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Becoming a Woman of Excellence
by Cynthia HealdIn the book of Ruth, Boaz describes Ruth as being a woman of excellence. The book of Proverbs compares a woman of excellence to precious jewels. God Himself beckons us to become women of excellence. But what exactly is He asking? Does He intend for us to keep homes as beautiful as Martha Stuart or become women who lead ministries like Beth Moore? Can we even hope to reach the excellence that God invites us to reach for? This Bible study is designed for group or self-led study and explores what excellence really means in areas such as Surrender, Obedience, Discipline, Discretion, Wisdom, and Purity.
Becoming a Woman of Faith: Fixing Our Eyes On Jesus, The Author And Perfecter Of Faith. Hebrews 12:2 (Bible Studies: Becoming A Woman Ser.)
by Cynthia HealdWhat does it mean to be a woman of faith? Is it having the right Bible verse in your back pocket or a religious quotation ready for any occasion? Cynthia Heald offers a richer perspective on the true meaning of a woman of faith. From facing challenging circumstances to being real before God, Becoming a Woman of Faith is a Bible study that helps women learn what it means to walk with faith in the real world and honor Christ with their lives. This newest book in the best-selling Bible study series for women offers quotations from classic Christian writers and key Scripture passages with questions for reflection and study, and Cynthia Heald's warm and personable style.
Becoming a Woman of Grace: A Bible Study (Bible Studies: Becoming A Woman Ser.)
by Cynthia HealdBecoming a Woman of Grace takes you on a transforming journey to the boundless reasches of God's grace. In this study guide, Cynthia Heald explores the many ways God's grace has already enriched your life and how you can know His grace more fully and then extend it to others.Fulled with the elements that have endeared Cynthia Heald's study guides to millions-key Scripture passages for study and reflection, provocative questions for discussion and response, quotations from classic Christian writers, and personal reflections from Cynthia's life-Becoming a Woman of Grace is an invigorating study sure to encourage, challenge, and change you.With gently wisdom, thorough commentary, and unique personal insight, Cynthia Heald presents the gift of grace in a way that will enrich the lives of women in Becoming a Woman of Grace.
Becoming a Young Man of God
by Ken RawsonFrom the time they’re born, boys are given a “code” to live by: don’t cry, don’t play with dolls, don’t be a wimp…you get the picture. For a middle school guy, it’s tough enough to figure out what it means to just be yourself—let alone how to become a man. Breaking the Code is an eight-week study that will help them discover what it really means to be a man. With fun, interactive activities and age-appropriate discussion questions, you’ll find that this study will help small groups of middle school guys learn how they can become the men God created them to be. In this study, you’ll help guys:• critically examine what they’ve been taught about what it means to be a man• explore the rich heritage of men in the Bible• discover their identity in God• find new ways to feel confident Help the guys in your group begin the journey to manhood with a clear perspective on what it means to be a man. Help break the code.**After you’ve helped guys break the code, you can help them study the ultimate man—Jesus, in Breaking the Code (book 2). Focusing on the life of Christ, they will learn to deal with the issues most guys face.
Becoming a Young Woman of God
by Jen RawsonOur middle school girls are told a lot about who they’re supposed to be. Media and culture have a great influence over how they behave, dress, and think, and more often than not, it’s not a very becoming image. For anyone who works with middle school girls, you want to help them become something more—the young women God has created them to be.Becoming book 1 is an eight-week study that will help young girls discover who they truly are, and help them see who they can become. Using games, activities, quizzes, projects and crafts, movie clips, music, and stories, you’ll get your girls involved in a study that will help them find their true value. In this study, your small group of middle school girls will:• know their true value and develop self-respect• gain a godly perspective on body image and modesty• learn to set goals and boundaries• begin to understand their feelings• accept who they areShow the girls in your group that becoming a woman is about more than clothes, makeup, and boyfriends. Help them understand what it means to become a woman of God. **After you’ve shown girls how to become women of God, take them to the next step. In Becoming book 2, they’ll learn how to deal with everyday life issues like godly young women.
