Enlightened Self-Interest : individualism, community, and the common good by
Insights into a compassionate alternative to a ruthlessly self-interested capitalist culture Societally sanctioned competition for money, power, and fame promotes selfishness, personal alienation, and widespread inequality, especially in market-oriented economies. Yet many of those engaging in this competitive individualism--the competition for rewards and limited resources--yearn to act directly to promote a more civil, equitable, and sustainable society. Enlightened Self-Interest offers evidence-based insights into the societal and individual consequences of this cultural practice and an actionable alternative to it. This meticulously researched and empirically rooted reexamination of hypercompetition and zero-sum thinking presents inspiring examples of people who have reclaimed their own lives by contributing to a more civil, equitable, and sustainable society. They model the vision of enlightened self-interest, merging self-interest with other interests in pursuit of the common good, resulting in widely shared benefits. Enlighted Self Interest provides a compelling case for incremental change and a series of actionable recommendations to jump-start a personal transition and to become part of a collective radical evolution.
Beauty Is Oxygen: finding a faith that breathes (2024) by
"Wesley Vander Lugt shows readers how encountering beauty can revitalize their spiritual lives"-- Provided by publisher."Beauty is oxygen because it comes from the lungs of God. Isolating individualism, rank injustice, and everyday monotony threaten to suffocate our souls. But Wesley Vander Lugt shows how beauty can breathe life back into us. Written in a graceful cadence that invites readers to turn these pages slowly, Beauty Is Oxygen weaves together theological reflection, poetry, cultural criticism, and Scripture. Throughout, Vander Lugt shows how beauty can break us out of self-centered malaise, promote healing and hope for our broken world, and reenchant our lives. Beauty is about more than positive feelings or pleasing aesthetics. Beauty is as essential to our souls as oxygen is to our bodies. As readers encounter these traces of divine glory in Vander Lugt's finely crafted meditations, they will find how Christ will "make all things new.""-
Remaining with Jesus : discipleship in the Gospel of John by
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus today? (And why should you want to be one?) Using the Gospel of John as his roadmap, Father Brice Higginbotham invites you to join him on an inspiring exploration of what Scripture tells us about being a disciple of Jesus and how Christian discipleship brings peace and fulfillment to your daily life. By delving into Jesus' encounters with real people, the author provides practical guidance for healthy spiritual living based on two primary concepts: believing in Jesus and remaining with, or staying true to, Jesus in good times and bad. Father Brice introduces you to Jesus' first disciples, offering a lens through which you can see yourself in the experiences of these men and women. Unpacking these historical encounters, he makes them as relevant to modern life as they were to Christ's first followers. Most practically, he presents a four-part program of discipleship according to the Gospel that can uplift and transform your faith life through fellowship with Jesus. Join Father Brice on a fulfilling journey to true discipleship.
Hope Ain't a Hustle : persevering by faith in a wearying world by
Sometimes hope can feel like a scam--a swindle, a hustle. You thought it was real, and you bought into it. But then the tables turn, and you feel like you've been hustled--like you've been had. As Christians, we often respond to the brokenness of life as if we do not actually have hope--as if the promises of God are not really certain. But Pastor Irwyn Ince assures us that not only do we have hope, but that hope cannot disappoint us because it is validated by God himself. Hope Ain't a Hustle is a clear and accessible exploration of the epistle to the Hebrews, urging us to place our confidence in the finished work of our great high priest, Jesus Christ, and showing how that confidence changes the way we live in the here and now. It's not that Christians don't face grief or anger, disappointment or deep sorrow. It's that we don't face them as those "who have no hope."
