-workers, monks, mystics and murderers; each of these legendary saints – respectfully introduced by Richard Coles and affectionately illustrated by Ted Harrison – can, however improbable, prompt us to reflect on faith and devotion today. From St Edith of Wilton, who beat up the Devil, to St Eutychius of Phrygia, who fell asleep and dropped from a window ledge while listening to a sermon of the Apostle Paul, only to be raised from the dead, here are 180 more astonishing stories of the saints of Christian legend.

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Ayrton Senna is arguably the most famous racing driver there has ever been. All over the world, he is revered as a saint and as the greatest driver the sport has ever seen. Indeed, the 2010 film of his life verged on the hagiographic, painting him as a beloved child of God put on Earth to fight injustice and help those less fortunate than him. But was his reputation disproportionately burnished because he died, aged only 34, in front of millions of TV viewers, thus sealing his reputation as the Messianic martyr of motor racing? This book takes a twofold look at both Ayrton da Silva, the softly-spoken and introspective man, and Senna the aggressive, ruthless and brilliant driver, distinct entities who often struggled to coexist peacefully together, and discusses why, of all the great drivers Formula One has nurtured, Senna attracts the most fervent following.

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In Ministry in Three Dimensions, Steven Croft outlines the challenges - greater geographical and social mobility, and older, smaller congregations, for example - that today’s society presents to the churches, explaining that models of mission and ministry which were once perfectly adequate no longer work in this new situation. The author identifies some of the potentially harmful ways in which attempts have been made to meet these new challenges, suggesting the use of secular management models as one such false trail. Far better and more fruitful is to recover a biblically-based understanding of ministry. In scripture and through Church history he explores the dimensions of ministry indicated by three different Greek words found in the New Testament: diakonia, presbyteros and episcope, uncovering the rich tradition surrounding what it means to be an ordained leader in the Church. Steven Croft draws out insights from which a new, relevant understanding of ordained ministry can be built across the denominations, and explores how to put these insights into practice, suggesting ways in which each minister can balance the three dimensions in their own setting.

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'Morning glory, starlit sky, soaring music, scholar's truth, Flight of swallows, autumn leaves, memory's treasure, grace of youth. Open are the gifts of God, gifts of love to mind and sense; Hidden is love's agony, love's endeavour, love's expense.' These words conclude one of the most influential and best-loved spiritual books of the twentieth century. Nearly forty years after its first publication, Love's Endeavour, Love's Expense remains transforming and compelling. William H. Vanstone explores the nature and cost of authentic love, distinguishing it from destructive imitations, and he reflects on the precarious activity of God in creation, the 'sublime self-giving', which is the ground and source and origin of the universe' and which requires the Creator to wait upon the response to his creation. The late Canon W. H. Vanstone also wrote The Stature of Waiting and Fare Well in Christ.

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An instant classic of contemporary spirituality, bringing together an engaging introduction to the Christian contemplative tradition for people inside or on the margins of the churches who feel drawn to the world of silent prayer. Martin Laird shows how silence and meditation can offer a remedy to many contemporary dilemmas and emotional struggles. Writing with great clarity, depth and authority, Laird examines the meditative methods and traditions found within contemplative prayer. He also explores the role of breath and awareness in the spiritual life, which, while usually associated with Buddhism, is also an ancient concern of Christian thinkers. Into the Silent Land brings together scholarship, pastoral practice and the author’s own personal experience. It offers new insights for the student but is especially intended for the non-specialist reader who feels drawn to the world of silent prayer and is looking to the Christian contemplative tradition for inspiration and guidance.

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A new reflection from Jean Vanier on the Gospel of John, based on a series of talks originally written for television. Vanier moves through each passage, setting it in the context of the other gospels, and drawing out messages for our contemporary world.

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