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The Undoing of Death
by Fleming RutledgeThe Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus comprise the two-part event at the heart of the Christian story. Because of its unique meaning and the intense emotions it invokes, Holy Week brings high expectations on the part of congregations and places unusual demands on those who deliver the messages. It takes a specially gifted preacher to communicate the profundity of Christ's Passion and its supreme relevance for our contemporary world. Fleming Rutledge is just such a preacher. Heralded by congregations and peers alike as one of today's most compelling and powerful Christian voices, Mrs. Rutledge is also a best-selling author whose previous collections of sermons have touched readers deeply. This new volume, representing twenty-five years of Holy Week and Easter preaching, offers a wide-ranging vision of the Cross and Resurrection that will inform and inspire committed believers and serious seekers alike. Divided into seven sections that progress through Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter and on through Eastertide, these sermons incorporate the biblical themes of sacrifice for sin, vicarious suffering, victory over evil and death, and the new creation arising out of eternal love. Many of these sermons are brand-new; others -- especially those for Good Friday -- have been rethought and reworked over a period of years. None have ever been published before. All of them consistently display Mrs. Rutledge's startling ability to bridge the message of the ancient biblical texts with the distinct needs of modern people. Intellectually engaging, pastorally wise, and beautifully written, The Undoing of Death is accented with thirty-three artistic masterpieces depicting the events of Holy Week, making it a feast for the eye as well as the soul.
Undoing the Knots: Five Generations of American Catholic Anti-Blackness
by Maureen O'ConnellA personal and historical examination of white Catholic anti-Blackness in the US told through 5 generations of one family, and a call for meaningful racial healing and justice within CatholicismExcavating her Catholic family&’s entanglements with race and racism from the time they immigrated to America to the present, Maureen O'Connell traces, by implication, how the larger Catholic population became white and why, despite the tenets of their faith, so many white Catholics have lukewarm commitments to racial justice.O'Connell was raised by devoutly Catholic parents with a clear moral and civic guiding principle: those to whom much is given, much is expected. She became a theologian steeped in social ethics, engaged in critical race theory, and trained in the fundamentals of anti-racism. And still she found herself failing to see how her well-meaning actions affected the Black members of her congregations. It seemed that whenever she tried to undo the knots of racism, she only ended up getting more tangled in them.Undoing the Knots weaves together narrative history, theology, and critical race theory to begin undoing these knots: to move away from doing good and giving back and toward dismantling the white Catholic identity and the economic and social structures it has erected and maintained.
Undone: A Story of Making Peace With an Unexpected Life
by Michele CushattUndone is author Michele Cushatt’s quest to make peace with a complicated life. It is an honest confession of a diagnosis of cancer and the joys and disappointments of motherhood and marriage, ripe with regret over what is and, yet, still hopeful for what could be. With enough humor to ease the rawness of the story, Undone takes the reader on a roller coaster two-year journey through the unexpectedness of life. A look back makes Michele long for a do-over, the chance to make fewer mistakes and leave less of a mess to clean up. A look forward makes Michele wonder if all her attempts to control life have robbed her of the vibrancy of it. And, in the middle of this internal chaos, she finds her once-pristine house filled with the sights and sounds of three small, uncontainable children who just want to be loved. In the end, Undone turns complication into a beautiful canvas, angst into joy, and the unknown into an adventure, revealing that sometimes life’s most colorful and courageous stories are written right in the middle of the mess.
Undone: The Why and How of Being in the Presence of God
by Kevin H. GrenierThe Christian life cannot be fully lived as God intended unless we first experience the love and presence of God in a personal way. Even once we do, there are greater experiences of the presence of God available to us - because there is always more of Him to discover. In this book, Kevin Grenier gives us his own personal story and a Biblical framework for experiencing the presence of God more fully in our lives. You can learn more at gatheringhispeople.org
Undone by Easter: Keeping Preaching Fresh
by William H. WillimonFace the prospect of preaching your next Easter sermon with joy and confidence, rather than worry about finding something new to say. Preachers dread the arrival of Easter, because these holy days bring the daunting task of finding new ways to tell the old stories everyone's heard so many times before. But what if it were only we preachers who are bored with these stories? asks Will Willimon. What if people keep showing up at Easter because the story of God's victory over death continues to hold power for them? What if the point were not to capitulate to the culture's insatiable appetite for novelty, but to tell the old stories faithfully, trusting in the power of the Spirit to make the text, the congregation, and yes, even the preacher come alive again in the preaching event?