Unforgivable? : exploring the limits of forgiveness by
Forgiveness is a lovely idea, wrote C. S. Lewis, and in recent decades it has been seen and admired in situations ranging from therapy to politics, and proposed as a constructive pathway in the aftermath of abuse and atrocity. Not everyone is impressed, however, and in parallel with praise and promotion of forgiveness, cries of 'unforgivable' are uttered with increased shrillness and frequency. In this hugely compelling, wide-ranging, and thought-provoking book, Stephen Cherry argues that while forgiveness can be transformative in the aftermath of harm, it can also, if not handled with care, become an additional pressure and anxiety for those who have been harmed. He teases out the way in which Christian understandings often lie behind pressure to forgive, identifying a number of typical mistakes with the Christian approach to forgiveness. Reflecting on many examples from real life as well as literature, and on the insights of psychologists and philosophers, Cherry uses the tension between the desire to forgive and the protest that a person is unforgivable to push towards understandings of forgiveness that avoid the harshness of binary models. Forgiveness is not, he insists, the only good way forward after harm. A positive understanding of non-vengeful unforgiveness is vital if the harmed are to be given the care and support they need and deserve, and if forgiveness itself is to be authentic and liberating. Cherry's challenging book brims with energy and blends human insight with intellectual vision. It argues that if forgiveness is to play a part in the aftermath of harm without inflicting further harm it must be presented in a non-idealized way and only following acknowledgement of the depth of the human impact of the harm done.
Resurrecting Democracy: faith, citizenship, and the politics of a common life by
Through a case study of community organizing in the global city of London and an examination of the legacy of Saul Alinsky around the world, this book develops a constructive account of the relationship between religious diversity, democratic citizenship, and economic and political accountability. Based on an in-depth, ethnographic study, Part I identifies and depicts a consociational, populist and post-secular vision of democratic citizenship by reflecting on the different strands of thought and practice that feed into and help constitute community organizing. Particular attention is given to how organizing mediates the relationship between Christianity, Islam and Judaism and those without a religious commitment in order to forge a common life. Part II then unpacks the implications of this vision for how we respond to the spheres in which citizenship is enacted, namely, civil society, the sovereign nation-state, and the globalized economy. Overall, the book outlines a way of re-imagining democracy, developing innovative public policy, and addressing poverty in the contemporary context.
Real World Faith by
Real World Faitharticulates a faith that is effectively linked to our real world, the world of our bodies and of the body politic. The real world of our bodies causes us to be largely preoccupied with our health, security, dignity, and sexuality, and causes concern for food and shelter for ourselves and for our neighbors. The real world of the body politic puts us in inescapable touch with issues of money, power, weapons, policies, treaties, taxes, and trade agreements. These are the matters that occupy us most of the time on most of our days. They are the proper agenda of our faith, because our faith consists in trust in the One who governs our bodily life in the world. Our interpretive work is to try to articulate the ways--albeit hidden ways--in which the agency and character of God make effective contact with our world. This is real-life faith.
Alternative to the Bread of Affliction: and other essays (2024) by 
The Spirit of Our Politics: spiritual formation and the renovation of public life by
For those discouraged and exhausted by the bitterness and rage in our politics, Michael Wear offers a new paradigm of political involvement rooted in the teachings of Jesus and drawing insights from Dallas Willard's approach to spiritual formation. When political division shows up not only on the campaign trail but also at our dinner tables, we wonder: Can we be part of a better way The Spirit of Our Politics says "yes," offering a distinctly Christian approach to politics that results in healing rather than division, kindness rather than hatred, and hope rather than despair. In this profound and hope-filled book, Michael Wear--a leading thinker and practitioner at the intersection of faith and politics--applies insights taken from the work of Dallas Willard to argue that by focusing on having the "right" politics, we lose sight of the kind of people we are becoming, to destructive results. This paradigm-shifting book reveals: Why we need to reframe how we view our political involvement as Christians How as Christians we can reorient our politics for the good of others The crucial connection between discipleship to Jesus and political involvement A different way of talking about politics that is edifying, not stomach-turning How to navigate political strife in churches and small groups Why who we are in our political life is not quarantined from who we are in "real life" Why gentleness is entirely possible in our political discourse The Spirit of Our Politics is for readers of any political perspective who long for a new way to think about and engage in politics. That new approach begins with a simple question: What kind of person would I like to be
Deconstructing Your Faith Without Losing Yourself by 
Judaism Is about Love: recovering the heart of Jewish life, by Shai Held (2024) by 
A Quilted Life : reflections of a sharecropper's daughter by
"The autobiography of Catherine Meeks, describing her journey from the sharecropping fields of her father to the academy and beyond
Reformation and Everyday Life by
The European reformations meant major changes in theology, religion, and everyday life. Some changes were immediate and visible in a number of countries: monasteries were dissolved, new liturgies were introduced, and married pastors were ordained, other more hidden. Theologically, as well as practically the position of the church in the society changed dramatically, but differently according to confession and political differences. This volume addresses the question of how the theological, liturgical, and organizational changes changes brought by the reformation within different confessional cultures throughout Europe influenced the everyday life of ordinary people within the church and within society. The different contributions in the book ask how lived religion, space, and everyday life were formed in the aftermath of the reformation, and how we can trace changes in material culture, in emotions, in social structures, in culture, which may be linked to the reformation and the development of confessional cultures.
