Lectio divina is a way of praying by sustained immersion into a revelatory text. While Scripture is the classic place of encounter with God, the text could also be the book of life or the book of nature. InLectio Matters, respected spiritual guide Meg Funk accompanies the reader in exploring the various levels of lectio divina as taught by the ancient church writers and by sharing her own long experience. By means of this wisdom both ancient and new, lectio divina can become our burning bush, a real encounter with the living God, in which we take off our sandals and bow our brow to the ground.

After fifty years of monastic life, prayer, and spiritual direction, Meg Funk knows what it means to listen with the ear of one's heart to the Holy Spirit. InDiscernment Matters, she shares what she has learned. This book is a resource for those who want to learn and practice discernment as taught by the early monastic tradition. It includes an accessible summary of teachings about discernment from monastic traditions of late antiquity, consideration of important tools for making decisions today, and practical examples from the lives of St. Benedict and St. Patrick, as well as from the experience of monastics today. With this fifth volume of the Matters Series, Funk completes one of the most comprehensive presentations of the spiritual life available today, demonstrating why this inner work is both necessary and such a joy. Mary Margaret Funk is a Benedictine nun of Our Lady of Grace Monastery, Beech Grove, Indiana. From 1994 through 2004, she served as executive director of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, which fosters dialogue among monastics of the world's religions. In addition to the volumes of the Matters Series, she is the author of Islam Is…: An Experience of Dialogue and Devotion and Into the Depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation.

Rev. ed. of: Tools matter for practicing the spiritual life.

Humility Matters makes the claims that humility is for a disciple of Jesus Christ what enlightenment is for a Buddhist, realization for a Hindu, surrender for a Muslim, and righteousness for a Jew. It is the unmistakable character of one who has accepted the vocation to undertake the spiritual journey. It is at the core of our experience of life in Christ. Meg Funk guides readers deeper into a life of humility by following the movement of what the early Christians called the four renunciations: to renounce our former way of life, our thoughts of our former way of life, our self-made thoughts of God, and our self-made thoughts of ourselves. With the help of the compelling examples of St. Benedict, St. Teresa of Jesus, and St. Therese of Lisieux, Funk shows the way to ongoing conversion of mind, heart, and way of life. Mary Margaret Funk is a Benedictine nun of Our Lady of Grace Monastery, Beech Grove, Indiana. From 1994 through 2004, she served as executive director of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, which fosters dialogue among monastics of the world's religions. In addition to the volumes of the Matters Series, she is the author of Islam Is…: An Experience of Dialogue and Devotion and Into the Depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation.

Today’s Christian woman is so busy handling the challenges of day-to-day life that spending time in the Word can easily become yet another “should” buried in that growing list of daily “musts.” Created in partnership with Christianity Today’s women’s magazine, the Everyday Matters Bible for Women is designed to help women develop spiritual practices that will make their lives richer, not harder. It offers practical encouragement and tools to renew, reinvigorate, and restore meaning to everyday life. This Bible features 24 disciplines—or practices—that position us to receive power and strength to do those things that we cannot possibly do on our own and make everyday life fuller and deeper. Each discipline is represented by a colorful icon whose illustration is a reminder of its meaning. The contemporary language of the New Living Translation combines with content from today’s foremost Christian leaders to help readers understand and apply spiritual discipline. Every discipline is explored in four ways: Everyday Matters: Two-page articles introduce major themes and focus on an essential part of understanding and practicing a discipline.Everyday Profiles: Profiles of 25 biblical women highlight a particular discipline.Everyday Q & A’s: Short articles delve into a difficult aspect of the spiritual practice and offer practical help on incorporating the discipline into your daily life.Everyday Reflections: Selections illustrate ways to personalize and apply God’s Word to your own situation. More than 300 articles and features by more than 140 of today’s most well-known Christian leaders and writers, including Kay Warren, Priscilla Shirer, Elisa Morgan, Nancy & John Ortberg, Richard Foster, Liz Curtis Higgs, and Lauren Winner. Features: Book introductionsColor-coded icons identify each spiritual discipline addressed in contributors’ materialArticle, “How to Use This Bible in a Small Group Study”Index of spiritual practicesResources for further reading Enjoy having overviews and articles on 24 key spiritual practices that renew meaning in everyday life, including prayer, forgiveness, worship, and more! Perfect for individuals, group use, and gifts!

Central to debates about Jesus is the issue of whether he uniquely embodies the divine. While this discussion continues unabated, both those who affirm and those who dismiss, Jesus' divinity regularly eclipse the reality that in many of the earliest strands of the Christian tradition when Jesus' divinity is proclaimed, Jesus is imaged as the female divine. Sally Douglas investigates these early texts, excavates the motivations for imaging Jesus as Woman Wisdom and the complex reasons that this began to be suppressed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The work concludes with an exploration of the powerful implications of engaging with the ancient proclamation of Jesus-Woman Wisdom in contemporary context.

The Handbook takes as its subject the complex phenomenon of Christian monasticism. It addresses, for the first time in one volume, the multiple strands of Christian monastic practice. Forty-four essays consider historical and thematic aspects of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican traditions, as well as contemporary 'new monasticism'. The essays in the book span a period of nearly two thousand years—from late ancient times, through the medieval and early modern eras, on to the present day. Taken together, they offer, not a narrative survey, but rather a map of the vast terrain. The intention of the Handbook is to provide a balance of some essential historical coverage with a representative sample of current thinking on monasticism. It presents the work of both academic and monastic authors, and the essays are best understood as a series of loosely-linked episodes, forming a long chain of enquiry, and allowing for various points of view. The authors are a diverse and international group, who bring a wide range of critical perspectives to bear on pertinent themes and issues. They indicate developing trends in their areas of specialisation. The individual contributions, and the volume as a whole, set out an agenda for the future direction of monastic studies. In today's world, where there is increasing interest in all world monasticisms, where scholars are adopting more capacious, global approaches to their investigations, and where monks and nuns are casting a fresh eye on their ancient traditions, this publication is especially timely.