Church History
Showing 1–50 of 89 results
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Epiphany : The Season Of Glory
$20.00Add to cart“We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”
This line from the prologue of the Gospel of John declares the theme of Epiphany. Christmas celebrates Christ’s birth; Epiphany manifests his glory.
The feast of Epiphany and its following season are not as well observed as they should be. Many of us associate Epiphany with the visit of the Magi but don’t know much more about it. In this short volume, priest and theologian Fleming Rutledge expounds the primary biblical texts and narrative arc of the season, inviting us to discover anew “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring the traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals of the seasons of the church calendar.
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Triumph : The Power And The Glory Of The Catholic Church – A 2,000 Year His (Exp
$39.99Add to cartA Catholic Classic — UPDATED AND EXPANDED!
For 2,000 years, Catholicism-the largest religion in the world and in the United States-has shaped global history on a scale unequaled by any other institution.
Triumph offers an accessible, affirmative, and exciting entry into that history. Inside, you’ll discover the spectacular story of the Church from Biblical times and the early days of St. Peter-the first pope-to Pope John Paul the Great (already a saint), Pope Benedict XVI (a master theologian), and the controversies surrounding Pope Francis.
It is a sweeping drama of Roman legions, great crusades, epic battles, toppled empires, heroic saints, and enduring faith, as well as Dark Age skullduggery, the Inquisition, the Renaissance popes, and the Protestant Revolt.
A classic for twenty years — now updated and expanded — Triumph is a brawling, colorful history full of inspiring pageantry and spirited polemic that will exhilarate, amuse, and infuriate as it extols the power and the glory the Catholic Church and the gripping stories of some of its greatest men and women.
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Advent : The Season Of Hope
$20.00Add to cart“Christians believe not just in one coming of Christ, but in three.”
We tend to think of Advent as the season of anticipation before Christmas–and while it is that, it’s also much more. Throughout its history, the church has observed Advent as a preparation not only for the first coming of Christ in his incarnation but also for his second coming at the last day. It’s also about a third coming: the coming of Christ to meet us in our present moment, to make us holy by his Word and Sacrament.
In this short volume, priest and writer Tish Harrison Warren explores all three of these “comings” of Christ and invites us into a deeper experience of the first season of the Christian year.
Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring how its traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals all point us to Jesus.
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How The Saints Shaped History
$27.95Add to cartIn every era of the Catholic Church, holy men and women have shaped history through their gifts and talents and, most importantly, through their resolute commitment to Jesus Christ. Some led armies, some founded monasteries, some lived a radical call to charity – and each one had a unique part to play.
How the Saints Shaped History focuses on the essential role of the saints, as vessels of God’s grace, in moving the Church (and the world!) through her two-thousand-year history. Written especially for everyday Catholics hungry to learn more about the Faith, this book is both comprehensive and accessible. It tells the story of how more than 180 saints, from Saint Mary Magdalene to Pope Saint John Paul II, led the Church through many crises and back to her spiritual roots.
As our Church continues to face crises, this book reminds us that we still have reason to hope in our own time. As the providential hand of God worked through the saints to shape history, each of us is called to become a new saint to shape the history of the Church today.
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Pentecost : A Day Of Power For All People
$20.00Add to cart“The power of Pentecost is inseparable from the good news of the Christ who is proclaimed in the Gospels, in accordance with the Scriptures.”
Pentecost may well be the most misconstrued day on the church calendar. A long legacy of cessationism has drained Pentecost of much of its significance, and it’s largely misunderstood in many Western churches today, if not outright ignored.
That’s not the case in Emilio Alvarez’s tradition, though. In this Fullness of Time volume, the Pentecostal bishop and theologian offers us a rich biblical and theological introduction to the day of Pentecost and sets it in its liturgical context–not only in the Protestant tradition but also in Catholic, Orthodox, and Pentecostal expressions. The result is a rich theological feast and an invitation to find afresh the power of the gospel for all peoples.
Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring the traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals of the seasons of the church calendar.
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Worship By Faith Alone
$35.00Add to cartIn every age, the church must consider what it means to gather together to worship God.
If the church is primarily the people who follow the risen Christ, then its worship should be “gospel-centered.” But where might the church find an example of such worship for today?
In this Dynamics of Christian Worship volume, scholar, worship leader, and songwriter Zac Hicks contends that such a focus can be found in the theology of worship presented by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury during the English Reformation. Hicks argues that Cranmer’s reformation of the church’s worship and liturgy was shaped primarily by the Protestant principle of justification by faith alone as reflected in his 1552 edition of the Book of Common Prayer, which was later codified under Elizabeth I and has guided Anglican worship for centuries.
Here, we find a model of “gospel-centered” worship through which the church of today might be reformed yet again.
The Dynamics of Christian Worship series draws from a wide range of worshiping contexts and denominational backgrounds to unpack the many dynamics of Christian worship–including prayer, reading the Bible, preaching, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, music, visual art, architecture, and more–to deepen both the theology and practice of Christian worship for the life of the church.
