Resource Publications

Actological Readings in Continental Philosophy is what it says it is. The book asks how we might understand the writings of a number of continental philosophers actologically: that is, with reality understood as action in changing patterns rather than as beings that change. It also asks how the different continental philosophies might enable us to develop an actology: an understanding of reality as action in changing patterns. The philosophers whom we study are Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, Gilles Deleuze, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Gaston Bachelard, Michel Foucault, and Michel Serres. A whole new way of understanding reality casts new light on their philosophies and raises and answers some significant new questions.

This might look like an ordinary commentary on Mark's Gospel, but it isn't one. It understands reality as Action, actions, change, diversity, movement, and the dynamic, rather than as Being, beings, the unchanging, the unitary, rest, and the static, and it reads Mark's Gospel in the light of that distinctive understanding of reality. It is all about action, change, and diversity, and it understands God, Jesus, and ourselves as action, change, and diversity. The initial chapter introduces the action-based understanding of reality as action in changing patterns--an actology, rather than an ontology. Then follows a section-by-section close study of the Gospel. The result is a unique and somewhat unexpected reading of the text and a distinctive theology to match.

An actology--introduced by the first book in this series, Actology: Action, Change and Diversity in the Western Philosophical Tradition--understands reality as action in changing patterns. Actological Readings in Continental Philosophy reads a number of continental philosophers through this lens, and An Actology of the Given explores the concepts of the gift, givenness, and giving in the light of reality understood as action in changing patterns. Mark's Gospel: An Actological Reading is what it says it is. This fifth book in the series, An Actological Metaphysic, is a more systematic treatment of cosmology and of such concepts as truth, knowledge, causality, time, space, life, and society, to see what happens when they are understood actologically: that is, with reality understood as action in changing patterns.

Throughout history, Western esoteric movements have provided meaning and power for what the Rosicrucians of the early modern period called the quest for ""Universal Reformation""--the utopian restructuring of religion, science, the arts, and human society. Yet Western esotericism has been roundly ignored as a source of reflection in mainstream Christian theology, including the radical theologies of liberation that might otherwise see in esotericism a kindred spirit to their commitment to radical social change. In The Inner Church is the Hope of the World, guided by his work in contemporary movements for social change, Nicholas Laccetti puts Western esotericism in dialogue with liberation theology, treating esotericism as a legitimate source of spiritual and theological insight. If, as Gustavo Gutierrez writes, ""God is revealed in history,"" then we will also encounter God within the particular history of human religious expression that is Western esotericism. And from these theological reflections, the Inner Church of the esotericists, occultists, and mystics is revealed to be the true ekklesia of all who have conformed themselves to God's vision of freedom and liberation, and who struggle to enact that vision in human society. The Inner Church is truly the hope of the world.

""It is 4:00 a.m. the day after Rosa died. I am wide-awake from a brief and troubled sleep."" This book explores the loss of a dear friend and companion-a remarkable fifteen-year-old retriever named Rosa. Many people form deep attachments to their pets. Yet we wonder how to celebrate our friendships with them and how to grieve their death. Dog-Kissed Tears is a meditative memoir woven from life with Rosa. In stories that are funny, sad, moving, and honest, Lambert Zuidervaart links his attachment to his beloved dog and his love for human friends. Familiar songs help him trace his personal journey through the adoption, life, and death of a canine companion. As Lambert works through grief and longing for Rosa, he connects memories of childhood with self-discoveries in middle age. Dog-Kissed Tears weaves a lyrical narrative of friendship, loss, and healing. Its spiritual undercurrent is subtle but profound.

Jesus and Elvis offers a host of creative resources for use in schools and churches. Jesus proclaims the book's unabashed gospel-centered content, Elvis its unapologetic creative style. The book as a whole should appeal to both the young and the old, wide-eyed seekers and battle-scarred churchgoers. This new edition includes Skin Deep, a dynamic play that dramatizes Martin Luther King's response to the enduring sin of racism in our world.

Throughout history, Western esoteric movements have provided meaning and power for what the Rosicrucians of the early modern period called the quest for ""Universal Reformation""--the utopian restructuring of religion, science, the arts, and human society. Yet Western esotericism has been roundly ignored as a source of reflection in mainstream Christian theology, including the radical theologies of liberation that might otherwise see in esotericism a kindred spirit to their commitment to radical social change. In The Inner Church is the Hope of the World, guided by his work in contemporary movements for social change, Nicholas Laccetti puts Western esotericism in dialogue with liberation theology, treating esotericism as a legitimate source of spiritual and theological insight. If, as Gustavo Gutierrez writes, ""God is revealed in history,"" then we will also encounter God within the particular history of human religious expression that is Western esotericism. And from these theological reflections, the Inner Church of the esotericists, occultists, and mystics is revealed to be the true ekklesia of all who have conformed themselves to God's vision of freedom and liberation, and who struggle to enact that vision in human society. The Inner Church is truly the hope of the world.

