Download or read book The Treasure Chest of the Early Christians written by David Batson and published by Gracewing Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Praying the Psalms with the Early Christians written by Mike Aquilina and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mike Aquilina and Christopher Bailey open a treasure chest of ancient Christian wisdom that will enrich your experience and appreciation of the psalms. Each of the short chapters on selected psalms is designed to help you pray these beautiful and personal Old Testament songs-not just to read or recite them, but to make them part of your lives. Each chapter features the complete text of the psalm in the Revised Standard version format, a brief introduction that sets the psalm in context, "words to remember"-a few lines to recall throughout the day, short reflections in modernized language from one or two great early Christian thinkers, questions to help you apply the words of the psalm and the ideas of the early Chrsitain writers to your life.Also included are brief biogrpahies of the men and women quoted in the book.
Download or read book How Christianity Saved Civilization written by Mike Aquilina and published by Sophia Institute Press. This book was released on 2019-01-10 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Rome’s brutal culture exploited the weak and considered human life expendable. Women were used as property; unwanted children were left on the streets to die. Four centuries later, even ordinary men and women prospered in what had become a vigorous new Christian society – a society that served the vulnerable, exalted women, treasured virtue, and loved peace. Faith had triumphed. Truth was proclaimed. And on this rock-solid foundation, Christian society flourished in the West for the next 1500 years. These eye-opening pages document the many ways in which Christians penetrated and civilized that debased Roman empire, introducing then-radical notions such as the equal dignity of women, respect for life, protection of the weak and vulnerable, and the obligation of rulers to serve those they rule and maximize their freedom. Here you’ll learn about the seven specific areas where any paganism, ancient or modern, is particularly vulnerable. They provide a roadmap for modern Christians to reclaim for the Faith our own neo-pagan modern culture. Facing an overwhelmingly dark and hostile culture, Rome’s early Christians took the steps necessary to transform it. Their struggles and the hard lessons they learned – documented here – afford us hope that, by imitating their example, we may do the same for our culture today.
Download or read book Stories of Early Christian Leaders in the Days of the Apostles written by Episcopal Church. Diocese of New York. Sunday School Commission and published by . This book was released on 1904 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Teachers Notes on Stories of Early Christian Leaders in the Days of the Apostles written by Episcopal Church. Diocese of New York. Sunday School Commission and published by . This book was released on 1906 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wealth and Poverty in Early Christianity written by Helen Rhee and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2017-05 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wealth and Poverty in Early Christianity is part of Ad Fontes: Early Christian Sources, a series designed to present ancient Christian texts essential to an understanding of Christian theology, ecclesiology, and practice. This volume is designed to introduce the reader to the broad range of texts that reflect early Christian thoughts and practices on the topic of wealth and poverty. Developed in light of recent Patristic scholarship, the volumes will provide a representative sampling of theological contributions from both East and West. The series aims to provide volumes that are relevant for a variety of courses: from introduction to theology to classes on doctrine and the development of Christian thought. The goal of each volume is not to be exhaustive, but rather representative enough to denote for a non-specialist audience the multivalent character of early Christian thought, allowing readers to see how and why early Christian doctrine and practice developed the way it did.
Download or read book Water from a Deep Well written by Gerald L. Sittser and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2013-04-23 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gerald L. Sittser carves out a new discipline that blends spirituality and Christian history--spiritual history. He overviews Christian history through the lens of spirituality, looking at what we can learn about the spiritual life from various figures and eras.
Download or read book Treasure in Heaven written by Peter R. Brown and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2016-03-08 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "holy poor" have long maintained an elite status within Christianity. Differing from the "real" poor, these clergymen, teachers, and ascetics have historically been viewed by their fellow Christians as persons who should receive material support in exchange for offering immeasurable immaterial benefits—teaching, preaching, and prayer. Supporting them—quite as much as supporting the real poor—has been a way to accumulate eventual treasure in heaven. Yet from the rise of Christian monasticism in Egypt and Syria to present day, Christians have argued fiercely about whether monks should work to support themselves. In Treasure in Heaven, renowned historian Peter Brown shifts attention from Western to Eastern Christianity, introducing us to this smoldering debate that took place across the entire Middle East from the Euphrates to the Nile. Seen against the backdrop of Asia, Christianity might have opted for a Buddhist model by which holy monks lived by begging alone. Instead, the monks of Egypt upheld an alternative model that linked the monk to humanity and the monastery to society through acceptance of the common, human bond of work. This model of Third World Christianity—a Christianity that we all too easily associate with the West—eventually became the basis for the monasticism of western Europe, as well as for modern Western attitudes to charity and labor. In Treasure in Heaven, Brown shows how and why we are still living—at times uncomfortably—with that choice.