Undreaming Wetiko: Breaking the Spell of the Nightmare Mind-Virus
by Paul LevyTransform wetiko into its own antidote• Learn how ancestral trauma is at the root of wetiko and how the wounded healer/shaman archetype can help bring both individual and collective healing• Meet the inner guide--a daemon/angel that lives within us as an ally in our encounters with the daemonic energy of wetiko• Cultivate &“symbolic awareness&” as a path to creating meaning and transmute the poison of wetiko into medicine for healingThe profound and radical Native American idea of &“wetiko,&” a virus of the mind, underlies the collective insanity and evil that is destructively playing out around the world. Yet, as Paul Levy reveals in depth, encoded within wetiko itself lies the very medicine needed to combat the mindvirus and heal both ourselves and our world. Levy begins by investigating how the process of becoming triggered, wounded, or falling into suffering can help us better understand the workings of wetiko in a way that transforms our struggles into opportunities for awakening. He reveals the source of wetiko: unhealed multigenerational ancestral trauma, which is acted out and propagated through the family. He highlights one of the primary archetypes currently activated in the collective unconscious of humanity—the wounded healer/shaman—and shows how recognizing this archetype can help us as we navigate a collective descent into the underworld of the unconscious, a true bardo realm between our past and future worlds. Drawing on the work of C. G. Jung, Rudolf Steiner, Henry Corbin, Wilhelm Reich, and Nicolas Berdyaev, the author introduces the inner guide—a daemon/angel that lives within us as an ally in our encounters with the daemonic energy of wetiko. He explores how to cultivate &“symbolic awareness&” (interpreting events in our lives symbolically—like a dream) as a path to creating meaning, which alchemically transmutes the poison of wetiko into medicine for healing the psyche. Ultimately, the author reveals that the best protection and medicine for wetiko is to connect with the light of our true nature by becoming who we truly are.
The Undying Lamp of Zen: The Testament of Zen Master Torei
by Thomas Cleary Torei EnjiThe Undying Lamp of Zen is a pure and powerful distillation of Zen doctrine and practice written by Torei Enji (1721-1792), a Zen master and artist. Torei was best known as one of two "genius assistants" to Hakuin Ekaku, a towering figure in Zen Buddhism who revitalized the Rinzai school, which focuses on koan practice. Torei was responsible for much of the advanced work of Hakuin's later disciples and also helped systemize Hakuin's Zen teachings. The Undying Lamp of Zen includes a range of principles and practices, from the most elementary to the most advanced. It is an indispensable aid to the practice of Rinzai Zen, while also providing tested traditional techniques for public access to Zen experience. Premier translator Thomas Cleary provides a thorough introduction and illuminating footnotes throughout, and his masterful translation lets Torei's distinctive voice shine through; Torei is energetic, no-nonsense, and full of personality. No other English translations of this classic are available and Zen aficionados will want to add this to their collection.
Undying Love (Shadow of Liberty Series #4)
by Al Lacy Joanna LacyNineteen-year-old Stephan Varda flees his father's wrath over the death of his beloved brother in unstable 1880s Hungary. It doesn't take long for Miklos Varda to regret losing yet another son, but it's already too late to find Stephan. Strong-tempered Miklos learns one bitter lesson after another until he becomes homeless himself -- at the same time Stephan is learning about the mercy of Jesus Christ from a beautiful, devout young Hungarian-American. Intricately coordinated events lead both Stephan and Miklos to America and to a pivotal decision: whether or not to accept God's undying love.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Une autre opportunité
by Antonio MenaDes personnages se retrouvent dans un lieu étrange sans se souvenir de rien. Ce lieu énigmatique est en fait la clef de toute notre existencia. Estas líneas no prolongan los lectores en la vida de personajes que deambulan en un lugar misterioso sin saber comentar, pero aquí están. Ils doivent faire face au doute, et à des peligros, et cela les effraie. Ils ont besoin de réponses à leurs multiples questionsnements : qui sont-ils ? Pourquoi ne se rappellent-ils de rien ? ¿Où está pasado el resto del mundo? ¿Quél est donc ce lieu étrange? Petit à petit, descubrirás a los pasados y los identificarás con certeza. Pero lo más importante de toda esta historia es el mensaje final que se transmitió, un mensaje que no te dejará indiferente. Quise decir, puede que estas líneas lleguen a cambiar para siempre la façon dont vous voyez le monde ! Vous pourrez clairement comprendre qui nous sommes réellement, nous les êtres humains. Le livre vous propone de réfléchir sur l'humanité et tente de vous faire comprendre, qu'au final, nous sommes tous interconnectés.