Living Christ : a spiritual reading of the gospels by
In Living Christ, Peter Feldmeier explores the Gospels as the premier revelation of the person, ministry, and salvation of Jesus Christ. Uniting biblical scholarship with a deep spiritual engagement with the Gospels, Feldmeier shows how the biblical word can access the prophetic words and saving work of Jesus to make them one's own. Each Gospel provides a unique interpretation of Christ and a distinctive expression of Christian discipleship. Feldmeier takes the reader slowly through each text so that they may richly engage the truths witnessed by the evangelists and become opportunities for interior transformation. Drawing on traditional and modern commentaries, as well as his own reflections, Feldmeier shows how the Gospels are essential in their own ways in coming to an intimate relationship with Christ and an authentic appropriation of biblical discipleship.
Food Faiths: diet, religion, and the science of spiritual eating by 
Real Forgiveness by
Victims of wrongdoing are often advised not to harbour resentment or seek revenge. Instead, they are encouraged to forgive and move on. Forgiveness is described as a generous gift that heals the rifts created by wrongdoing. It is the path to happiness, the way to escape bitter cycles of revenge and retribution. Yet in some situations it seems that it would be unwise, even dangerous, to forgive. We might worry that victims who forgive unrepentant perpetrators are letting them off the hook and facilitating further wrongdoing. These moral disputes about when we ought to forgive are complicated by the fact that it is unclear exactly what we are talking about when we use the word 'forgiveness'. The supposed experts make wildly divergent claims about what forgiveness is supposed to be. Some say that forgiveness is purely an emotional change in which the victim's anger and resentment are replaced with goodwill. Others say that forgiveness is primarily a behavioural change in which the victim withholds any further blame and punishment. Still others think that forgiving is actually a mental commitment, or even that it is a performative speech act similar to making a promise or cancelling a debt. In Real Forgiveness, Luke Russell identifies the underlying tensions in our thinking about forgiveness, and shows how these tensions have led to mass confusion. Many of us assume that forgiveness is permissible whenever it is possible, and that forgiveness is available to every victim, and that forgiveness results in peace. But forgiveness cannot be all of these things simultaneously, so we must decide which one of these assumptions we will reject. Russell argues that real forgiveness is powerful and appealing precisely because it removes conflict between victims and wrongdoers. Yet sometimes victims ought to remain in conflict with wrongdoers in order to protect themselves and other vulnerable members of the community, so sometimes is it morally wrong to forgive.
The life of solitude = (De vita solitaria) by 
Film and Faith : modern cinema and the struggle to believe by 
Glorification and the Life of Faith by
"Two renowned theologians address the key soteriological theme of glorification, showing students how to integrate theology into the life of faith and how the practices of Christian worship influence theological thinking"--
Profiling Saints: images of modern sanctity in a global world by
Profiling Saints" follows and expands the papers presented at the homonym online international conference (December 2021), which focused on cultural, theological, artistic, and social aspects of models of sanctity and their importance in the modern world up to the post-revolutionary period. This volume aims thus to shed light on the cultural value of canonizations and models of sanctity as models of Christian perfection, including the role of iconography and artworks, in the broader context of modern, global Catholicism. The topics presented by the authors include veneration to, and canonization and representations of, saint theologians, missionaries, martyrs, mystics, and reformers, men and women. "Profiling Saints" looks at modern sanctity and saints from multidisciplinary perspectives, ranging from liturgy, theology, and Church history up to history of ideas, cultural history, history of emotions, and art history, and contributes to shed light on such a complex phenomenon of Christian history in its modern developments.
