The God whom we meet in Scripture is one who gives generous gifts in the wonder of creation, in the miracle of emancipation and reconciliation, and in the surprise of transformation. We are invited to receive those abundant gifts on a daily basis, with a posture of anticipation, awe, and gratitude. In response, we accept the worthy task of daily discipleship. Gift and Task is an original collection of 365 devotions by best-selling author Walter Brueggemann, providing the opportunity to consider in critical ways the cost and joy of discipleship. Perfect for daily use, this book begins with the First Sunday of Advent and provides insightful reflection and thought-provoking commentary on the Scriptures for each day of the year. Brueggemann guides disciples with wisdom and encouragement for our never-ending walk along God's challenging, grace-filled path throughout the Christian year.

Written by an L. A. County homicide detective and former atheist, Cold-Case Christianity examines the claims of the New Testament using the skills and strategies of a hard-to-convince criminal investigator. Christianity could be defined as a “cold case”: it makes a claim about an event from the distant past for which there is little forensic evidence. In Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace uses his nationally recognized skills as a homicide detective to look at the evidence and eyewitnesses behind Christian beliefs. Including gripping stories from his career and the visual techniques he developed in the courtroom, Wallace uses illustration to examine the powerful evidence that validates the claims of Christianity. A unique apologetic that speaks to readers’ intense interest in detective stories, Cold-Case Christianity inspires readers to have confidence in Christ as it prepares them to articulate the case for Christianity.

The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition, with boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, and an attempt to find a deeper sense of place—and a slower pace—in a small New England town. This is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet intensity of life with teenagers—holding on, letting go. Poised on the threshold between family life as she's always known it and her older son's departure for college, Kenison is surprised to find that the times she treasures most are the ordinary, unremarkable moments of everyday life, the very moments that she once took for granted, or rushed right through without noticing at all. The relationships, hopes, and dreams that Kenison illuminates will touch women's hearts, and her words will inspire mothers everywhere as they try to make peace with the inevitable changes in store.

The final book of this trilogy explores reason at work in the nature of faith (cf. Fides et Ratio, 43); indeed, although faith is, of its nature, different from reason, faith cannot exist except through grace-assisted reason. Volume One briefly meditated on the metaphysics of meaning, which entailed considering the intimate interrelationship of truth and existence. In this volume, however, it becomes clear that there is an intrinsic complementarity in the very nature of created being: a complementarity between the literal and spiritual sense of what exists. Thus, for example, a seed is both what actually exists, and, at the same time, it can “adequately” express the beginning of the supernatural life sown in the sacrament of Baptism. This leads to an almost “literary” argument for there being a single cause of all creation in that there is an incredible coherence of meaning throughout the whole.More specifically, the book discusses various questions of a bioethical nature, and, more generally, offers a radical investigation of the nature of man, male and female; for, in a word, the origin, nature and action of the human person require constant, “reciprocal” reflection. Thus, there are various essays on different aspects of man, male and female, ranging from a consideration of God expressing the mystery of the Blessed Trinity through “our” participation in His own Being to the transition from a Jewish to a Christian understanding of marriage to a marital spirituality.Finally, faith-in-action ranges from being open to life to pilgrimages as a family and the slow but real “discovery” that there is a radical nature to our salvation in Christ: that even if “natural truth” leads, inexorably, to the “trembling” outreaches of reason there is, nevertheless, a gratuitous Revelation which comes to meet and develop the life of us all.

If you haven't yet found your God-given task in life, you're missing out on the tremendous power and victory that can be yours when you walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. In this immensely important and spiritually insightful book, author Zawadi shares her own experiences of being in constant fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit-and the importance of asking our Father in heaven to reveal the work he has for each of us here on Earth so that his kingdom might come and his glory be revealed to all. While he walked the Earth in human form, Jesus had a task to do-a special mission unique to him that fit into God's larger plan for creation. And since every single believer is called to be like Christ, this means that we too share the call to fulfill our own roles in God's plan. Based on scripture and inspired by the Holy Spirit, Your God-Given Task will help you grow in your understanding of your personal mission-and equip you to walk in triumph and victory as you seek to follow God's guidance and fulfill your destiny in him.

Have you ever felt held back from the abundant life God promises you? Do you ever look at the satisfaction and success in other people’s lives, and wonder where yours is? In You Be You, beloved podcast host and author Jamie Ivey reveals that the abundant life you want is closer than you think. It’s not over there in someone else’s life. No. It’s right here, right now, in your life as it already is—you just have to know how to take hold of it. And in this book, Jamie shows you how to: Throw out false definitions of success Give up the idea that you must have someone else’s skills, talents, family, or resources to succeed Use the beautiful level of influence that God has given you Start leaving your deepest mark on the world by living your story Are you ready to finally bloom where you’re planted? To finally free yourself to flourish? To live a life that could only be done by Him and through you? Then jump into You Be You, and you’ll find yourself satisfied and succeeding in ways you never expected.

What is it about irony - as an object of serious philosophical reflection and a literary technique of considerable elasticity - that makes it an occasion for endless critical debate? This book responds to that question by focusing on several key moments in German romanticism and its afterlife in twentieth-century French thought and writing. Rather than provide a history of irony, it examines particular occasions of ironic disruption, thus offering an alternative model for conceiving of historical occurrences and their potential for acquiring meaning.