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A Quilt for Christmas
by Melody CarlsonCuddle up with this cozy story of giving and forgiving--with a little bit of romance Christmas should be celebrated with family, but for Vera Swanson, that’s not an option this year. Widowed and recently relocated, she is lonely in her condo-for-one--until little Fiona Albright knocks on her door needing help. With her mother seriously ill and her father out of town, Fiona enlists Vera’s aid, and when she finds out her new neighbor is a quilter, she has a special request--a Christmas quilt for Mama. Vera will have to get a ragtag group of women together to fulfill the request. Between free-spirited artist Tasha, chatty empty nester Beverly, retired therapist Eleanor, and herself, Vera has hopes that Christmas for the Albright family will be merry after all. And she may even find herself a new family of friends along the way.
A Quilted Life: Reflections of a Sharecropper's Daughter
by Catherine MeeksCatherine Meeks shares the wisdom she has garnered over the journey of her life, from her father&’s sharecropping fields to the academy and beyond. Today, Catherine Meeks is a national leader of racial healing and an esteemed retired professor of African American studies. But being a Black woman in America can be difficult. Join Meeks as she describes the adventures and adversity she encountered on her path to becoming an empowered voice for change. Growing up in Arkansas under the terror of Jim Crow, Meeks learned firsthand about injustice and the desperation it causes. But with the support of her family, she moved to LA to study at Pepperdine. When a Black teenager was killed by a campus security guard, Meeks awakened to her prophetic voice, and a local women&’s group gave her hope that racial reconciliation was possible. She later led a group of students to West Africa, where she met her husband. Yet her years-long battle with rheumatoid arthritis severed their relationship, leaving her a single mother. Meanwhile, she worked tirelessly at Mercer University to expand the African American studies program, all while earning her MSW and PhD. Quilting together these memories—bitter and sweet, traumatic and triumphant—Meeks shares her hard-earned wisdom: Learn how to discern the Creator&’s work. Listen to the voice saying &“yes&” to opportunity. Become a wounded healer. Know when to practice silence and when to speak out. Readers will leave the pages of A Quilted Life enriched by Meeks&’s unique perspective and insight.
A Rabbi Talks With Jesus
by Jacob NeusnerPlacing himself within the context of the Gospel of Matthew, Neusner imagines himself in a dialogue with Jesus of Nazareth and pays him the supreme Judaic gesture of respect: making a connection with him through an honest debate about the nature of God's One Truth. Neusner explains why the Sermon on the Mount would not have convinced him to follow Jesus and why, by the criterion of the Torah of Moses, he would have continued to follow the teachings of Moses. He explores the reasons Christians believe in Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven, while Jews continue to believe in the Torah of Moses and a kingdom of priests and holy people on earth. This revised and expanded edition, with a foreword by Donald Akenson, creates a thoughtful and accessible context for discussion of the most fundamental question of why Christians and Jews believe what they believe.
A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Bright Season
by Leslie Leyland Fields Leslie Leyland Fields, Paul J. Willis Paul J. Willis"In Advent we prepare for the coming of all Love." —Madeleine L'Engle "At the birth of Jesus, an event of cosmic significance by which we humans still mark our calendars, the invisible and visible worlds come together." —Philip Yancey "Help us to realize, as those who love and believe in you that we, too, are pregnant with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that day by day we are being enlarged." —Luci Shaw The first Christmas sermon preserved in church history was preached by St. John Chrysostom in AD 386, in which he declared, "Behold a new and wonderful mystery!" In this volume, the Christian literary writers of the Chrysostom Society reflect on Advent and Christmastide as a bright and meaningful season of anticipation and glory. Through forty-two readings from the first Sunday of Advent through Epiphany, contributors prepare us in watchful waiting for the coming of Jesus. We enter slowly so that the familiar can astonish us and become wondrous once again. Jesus is born in Bethlehem. But not only there. He is also born in us, that we might bear his presence and impart his goodness to the world.
