At long last, the reissue of the classic book by the late, great William ¿Bill¿ Augustus Jones. The original volume featured essays on urban ministry and sermons on social justice, and this new edition has been updated by the late author¿s younger daughter and expanded to add several never-before-published sermons from the preaching giant. The book also features new essays reflecting on the legacy and influence of Dr. Jones and his work, from notable leaders including James Forbes, Frederick Haynes, Otis Moss III, J. Alfred Smith Sr., Al Sharpton, Jacqueline Thompson, and more!
In recent years, as government agencies have encouraged faith-based organizations to help ensure social welfare, many black churches have received grants to provide services to their neighborhoods’ poorest residents. This collaboration, activist churches explain, is a way of enacting their faith and helping their neighborhoods. But as Michael Leo Owens demonstrates in God and Government in the Ghetto, this alliance also serves as a means for black clergy to reaffirm their political leadership and reposition moral authority in black civil society. Drawing on both survey data and fieldwork in New York City, Owens reveals that African American churches can use these newly forged connections with public agencies to influence policy and government responsiveness in a way that reaches beyond traditional electoral or protest politics. The churches and neighborhoods, Owens argues, can see a real benefit from that influence—but it may come at the expense of less involvement at the grassroots. Anyone with a stake in the changing strategies employed by churches as they fight for social justice will find God and Government in the Ghetto compelling reading.
May God Avenge Their Blood: a Holocaust Memoir Triptych presents three memoirs by the Yiddish writer Rachmil Bryks (1912–1974). In "Those Who Didn't Survive," Bryks portrays inter-war life in his shtetl Skarżysko-Kamienna, Poland with great flair and rich anthropological detail, rendering a haunting collective portrait of an annihilated community. "The Fugitives" vividly charts the confusion and terror of the early days of World War II in the industrial city of Łódź and elsewhere. In the final memoir, "From Agony to Life," Bryks tells of his imprisonment in Auschwitz and other camps. Taken together, the triptych takes the reader on a wide-ranging journey from Hasidic life before the Holocaust to the chaos of the early days of war and then to the horrors of Nazi captivity. This translation by Yermiyahu Ahron Taub brings the extraordinary memoirs of an important Yiddish writer to English-language readers for the first time.
A spiritual/self help book that takes you on the journey of a lifetime for Anthony, a shy, but brilliant young man. He has his light darkened by the karma he had accumulated and seems to be lost, unfocused, with no direction in life. The burning desire to find out the meaning of his life sends him zigging and zagging on quests that ends in love that he never could have imagined. Come on this magnificent ride from state to state where he encounters success and defeat along with all the vices he could manage. Also take a trip with him to Korea on a spiritual pilgrimage where he learns in depth, the meaning of accepting and letting go. For the reader, there's never a dull moment, even during the meditation practices. After seeing the good, the bad, the weird, and the ugly you'll finish the book feeling like this rollercoaster ride was one that you'd want to take again because the twists and turns had a weird healing effect. Enjoy it and leave a comment. Thank you!😊
When God created man, He did so with the intention that man would live in perfect harmony with his Creator and with the rest of natural creation; however, mans disobedience fractured the relationship and opened the door for pain, heartache, disaster, and even death to enter the world. Gods original intention has not changedHe still desires that His children enjoy the fullness of all He has to offer. The Garden and the Ghetto is a collection of stories that illustrate the continued effects of obedience and disobedience, as well as essays that teach us how to return to a garden existence with the One who made us. Just as disobedience pushed mankind out of the perfect environment Father created for him, obedience is the key to once again living in a spiritual place where the abundance of His blessings are real every day. The stories are based on the lives of men and women with whom we have shared victories and defeats at City of Refuge through the years. Some have decided to live in a pattern of long obedience and continue to thrive. Some are still in the process of deciding which way to go, and others chose their own way. The results of the decisions made by Russell, Roxy, Shawn, Vanessa, Harold, Greg, and Dennis are representative of all of humanity. Some choose to rely on the words and pictures of God; others choose to believe they can make their own way. The results speak for themselves
From Ghetto to Glory is a biographical story of a boy raised in dysfunction, prophesied to be a failure before he could finish school. It's about a boy who suffered beatings for his faith and dismissed from his family because he chose Christ over the religion of his father. The story is somewhat graphic, but the pain in each page culminates in a glory unexpected by the reader. Read the book and walk with Bishop Ellis from "water" to solid ground, and you will appreciate his need to praise God at every circumstance. You may just find yourself praising God along with him.
"One of the nation's best known churches, Fourth Presbyterian is a thriving mainline church housed in an elegant Gothic building in Chicago's wealthy Gold Coast neighborhood. Less than a mile to the west is another world: the Cabrini-Green low- income housing projects. In this evenhanded account, James Wellman surveys the church's history of balancing its theological aims and its social boundaries and sheds light on the strengths and weaknesses of liberal Protestantism as a modern religious institution. Wellman shows how Fourth Presbyterian has moved from an establishment congregation to what he calls a lay liberal church working to overcome class and race inequality in its urban context while carving out its institutional identity in an increasingly pluralistic environment. By examining the church's four main leaders over the course of the century, Wellman tracks Fourth Presbyterian's gradual shift away from an evangelical role and toward the current focus on service, epitomized in the church's main outreach program, an extensive volunteer tutoring program that serves hundreds of Cabrini-Green residents each week. In documenting Fourth Presbyterian's struggle to meet the needs of its privileged congregants while challenging them to move beyond exclusive boundaries of race and class, The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto opens a window into the past, present, and future of the Protestant mainline."
How can Christianity touch the imagination of our contemporaries when ever fewer people in the West identify as religious? Timothy Radcliffe argues we must show how everything we believe is an invitation to live fully. God says: 'I put before you life and death: choose life'. Anyone who understands the beauty and messiness of human life – novelists, poets, filmmakers and so on – can be our allies, whether they believe or not. The challenge is not today's secularism but its banality. We accompany the disciples as they struggle to understand this strange man who heals, casts out demons and offers endless forgiveness. In the face of death, he teaches them what it means to be alive in God. Then he embraces all that afflicts and crushes humanity. Finally, Radcliffe explores what it means for us to be alive spiritually, physically, sacramentally, justly and prayerfully. The result is a compelling new understanding of the words of Jesus: 'I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.'
The story of Reggie Rucker takes the reader on a journey through the Washington D.C. that most tourists didn?t see in the late 1950?s. Within the shadow of the White House, monuments and the seat of legislative power, Reggie and his mother, Nance, walked down C Street, looking for food and a place to sleep at night. From these humble beginnings, Rucker was inspired to move beyond life as a homeless child in the ghettos of our nation?s capitol to become an NFL star wide receiver. #33, Reggie Rucker, was an acclaimed member of one of the most exciting professional football teams of the 1980?s, the Cleveland Brown?s Kardiac Kids. He was known for his good hands and sure catching abilities. From Ghetto To God, is sure to be an inspiration to all who read it. It offers fun and informative information about life as a professional football player, from training camp as a rookie, to becoming a star receiver and the perks that came with that stardom. In addition, From Ghetto To God explains how a professional athlete, especially a star player, can be put into many situations that others don?t face, and how, without the guidance of his faith, Reggie was not able to overcome many of the temptations which came his way. The book describes his meager upbringing, marital problems, the wonderful relationship Reggie has with his sons, his special relationship with actress Halle Berry, and, most importantly, his new relationship with God.
