Church History
Showing 51–89 of 89 results
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Roman Catholic Worship (Reprinted)
$29.95Add to cartA great deal has happened in Roman Catholic worship since Vatican II promulgated the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy on December 4, 1963. But the myth persists that very little happened in the four centuries between the end of the Council of Trent on December 4, 1563, and Vatican II. Roman Catholic Worship explores what occurred in those four hundred years before Vatican II and how the stage was set for all the changes that have come about since the council. It may be true that liturgical texts were frozen during those intervening centuries, but to assume that liturgical texts are the whole of liturgy is questionable. James White demonstrates that the worship life of Roman Catholicism was in constant transition during this entire period despite the intransigence of liturgical texts.
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Faith : A History Of Christianity
$31.00Add to cartBeginning with the birth of Jesus and tracing the religion established by his followers up to the present day, The Faith is a comprehensive exploration of the history of Christianity. Judiciously covering all the signal moments without bogging down in minutia, author Brian Moynahan’s superbly written and generously illustrated book is of central importance to Christians, historians, and anyone interested in a faith that shaped the modern world.
Moynahan’s research uses little-known sources to tell a magnificent story encompassing everything from the early tremulous years after Jesus’ death to the horrors of persecution by Nero, from the growth of monasteries to the bloody Crusades, from the building of the great cathedrals to the cataclysm of the Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, from the flight of pilgrims from Europe in pursuit of religious freedom to the Salem Witch Trials, from the advent of a traveling pope to the rise of televangelists. -
Persecution Of The Catholic Church In The Third Reich
$35.00Add to cartDramatic proof of the Catholic Church’s resistance to Hitler’s persecution of Catholic individuals and institutions is furnished in this volume, compiled and first published in 1941. It offers an explicit refutation of accusations that the Vatican was complicit in the crimes committed by the Nazis and remained silent against their oppression.
An anonymous German Catholic, well placed within the church hierarchy, used his position to compile documents as evidence of the National Socialist Party’s campaign to destroy Catholicism and of the official Vatican response to events and propaganda of the time.
The U.S. national Catholic journal of opinion, Commonweal, featured the book shortly after publication in 1941, saying “Here are the writings and speeches of the Pope and the German hierarchy, the official decrees and instructions of the Government, and the speeches and teachings of the [Nazi] Party. The cumulative weight of this testimony is sufficient to establish the German persecution as the worst, because it is the most efficient, of modern times.”
Writers at America magazine, the Roman Catholic journal of opinion and commentary, also recognized the importance of this volume soon after it was published: “Complete and devastating . . . The facts are authentic and incontrovertible. The documents are likewise authentic and thoroughly substantiated. . . . To anyone who thinks there is no persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany, we recommend this volume.”
Pelican has published several other books of the era that focus on the Nazi campaign to expunge all traces of religion or religious thought from politics through a thorough campaign against all religion. Hitler Came for Niemoeller (pb), by Leo Stein, is an account of Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoeller’s eight-year imprisonment and his struggle to preserve the church from the hands of a murderous juggernaut. The Voice of Destruction (pb), originally published in 1940, presents an early view of Hitler and his plans for German supremacy and was written by Hermann Rauschning, who worked closely with Hitler until he resigned from the Danzig senate in 1934
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Celtic Model Of Ministry
$19.95Add to cartWhy is the Christian Church declining in numbers and effectiveness in the 21st century? An experienced clergyman and Celtic scholar writes the decline is caused by a crisis of individualism, a crisis of faith, and a crisis of lifestyle. The response to the crisis is provided by Celtic spirituality and the way of ministry of early Celtic Christians in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Brittany, and the Isle of Man. The early Celtic communities provide a model for ministry today in the local congregation and a way for the successful future of the Church.
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Women Who Hear Voices
$8.95Add to cartMore than a few people today scoff at the notion of “religious experience.” What the believer accepts as God acting in human lives, the skeptic attributes to delusion or hysteria-especially when the believer is a woman. Indeed, the possibility of self-deception in the realm of religious experience is sufficiently great that even devotees tread softly around it. At what point does mindless enthusiasm come to an end and actual, transcendent reality begin?