A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sister Maura
by Eileen MarkeyOn a hot and dusty December day in 1980, the bodies of four American women-three of them Catholic nuns-were pulled from a hastily dug grave in a field outside San Salvador. They had been murdered two nights before by the US-trained El Salvadoran military. News of the killing shocked the American public and set off a decade of debate over Cold War policy in Latin America. The women themselves became symbols and martyrs, shorn of context and background.In A Radical Faith, journalist Eileen Markey breathes life back into one of these women, Sister Maura Clarke. Who was this woman in the dirt? What led her to this vicious death so far from home? Maura was raised in a tight-knit Irish immigrant community in Queens, New York, during World War II. She became a missionary as a means to a life outside her small, orderly world and by the 1970s was organizing and marching for liberation alongside the poor of Nicaragua and El Salvador.Maura's story offers a window into the evolution of postwar Catholicism: from an inward-looking, protective institution in the 1950s to a community of people grappling with what it meant to live with purpose in a shockingly violent world. At its heart, A Radical Faith is an intimate portrait of one woman's spiritual and political transformation and her courageous devotion to justice.
A Radical Idea: Unleashing The People of God for the Purpose of God
by David PlattWhat if building the right church depends on using all the wrong people? Imagine. Churches not built on the greatest talent, the finest facilities, or the most exceptional programs. Instead, churches that come together to unleash every single person to impact the world with the Spirit of God for the glory of God. It's a radical idea.
A Radical Philosophy of Saint Paul (Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture)
by Stanislas BretonStanislas Breton's A Radical Philosophy of Saint Paul, which focuses on the political implications of the apostle's writings, was an instrumental text in Continental philosophy's contemporary "turn to religion." Reading Paul's work against modern thought and history, Breton helped launch a reassessment of Marxism, introduce secular interpretations of biblical and theological traditions, develop "radical negativity" as a critical category, and rework modern political ideas through a theoretical lens. Newly translated and critically situated, this edition takes a fresh approach to Breton's classic work, reacquainting readers with the remarkable ways in which an ancient apostle can reset our understanding of the political. Breton begins with Paul's biography and the texts of his conversion, which challenge common conceptions of identity. He broaches the question of allegory and divine predestination, introduces the idea of subjectivity as an effect of power, and confronts Paul's critique of Law, which leads to an exploration of the logics and limits of agency and power. Breton develops these and other insights in relation to Paul's subversive reflections on the crucified messiah, which challenge meaning and reason and upend our current world order. Neither a coherent theologian nor a stable humanist, Breton's Paul becomes a fascinating figure of excess and madness, experiencing a kind of being that transcends philosophy, secularity, and religion.
A Ranch for His Family
by Hope NavarreIt's the second chance for this cowboy Bull riding means everything to Neal Bryant. In his quest for the championships, he's let everything else go-including Robyn Morgan, the woman he loves. Then he has an accident that could turn his rodeo dreams to Kansas dust. It's fitting-or maybe it's fate-that Robyn is the nurse at his bedside. While recuperating on his family's ranch, Neal learns how much he's missed. Robyn is widowed and has a son Neal can't seem to resist...especially when he learns he's the father. It's a dream he never allowed himself to have. And now he needs to show Robyn he's worth a second chance.
A Ranch to Call Home
by Leann HarrisA Cowboy's Promise The thrill of the rodeo is gone for cowboy Caleb Jensen. Nowadays, he helps out at a Texas ranch, keeping bad memories locked away. Then the ranch owner's granddaughter unexpectedly returns home-with a request he can't accept. Former army captain Brenda Kaye is organizing a charity rodeo, and she needs Caleb to get back in the saddle. She's determined to save her family's ranch, even if it means working with the smart-aleck cowboy-and uncovering the mysteries that lie in their pasts. Brenda's used to the dangers of war, but if she trusts Caleb, could the next casualty be her heart? Rodeo Heroes: Only love can tame these cowboys
A Rancher for Christmas (Martin's Crossing #1)
by Brenda MintonAs she cares for her orphaned nieces, can a free-spirited woman find room in her heart for a family?Raised on the run, free-spirited Breezy Hernandez has never stayed in one place too long. But now that she has joint custody of her late brother’s twin daughters, she’s determined to give them a stable home. Even if it means cooperating with the twins’ bossy uncle . . . Texas rancher Jake Martin learned the hard way that women can’t be trusted. But as he and Breezy care for the orphaned girls, Jake begins to open his heart. Is Breezy ready to put down roots in Martin’s Crossing, or will she run from the one thing she’s always wanted: a family?