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What Nuns Read
$49.95Add to cartThe literacy and education of medieval nuns has been a subject of dispute and study in recent years. In his third Index of medieval libraries, David Bell presents a comprehensive list of all manuscripts and printed books which have been traced with certainty or high probability to english nunneries. A systematic listing of the books available to english nuns, and in the process an indication of the wealth, the intellectual level, and the spirituality of english nuns from the Conquest to the Reformation.
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Lent : The Season Of Repentance And Renewal
$20.00Add to cartLent is inescapably about repenting. Every year, the church invites us into a season of repentance and fasting in preparation for Holy Week. It’s an invitation to turn away from our sins and toward the mercy and grace of Christ.
Often, though, we experience the Lenten fast as either a mindless ritual or self-improvement program. In this short volume, priest and scholar Esau McCaulley introduces the season of Lent, showing us how its prayers and rituals point us not just to our own sinfulness but also beyond it to our merciful Savior.
Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring the traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals of the seasons of the church calendar.
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Fathers Of The Faith Saint Augustine
$14.95Add to cartIn this volume from the Fathers of the Faith series, you’ll be introduced to Saint Augustine of Hippo. Who was he? What did he teach? Where and when did he live? Why is he an important figure in the history of the Church?
In this accessible, bite-sized introduction, renowned author, speaker, and television host Mike Aquilina gives an overview of Augustine’s life as a proud North African in the fourth and fifth century. His conversion from sinful young man to Catholic priest and bishop is well known from his autobiography, Confessions.
One of the four great Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church, Augustine is considered the authority on almost everything because he wrote about practically everything. He incorporated the best of secular philosophy and science into his thought. His works are an encyclopedia of the Christian faith, and his writings have impacted countless millions. His legacy endures today.
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Fathers Of The Faith Saint Irenaeus
$14.95Add to cartIn this volume from the Fathers of the Faith series, you’ll be introduced to Saint Irenaeus of Lyons. Who was he? What did he teach? Where and when did he live? Why is he an important figure in the history of the Church?
In this accessible, bite-sized introduction, renowned author, speaker, and television host Mike Aquilina gives an overview of Irenaeus’s life as a second-century Greek and the historical surroundings that affected his life and thought. A friend of Saint Polycarp from the same town in Asia Minor, Irenaeus was born in a Christian family and eventually became a bishop. His foundational works include Against Heresies and The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, and their relevance endures today.
More than 1,800 years after Ireneaus’ death, the U.S. bishops voted unanimously in agreement with a French initiative that Irenaeus be named a doctor of the Church, testament to the importance of his writings and teachings. In 2019, the bishops’ approval was forwarded to the Vatican for consideration by Pope Francis.
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Christian Tradition In Global Perspective
$45.00Add to cartThis one-volume text designed for classroom use situates the history of Christianity within its various social and political contexts by including a wide range of perspectives, ecumenical as well as non-Western, while exploring key movements, documents, developments, and individuals.
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Women : Icons Of Christ
$14.95Add to cartWomen: Icons of Christ traces the history of ministry by women, especially those ordained as deacons. History teaches that women ministered in baptism, catechesis, altar service, spiritual direction, and confession, and anointed the sick, either as deacons or as lay persons. Women: Icons of Christ demonstrates how priestly clericalism effectively removed women’s leadership, voices, and official ministries from the life of the Church by eliminating women from sacramental ministry, altar service, and preaching. The question, “Who can be an icon of Christ?” underlies the discussion. There seems to be a simple answer. We know from the revelation of Scripture that all Christians are equally human, all Christians are part the Body of Christ. Yet, the Catholic Church both really and symbolically excludes half its members.
Women cannot be ordained to the renewed diaconate, even though the most complete Church histories demonstrate genuine precedent. Why? The reduction of all the arguments, supported by the manipulation of history, is that women cannot image Christ. Phyllis Zagano presents cogent arguments supported by history to refute arguments against restoring women to the ordained diaconate.
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Recapturing An Enchanted World
$30.00Add to cartWhile the Free Churches rightly sought to cleanse the church of the abuses of sacramentalism, in that process they also set aside some of the church’s historic practices and theology. In response to this liturgically thin space, Mennonite theologian and minister John D. Rempel considers the role of the sacraments and ritual within the Free Church tradition, helping us perceive the sacramental nature of our faith and worship.
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Francis Of Assisi
$19.95Add to cartRobert Waldron’s new book serves as an introduction to the life of the world’s favorite saint. The author explores Francis from three perspectives: biographical, psychological and aesthetic. His book is innovative because he understands Francis through our new science of psychology and through the beauty of Bellini’s masterpiece St. Francis in the Desert, the painting shown on the cover of the book. For a psychological understanding Waldron employes Carl Jung’s theory of individuation: the steps taken by Francis to become his True Self. Waldron also employs Bellini’s painting to shed light on St. Francis the mystic, he who was gifted by God with the Stigmata. Waldron also addresses Francis’s poem The Canticle of the Creatures, offering an exegesis of the poem that also provides insights into the saint’s life as Christian and as a mystic. Waldron’s book provides a Study Guide that encourages the reader to go more deeply into understanding Francis’s life.