Sidney Callahan, a psychologist, author and Christian ethicist, describes authentic religious experience as the work of “a creative God of love who gives totally and renounces coercion.” Human beings, she says, “are wired for relationship.” They move instinctively toward a dynamic presence who abides within the world and in human affairs. In this Madeleva Lecture delivered at Saint Mary’s College in Indiana, Callahan affirms not only the reality but the usefulness of private religious experiences, especially those of “women barred from hierarchical authority,” which, she says, “can be a rich source of strength for the church.” Beginning with the insights of William James and Rudolf Otto, and borrowing from contemporary theologians Karl Rahner and John E. Thiel, Callahan describes the way religious “signals” emerge into society through the attentive reflection of individuals. And the world is better for it. “Women who hear voices and see visions and have prophetic and intimate religious experiences,” she states, “have given witness to God’s justice and equality while affirming God’s maternal love.”
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Witness To Integrity
$29.95Add to cartWitness to Integrity is a first-person account of the historic dispute between the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters (I.H.M.) and James Francis McIntyre, the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles. Former Mother General of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters and president of the Immaculate Heart Community, Anita Caspary, I.H.M., tells her story of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters’ motivations and struggles in their claim for authority and freedom to live a Christian life in accordance with their consciences. The conflicts that lead a part of the Immaculate Heart Sisters’ Community to become an ecumenical community are described with vividness.
Anita Caspary’s personal narrative reflections provide in-depth details of the story that has captured media attention in books, television documentaries, and plays. In addition, the use of original sources from the Immaculate Heart Community archives that have not been open to the public assists in producing new insights and correcting inaccuracies and myths.
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Rule Of Benedict For Beginners
$19.95Add to cartBenedictine spirituality is simple and down to earth. Not only does the Benedictine lifestyle fit well within the walls of the monastery, its interpretation of life is also suitable to other forms of society. In The Rule of Benedict for Beginners, Wil Derkse reveals how elements from Benedictine spirituality and the Benedictine lifestyle may be fruitful outside the monastery to strengthen the quality of societal living and working.
The Rule of Benedict for Beginners is a useful source of life orientation and lifestyle for those interested in living by the Rule. It applies the monastic vows to life within organizations and examines the valuable elements of Benedictine leadership and Benedictine time management.
Chapter one sketches Derkse’s own acquaintance with the Benedictine lifestyle. Chapter two examines the basic patterns of Benedictine spirituality in order to translate these patterns into nonmonastic contexts. Inspired leadership, listening decision-making, fruitfully prospering human resources, and sensible time management are themes in the remaining chapters.
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4 Witnesses : The Early Church In Her Own Words
$21.95Add to cartWhat was the early Church like? Contrary to popular belief, Rod Bennett shows there is a reliable way to know. Four ancient Christian writers-four witnesses to early Christianity -left us an extensive body of documentation on this vital subject, and this book brings their fascinating testimony to life for modern believers. With all the power and drama of a gripping novel, this book is a journey of discovery of ancient and beautiful truths through the lives of four great saints of the early Church-Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyons.
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Many Mansions : An Introduction To The Development And Diversity Of Medieva
$41.95Add to cartAn overview of how religious thinking developed in the thousand years between the end of the Roman Empire and the Reformation, Many Mansions goes beyond other textbooks by looking at developments in both the Latin West and the Greek East. In addition to providing an introduction for readers with no background in theology or history, Bell points out the reasons behind the growing divergence between the two great halves of Christendom.
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Women Officeholders In Early Christianity
$49.95Add to cartWomen Officeholders in Early Christianity is a scholarly investigation of the evidence for women holding offices of authority in the first several centuries of Christianity. Ute Eisen focuses on inscriptions and documentary papyri (private letters, official documents, contracts, and other such pieces) that have scarcely been considered before.
Eisen presents the first extensive documentation of selected Greek and Latin inscriptions, plus a few documentary papyri, that witness to the existence of Christian women officeholders. The intent is to show the multiplicity of titles borne by women and to illustrate the narrowness of previous research on this topic. A single chapter is devoted to each of the titles of office or functional designations found in the sources. The epigraphical, papyrological, and literary witnesses are accordingly grouped by function. Topics are “Apostles,” “Prophets,” “Teachers of Theology,” “Presbyters,” “Enrolled Widows,” “Deacons,” “Bishops,” and “Stewards.”
Central to Women Officeholders in Early Christianity are the epigraphical witnesses. To this point they have been only marginally incorporated into research on women officeholders in the Church. In order to ensure correct interpretation, the majority of the inscriptions discussed have extensive documentation. They are organized geographically and chronologically. Besides the documentation they are commented on in the context of the existing literary sources. The book concludes with a chapter entitled “Source-Oriented Perspectives for a History of Christian Women Officeholders.” The book also includes a bibliography of reference works, primary sources, and secondary sources.
