But how do we know when we are being meek--or just cowardly? When is our anger righteous--and when is it a sin? What is the difference between being virtuous--and merely ethical? Back to Virtue clears up these and countless other questions that beset Christians today. Kreeft not only summarizes scriptural and theological wisdom on leading a holy life, he contrasts Christian virtue with other ethical systems. He applies traditional moral theology to present-day dilemmas such as abortion and nuclear armament.

Kreeft restores to us what was once common knowledge: the Seven Deadly Sins have an antidote in the Beatitudes. By setting up a close contrast between the two sets of behaviors, Kreeft offers proven guidance in the often bewildering process of discerning right from wrong as we move into the questionable mores of the twenty-first century. He provides a road map of virtue, a map for our earthly pilgrimage synthesized from the accumulated wisdom of centuries of Christians, from Paul and the early Church Fathers through C.S. Lewis.

Not only can you live happily every day, bestselling author Joel Osteen suggests you must discover the potential within yourself and learn how to use it to live better, and to help others better themselves as well.

God didn't create you to be average. You were created to excel! You have everything you need to fulfill your God-given destiny, and there is no limit to what you can accomplish if you discover how to be a better you!

In Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day, Joel Osteen, America's best-known pastor, will inspire and motivate you to live with more joy, hope, and peace -- truly a life of victory! Joel will help you look deep inside yourself to become a better spouse and parent, a better boss or employee, a better community leader, a better friend -- in short, a better person!

Joel Osteen reveals seven simple yet profound principles that when taken to heart will help you become all that God has created you to be. In a straightforward, easy-to-understand style, Osteen explains key biblical values; the text is laced with personal testimonies that will enlighten and uplift you.

Each of the seven keys has its own section, complete with a set of practical action points. Thus Become a Better You will guide you in the process of uncovering your hidden resources. Within these pages, Joel Osteen addresses topics such as building your confidence, developing better relationships, finding peace within, and staying passionate about life. Become a Better You will encourage you to reach your unique God-given potential, and will help you to enjoy every day of your life, despite your circumstances. As you incorporate Joel's easy-to-grasp principles into your life, you will be pleasantly surprised at how much more God has in store for you, and how quickly you become a better you!

• what all addicts have in common


• the hunt of the malnourished heart


• where to find the courage to face the dark side


• wrestling with shame and grace


• the healing effect of radical honesty

In this groundbreaking work, Larry Crabb shows readers how to build intimate, healing connections with others-mini-communities where God's power to heal souls is quickened and released through individuals' compassionate, authentic relationships with others.

Our dark emotions are much more than just uncomfortable feelings we struggle to control. They are windows into our heart. They are the cry of our soul. These emotions-the ones we tend to suppress and hide-actually have something important to tell us. They can reveal, in a very graphic way, where we are in our relationship with God.

So often we find ourselves caught between extremes. Either we feel too much or not at all. We tend to ignore our feelings or fight them off as if they were an enemy. But all emotion-whether positive or negative-can give us a glimpse of the true nature of God. We want to control our negative emotions and dark desire. God wants us to recognize them as the cry of our soul to be made right with Him.

Beginning with the Psalms, Dr. Dan Allender and Dr. Tremper Longman III explore what Scripture says about our darker emotions. In this ground-breaking work they reveal that often our attempts to control our emotions-far from an attempt to be Christlike-are really a form of rebellion against God or an attempt to flee from Him.

The Cry of the Soul is a penetrating look at the condition of the human heart. You won't find the kind of answers that alleviate struggle or help you overcome anger, jealousy, or despair in three easy steps. But you can encounter God Himself, who exults in using darkness to reveal the brilliance of His infinite goodness.

The result is joy. Not a superficial happiness that ignores the problems of our lives, but a profound emotion that can confront darkness with open eyes and confidence.

"Allender and Longman add an important contribution to a new wave of Psalm studies. There is an enormous temptation for 'high faith' to deny the 'dark side' of life where 'things do not work.' Against that common propensity, they show how the Psalms make contact with the 'emotions of failure.' Such places in life become, by their sensitive reading of the Psalms, places of revelatory healing and transformation. Readers will be helped to fresh and faithful discernment of life and text."-Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, Columbia

"Dan and Tremper have done us a fierce kindness. In a culture committed to either running from or wallowing in our emotions, The Cry of the Soul offers an excruciating but hopeful alternative-to listen to our own hearts (as did the psalmists) so we can better receive and worship the pursuing heart of God."-Nancy Groom, author of From Bondage to Bonding and Heart to Heart about Men

"The Cry of the Soul offers insight after surprising insight into the unexpected relationship between our emotions and our view of God. A needed correction to the simplistic explaining away of pain and suffering."-Daniel Taylor, Ph.D., author of The Myth of Certainty and Letters to My Children

"In The Cry of the Soul I hear an echo of my own heart-cry and that of the psalmists-to know God intimately and authentically, and to see Him powerfully at work in our broken world."-Luci Shaw, poet, teacher, author of God in the Dark and Writing the River

"If we are to be rescued from the incessant tendency to psychoanalyze the gospel, this book will be a good start. Dan and Tremper give us not more psychological information, but biblical encouragement to be faithful."-Michael Card, singer, songwriter, and author of Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