Scenes with My Son : love and grief in the wake of suicide by
A celebration and an elegy, Scenes with My Son sensitively renders the terrible privilege of grief in the wake of suicide. After years of battling clinical depression exacerbated by autism, Auggie Hubbard died by suicide at the age of 19. In this poignant tribute to his son, Robert Hubbard--a theatre scholar and actor--stages Auggie's life in a series of vivid and tender scenes: Auggie's insatiable hunger for Accelerated Reader points. His tireless lightsaber practice in the local park. His sonorous tuba practice in the ward of his inpatient program. Through these anecdotes of Auggie's life and the days following his death, readers journey with a family shaken by mental illness and share in their hard-won joys in defiance of depression. Refusing easy answers and clichés about "God's plan," Hubbard unflinchingly asks: Does faith matter amid such tragedy? What do you do when awareness isn't enough? When you've tried so hard to keep your child safe, but your efforts fail? His honesty and vulnerability--and his tender portrait of Auggie--are gifts to all who live with their own questions in the wake of a loved one's death.
Leading Faithful Innovation: following God into a hopeful future by 
Belonging: five keys to unlock your potential as a disciple by
Ministry leaders and other Christians find a deeply personal pathway to discern what discipleship means for them in Belonging by Karoline Lewis.What does it look like for you to belong to Jesus Christ? Not your colleague, or your professor, or your neighbor, or the leaders of your denomination, but you? How might your one-and-only life be patterned differently, to more truly align you with Christ? What pretense might you give up? What potential might open up for you as a leader and disciple?Belonging:5 keys to Unlock Your Potential as a Disciple helps readers to understand and live out Christian discipleship in a way that is most deeply authentic for themselves. It's for the leader who is exhausted from trying to live by other people's templates, who wants to figure out what it looks like to live & lead as only they can. It's for the student or layperson desiring to follow Christ with integrity, to be themselves fully as a disciple.This book is scholarly but accessible for pastors, students, ministry leaders, and laypersons. Karoline Lewis structures it around the story of the Samaritan woman and guides the reader to discover deep connection with biblical characters who lead to self-discovery. Questions for reflection throughout the book evoke deep insights about self, theology, and discipleship.Belonging is excellent for clergy development and ministry leader development in any setting and can be read and studied alone or in groups. Pastors and other congregational leaders can work their way through the book together, in order to lead the church with greater integrity.
Discipleship for Every Stage of Life: understanding Christian formation in light of human development by
The field of life span development in psychology has much to offer those engaged in making disciples, and Chris Kiesling brings those insights to bear in this volume. He appropriates the most useful observations from this discipline in light of biblical teaching. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of experience teaching faith development topics in academic and local church settings, Kiesling assembles a toolkit that will help those in ministry think comprehensively about discipleship at every stage of life. Taking into account physical, cognitive, emotional, and social aspects of human development from infancy through older adulthood, Kiesling guides readers in making practical use of these insights in churches and educational settings. Pastors, ministry leaders, and educators will benefit from this treatment, which brings cutting-edge findings from the social sciences into dialogue with Scripture, theology, and practical ministry.
Deep Reading : practices to subvert the vices of our distracted, hostile, and consumeristic age by
This book helps readers develop practices that will result in deep, formative, and faithful reading so they can contribute to the flourishing of their communities and cultivate their own spiritual and intellectual depth. The authors present reading as a remedy for three prevalent cultural vices--distraction, hostility, and consumerism--that impact the possibility of formative reading. Informed by James K. A. Smith's work on "the spiritual power of habit," Deep Reading provides resources for engaging in formative and culturally subversive reading practices that teach readers how to resist vices, love virtue, and desire the good. Rather than emphasizing the spiritual benefits of reading specific texts such as Dante's Divine Comedy or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the authors focus on the practice of reading itself. They examine practices many teachers, students, and avid readers employ--such as reading lists, reading logs, and discussion--and demonstrate how such practices can be more effectively and intentionally harnessed to result in deep reading. The practices apply to any work that is meant to be read deeply.