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Benedictine Reader 530-1530
$49.95Add to cartThis Benedictine Reader, 530-1530, has been more than twenty years in the making. A collaboration of a dozen scholars, this project gives as broad and deep a sense of the reality of the first one thousand years of Benedictine monasticism as can be done in one volume, using primary sources in English translation. The texts included are drawn from many different genres and from several languages and areas of Europe. The introduction to each of the thirty-two chapters aims to situate each author and text and to make connections with other texts and studies within and outside the Reader. The general introduction summarizes the main ideas and practices that are present in the Rule of Saint Benedict and in the first thousand years of Benedictine monasticism while suggesting questions that a reader might bring to the texts.
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Saints On Sunday
$19.95Add to cartHow might Ambrose of Milan, Hildegard of Bingen, and Catherine of Siena inspire us to improve Sunday worship? What about Lawrence, John of Damascus, Thomas Cranmer, Johannes Kepler, Margaret Fell, and Dorothy Day? Even Amy Carmichael can point our assemblies toward more profound worship. In Saints on Sunday, Lutheran laywoman Gail Ramshaw, listening to twenty-four sainted voices, proposes how our past might enliven our future. Characterized by rigorous scholarship and no-nonsense honesty, her essays suggest ways to enrich the gathering, word, meal, and sending of our assemblies on Sunday.
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Church Rocks : A History Of The Catholic Church For Kids And Their Parents
$15.95Add to cartThe story of the Church is an epic drama, filled with adventure, danger, politics, sacrifice, and courage. Sister Mary Lea Hill tells this exciting story in a book sure to thrill children ages 10 and up, taking readers on a whirlwind tour of Church history that will enlighten and entertain everyone.
Hill starts with the very beginnings of Christianity and goes on to the troubles of the early Church, the conversion of Constantine, the “days of danger” of the fifth-century persecutions, the mystery of the Dark Ages, the Great Schism, the different popes, saints, and missionaries, the Crusades, the breakaway of the Protestant Reformation, the dialogue between science and religion, political movements, and finally brings readers to the new evangelization of the 21st century.
Sometimes it’s easy to feel disconnected from the past: this is true for families and countries, and it’s also true for religions. The Church Rocks will help young readers reconnect with their collective history and understand how the past led to the present? and leads on still further into the future.
Features & Benefits:
Highlights of Church history are presented in an engaging way for children, parents, and teachers, with every chapter including:-Fun fictional “eyewitness accounts” to make events come alive
-Additional “factoids,” small snippets of information
-“Once upon a word,” providing explanations of word meanings
-Timelines, so that readers can see events in relation to each other
-A prayer relating to the situations and people in the chapter
-Brief biographies or “snapshots” of each major character
-A “mystery of history” that sparks curiosity about mysteries of the past
-The “latest and greatest” tying Church-related episodes to concurrent events in the secular world
-“On the record” excerpts from historic accounts and quotes from major players
-Activities that complement information, and resources for further exploration -
Rise And Fall Of The Incomparable Liturgy
$32.99Add to cartMost histories of Church of England liturgy, for good reason, begin in the 1530s, and centre on the 1549 and 1552 Books of Common Prayer. That is important for initial doctrinal changes, and the establishment of the liturgical text, However, both liturgies were extremely short-lived, and the real history of the Book of Common Prayer as the Liturgy of the Church of England begins with the Elizabethan Settlement, 1559, and a long tenure of the enacted Elizabethan liturgy. The only revision of any note was that of 1662, and this revision lasted without serious challenge until the 19th century, and without legal alternative until the twentieth century. This study therefore concentrates on 1559 until the Report of the Royal Commission in 1906 which paved the way for liturgical revision.
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Remapping The History Of Catholicism In The United States
$34.95Add to cartFor more than thirty years, the U.S. Catholic Historian has mapped the diverse terrain of American Catholicism. This collection of recent essays tells the story of Catholics previously underappreciated by historians: women, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and those on the frontier and borderlands.
Timothy Matovina’s opening essay sets the theme for the volume, encouraging a remapping of U.S. Catholic history to more widely encompass its various localities and peoples, especially the significance of non-European ethnic groups and the role of Catholics in the American Southwest. Jeanne Petit explores Catholic womanhood’s strength and organizational zeal in the post-World War I era, noting the obstacles and successes of women’s attempts to be recognized fully as American citizens and members of the Church. Anne Klejment weaves together the lives of Dorothy Day and Cesar Chavez to illustrate their use of nonviolence and “weapons of the spirit” to respond to societal injus-tice. Amanda Bresie provides a window into the life of Mother Katharine Drexel, noting the generosity of the millionaire heiress, but also her meticulous record keeping and close supervision of her funding of educational and evangelization efforts among Native and African Americans. Kristine Ashton Gunnell analyzes the ways in which the Daughters of Charity crossed cultural boundaries to offer charitable assistance to Mexican and Japanese communities in Los Angeles. Matthew Cressler explores the intersection of Black Power and distinctive African American-inspired liturgies, arguing that the liturgy became a site of struggle as black self-determination and nationalism impacted worship and black Catholic identity. Finally, Joseph Chinnici offers an important essay on re-envisioning post-conciliar U.S. Catholicism in its global context, offering a new approach to how we consider the Ameri-can Catholic narrative and write its history.