Christian high school and college students have inadvertently been led to believe that working in non-Christian settings is the preferred way of making the world a better place. This book takes the opposite view. Anthony Bradley argues that it is perfectly honorable and praiseworthy for Christians to work within Christian contexts to add value to the world. Faith In Society profiles thirteen different explicitly Christian contexts that are already serving the common good. ""The phrase 'find your passion' can feel intimidating to most high school and college students. However, this book provides inspiring examples, practical next steps, and an invitation to consider innovative work within a breadth of Christian institutions. Readers will leave motivated and with a greater sense of the variety (and perhaps never-before-considered) roles in God's reclamation project."" --Kimberly Thornbury, Vice President, The King's College Anthony B. Bradley is a professor of religious studies and chair of the Religious and Theological Studies Program at The King's College in New York City. He is also a Research Fellow at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This book is written for those who want growth in love. This book is written for those who long for a place to stand with confidence in a trembling world. This book is written for those who suspect our civilization is running on fumes and want to help. If you are one of these people, then this book is written for you. In discovering Jesus as he encounters us in the Scriptures, you will discover that his love is unimaginably powerful for those who will place themselves at its disposal--powerful enough to restore all things.

Jesus and Elvis offers a host of creative resources for use in schools and churches. Jesus proclaims the book's unabashed gospel-centered content, Elvis its unapologetic creative style. The book as a whole should appeal to both the young and the old, wide-eyed seekers and battle-scarred churchgoers. This new edition includes Skin Deep, a dynamic play that dramatizes Martin Luther King's response to the enduring sin of racism in our world.

We are living in a rapidly changing culture. Since the 1960s, the changes in our sexual ethics have become increasingly problematic. How are people--especially Evangelicals and other conservative Christians--supposed to respond? Does the Bible address these seismic changes? How is a believer supposed to raise a family in the cultural chaos of the twenty-first century? If you have asked any of these questions before, then this book is for you. Peterson argues forcefully that the changes in our culture are a direct result of a postmodern and post-Christian cultural rejection of the mandates established by God in the opening two chapters of Genesis. The reason Western culture is imploding morally is directly connected to the Enemy's undoing of each of the Genesis mandates established by God for human and cultural flourishing. With Western culture's rejection or undoing of every one of God's mandates in Genesis, is there any hope for the survival of once-thriving Judeo-Christian cultures? Peterson tackles these and many other issues in a forthright and unreserved manner. This book is not for the faint of heart. It is a call for a return to cultural sanity rooted in the fear of God and his Word.

After spending many years in a religious order, Dominic Kirkham describes how he was driven to meet the challenge of modern thinking, an exercise that has proved both freeing and frightening. He says this has been ""something of a personal odyssey, which now spans a lifetime of over six decades and is still ongoing."" He adds that ""the presumption of the book is that this is of more than personal interest because the subject matter affects everyone; my personal journey will no doubt reflect that of many others."" In a broad sweep from Neolithic times to the twenty-first century, he considers our human quest for meaning and a good life, and how we can engage in it today.

Whether you are a pilgrim, Bible student, or intending tourist, this is quite a different book about the Holy Land. It is a reflective travelogue written as a journal of an in-depth study tour and is a remarkable treasury of encounters, conversations, discussions, observations, and analyses of biblical and current events in Israel from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. Added to that is the author's thrilling account of a bicycle safari through the Jordanian desert to Petra, culminating in a hike up Mount Sinai!

The Book of the Passion follows the whole via crucis, step by step, from the agony in the garden to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the language of contemporaneous poetry. By means of poetic intuition, these poems look into the deep mysteries of our salvation, with vigorous emphasis in the immeasurable love and pain of the Lord on the cross. The overflowing of the imagination and the strength of the narrative and dramatic verse aim to arouse contemplative prayer and to encourage a higher love for Christ the Lord. This book is intended for readers who are both able to read poetry and willing to contemplate the passion of the Lord Jesus. The language of poetry may give to these readers a better understanding of the problem of pain, or at least a glimpse of the sense of human suffering, which is not always available for them in flat prose.

While many practicing Christians are relatively satisfied with their prayer life, others are not. The latter often find their prayer practice has dried up. Their traditional forms of prayer at churches have become routine and empty. In a very real sense, there is a void in their spiritual lives. They want a deeper union with God yet experience an unsettling estrangement with their current pathway in prayer. In Contemplative Prayer at Work in Our Lives, Geoff Colvin draws on his own experiences, studies of spiritual literature, and participation in retreats and meditation groups, to unravel the challenging practice of contemplative prayer, a unique form of meditation involving very few words in silence and stillness. Contemplative prayer centers on the fundamental belief that God dwells not only in the world at large but also at the center of our being. This book offers Christians an approach for understanding contemplative prayer followed by hands-on detail for developing and sustaining a practice that hopefully leads to a richer and fuller spiritual journey to union with God.

