Is Man a Myth? asks the title of one of Mr. Tumnus's books. It was apparently an open question in Narnia during the Long Winter, and it has become so again for us. In Mere Humanity, Donald T. Williams plumbs the writings of three beloved Twentieth-Century authors to find answers that still resonate in the Twenty-First. Chesterton, Lewis, and Tolkien explain in their expositions and incarnate in their fiction a robust biblical doctrine of man that gives us a firm place to stand against the various forms of reductionism that dominate our thinking about human nature today.
All of us are born with distinct personality traits. Some of us live for crowds and parties; others seek solitude and time for quiet reflection. Some of us are naturally pushy, while others are content just to get along. We don't pick and choose these traits; they're just part of the way we're made.
For in the womb God doesn't merely mold our body; He also gives us the temperament that, all our days, colors our understanding, guides our choices, and serves as the foundation of our moral and spiritual life.
Ancient philosophers identified four basic temperaments, and over the centuries, countless wise souls have used these four to understand human nature. Now comes The Temperament God Gave You, the first Catholic book on the subject in 70 years. Here veteran Catholic counselor Art Bennett and his wife Laraine provide an accessible synthesis of classical wisdom, modern counseling science, and Catholic spirituality: a rich understanding of the temperaments and what they mean for you and for your family.
Drawing on decades of study, prayer, and practical experience, Art and Laraine show you how to identify your own temperament and use it to become what God is calling you to be: a loving spouse, an effective parent, and a good friend. Best of all, they give you a Catholic understanding of the four temperaments that will bring you closer to God and help you discover the path to holiness that's right for you.
Peace. Happiness. Holiness.
You'll find yourself growing in each of these qualities as you come to understand -- and learn to use as you should -- the temperament God gave you.
Take the temperament test!
First published in 1959, The Measure of a Man is a collection of two influential sermons given by Martin Luther King, Jr. at the first National Conference on Christian Education of the United Church of Christ at Purdue University in August 1958. The two sermons, What is Man? and The Dimensions of a Complete Life, were printed together and published as The Measure of a Man by the Christian Education Press with the consent of King the following year. These sermons reflect ideas that King first began to develop during his days in the seminary and address what King believed to be one of the most important questions confronting any generation. He argued that the answer to what precisely made us human and different from other animals was complicated as we are biological beings, but also beings of spirit and thought. King argued that while we are made in the image of God and thus have a connection to the divine and perfect, we are also sinners in need of divine grace from God, our Creator. King's sermons are as thought-provoking and inspiring now as when he gave them and remain an important addition to his body of work. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.
This introduction provides the reader with a solid philosophical understanding of the structure of the human person. Its first chapters follow the basic outlines of the philosophical anthropology laid out by Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, while the last chapter enriches this classical vision of the human being with insights gleaned from contemporary personalist authors such as Karol Wojtyla, Joseph Ratzinger, and Leonardo Polo. Topics covered in this book include questions about what life is, the relation of body and soul, the life of the senses and feelings, the life of reason and freedom, the ethical life and virtue, the dignity of the person, her openness and relationship to others and to God, and, finally, a consideration of the human person as created gift.
The Western church has gone feminist. God has given men authority in the home, church, and society. Yet the church has rebelled against God's design and embraced the unbelieving world's teaching that women should take on the same roles and duties as men rather than focus on the home and children. Christian scholarship and Bible commentaries are dominated by feminist arguments that both husband and wife should submit to each another (mutual submission), that women may be pastors and preach sermons to men, and that the Apostle Paul's teaching on men and women was limited to Greco-Roman culture and has been transcended by our unity in Christ.
Sadly, the conservative response to feminism-complementarianism-compromised several historic Christian teachings and has thus given feminism an even stronger foothold in the church. Many complementarians fail to root gender roles in the differing natures of men and women. As a result, they have refused to apply the Bible's teaching about men and women beyond the home and church, leading to the embrace of women in civil office and military combat. In addition, the vast majority of complementarians have adopted the novel interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 (the women should keep silent in the churches) that Paul only prohibited women from evaluating prophecy, which has opened the door to women preaching and teaching men in the church.
The result is that the Western church has become effeminate and weak. Pastors are afraid to teach important Bible passages on the roles and duties of men and women, and it is no surprise that young Christian women are trading babies for careers outside the home and that churches are regularly capitulating to subversions of biblical sexual ethics. What the church needs is to recover its masculine calling, where men embrace their God-given authority-and responsibility-in the home, church, and society. This book affirms the historic Christian teaching on men and women, critiques feminist scholarship, and urges complementarians to hold a more robust and consistent position. This is a call to return to the Bible's teaching on men and women. This is a call to Masculine Christianity.