Together these path-breaking studies serve as a model for historians seeking to engage in the cartographic task of remapping the U.S. Catholic experience.
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Christian Monks On Chinese Soil
$39.95Add to cartThe contribution of monks to the evangelization of lands not yet reached by the preaching of the Gospel has certainly been remarkable. The specific witness that the monastic community gives is of a radical Christian life naturally radiating outward, and thus it is implicitly missionary. The process of inculturation of Christian monasticism in China required a bold spiritual attitude of openness to the future and a willingness to accept the transformation of monastic forms that had been received. In Christian Monks on Chinese Soil, Matteo Nicolini-Zani highlights the willingness of foreign monks to encounter the cultural and spiritual realities of China and the degree of acceptance by the Chinese of the form of monastic life that was presented to them by the missionaries.
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101 Surprising Facts About Church History
$19.95Add to cartIn 101 Surprising Facts About Church History, Fr. Meconi, SJ walks readers through the most amazing achievements of Christ’s Body on earth. From economic and mercantile developments to scientific and astronomical advances, from the cataloging of zoological and botanical species to the cherishing of beautiful music and fine arts, Fr. Meconi shows you why the Catholic Church stands as the greatest promoter of human culture and knowledge.
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Lausiac History
$24.95Add to cartBorn in Galatia in the 360s, Palladius enrolled as a monk on the Mount of Olives in his early twenties. As a monk, he traveled to Alexandria, the desert of Nitria, the Cells, Palestine, Rome, and the Thebaid. During his travels he encountered Rufinus of Aquileia, Melania the Elder, the hermit Dorotheos, Macarius of Alexandria, Evagrius of Pontus, Jerome of Bethlehem, and John Chrysostom. He wrote this elegant account of his visits to various monastic sites in Egypt toward the end of the fourth century AD for the imperial chamberlain Lausus. It is both the most sophisticated and the most informative of the few documents illustrating the earliest chapter in the history of Christian monasticism. Palladius’s work is the only one of the major monastic writings not written for fellow monks to inspire them with models for their emulation but rather for a man very much of the world, with the explicit intention of exerting not only religious but also political influence.
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Augustine And The Catechumenate (Revised)
$39.95Add to cartSt. Augustine (354-430), one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Christianity, was also a struggling North African pastor who had a flair for teaching and who meditated deeply on the mysteries of the human heart. This study examines a little-known side of his career: his work as a teacher of candidates for baptism. This reconstruction of Augustine’s catechumenate provides fresh perspectives on the day-to-day life of the early church and on the vibrancy and eloquence of Augustine the preacher and teacher.In this new edition, both the text and notes have been revised from top to bottom to better reflect the state of contemporary scholarship on Augustine, on liturgical studies, and on the catechumenate, both ancient and modern. This edition also includes new findings from some of the recently discovered sermons of Augustine and incorporates new perspectives from recent research on early Christian biblical interpretation, debates on the Trinity, the evolution of the liturgy, and much more.
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35 Doctors Of The Church (Revised)
$34.95Add to cartThe 35 Doctors of the Church presents the most comprehensive and fascinating collection available anywhere on the lives and labors of the saints who have been declared the Church’s Doctors. From St. Athanasius (c. 297-373) to St. Therese of Lisieux (1873 1897), you ll find the amazing stories of 35 extraordinary men and women who are honored both for their holiness and for the eminence of their teachings about the Faith. Their work and witness are truly timeless; their lives and wisdom show us how to be holy in our own lives, how to confront the challenges of today, and how to proclaim the Gospel to a modern world hungering for Jesus Christ.
Originally published as The 33 Doctors of the Church by Father Christopher Rengers, O.F.M. Cap., The 35 Doctors of the Church has been updated by Dr. Matthew E. Bunson, K.H.S., to include two new chapters about recently proclaimed Doctors, St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen. The revised edition also includes a new Introduction with a detailed explanation of how the Church proclaims Doctors and their meaning for today.
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Decline And Fall Of The Catholic Church In America
$24.95Add to cartThe Roots of the Crisis That’s Rocked the Pulpits and Emptied the Pews Many Catholics blame Vatican II for the decline of the Church in America these past 30 years: traditionalists say it caused too many changes, liberals say too few.
In this groundbreaking book, sociologist David Carlin shows that although Vatican II was the flashpoint for change in the Church, the roots of today’s crisis go deeper than anything that happened at the Council.
Basing his conclusions on sociological analysis rather than on theology or Church teachings, Carlin shows that in the 1960’s the Church in America was weakened by the triumph of tolerance as an American virtue (which led Catholics to downplay their uniquely Catholic beliefs for the sake of unity) and then was battered by a culture that, seemingly overnight, had become boldly secularist and even libertine.
Called by Vatican II to engage the culture in order to evangelize it, while pressed by the culture to downplay its Catholicity in the name of tolerance, the Church in America lost its way.
The result? A widespread loss of Catholic identity; weakening of fidelity to Church teachings; Catholics abandoning their faith; and a diminishment of the Church’s role as a moral voice in American society.