Une journée équitable à la foire pour Tommy
by Linda HendersonLa foire promet des expériences intéressantes pour les jeunes et les moins jeunes. Tommy aime particulièrement les manèges et les animaux de la foire. Il aimait aussi faire des additions dans sa tête. C'est ainsi qu'il a découvert qu'il y avait beaucoup de choses à additionner à la foire. Alors qu'il écoutait son oncle Albert calculer le prix des tickets d'entrée, celui-ci lui a donné une leçon de vie sur l'importance de traiter les gens de manière juste et équitable. Nous pouvons tous tirer des leçons de ce que l'oncle Albert a dit à Tommy. Dans ce livre facile à lire pour les 6-8 ans, les enfants peuvent s'amuser avec Tommy et sa famille pendant qu'ils parcourent le champ de foire. Ils peuvent exercer leur esprit en pratiquant les mathématiques. Et à la fin du livre, les enfants découvrent celui qui nous considère tous comme des êtres égaux !
Une nouvelle créature
by Gabriel AgboDans ce livre, vous trouverez des chapitres révélateurs : Si un homme est en Christ, Traduit dans le Royaume de Dieu, Vous et le Saint-Esprit, Les dons du Saint-Esprit, Sanctifiés et justifiés, Vivre par l'Esprit, Une vie d'engagement, Une vie d'alliance avec Dieu, Conseils sur la manière de vivre une vie chrétienne réussie, etc. Ensuite, "Qu'est-ce qui vous fait croire que vous êtes chrétien ? Il y a une erreur parmi les chrétiens depuis des lustres : ils sont chrétiens parce qu'ils appartiennent à une dénomination chrétienne ou sont nés dans une famille chrétienne. Cependant, rien ne peut être plus éloigné de la vérité que cela. L'Écriture dit quelque chose de très intéressant : le chrétien est une nouvelle créature. Si vous êtes vraiment chrétien, quand êtes-vous devenu une nouvelle créature ? Et où sont les fruits ? Professeur Gilbert Adimora
Une nuit dans l'Annwn: L'histoire de l'EMI de Willy Jones (Annwn-Paradis Série #1)
by Owen JonesUne nuit dans l'Annwn L'histoire de l'expérience de mort imminente (EMI) de Willy Jones L'Annwn est un vieux terme anglais qui désigne le paradis et, comme le Valhalla, il est situé sous terre. Ce roman raconte l'histoire de Willy, un vieux berger gallois des collines qui s'est laissé aller apès la mort de sa femme adorée. Un jour, tandis qu'il promène sa vieille chienne, elle meurt, et Willy s'effondre à la suite d'une attaque provoquée par sa tristesse, bien qu'ayant renoncé depuis longtemps à la volonté de vivre. Toutefois, il se réveille à l'hopital et essaie de tirer parti de son expérience. Au bout de peu de temps, il s'aperçoit que la jeune infirmière est Sarah, sa femme décédée, et il commence à penser qu'il est mort. Cela ne l'attriste pas, en effet il est rempli de joie. Il passe des 'journées' entières avec Sarah dans l'Annwn, au cours desquelles elle lui fait visiter les lieux et lui explique comment marchent les choses 'au paradis'. Tout ce qu'il voit et qu'il entend l'intéresse, mais à l'improviste il est rappelé à son corps. Son corps a aussi été à l'hopital, mais dans le monde physique, et il se réveille d'une expérience de mort imminente. Il va par la suite recommencer à voir sa femme, et le souvenir d'avoir passé plusieurs jours dans l'Annwn lui revient. Sa vie est transformée et il a de nouveau envie de vivre, et il travaille avec sa femme de l'Autre Coté pour le bénéfice de personnes moins fortunées, puis un jour sa fin arrive elle aussi et sa femme et lui sont à nouveau réunis pour toujours
Unearthed: A Lost Actress, a Forbidden Book, and a Search for Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust
by Meryl FrankA thrilling mystery woven into a beautifully constructed family memoir: Meryl Frank&’s journey to seek the truth about a beloved and revolutionary cousin, a celebrated actress in Vilna before World War II, and to answer the question of how the next generation should honor the memory of the Holocaust. As a child, Meryl Frank was the chosen inheritor of family remembrance. Her aunt Mollie, a formidable and cultured woman, insisted that Meryl never forget who they were, where they came from, and the hate that nearly destroyed them. Over long afternoons, Mollie told her about the city, the theater, and, above all else, Meryl&’s cousin, the radiant Franya Winter. Franya was the leading light of Vilna&’s Yiddish theater, a remarkable and precocious woman who cast off the restrictions of her Hasidic family and community to play roles as prostitutes and bellhops, lovers and nuns. Yet there was one thing her aunt Mollie would