Becoming an Adult: Advice on Taking Control and Living a Happy, Meaningful Life
by Henry CloudA faith-based instruction manual to help you discover the fulfilling life you were meant to live.In Becoming an Adult, Dr. Henry Cloud—co-author of the bestselling classic Boundaries—focuses on the growth, connections, separations, and choices that everyone must experience to achieve emotional intelligence and health.Dr. Cloud, one of today's most trusted voices in the field of mental healthcare, highlights key issues many of us face as we navigate adulthood. With clear, insightful, and easy-to-follow guidelines, Becoming an Adult will enable you to:Address issues of dependency, authority, and boundaries.Reevaluate beliefs, decision-making, and discipline.Learn how to bond with others and strengthen existing relationships.Identify a better sense of self and grow both emotionally and spiritually.Explore how to align your path with your own interests and beliefs.You can become a healthy, productive, and faithful adult in society. Dr. Cloud will help you get there.
Becoming an Ordinary Mystic: Spirituality for the Rest of Us
by Albert Haase, OFMI should be further along on the spiritual journey. Why don't I see any progress? What am I doing wrong?
Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals
by Shane Claiborne Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove"Prayer is not so much about convincing God to do what we want God to do as it is about convincing ourselves to do what God wants us to do." —from the Introduction Activists Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove show how prayer and action must go together. Their exposition of key Bible passages provides concrete examples of how a life of prayer fuels social engagement and the work of justice. Phrases like "give us this day our daily bread" and "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" take on new meaning when applied to feeding the hungry or advocating for international debt relief. If you hope to see God change society, you must be an ordinary radical who prays—and then is ready to become the answer to your own prayers.
Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand (Buddhisms: A Princeton University Press Series #13)
by Donald K. SwearerBecoming the Buddha is the first book-length study of a key ritual of Buddhist practice in Asia: the consecration of a Buddha image or "new Buddha," a ceremony by which the Buddha becomes present or alive. Through a richly detailed, accessible exploration of this ritual in northern Thailand, an exploration that stands apart from standard text-based or anthropological approaches, Donald Swearer makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Buddha image, its role in Buddhist devotional life, and its relationship to the veneration of Buddha relics. Blending ethnography, analysis, and Buddhist texts related to this mimetic reenactment of the night of the Buddha's enlightenment, he demonstrates that the image becomes the Buddha's surrogate by being invested with the Buddha's story and charged with the extraordinary power of Buddhahood. The process by which this transformation occurs through chant, sermon, meditation, and the presence of charismatic monks is at the heart of this book. Known as "opening the eyes of the Buddha," image consecration traditions throughout Buddhist Asia share much in common. Within the cultural context of northern Thailand, Becoming the Buddha illuminates scriptural accounts of the making of the first Buddha image; looks at debates over the ritual's historical origin, at Buddhological insights achieved, and at the hermeneutics of absence and presence; and provides a thematic comparison of several Buddhist traditions.
Becoming the Church: God's People in Purpose and Power
by Claude R. AlexanderMany today have given up on church. But God has not and does not give up on the church.Bishop Claude Alexander shows how the original Christians did not always understand what the church was supposed to be, but God worked in them anyway to become the community that he intended. After the resurrection of Jesus, his followers were transformed from disillusion and doubt to become a people of conviction and new life. The book of Acts describes the unfolding purposes, principles, and practices discovered by the apostles as they gave themselves to Christ's call. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we too can be transformed by Jesus and model to the world what it means to know him—as the church.
Becoming the Compassion Buddha
by Geshe Lhundub Sopa Robina Courtin Lama Thubten YesheNot only was Lama Yeshe one of the most beloved Tibetan Buddhist masters of the late twentieth century, he was also a remarkably effective teacher and communicator. In Becoming the Compassion Buddha, just as he did with his bestselling Introduction to Tantra, he once again demonstrates his extraordinary ability to present practices that once were considered arcane or hidden in a way that is clear and understandable to the general reader. In these pages, Lama Yeshe guides readers through the tantric practice of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, basing his instructions on a text written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at age nineteen. He gives special emphasis to mahamudra, the emptiness of one's own mind, and demystifies these esoteric techniques, clearly showing them for what they are: highly developed psychology. Throughout, Lama Yeshe presents his approachable teachings by drawing on examples from daily life and introducing meditation practices that all can follow. Becoming the Compassion Buddha is an extraordinary book that opens new doors for countless readers.
Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission (The Gospel and Our Culture Series (GOCS))
by Michael J. GormanThe first detailed exegetical treatment of Paul’s letters from the emerging discipline of missional hermeneutics, Michael Gorman’s Becoming the Gospel argues that Paul’s letters invite Christian communities both then and now to not merely believe the gospel but to become the gospel and, in doing so, to participate in the life and mission of God.Showing that Pauline churches were active public participants in and witnesses to the gospel, Gorman reveals the missional significance of various themes in Paul’s letters. He also identifies select contemporary examples of mission in the spirit of Paul, inviting all Christians to practice Paul-inspired imagination in their own contexts.
Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission (The Gospel and Our Culture Series (GOCS))
by Michael J. GormanThe first detailed exegetical treatment of Paul’s letters from the emerging discipline of missional hermeneutics, Michael Gorman’s Becoming the Gospel argues that Paul’s letters invite Christian communities both then and now to not merely believe the gospel but to become the gospel and, in doing so, to participate in the life and mission of God.Showing that Pauline churches were active public participants in and witnesses to the gospel, Gorman reveals the missional significance of various themes in Paul’s letters. He also identifies select contemporary examples of mission in the spirit of Paul, inviting all Christians to practice Paul-inspired imagination in their own contexts.
Becoming the People of the Talmud
by Talya FishmanIn Becoming the People of the Talmud, Talya Fishman examines ways in which circumstances of transmission have shaped the cultural meaning of Jewish traditions. Although the Talmud's preeminence in Jewish study and its determining role in Jewish practice are generally taken for granted, Fishman contends that these roles were not solidified until the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. The inscription of Talmud--which Sefardi Jews understand to have occurred quite early, and Ashkenazi Jews only later--precipitated these developments. The encounter with Oral Torah as a written corpus was transformative for both subcultures, and it shaped the roles that Talmud came to play in Jewish life.What were the historical circumstances that led to the inscription of Oral Torah in medieval Europe? How did this body of ancient rabbinic traditions, replete with legal controversies and nonlegal material, come to be construed as a reference work and prescriptive guide to Jewish life? Connecting insights from geonica, medieval Jewish and Christian history, and orality-textuality studies, Becoming the People of the Talmud reconstructs the process of cultural transformation that occurred once medieval Jews encountered the Babylonian Talmud as a written text. According to Fishman, the ascription of greater authority to written text was accompanied by changes in reading habits, compositional predilections, classroom practices, approaches to adjudication, assessments of the past, and social hierarchies. She contends that certain medieval Jews were aware of these changes: some noted that books had replaced teachers; others protested the elevation of Talmud-centered erudition and casuistic virtuosity into standards of religious excellence, at the expense of spiritual refinement. The book concludes with a consideration of Rhineland Pietism's emergence in this context and suggests that two contemporaneous phenomena--the prominence of custom in medieval Ashkenazi culture and the novel Christian attack on Talmud--were indirectly linked to the new eminence of this written text in Jewish life.
Becoming the Talbot Sisters: A Novel of Two Sisters and the Courage that Unites Them
by Rachel LindenTwin sisters Waverly and Charlie Talbot have drifted far apart as they pursue opposite dreams of stardom and service to the poor. On an astonishing journey across Central Europe, they must come together to face their fears, find their courage and fight for what they love.Celebrity chef Waverly Ross has built a successful career with her home-entertaining show Simply Perfect. Yet she and her husband, Andrew, have never been able to realize the true desire of Waverly’s heart: to become a mother. Meanwhile Waverly’s twin sister, Charlie Talbot, buries her bitter disappointment and shattered idealism beneath a life spent serving others as an international aid worked in Budapest, Hungary. When the beloved aunt who raised them passes away, Waverly and Charlie come together in their grief after living years on separate continents. Struck by a fierce desire to bridge the distance between them, Charlie offers Waverly and her husband the selfless gift of surrogacy.But soon the sisters find they are each in danger of losing their jobs, seemingly putting their dreams on hold once again. When Waverly shows up unannounced in Budapest with a plan to rescue Simply Perfect, the sisters embark on an adventure across Central Europe that could save them both from occupational hazards. Though the twins haven’t had to rely on each other since childhood, an unforeseen dangerous turn in their journey across Europe forces them to stand together to save their careers, the baby, and each other.
