Search results for ""spck publishing""

Jesus calls his disciples to follow him, but where does he lead us? Responding to Jesus' summons, we find ourselves leaving familiar certainties and securities behind as we step out boldly in faith. Old boundaries dissolve as we are led into liminal spaces - exhilarating situations, new places of discovery and radical spiritual growth. In such experiences Christ reveals himself to us anew. The place of risk is the threshold of the divine. Beyond the Edge is for people who wish to go deeply into the spiritual life, for spiritual directors, and for those who walk with others on their prayer journey. It can be used individually or in groups.

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Discovering Exodus is the perfect introduction to the interpretation of the book of Exodus. Through a critical assessment of key interpreters and interpretative debates, it encourages in-depth study of the text and a genuine grappling with the theological and historical questions raised. As part of the Discovering Biblical Texts series, Discovering Exodus draws on a range of author-, text- and reader-centred methodological approaches as complementary rather than mutually exclusive ways of understanding the text. It also focuses on the reception history of the Biblical text, increasingly viewed by scholars as a vital aspect of interpretation rather than an optional extra. Discovering Exodus is an ideal commentary for students and those looking to dig deeper into the second book of the Bible. You will gain a solid grasp of the structure and content of Exodus, and a thorough understanding of a wide range of interpretive approaches and theological concerns that will enhance your own reading of the text.

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This book is an exploration of the biblical and theological themes in the Common Worship Eucharistic texts. The theological formation of many Christians takes place during their weekly celebration of the Eucharist. The language of the Eucharist has a deep impact on the way that people think about God and about themselves. The problem today is that fewer and fewer Christians have any idea about the content and significance of many of the allusions that can be found in the liturgical texts.

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The author is a world authority on Orthodox thought. This introduction is written in lively, non-technical language for readers of all religious backgrounds.

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A short guide to the origins, structure and values of the Churches of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Paul Avis explains and clarifies the history and theology involved, and introduces concepts in a structured way, making the book clear to those who may be coming to these issues for the first time. It is also an invaluable aide-mémoire and reference tool for the specialist, presenting a clear outline of the structure, form, function, disposition and beliefs of the Church. The 2nd edition is more up-to-date in its examples and refers to developments such as Fresh Expressions, women bishops and the Anglican Covenant, and is also more reader-friendly, with questions for reflection or discussion and suggestions for further reading.

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By looking in detail at the Lord's Prayer and its background, Tom Wright offers a really fresh and helpful way of looking at Jesus. Phrase by phrase, he demonstrates how understanding the prayer in its original setting can be the starting point for a rekindling of Christian spirituality and the life of prayer. This small masterpiece of a book contains a great deal to stimulate and refresh both the mind and the heart - and to show that, properly understood, they belong together.

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An exciting presentation of a fresh approach to healing by one of the UK's leading exponents of pastoral care and Christian healing Russ Parker explores the power of wounded group stories and reveals how they affect the people and places where they first occurred. He shows how history repeats itself until we find ways to listen to it, locate where it is happening, and find healing for its consequences. Healing Wounded History introduces the role of strategic prayer known as 'representional confession' and demonstrates how it makes reconciliation and renewal possible for families, churches, communities, tribes and nations.

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This is a handbook to the Eucharist looking in detail at the principles of liturgical celebration as well as ritual instructions. This approach to the rite will show ministers how to enable the community to gather, encounter Christ in word and sacrament and be sent out in response to that encounter. This will help ministers to hold the liturgy together, with a sense of momentum which moves the community from the gathering to the dismissal, and which allows various members of the community to exercise individual ministries within the gathered setting.

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The bestselling Intercessions Handbook is designed for use in a wide range of formal and informal settings. In two introductory chapters, John Pritchard considers the importance and challenges of the vital task of intercession. He then offers practical examples of intercessions in traditional services, all-age worship, small groups and personal devotions. Material for seasons, major festivals and special events is also included.

