Spirituality Catholicism

In Apologetics and the Christian Imagination, Holly Ordway shows how an imaginative approach - in cooperation with rational arguments - is extremely valuable in helping people come to faith in Christ. Making a case for the role of imagination in apologetics, this book proposes ways to create meaning for Christian language in a culture that no longer understands words like "sin" or "salvation", suggests how to discern and address the manipulation of language, and shows how metaphor and narrative work in powerful ways to communicate the truth.

Clare of Assisi is generally known as “the female friend” of Saint Francis of Assisi and for centuries her legacy has remained obscured by his shadow. Yet Clare’s life and story ought to shine in its own light and on its own terms (her name, after all, means “light”). She is a figure of true heroism, tenacity, beatitude and grit who plotted her improbable course in the context of the raucous and explosive period of the Middle Ages.

Sometimes discernment seems complicated, and we struggle to “be still” to listen to God’s voice. Following the death of his spiritual director, St. Alphonsus Liguori penned timeless advice in a letter to one of his spiritual daughters, and it became the famous work titled Uniformity with God’s Will. Now, Dan Burke breaks open St. Alphonsus’s 18th-century classic for you. He intersperses relevant explanations and insights within the text of this great saint and includes reflection questions for each chapter.

In this memoir, Luke Timothy Johnson draws on his rich experience to invite listeners into the scholar’s life—its aims, commitments, and habits. In addition to sharing his own story from childhood to retirement, Johnson reflects on the nature of scholarship more generally, showing how this vocation has changed over the past half century and where it might be going in the future. He is as candid and unsparing about negative trends in academia as he is hopeful about the possibilities of steadfast, disciplined scholarship.

Originally written for monks, the principles in the Rule of St. Benedict may be applied by anyone — and in today’s hectic, changing world, following its principles offers a rich spiritual connection to the stability and wisdom of monastic life. This essential guide explains how people who live and work in “the world” are still invited to balance work with prayer, cultivate interdependence with others, practice hospitality, and otherwise practice their spirituality like monks.

The Two Babylons is a religious pamphlet published in 1853 by the Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland theologian Alexander Hislop. The author argues that the Catholic Church is the Babylon of the Apocalypse which is described in the Bible. The work examines the symbolism of the Book of Revelation in detail.

The main sources of information on the life of St. Joseph are contained in the first chapters of the first and third gospels. They are practically the only reliable sources we have of St. Joseph. From them, we know that he was a carpenter and a working man. Despite his humble status, Joseph came from a royal lineage. For, the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as "son of David". This royal title is used also for Jesus.

The Albigensian Crusade: The History and Legacy of the Catholic Campaign Against the Cathars in France examines the origins of Catharism, the conflicts with Catholicism, and the fighting that led to Cathars being stamped out across France.

The Spiritual Combat is considered one of the two greatest ascetic classics, the other being The Imitation of Christ. The authors of both are shrouded in mystery. There are many 17th-century editions which have the name Spanish Benedictine, John of Castanzia. Some Jesuit writers have ascribed the book to the Jesuit Achilles Gagliardi. However, most critics consider Fr. Lawrence Scupoli the author.

At every Sunday mass, Catholics confess that Jesus came down from heaven ''for us men and for our salvation". But what does ''salvation'' mean? In this robust and accessible book, Scripture scholar and theologian Michael Patrick Barber provides a thorough, deeply Catholic, and deeply biblical answer. He deftly tackles this complex topic, unpacking what the New Testament teaches about salvation in Christ, detailing what exactly salvation is and what it is not. In easy and listenable prose, he explains what the cross, the church, and the trinity have to do with salvation.

In this deeply moving narrative, Thomas Howard describes his pilgrimage from Evangelicalism (which he loves and reveres as the religion of his youth) to liturgical Christianity. He soon afterward became a Roman Catholic. He describes Evangelicalism with great sympathy and then examines more formal, liturgical worship with the freshness of someone discovering for the first time what his soul had always hungered for.

See How She Loves Us is an amazing collection of approved apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ranging across 23 countries and two millennia, the visions chronicled here show Mary's deep love for mankind, her Son, and the Church. Joan Carroll Cruz has meticulously researched 50 apparitions of Our Lady. Perfect for Catholics and non-Catholics alike, See How She Loves Us sheds light on the many mysteries of the Catholic Church and Catholics love for the Blessed Mother.

This anthology provides some of the finest Christian verse written during the second millennium of Christianity. All of the great ones are here: Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi, Dante and Chaucer from the High Middle Ages; Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and John Donne from the Reformation; English and American Romantics such as Browning and Whittier.

If you've tried Natural Family Planning and have discovered that your life is now awful - or if you feel judged or judgey, or if you trust NFP but your doctor doesn't, or if just you're trying to figure out how the heck to have a sex life that is holy but still human - you'll find comfort, encouragement, honesty, wit, and, most importantly, practical advice in The Sinner's Guide to NFP.

Best-selling author J. I. Packer, one of the most influential evangelicals of our day, has put together what may become a Christian classic on the vital truths of the faith. Serving to nourish the church worldwide, Packer makes accessible the things we need to know in eight essential areas. This concise book also helps us guard against liberalism by pushing Christians to know their faith so they can explain it to inquirers and sustain it against skeptics. Here is a call to a discipleship in mere Christianity - the business of taking God seriously.

Voici l'histoire époustouflante d'un jeune séminariste plongé, à l'aube de la seconde guerre mondiale, dans la sinistre légion de Hitler.

For more than 25 years John Thavis held one of the most fascinating journalistic jobs in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. His daily exposure to the power, politics, and personalities in the seat of Roman Catholicism gave him a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on an institution that is far less monolithic and unified than it first appears. Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place where Curia cardinals fight private wars, scandals threaten to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past is continually upended by the practical considerations of modern life.

When Fortune announced its list of the World’s Greatest Leaders, the top spot was awarded - not to a captain of industry - but to the new pontiff. In the year since his election, Pope Francis earned that accolade - and more. He has achieved the remarkable: breathed life into an aging institution, reinvigorated a global base, and created real hope for the future.How did a man who spent his life laboring in slums far from the Vatican manage to do this and so quickly?

Decades as a Christian leader, most notably at the UN as president of the Center for Family and Human Rights, have earned writer Austin Ruse, once a Washington liberal with little faith, his share of defeats and triumphs. Perhaps most valuably, he has intuited keen tactical insights from his confrontations with the dark side of human nature. You come away from this groundbreaking book with the sense that Ruse knows the enemy better than the enemy knows himself. Ruse carefully examines how the anti-Christian forces gained power over every elite institution in America.

To navigate the inevitable ups and downs of our spiritual lives, countless souls have found comfort and guidance in St. Ignatius of Loyola's Rules for Discernment. For the past 40 years, popular retreat master and author Fr. Timothy Gallagher has been at the forefront of making St. Ignatius's Rules understandable and applicable to hundreds of thousands of Catholics seeking greater sensitivity to the movements of their souls. Now Fr. Gallagher returns with a more focused mission: to help you apply these rules to your role as a husband or a wife.