Western Religion

Bologna, 1858: A police posse, acting on the orders of a Catholic inquisitor, invades the home of a Jewish merchant, Momolo Mortara, wrenches his crying six-year-old son from his arms, and rushes him off in a carriage bound for Rome. His mother is so distraught that she collapses and has to be taken to a neighbor's house, but her weeping can be heard across the city. With this terrifying scene - one that would haunt this family forever - David I. Kertzer begins his fascinating investigation of the dramatic kidnapping.

Only two years after Pope Pius IX’s election in 1846 had triggered great popular enthusiasm across Italy, the pope found himself a virtual prisoner in his own palace. The revolutions that swept through Europe and shook Rome threatened to end the popes’ thousand-year reign over the Papal States, if not the papacy itself. The resulting drama was rife with treachery, tragedy, and international power politics. David Kertzer, one of the world’s foremost experts on the history of Italy and the Vatican, brings this pivotal moment vividly to life.

Holy Father Benedict, the father of monks in the West, is one of the greatest saints of the Church's illustrious halls of fame. His movement to become a hermit and found monasteries, writing the famous Rule of St. Benedict, was the decisive moment of monasticism's growth in the West, under the maxim of ora et labora, "prayer and work." His blessing caused a poisoned cup to shatter and a raven to swipe away poisoned bread; he miraculously saved someone from drowning, and he raised another from the dead. This is the story of the holiest monk of the West, the hero among religious founders.

Shamanic Wisdom Meets the Western Mind provides a synthesis of realms of knowledge that hitherto were either blinded out from human consciousness or that were seen from a disparaging perspective that is in turn the result of a fragmented perception.

For rare-book collectors, an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible - of which there are fewer than 50 in existence - represents the ultimate prize. Here, Margaret Leslie Davis recounts five centuries in the life of one copy, from its creation by Johannes Gutenberg, through the hands of monks, an earl, the Worcestershire sauce king, and a nuclear physicist to its ultimate resting place, in a steel vault in Tokyo.

In spite of past differences, Trey Walker Stafford would never forget how his uncle, a cowboy and rancher, adopted him and made him part of the family. He'd left the Double S Ranch to pursue music against Sam's wishes and returns discouraged about life and love after tragically losing his wife. Trey feels that he's living a lie, singing of love and happily ever afters while dealing with an emptiness within. What he yearns for, what he truly wants, is peace.

The future is now. Philip Jenkins has chronicled how the next Christendom has shifted away from the Western church toward the global South and East. Likewise, changing demographics mean that North American society will accelerate its diversity in terms of race, ethnicity and culture. But evangelicalism has long been held captive by its predominantly white cultural identity and history. In this book professor and pastor Soong-Chan Rah calls the North American church to escape its captivity to Western cultural trappings and to embrace a new evangelicalism that is diverse and multiethnic.

After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral 11-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times. But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.

In this short but stimulating work, Peter Leithart draws upon insights from history, theology, philosophy, and literature to connect two of the most glorious and unique truths of Christianity - its hopeful eschatology and its doctrine of a dynamic, personal Trinity. The result is a tour through 3000 years of intellectual history that celebrates the living power of orthodoxy.

Seeking to leave her troubled past behind, nineteen-year-old Elizabeth Cameron decides to join a religious group in Belton, Texas, where she and her five-year-old Indian charge will be hidden from a cruel world. Former gunfighter and robber Caleb Martin will do anything for a governor's pardon, even if it means escorting an irritatingly prim young woman. After this assignment, he'll have his freedom. Yet along the way, he learns that there may be something he needs even more.

The Human Calling is a vigorously researched and profoundly spiritual narrative history of the world's religious movements as they relate to society's collective understanding of the nature of their relationships with others, looking ahead to what lessons from history can be applied as people navigate an age of technology worship.

Nowadays, the pope is synonymous with unparalleled piety, compassion, and benevolence. To many, the pope is the embodiment of godly love in its purest form. This is a far cry from how things were just a few centuries ago. Back in the day, the most notorious of popes were nothing more than power-hungry dictators and cutthroat political experts. Indeed, by the late 14th century, tensions within the Church reached a breaking point, resulting in the infamous split of the Catholic Church, one that saw multiple popes fighting to knock the others off their thrones.

From the 1908 Roman Breviary in English, this book contains the rite for emergencies; visits to the sick; anointing of the sick outside of Mass; communion of the sick in ordinary circumstances; commendation of the dying; prayers after death; prayers for the dead; gathering in the presence of the body; vigil for the deceased; readings for the order of Christian funerals; rite of committal with final commendation; and the office of the dead.

Heading Towards A New Life Along The Oregon Trail, about a young woman with a baby and a somewhat checkered past who joins a wagon train and the only single women's wagon on it. There, she becomes friends with a female doctor and another woman as they struggle through the many trials of such a journey. Along the way a strong bond is formed between the women, two of the men on the train, and God.

Are you intrigued by the monumental path Christianity carved through history? This masterful narrative weaves through 1,600 years of history, from Christianity’s origins in the 1st century AD to the transformative Counter-Reformation in 1700.

A child is fascinated by the archer or dart thrower who consecutively delivers missiles to the bullseye. Even as adults, we observe seemingly impossible tasks with awe. We feel either inspired or inferior. Is there Zen in it? 

A travelogue suffused with the wisdom of an ancient religious tradition, Humble Before the Void is a modern-day encounter between Western science and Buddhist philosophy. In this narrative, you'll discover the relationship between ancient Indian philosophical and spiritual tradition and modern science through the experiences of a select group of Tibetan monks.

It's 1907 and a cattle thief is loose in Harmony Valley. Elena Seifert wants to help her father guard his dairy farm, but everyone thinks that's a man's job. When her childhood sweetheart returns to Harmony, her heart is torn between Jonas Bollinger, her secret love, and Lars Rissler, the wealthy middle-aged storeowner her parents hope she marries.

Cowboy Trey Markson might have quit his job as a hand on the Triple H, but he still has a soft spot in his heart for seven-year-old Scarlett - and her mama, part-owners of the Texas ranch. When Scarlett pulls him in on a Christmas caper, all his old feelings for Carrie reignite, and he's afraid he's going to get burned all over again.

Paige Kelley feels caught in-between. Still working her temp job, grieving her divorce, and longing for children, she’s dutifully put her dreams on hold to care for her ailing, widowed mother. Prompted by friends in her Getaway Girls book club, Paige finally begins to break free, discovering that God’s plan for her promises more than she ever imagined.