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A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present
by: John O'Malley
Publisher: Sheed & Ward
Published: 2011-08-16
ASIN: 1580512283
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| | More details | | A History of the Popes tells the story of the oldest living institution in the Western world—the papacy. From its origins in Saint Peter, Jesus' chief disciple, through Pope Benedict XVI today, the popes have been key players in virtually all of the great dramas of the western world in the last two thousand years. Acclaimed church historian John W. O'Malley's engaging narrative examines the 265 individuals who have claimed to be Peter's successors. Rather than describe each pope one by one, the book focuses on the popes that shaped pivotal moments in both church and world history. The author does not shy away from controversies in the church, and includes legends like Pope Joan and a comprehensive list of popes and antipopes to help readers get a full picture of the papacy.
This simultaneously reverent yet critical book will appeal to readers interested in both religion and history as it chronicles the saints and sinners who have led the Roman Catholic Church over the past 2000 years. The author draws from his popular audio CD lecture series on the topic, 2,000 Years of Papal History, available through Now You Know Media (www.nowyouknowmedia.com). |
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A Study Guide to Biblical Eldership: Twelve Lessons for Mentoring Men for Eldership
by: Alexander Strauch
Publisher: Lewis & Roth Publishers
Published: 1997-01-31
ASIN: 0936083131
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| | More details | | It is not enough merely to have an eldership. The eldership must be actively functioning, competent and spiritually alive. The lack of elder and deacon training is an extremely critical problem. We are not training those who lead and have oversight of our churches. We erroneously believe that our serving elders and deacons understand spiritual oversight and care, but in fact our churches are filled with elders and deacons who confess that they are unprepared and untrained for their work. The Biblical Eldership Study Guide provides twelve comprehensive lessons regarding biblical eldership principles. It is designed for use (along with the text, Biblical Eldership) by the prospective new elder under the direction of a mentoring elder, or could also be used in group study. |
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A Time to Keep Silence (New York Review Books Classics)
by: Patrick Leigh Fermor
Publisher: NYRB Classics
Published: 2007-10-30
ASIN: 1590172442
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| | More details | While still a teenager, Patrick Leigh Fermor made his way across Europe, as recounted in his classic memoirs, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. During World War II, he fought with local partisans against the Nazi occupiers of Crete. But in A Time to Keep Silence, Leigh Fermor writes about a more inward journey, describing his several sojourns in some of Europe’s oldest and most venerable monasteries. He stays at the Abbey of St. Wandrille, a great repository of art and learning; at Solesmes, famous for its revival of Gregorian chant; and at the deeply ascetic Trappist monastery of La Grande Trappe, where monks take a vow of silence. Finally, he visits the rock monasteries of Cappadocia, hewn from the stony spires of a moonlike landscape, where he seeks some trace of the life of the earliest Christian anchorites.
More than a history or travel journal, however, this beautiful short book is a meditation on the meaning of silence and solitude for modern life. Leigh Fermor writes, “In the seclusion of a cell—an existence whose quietness is only varied by the silent meals, the solemnity of ritual, and long solitary walks in the woods—the troubled waters of the mind grow still and clear, and much that is hidden away and all that clouds it floats to the surface and can be skimmed away; and after a time one reaches a state of peace that is unthought of in the ordinary world.” |
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Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel
by: Brian D. McLaren
Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties
Published: 2006-01-24
ASIN: 0310267137
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| | More details | | How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel If you're brave enough to take an honest look at the issues facing the culture--controlled church---and the issues in your own life---read on. Do you ever look at how the Christian faith is being lived out in the new millennium and wonder if we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing? That we still haven't quite 'gotten it'? That we've missed the point regarding many important issues? It's understandable if we've relied on what we've been told to believe or what's widely accepted by the Christian community. But if we truly turned a constructive, critical eye toward our beliefs and vigorously questioned them and their origins, where would we find ourselves? Best-selling authors Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo invite you to do just that. Join them on an adventure---one that's about uncovering and naming faulty conclusions, suppositions, and assumptions about the Christian faith. In Adventures in Missing the Point, the authors take turns addressing how we've missed the point on crucial topics such as: salvation, the Bible, being postmodern, worship, homosexuality, truth, and many more. |
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An Exorcist Tells His Story
by: Fr. Gabriele Amorth
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 1999-03-01
ASIN: 0898707102
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| | More details | | In this powerful book, the renowned exorcist of Rome tells of his many experiences in his ministry as an exorcist doing battle with Satan to relieve the great suffering of people in the grip of evil. The importance of the ministry to "expel demons" is clearly seen in the Gospels, from the actions of the Apostles, and from Church history. Fr. Amorth allows the reader to witness the activities of the exorcist, to experience what an exorcist sees and does. He also reveals how little modern science, psychology, and medicine can do to help those under Satan's influence, and that only the power of Christ can release them from this kind of mental, spiritual or physical suffering. An Exorcist Tells His Story has been a European best-seller that has gone through numerous printings and editions. No other book today so thoroughly and concisely discusses the topic of exorcism. |
