Download or read book The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World written by Deanna A. Thompson and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in a wired world where 24/7 digital connectivity is increasingly the norm. Christian megachurch communities often embrace this reality wholeheartedly while more traditional churches often seem hesitant and overwhelmed by the need for an interactive website, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. This book accepts digital connectivity as our reality, but presents a vision of how faith communities can utilize technology to better be the body of Christ to those who are hurting while also helping followers of Christ think critically about the limits of our digital attachments. This book begins with a conversion story of a non-cell phone owning, non-Facebook using religion professor judgmental of the ability of digital tools to enhance relationships. A stage IV cancer diagnosis later, in the midst of being held up by virtual communities of support, a conversion occurs: this religion professor benefits in embodied ways from virtual sources and wants to convert others to the reality that the body of Christ can and does exist virtually and makes embodied difference in the lives of those who are hurting. The book neither uncritically embraces nor rejects the constant digital connectivity present in our lives. Rather it calls on the church to a) recognize ways in which digital social networks already enact the virtual body of Christ; b) tap into and expand how Christ is being experienced virtually; c) embrace thoughtfully the material effects of our new augmented reality, and c) influence utilization of technology that minimizes distraction and maximizes attentiveness toward God and the world God loves.
Download or read book Because of Christ written by Carl E. Braaten and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-10-11 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carl Braaten’s memoirs tell the story of his life as a theologian, from his early years as a missionary kid in Madagascar to his years of study at the universities of Paris, Harvard, Heidelberg, and Oxford to his decades of teaching. Throughout the book, he delves into the many theological movements, controversies, and personalities that shaped his thinking and writing. Braaten’s fight for the faith is reflected in his theological work―spoken and written―that tangles with the “isms” of the surrounding culture of American religion. Because of Christ is more than simply a biography; it is a chronicle of the chief theological conflicts of the twentieth century that put the integrity of the gospel to the test.
Download or read book The Hidden Life of Jesus Christ written by Bill Worth and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2011-09-02 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hidden Life of Jesus Christ: A Memoir, is a metaphysical novel that speculates on what Jesus was doing between the age of 12, when he appeared in the temple in Jerusalem; and age 30, when he began his ministry in Galilee.The novel was written by Bill Worth, a retired Unity minister and a former newspaper editor and publisher. Worth believes Jesus was born a human being, like the rest of us, and learned how to perform the "signs and wonders" of the New Testament by studying with the mystical Essenes in Israel and traveling to Egypt, India, and the Himalayan mountains, where he spent years at the feet of sages and avatars.What he learned there enabled him to create the “miracles” as related in the New Testament gospels: raising the dead; healing the blind, the sick, and the lame; and calming storms. From the masters of the Far East, he learned to access higher physical and spiritual laws – so much so that he was able to raise the vibration of his own body and escape the tomb.This novel features unforgettable characters, including Mary Magdalene, the love of Jesus' life; Amad, the bandit trader who kidnapped Jesus but later became a fast friend; John the Baptist, who constantly challenged Jesus' belief system; Maya, Amad's feisty mother-in-law who taught Jesus about the Buddha; and Om, the irascible dwarrow who forced him to learn how to access – and use – the higher laws. And the novel answers these controversial questions: did Jesus have an intimate relationship with Mary Magdalene? If so, what was the outcome? Did he really die on the cross, or did he spend his old age in India?The central theme of this novel centers on the words of Jesus, as recorded by the apostle John, in Chapter 14, Verse 12 of his gospel: "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father."
Download or read book A Memoir of Christ written by Elizabeth Cronkhite and published by . This book was released on 2021-08-03 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A student and teacher of A Course in Miracles, a nondualistic path to inner peace, Liz Cronkhite lived consciously with Spirit for over three decades. And then in a moment she calls The Break, the experience of existence she knew fell away, taking with it the life she had been living. She had shifted to Spirit-consciousness. Using the six stages a Course student can expect to pass through, Liz shares how she first found fulfillment as a person living with Spirit, and then, through the Vision of Unity of a holy relationship, came to know Christ-God's Extension-as her Self after a long and difficult ego "death." Whether or not you are a student of the Course, Liz's story illustrates how Christ is in every mind and is every mind's only Reality.
