In this mannered tour through literature, sports, film and daily life, Barry Morrow leads us to contemplate the nature and purpose of human longing. Using Ecclesiastes as a map for the journey, Morrow gives us a vision of our disenchantment "under the sun" and suggests that human culture--our work, art and play--gives evidence of another reality for which God created us.

Are you struggling to accept God's love?We've bought into the lie that we are worthy of God's love only when our lives are going well. But when life begins to fall through the cracks and things become less-than-perfect, we scramble to present a good front to the world―and to God.God longs for us to deeply believe and know that He loves us and accepts us as we are. He calls for us to remove our masks and establish honest, deep, and trusting relationships with...

Drawing on a lifetime of wisdom, New York Times bestselling author and controversial religious leader John Shelby Spong continues to challenge traditional Christian theology in Eternal Life: A New Vision. In this remarkable spiritual autobiography about his lifelong struggle with the questions of God and death—a journey that took him beyond theism—he reveals how he ultimately came to believe in eternal life.But how can a modern thinker abandon heaven, hell, and ev...

Why does God feel so distant so often, and how do I bridge the gap?Does your hunger for God often seem more frustrating than satisfying?Have you sensed a disturbing disparity between God's promises and life's realities?Have you seen God's promises work, but you've stumbled and want to believe again?Award-winning author Philip Yancey articulates the fundamental questions that confront us all: "How do I relate to a God...

In his sequel to The Ragamuffin Gospel bestselling author Brennan Manning shows how true and radical trust in God can transform our lives and invigorate our approach to Christian living.Manning, beloved author and spiritual teacher, shows us how trust in God can transform our lives and open us up to deeper experiences of grace and love. In Ruthless Trust EPB, he turns his focus from furious love to radical trust, revealing the ways in which trust renews our faith ...

In his bestselling The Soul's Code, James Hillman restored passion and meaning to the concept of identity, arguing that each of us is born with an innate character, the "daimon" or "spirit" that calls us to what we are meant to be. Now, in The Force of Character, Hillman brings the idea of character full circle, offering a revolutionary new vision of life's most feared and misunderstood chapter: old age."Aging is no accident," Hillman writes. "It is necess...

One of America's leading Christian thinkers interweaves the story of his own struggle to reclaim his beliefs with inspiring portraits of people who have succeeded in the pursuit of an authentic faith.In Soul Survivor, Philip Yancey charts his spiritual pilgrimage through the influence of key individuals: "These are the people who ushered me into the Kingdom. In many ways, they are why I remain a Christian today, and I want to introduce them to other spirit...

Rightly understood and rightly communicated, the Christian faith is one of great joy. It is an invitation to God's kingdom, where tears are replaced by laughter and longing hearts find their purpose and their home.This is the heart of the gospel: God's search to reclaim us and love us as his own. But have we truly grasped this? Those of us who have disdained Christianity as a religion of bigotry--have we repudiated the genuine article or merely demonstrated our own prejudice and ig...

In this incendiary new work, the controversial author and speaker Peter Rollins proclaims that the Christian faith is not primarily concerned with questions regarding life after death but with the possibility of life before death.In order to unearth this truth, Rollins prescribes a radical and wholesale critique of contemporary Christianity that he calls pyro-theology. It is only as we submit our spiritual practices, religious rituals, and dogmatic affirmations to...

When one reaches the highest degree of human maturity, one has only one question left: How can I be helpful?—TERESA OF ÁVILABeloved author Ronald Rolheiser continues his search for an accessible and penetrating Christian spirituality in this highly anticipated follow-up to the contemporary classic, The Holy Longing. With his trademark acuity, wit, and thoughtfulness, Rolheiser shows how identifying and embracing discipleship will lead to new heigh...

With more than 400,000 copies in print, Out of Solitude by Henri J. M. Nouwen offers a timeless reflection on the sacred tension between our longing for quiet communion with God and the unrelenting pull and noise of daily life. Drawing on three pivotal moments in the life of Jesus—his retreat to a lonely place to pray, the feeding of the five thousand, and his promise that, after going away, he would return to them—Nouwen shows how Christ himself turned to solitude to receive the ...

You can’t be satisfied. Life is difficult. You don’t know the secret.Whether readers are devout believers or distant seekers, The Idolatry of God shows that we must lay down our certainties and honestly admit our doubts to identify with Jesus. Rollins purposely upsets fundamentalist certainty in order to open readers up to a more loving, active manifestation of Christ’s love.In contrast to the usual understanding of the “Good News” as a message off...