Kategoria BISAC: Religion >> Christian Living - General

In Unexpected News, Robert McAfee Brown looks at ten biblical texts through a new lens. Brown's analysis is concerned with how our reading of the Bible is dependent on our experiences and worldview. Brown sets out to understand how "third world Christians," that is, Christians who live in poverty and powerlessness, interpret the Bible. Brown argues that by reading the Bible in new ways, we can learn more about other cultures as well as gain a new understanding of the biblical message.

In her book Reaching for Rainbows, Ann Weems revealed a graceful style, a joyous approach to worship, and an uncommon understanding of human beings in their everyday settings and in their relationship to God. Now, the popular author offers a powerful and inspiring statement on what she considers her greatest inheritance--a sustaining faith. She reflects on her family, from the Scottish ancestors who came to this country seeking religious freedom, down through the generations to her own children.

This simply-written book offers practical techniques for relaxing feelings of worry and fear and taking problems in easy stride. We have worries and fears partly because we have been trained to be afraid. Under stressful conditions, this training takes over. In easy-to-understand terms, Paul Hauck explains the Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) appraoch used in this book--that our fears and worries are generated by our irrational beliefs.

A simply written and practical guide on how to get up when you feel down. A professional psychotherapist explains the techniques he has developed in his private practice--techniques by which anyone can overcome depression.

Robert L. Short, author of the best-selling The Gospel According to Peanuts, presents a book of biblical meditations on everyday life. Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, Woodstock, and friends consider their religious beliefs, and the resulting cartoons offer some delightful insights into life. Short seizes the opportunity to explore these insights one step further, to help us laugh at our own foibles and learn from our own collisions with reality.

Chris Glaser believes that spirituality and sexuality are not opposing forces, but that they are both important parts of the human experience that ought to be embraced. This book of prayers encourages readers to "come out" to God as sexual and spiritual beings.

This practical guide provides an alternative to the standard methods of arbitration and litigation used by divorcing couples--and shows how mediation can be utilized instead. Based on the author's professional experience in law and as a minister who has mediated for more than five hundred couples, Tim Emerick-Cayton provides illustrations on how to survive the pain and anguish of divorcing while maintaining personal integrity and faith. With case examples of those who have experienced successful mediation, Emerick-Cayton shows how mediation reduces cost, hostility, and confusion....

Studying such literary figures as Frederick Buechner, Albert Camus, George Dennison, Ursula Le Guin, C. S. Lewis, Alan Paton, Ignazio Silone, Alice Walker, Elie Wiesel, and Charles Williams, Robert McAfee Brown illustrates "the liberating power of fiction" by enabling the reader to enter their worlds. Brown asserts that although there is no faith that offers ironclad guarantees against future struggles, the wisdom of these authors can help us toward praising and rejoicing.

Grace Cumming Long provides us with a Christian ethics from the perspective of women's experience, rooted in passion and reason, emotion and research. Through a collage of autobiographical narratives and feminist theologies Cumming Long constructs an unconventional approach to moral questioning, using the arts of cooking, painting, quilting, and weaving to illuminate how Christians must be creative in finding faithful ways to respond to God and to the social crises of our day. She examines welfare, reproductive choice, addiction, handicapping conditions, and AIDS within her ethical...

In this book, Marc Ellis wrestles with some of the critical issues of contemporary Jewish and Christian life, in particular the issues of Jewish and Christian religiosity after Auschwitz and 1492, two events that are historical and contemporary in their relevance. Both mark Jewish and Christian religiosity in deep and compelling ways. Ellis does not attempt to offer an exhaustive account of either the Holocaust or 1492 or their political, cultural, and religious consequences. Rather, he attempts to share with the reader a point of view that comes from his own experience of these two events...

There will always be those among us who are unable to fully provide for themselves. In Sacramental Cocoa, Lynn Perry writes of her experiences with the marginalized and disenfranchised, who, not unlike their more prosperous counterparts, long for connection with others and with God. Sacramental Cocoa is a love story. The vignettes affirm the connectedness of all people and our place in God's world.

Reformed Protestantism has undergone drastic changes throughout its history in America. Although it has become less prominent in American society, Douglas Ottati reminds us that this Christian movement is still a dynamic and important witness to our world. This book is an important contribution to promoting, deepening, and extending the distinctive spirit and witness of Reformed Protestantism.

Within the liturgy, congregations pledge to accept, love, forgive, and nurture the newly baptized member. The church, however, often lives out this covenant selectively, forcing its gay and lesbian members into silence, alienation, and doubt. We Were Baptized Too challenges the church to take seriously its understanding of baptism and communion as a means of grace, justice, and liberation.

What is it about a garden that has such strong attraction for so many of us? In this beautifully illustrated book, Sara Covin Juengst answers this question as she explores the way the metaphor of the garden is used in the Bible. She looks at how the various garden images are used to convey ideas of God's providential care, our responsibility to steward the earth, the discipline of the Christian life, what it means to bear fruit, and the harvest waiting for us in the "new heaven and earth." She also discusses ancient gardening routines, such as plowing, planting, and pruning, to shed light...

In this book, Chris Glaser describes his personal journey of coming out to his family, friends, church--and to himself. He tells the story of how the church reacted to his disclosure and his subsequent "uncommon" calling that led him to devote his professional life to reconciliation between the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community and the church. By openly and honestly telling his story, Glaser furthers his calling--demonstrating that lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals are not abstractions, but real people struggling to remain faithful.

Maria Harris explains the biblical concept of Jubilee and considers the implications of a living Jubilee for today. She offers a compelling argument that a living Jubilee is a comprehensive spirituality that would have a positive political, economic, and moral impact on individuals, families, religious congregations, institutions, and nations.

Max Christensen brings to life heroes and saints from the past and present who have inspired human beings to reach higher and live more fruitful lives. These highly entertaining biographical sketches of people such as Joan of Arc, John Calvin, and Marian Anderson pay tribute to individuals who found the grace and strength to change our world for the better, forever.

These are the inspiring stories of twenty-seven Presbyterians who decided to stand for the inclusion of sexual minorities in the church. Each person's story is a testament to the struggle to live out personal faith in a public world.

This rich collection of stories provides fertile ground for anyone who wants to be on more intimate terms with the Bible. Inspiring and uplifting, these meditations are ideal for those seeking to grow in personal faith and biblical knowledge.