"How do we think about sacramental reconciliation at this time in history? How do we minister to alienated and inactive Catholics who wish to be reconciled to the church? To begin to answer these questions, ....... [from back cover]

Life at the end of the twentieth century presents us with a disturbing reality. Otherness, the simple fact of being different in some way, has come to be defined as in and of itself evil. Miroslav Volf contends that if the healing word of the gospel is to be heard today, Christian theology must find ways of speaking that address the hatred of the other. Reaching back to the New Testament metaphor of salvation as reconciliation, Volf proposes the idea of embrace as a theological response to the problem of exclusion. Increasingly we see that exclusion has become the primary sin, skewing our perceptions of reality and causing us to react out of fear and anger to all those who are not within our (ever-narrowing) circle. In light of this, Christians must learn that salvation comes, not only as we are reconciled to God, and not only as we "learn to live with one another", but as we take the dangerous and costly step of opening ourselves to the other, of enfolding him or her in the same embrace with which we have been enfolded by God.

The revered Zen teacher presents Buddhist meditation and mindfulness practices as tools for healing fraught relationships and difficult emotions—so we can move past childhood trauma. Based on Dharma talks by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and insights from participants in retreats for healing the inner child, this book is an exciting contribution to the growing trend of using Buddhist practices to encourage mental health and wellness. Reconciliation focuses on the theme of mindful awareness of our emotions and healing our relationships, as well as meditations and exercises to acknowledge and transform the hurt that many of us experienced as children. The book shows how anger, sadness, and fear can become joy and tranquility by learning to breathe with, explore, meditate, and speak about our strong emotions. Reconciliation offers specific practices designed to bring healing and release for people suffering from childhood trauma. The book is written for a wide audience and accessible to people of all backgrounds and spiritual traditions.

With the Bible as a guide and heaven as the goal, Oneness Embraced calls God's people to kingdom-focused unity. It tells us why we don't have it, what we need to get it, and what it will look like when we do. Mr. Evans weaves his own story into this word to the church.

This 9-week Bible study leads you step by step through biblical reconciliation and shows you how Embracing God's grace enables you to stop imposing unrealistic expectations on yourself and others. Learn why, if you're seeking peace, if you have relationships that need reconciliation, if you desire a precious, intimate relationship with God, He - not you - must be in control of your life.

Has sacramental reconciliation disappeared from the horizon of Catholic practice? Has "confession" been extinguished from your practice of the faith? Have you noticed a marked change in the way in which you have become reconciled to God and the Church community over the course of time? These questions and others are addressed in Julia Upton's study of sacramental reconciliation. Her concern is that the sacrament of reconciliation - through which the darkness of sin is illumined by the healing light of Christ's forgiveness - is an endangered species. In sacramental reconciliation the sinner experiences the tender, healing, welcoming embrace of God, which is what Upton regards as endangered. Upton's is a holistic approach to sacramental reconciliation that involves studying data from anthropology, psychology, and sociology, and integrating that with data from Scripture, history, and theology.