Many well-intentioned people these days look to the realm of politics for the solutions to the many and diverse societal problems facing the world. They believe that if only they could get good people into seats of power, then all would begin to correct itself and heal. These are noble and sane beliefs; indeed, one would expect the political route to bring this hoped-for outcome. We have come to believe that government does the will of the people, that the vote of the individual is the ultimate shaper of policy. The reality, however, is quite different, and this is borne out factually and undeniably in Ted Flynn's new book, Hope of the Wicked.
Politics has become but a tool for chaos; the solution for the ills confronting us exists far beyond. How have we arrived at the point we find ourselves, a point defined by the lack of ability to even govern our own future? If we can no longer determine our temporal destiny, then what does? The answers lie in a vast tangle of forces, organizations, individuals and philosophies, a tangle purposely confusing so as to avoid detection, a mass bound together tangibly by the desire of money and power, intangibly by the very essence of deceit.
What are these forces? How do they function? How have they come to the height of power? The truth is not easy to explain, nor is it easy to accept. The deception underlying the plans and processes is extremely subtle and pervasive. To understand all that is afoot requires delving into a large number of areas. Hope of the Wicked does just this. It explores the convergence on a global basis of multi-national corporations, foundations, and the political and sociological instruments of a one-world government to bring a New World Order.
The book is 550 pages with 82 photographs and 1,200 footnotes, with a strong historical basis to show that there is a global elite working to end the sovereignty of nations, to place all under the United Nations. Areas explored are: the plan to bring America into the New World Order, the altered roles and make-up of the family, how a global elite is working to change the form of money, the abuse of technology, the Shadow Government, Executive Orders, the role of the Federal Reserve and who owns it, the Bilderbergers, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, identities of the global big wigs and wonks, how the agenda has no ideology and is neither Democrat nor Republican but about control, the erosion of freedoms and rights, the planned collapse of the world economy to bring a new order from chaos, the intentional dumbing-down of American education, and many other issues that are bothering you in your gut, but that you can't put your finger on.
Hope of the Wicked is about the greatest deception in modern history. Nothing is left to guesswork; when you are finished reading, you will understand that what seems to be inconsistent and illogical to you, is not to the global elite who wish to bring the United States under the auspices of the United Nations. The quotes are from established world leaders, past and present, and most are household names. It is laid out for all to see what they have organized out in the open for all to observe, if one wants to learn what the Masters of the Universe are planning for the New World Order. The book is neither left- nor right-wing politically, but is the view of a scribe observing these trends and issues over a twenty-five year period. When you are done reading the material presented in this book, you'll never look at the news the same way again. It all amounts to control, control of your money, your work, your family, your education, your attitudes, your beliefs, your thoughts. Read Hope of the Wicked and you will know for sure it is not only possible, it is already being done.
Why do we have bodies?
When it comes to thinking about our bodies, confusion reigns. In our secular age, there has been a loss of the body's goodness, purpose, and end. Many people, driven by shame and idolatry, abuse their body through self-harm or self-improvement. How can we renew our understanding and see our bodies the way God does?
In Wonderfully Made, John Kleinig forms a properly biblical theology of our bodies. Through his keen sensitivity to Scripture's witness, Kleinig explains why bodies matter. While sin has corrupted our bodies and how we think of them, God's creation is still good. Thus, our bodies are good gifts. The Son took on a body to redeem our bodies. Kleinig addresses issues like shame, chastity, desire, gender dysphoria, and more, by integrating them into the biblical vision of creation.
Readers of Wonderfully Made will not only be equipped to engage in current issues; they will gain a robust theology of the body and better appreciation of God's very good creation.
The great Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948) believed that the dawn of the twentieth century would bring an end to the old atheistic and positivistic worldview and the beginning of a new era of the spirit. His philosophy goes beyond mere rational conceptualization and tries to attain authentic life itself: the profound layers of existence in contact with the divine world. He directed all his efforts-philosophical as well as in his personal and public life-at replacing the kingdom of this world with the kingdom of God. According to him, we can all attempt this by tapping the divine creative powers that constitute our true nature. Our mission is to be collaborators with God in His continuing creation of the world.