A Rancher for Their Mom
by Leann HarrisCowboy for Hire Cowboy Joel Kaye has ambitions as big as Texas. And after decades away, rodeo glory seems finally within reach. But when two little boys "hire" him to work on their ranch, Joel can't turn them down. He tells himself it's only for one week, but widow April Landers and her family soon begin to fill a void in the rodeo rider's scarred heart. April lives for her three kids-and the ranch she's fighting fiercely to keep. This determined mama's not looking for another wandering partner. Will this ready-made family inspire Joel to put down roots...for good?rcely to keep. This determined mama's not looking for another wandering partner. Will this ready-made family inspire Joel to put down roots...for good?
A Rancher of Convenience
by Regina ScottFill-In Father...and Husband Sweet mail-order bride Nancy Bennett can't believe it when her husband is exposed as a cattle rustler-and killed. And when the banker holding the ranch's mortgage questions whether she can run the ranch on her own, the pregnant widow has nowhere to turn. Until steady foreman Hank Snowden proposes marriage... Racked with grief about his role in Lucas Bennett's death, Hank resolves to do right by the man's wife and child. So it's natural for him to step in as Nancy's newly minted husband. But the marriage of convenience may become more than a mere obligation...if only Hank and his bride can brave the first steps toward elusive true love.
A Rancher to Remember: A Fresh-Start Family Romance (Montana Twins #3)
by Patricia JohnsIn this inspirational romance, an amnesiac cowboy struggles to remember his twin daughters and the woman he once loved.It’s no surprise that Sawyer West doesn’t recognize the beautiful woman visiting his ranch. After an accident, he doesn’t remember anyone. Not even his twin toddlers. Still, something tells him he can trust Olivia Martin, who offers her help with the girls—and recovering his missing memories. Yet that trust may shatter when he learns why she’s really there . . .
A Rancher to Trust
by Laurel BlountAward-winning author: An estranged couple finds forgiveness and a future.Suddenly a husband . . . and a father? This bachelor is ready to claim his instant family.After learning his ex-wife isn’t so ex after all, rebel turned rancher Dan Whitlock is determined to prove he’s a changed man . . . but Bailey Quinn is just as set on finally ending their marriage.When tragedy makes Dan the guardian of little orphaned twins, he and Bailey are drawn back together. But can she forgive the past and open her heart to the family she’s always wanted?
A Rancher's Claim
by Diana PalmerEnjoy two classic Western romances from New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer!The Rawhide ManJude Langston’s cool green eyes are fixed on the company shares inherited by sweet Bess White when he agrees to a marriage of convenience. But Bess discovers the rough rancher has a surprisingly gentle side. And as much as she resists, Jude has captured her heart. Yet how can she stay in a marriage that is so much less than such a union should be?Reluctant FatherBlake Donavan has spent so many years building a wall around his heart that he doubts anyone could ever break through. Then a little girl with his green eyes shows up on his doorstep! Little Sarah is accompanied by Meredith Calhoun, once a thorn in Blake’s side and now a stunningly beautiful woman. Can Meredith melt Blake’s hardened heart to create a family with the man of her dreams and his newfound daughter?
A Random Act: An Inspiring True Story of Fighting to Survive and Choosing to Forgive
by Cindi Broaddus Kimberly Lohman SuitersCindi Broaddus didn't realize that her life was about to be forever altered as she sat in the passenger seat of a car on a lonely highway, speeding toward the airport in the early morning hours of June 5, 2001. The sister-in-law of Dr. Phil McGraw, a single mother of three, and a delighted new grandmother, she was thinking only of her imminent, well-earned vacation when a gallon glass jar filled with sulfuric acid, tossed from an overpass by an unknown assailant, came crashing through the windshield. In a heartbeat, Cindi was showered with glass and flesh-eating liquid, leaving her blinded, screaming in agony, and burned almost beyond recognition. When she reached the hospital, the attending doctors gave her little better than a 30 percent chance of survival. But Cindi Broaddus did survive--and after excruciating years of recuperation and seemingly endless sessions of skin grafts and reconstructive surgery, she emerged from her ordeal in many ways stronger than she had ever been before. This book includes picture descriptions.