Carlin’s analysis has uncovered a problem that’s older and even more dangerous for the future of Catholicism than the deeds that have lately thrust the Church onto the front pages. Indeed, says Carlin, the scandals are merely symptoms of this deeper problem that will continue to drain the Church’s vitality long after the scandals are forgotten.
The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America: essential reading for all who seek to understand the decline of their beloved Church and who hope to devise effective ways to restore her.
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Smoke Of Satan In The Temple Of God
$31.49Add to cartTaking as his point of departure Pope Paul VI’s observation that seven years following the close of the Second Vatican Council conditions in the Church were such that it was as if “the Smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God,” the author recounts how it was that the misimplementation of the council’s documents resulted in the emergence of what Henri De Lubac termed “a different Church from that of Jesus Christ,” all under the guide of updating (aggiornamento) and renewal. Pope Paul was of the mind that by 1972 the greatest need in the Church was to be defended against the adversary power of darkness, the Devil. For the Pope the unmistakable signs of the Evil One’s penetration of the Church were a vast undermining of Catholic moral teaching (particularly sexual morality), the ideological seduction of fashionable theological errors (particularly neomodernism) which spawned doctrinal uncertainty, a radical denial of God, and the watering down of and even rejection of the spirit of the Gospel.
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Maronites : The Origins Of An Antiochene Church A Historical And Geographic
$29.95Add to cartThe Maronite Church is one of twenty-two Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Pope of Rome. Her patriarch is in Lebanon. Forty-three bishops and approximately five million faithful make up her presence throughout the world.
The story of Maron, a fifth-century hermit-priest, and the community gathered around him, later called the Maronites, tells another fascinating story of the monastic and missionary movements of the Church. Maron’s story takes place in the context of Syrian monasticism, which was a combination of both solitary and communal life, and is a narrative of Christians of the Middle East as they navigated the rough seas of political divisions and ecclesiastical controversies from the fourth to the ninth centuries.
Abbot Paul Naaman, a Maronite scholar and former Superior General of the Order of Lebanese Maronite Monks, wisely places the study of the origins of the Maronite Church squarely in the midst of the history of the Church. His book, The Maronites: The Origins of an Antiochene Church, published during the sixteenth centenary of Maron’s death, offers plausible insights into her formation and early development, grounding the Maronite Church in her Catholic, Antiochian, Syriac, and monastic roots.
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Worshiping With The Church Fathers
$27.00Add to cartChristopher Hall invites us to accompany the church fathers as they enter the sanctuary for worship and the chapel for prayer. He also takes us to the wilderness, where we learn from the early monastics as they draw close to God in their solitary discipline. Readers will enjoy a rich and rare schooling in developing their spiritual life in this unique survey of the life of worship from the perspective of the early Church.
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Fathers Of The Church
$21.99Add to cartBetween March 2007 and June 2008, Pope Benedict XVI devoted thirty-six catecheses at his Wednesday audiences to the Fathers of the Church, from St. Clement of Rome to St. Augustine of Hippo. He devoted talks not only to the saints of the church, but also to writers not venerated – one subject, Tertullian, even died outside the Catholic communion.
Pope Benedict’s catecheses often begin with some historical information about his subject, setting the writer in the context of his time. He pays attention to the teaching of the Father, but often in unexpected ways – his concern is not only with Christian doctrine, but also with care for the poor and with the relation of the Church to the state. He sometimes applies the teaching of his subject to some contemporary situation. Finally at the end of several catecheses, he quotes a prayer written by his subject.
These catecheses are distinctive. The Pope is not giving academic lectures, nor is he giving sermons. Rather, he is instructing those who are coming to the Church and those who want to have their faith confirmed and strengthened. Pope Benedict clearly believes that the Fathers of the Church speak to Christians today, and he presents the Fathers in a way that makes them accessible to every reader. That accessibility often makes that reader eager to look further into the writings of these great early Christians.
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Outposts Of The Faith
$39.99Add to cart“The Anglo-Catholic movement which flourished in the early and mid twentieth century is famed for its dedicated and heroic work in inner-city slum areas, yet little is recorded about its impact in rural areas, nor have the stories of its more flamboyant rural priests been told. “”Outposts of the Faith”” tells the entertaining stories of ten parishes where the Anglo-Catholic movement made a particular impact, or took a significant turn that affected the wider church and the subsequent direction of the movement. Included are the stories of a number of well known names – Athelstan Riley, Samuel Gurney, Maurice Child and Clive Beresford among others, about whom very little has previously been written. Here we meet eccentricity and devotion in equal measure – one priest who removed parts of his clerical clothing whenever the 1662 Prayer Book was mentioned, another who was shot by a parishioner, another who served the same Devon parish for 70 years.”