never tell Meryl: how Franya died. Before Mollie passed away, she gave Meryl a Yiddish book containing the terrible answer, but forbade her to read it. And for years, Meryl obeyed. Unearthed is the story of Meryl&’s search for Franya and a timely history of hatred and resistance. Through archives across four continents, by way of chance encounters and miraculous discoveries, and eventually, guided by the shocking truth recorded in the pages of the forbidden book, Meryl conjures the rogue spirit of her cousin—her beauty and her tragedy. Meryl&’s search reveals a lost world destroyed by hatred, illuminating the cultural haven of Vilna and its resistance during World War II. As she seeks to find her lost family legacy, Meryl looks for answers to the questions that have defined her life: what is our duty to the past? How do we honor such memories while keeping them from consuming us? And what do we teach our children about tragedy?
Unearthing Ancient America: The Lost Sagas of Conquerors, Castaways, and Scoundrels
by Frank JosephDoes Colorados Grand Canyon hide an ancient city found by a Smithsonian Institution photographer?Did the Vikings beat Columbus to the New World using a fiber-opticnavigational instrument?Who built a colossal water reservoir in Iowa long before the firstEuropean settlers arrived?What secret have the Giants of the California Desert preserved formore than a thousand years?These are just some of the intriguing questions posed and answered by expert researchers in Unearthing Ancient America. They go on to tackle a broad variety of archaeological enigmas shunned as too heretical forconsideration by conventional scholarsa Roman figurine found off the New Jersey coast, North African gold in Illinois from a long-vanished kingdom, an Egyptian knife removed from a centuries-old tree in California, a fifth century Christian church in Connecticut, a prehistoric harbor underwater in the Bahamas, Easter Islands cultural connections with pre-modern Japan, and voyagers to Maine from Stone Age Scotland.Unearthing Ancient America contains a wealth of fresh, occasionally suppressed evidence documenting the tremendous impact made on our continent by overseas visitors hundreds and even thousands of years before Columbus. The disclosures presented here re-write the prehistory of our country and provide a dramatic panorama of the past you never imagined before.The distinguished list of contributing writers to Unearthing Ancient America includes:Wayne May, founder and publisher of Ancient American magazineGunnar Thompson, PhD, author of American DiscoveryNobuhiro Yoshida, language professor from the University of KyushuWilliam Donato, the worlds leading authority on the Bimini RoadDavid Hatcher Childress, founder of The World Explorers Club and head of Adventures Unlimited Press.
Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi Jing (I Ching) and Related Texts (Translations from the Asian Classics)
by Edward L. ShaughnessyIn recent years, three ancient manuscripts relating to the Yi jing (I Ching), or Classic of Changes, have been discovered. The earliest—the Shanghai Museum Zhou Yi—dates to about 300 B.C.E. and shows evidence of the text's original circulation. The Guicang, or Returning to Be Stored, reflects another ancient Chinese divination tradition based on hexagrams similar to those of the Yi jing. In 1993, two manuscripts were found in a third-century B.C.E. tomb at Wangjiatai that contain almost exact parallels to the Guicang's early quotations, supplying new information on the performance of early Chinese divination. Finally, the Fuyang Zhou Yi was excavated from the tomb of Xia Hou Zao, lord of Ruyin, who died in 165 B.C.E. Each line of this classic is followed by one or more generic prognostications similar to phrases found in the Yi jing, indicating exciting new ways the text was produced and used in the interpretation of divinations. Unearthing the Changes details the discovery and significance of the Shanghai Museum Zhou Yi, the Wangjiatai Guicang, and the Fuyang Zhou Yi, including full translations of the texts and additional evidence constructing a new narrative of the Yi jing's writing and transmission in the first millennium B.C.E. An introduction situates the role of archaeology in the modern attempt to understand the Classic of Changes. By showing how the text emerged out of a popular tradition of divination, these newly unearthed manuscripts reveal an important religious dimension to its evolution.