A Ranger for the Holidays (Lone Star Cowboy League #3)
by Allie PleiterThis lawman is praying for a Christmas to remember. Third in the series of bighearted ranchers in small-town Texas, following A Doctor for the Nanny.In Little Horn, Texas, Amelia Klondike is known as the Queen of Christmas. Her generosity and sheer joy during the holidays is contagious—to everyone except Finn Brannigan. The attractive, wounded stranger doesn’t know who he is or where he came from—and he isn’t feeling merry at all.It isn’t long before Amelia, her grandfather and their adorable dog begin to warm Finn’s heart. But when Finn’s memory starts to return, his past as a Texas Ranger—the one thing that might cause Amelia to withdraw from him—is revealed. And he worries that he may lose his chance for one perfect Western Christmas with the woman he can’t bear to forget . . .
A Ransom for Many: Mark 10:45 as a Key to the Gospel
by John J. R. Lee Daniel Brueske"Not to be served, but to serve" Unlike the Gospels of Luke and John, Mark's Gospel never explicitly reveals any authorial intent. In A Ransom for Many, John J. R. Lee and Daniel Brueske identify Mark 10:45 as the heart of Mark's Gospel. This single verse is the pivot point of Mark's structure, themes, and message. Mark 10:45 is the key that unlocks the Gospel's unique focus on true discipleship. Learn how Jesus's faithfulness is both a summons and pattern for all who carry their cross and follow him.
A Rasa Reader: Classical Indian Aesthetics (Historical Sourcebooks in Classical Indian Thought)
by Sheldon PollockFrom the early years of the Common Era to 1700, Indian intellectuals explored with unparalleled subtlety the place of emotion in art. Their investigations led to the deconstruction of art's formal structures and broader inquiries into the pleasure of tragic tales. Rasa, or taste, was the word they chose to describe art's aesthetics, and their passionate effort to pin down these phenomena became its own remarkable act of creation.This book is the first in any language to follow the evolution of rasa from its origins in dramaturgical thought—a concept for the stage—to its flourishing in literary thought—a concept for the page. A Rasa Reader incorporates primary texts by every significant thinker on classical Indian aesthetics, many never translated before. The arrangement of the selections captures the intellectual dynamism that has powered this debate for centuries. Headnotes explain the meaning and significance of each text, a comprehensive introduction summarizes major threads in intellectual-historical terms, and critical endnotes and an extensive bibliography add further depth to the selections. The Sanskrit theory of emotion in art is one of the most sophisticated in the ancient world, a precursor of the work being done today by critics and philosophers of aesthetics. A Rasa Reader's conceptual detail, historical precision, and clarity will appeal to any scholar interested in a full portrait of global intellectual development. A Rasa Reader is the inaugural book in the Historical Sourcebooks in Classical Indian Thought series, edited by Sheldon Pollock. These text-based books guide readers through the most important forms of classical Indian thought, from epistemology, rhetoric, and hermeneutics to astral science, yoga, and medicine. Each volume provides fresh translations of key works, headnotes to contextualize selections, a comprehensive analysis of major lines of development within the discipline, and exegetical and text-critical endnotes, as well as a bibliography. Designed for comparativists and interested general readers, Historical Sourcebooks is also a great resource for advanced scholars seeking authoritative commentary on challenging works.
A Reader in Biblical Greek (Eerdmans Language Resources)
by Richard A. WrightA graduated reader of biblical Koine Greek for students, clergy, and scholars who have completed at least one year of Greek studies. This intermediate reader is for students, clergy, and scholars who have completed at least one year of Greek instruction and want to build reading proficiency. Through twenty-nine texts from the New Testament, the Septuagint, and noncanonical early Christian writings, readers will be exposed to a variety of different genres and authors while still being given enough content from each author to become acquainted with that author&’s individual style. Notes within each selection gloss low-frequency words and clarify syntactical intricacies, and each new section of texts gradually increases in its level of difficulty, so that lessons can be worked through sequentially or as stand-alone exercises, as needed. Wright&’s selections are all texts that Christians in the fourth century CE would have read, with intertextual connections between them that will stimulate discussion and reflection on the development of important ideas in the early church. Thus, this useful resource encourages progress both in Koine reading proficiency and in knowledge of Christian tradition.