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In A Great And Noble Tradition
$22.95Add to cartThe Benedictine abbey of Solesmes in France is famous for the quality of its Gregorian chant, recordings of which are appreciated throughout the world. Nevertheless, the life of its founder, Dom Prosper Gueranger (1805-1875) is still relatively unknown. This is partly due to Gueranger himself, who never sought to promote his life story. While he published many liturgical and spiritual works, this highly personal account of his early life and events surrounding the foundation of Solesmes in 1833 was never intended for publication, and indeed was never completed. For this reason, the manuscript remained in the archives of the abbey of Solesmes for well over a hundred years. Growing recognition of its wider importance and interest led to its eventual publication in 2005, the bicentenary of Gueranger’s birth. The book is far more than a personal portrait of an interesting and innovative individual. Through the prism of events surrounding his early life as a seminarian, secular priest and then Benedictine monk, Gueranger’s account illustrates many of the wider issues at play in early nineteenth-century France and French Catholicism. Gueranger’s first-hand account of various political events under the regimes of Napoleon I, the Bourbon Restoration and Louis-Philippe has its own historical value. Above all, however, the book shows how Gueranger’s project to re-found Benedictine life in France, after its disappearance in the wake of the French Revolution, stood in relation to other currents of religious thought and monastic tradition, notably Gallicanism, Ultramontanism, the Maurists and the Cistercians. Those interested in monastic life and liturgical spirituality will further draw inspiration from Gueranger’s narration of the human relationships and mystical experiences that inspired his Benedictine vocation and subsequent life’s work. Gueranger’s lively text is also enjoyable in its own right. His optimism, determination, creativity, unwavering trust in divine providence, capacity for friendship and often humorous (and occasionally devastating) portraits of the many people whom he encountered give a particular charm and colour to his writing. Ultimately, however, this account of Gueranger’s spiritual and intellectual awakening provides impetus for a renewed contemporary appreciation of his convictions, which are of perennial value for all who are seeking God. The monastic community founded by Gueranger bears witness to the transforming power of contemplative l
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Loves Trinity : A Companion To Julian Of Norwich
$39.95Add to cartIn the year 1373 a young Englishwoman whose name we do not know-she is called “Julian” because she lived part of her life as an enclosed solitary in the church of St. Julian in Norwich-experienced a series of intense visions that she later recorded in two versions. The formal title of the “long text” of that book is A Revelation of Love. It is commonly called Showings, the word Julian herself used to describe her visions.
This edition incorporates the long text of the Showings, as translated by Father John-Julian, and a commentary written by Frederick S. Roden. A lay affiliate member of the Order of Julian of Norwich, Roden gives us a companion that is reflective yet learned. It is designed to draw the reader more fully into an understanding and experience of what Julian tells us she saw and heard. In the text and commentary we begin to comprehend the truth Julian summarizes at the end of the Showings: “Love was His meaning.”
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Jesus And First Century Christianity In Jerusalem
$19.95Add to cartThis book, beautifully illustrated with maps and photos, traces the little-known story of the original Jewish Christian community and presents intriguing evidence connecting Jesus and his family with the Essenes.
Focusing on the first century (33-135 C.E.) in Jerusalem after the death of Jesus, its thesis is that the Jerusalem community remained true to their Jewish heritage and had a connection with the Essenes. The first bishop of Jerusalem was James, the brother of Jesus. He was the author of the letter of James. He was murdered in the year 62. An Essene priest, Thabuti expected to replace James but was not elected, and this led to the first schism in the church. James was followed by Simon, the cousin of Jesus, who was bishop until 104. At that time, descendants of the house of David were persecuted by the Romans. There were 13 bishops between then and 135. Christianity was a sect within Judaism. After the Bar Kohaba rebellion a gentile bishop was appointed. The Jewish church was inundated by gentiles and eventually integrated into the Byzantine church. The purpose of the book is to bring to light our Jewish connections, and, as the state of Israel is being threatened, an appreciation of our Jewish heritage.
Uniqueness:
* The only book available that attempts to reconcile Christianity with our Jewish heritage -
Jesus And The Emergence Of A Catholic Imagination
$27.95Add to cartCatholics have always expressed their faith through art, whether in painting, sculpture, music, poetry, literature, or–in modern times–film. And yet much of the discussion of Catholic art in universities, museums, and public lectures ignores the essential dimension of religious belief. Michelangelo, for example, is studied as a Florentine, a political discontent, a Renaissance luminary, even as a businessman, but the personal faith that suffuses his work is very often ignored. And yet Michelangelo was continuing a tradition of distinctively Catholic art that originated in the early church. Jesus and the Emergence of a Catholic Imagination corrects this oversight by tracing the development of a Catholic way of imagining the world, from its genesis in Jesus’ teachings through the first eight hundred years of Christianity.
Starting with a close examination of Jesus’ own intensely creative religious imagination, this richly illustrated book discusses how the early Christian church fashioned images of Jesus and the events of his life through narratives, poetry, and even abstract design. The examples it considers include works from Syria, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Germany. From the ancient house church at Dura Europos, to the art of the catacombs, the poetry of Prudentius, the Book of Kells, the Utrecht Psalter, and the Saxon Heliand, the author demonstrates how the Catholic tradition has evolved its unique way of imagining the self, the world, and God–a way that remains vibrant within the Catholic faith community to this day. Includes 59 illustrations.
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Cloud Of Witnesses (Revised)
$29.95Add to cartFirst published in 1989, A Cloud of Witnesses has been completely rewritten to incorporate a multitude of minor amendments and a considerable amount of additional information. Like the first edition, it is intended as an introduction to the formative first five hundred years of the Christian theological tradition. In these pages the opinions and personalities of the Fathers of the Church that emerge are presented against the intellectual, social, and political world of their times, but since the book is only an introduction, the author presents the development of Christian doctrine in a rather more logical and cohesive manner than was the case in reality.
