We hear about heaven and the supernatural far more often on late-night TV than in church; indeed, many Christians never hear eternity mentioned seriously from the pulpit.This book of short, personal essays gathers the hopes and reflections of writers from theology, fiction, and poetry. The authors include Rick Moody, Nora Gallagher, Robert Orsi, Barbara Brown Taylor, Phyllis Tickle, Alan Jones, Maggie Robbins, Barbara Crafton, Cynthia Bourgeault and Susan Wheeler.These writ...

Think of all the senses you use when you pick up a Bible. What do you see? What do you smell? What do you touch? Reading scripture attentively is more than a matter of sight. Most of us have been taught to think about God in visual terms, yet the very subject matter of scripture-our relationship with the fullness of God-makes irresistible demands upon all of our senses if we are to begin to understand anything about God.In these meditations on stories from the New Testament, Roger ...

For many people the Bible is strange and unfamiliar territory, impossible to navigate without a certain kind of knowledge and skill. Roger Ferlo leads his readers through the practical difficulties of reading the Bible, offering advice that is true to the way Anglicans have read Scripture from the time of Tyndale and Cranmer.Ferlo explains why the Bible looks the way it does, the theology that lies behind the many different versions and translations, how to deal with the notes and ...

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 ...

“Reading of God's silence in the Bible gives me courage to explore the practice of restraint in preaching-not as a deliberate withholding of God's word nor, I hope, as a rationale for my own reticence, but as a sober reaching for more reverence in the act of public speaking about God.”In these 1997 Lyman Beecher Lectures in Preaching delivered at Yale Divinity School, Barbara Brown Taylor focuses on the task of those who preach and those who hear sermons in a world where people thi...

The second half of life-which we can enter at any age-is that time when we begin the process essential to a mature faith: discovering who we are, exploring our relationship with God, and beginning to let go. This part of life has a depth and spirituality all its own-a need for structure and rule, a tolerance of ambiguity, an exploration of limitation and mortality, and the deep work of discipline and detachment.Margaret Guenther brings her insights as a spiritual director to the gi...

**“Brennan Manning does a masterful job of blowing the dust off of shop-worn theology and allowing God’s grace to do what only God’s grace can do—amaze.”—Max LucadoAre you bedraggled, beat-up, burnt-out?**Most of us believe in God’s grace—in theory. But somehow we can’t seem to apply it in our daily lives. We continue to see Him as a small-minded bookkeeper, tallying our failures and successes on a score sheet.Yet God gives us His grace, willingly, no matter what we...

When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today. He frames his account with personal reflections on how his stud...

In the New York Times bestseller An Altar in the World, acclaimed author Barbara Brown Taylor continues her thoughtful spiritual journey by building upon where she left off in Leaving Church. With the honesty of Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) and the spiritual depth of Anne Lamott (Grace, Eventually), Taylor shares how she learned to find God beyond the church walls in this guide to everyday spirituality, embracing the sacred as a natural part of everyday life. In An Alta...

The twelve days of Christmas follow from December 25 until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, the traditional date when the Magi arrived to present gifts to infant Jesus. For many, the meaning of these days is lost. By Christmas night we are saturated with the holiday hype, overfed by music and food, and may already be disappointed that the presents received are not enough. The book is not a bah humbug about Christmas customs and presents. This is simply an invitation to go deeper than ...

This text covers subjects concerning the esoteric power of thought in creating reality. Topics include: visualization, prayer, meditation, the nature of God and Christ, the state of vision, God's promise to man, and more.

In Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, top-selling author and Anglican bishop, N.T. Wright tackles the biblical foundations of Christian hope and shows how most Christians get it wrong. We do not “go to” heaven; we are resurrected and heaven comes down to earth—a difference that makes all of the difference to how we live on earth as part of the mission of the Church.Following N.T. Wright’s resonant explora...