Every age needs figures of spiritual inspiration, but in times of recession and uncertainty they are essential in helping us to rise above despair and to search for God deep within ourselves. In this new book, Michael Ford invites four spiritual masters onto the same stage for the first time and shows how they speak, not only to our own times, but for all seasons. Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Anthony de Mello and John O'Donohue all died suddenly at the height of their fame as spiritual masters, but they continue to have immense followings. What was their secret and why do their legacies endure? Through unpublished interviews with some of the authors themselves, encounters with their friends, and reflections from readers who have been inspired by their writings, Michael Ford journeys across the United States and Europe to assess their place in the world of contemporary spirituality. He goes behind the scenes of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky to hear first hand from monks who were novices under Merton; visits Lambeth Palace in London to discover Merton's influence on the Archbishop of Canterbury; talks to people about how Nouwen, the proverbial wounded healer, helped them through depression because he had suffered himself; speaks to Jesuits who worked with de Mello in India and tries to find out how close the international storyteller came to Buddhism; and takes a walk with O'Donohue through landscapes in rural Ireland that feature in such books as Anam Cara and discusses the appeal of Celtic spirituality. Blending the spiritual with the journalistic, Michael Ford presents four unique writers as "Spiritual Masters for All Seasons." +

The author of America magazine's "The Word" column (2002-2005) uses images from classical and popular culture and draws parallels between the contemporary Christian and our Old and New Testament forebears to bring vividly to life the Word of God as proclaimed in the Lectionary readings for each week. Readers will be moved by the lyric richness of her language and her direct yet dignified style to engage the Word for all seasons and to ponder the challenging questions she poses. +

Thomas Merton was arguably the twentieth century's most widely published and widely read spiritual writer. This book explores Merton's prophetic writings and experience as they offer guidance for those seeking to experience God, to simplify their lives, to live more humanly, and to shape Christian community in the face of alienation, consumerism, noise, and technology. The book includes parts of three previously unpublished conference contributions by Merton on technology. Exploring Merton's thoughts on monastic renewal, prayer, radical simplicity, ecology, technology, war, peace and interfaith dialogue, Dekar reminds us why Merton was so influential and why he continues to be so.

Christianity must be understood not as a religion of private salvation, but as a gospel movement of universal compassion, which transforms the world in the power of God’s truth. Amid several major global crises, including the rise of terrorism and religious fundamentalism and a sudden resurgence of political extremism, Christians must now face up fearlessly to the challenges of living in a “post-truth” age in which deceitful politicians present their media-spun fabrications as “alternative facts.” This book is an attempt to enact a transformative theology for these changing times that will equip the global Christian community to take a stand for the gospel in an age of cultural despair and moral fragmentation. The emerging post-Christendom era calls for a new vision of Christianity that has come of age and connects with the spiritual crisis of our times. In helping to make this vision a reality, Searle insists that theology is not merely an academic discipline, but a transformative enterprise that changes the world. Theology is to be experienced not just behind a desk, in an armchair, or in a church, but also in hospitals, in foodbanks, in workplaces, and on the streets. Theology is to be lived as well as read.

New Perspectives in Philosophy of Education seeks to build a bridge between philosophical reflection and socio-political action by developing a range of critical discussions in the areas of ethics, politics and religion. This volume brings together established authorities and a new generation of scholars to ask whether philosophy of education can contribute to political and social discourse, or whether it is destined to remain the marginal gadfly of mainstream ideology. The philosophy of education stands in danger of becoming a neglected field at precisely the moment we need to be able to reflect upon the increasingly apparent costs of the technocratic attitude to education. While many of the educational policy discussions of recent years seem far-reaching and radical, critical debate surrounding these initiatives remain largely at a populist level. New Perspectives in Philosophy of Education provides contemporary responses to philosophical issues that bear upon educational studies, policies and practices, contributing to the debate on the role of philosophy of education in an increasingly fractured intellectual milieu.

Institutions are very precious. If any idea is going to persist into the future, then it needs an institution to keep it going. Each of us comes to understand, often only gradually over the decades, how some influences from our earlier life have affected us. Some will have been inspiring. Some will have given us direct models of how to behave or how not to behave. Indeed, it is often the case that the deeper an influence turns out to have been, in the long run, the less likely it is that we noticed it at the time it was happening. For this reason, it has become necessary to find the time to reflect on and express gratitude for the institutions that helped form who we are and the work that we do. This collection of essays explores the impact of one institution on twenty-five participants, twenty-five years after we worked together. The Institution was Liverpool Hope University College and is now Liverpool Hope University. By telling and reflecting on our stories, we aim to encourage others to think about their own experiences and, ultimately, our earnest hope is that a greater awareness of this aspect of university life will help to transform our collective understanding of the nature of universities in particular, and of communities, institutions, or societies in general. But there was something special about belonging to a community called Hope.

One of the best-kept secrets in the church is the story of the emergence of the Catholic laity from "pray, pay, and obey" passive spectators to men and women assuming their rightful roles in liturgy, ministry, and other church functions. This evolution is not merely a response to the ever dwindling number of priests and thus the need for others to assume these functions, but is primarily a recognition of the laity's call to serve through the sacrament of baptism in which they all share. In this well-researched book, Aurelie Hagstrom describes the emergence of the laity during the twentieth century and presents a compelling theology of the laity based on scripture, on a renewed understanding of the sacrament of baptism and, especially, on the great watershed in church thinking brought about by the Second Vatican Council. She assures Catholic lay persons that their everyday lives are the "stuff" by which they attain a holiness that is as valid as that lived by clergy and religious. Book jacket.