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An Exorcist: More Stories
by: Gabriele Amorth
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2002-02
ASIN: 0898709172
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| | More details | | Following up his international best-selling book, An Exorcist Tells His Story, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the renowned chief exorcist of Rome, expands on some of the key topics of his previous book, covering important details about demonic or occult issues. He uses concrete examples from his own experiences and those of other exorcists to illustrate and substantiate his points. Since satanic sects, occultism, séances, fortune-tellers and astrologers are so widespread today, Father Amorth asks the question why is it so difficult today to find an exorcist, or a priest who is an expert in this field? The example and the teaching of Christ is very clear, as is the tradition of the Church. But today’s Catholics are often misinformed. Exorcisms are reserved for appointed priests, while all believers can make prayers of liberation. What is the difference? What norms must be followed? What problems are still open and unresolved in this field? The new book by Father Amorth answers these and many other questions, supporting his discourse with a rich exposition of recent facts. A valuable, practical and instructive manual for priests and lay people, on how to help many who are suffering. |
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An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life
by: Mary Johnson
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Published: 2011-09-13
ASIN: B004J4WKIS
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| | More details | An unforgettable spiritual autobiography about a search for meaning that begins alongside one of the great religious icons of our time and ends with a return to the secular world
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At seventeen, Mary Johnson saw Mother Teresa’s face on the cover of Time and experienced her calling. Eighteen months later, she entered a convent in the South Bronx to begin her religious training. Not without difficulty, this bright, independent-minded Texas teenager eventually adapted to the sisters’ austere life of poverty and devotion, and in time became close to Mother Teresa herself.
Still, beneath the white and blue sari beat the heart of an ordinary young woman facing the struggles we all share—the desire for love and connection, meaning and identity. During her twenty years with the Missionaries of Charity, Sister Donata, as she was known, grappled with her faith, her sexuality, the politics of the order, and her complicated relationship with Mother Teresa. Eventually, she left the church to find her own path—one that led to love and herself.
Provocative, profound, and emotionally charged, An Unquenchable Thirst presents a rare, privileged view of Mother Teresa. At the same time, it is a unique and magnificent memoir of self-discovery.
From the Hardcover edition. |
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Biblical Eldership
by: Alexander Strauch
Publisher: Lewis and Roth Publishers
Published: 1995-09
ASIN: 0936083115
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| | More details | | With over 150,000 copies sold, this comprehensive look at the role and function of elders brings all the advantages of shared leadership into focus. Beginning with the four broad categories of eldership (leading, feeding, caring, and protecting), Biblical Eldership explores the essential work of elders, their qualifications (including why qualifications are necessary), their relationships with each other, and each of the biblical passages related to eldership. Written for those seeking a clear understanding of the mandate for biblical eldership, this full-length, expository book defines it accurately, practically, and according to Scripture. "Mr. Strauch has made a fine contribution to the subject of eldership. I am confident that it will be helpful to many." — John MacArthur, Jr., Pastor-Teacher, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, CA "At last, a thorough biblical study on the basis of church government and especially the function and ministry of elders! New churches will find it a valuable guideline to effective functioning and older churches will find it a trustworthy corrective." — Ray Stedman, former pastor and elder, Peninsula Bible Church, Palo Alto, CA "An excellent text for the study of eldership by young and older men interested in the work of an elder. Strauch is a man of gift and experience, and I am grateful for his work." — S. Lewis Johnson, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary |
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Breakout Churches: Discover How to Make the Leap
by: Thom S. Rainer
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2009-12-29
ASIN: 0310293472
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| | More details | | Breakout Churches ... what does it take for your church to break out of mediocrity? In search of answers, Thom Rainer and his research team conducted a landmark study on the church. Unfolding the findings of that study, Breakout Churches furnishes both principles and examples to show how you as a pastor or church leader can help your church break out of the status quo into unprecedented fruitfulness. Of the thousands of churches examined in the study, thirteen met the criteria for a 'breakout church.' All of them experienced both a period of struggle and a time of sustained breakout growth under the same pastor's leadership. Transitioning from mediocrity to excellence over several years, they grew to have an impact on the entire community. Breakout Churches tells the story of these churches and their pastors. And, using a statistical approach, it identifies key patterns and characteristics common to churches that experienced turnarounds. |
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Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice
by: Bryan Chapell
Publisher: Baker Academic
Published: 2009-10-01
ASIN: 0801036402
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| | More details | The church's worship has always been shaped by its understanding of the gospel. Here the bestselling author of Christ-Centered Preaching brings biblical and historical perspective to discussions about worship, demonstrating that the gospel has shaped key worship traditions and should shape today's worship as well.