The Divine and the Human is about divine humanity, man's creative collaboration with God in the world. Nikolai Berdyaev's reflections on divine humanity lead him to outline a dramatic philosophy of destiny. It is a philosophy of existence that unfolds in time and passes over into eternity, into a state that is not death but transfiguration. He describes his method as existentially anthropocentric and spiritually religious. The dialectic of this book is not one of logic, but of life-a living existential dialectic. Berdyaev emphasizes that man must not simply wait upon a divine-human revelation, but must work creatively to achieve that revelation.
Nikolai Berdyaev's writings are always insightful, penetrating, passionate, committed-expressions of the whole person. They are as intensely alive now as when they were first written.-Richard Pevear, translator of War and Peaceand The Brothers Karamazov
Nikolai Berdyaev's writings retain their freshness as vehicles for thinking not just about the future of Russia, but about the spiritual challenges facing the modern world.-Paul Vallier, author of Modern Russian Theology: Bukharev, Soloviev, Bulgakov
Nikolai Berdyaev is one of the few who have found the Christian answer, and yet do not cease to question with those whose lives are still torn asunder by disbelief, doubt, and sufferings; one of the few who dare to be, as thinkers, Christians and, as Christians, thinkers.-Evgeny Lampert, author of The Apocalypse of History
Boris Jakim has translated and edited many books in the field of Russian religious thought. His translations include S. L. Frank's The Unknowable, Pavel Florensky's The Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Vladimir Solovyov's Lectures on Divine Humanity, and Sergius Bulgakov's The Bride of the Lamb.
First published in 1959, this pair of meditations by the revered civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. contains the theological roots of his political and social philosophy of nonviolent activism. Eloquent and passionate, reasoned and sensitive.
AT THE first National Conference on Christian Education of the United Church of Christ, held at Purdue University in the summer of 1958, Martin Luther King presented two notable devotional addresses. Moved by the dear and persuasive quality of his words, many of the 3000 delegates to the conference urged that the meditations be made available in book form. They wanted the book for their own libraries and they were eager to share Dr. King's vital messages with fellow Christians of other denominations.
In the resolute struggle of American Negroes to achieve complete acceptance as citizens and neighbors the author is recognized as a leader of extraordinary resourcefulness, valor, and skill. His concern for justice and brotherhood and the nonviolent methods that he advocated and uses, are based on a serious commitment to the Christian faith.
As his meditations in this book suggest, Dr. King regards meditation and action as indivisible functions of the religious life. When we think seriously in the presence of the Most High, when in sincerity we go up to the mountain of the Lord, the sure event is that he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths (Isaiah 2: 3).
The Measure of a Man, first published in 1959, is the text of two devotional speeches made by Dr. King at the National Conference on Christian Education of the United Church of Christ, held at Purdue University in the summer of 1958. The speeches were praised by many who were inspired and enlightened by their clear message on how to live a complete life centered on oneself, others, and God.
From the Foreword: In the resolute struggle of American Negroes to achieve complete acceptance as citizens and neighbors the author is recognized as a leader of extraordinary resourcefulness, valor, and skill. His concern for justice and brotherhood and the non-violent methods that he advocates and uses, are based on a serious commitment to the Christian faith. As his meditations in this book suggest, Dr. King regards meditation and action as indivisible functions of the religious life. When we think seriously in the presence of the Most High, when in sincerity we go up to the mountain of the Lord, the sure event is that he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths (Isaiah 2:3).
A must-read for anyone who has ever asked God, Why me?
It's easy to trust God when things are going our way and the world makes sense. But when suffering strikes--especially seemingly senseless suffering--we are filled with doubt and stunned by events spiraling beyond our control.
In the midst of suffering, we often question the very foundation of our faith--our belief in the God who says he loves us. Since our trust and obedience rest on God's character, the questions that life's tragedies force us to face are difficult, even frightening:
Joni Eareckson Tada, a woman who has lived in a wheelchair for more than thirty years, and Steve Estes, a pastor and one of Joni's closest friends, explore the answers. When God Weeps is not so much a book about suffering as it is about God. It tackles tough questions about heaven and hell, horrors and hardships, and why God allows suffering in this life.
Through a panoramic overview of what the Bible says about suffering, the authors make clear who God is, why he permits so much heartache and pain, and how it is we can trust him. With both a practical edge and heartfelt warmth, When God Weeps offers dependence on his love and mercy in spite of our doubts, fears, longings, and questions.