Download or read book Jesus My Father the CIA and Me written by Ian Morgan Cron and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2011-06-06 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A touching memoir of life with an alcoholic father who secretly works with the CIA, a dark pilgrimage through the valley of depression and addiction, and finding a faith to redeem and a strength to forgive. "This is a record of my life as I remember it—but more importantly, as I felt it." At the age of sixteen, Ian Morgan Cron was told by his mother that his father, a motion picture executive, worked with the CIA in Europe. This astonishing revelation, coupled with his father's dark struggle with alcoholism, upended the world of a teenager struggling to become a man. Born into a family of privilege and power, Ian's life is populated with colorful people and stories as his father takes the family on a wild roller-coaster ride through wealth and poverty and back again. Decades later, as he faced his own personal demons, Ian realized that the only way to find peace was to voyage back through a painful childhood marked by extremes—privilege and poverty, violence and tenderness, truth and deceit—that he’d spent years trying to escape. A fast-paced, unique memoir about the power of forgiveness from the bestselling author of The Road Back to You Details his father’s struggle with alcohol and Cron’s own journey from addiction to twenty-three years of sobriety Encouragement to see God’s redemptive power through life’s struggles In this surprisingly funny and forgiving memoir, Ian reminds us that no matter how different the pieces may be, in the end we are all cut from the same cloth, stitched by faith into an exquisite quilt of grace.
Download or read book Jesus Land written by Julia Scheeres and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestseller: An “exquisitely wrought memoir” about how “love can flourish even in the harshest climates”—for readers of The Liar’s Club and Running with Scissors (People). This poignant, darkly funny account of two siblings—one white, one Black—growing up in the Christian fundamentalist communities of Indiana and the Dominican Republic is “one of the best memoirs in years” (Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird). Julia and her adopted brother, David, are 16 years old. Julia is white. David is black. It is the mid–1980s and their family has just moved to rural Indiana, a landscape of cottonwood trees, trailer parks, and an all–encompassing racism. At home are a distant mother—more involved with her church’s missionaries than her own children—and a violent father. In this riveting and heartrending memoir, Julia Scheeres takes us from the Midwest to a place beyond imagining. Surrounded by natural beauty, Escuela Caribe—a religious reform school in the Dominican Republic—is characterized by a disciplinary regime that extracts repentance from its students by any means necessary. Julia and David strive to make it through these ordeals and their tale is relayed here with startling immediacy, extreme candor, and wry humor. Over a decade after its first publication, Jesus Land remains deeply resonant with readers. This New York Times bestselling memoir is a gripping tale of rage and redemption, hope and humor, morality and malice—and most of all, the truth: that being a good person takes more than just going to church.
Download or read book Jesus Little Instruction Book written by Thomas Cahill and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2011-11-02 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesus' teachings have reached across two millenia, inspiring, informing, and uplifting people from all walks of life. In this elegant little volume, a noted religious publisher and biblical student has collected Jesus' key messenges, culled from the Gospels. Organized thematically, Jesus' words speak directly to contemporary lives and convey a man unlike any other man whose life contains a message for all. Engaging and nondoctrinal commentary throughout places the sayings in their historical context and drawn to this simple and beautiful rendering of Jesus' unique--an, even today, unconventional--message for the heart.
Download or read book Where the Light Fell written by Philip Yancey and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this searing meditation on the bonds of family and the allure of extremist faith, one of today’s most celebrated Christian writers recounts his unexpected journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to a life of compassion and grace—a revelatory memoir that “invites comparison to Hillbilly Elegy” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Searing, heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason Raised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in 1950s Atlanta, Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, found ways to venture out beyond the confines of their eight-foot-wide trailer. But when Yancey was in college, he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause. Searching for answers, Yancey dives into his family origins, taking us on an evocative journey from the backwoods of the Bible Belt to the bustling streets of Philadelphia; from trailer parks to church sanctuaries; from family oddballs to fire-and-brimstone preachers and childhood awakenings through nature, music, and literature. In time, the weight of religious and family pressure sent both sons on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral. Where the Light Fell is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post–World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and Sixties-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear. “I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write,” says Yancey. “So many of the strands from my childhood—racial hostility, political division, culture wars—have resurfaced in modern form. Looking back points me forward.”
Download or read book Jesus Loves Women written by Tricia Gates Brown and published by DreamSeeker Books. This book was released on 2011 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesus Loves Women is the memoir of a girl raised in a fundamentalist Christian milieu she casts off at a young age and of her quest to find wholeness and home, spiritually and sexually.Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico; and author, Falling Upward, puts it this way: "Finally, the body is getting its due as the normal and gifted vehicle for Spirit! It has taken us a long time to realize the Christian obvious, and Tricia Gates Brown is making it both more obvious and thoroughly Christian." In his foreword, James Loney, Author of Captivity: 118 Days in Iraq and the Struggle for a World Without War, comments that "Jesus Loves Women is a story of grace, of how through the healing beauty of the Pacific coast and the friendship of a Trappist monk, Tricia awakens to a mystical understanding of God's unconditional love. It is the story of how one woman finds freedom from the shame, social conventions, and religious pieties that constrict the lives of all women." Susan Mark Landis, former Minister of Peace and Justice, Mennonite Church USA, says that "Like a late night talk with my best friend, Tricia's book gave me intimate insights into her life, my life, and God's love for us. Her fresh, rich words draw me to examine my life and God's movement through it. By openly sharing the secrets we typically hide, she invites us to give ourselves the grace God does and to journey toward unreserved living and loving." Brian Doyle, Author of the novel Mink River, views Brown as "An honest, piercing, blunt, lyrical, remarkable writer about the endless chambers of joy and pain in the heart."