Download or read book Resilient Faith written by Gerald L. Sittser and published by Brazos Press. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In our Western, post-Christendom society, much of Christianity's cultural power, privilege, and influence has eroded. But all is not lost, says bestselling author Gerald Sittser. Although the church is concerned and sobered by this cultural shift, it is also curious and teachable. Sittser shows how the early church offers wisdom for responding creatively to the West's increasing secularization. The early Christian movement was surprisingly influential and successful in the Roman world, and so different from its two main rivals--traditional religion and Judaism--that Rome identified it as a "third way." Early Christians immersed themselves in the empire without significant accommodation to or isolation from the culture. They confessed Jesus as Lord and formed disciples accordingly, which helped the church grow in numbers and influence. Sittser explores how Christians today can learn from this third way and respond faithfully, creatively, and winsomely to a world that sees Christianity as largely obsolete. Each chapter introduces historical figures, ancient texts, practices, and institutions to explain and explore the third way of the Jesus movement, which, surprising everyone, changed the world.
Download or read book Seven Revolutions written by Mike Aquilina and published by Image. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining history, politics, and religion, Mike Aquilina and Jim Papandrea provide practical lessons to be learned from the struggles of the Early Church, lessons that can be applied to the day-to-day lives of Christian readers. Prolonged, multiple wars in the Middle East. Waves of immigrants crossing the borders. Ongoing economic recession. Increasing political polarization, often with religious overtones. Conflicts over ideologies that pit the progressive against the traditional. Sound familiar? These conditions not only describe the United States, but the situation of the Roman Empire in the third century. That situation led to religious persecution and the eventual collapse of the empire. In the middle of the third century, the Roman Empire was roughly the same age as the United States is now. In this book, authors Mike Aquilina and Jim Papandrea examine the practices of the Early Church—a body of Christians living in Rome—and show how the lessons learned from these ancient Christians can apply to Christians living in the United States today. The book moves from the Christian individual, to the family, the church and the world, explaining how the situation of the Early Church is not only familiar to modern Christian readers, but that its values are still relevant
Download or read book Useful Servanthood written by Bernadette McNary-Zak and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Useful Servanthood introduces English-speaking readers to Abba Ammonas, disciple and successor of Saint Antony of the Desert and a prominent figure of fourth-century Egyptian monasticism. As a director of souls, Ammonas's approach to spiritual formation was a creative example of the spiritual gift of discernment. By examining Ammonas's writings and his ecclesial and political milieus, Dr. McNary-Zak shows how discernment functioned both in the abba-disciple relationship of the desert monks and in the life of the wider Christian community. Thus, Ammonas serves as a model for spiritual directors of the twenty-first century. The second part of the book makes available for the first time in English the entire Greek corpus of Abba Ammonas's writings. Bernadette McNary-Zak, PhD, is associate professor of religious studies at Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee, where she teaches courses in early Christian literature and in the humanities program. Nada Conic was trained as a classicist at the University of Toronto and has taught Ancient Greek language and literature there and at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Brother Lawrence Morey, OCSO, is a monk of Gethsemani Abbey, Kentucky. Richard Upsher Smith, Jr., earned an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School in 1982, and a PhD in Classics from Dalhousie University in 1991. He currently teaches Classics at Franciscan University of Steubenville where he is also chairman of the Department of Classics. Dr. Smith has published scholarly articles on Classical, Medieval, and Reformation subjects, as well popular essays on theological topics. He is married with twin sons and one grandson.
Download or read book Cold Case Christianity written by J. Warner Wallace and published by David C Cook. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by an L. A. County homicide detective and former atheist, Cold-Case Christianity examines the claims of the New Testament using the skills and strategies of a hard-to-convince criminal investigator. Christianity could be defined as a “cold case”: it makes a claim about an event from the distant past for which there is little forensic evidence. In Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace uses his nationally recognized skills as a homicide detective to look at the evidence and eyewitnesses behind Christian beliefs. Including gripping stories from his career and the visual techniques he developed in the courtroom, Wallace uses illustration to examine the powerful evidence that validates the claims of Christianity. A unique apologetic that speaks to readers’ intense interest in detective stories, Cold-Case Christianity inspires readers to have confidence in Christ as it prepares them to articulate the case for Christianity.