Becoming the Witch: The Art of Magick
by Danae Moon ThorpEmbrace the Art of Magick & the Power that Has Always Been Inside YouProviding a unique look at what witchcraft means in the 21st century, this lyrical book empowers you to become a divine weaver of life, be at one with nature's heartbeat, and connect to all things. With practical guidance and poetic encouragement, Danae Moon Thorp teaches you what every witch must know, including the elements, spells, tools, deities, rituals, and more.Becoming the Witch explains the complexities of witchcraft in a clear and creative way, giving you a richer understanding of how it all works. Learn to imbue every action, word, and ingredient of a spell with powerful energy that connects your heart, body, and mind to extraordinary possibilities. You'll also explore divine realms, delve into the history of magick, and find spiritual fulfillment in ordinary life. This book is your key to not just holding a wand, but also turning that wand into an extension of yourself.
Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be: A 90-Day Guide to Living the Proverbs 31 Life
by Donna PartowEvery woman needs a little jump start in life. Donna Partow knows how to make it happen. In Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be, author Donna Partow shows women how to reenergize their lives in 90 days. She covers everything from faith and family to fitness and fashion (with lots more) in this comprehensive plan for greater vitality in life and intimacy with God. This in-depth study of Proverbs 31:10-31 will make women feel in control and on top of things as they study and even memorize that famous passage about the ideal woman of God. This positive, life-affirming book includes a leader's guide, making it perfect for small group use.
Becoming ‘Good Muslim’: The Tablighi Jamaat in the UK and Bangladesh
by Bulbul SiddiqiThe book uses an ethnographic approach to explore why the Tablighi Jamaat movement remains so successful in contemporary times. It shows that this success results from the positive image that it cultivates, and the systematic preaching activities of Tablighi Jamaat followers, and that the organisation's apolitical image, the public profile of the ijtema, the humbleness of Tablighi followers, and the attraction of belonging to the global Tablighi community all help to create a positive image of the Tablighi Jamaat among ordinary Muslims. The book also argues that the Tablighi Jamaat remains successful because of its ability to hold its followers within a Tablighi-guided life, which is perceived as protection against the Western lifestyle. Many elements of contemporary Western lifestyle are considered non-Islamic, and so by clearly defining what is Islamic and non-Islamic in modern society, the Tablighi Jamaat provides a way in which Muslims can live in the contemporary world, but remain good Muslims.
Bede and the End of Time (Studies In Early Medieval Britain And Ireland Ser.)
by Peter DarbyBede (c. 673-735) was the leading intellectual figure of the Anglo-Saxon Church, and his writings had a profound influence on the development of English Christian thought. Among the many issues he wrote about, eschatology - the study of the day of judgment and the end of time - was a recurring theme. Whilst recent research has furthered our knowledge of this subject in the later Middle Ages, Dr Darby's book provides the first comprehensive analysis of Bede's eschatological thought and its impact upon the Anglo-Saxon period. Taking account of Bede's beliefs about the end of time, this book offers sophisticated insights into his life, his works and the role that eschatological thought played in Anglo-Saxon society. Close attention is given to the historical setting of each source text consulted, and original insights are advanced regarding the chronological sequence of Bede's writings. The book reveals that Bede's ideas about time changed over the course of his career, and it shows how Bede established himself as the foremost expert in eschatology of his age. The eight chapters of this book are organised into three main thematic groups: the world ages framework, Bede's eschatological vision and Bede's eschatological perspective. It will be of interest to those studying early medieval history, theology or literature as well as anyone with a particular interest in Bede and Anglo-Saxon England.