Wayfaring : a Christian approach to mental health care by
A theologically and scientifically engaged exploration of modern mental health care The current model of mental health care doesn't see people: it sees sets of symptoms that need fixing. While modern psychiatry has improved many patients' quality of life, it falls short in addressing their relational and spiritual needs. As a theologian and practicing psychiatrist, Warren Kinghorn shares a Christian vision of accompanying those facing mental health challenges. Kinghorn reviews the successes and limitations of modern mental health care before offering an alternative paradigm of healing. Based in the theology of Thomas Aquinas, this model of personhood affirms four truths: We are known and loved by God. We are creatures made of earth who are formed in community. We are wayfarers on a journey. We are called not to control, but to wonder, love, praise, and rest. Drawing on theological wisdom and scientific evidence, Kinghorn reframes our understanding of mental health care from fixing machines to attending fellow wayfarers on the way to the Lord's feast. With gentle guidance and practical suggestions, Wayfaring is an essential resource for pastors and practitioners as well as for Christians who seek mental health care.
A Philosophy of Prayer: nothingness, language, and hope by
Exploring the silence of prayer in Post-Kantian philosophy and traditional spirituality A Philosophy of Prayer explores prayer within the perspective of post-Kantian philosophy. Against a background of traditional sources, including Augustine, The Cloud of Unknowing, and the seventeenth-century French school of spirituality, the book uses Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Heidegger, Berdyaev, Tillich, Marcel, Simone Weil, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jean- Louis Chrétien to provide an interpretation of what is meant by the passivity and self-annihilation of the praying self, suggesting an "apophatics of the personality." Pattison pays particular attention to the question of language and the implications of the role given to silence in traditional texts, arguing that language remains a defining element of the human-God relationship and that silence is not to be construed as the negation of language but as the revelation of the depth of language itself. The basic structure of prayer is shown to be implicitly eschatological, oriented toward a coming kingdom of justice and peace while, at the same time, expressing a deep desire for ontological homecoming, a tension manifest in, respectively, Levinas and Heidegger. On Pattison's reading, prayer calls for and develops a particular orientation of the self toward existence, corresponding to the virtue of humility, long understood as the basic Christian virtue. This is shown to be in tension with modernity's commitment to strong versions of autonomy. However, the choice of humility is not presented as the reinstatement of religious heteronomy but as a free choice of the praying self.
A godly contemplation : prayers and meditations by 
Irreverent Prayers: talking to God when you're seriously sick by
Two pastors share their experiences with serious illness--and their candid, darkly humorous prayers for making it through. Samantha Vincent-Alexander almost died from a septic leg infection. Elizabeth Felicetti underwent aggressive treatment for both breast and lung cancer in the space of a few months--and then the cancer came back. As Episcopal priests, they know well the typical prayers offered in times like these. But when you're seriously sick, you need more than psalms and sentimentality. You need to tell God how you really feel. With vulnerability and wry humor, Felicetti and Vincent-Alexander share the prayers they wish they had when they were ill: thanksgiving for one-size-fits-all hospital underwear, curses against Tylenol, frustrated appeals when well-wishers call you brave or inspiring. At once faithful and brutally honest, these prayers offer readers a more candid way of communicating with the God who understands human suffering with an incarnational intimacy. Talking to God when you're fighting serious illness can feel impossible. But God can bear our doubt, anger, anxiety, and grief. This unconventional prayerbook helps readers access a deeper relationship with God in raw times--and offers them a place of solidarity and spiritual rest.
Humility: rediscovering the way of love and life in Christ by 
Pilgrim Journey : instruction in the mystery of the gospel (2023) by 
Human Flourishing in a Technological World: a theological perspective by
"Human Flourishing in a Technological World addresses the question of human identity and flourishing in the light of recent technological advances. The chapters in Part I provide a philosophical-theological evaluation of changing major anthropological assumptions that have guided human self-understanding from antiquity to modernity: How did we move from a religious and mostly embodied anthropology of the person to the idea that we can upload human consciousness to computing platforms? How did we come to imagine that machines can actually be intelligent, or even learn in human fashion? Moreover, what metaphysical changes explain our mostly uncritical embrace of a technological determination of being and thus of how reality "works"? In Part II, the focus turns to the practical implications of our changing understanding of what it means to be human. Covering some of the most pressing current concerns about human flourishing, these chapters deal with the impact of technology on education, healthcare, disability, leisure and the nature of work, communication, aging, death, and the nature of wisdom for human flourishing in light of evolutionary biology. The volume includes the text of a lecture by virtual reality engineer and computer scientist Jaron Lanier, and a discussion between Lanier and other contributors." --
Eight Million Exiles : missional action research and the crisis of forced migration by 
Hopeful Lament : tending our grief through spiritual practices by
We need to rediscover lament to heal and hope again. We've lost the practice of lament. Most people don't know how to process personal or communal mourning and instead struggle to honor their tears, vulnerability, and the full weight of these disillusioning times. But tending our grief might be exactly what we need to reimagine a way forward. Tracing her difficult experiences of a catastrophic home fire, a threat to her child's well-being, and other devastating losses and upheavals, Terra McDaniel offers a clear framework for expressing heartache and burdens. McDaniel says, "Lament is surprisingly hopeful. As strange as that may sound now, I promise it's true. It's an act of trust both that we can face pain and survive, and that God cares about our anger, confusion, doubt, grief, and fear. Lament refuses to bury pain or, just as dangerous, to give in to despair." Hopeful Lament makes space for the powerful act of crying out before a loving God and offers provoking reflection questions, embodied practices, and applications for families with children. Learn how to journey gently through suffering.