Download or read book The Bible in Pastoral Practice written by Paul H. Ballard and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Review Books Original Whether you call her a coldhearted grifter or the soul of modern capitalism, there’s no question that Aimée is a killer and a more than professional one. Now she’s set her eyes on a backwater burg-where, while posing as an innocent (albeit drop-dead gorgeous) newcomer to town, she means to sniff out old grudges and engineer new opportunities, deftly playing different people and different interests against each other the better, as always, to make a killing. But then something snaps: the master manipulator falls prey to a pure and wayward passion. Aimée has become the avenging angel of her own nihilism, exacting the destruction of a whole society of destroyers. An unholy original, Jean-Patrick Manchette transformed the modern detective novel into a weapon of gleeful satire and anarchic fun. InFatalehe mixes equal measures of farce, mayhem, and madness to prepare a rare literary cocktail that packs a devastating punch.
Download or read book Just Living written by Ruth Valerio and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalisation and consumerism affect every area of our lives. But it's not just about shopping; these powerful forces shape our personal lives, how we relate to one another, how we view the world - and they are having a seriously detrimental impact both on the lives of the global poor, and on the health of the planet itself. Every Christian in every generation down through the history of the church has had to work out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in their particular culture; for us in the twenty-first century, we must think about discipleship in a globalised, consumerist context. Environmentalist and theologian Ruth Valerio examines these issues in a book that is intellectually rigorous yet practical, and as inspiring as it is challenging.
Download or read book Christians in Caesar s Household written by Michael Flexsenhar III and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2020-02-28 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, Michael Flexsenhar III advances the argument that imperial slaves and freedpersons in the Roman Empire were essential to early Christians’ self-conception as a distinct people in the Mediterranean and played a multifaceted role in the making of early Christianity. Scholarship in early Christianity has for centuries viewed Roman emperors’ slaves and freedmen as responsible for ushering Christianity onto the world stage, traditionally using Paul’s allusion to “the saints from Caesar’s household” in Philippians 4:22 as a core literary lens. Merging textual and material evidence with diaspora and memory studies, Flexsenhar expands on this narrative to explore new and more nuanced representations of this group, showing how the long-accepted stories of Christian slaves and freepersons in Caesar’s household should not be taken at face value but should instead be understood within the context of Christian myth- and meaning-making. Flexsenhar analyzes textual and material evidence from the first to the sixth century, spanning Roman Asia, the Aegean rim, Gaul, and the coast of North Africa as well as the imperial capital itself. As a result, this book shows how stories of the emperor’s slaves were integral to key developments in the spread of Christianity, generating origin myths in Rome and establishing a shared history and geography there, differentiating and negotiating assimilation with other groups, and expressing commemorative language, ritual acts, and a material culture. With its thoughtful critical readings of literary and material sources and its fresh analysis of the lived experiences of imperial slaves and freedpersons, Christians in Caesar’s Household is indispensable reading for scholars of early Christianity, the origins of religion, and the Roman Empire.
Download or read book I Tried Until I Almost Died written by Sandra McCollom and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tired of trying to measure up? Trade your anxiety and frustration for rest and relaxation. Many of us believe that in order to please God, we have to be perfect. It’s an easy lie to buy into. In a culture that emphasizes accomplishment and ever-higher goals, we feel driven to do more, achieve more, be more. And we get caught up in the unforgiving treadmill of self-imposed rules, believing that we should, we need to, we must. The result? Anger, frustration, and anxiety that keep us far away from the life of peace that Jesus promised. For years, Sandra McCollom lived in this trap. Finally worn out from striving for perfection but constantly feeling like a failure, one day she prayed in desperation, begging God for help. God answered Sandra by setting her on a life-changing journey to discover the riches of His grace. In I Tried Until I Almost Died, Sandra shares how she left behind her burden of anxiety and fear and shows you how to experience for yourself the freedom of trusting solely in the perfecting power of God’s grace.
Download or read book Bible Problems Solved by Early Christians written by David W. T. Brattston and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with questions or problems encountered in the Bible where answers can be found in the ante-Nicene fathers. The fathers were uniquely qualified by being close in time and culture to Christ himself, when his unwritten teachings and Scripture interpretations, and those of the apostles, were still fresh in Christian memory. It is designed for sincere readers of the Bible who may from time to time be puzzled by the occasional passage which seems out-of-step with the rest of the Scriptures or our usual impression of Christian teaching. This work is written for individual and group Bible students without advanced theological qualifications, rather than the intellectual market. It is written for use in Bible studies in local congregations, or church history classes, especially in sessions when the pastor or teacher is unable to attend. Bible Problems Solved by Early Christians is different from almost all other works and ministries, which give solutions to problems or questions, because the answers in the book come not from a modern-day comparison of different verses within the Bible itself or from the interpretations of any particular religious denomination, but from Christian writers who lived in the first centuries after Jesus.