Bedeviled: Jinn Doppelgangers in Islam and Akbarian Sufism (SUNY series in Islam)
by Dunja RašićGhouls, ifrits, and a panoply of other jinn have long haunted Muslim cultures and societies. These also include jinn doppelgangers (qarīn, pl. quranāʾ), the little-studied and much-feared denizens of the hearts and blood of humans. This book seeks out jinn doppelgangers in the Islamic normative tradition, philosophy, folklore, and Sufi literature, with special emphasis on Akbarian Sufism.Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) wrote on jinn in substantial detail, uncovering the physiognomy, culture, and behavior of this unseen species. Akbarians believed that the good God assigned each human with an evil doppelganger. Ibn ʿArabī’s reasoning as to why this was the case mirrors his attempts to expound the problem of evil in Islamic religious philosophy. No other Sufi, Ibn ʿArabī claimed, ever managed to get to the heart of this matter before him. As well as offering the reader knowledge and safety from evil, Ibn ʿArabī’s writings on jinnealogy tackle the even larger issues of spiritual ascension, predestination, and the human relationship to the Divine.
Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien and the Shadow of Evil
by Colin DuriezThe battle between good and evil—in both the seen and unseen worlds—was as clearly at play in the era of C. S. Lewis and his friends in the Oxford literary group, the Inklings, as in our own era. Some of the members of the Inklings carried physical and psychological scars from World War I which led them to deeply consider the problem of evil during the dark era of World War II. Were they alive today, their view of a spiritual conflict behind physical battles would undoubtedly be reinforced. Among the Inklings, Lewis was at the forefront of writing on human pain, suffering, devilry, miracles and the supernatural, with books like The Screwtape Letters and more. It is no surprise, then, that he provides the main focus of this book by expert Inklings writer Colin Duriez. J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy offers another rich resource with much to say to the World War II era and beyond. Other Inklings writings and conversations come into play as well as Duriez explores the writers' considerations of evil and spiritual warfare, particularly focused in the context of wartime. Delving into the interplay between good and evil, these pages enlighten us to the way of goodness and the promise of a far country as we explore the way out of the shadow of evil.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: Wonder of the Age
by Ramazan BalciIn the many dimensions of his lifetime of achievement as well as in his personality and character, Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960) was and, through his continuing influence, still is an important thinker and writer in the Muslim world. At a time when science and philosophy were tools of an aggressive ideology of secularism, Nursi strove for the revival of an Islamic consciousness. Even though his nonviolent stance was clear, he was seen as a potential danger and exiled to different corners of Anatolia. During the exile, he started writing his magnum opus &“Risale-i Nur&” (Epistles of Light), by which he aimed to guide people to the truths of faith and make them understand the Qur&’an correctly. This book provides a summary of this hard but fruitful life, spent in the way of faith.
Bedouin Culture in the Bible
by Clinton BaileyThe first contemporary analysis of Bedouin and biblical cultures sheds new light on biblical laws, practices, and Bedouin history Written by one of the world’s leading scholars of Bedouin culture, this groundbreaking book sheds new light on significant points of convergence between Bedouin and early Israelite cultures, as manifested in the Hebrew Bible. Bailey compares Bedouin and biblical sources, identifying overlaps in economic activity, material culture, social values, social organization, laws, religious practices, and oral traditions. He examines the question of whether some early Israelites were indeed nomads as the Bible presents them, offering a new angle on the controversy over the identity of the early Israelites and a new cultural perspective to scholars of the Bible and the Bedouin alike.
Bedouin and ‘Abbāsid Cultural Identities: The Arabic Majnūn Laylā Story (Culture and Civilization in the Middle East)
by Ruqayya Yasmine KhanThis literary-historical book draws out and sheds light upon the mechanisms of "the ideological work" that the Arabic Majnūn Laylā story performed for ‘Abbāsid urbanite, imperial audiences in the wake of the disappearance of the "Bedouin cosmos." The study focuses upon the processes of primitivizing Majnūn in the romance of Majnūn Laylā as part of the paradigm shift that occurred in the ‘Abbāsid empire after the Greco-Arabian intellectual revolution. Moreover, this book demonstrates how gender and sexuality are employed in the processes of primitivizing Majnūn. As markers of "strangeness" and "foreignness" in the ‘Abbāsid interrogations of the multiple categories of ethnicity, culture, identity, religion and language present in their cosmopolitan milieus. Such "cultural work" is performed through the ideological uses of alterity given its mechanisms of distancing (e.g., temporal and spatial) and nearness (e.g., affective). Lastly, the Majnūn Laylā love story demonstrates, in its text and reception, that a Greco-Arabian and Greco-Persian subculture thrived in the centers of ‘Abbāsid Baghdad that molded and shaped the ways in which this love story was compiled, received and performed. Offering a corrective to the prevailing views expressed in Western scholarly writings on the Greco-Arabian encounter, this book is a major contribution to scholars and students interested in Islamic studies, Arabic and comparative literature, Middle East and gender studies.