Download or read book Knowing Christ written by Alister McGrath and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2002-06-25 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alister McGrath, a widely acknowledged master of contemporary spirituality, has written a profound meditation on one of the most deceptively simple-sounding tenets of the Christian faith, the centrality of Christ in the life of his followers, in Knowing Christ. Written in an accessible style that will appeal to Christians of all denominations, Knowing Christ aims to stimulate a more direct and intimate relationship between Christ and the reader by engaging not just the intellect but, more important, the heart and imagination. It is a work of spirituality saturated with biblical texts and themes, but it also draws on the rich tradition in art and literature of Christian reflection on the centrality of Christ throughout the ages. The result is a lively, engaging, and always inspiring book of twenty-first century spirituality from one of the world's most popular and respected Christian writers, a book that will strengthen the faith of all who read it.
Download or read book The Pastor written by Eugene H. Peterson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-02-22 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Pastor, author Eugene Peterson, translator of the multimillion-selling The Message, tells the story of how he started Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland and his gradual discovery of what it really means to be a pastor. Steering away from abstractions, Peterson challenges conventional wisdom regarding church marketing, mega pastors, and the church’s too-cozy relationship to American glitz and consumerism to present a simple, faith-based description of what being a minister means today. In the end, Peterson discovers that being a pastor boils down to “paying attention and calling attention to ‘what is going on now’ between men and women, with each other and with God.”
Download or read book Jesus Saves written by Darcey Steinke and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2012-11-27 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the most daring and sensuous young writers in America, Jesus Saves, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, is a suburban gothic that explores the sources of evil, confronts the dynamic shifts within theology, and traces the consequences of suburban alienation. Set in the modern launch pads of adolescent ritual, the strip malls and duplexes on the back side of suburbia, it’s the story of two girls: Ginger, a troubled minister’s daughter; and Sandy Patrick, who has been abducted from summer camp and now smiles from missing-child posters all over town. Layering the dreamscapes of Alice in Wonderland with the subculture of River’s Edge, Darcey Steinke’s Jesus Saves is an unforgettable passage through the depths of the literary imagination.
Download or read book The Case for Christ written by Lee Strobel and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.
Download or read book When We Were on Fire written by Addie Zierman and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the strange, us-versus-them Christian subculture of the 1990s, a person’s faith was measured by how many WWJD bracelets she wore and whether he had kissed dating goodbye. Evangelical poster child Addie Zierman wore three bracelets asking what Jesus would do. She also led two Bible studies and listened exclusively to Christian music. She was on fire for God and unaware that the flame was dwindling—until it burned out. Addie chronicles her journey through church culture and first love, and her entrance—unprepared and angry—into marriage. When she drops out of church and very nearly her marriage as well, it is on a sea of tequila and depression. She isn’t sure if she’ll ever go back. When We Were on Fire is a funny, heartbreaking story of untangling oneself from what is expected to arrive at faith that is not bound by tradition or current church fashion. Addie looks for what lasts when nothing else seems worth keeping. It’s a story for doubters, cynics, and anyone who has felt alone in church.
Download or read book Christ Or Hitler written by Wilhelm Busch and published by EP BOOKS. This book was released on 2013 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life of Wilhelm Busch progressed from a Christian home, through conversion amidst the horrors of the First World War, to student life against the background of the crushing inflation of the Weimar Republic period. Then followed the Nazi period, times of suffering lived out against the background of falling bombs. This is Wilhelm Busch's story in his own words, but more than that it is a dramatic record of the power and faithful love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Download or read book He Will Be Enough written by Katie Faris and published by The Good Book Company. This book was released on 2022-06-01 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biblical reflections helping you to have faith and to trust God in hard times. Life doesn’t always go the way we hoped, and sometimes God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we’d like. Challenging circumstances, especially ones with no immediate end in sight, can cause us to question God’s character, his purpose and his ways. Each of these 20 biblical reflections examines a truth about God and shows how it provides an anchor for the soul in hard times. Author Katie Faris writes with warmth and compassion, weaving in stories of her own family’s struggles with complex medical conditions. She encourages readers to entrust their confusing circumstances and unanswered questions to the Lord and place their hope in his promises. In so doing, they will be sustained in their suffering and enabled to live joyfully and fruitfully, loving and serving God and others, in the midst of their struggles. This beautiful hardback book will help you if you are going through hard times, or walking alongside those who are. It is also a great gift for a brother or sister in Christ who is struggling.
Download or read book Works written by Archibald M'Lean and published by . This book was released on 1823 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