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Benedictine Tradition
$24.95Add to cartDedicated to God and the practices of the Liturgy of the Hours and monastic life, Benedictines have made significant contributions to chant, theology, and the preservation of spiritual works of literature and scholarship. Swan explores the work of major Benedictine figures throughout the ages. From the Spirituality in History series.
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Infant Baptism In Historical Perspective
$54.99Add to cartThese important and incisive essays, spanning more than two decades of research and engagement, probe facets and episodes of infant baptisms’ fortunes over twenty centuries. The story of paedo baptism is traced from its shadowy beginnings as a variant of faith-baptism, through inflated Reformation defenses as it monopolized baptismal thought and practice, to biblical and ecumenical reevaluations and hopeful contemporary rapprochements across divisive waters.
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Women In Mission
$30.00Add to cartThe first full-length study of women’s changing roles in the mission of Christianity.
In surveying those major works that treat the full sweep of the church’s missional self-understanding, Susan E. Smith notes that, while they help us better understand the story of Christian mission, “they are less helpful in understanding women’s part in that narrative.” In matters of mission history, as in so many other areas, scholars have been much better at telling “his” story than “hers.”
Smith tries to redress the balance with a comprehensive history of mission that highlights the critical contributions of women, as well as the theological developments that influenced their role. Beginning with an examination of the New Testament record, Smith goes on to review the long period between the apostolic church and the Second Vatican Council. Following a survey of critical developments since 1965 in both Catholic and other churches, she concludes with a magisterial chapter entitled “A Feminist Missiology for Contemporary Missionary Women.”
Women in Mission is a landmark in women’s history and essential reading for anyone engaged in historical, theological, mission, and women’s studies.
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Oxford Guide To The Book Of Common Prayer
$47.99Add to cartThe Book of Common Prayer runs like a golden thread through the history of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer is the first comprehensive guide to the history and usage of the original Book of Common Prayer and its numerous descendants throughout the world. It shows how a seminal text for Christian worship and devotion has inspired a varied family of religious resources that have had an influence far beyond their use in the churches of a single tradition.
The Guide is unique. In it experts from every part of the globe and every branch of Anglicanism, as well as from the Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Unitarian traditions, provide an unparalleled examination of The Book of Common Prayer and its lineage. From 1549 to the Twenty-first Century, The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer offers a fascinating journey through the history and development of a classic of world literature.
Much more than simply a history, this volume describes how Anglican churches at all points of the compass have developed their own Prayer Books and adapted the time-honored Anglican liturgies to their diverse local cultures. In the dozens of editions now in use throughout the world, the same texts–Daily Prayers, the Eucharist, Marriage and Funerals, and many others–resemble each other, and yet differ from each other in interesting ways. A brief look at “electronic Prayer Books” offers a glimpse at how this story of development and adaptation may continue in the Information Age.
Oxford is pleased to publish a varied selection of The Book of Common Prayer in formats, features, and prices to suit every need and budget. We invite you to explore our Web site for further information regarding these fine resources.
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Passing From Self To God
$29.95Add to cartIn this book an experienced spiritual master provides an intensive directed retreat. Readers may read and digest at their own pace, savoring the author’s contagious enthusiasm for the monastic way and the medieval monks who formed this distinctive contemplative tradition.
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Key Moments In Church History
$116.00Add to cartAcknowledgments
Introduction
Jesus Of Nazareth
The Early Church
The Church Gives Birth To The New Testament
The Constantinian Era
The Council Of Chalcedon
The Crusades, The Inquisition, Saint Dominic And St. Francis Of Assisi
The Protestant Reformation
The Council Of Trent
Ultramontanism And The First Vatican Council
Pius X And The Modernist Crisis
John XXIII And The Second Vatican Council
Epilogue: The Current State Of The Church
Additional Info
Spanning from the birth of Christianity through the Crusades and the Protestant Reformation to John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, Key Moments in Church History is a brief and accessible guide to the origins and evolution of the Catholic Church. In this insightful and informative look at eleven of the most significant periods in church history, Finley not only helps readers understand the context and characters of the past, but sheds light on the current and future Church. The result is a hopeful and inspirational reading experience that is ideal for personal reflection or group use -
Key Moments In Church History
$35.00Add to cartAcknowledgments
Introduction
Jesus Of Nazareth
The Early Church
The Church Gives Birth To The New Testament
The Constantinian Era
The Council Of Chalcedon
The Crusades, The Inquisition, Saint Dominic And St. Francis Of Assisi
The Protestant Reformation
The Council Of Trent
Ultramontanism And The First Vatican Council
Pius X And The Modernist Crisis
John XXIII And The Second Vatican Council
Epilogue: The Current State Of The Church
Additional Info
Spanning from the birth of Christianity through the Crusades and the Protestant Reformation to John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, Key Moments in Church History is a brief and accessible guide to the origins and evolution of the Catholic Church. In this insightful and informative look at eleven of the most significant periods in church history, Finley not only helps readers understand the context and characters of the past, but sheds light on the current and future Church. The result is a hopeful and inspirational reading experience that is ideal for personal reflection or group use -
Doctrine Of Deification In The Greek Patristic Tradition
$275.00Add to cart1. Introduction
2. Deification In The Graeco-Roman World
3. The Jewish Paradigm: From Ezekiel To The Yored Merkavah
4. The Earliest Christian Model: Participatory Union With Christ
5. The Alexandrian Tradition I: Christian Schools And Study-Circles
6. The Alexandrian Tradition II: The Imposition Of Episcopal Control
7. The Cappadocian Approach: Divine Transcendence And The Ascent Of The Soul
8. The Monastic Synthesis: The Achievement Of Maximus The Confessor
9. EpilogueAdditional Info
Deification in the Greek patristic tradition was the fulfillment of the destiny for which humanity was created – not merely salvation from sin but entry into the fullness of the divine life of the Trinity. This book, the first on the subject for over sixty years, traces the history of deification from its birth as a second-century metaphor with biblical roots to its maturity as a doctrine central to the spiritual life of the Byzantine Church. Drawing attention to the richness and diversity of the patristic approaches from Irenaeus to Maximus the Confessor, Norman Russell offers a full discussion of the background and context of the doctrine, at the same time highlighting its distinctively Christian character. -
Envoy Of The Messiah (Student/Study Guide)
$10.95Add to cartIn his new book Envoy of the Messiah, Stephen Pimentel completes the journey he began in the popular Witnesses of the Messiah.