This accessible and engaging book provides the church with a Christ-centered understanding of worship to help it transcend the traditional/contemporary worship debate and unite in ministry and mission priorities. Contemporary believers will learn how to shape their worship based on Christ's ministry to and through them. The book's insights and practical resources for worship planning will be useful to pastors, worship leaders, worship planning committees, missionaries, and worship and ministry students. |
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Creating a Healthier Church: Family Systems Theory, Leadership and Congregational Life (Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling Series)
by: Ronald W. Richardson
Publisher: FORTRESS PRESS
Published: 1996-08-01
ASIN: 0800629558
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| | More details | | Ronald W. Richardson helps us to understand how congregations function emotionally. Without being simplistic, he gives clear directions on how to improve their quality of life together and function more effectively in achieving mission goals. This book offers: A theory about human behavior that will aid understanding of how things can get out of control in the human community of the church; A practical set of leadership ideas and behaviors; Guidelines for how to behave in the midst of upsetting and conflictual circumstances; Personal steps that leaders in the church can take to become more positive forces for healing and cooperation. |
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Dark Night of the Soul
by: St. John of the Cross
Publisher: Baronius Press
Published: 2006-11-01
ASIN: 1905574177
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| | More details | | St. John takes us on a journey into ourselves, a journey of knowledge and self understanding, that encompasses our failings and imperfections. It shows us how in a place beyond words we can embrace sadness and grief, and seeking God, our lives will be turned around. He describes the "arid and dark night of contemplation" which leads us to "the knowledge of oneself and of one's misery." True knowledge of our self and our condition shows how far we must go to find God, who our restless hearts incessantly seek. The Dark Night of the Soul describes how first the senses, and then the spirit undergo a series of purgation, which aids in bringing it closer to God, and eventually preparing it for union with Him. The individual soul seeks Jesus in a mystical marriage. For after the dark night, comes the joy of mystical union with God. |
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Divine Hours : Prayers for Springtime
by: Phyllis Tickle
Publisher: Doubleday Religion
Published: 2001-10
ASIN: 038549758X
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| | More details | “A welcome remedy for the increasing number of lay Christians who have rediscovered the daily offices. Tickle puts each day’s prayers, psalms, readings, and refrains–everything you need–in one place. The rhythm that Tickle’s book establishes gives one a stronger sense of participating in an ancient, worldwide but very personal liturgy.”
–Nora Gallagher, beliefnet.com, and author of Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith
The third and final volume in a trilogy of prayer manuals compiled by Publishers Weekly religion editor Phyllis Tickle as a contemporary Book of Hours to guide Christians gently yet authoritatively through the daily offices.
The Divine Hours is the first major literary and liturgical reworking of the sixth-century Benedictine Rule of fixed-hour prayer. This beautifully conceived and thoroughly modern three-volume guide will appeal to the theological novice as well as to the ecclesiastical sophisticate. Making primary use of the Book of Common Prayer and the writings of the Church Fathers, The Divine Hours is also a companion to the New Jerusalem Bible, from which it draws its Scripture readings. The trilogy blends prayer and praise in a way that, while extraordinarily fresh, respects and builds upon the ancient wisdom of Christianity.
The third and final book in the set, Prayers for Springtime, provides prayers, psalms, and readings for this season associated with rebirth. Compact, with deluxe endpapers, it is perfect for those seeking greater spiritual depth. As a contemporary Book of Hours, The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime heralds a renewal of the tradition of disciplined daily prayer, and gives those already using the first two volumes the completion they are seeking. With this volume, the series culminates with three prayer manuals encompassing the liturgical and calendar year with the offices for every day. |
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Engage
by: Nelson Searcy
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 2011-10-01
ASIN: B005LQR3I0
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| | More details | No matter how great Sunday's worship service was, there's always another Sunday lurking at the end of the next week that must be planned. Church leaders often fall into ruts, working on automatic pilot just trying to get things together, which does not allow for much creativity or focus on designing services that lead to transformation for those involved in them.