Perfect in Weakness: disability and human flourishing in the new creation by
One of the central and novel convictions of the early Christian movement compared to the existing Greco-Roman beliefs was the dogma of bodily resurrection. The Stoics esteemed temperance, disciplining the body to curb the flesh; the Epicureans embraced pleasure, indulging their worldly desires. However, Paul?s letters to the Corinthians convey a countercultural idea: what you do with your body matters because it will still be with you in the resurrection. But when many contemporary Christians consider the new creation, they imagine the new Jerusalem filled with unblemished people living with normalized and idealized resurrected bodies: "healing" is assumed as a fundamental reality of the resurrection. In Perfect in Weakness, Maja I. Whitaker develops the proposition that people with disabilities might retain their diverse embodiment in the new creation?that the resurrected body might still be "disabled." This theological claim is based in the accounts of the resurrected Christ appearing with the stigmata, and it is supported by the intuitions of those persons with disabilities who consider that their unique embodiment is identity-forming and entirely unproblematic in itself. If the human person is an essentially embodied metaphysical unity, then there may be features of our particular bodies that must be continuous through the transformation of resurrection for personal identity to be secured. However, this "retention view" has faced conceptual objections on the grounds of theological anthropology, continuity of identity, and biblical conceptions of flourishing human life. Whitaker confronts these objections, integrating philosophical, biblical, and theological methodologies in order to present a reasonable and coherent defense of the retention view. The possibility of persons with diverse embodiment enjoying fullness of life in the new creation can expose negative attitudes towards disability and unlock a critique of ableist bias in Christian thought and practice in the modern church. Moreover, it can function as an eschatological parable to subvert the powers of this age that idolize success, mastery, and autonomy to the neglect of theologies of weakness, limitation, and dependency. In this way, Perfect in Weakness is important not only in the realm of disability studies but also in the wider Christian community that is mired within the cultural ideologies of our time.
Called to discipleship : reflections on the Gospel of Mark by
Drawing on Jesus's example in the Gospel of Mark, this book offers an in-depth exploration of the nature of discipleship. A tool to help readers draw close to Jesus, it presents discipleship as a way of life centred on the journey back to God - a journey that integrates the quest for salvation, wholeness, and human fulfilment. Ultimately, the invitation to discipleship is an invitation to live in obedience to God and commitment to our fellow human beings, as Christ calls his followers not only to their own transformation but to participate in the transformation of others. At a time when secular culture is rediscovering the benefits of discipleship, this book invites readers into a powerful experience of identity formation based on the values of Christ and his kingdom.
The Lived Experience of Forgiveness: phenomenological and psychological perspectives by 
Falling Upward : a spirituality for the two halves of life (Revised and Updated) by 
Meaning in the Moment: how rituals help us move through joy, pain, and everything in between by
Life has its ups and downs, and it can feel like we're always in the middle of a transition. Whether it's a painful end, an uncertain middle, or a joyful beginning, Amy Davis Abdullah has found something that helps: rituals. In Meaning in the Moment, she shows why we need rituals to survive and even thrive through various seasons of life. She also provides practical guidance for creating our own meaningful rituals.
