At the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, young Jonathan Livingston Seagull caught the world’s notice as he sought to break beyond the pitiful life of those average mortals populating the earth. Conquering all, entering into the eternal bliss, Jonathan left us, as did this magical spiritual age of enlightenment. What happened? In that era many seagulls emulated Jonathan; their stories never told. But one mighty bird, Johann Earlington, a contemporary of Jonathan, too looked to greater heights, too wanted answers, and too found the ultimate abode; but today, forty years after, his efforts lie in ruins. The world, his magnificent new world, has come full circle back to the pain of boredom and hopelessness of repetition. As our story begins, Johann is doubting his own accomplishments; rising to great heights, finding the most glorious of all heavens, lovingly showing this new way to any gull who would listen. But the new age is dead, and there seems no resolution. The end of the old brings the beginning of the new when there emerges a teacher, the Lord himself, in all majesty of Jesus, Buddha, and the still small voice. He shows Johann his errors and gives him new direction. Join Johann as he once and for all learns the true way to enlightenment. The simplicity of it may surprise you. This author gives honor to Jonathan Livingston Seagull author Richard Bach who first aroused an impatient age, upon which this book is born.

Johann Christoph Blumhardt (1805-1880) was a pastoral counselor and theologian of hope. His theology and pastoral approach, shaped as they were by the awakening in his congregation and numerous incidents of faith healing, provoked earnest and lively debate, and the controversy continues today. Ising's work mines the original sources, the product of an interaction with Blumhardt's life and work that goes back many years. He has drawn a portrait that explores the shadows as well as its bright side. Readers are invited to enter fully into the nineteenth century, Blumhardt's century, yet are constantly reminded that the problems of that day have lost none of their currency within the altered mental horizons of today.

A chronicle of the experiences and perceptions of a German Lutheran pastor called to serve a struggling community in the American South soon after the Revolutionary War.

Though relatively unknown in America, Johann Christoph Blumhardt (1805-1880) is widely recognized in his native Germany, in part because of Friedrich Zundel's landmark biography, now available in English for the first time. The terrifying battle between the spiritual forces of good and evil described here, and the awakening that followed, catapulted Blumhardt's parish into the public eye and still draws seekers to it. Zundel's account is fascinating on a historical level, but it is also infused with enduring pastoral insights and spiritual wisdom. Here is an almost unbelievable account of one person's faith in the inbreaking of God's kingdom and its victory over powers that bind and divide humanity.

When a young Lutheran pastor named Johann Christoph Blumhardt (1805-1880) interceded for a tormented woman in his village, he got more than he reckoned for. "We've seen enough of what the Devil can do", he told her. "Now let us see what God can do". But would one man's simple faith hold out against the onslaught of occult forces that began to reveal themselves? Two years later the enemy, defeated, howled, "Jesus is the victor!" and fled. Nothing would ever be the same in Mottlingen, Blumhardt's rural parish in the Black Forest. The palpable nearness of God -- and the reality of the great cosmic battle between good and evil -- was in many ways reminiscent of apostolic times. Sick and disabled people were healed, mental illness vanished, and stolen goods were returned. Murders were even solved, and broken marriages restored. Marked by the transformation of lives and relationships, yet devoid of exaggerated emotionalism and religiosity, the revival spread like a quiet tide, beyond the Black Forest, throughout Germany, and even farther, despite the efforts of a cynical press and Blumhardt's nervous ecclesiastical superiors. To those who despair over the spiritual poverty of contemporary Christianity, this book offers quiet but bold assurance that God can work as powerfully in our time as he did in his.