A Reader in Early Franciscan Theology: The Summa Halensis (Medieval Philosophy: Texts and Studies)
by Lydia Schumacher and Oleg BychkovA Reader in Early Franciscan Theology presents for the first time in English key passages from the Summa Halensis, one of the first major installments in the summa genre for which scholasticism became famous. This systematic work of philosophy and theology was collaboratively written mostly between 1236 and 1245 by the founding members of the Franciscan school, such as Alexander of Hales and John of La Rochelle, who worked at the recently founded University of Paris.Modern scholarship has often dismissed this early Franciscan intellectual tradition as unoriginal, merely systematizing the Augustinian tradition in light of the rediscovery of Aristotle, paving the way for truly revolutionary figures like John Duns Scotus. But as the selections in this reader show, it was this earlier generation that initiated this break with precedent. The compilers of the Summa Halensis first articulated many positions that eventually become closely associated with the Franciscan tradition on issues like the nature of God, the proof for God’s existence, free will, the transcendentals, and Christology. This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the ways in which medieval thinkers employed philosophical concepts in a theological context as well as the evolution of Franciscan thought and its legacy to modernity.A Reader in Early Franciscan Theology is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.
A Reader in Ecclesiology (Routledge Contemporary Ecclesiology)
by Bryan P. StoneThis Reader presents a diverse and ecumenical cross-section of ecclesiological statements from across the twenty centuries of the church's existence. It builds on the foundations of early Christian writings, illustrates significant medieval, reformation, and modern developments, and provides a representative look at the robust attention to ecclesiology that characterizes the contemporary period. This collection of readings offers an impressive overview of the multiple ways Christians have understood the church to be both the 'body of Christ' and, at the same time, an imperfect, social and historical institution, constantly subject to change, and reflective of the cultures in which it is found. This comprehensive survey of historical ecclesiologies is helpful in pointing readers to the remarkable number of images and metaphors that Christians have relied upon in describing the church and to the various tensions that have characterized reflection on the church as both united and diverse, community and institution, visible and invisible, triumphant and militant, global and local, one and many. Students, clergy and all interested in Christianity and the church will find this collection an invaluable resource.
A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice
by María Pilar Aquino Daisy L. Machado Jeanette RodríguezThis anthology is one of the first attempt to give a comprehensive account of the emerging field of Latina feminist theology, and the various contributions illustrate how variegated this field promises to be.
A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice, 1st Edition
by María Pilar AquinoSpeaking for the growing community of Latina feminist theologians, the editors of this volume write, "With the emergence and growth of the feminist theologies of liberation, we no longer wait for others to define or validate our experience of life and faith.... We want to express in our own words our plural ways of experiencing God and our plural ways of living our faith. And these ways have a liberative tone."<P><P>With twelve original essays by emerging and established Latina feminist theologians, this first-of-its-kind volume adds the perspectives, realities, struggles, and spiritualities of U.S. Latinas to the larger feminist theological discourse. The editors have gathered writings from both Roman Catholics and Protestants and from various Latino/a communities. The writers address a wide array of theological concerns: popular religion, denominational presence and attraction, methodology, lived experience, analysis of nationhood, and interpretations of life lived on a border that is not only geographic but also racial, gendered, linguistic, and religious.
A Reader on Classical Islam
by Francis Edward PetersTo enable the reader to shape, or perhaps reshape, an understanding of the Islamic tradition, F. E. Peters skillfully combines extensive passages from Islamic texts with a fascinating commentary of his own. In so doing, he presents a substantial body of literary evidence that will enable the reader to grasp the bases of Muslim faith and, more, to get some sense of the breadth and depth of Islamic religious culture as a whole. The voices recorded here are those of Muslims engaged in discourse with their God and with each other--historians, lawyers, mystics, and theologians, from the earliest Companions of the Prophet Muhammad down to Ibn Rushd or "Averroes" (d. 1198), al-Nawawi (d. 1278), and Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406). These religious seekers lived in what has been called the "classical" period in the development of Islam, the era when the exemplary works of law and spirituality were written, texts of such universally acknowledged importance that subsequent generations of Muslims gratefully understood themselves as heirs to an enormously broad and rich legacy of meditation on God's Word. "Islam" is a word that seems simple to understand. It means "submission," and, more specifically in the context where it first and most familiarly appears, "submission to the will of God." That context is the Quran, the Sacred Book of the Muslims, from which flow the patterns of belief and practice that today claim the spiritual allegiance of hundreds of millions around the globe. By drawing on the works of the great masters--Islam in its own words--Peters enriches our understanding of the community of "those who have submitted" and their imposing religious and political culture, which is becoming ever more important to the West.