Engage is a step-by-step, stress-free guide to planning worship services that allow for and foster true life change. Comprehensive in scope, Engage provides teaching pastors, worship leaders, and volunteers with the tools they need to work together to develop and implement a worship planning system that improves communication, enhances creativity, and honors Jesus every week. |
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Evangelical is Not Enough: Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament
by: Thomas Howard
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 1984-12
ASIN: 0898702216
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| | More details | | In this deeply moving narrative, Thomas Howard describes his pilgrimage from Evangelicalism (which he loves and reveres as the religion of his youth) to liturgical Christianity. He soon afterward became a Roman Catholic. He describes Evangelicalism with great sympathy and then examines more formal, liturgical worship with the freshness of someone discovering for the first time what his soul had always hungered for. This is a book of apologetics without polemics. Non-Catholics will gain an appreciation of the formal and liturgical side of Catholicism. Catholics will see with fresh eyes the beauty of their tradition. Worship, prayer, the Blessed Virgin, the Mass, and the liturgical year are taken one after the other, and what may have seemed routine and repetitive suddenly comes to life under the enchanting wand of Howard's beautiful prose. Howard unfolds for us just what occurs in the vision and imagination of a Christian who, nurtured in the earnestness of Protestant Evangelicalism, finds himself yearning for "whatever-it-is" that has been there in the Church for 2000 years. It traces Howard's soul-searching and shows why he believes the practices of the liturgical Church are an invaluable aid for any Christian's spiritual life. Reminiscent of the style and scope of Newman, Lewis and Knox, this book is destined to be a classic. |
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Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations
by: Robert Schnase
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Published: 2007-05-01
ASIN: 0687645409
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| | More details | Schnase contends that sucessful congregations often have certain characteristics in common. These fundamental practices demonstrate congregational health, vitality, and fruitfulness. They also help churches fulfill their mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the tranformation of the world.
The five practices of fruitful congregations:
-Radical Hospitality
-Passionate Worship
-Intentional Faith Development
-Risk-Taking Mission and Service
-Estravagant Generosity |
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For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy
by: Alexander Schmemann
Publisher: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press
Published: 1997-03-01
ASIN: 0913836087
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| | More details | | In For the Life of the World Alexander Schmemann suggests an approach to the world and life within it, which stems from the liturgical experience of the Orthodox Church. He understands issues such as secularism and Christian culture from the perspective of the unbroken experience of the Church, as revealed and communicated in her worship, in her liturgy - the sacrament of the world, the sacrament of the Kingdom. |
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Francis: The Journey and the Dream
by: Murray Bodo
Publisher: St. Anthony Messenger Press
Published: 2011-07-01
ASIN: 161636064X
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| | More details | 40th Anniversary Edition. Foreword by John Michael Talbot. One of the most influential saints books, with over 200,000 copies sold, Francis: The Journey and the Dream continues to inspire people of all ages with its lyrical prose and depth of love for the Poor Man of Assisi. This beautiful anniversary edition includes Fr. Bodo s story of writing the book and its worldwide influence, a reader s guide for book clubs and discussion groups, and a list of Fr. Bodo's favorite Franciscan resources, culled over three decades of research on Francis and his followers
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Glory in the Cross: Holy Week in the Third Edition of the Roman Missal
by: Paul Turner
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Published: 2011-12-31
ASIN: 0814662420
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| | More details | | The principal liturgies of Holy Week underwent a series of revisions between 1951 and 2011. In this book, noted liturgist Paul Turner charts the rubrics and prayers of the current rites paragraph by paragraph, explaining the historical development of individual components, how and why the post Vatican II liturgical reform made its revisions, and where the Roman Missal, Third Edition has added nuances. This book will help ministers, liturgists, catechists, and all the faithful enter more deeply into the mystery of the cross of Christ, their glory and their hope. |
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How (Not) to Speak of God
by: Peter Rollins
Publisher: Paraclete Press
Published: 2006-08-01
ASIN: 1557255059
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| | More details | With sensitivity to the Christian tradition and a rich understanding of postmodern thought, Peter Rollins argues that the movement known as the “emerging church” offers a singular, unprecedented message of transformation that has the potential to revolutionize the theological and moral architecture of Western Christianity.
How (not) to Speak of God sets out to explore the theory and praxis of this contemporary expression of faith. Rollins offers a clear exploration of this embryonic movement and provides key resources for those involved in communities that are conversant with, and seeking to minister effectively to, the needs of a postmodern world.
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“Here in pregnant bud is the rose, the emerging new configuration, of a Christianity that is neither Roman nor Protestant, neither Eastern nor monastic; but rather is the re-formation of all of them. Here, in pregnant bud, is third-millennium Christendom.” —Phyllis Tickle
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“I am a raving fan of the book you are holding. I loved reading it. I have already begun widely recommending it. Reading it did good for my mind and for my soul. It helped me understand my own spiritual journey more clearly, and it gave me a sense of context for the work I’m involved in. In fact, I would say this is one of the two or three most rewarding books of theology I have read in ten years.” —Brian McLaren, from the Foreword |
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