You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
In Jesus and Women, Niamh Middleton combines insights from evolutionary biology, feminism and the #MeToo movement to highlight the revolutionary attitude of Jesus towards women. Her careful exegesis, comparing the treatment and depiction of women in the Old and New Testaments, illuminates the way forward for the treatment of women by Church and society. More importantly, however, it holds the potential to greatly enrich our understanding of Jesus’ divinity. Middleton’s bold approach encourages Christian women to reclaim their religion as a tool for empowerment, correcting the regressive course that Christianity has taken in this regard since Roman times. She also cites the remarkable life and untimely death of Western heroine Diana, Princess of Wales as an archetypal example of why Christianity must be reclaimed by its female members. Above all, she powerfully argues that while political feminism can tackle the symptoms of the perennial ‘battle of the sexes’, only a revolution of grace can bring about a full restoration of the harmony between the sexes described in Genesis.
Around the world there are thousands of pet statues and memorials with fascinating stories behind them. Some reveal insights into our social history, such as the little brown dog in Battersea that was a focus of suffragette riots. Others have wonderfully quirky origins, like the twenty-three cats of York: sculptures added to buildings designed by a cat-loving architect. Many more reveal tales of courage, loyalty, myth, and legend. From Egyptian cat goddesses and the heroic dogs of war, to search-and-rescue canines on 9/11 and Tombili the Turkish moggy who became an Internet sensation, this book brings together a selection of the most surprising, amusing and illuminating stories, complete with dozens of full-colour photographs. Anyone with an appreciation of pets, the varied roles they play in our lives, and the ways in which our relationships with them have evolved over time, will find much of interest in this book.
This original monograph presents a comprehensive theory regarding the economy of the kingdom of God. The theory and associated model will help individuals make better choices. The research integrates fundamentals of the temporal real economy, and the permanent economy of the kingdom of God, to present a unified model of human agency. According to the model, effective agents are salt and light in the real economy, arresting corruption and revealing the truth. Effective agency produces life, peace, and growth. Individual and organizational practices that arrest corruption and reveal truth can resolve longstanding economic grievances. The list of spiritual credence goods is extensive and includ...
Franz Liszt is well known for his early years as 'super-star' pianist who excited audiences throughout Europe, but his later life is also of great interest. In his final 25 years he sought to achieve his life's aims of promoting new forms of music and giving stronger witness to his Christian faith, while continuing to support his stalwart life partner Princess Carolyne. However, he was to face unexpected problems in the continued negative reception of his music and recrimination in his closest relationship. Drawing on detailed analysis of Liszt's correspondence from his fiftieth year onwards, Peter Coleman approaches his later life as a case study of an older person grappling with a succession of often disturbing life experiences. These included the deaths of two of his children, political upheaval and war within Europe, and a growing realisation of his own past failings. Liszt suffered frequent bouts of depression but never ceased composing music nor steadfastly heeding Christ's command to bear one's cross. This sensitive treatment of an extraordinary individual will appeal to the scholar and general reader alike.
Joseph Sverker explores the division between social constructivism and a biologist essentialism by means of Christian theology. For this, Sverker uses a fascinating approach: He lets critical theorist Judith Butler, psycholinguist Steven Pinker, and systematic theologian Colin Gunton interact. While theology plays a central part to make the interaction possible, the context is also that of the school and the effect of institutions on the pupil as a human being and learner. In order to understand what underlies the division between nature and nurture, or biology and the social in school, Sverker develops new central concepts such as a kenotic personalism, a weak ontology of relationality, and a relational and performative reading of evolution. He argues that most fundamental for what it is to be human is the person, vulnerability, bodiliness, openness to the other, and dependence. Sverker concludes that the division between constructivism and essentialism discloses a deeper divide, namely that between fundamentally vulnerable persons on the one hand and constructed independent individuals on the other.
In The Christian Society, one of the great Christian commentators of the twentieth century describes how the Church came to be a society. The past relationship between the missionary church and the pagan cultures it replaced is discussed alongside more recent delicate ecumenical relationships and the ongoing conflict between the church and atheism. Stephen Neill's perceptiveness as a historian is shown in his masterful summary of the church's story from the days of Jesus to his own time. Meanwhile, his experience as a missionary and ecumenist comes to the fore as he demonstrates how the unity of the church is integral to its place in modern society, and its power to create a society. Throughout, his approach is empirical, and he considers 'all who have claimed the Christian name, without making preliminary judgements as to their orthodoxy or their standing within the general body of Christian people.' The result is a comprehensive depiction of Christianity as a social phenomenon that is as relevant today as when it was written.
A notable figure in the cultural and social history of Denmark, Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig's (1783-1872) works are still salient for us now. Highlighting his vivacious ideas and personality, A Grundtvig Anthology includes extracts from Grundtvig's historical, educational, theological, devotional, and poetical works. Each chapter is prefaced by insightful explanatory introductions by leading authorities on Grundtvig's monumental body of work, along with a comprehensive general introduction and illuminating annotations. Grundtvig viewed the myths of the North as an expression of the moral values and understanding of life, and his hymn and song writing reveal the same joy of life, openness and freedom as the Norse perspective. By offering selections from across his major works, this anthology succeeds in capturing his spirit in English translation, and continuing his written legacy.
"Do we properly understand what it is that the Church should be seeking to accomplish on earth in heaven's name'" This crucial question, at the heart of Philip Blair's thought-provoking and challenging book, is one that is seldom confronted by those vast numbers of professing Christians who are overly preoccupied by the world and its affairs. He argues that the Church was appointed to be the single custodian and teacher of a new and distinctive revelation about man's potential in Christ, and that it is this task which she is compromising, and even at times abandoning, by entering the political arena. In Part I of this book, Dr Blair establishes his argument by tracing the Church's history over nearly 2,000 years, illustrating her many oscillations between faithfulness and apostasy, and in Part II looks at Christian origins in order to identify the real nature of the Church and her Gospel. Scholarly, well-researched, cogently argued and logically developed, while Dr Blair's analysis may appear at some points highly controversial, this merely indicates how timely is his attempt to redress what has become a serious imbalance in much modern Christian thought.
"Combining the poignant appeal of a love story cut short with the theme of personal growth and the spiritual search for meaning, this book will help to give comfort to those who have shared the pain of bereavement. It shows them that they are not alone, and that the cycle of grieving is normal and that life does get better. Presented as a verse journal, Can I Let You Go, My Love? is more than an outpouring of one womanis experience of bereavement and life beyond grief. It is also a way of letting other people know what the bereaved are going through and so broadening understanding. The verses are full of lifeis lessons and the thoughts and feelings expressed are powerful, profound and heart-rending. It is a book that not only can be used bycounsellors and their clients (the manuscript has already been adopted as a therapeutic aid by counsellors) but is just the gift to give to a friend who has lost a loved one or who is going through a crisis in life. Can I Let You Go, My Love? was cited as an Outstanding Contender for the CRUSE Excellence in Communication Award 1997."
This book focuses on the activities of the scientific staff of the British National Institute of Oceanography during the Cold War. Revealing how issues such as intelligence gathering, environmental surveillance, the identification of ‘enemy science’, along with administrative practice informed and influenced the Institute’s Cold War program. In turn, this program helped shape decisions taken by Government, military and the civil service towards science in post-war Britain. This was not simply a case of government ministers choosing to patronize particular scientists, but a relationship between politics and science that profoundly impacted on the future of ocean science in Britain.