Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, has been the most visible member of the Catholic clergy in the world second only to Pope John Paul II. His status as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made him one of the most discussed churchmen in recent history. On the occasion of Ratzingers's seventy-fifth birthday, his former students selected essays, lectures, letters, and conferences that Ratzinger has written in recent years- writing that they feel best represents his position on issues of theology, the modern world, secularism, non-Christian religious, and other key topics of the Catholic Church. This book, characterized by Ratzinger's concisely reasoned style, is an invaluable resource to those who wish to understand the modern Church and the thinking of Pope Benedict XVI, as well as a treasured volume for those who are students of Ratzinger's theology.
The annual Lenten pilgrimage to dozens of Rome’s most striking churches is a sacred tradition dating back almost two millennia, to the earliest days of Christianity. Along this historic spiritual pathway, today’s pilgrims confront the mysteries of the Christian faith through a program of biblical and early Christian readings amplified by some of the greatest art and architecture of western civilization. In Roman Pilgrimage, bestselling theologian and papal biographer George Weigel, art historian Elizabeth Lev, and photographer Stephen Weigel lead readers through this unique religious and aesthetic journey with magnificent photographs and revealing commentaries on the pilgrimage’s liturgies, art, and architecture. Through reflections on each day’s readings about faith and doubt, heroism and weakness, self-examination and conversion, sin and grace, Rome’s familiar sites take on a new resonance. And along that same historical path, typically unexplored treasures—artifacts of ancient history and hidden artistic wonders—appear in their original luster, revealing new dimensions of one of the world’s most intriguing and multi-layered cities. A compelling guide to the Eternal City, the Lenten Season, and the itinerary of conversion that is Christian life throughout the year, Roman Pilgrimage reminds readers that the imitation of Christ through faith, hope, and love is the template of all true discipleship, as the exquisite beauty of the Roman station churches invites reflection on the deepest truths of Christianity.
Course 6: The Eucharist: How do Christians know and worship God? The six sessions of Course 6 reveal reasons why the Eucharist is celebrated as a memorial of Christ’s saving passion and stands at the very heart of Christian worship. Session 1 looks at worship as communion with God. Session 2 explores the Eucharist as the pattern of all Christian worship. Session 3 looks at the intimacy we have with God in Holy Communion and how we are transformed by the encounter. Sessions 4 – 6 look at worship as a sign and foretaste of heaven, shaping our whole life, and how the whole of life is sacramental.
Pilgrim is a major teaching and discipleship resource from the Church of England that helps enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. A Christian course for the twenty-first century, Pilgrim offers an approach of participation, not persuasion. Enquirers are encouraged to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. Assuming little or no knowledge of the Christian faith, Pilgrim can be used at any point on the journey of discipleship and by every tradition in the Church of England. Pilgrim is made up of two parts: Follow and Grow. Follow introduces the Christian faith for complete beginners, while Grow aims to develop a deeper level of discipleship in those who have turned to Christ. This second book in the Grow Stage, The Eucharist, explores in greater depth how Christians know and worship God. Its six sessions reveal the reasons why The Eucharist is celebrated as a memorial of Christ’s saving passion and stands at the very heart of Christian worship. They combine simple prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, and are supported by free online audio and video resources.
In this first new Eucharistic customary in nearly 20 years, Patrick Malloy, an Episcopal priest and liturgical scholar, presents a clear, illustrated guide for the presider and other leaders of the liturgy, contemporary in approach but based on ancient and classic principles of celebration. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer, like its predecessors, is long on telling the Church what to say, and short on telling it what to do. This leaves those who "choreograph" Prayer Book liturgies with a complex task and a powerful influence over the faith of the Church. The author begins with a concise theology of the liturgy that underpins all of his specific directives in the book. Contents include: Theological and liturgical principles; Liturgical ministry and liturgical ministers; Liturgical space; Vesture, vessels, and other liturgical objects; The liturgical year; The shape of the liturgy; The sung liturgy and singing during the liturgy; The order of the Eucharist (the "heart" of the book); and The celebration of Baptism during the Eucharist.
In the view of St. Benedict of Nursia, the Lenten journey is an inner pilgrimage with Christ into the deepest parts of ourselves, to be marked not so much by external observances, such as fasting and self-denial, as by a deepening of our relationship with God. Benedictine monk Albert Holtz develops that journey theme through meditations written during a fifteen-country pilgrimage while on sabbatical. At the heart of each reflection is the lesson it teaches about our inner spiritual journey. By applying Benedict’s monastic wisdom to the everyday concerns and aspirations of modern Christians, Pilgrim Road helps contemporary spiritual seekers travel along and experience the journey of Lent in the most positive, meaningful, and fruitful manner.