Unexpected Abundance : the fruitful lives of women without children by
Meet 25 women who generated life without giving birth In many Christian communities today, women are expected to have children--to "be fruitful and multiply." To be childless is to be less of a woman, less of a Christian, or so it can feel. Elizabeth Felicetti is deeply familiar with this pressure as an Episcopal priest who never had the children she imagined would be part of her life. But in the landscape of her childhood in Arizona Felicetti found fresh eyes. If she's "barren," so is the desert--and if you look closely, the desert teems with unexpected life. This is also true of women throughout history. Biblical women like Mary Magdalene, medieval mystics like Julian of Norwich, and modern activists like Rosa Parks did not have children, yet their lives bore fruit in their communities and in the church at large. In reflecting on her own experience alongside those of these remarkable women, Felicetti deepens our understanding of the many ways to be fruitful. Women without children--by choice or chance--who have felt frustrated or voiceless in the church will find solidarity and inspiration in the pages of Unexpected Abundance.
Sacred Self-Care : daily practices for nurturing our whole selves by 
Freedom and Imagination : trusting Christ in an age of bad faith by
We suffer today from a crisis not of confidence, but of trust. With the constant barrage of lies, untruths, and alternative facts, all words are dubious, all deeds are debatable, and all motives are suspect. To tell the truth in such a world requires fortitude. To believe the truth demands even more. In Freedom and Imagination, S. D. Giere recovers the idea of faith as trust and of faith in Christ as trusting what God has done through him. Tending to faith is like tending to the heart and, thereby, the health of the whole. By trusting Christ, one is free to live without the fear of sin and death, free to live in love toward the friend, the neighbor, and even the enemy. Faith reveals the cosmos as it is: a world reconciled to the Triune God. Yet, that freedom frequently conflicts with experience. Only faith can bend the imagination towards seeing the world in and through Christ. Freedom and Imagination recovers faith as the theological heart of the human being's participation in the life of God, and imagination as faith's interpretive lens. Three areas of ministry and life are explored through the imagination of faith: biblical interpretation, proclamation, and Christian freedom.
Soul Boom: why we need a spiritual revolution by
**New York Times Bestseller** Comedic actor, producer, and writer Rainn Wilson, cofounder of the media company SoulPancake, explores the problem-solving benefits that spirituality gives us to create solutions for an increasingly challenging world. The trauma that our struggling species has experienced in recent years--because of both the pandemic and societal tensions that threaten to overwhelm us--is not going away anytime soon. Existing political and economic systems are not enough to bring the change that the world needs. In this book, Rainn Wilson explores the possibility and hope for a spiritual revolution, a "Soul Boom," to find a healing transformation on both a personal and global level For Wilson, this is a serious and essential pursuit, but he brings great humor and his own unique perspective to the conversation. He feels that, culturally, we've discounted spirituality--faith and the sacred--and we need profound healing and a unifying understanding of the world that the great spiritual traditions provide. Wilson's approach to spirituality--the non-physical, eternal aspects of ourselves--is relatable and applies to people of all beliefs, even the skeptics. Filled with genuine insight--not to mention enlightening Kung Fu and Star Trek references--Soul Boom delves into ancient wisdom to seek out practical, transformative answers to life's biggest questions.
Lest We Lose Love: rediscovering the core of Western culture by
Few are aware that since antiquity, there has always been the philosophy of love at the core of Western culture. It articulates what makes life meaningful and worthwhile, and how we can live a good life together through an ethic of love. This book fills this significant gap, not only reconnecting the reader with such important wisdom, and more crucially, also reorienting our socio-economic institutions and collective actions towards more loving and caring, and more concerned with the qualities of our lived experiences. By re(dis)covering the gifts of love, we may challenge the existing systemic dehumanisation, and draw from knowledge and understanding already present in our culture. This is timely because the global crises we are facing are catastrophic, especially when it comes to climate change. Therefore we must respond from a place of love rather than fear. Whether it is reducing the use of fossil fuels, lowering greenhouse emission, choosing the right food to eat, or advocating for structural transformation, our concerted endeavours start with an appropriate appreciation of the nature of our well-being which includes the planet's well-ness. This book highlights a clear pathway forward: to ensure collective healing and co-flourishing with nature, we must practise the art of loving.