Unearthing Venus: My Search for the Woman Within
by Cate MontanaIn the tradition of Eat, Pray, Love and Cheryl Strayed's Wild comes a fresh voice in women's non-fiction. Join Cate Montana on an amazing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle, up staggering peaks in the Andes, and halfway across the globe to the consecration of a temple to the Great Goddess in southern India as she searches for the missing Feminine within herself and Western Culture. Raised in a man's world to be "just one of the guys," Cate was a highly successful network TV editor and journalist, self-admittedly "brash, driven and highly competitive." While on assignment a chance encounter with a shaman sets her on the path of unearthing the illusive power of the feminine. In a raw and wrenching recapitulation of her life Cate discovers the devastating absence of feminine qualities within herself and the withering personal and global consequences of having only one paradigm available for her to express through: the masculine "P" values of Power, Possessions, Profit, and Progress. An intelligent, compellingly honest and frequently funny memoir of a modern woman's search for her own unrecognized feminine spirit, Unearthing Venus is both a visionary and everywoman story that brilliantly captures what it is to be a woman today and everyday.
The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism
by Carl F. HenryOriginally published in 1947, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism has since served as the manifesto of evangelical Christians serious about bringing the fundamentals of the Christian faith to bear in contemporary culture. In this classic book Carl F. H. Henry, the father of modern fundamentalism, pioneered a path for active Christian engagement with the world -- a path as relevant today as when it was first staked out.Now available again and featuring a new foreword by Richard J. Mouw, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism offers a bracing world-and-life view that calls for boldness on the part of the evangelical community. Henry argues that a reformation is imperative within the ranks of conservative Christianity, one that will result in an ecumenical passion for souls and in the power to meaningfully address the social and intellectual needs of the world.
Uneasy Encounters: Christian Churches in Greater China (Christianity in Modern China)
by Magdaléna RychetskáThe book examines the dynamic processes of the various social, political, and cultural negotiations that representatives of Christian groups engage in within authoritarian societies in Greater China, where Christianity is deemed a foreign religious system brought to China by colonial rulers. The book explores the political and social cooperation and negotiations of two particular Christian groups in their respective and distinct settings: the open sector of the Catholic Church in the communist People’s Republic on mainland China from 1945 to the present day, and the Presbyterian church of Taiwan in the Republic of China in Taiwan during the period of martial law from 1949 to 1987. Rather than simply confirm the ‘domination-resistance’ model of church–state relations, the book focuses on the various approaches adopted by religious groups during the process of negotiation. In an authoritative Chinese environment, religious specialists face two related pressures: the demands of their authoritarian rulers and social pressure requiring them to assimilate to the local culture. The book uses two case studies to support a wider theory of economic approach to religion.
Uneasy In Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives And American Culture (Religion And American Culture Ser.)
by Barry HankinsThe first book-length interpretation of the new conservative leaders of America's largest Protestant denomination Uneasy in Babylon is based on extensive interviews with the most important Southern Baptist conservatives who have assumed control of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Known to many Americans from their appearances on national TV talk shows, such as Larry King Live and Fox News, they advocate a return to traditional values throughout the country. Hankins shows how differing cultural perceptions help explain the great chasm that developed between fundamentalists in the SBC and the moderates who preceded them as leaders of the denomination.