At the time of the Second Vatican Council, one of the central issues in theological discussion was the question of the Eucharist, particularly as regards the meaning of Real Presence. In the following years the theology of the sacrament entered a quieter period, and it is only recently that significant writing on the subject has got under way once again. This book is a further contribution to this new wave of reflection, treating questions not only of Real Presence but of the whole range of Eucharistic theology. In so doing Raymond Moloney draws together the fundamental tenets of the Eucharist and projects a synthesis of it with the rest of the faith and life.
“Fascinating, thoughtful, and important. [Jeff Chu] captures the fractures and conflict at a moment when the issue of what to do with L.G.B.T. people is tearing Christian denominations apart. Does Jesus Really Love Me? deserves to be widely read.” —Dan Savage, New York Times Book Review In this timely work—part memoir, part investigative analysis—a prize-winning writer explores the explosive and confusing intersection of faith, politics, and sexuality in Christian America. When Jeff Chu came out to his parents as a gay man, his devout Christian mother cried. And cried. Every time she looked at him. For months. As a journalist and a believer, Chu knew that he had to get to the heart of a question that had been haunting him for years: Does Jesus really love me? The quest to find an answer propels Chu on a remarkable cross-country journey to discover the God “forbidden to him” because of his sexuality. Surveying the breadth of the political and theological spectrum, from the most conservative viewpoints to the most liberal, he tries to distill what the diverse followers of Christ believe about homosexuality and to understand how these people who purportedly follow the same God and the same Scriptures have come to hold such a wide range of opinions. Why does Pastor A believe that God hates me, especially because of my gayness? Why does Person B believe that God loves me, gayness and all? From Brooklyn to Nashville to California, from Westboro Baptist Church and their god hates fags protest signs to the pioneering Episcopal bishop Mary Glasspool, who proclaims a message of liberation and divine love, Chu captures spiritual snapshots of Christian America at a remarkable moment, when tensions between both sides in the culture wars have rarely been higher. Both funny and heartbreaking, perplexing and wise, Does Jesus Really Love Me? is an intellectual, emotional, and spiritual pilgrimage that reveals a portrait of a faith and a nation at odds.
This is a contemporary edition of Nevin's book, The Mystical Presence-A Vindication of the Reformed or Calvinistic Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist (J.B. Lippencort & Co., 1846). It's a sort of dynamic equivalence approach to editing in order to make it more available to contemporary people. I have simply tried to take his work and make it my own, in the sense of comprehending its significance and application. In doing so, I have taken broad license to edit, interpret, clarify and expand what I think Nevin is saying. My efforts will surely annoy Nevin purists, academics and intellectuals who are more concerned with form than content. Why have I approached The Mystical Presence in this way? Because I understand what Nevin said. His book, like no other I have ever read, has brought together various strands of my own life and pursuits in such a way that has astonished me. It is like he is already where I have been trying to go. I have been working over the past forty years to get where he was more than a century and a half ago. Nevin was the American voice of the German Reformed tradition. Having studied under Charles Hodge at Princeton, he accepted a position with the German Reformed Church to lead their only seminary. It is wonderfully curious that German immigrants would put an American in such a position, but that's what they did. Nevin then called Philip Schaff, a Swiss born, German educated, Christian historian to join him in this effort. They then made a huge splash in the American Christian scene, after which Schaff went to Union Seminary to support the cause of liberal Christianity. And Nevin slipped into obscurity and an early retirement. It is often thought that Nevin also fed the liberal Christian stream in America, but that's not what happened. Nevin simply held his ground and the world passed him by. But there has of late been a resurgence of interest in Nevin and the Mercersburg Theology. It seems that Nevin is at the center of what is still a little known controversy that has erupted in the conservative Reformed churches (the Presbyterian Church in America, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in America, and a few others). Other Christians and denominations will be completely unaware of these issues. That controversy is known as the Federal Vision.1 The Federal Vision is often confused with the "New Perspective on Paul," another current controversy, but the two issues are not the same and must not be conflated. Exactly what the Federal vision is and its impact on Christianity today is yet to be determined. My concerns here are not for or against the Federal Vision, but for Nevin's contribution to American theology.
