Liturgy at its best has the power to transform the community of the faithful. The liturgies in this book focus on lament, especially the lament experienced by communities of people facing environmental degradation and loss. It is often observed that lament has dropped out of much Christian worship in favor of praise and thanksgiving, yet the honest emotion voiced in such prayer remains an essential component of authentic, transformative engagement with God. Each liturgy is a complete service of worship based on a specific theme and may also be used as an anthology of prayers and litanies. God’s Good Earth in Crisis is offered in the conviction that worship is the most powerful means the Holy Spirit uses to equip us to live faithful lives serving God and caring for God’s holy people and sacred earth.

Liturgy at its best has the power to transform the community of the faithful. The liturgies in this book focus on lament, especially the lament experienced by communities of people facing environmental degradation and loss. It is often observed that lament has dropped out of much Christian worship in favor of praise and thanksgiving, yet the honest emotion voiced in such prayer remains an essential component of authentic, transformative engagement with God. Each liturgy is a complete service of worship based on a specific theme and may also be used as an anthology of prayers and litanies. God’s Good Earth in Crisis is offered in the conviction that worship is the most powerful means the Holy Spirit uses to equip us to live faithful lives serving God and caring for God’s holy people and sacred earth.

God’s Good Earth offers Christians and their communities an engaging resource for prayer, reflection, and worship that reflects and nourishes their efforts to serve God and care for God’s creation. Compilers Anne and Jeffery Rowthorn have prepared 52 beautiful, ready-made prayer services, each around a specific theme, drawing from a rich variety of ecumenical resources: psalms and other responsive readings, Scripture, hymns, prayers, and reflections from the world's most engaging nature writers and interpreters of the social and cultural landscape. Each section can be used in full, or the user may select smaller sections; permission is granted to the purchaser to reproduce for use in public prayer. God's Good Earth forms hearts and minds to know that transformation is not only possible but essential if the Earth is to survive, healthy and whole. Those who enter into the book’s praise and prayer will have their faith in God the Creator strengthened, their gratitude for the wonders of God's creation deepened, and their commitment to act on behalf of God's good earth enhanced. The print edition is printed with high production standards on recycled, FSC-certified paper.

God's world was created "very good," Genesis chapter 1 tells us, and in this book Jon Garvey rediscovers the truth, known to the Church for its first 1,500 years but largely forgotten now, that the fall of mankind did not lessen that goodness. The natural creation does not require any apologies or excuses, but rather celebration and praise. The author's re-examination of the scriptural evidence, the writings of two millennia of Christian theologians, and the physical evidence of the world itself lead to the conclusion that we, both as Christians and as modern Westerners, have badly misunderstood our world. Restoring a truer vision of the goodness of the present creation can transform our own lives, sharpen the ministry of the church to the world of both people and nature, and give us a better understanding of what God always intended to bring about through Christ in the age to come.

The Bible is full of images of God caring for his creation in all its complexity. Yet experts warn us that a so-called perfect storm of factors threatens the future of life on earth. The authors assess the evidence for climate change and other threats that our planet faces in the coming decades while pointing to the hope God offers the world and the people he made.

A History of Religion in America: From the End of the Civil War to the Twenty-First Century provides comprehensive coverage of the history of religion in America from the end of the American Civil War to religion in post 9/11 America. The volume explores major religious groups in the United States and examines the following topics: The aftermath of the American Civil War Immigration’s impact on American religion The rise of the social gospel The fundamentalist response Religion in Cold War America The 60’s counterculture and the backlash Religion in Post-9/11 America Chronologically arranged and integrating various religious developments into a coherent historical narrative, this book also contains useful chapter summaries and review questions. Designed for undergraduate religious studies and history students A History of Religion in America provides a substantive and comprehensive introduction to the complexity of religion in American history.