Unequal Partners: In Search of Transnational Catholic Sisterhood
by Casey Ritchie ClevengerWhen we think of Catholicism, we think of Europe and the United States as the seats of its power. But while much of Catholicism remains headquartered in the West, the Church’s center of gravity has shifted to Africa, Latin America, and developing Asia. Focused on the transnational Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Unequal Partners explores the ways gender, race, economic inequality, and colonial history play out in religious organizations, revealing how their members are constantly negotiating and reworking the frameworks within which they operate. Taking us from Belgium and the United States to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sociologist Casey Clevenger offers rare insight into how the sisters of this order work across national boundaries, shedding light on the complex relationships among individuals, social groups, and formal organizations. Throughout, Clevenger skillfully weaves the sisters’ own voices into her narrative, helping us understand how the order has remained whole over time. A thoughtful analysis of the ties that bind—and divide—the sisters, Unequal Partners is a rich look at transnationalism’s ongoing impact on Catholicism.
UNESCO, Religious Cultural Heritage and Political Contestation: Conflict of Values or Values in Conflict? (Culture and Religion in International Relations)
by Clizia FranceschiniThis book offers an innovative study of UNESCO's religious heritage and nomination mechanisms. In particular, it shows how these processes can easily become instruments of power politics, undermining the neutrality and impartiality of the nomination processes. This is particularly true where political contestation for the exercise of sovereign authority over the site is politically contested and the competing claims are primarily based on shared cultural and religious narratives, which both sides in the dispute use to assert their claims. In this respect, religious heritage, both in its tangible and intangible dimensions, is the subject of national and global decisions that have political, cultural and religious implications. Starting from this premise, the book aims to show that the global regulatory framework and institutional decisions in the field of religious heritage are not neutral, but are determined by political discourses and agendas of governments and UNESCO.
Unexpected: Leave Fear Behind, Move Forward in Faith, Embrace the Adventure
by Christine CaineIs it possible to have peace in an uncertain world? To not only expect the unexpected but embrace it?Most of us want to have life under control. But God wants us to anticipate the unexpected with a faith deeply rooted in his goodness. He wants us to know that because he is in control, we don’t have to be.In Unexpected, beloved author Christine Caine helps us walk into the life God has for us—unknowns and all. Using dramatic examples from her own journey, Christine offers real-life strategies and biblical inspiration to help us move from fear and worry about ourselves to hope and trust in God. As we learn new ways to manage disappointment, strengthen our hearts, and build our faith, we can enjoy a new adventure with God that is more fulfilling than any day we spend trying to anticipate what will happen next.Stepping into our God-given destiny means stepping into the unknown, but we can embrace that calling because God knows it already. Nothing in our lives takes God by surprise. So even in the midst of personal upheaval, relational challenges, financial stresses, family transitions, career disappointments, and chaotic world affairs, we can expect God to be good and do good. What other expectation do we need to have? Listen to God’s dare to trust him in every unknown of your life today.
Unexpected: Navigating Life's Unforeseen Turns (Morgan James Faith)
by Ken L. RobertsOn a routine trip to a women’s Bible study, Ken’s wife of twenty-five years was killed in a car accident. At the time of the accident, Ken was forty-seven years of age, the father of two adult children, and the pastor of a large and growing congregation. Using his own story, as well as his thirty plus years of experience in pastoring hundreds of others through adversity and tragedy, Ken in his new book Unexpected: Navigating Life’s Unforeseen Turns will help you navigate through your unexpected turns in life and in the process become the person you hope to become.
Unexpected: The Backstory of Finding Elizabeth Smart and Growing Up in the Culture of an American Religion
by Chris ThomasThe backstory of finding Elizabeth Smart and how growing up in the Mormon culture pushed the author to develop the exact kind of intuition that was needed to help manage Elizabeth&’s kidnapping and rescue while the world watched.Chris Thomas is not yet thirty years old when he finds himself managing the immense pressure, eccentric personalities, and extenuating circumstances of an international story, where one small misstep could adversely impact the search for a missing teenager and the reputation of her family. Now, twenty years later, Thomas takes readers behind the scenes, providing new details, perspectives, and commentary on finding Elizabeth Smart. In the process of reflecting on Elizabeth&’s search and rescue, Thomas discovers how growing up in the culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as Mormon) helped push him to develop the exact kind of intuition needed to manage Elizabeth&’s kidnapping and rescue, and to do so while the world watched. Unexpected juxtaposes crucial events from the Smart case with Thomas&’s experience growing up in the Latter-day Saint culture, including coming to understand the secret of a broken war hero before it was too late.