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In 50 brief chapters, originally delivered as public audiences to the faithful in St Peter's Square, Benedict XVI offers absorbing, perceptive, and often edifying sketches of some of Christianity's greatest thinkers and writers. The book is divided in four parts: The Apostolic Fathers: Witnesses from the first generations after the New Testament; The Patristic Theologians: From councils and controversies, from Origen to Augustine; Early Medieval Thinkers: The beginnings of scholastic and monastic theologies; Later Medieval Thinkers: The flowering of Christian theology in the high Middle Ages. Benedict discusses the most notable theologians from East and West, along with figures whose primary witness was as ascetics, poets, mystics, and a number of popes, politicians, and missionaries. The historical circumstances and theological ideas of each are explained with the clarity of an experienced teacher. Benedict always has an eye to their deepest religious convictions and struggles as well as to their present importance to the church and Christian life today.

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Julian of Norwich, an anchoress of the fourteenth century has captured the imagination of our time in a remarkable way. She shares with her readers the deepest and most intimate experiences of her life through her writings, which are sustained reflections on the visions which appeared to her during a severe illness. Yet of her life and her world we know virtually nothing, not even how she came to be an anchoress. This detailed study of Julian attempts not only to penetrate her theological ideas but also bring to life her world and her life as an anchoress. This is a book not only for those who have a scholarly interest in Julian, but for anyone drawn to Christian mysticism and the place of women within that tradition. In the new introduction to this edition, Grace Jantzen explores what it might mean to be an anchoress in postmodernity, and how reflections on Julian of Norwich and her desire for God can enable us to become the space of divine transformation.

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Packed with riches yet highly accessible, The Heart's Time is at its core a series of short, resonant poems for each weekday of Lent and Easter. It will appeal to existing poetry lovers as well as those who want to start exploring how poems can be a resource for our spiritual lives, whether or not they are written with a consciously Christian intent. Poets often address subjects our culture seeks to avoid, and poetry demands that we 'slow down to the heart's time' in order to discover deeper levels of meaning than at first appear. Janet Morley offers her own skilful and reflective commentaries on a fascinating themed sequence of both familiar and unexpected poems, including works by Margaret Atwood, St Augustine, Charles Causley, E. E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Carol Ann Duffy, Ruth Fainlight, U. A. Fanthorpe, Robert Frost, Seamus Heaney, George Herbert, Elizabeth Jennings, Denise Levertov, Roger McGough, Adrienne Rich, Christina Rossetti, R. S. Thomas and Rowan Williams.

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For all who are curious about the dwelling place of God and the angels, this book explores the Bible's teaching on heaven and explains how it is nearer to earth than you might think. Paula Gooder considers the ways in which the Bible sees heaven and earth connecting, and explores all the major strands of belief about life after death, including the role of paradise, and what happens between death and resurrection. She shows how the biblical writers see heaven and earth as closely connected, so that what happens in heaven affects events on earth and vice versa.

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Tom Wright's Lent for Everyone: Mark gives you 53 easy-to-follow daily devotionals for private study or group exploration by Christians of any tradition or denomination. Each devotional of no more than 3 or 4 pages includes the whole of the relevant Bible text making Tom Wright's easy-to-carry book an all-in-one Lent study course. In his familiar, comfortable style Tom Wright guides with clarity and confidence through the whole of Mark's gospel. Supporting references from the Psalms and complementary gospel of John help you understand Jesus' life, death and resurrection in the context his time, today's world and God's eternal plan. This Lent, 'The Big Bible: Big Read 2012' focuses Christians and non-Christians on Lent for Everyone: Mark encouraging more people to read and discuss the Bible together more often and in more and more communities. As a whole church resource, 'Lent for Everyone: Mark' follows the designated Lectionary readings for Lent 2012, year B and uses Tom Wright's own translation of the gospel. 'The trouble is that it is so good the reader will find it hard to stop at the end of each day's reflection, but will want to read on.' - Church Times

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This is the follow-up to the massively successful Lent for Everyone: Luke Year C, bringing Lent reading to a new audience. The book gently takes the reader through the designated Lectionary readings for every day of Lent and Easter. The Bible readings are Tom Wright's own clear and accessible translations from Matthew for Everyone (SPCK, 2002). Each passage is followed by a freshly written reflection and a prayer that will help readers to ponder the relevance of Matthew's Gospel for their own lives. Suitable for both individual and group study and reflection, Tom Wright's Lent book will allow readers to make Matthew their own, thoughtfully and prayerfully. It will help to make the journey through Lent a period of rich discovery and growth.

