Showing results by narrator "Neil Gardner" in All Categories

Within our heads, we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have - older even than language - and in Dark and Magical Places, Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do.

The breaking of the Enigma machine is one of the most heroic stories of the Second World War and highlights the crucial work of the codebreakers of Bletchley Park, which prevented Britain's certain defeat in 1941. But there was another German cipher machine, used by Hitler himself to convey messages to his top generals in the field. A machine more complex and secure than Enigma. A machine that could never be broken.

We spend more time working than doing almost anything else, yet work is often difficult, unsatisfying and frustrating. Sometimes our efforts feel never-ending, and the idea that we should be working for the Lord is often squeezed out. This book, based on a series of sermons by William Taylor, will help you to see that being a Christian can make a difference to how we experience work. William argues that ‘the Bible’s teaching on work is not only liberating but also exhilarating and refreshingly realistic’. 

Our world has innumerable boundaries, ranging from the obvious - like an ocean - to subtle differences in language or climate. Most of us cross invisible lines all the time, but don't stop to consider them. In Invisible Lines, geographer Maxim Samson presents 30 such unseen boundaries, intriguing and unexpected examples of the myriad ways in which we collectively engage with and experience the world. 

The Bible is held to be both universal and specific, the source of fundamental truths inscribed in words that are exact and sacred. For much of the history of Judaism and almost the entirety of Christianity, however, believers have overwhelmingly understood scripture not in the languages in which it was first written but rather in their own—in translation. This book examines how saints, scholars and interpreters from ancient times down to the present have produced versions of the Bible in the language of their day while remaining true to the original. 

Join Tom Wright on a journey with the Apostles, exploring the New Testament themes of thankfulness, patience, humility and joy.

Whether you are seeking to understand the Christian faith for the first time, or looking to be reminded of the basics, John Stott offers a clear and full explanation of the Gospel.

In 1901 no other city matched London in size, wealth and grandeur. Yet it was also a city where poverty and disease were rife. For its inhabitants, such contradictions and diversity were the defining experience of the next century of dazzling change. In the worlds of work and popular culture, politics and crime, through war, immigration and sexual revolution, Jerry White’s richly detailed and captivating history shows how the city shaped their lives and how it in turn was shaped by them.

Never before has the biblical stance on marriage, sex and sexuality been under such scrutiny. It’s been undermined, criticised and ignored and yet the message of the Bible is liberating and practical - and sex the way God intended is not only the best sex, but also the safest! Revolutionary Sex, based on talks by William Taylor, is a no-nonsense look at one of the biggest issues of our day.

Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, Jacob and the stairway to heaven, Joseph and his brothers, Samson and Delilah, David and Goliath, Jonah and the whale, the miracles and teachings of Jesus, St Paul's vision on the road to Damascus, St John's vision of the new Jerusalem: the Bible is full of dramatic stories that have made it the world's bestselling book, and yet few people ever get around to listening to it from cover to cover.

This audiobook begins with the question "Who am I?" and immediately sets off in an astonishingly original direction. Why didn't anyone before Harding think of responding to this question like this? It's so obvious, once you see it. Harding presents a new vision of our place in the universe that uses the scientific method of looking to see what is true. It turns out that the truth about ourselves is not only true but also very good, and breathtakingly beautiful. We live in a sacred, many-layered, living universe - or rather it lives in us.

Rebel Vegan Life: Plant-Based Nutrition and Beginner’s Guide is the ideal manual for creating a whole vegan lifestyle - and creating it in your way. It’s not hard to be vegan. With Rebel Vegan, it is easy and delicious.

We have a God-given responsibility to infiltrate the world, listening to the world's challenges, but also to bring our own challenge to the world by sharing the good news by word and deed. We look at four aspects of mission: The uniqueness of Jesus, the chief foundation of Christian mission. The nature of God himself, and mission coming from his heart. Mission in word, but also in works. A clear and fresh vision of Christ. We look at the model, the costliness, the mandate, the motivation and the urgency of the mission to which we are called.

The church lies at the center of God's purpose. Christ gave himself 'to purify for himself a people that are his own'. But when we think about church, there's the tension between the ideal and the reality. The former is beautiful: God's special treasure, the covenant community, a haven of love and peace. The latter? A motley rabble needing constant rebuke and exhortation. Here we focus on the ideal, on what God intends his church to be, while all the time keeping in view the reality, so that we can grasp the changes that need to be made.

Scripture has brought us light in darkness, strength in weakness, comfort in sadness. It isn't difficult to endorse the Psalmist's experience that the words of God are 'more precious than gold... sweeter than honey'. So it's distressing to watch the Bible being dislodged from its position of authority, not only in our nation but also in the church. Here we focus on the urgent need to continue in, respond to, interpret and expound God's Word.

If Christ is our Lord, then we are his servants, and if he is our teacher, then we are his pupils. Following Christ is a multi-faceted responsibility. We should remember: Every true disciple is a listener. We are both rational and emotional. We can discern God's call and will. Love is the first fruit of the Spirit, a core ingredient of discipleship.

Tim Stead draws connections between mindfulness approaches and exercises and the Christian spiritual traditions of contemplation and reflection. By bringing these practices together, he shows us how mindfulness can help us to transform the way we manage stress so that we can open up more completely to the promised 'life in all its fullness'. This is a thoughtful and practical book that will give you a more complete understanding of mindfulness practices and how they relate to Christian spirituality.

It wasn't long-ago that Britons could have been as at home in Varanasi as they could have been in Wolverhampton—why?—because the shape and location of Britain's land-mass has not always been the same, and with large parts of Britain scattered across the globe, British borders and its identity has always been on the move. But, by knowing more about the twelve pivotal moments that occurred over a 2,000-year period, we can not only gain a full sense of our British history, but we can also understand where we are heading.

A list of the attributes that define a mammal is a ragbag of things - fur, live birth, three bones in the middle ear, a brain whose two halves are robustly joined together.... But this curious collection of features contain the roots of all the biology that makes us what we are: monkeys with massive brains who parent extensively, enjoy sport and think lots. Which is to say, what makes us mammals makes us human.

What is consciousness? Is the mind a machine? What makes us persons? How can we find the path to human maturity? These are among the fundamental questions that Rowan Williams helps us to think about in this deeply engaging exploration of what it means to be human.