“Mario Aguilar skillfully, elegantly, and clearly presents the life and thought of some of the major spiritual forces of our time as a starting point for his own compelling reflections on the relationship between contemplation and politics... We need more books like this one.” —Professor Ivan Petrella, University of Miami Contemplation and political action defined the lives and work of six of the most inspiring Christian leaders of the twentieth century: Thomas Merton, Ernesto Cardenal, Daniel Berrigan, Sheila Cassidy, Desmond Tutu, and Mother Teresa. Each one embraced a silent, purposeful life of prayer, contemplation, and conversation with God, which the author contends was the very foundation for their public activism. Aguilar profiles these outstanding religious figures, illustrating how their contemplation of God gave them courage and understanding not just to grow in personal holiness, but to become one with God through responding to the needs of others. It was their spiritual life that gave them the energy, commitment, and strength to help feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and liberate the oppressed, even in the darkest, most difficult times. Yet, as Aguilar shows, it is not just a chosen few who are called to combine prayer with political action: through the regular contemplation of God, all Christians can be empowered to work toward social transformation and a just world.

Southwestern Journal of Theology 2021 Book of the Year Award (Theological Studies) 2021 Book Award, The Gospel Coalition (Honorable Mention, Academic Theology) Following his well-received Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition, Craig Carter presents the biblical and theological foundations of trinitarian classical theism. Carter, a leading Christian theologian known for his provocative defenses of classical approaches to doctrine, critiques the recent trend toward modifying or rejecting classical theism in favor of modern "relational" understandings of God. The book includes a short history of trinitarian theology from its patristic origins to the modern period, and a concluding appendix provides a brief summary of classical trinitarian theology. Foreword by Carl R. Trueman.

Developing a friendship with God may be the starting point for the spiritual journey, but how can that important internal relationship move us to make an impact on—and even transform—the world around us? In Changed Heart, Changed World, renowned spiritual director William A. Barry, SJ, delves into such topics as how friendship with God impacts our role in society, how to see forgiveness as a way of life, and how compassion can make its mark on the world. Throughout the book, Fr. Barry provides many practical ways to integrate the inner life, where we experience a relationship with God, with the outer life, where we live in relationship with our world. Above all else, Changed Heart, Changed World reminds us that God has a dream for his creation here and now—a dream that can only be realized by our becoming “other Christs in this world.”

The rise of modernity, especially the European Enlightenment and its aftermath, has negatively impacted the way we understand the nature and interpretation of Christian Scripture. In this introduction to biblical interpretation, Craig Carter evaluates the problems of post-Enlightenment hermeneutics and offers an alternative approach: exegesis in harmony with the Great Tradition. Carter argues for the validity of patristic christological exegesis, showing that we must recover the Nicene theological tradition as the context for contemporary exegesis, and seeks to root both the nature and interpretation of Scripture firmly in trinitarian orthodoxy.

God is great—for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies, a wide-reaching survey of people’s religious and spiritual experiences, and the authors’ analyses of adult drawings of God, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries: • Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process. • Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love. • Fundamentalism, in and of itself, can be personally beneficial, but the prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage your brain. • Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality. Both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health, How God Changes Your Brain is a first-of-a-kind book about faith that is as credible as it is inspiring.

The incarnation has made mystics of us all. What if we read the gospels as if that were true? In his book Contemplating Christ,Vincent Pizzuto offers an exploration of the interior life for modern contemplatives that is as beautiful as it is compelling. With an emphasis on the gospels and Christian mystical tradition, his book explores ancient themes in new and surprising ways. Drawing on his rich experience as an academic and priest, Pizzuto gradually unfolds the Christian mystery of deification to which the whole of biblical revelation and the Christian contemplative life are ordered: through the incarnation, we have all been made “other Christs” in the world.

This work proposes a theological investigation of the community of the Church as outlined by liberation theology and a possible conversation with liberation from suffering in Tibetan Buddhism. What unites both is the human process of sublimation for others, whereby liberation theologians as well as enlightened lamas give the best of themselves for the liberation of others. At this stage of discussions between inclusivists and exclusivists this work proposes that dialogue with world religions and therefore with Buddhism is not about finding possible dogmatic similarities but a common place, a common purpose through a common humanity.