Revising dominant accounts of Puritanism and challenging the literary history of sentimentalism, Sympathetic Puritans argues that a Calvinist theology of sympathy shaped the politics, religion, rhetoric, and literature of early New England. Scholars have often understood and presented sentimentalism as a direct challenge to stern and stoic Puritan forebears; the standard history traces a cult of sensibility back to moral sense philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment, not Puritan New England. Abram C. Van Engen has unearthed pervasive evidence of sympathy in a large archive of Puritan sermons, treatises, tracts, poems, journals, histories, and captivity narratives. He demonstrates how two types of sympathy -- the active command to fellow-feel (a duty), as well as the passive sign that could indicate salvation (a discovery) -- permeated Puritan society and came to define the very boundaries of English culture, affecting conceptions of community, relations with Native Americans, and the development of American literature. Van Engen re-examines the Antinomian Controversy, conversion narratives, transatlantic relations, Puritan missions, Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative -- and Puritan culture more generally -- through the lens of sympathy. Demonstrating and explicating a Calvinist theology of sympathy in seventeenth-century New England, the book reveals the religious history of a concept that has previously been associated with more secular roots.

Known for his previous best selling Catholic books such as, The Splendor of Creation and Proper Catholic Perspectives, Rev. Dr. Joseph L. Iannuzzi's long awaited book, The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta, is finally available. Iannuzzi's thoroughly documented and highly researched account of Piccarreta's life is unparalleled in its scope and depth, and is the definitive work of the life and writings of Luisa Piccarreta. Born in 1865 in Corato, Italy, Luisa Piccarreta began receiving revelations at age 12 and was called by God to become a victim soul. At a very tender age God spoke to her about a gift he wishes to bestow upon the world that will set it free and inaugurate an Era of World Peace. God refers to this gift as “Living in the Divine Will”, for it is through an act of God’s will that the earth will be made pure and mankind will become holy. Just as God the Father created the world, and the Son of God redeemed it, so the Holy Spirit will sanctify it through the outpouring of this gift. According to Luisa’s revelations, although God created us without us, he cannot save us without us. Therefore, he reveals himself to Luisa so that through her, we may come to know the loving gift he has prepared for us – the gift that will restore us to the holiness that Adam and Even enjoyed in Eden, and that will set all creation free. St. Paul affirms that “all creation groans with eager longings, waiting to be set free from its slavery to corruption and enjoy the glorious freedom of the sons of God,” and God tells Luisa that those who live in the Divine Will will be those sons of God who set creation free. This book is divided into 7 chapters. Chapter 1 presents a biographical sketch of Luisa’s life; Chapters 2-4 explore the importance of the gift of Living in the Divine Will; Chapters 5-7 compare this gift to the Church’s Eastern and Western traditions. Because this book bears the ecclesiastical “seal of approval” of the Pontifical University of Rome that is authorized by the Holy See, it enjoys a particular status that ensures sound doctrinal content for the Christian faithful. If you are familiar with the extraordinary life of Luisa Piccarreta, then this book will truly bring you deeper into her life and the gift of the “Divine Will”. If you are not, then you are truly in for a special and extraordinary experience that will change your life. It is a story perhaps unparalleled in the history of mystical theology, written by whom many consider the Church’s most authoritative person on the subject.

In this book, we incorporate wisdom from Zoroastrianism on the angels of transformation and the Archangel of the Earth; from Ibn 'Arabi on the barzakh (the interface between manifestation and subtle reality), creative imagination, and the human-divine relationship; from Hazrat Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat, and Pir Zia on contemporary Sufi teachings which state that every desire begins with a divine impulse and that the purpose of spirituality is awakening of divinity in life; as well as from realizations from the authors' meditations, inspirations, and spiritual dialogues which form the basis what they call the Gabrielite Work. Everyone has the potential to awaken to their existence in multiple realms of reality, and to contribute in a unique way from the fullness of their being to the never ending human-divine co-creative process.

The joyful news (Ev-angelia) that Jesus not only brought to humanity but mostly experienced for her sake, was spread out of necessity through symbolisms difficult to understand. So the New Testament might now seem to us (and indeed is) a seven-sealed book which is cautious in revealing its treasures. Yet, this shouldn’t discourage us but on the contrary should urge us in finally developing a living relationship with it; knowing with certainty that if we begin penetrating even a little into its mysteries, they will constitute for us invigorating waters which will quench our spirit’s thirst.