Envoy of the Messiah invites the reader to walk in the footsteps of St. Paul in his mission to the Gentiles, as told in Acts of the Apostles 16-28. Through nine lessons, each including stimulating discussion questions, the reader is challenged to encounter Christ in the early Church and to follow the example of St. Paul in their lives today. Written in accessible language, yet filled with helpful information and scriptural references, this book is perfect for beginners as well as more advanced biblical scholars.
Scripture scholar and popular author Steve Ray praises Envoy of the Messiah for its clarity and theological insight: “Stephen Pimentel’s book takes you through the recorded travels and teachings of St. Paul as revealed by Luke. He provides interesting insights and theological understanding useful to both the average reader and the scholar. This book is easy to read, yet full of helpful information and Scriptural detail. It is too bad we can’t insert most of this book into our Bibles as footnotes.”
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Pius War : Responses To The Critics Of Pius XII
$122.00Add to cartIntroduction
Joseph Bottum
Pius XII And The Jews
David G. Dalin
Dismantling The Cross
Robert Louis Wilken
A Dangerous Thing To Do
Ronald Rychlak
A New Syllabus Of Errors
Justus George Lawler
Desperately Seeking Culprits
Russell Hittinger
The Land Of What If
Kevin M. Doyle
Something Deeply Shameful
John Jay Hughes
How Not To Deal With History
John S. Conway
To Avoid Worse Evils
Rainer Decker
Bigotry’s New Low
Michael Novak
Pius XII And The Nazis
Joseph Bottum
Annotated Bibliography Of Pius XII, The Second World War, And The Holocaust
William Doino JrAdditional Info
In the brutal fight that has raged in recent years over the reputation of Pope Pius XII-leader of the Catholic Church during World War II, the Holocaust, and the early years of the Cold War-the task of defending the Pope has fallen primarily to reviewers. These reviewers formulated a brilliant response to the attack on Pius, but their work was scattered in various newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals-making it nearly impossible for the average reader to gauge the results. In The Pius War, Weekly Standard’s Joseph Bottum has joined with Rabbi David G. Dalin to gather a representative and powerful sample of these reviews, deliberately chosen from a wide range of publications. Together with a team of professors, historians, and other experts, the reviewers conclusively investigate the claims attacking Pius XII. The Pius War, and a detailed annotated bibliography that follows, will prove to be a definitive tool for scholars and students-destined to become a major resource for anyone interested in questions of Catholicism, the Holocaust, and World War II. -
Meaning Of Tradition
$16.95Add to cartSome Christians claim to reject Tradition in preference to a supposedly “Bible only” Christianity. Catholics, on the other hand, venerate Tradition, yet often without adequately understanding it. In this masterful book, the great theologian Yves Congar explains why Tradition is an inescapable aspect of a fully biblical Christian faith. He explores the various forms of Tradition and discusses the relationship between Scripture and Tradition, as well as the role of the Magisterium of the Church. The Meaning of Tradition clears up misconceptions held by many Evangelical Christians and even some Catholics on this important subject. Congar’s study of Tradition greatly contributed to the teaching of Vatican II and to a deeper appreciation of the Church Fathers.
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Following In The Footsteps Of Christ
$25.00Add to cartThe Anabaptists were the largest, most significant of the “radical” movements that paralleled the Protestant reforms of the 16th century. Their program was distinctive in its insistence upon baptism of adult believers, a visible life of discipleship, an ascetic way of life, and a commitment to nonviolence. This vision clashed with the ruling civil and church authorities, whether Catholic or Protestant, who persecuted them violently. Despite persecution and ostracism the Anabaptist tradition lives on in diverse forms whether among the Amish, the Hutterites, the Bruderhof, or the Mennonites.