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14 Holy Helpers
$9.89Add to cartThe stories and special intercessory powers of 14 early Saint-Martyrs invoked for numerous special needs, such that they came to be called “The 14 Holy Helpers.” St. Barbara, St. Blaise, St. Christopher, St. George, St. Catherine, etc. They are invoked against throat ailments, lightning, diabolical possession, fire, family troubles, etc. Includes prayers to each Saint. This book links the present age to the earliest centuries of the Church. Impr.
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Western Monasticism : A History Of The Monastic Movement In The Latin Churc
$49.95Add to cartChristians have been drawn to monastic life nearly as long as Christianity has existed. Dedicating themselves to prayer, meditation, and good works, men and women in many diverse times and places have been willing to abstain from marriage, sexual relations, and personal ownership to serve God singlemindedly.
In this overview of the Latin tradition, Peter King, emeritus senior lecturer of medieval history at Saint Andrew’s University, leads readers quickly but deftly along the rugged monastic road from late antique Egypt to the present day, passing through spectacular expansion in medieval Europe, dissolution during the Reformation, retrenchment at the Counter Reformation, condemnation during the Enlightenment, destruction at the hands of revolutionaries, refoundation and new vigor during the nineteenth and the ecumenical twentieth centuries.
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Treasures From The Storeroom
$27.95Add to cartDo we really know about religion in the Middle Ages? Gary Macy suggests that what most people believe about the Church of the Middle Ages is actually wrong or founded on the perspective of one figure, Aquinas. Now, after two decades of research, Macy explores the truth about medieval religion and the Eucharist in Treasures from the Storeroom, an intriguing look into the forgotten areas of our Christian heritage. Using a wide range of original sources for these articles, Macy discusses such topics as theology, devotion, ecclesiology, and historical methodology.
This collection of eight essays provides an important backdrop to the plenary address, “The Eucharist and Popular Devotion,” presented at the 1997 national convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), since several themes raised in that address are actually summaries of the fuller arguments presented in these articles. By presenting them here as a whole in the form of a book, Macy offers readers a clearer, more systematic look at the themes raised in that address.
As comforting as it may be for today’s theologians (and others) to pick and choose from the past so that history conveniently leads to their own favorite conclusions, Macy suggests that the Church’s true tradition is diversity. Writing to fellow scholars, he offers Treasures from the Storeroom as a text for classroom use and as simply interesting reading.
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Catholicity Of The Reformation A Print On Demand Title
$17.99Add to cartAs the title of this engaging book suggests, “catholicity” was the true intent of the Reformation. The Reformers did not set out to create what later came to be known as Protestant Christianity. Theirs was a quest for reformation and renewal in continuity with the “one holy catholic and apostolic church” of ancient times.
This informed and informative book continues the appeal of previous voices that have pointed out the catholic intention of the Reformation – such voices as those of Friedrich Heiler, Philip Schaff, and Paul Tillich, to name only a few – and calls the heirs of the Reformation, both pastors and churches, to be faithful to the evangelical and catholic elements of the great Christian tradition.
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Eucharist In The New Testament And The Early Church
$29.95Add to cartAs presented in the New Testament, the Eucharist is a source of both inspiration and guidance today. In The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church, Father LaVerdiere examines what the New Testament tells us about the Eucharist and how the Eucharist provides an important experiential and theological resource for the gospel stories of Jesus’ life, ministry, passion and resurrection, as well as for the life and development of the Church.
Father LaVerdiere illustrates how the origins of the Eucharist coincide with the origins of the Church. The development of the Eucharist reflects the development of the early Church, as well as its creative theological and pastoral reflection. Through the lens of the New Testament it views the beginnings of both Church and Eucharist when the risen Lord appeared to the disciples at meals soon after Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. He also looks beyond the New Testament and explores the ongoing development of Eucharistic theology and practice up to the mid-second century, ending with Justin Martyr, the first to describe the Eucharist to people who had no personal experience of it.
Father LaVerdiere focuses on the Eucharist in relation to ecclesiology, Christology, and liturgy. He begins by reflecting on how Christians referred to the Eucharist before it had a name, how names for the Eucharist came to be and their importance, how the Eucharist was celebrated at the very beginning, how liturgical formulas came to be, how these formulas brought out the riches of the Eucharist, and how the Eucharist related to different pastoral situations.