The Book of the Passion follows the whole via crucis, step by step, from the agony in the garden to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the language of contemporaneous poetry. By means of poetic intuition, these poems look into the deep mysteries of our salvation, with vigorous emphasis in the immeasurable love and pain of the Lord on the cross. The overflowing of the imagination and the strength of the narrative and dramatic verse aim to arouse contemplative prayer and to encourage a higher love for Christ the Lord. This book is intended for readers who are both able to read poetry and willing to contemplate the passion of the Lord Jesus. The language of poetry may give to these readers a better understanding of the problem of pain, or at least a glimpse of the sense of human suffering, which is not always available for them in flat prose.

Thomas H. Olbricht relishes his Missouri upbringing. In this book he narrates the details of his many experiences in the 1930s and 40s. The author was interested in multiple aspects of Ozark terrain, social life, and culture, and often situates them in their historical setting. He writes with multifaceted concretion regarding the influence of his mother, father, and his extended family, which included persons of Irish, Scottish, and German heritages. He not only helped with his grandfather's gas station-grocery but also his uncle's farming operations. Because of his commitment and education he has given special attention to religious activities in the Churches of Christ in the Ozarks. He ends by elaborating upon, in the region of his youth, what it was like to live through World War II and the peace that followed.

I Am This One Walking Beside Me is a moving collection of prayers written by Daniel Gebhardt, who has been living with HIV/AIDS for the past 20 years. What makes this book unique is that Gebhardt writes from both a Christian and a gay perspective, providing readers with insight into such topics as everyday living, medical issues, relationships, self-exploration, and death. Each topic contains several meditations, and each individual meditation is followed by a personal prayer. Gebhardt also includes prayers that relate to compassion and a global understanding of the disease that continues to spread, 20+ years after it was first identified.

Virtually every scholar on both sides of the same-sex discussion eventually addresses the account of Sodom found in Genesis 19. However, in recent years, scholars have tended to downplay the importance of this chapter in relation to this debate. This book challenges this trend and seeks to demonstrate how the account of Sodom plays a key role in our understanding of a God-ordained sexual ethic, especially in light of Genesis as Torah--instruction for both ancient Israel and for the Church.

Knowing when God is speaking to you is sometimes easier said than done. Indeed, many people question how God speaks to believers today or, in some cases, if he does at all. Yet, for the believer, hearing God's voice is vital for direction in one's life and for spiritual development. In this book, Peterson offers a practical guide for hearing God's voice by presenting numerous anecdotal accounts demonstrating how this has played out in his own life. At the same time, Peterson's instruction is securely anchored in the precedent of Scripture.

We are living in a rapidly changing culture. Since the 1960s, the changes in our sexual ethics have become increasingly problematic. How are people--especially Evangelicals and other conservative Christians--supposed to respond? Does the Bible address these seismic changes? How is a believer supposed to raise a family in the cultural chaos of the twenty-first century? If you have asked any of these questions before, then this book is for you. Peterson argues forcefully that the changes in our culture are a direct result of a postmodern and post-Christian cultural rejection of the mandates established by God in the opening two chapters of Genesis. The reason Western culture is imploding morally is directly connected to the Enemy's undoing of each of the Genesis mandates established by God for human and cultural flourishing. With Western culture's rejection or undoing of every one of God's mandates in Genesis, is there any hope for the survival of once-thriving Judeo-Christian cultures? Peterson tackles these and many other issues in a forthright and unreserved manner. This book is not for the faint of heart. It is a call for a return to cultural sanity rooted in the fear of God and his Word.

This is the story of a young frontiersman and Lakota maiden who marry and establish a trading post in the northwest region of the Louisiana Territory during the mid-1800s. It's about dealing with their very real feelings of love and hate, strength and fear, joy and sadness as they face numerous challenges in bridging the gap between two seemingly incompatible cultures. It's a story about fulfilling a dream and the perseverance it takes to accomplish it. Additionally, Wilderness Nation describes the expansive beauty and wonders of nature and the undeniable unity that exists among all creatures of life, all people, and God. The book further offers a unique and profound philosophy of life that's championed by an enlightened group of Native Americans confined to a single village of a few hundred people. The Lakota philosophy takes a very realistic approach to the world. It accepts all its good aspects, including the joys of life, sound health and happiness, and justice when served. But it also understands the world with its numerous bad features of floods and bitter cold weather, the dangers of illness, and the violence and death that results from hostile enemies. In living a good life, each Lakota villager will eventually be united with the Great Spirit of Life.