Great Religious

Fourteen centuries ago, Irish saints brought the Word of God to the Hebrides and Scotland's Atlantic shore. These "white martyrs" sought solitude, remoteness, even harshness, in places apart from the world where they could fast, pray, and move closer to an understanding of God: places where they could see angels. Columba, who founded the famous monastery at Iona, was the most well-known of these courageous men who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty in a pagan land, but the many others are now largely forgotten by history.

The politically incorrect ministry of John the Baptist was the prelude to the person and work of Jesus Christ. John was the opening act. If we want “Jesus” in our life, home, church, and culture, then we must embrace ourselves for “John’s” abrasive message of repentance. The message that will eternally change you will first immediately confront you and offend you. The messenger, like John the Baptist, will offend you as well.

The Gordon Riots marked a crucial turning point in the fight for Catholic emancipation. Over the next 50 years, factions battled to reform the laws of the land. Kings George III and George IV refused to address the “Catholic Question,” even when pressed by their prime ministers. But in 1829, through the dogged work of charismatic Irish lawyer Daniel O’Connell and the support of the great Duke of Wellington, the watershed Roman Catholic Relief Act finally passed, opening the door to the radical transformation of the Victorian age.

From best-selling and National Book Award-nominated author Tahereh Mafi comes a stunning novel about love and loneliness, navigating the hyphen of dual identity, and reclaiming your right to joy - even when you’re trapped in the amber of sorrow.

In his latest investigative book Michael Baigent takes us to the assembly hall of the UN, the boardrooms of major businesses and powerful lobbying groups, the cabinet meetings of world leaders, the ranches of cattle breeders, the churches of the faithful, and the narrow winding streets of modern Jerusalem, revealing to us the many diverse, public, and clandestine figures behind a perilous messianic agenda.

Apocalyptic millennialism is one of the most powerful strands in evangelical Christianity. It is not a single belief, but across many powerful evangelical groups there is general adhesion to faith in the physical return of Jesus in the Second Coming, the affirmation of a Rapture heavenward of "saved" believers, a millennium of peace under the rule of Jesus and his saints and, eventually, a final judgement and entry into deep eternity. A key figure in this process was John Nelson Darby.

As an English-speaking denomination, Baptists originated within 17th-century Puritanism as an offshoot of Congregationalism. English Baptists migrated to the American colonies during the 17th century. During the 18th century, the Great Awakening resulted in the expansion of the denomination, and the conversion of many slaves to Baptist churches. Baptist congregations formed their first national organization the Triennial Convention in the early 1800.

From the outset, the implications of this book are terrifying. In this thorough, and sometimes disquieting, investigation of the biblical predictions, the Great Apostasy emerges, not as a foreboding future event, but as the very essence of today's postmodern Church. Like tares in the wheat field, false adherents are presently growing up alongside true believers. But how will we know them? This is where Steve Gallagher is at his best. He exposes the prevailing self-centeredness, widespread sensuality, and rebellion to authority that epitomizes this false part of the Body.

T.D. Jakes doesn't just preach to his listeners, he gives them the psychological and practical tools that they need to realize their faith in their lives. Clear-sighted, realistic, and spiritually uplifting, Making Great Decisions is one of those rare books that can change lives. "Remember," writes T.D. Jakes, "your tomorrow is no better than the decisions you make today."

Gregory the Great (bishop of Rome from 590 to 604) is one of the most significant figures in the history of Christianity. His theological works framed medieval Christian attitudes toward mysticism, exegesis, and the role of the saints in the life of the church. The scale of Gregory's administrative activity in both the ecclesial and civic affairs of Rome also helped to make possible the formation of the medieval papacy.

Except for a short poem by St. Mark of Monte Cassino, the only ancient written account of St. Benedict (480 - 547) is this one, which is found in Pope Gregory I's Dialogues which is thought to have been written in 593. Gregory's account of this saint's life provides a spiritual portrait of the gentle, disciplined abbot. In a letter to a Bishop of Syracuse, Gregory states that his aim in writing his Dialogues was to provide a kind of an anthology, or literally, "flowers", of the most striking miracles of the Italian saint.

From a best-selling Catholic author! The Great Tribulation: A Catholic Perspective deals with prophecies related to the end-time and the end of the age: sacred Scripture, the doctors of the church, the mystics, and the saints. Contains many more unique minutes not found in the author's previous works on prophecy.

Mama Carole's stories, or Mama Africa, as they call her, and some call her Mama General, come from prayers tried in furnaces of affliction and testing, struggles and failures. They show a tenacious determination to never let go, never give up, and never go back. Her King Jesus alone is worthy of the reward of the price of His suffering...the most beautiful and largest Bride to present to the Bridegroom.

Slavery confuses Caroline Allerton. The compassionate twelve-year-old can't understand why her friend was given a young slave as a Christmas present, nor why her friend mistreats the miserable Caribbean girl. Caroline also befriends a little girl who lives with her mother in the poorer area of Boston. Caroline’s actions are greatly misunderstood by her friends and she discovers that she must make difficult choices to stand for what she knows is right.

Clark Keane, sixth grade superhero Eagleboy, would do anything for his friends. Climb a way-too-high rickety treehouse? Sure. Create a superhero alter ego for Murphy instead of studying for finals? No question. Brave the grumpy neighbor’s Mutant House in the dark to find Murphy’s lost ball? Well… if he has to. So when Murphy accuses Clark of being a bad friend because of one teensy joke, Clark is outraged. Shots fire, balls fly, and friends pick sides. No treehouse is safe from the feud. But friendship might not be the only thing in danger. Strange things have begun to happen on Oak Street.

To coincide with the bicentennial of Thoreau's birth in 2017, this thrilling, meticulous biography by naturalist and historian Kevin Dann fills a gap in our understanding of one modern history's most important spiritual visionaries by capturing the full arc of Thoreau's life as a mystic, spiritual seeker, and explorer in transcendental realms.

Have you ever found something so special you would do anything to keep it? Come sit by the sparkling Sea of Galilee and listen as Jesus tells two of His most wonderful stories. In this beautifully retold narrative, you'll meet Elian, a hardworking farmer who stumbles upon a dazzling treasure buried in a field, a secret that fills him with so much happiness he breaks into a joyful dance in the dirt! Then, travel to a bustling city and meet Liana, a merchant who has spent her whole life searching for the most perfect pearl in the world.

While Washington offers only the politics of blame and fear, Jim Wallis, the man who changed the conversation about faith and politics, has traveled the country and found a nation hungry for a politics of solutions and hope. He shows us that a revival is happening, as people of faith and moral conviction seek common ground for change.

Why does the Bible depict a world in which humans, with surprising regularity, encounter the divine - wrestling an angel, addressing a burning bush, issuing forth prophecy without any choice in the matter? These stories spoke very differently to their original audience than they do to us, and they reflect a radically distinct understanding of reality and the human mind. Yet over the course of the thousand-year biblical era, encounters with God changed dramatically.

Moses Ben Maimon, frequently called Maimonides, was a medieval philosopher who revolutionized thinking about ethics, reason, and the Jewish Torah through his emphasis on reason and evidence. His works were broadly accepted by the Sephardi Jewish community and spread across the medieval world, reaching the Jewish populations as far as Yemen, and though he lived in the 12th century, Maimonides continues to be one of the most studied scholars of Jewish law, philosophy, and theology.