Bedrock Faith: A Novel
by Eric Charles MayOne of O, The Oprah Magazine's Ten Books to Pick Up Now, April 2014Named a Notable African-American Title by Publishers Weekly"In this vivid, suspenseful, funny, and compassionate novel of epiphanies, tragedies, and transformations, May drills down to our bedrock assumptions about ourselves, our values, and our communities. As sturdy as a Chicago bungalow and bursting with life, May's debut is perfect for book clubs."--Booklist (starred review)"May's expansive first novel reveals the complicated emotional economy that holds together a neighborhood in crisis...May's vivid descriptions of the rhythms of life in the suburb...reveal vibrant lives in ordinary houses."--Publishers Weekly"May slowly builds suspense as he persuasively unfolds the narrative in this work that reads like an Agatha Christie mystery. The characters, even those whose names are never mentioned, are versatile and relatable, and May's descriptions embody a tapestry of words."--Library Journal"May 'persuasively unfolds the narrative,' and critics are buzzing."--Library Journal, naming Bedrock Faith a "Best Debut" for Spring"A perceptive and entrancing meditation on friendship and family, love and forgiveness."--Kirkus Reviews"Bedrock Faith is a strong, engaging novel--full of warmth and charm and honesty."--Bookforum"Bedrock Faith isn't a short read, but it's a rich one, and the characters are engaging."--Ebony Mag"Fast-paced...suspenseful and meditative in equal measure."--Chicago Reader"A compelling look at a tight-knit community battling a threat from within."--Chicago Social Magazine"Eric Charles May and James Baldwin share more than skin color and writing passion. They are masters of the complicated operas that unfold in a particular place, of the complexities and frailties of mankind. Bedrock Faith is May's first novel, and since approaching Baldwin is no idle feat, one only hopes he'll write more."--Newcity"The depth and the magnetism and the humor of Eric Charles May's truly unforgettable characters makes this a neighborhood well worth visiting."--New York Journal of Books"Bedrock Faith is an entertaining and heartfelt novel, and it provides an important look at a side of Chicago that is under-represented in today's literary fiction."--Chicago Center for Literature and Photography"Once I got started, I could not put [Bedrock Faith] down. I couldn't wait to see what was coming next, which of the neighbors would get their comeuppance and who would emerge as the final victor, Stew Pot or the people of Parkland."--Read for Pleasure"Eric Charles May is a gem of a writer."--I've Read This"Eric Charles May's first novel is delightful to read. There are a host of characters, each given the opportunity to tell their story, and there is plenty of action. Readers are welcomed into Parkland from the first page."--Reeling and Writhing and Fainting in Coils"A wonderful urban novel full of vitality and pathos and grit. I dug the ever-living hell out of it."--Dennis Lehane, author of Live By Night"In Bedrock Faith, Eric Charles May has created a world inhabited by unforgettable, believable characters-the fervid Stew Pot Reeves, the patient Mrs. Motley-who will linger in your heart long after you've finished their story. A bittersweet, timeless book."--Valerie Wilson Wesley, author of Dying in the Dark"An impressive debut with unforgettable characters and an epic story line by an author who has appeared on the literary landscape fully formed."--Colin Channer, author of The Girl with the Golden ShoesAfter fourteen years in prison, Gerald "Stew Pot" Reeves, age thirty-one, returns home to live with his mom in Parkland, a black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. A frightening delinquent before being sent away, his return sends Parkland residents into a religiously infused tailspin, which only increases when Stew Pot announces that he experienced a religious awakening in prison.