Like many other people, the long tradition about hell has been a source of serious confusion and distress for me. Over the past six years or so I was relieved to discover two other alternatives that are also part of the Christian tradition, though less prominent--universalism and the subject of the present book, conditional immortality. Universalism--that everyone would eventually be saved--did not, in the final analysis, seem to really come to grips with the overwhelming scriptural testim...

This reading guide to some of the philosophical and theological literature on universalism offers practical help in providing informed material on a topic that is often treated in a superficial and unenlightened manner. The reader may be surprised to learn that universalism was the predominant belief in the early centuries, and that it has always been present in the Christian tradition. Spurred on by Von Balthasar's book, Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved? Robert Wild's guide pro...

The present book is the first work to highlight Catherine Doherty's vocation to spiritual motherhood. Drawing upon primary archival sources, the author traces Catherine's development as a staritsa, or spiritual mother in the Russian-Eastern tradition. Of particular interest are the chapters dealing with Catherine's exercise of spiritual motherhood for priests and laity alike. Previously unpublished letters of spiritual direction between Catherine and her major spiritual directors offer the...

Introduction to SYSTEM SCIENCE with MATLABExplores the mathematical basis for developing and evaluating continuous and discrete systemsIn this revised Second Edition of Introduction to System Science with MATLAB®, the authors Gary Sandquist and Zakary Wilde provide a comprehensive exploration of essential concepts, mathematical framework, analytical resources, and productive skills require...

"The Importance of Being Earnest" is a comedic play written by Oscar Wilde, first performed in 1895. Regarded as one of Wilde's masterpieces, the play is celebrated for its wit, humor, and satirical examination of the social conventions and manners of the Victorian era. The plot revolves around the lives of two friends, Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing. To escape social obligations and responsibilities, both men create fictional identities. Algernon invents an imaginary friend named "B...

In the dimly lit atelier of Basil Hallward, a talented and idealistic artist, the portrait of Dorian Gray comes to life on the canvas. This portrait, a masterpiece capturing the youth and allure of its subject, becomes the focal point of Oscar Wilde's haunting and philosophical novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray."Set against the backdrop of late 19th-century London, the novel opens with a scene of artistic inspiration. Basil, enamored by the beauty and innocence of his muse, Dorian ...

In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. ...

In seventeenth-century England, a female healer enflames the fury of a witchfinder in this propulsive novel about murder, revenge, and the dangerous power of knowledge.Mary Fawcett refines the healing recipes she’s inherited from generations of women before her—an uncanny and moral calling to empathize with the sick. When witchfinder Matthew Hopkins arrives in her small village, stoking the fires of hate, he sees not healing but the devil at work. Mary’s benevolent...

Celtic Poets breathes vitality into the works of Swift, Burns, Wilde, and more. Cosham's finely honed delivery brings verdant valleys, quaint villages, and drunkards' and maidens' conversations to listeners' ears. What is not to love?!

Some lights don’t go out. They just change form.Bella and her sister Lucy are inseparable, two Peekapoo sisters with hearts as one. But Bella has always been the anxious one: the little dog who shakes and worries and barks at closed doors. Then one day, a warm glow begins to grow inside her chest, and Bella knows she must leave home to discover what it means.Her journey carries her across rivers and rolling hills, through jungles and mountain forests, and o...

In the late 19th Century, a literary movement arose across both prose and poetry, that championed the idea that art should exist for its aesthetic value, unburdened by moral or social obligations. As a consequence, it challenged the strict moral codes of the Victorian era, often exploring themes associated with eroticism, forbidden desires, artificiality, the ravages of time, beauty, death, and decay which were often perceived as transgressive, even taboo.Within its ranks are a who...

You're invited to wander the streets of Victorian London with the nation's literary greats. Weaving a remarkable collection from the very best writers, tales of love and loss never felt so good…With classics such as Charles Dicken's 'Oliver Twist', you'll peak behind the scenes at one of the West End's most loved musicals. You'll then laugh till you cry at the lives of London's high society in Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair' and Virginia Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway'.But it's not all ro...