The concept of “triunity” the assembly, the Eucharist, and the Church guides this study. The Eucharist is the sacrament of the assembly, the sacrament of the Church’s life in the world. From the very beginning, there was no separating the three, nor are there separating references to the Eucharist from the letters, gospels, or other work in which the three appear. Here, Father LaVerdiere stresses that in order to know the Eucharist in the New Testament and the early Church, one has only to look at the composition and actual life of the Church. Thus, to know the Church, one has only to look at the way it celebrates the Eucharist.
Since most of today’s challenges concerning the Eucharist are similar to those experienced by the early Church, The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church will be of great help to pastors, students, catechists and those i
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Papal Primacy : From Its Origins To The Present
$24.95Add to cartThrough the centuries, stories of popes and of the papacy from Catholic and non-Catholic perspectives, presented as biographies or as histories of an institution have boomed with the power of this often controversial office.
Whether as liberating truth which comes forth from the Church or as narrow perspective; whether as “Rock of the Church” or “stumbling-block,” primacy remains a reality at the heart of many ecclesiastical problems. Until now, a complete history of the primacy has been missing. Papal Primacy fills the void by providing a clear understanding of its history.
In this, the first complete history of the papal primacy, Schatz traces the development of the idea of a papacy as center of teaching and jurisdiction from its earliest Roman beginnings, through centuries of development, the great papal schism and the struggles over Conciliarism and Gallicanism, to the triumph of papal authority at Vatican I and beyond that to Vatican II and the growing realization that there are no “once and for all answers” to the Church’s questions. Papal primacy has grown with the Church, and it remains a reality embedded in the Church as a living community open to change.
Chapters focus on the development of the primacy in the first five centuries, different functions of unity in the East and the West; the papacy as the head of the Church and Christendom in the Middle Ages, and the primacy as confessional mark of identity in modern times.
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Protestants : The Birth Of A Revolution
$19.00Add to cartWho were the first men and women who abandoned the Church of Rome and became the world’s first Protestants? Harvard historian Steven Ozment does not present us with the remote, dusty figures of history, but rather with the shoemakers and housewives, students and politicians who were among the first followers of Martin Luther. Using pamphlets, diaries, letters, and other primary soruces, Ozment examines the origins of the Reformation and the nature of Protestantism. Rather than seeing the Reformation as the progenitor of German absolutism, as do many scholars of the period, Ozment sees in Protestantism the historic assertion of key Western values–social reform, individual religious conviction, hard work, and the rejection of corruption, hypocrisy, and empty ritual.
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Spirituality Of The Medieval West
$29.95Add to cartDefining spirituality as ‘the dynamic unity between the content of a faith and the way in which it is lived by historically determined human beings’, Vauchez steps outside the clerical world usually studied to trace the religious mentality of the laity, the ordinary and often illiterate majority of Christians.
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Mystical Theology Of Saint Bernard
$29.95Add to cartThis classic study placed the saint squarely among the outstanding theologians of the Middle Ages, and stripped away the sentimentality in which popular piety had wrapped him. Gilson demonstrates in Bernard’s works his blend of monastic tradition and the new learning of the early twelfth century.
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Practical And Theological Chapters And The Three Theological Discourses
$26.95Add to cartTransforming evagrian hesychia, with its insistence on absolute solitude, Symeon lived as the spiritual father of a bustling monastery in the very heart of Constantinople. Yet his works became, two centuries after his death, perhaps the most important inspiration for Athonite heyschasm.
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RB 1980 : The Rule Of Saint Benedict (Unabridged)
$59.95Add to cartIn Latin and English with notes. Definitive modern edition of this 1,500-year old rule whose commonsense guidelines and rhythm of work, prayer, and reading have shaped so much of Western spirituality. Displays an incredible grasp of human nature.
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Pachomian Chronicles And Rules 2
$29.95Add to cartDescriptions of Pachomian monastic communities from a variety of ancient sources, including the Lausiac History and A History of the Monks in Egypt, and full translations of the Rule of Saint Pachomius and the Regulation of his successor, Horsiesios.
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Thomas Merton On Saint Bernard
$29.95Add to cartThe best-known Cistercian of the twentieth century reflects on the teaching and life of the most reknown Cistercian of the twelfth century. Three essays written in the 1950s explore the relation of contemplation and action in the monastic vocation and in the life of Christians.
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Sayings Of The Desert Fathers
$19.95Add to cartThe responses of these pioneer ascetics were remembered and in the fourth century written down in Coptic, Syriac, Greek, and later Latin. Their Sayings were collected, in this case in the alphabetical order of the monks and nuns who uttered them, and read by generations of Christians as life-giving words that would help readers along the path to salvation.
