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As Mr. Smith has noted in the Introduction to this work, "There is little so rare in German-American genealogy as a complete emigrant passenger list from Bremen." As most researchers know, the Bremen lists were destroyed during the fire storm of that city during World War II. In the case of this work, however, Mr. Smith was able to recover fourteen Bremen lists because they had been reprinted in the obscure weekly newspaper from Rudolstadt, Thuringia, entitled the "Allgemeine Auswanderungs-Zeitung" (which can be found in the rare-book collection at Yale University). The compiler has transcribed the names of all persons bound for America from each of the fourteen lists. The emigrants, who are arranged alphabetically, are identified by place of origin and sometimes by the number of persons in the passenger's family or the names of traveling companions.

What does it mean to flourish? Human flourishing lies at the heart of the good news of the gospel, and yet contemporary theologies know not only one way of speaking about what it means to flourish. If we embed our theological grammars of flourishing in the doctrine of salvation, as the doctrine in which theological flourishing talk is arguably rooted and from which rich fruit may be borne, there is not one but various ways in which to speak about what it means to flourish. Yet what governs our speaking? Why do we speak of flourishing as we do? The various conceptions of human flourishing that are outlined in this book – piety, joy, and comfort; being fully alive, healing, and dignity; grace, happiness, and blessing – represent a collection of attempts not only to imagine human flourishing, but also to imagine ways of speaking about human flourishing. Perhaps what theology could offer to the vibrant and robust conversations on human flourishing lies exactly in the reminder to take care about how we speak about that which is truly and deeply human: our longing to flourish.