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Virtue Reborn is the first in a series of three titles about Christian life in the modern world, which will build on the themes of Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope and be aimed at a similar market.

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Both Lamentations and Ezekiel focus on the destruction of Jerusalem, an act of divine punishment for the city’s faithlessness over many years. Lamentations is caught up in the catastrophe that befalls the city, and combines grief, sorrow and pleas for mercy in its few short chapters. Ezekiel reflects on the same events from the standpoint of those living in exile in the city of Babylon, but turns his attention to the future, offering a series of positive visions that speak of God’s plans for ultimate redemption. His prophecies are significant for the hope they offer in the wake of Jerusalem’s destruction, and for the way their vivid imagery was later taken up and used by John of Patmos in the Book of Revelation. Using personal anecdote, a witty and lively style, and drawing on his considerable theological knowledge, John Goldingay takes us deep into the unfolding story of the Old Testament.

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'It has been slowly dawning on me over many years that there is a fundamental problem deep at the heart of Christian faith and practice as I have known them . . . we have all forgotten what the four Gospels are about.' With that surprising assertion, Tom Wright launches this ground-breaking work in which he helps us to see the gospel story in radically a new light, and to acknowledge that, for many generations, the Church has been avoiding its full impact and holding back from proclaiming its full meaning. 'Classic Wright: clear, accessible, robust, engaging and challenging.' Paula Gooder in Third Way 'Scholarly, accessible, insightful and provocative.' Christianity 'Wright argues compellingly that the twin themes of kingdom and cross are inseparably linked. . . This is a much-needed reorientation. The book makes its case for 'rethinking' cogently and deserves widespread attention.' Theology

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Using the best of biblical and historical scholarship, this title presents a fresh understanding of early Christianity.

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What is at the heart of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs? A desire for life lived fully and well: life lived wisely; life lived purposefully; life lived in loving, joyful partnership with God and others. At the centre of this abundant life must be for God, for he desires all good things for us. He wants us to know his shalom - harmony, wholeness, health and peace. The wise sayings of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and the rich, sensual poetry of the Song of Songs remind us how to conduct ourselves with wisdom, and without folly and futility, in the knowledge that we are deeply loved. Using personal anecdote, a witty and lively style, and drawing on his considerable theological knowledge, John Goldingay takes us deep into the unfolding story of the Old Testament. And, as he guides us in our understanding of these time-honoured words and the ancient world they describe, he helps us to apply what we read to our lives.

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In The First Christmas, two of today's top Jesus scholars, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, show how history has biased our reading of the nativity story as it appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The First Christmas explores the beginning of the life of Christ, peeling away the sentimentalism that has build up over two thousand years around this most well known of all stories to reveal the truth of what the Gospels actually say. Borg and Crossan help us to see this familiar narrative afresh by answering the question 'What do these stories mean' from the perspective of both the first and the twenty-first centuries. They successfully show that the Christmas story, read in its original context, is far richer and more challenging than people imagine.

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Beginning with Jesus' birth, Ken Bailey leads us on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus in the four Gospels. Bailey examines the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus' relationship to women and especially Jesus' parables.Throughout the author employs his trademark expertise as a master of Middle Eastern culture to lead us into a deeper understanding of the person and significance of Jesus, lifting away the obscuring layers of modern Western interpretation to reveal Jesus in the light of his actual historical and cultural setting.

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