Showing results by publisher "Author's Republic" in Christianity

Once the sacred guardian of New Zealand's native forests, the huia was a symbol of the land's unique beauty and spirituality. The rare bird's tragic extinction in the early 1900s represents a shot to the heart of Aotearoa and is a potent metaphor for a country's conflicted history. Using the story of the untimely extinction of the huia, J. Ruka offers a fresh perspective on the narrative of New Zealand: a tale of two cultures, warring worldviews, and the things we lost in translation.

We all have the power to change our lives and our relationships with the words we speak. Many of us float through life proclaiming only the things that we can see. However, we have a God-given ability to partner with the Holy Spirit to affect the world around us with our words. Once we understand God’s perspective, we can speak life into every part of our existence.

Nancy teaches a Way of Agape seminar. In her warm and down-to-earth style, Nancy shares how understanding God's agape love has changed her life and how it can change the lives of others.

The Practice of the Presence of God is a collection of the teachings of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (Nicolas Herman, c. 1614 - 1691), a 17th-century Carmelite friar. The book consists of 16 short letters, a collection of spiritual maxims, four conversations written down by Father Joseph de Beaufort and a brief bio, most likely by de Beaufort. The theme of the work is the cultivation and development of an awareness of the presence of God.

Everyone thinks about running away from home sometime. Most people don't venture that when they are 51. Sammi did. When the world got too small and being part of it got too unbearable she ran. Mostly west. On the way she bumped into her past and found some reconcile with her present. Filled with memories common to us all, too familiar demons, the longing, the searching, the betrayal and brokenness—the beauty of it all.

"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law." (Galatians 5. 22-23) This second edition of the popular book by Colin Attridge looks at these verses from Galatians and discusses the impact they should have on the Christian life, and the thoughts and intents of the Christian heart.

If I asked you to name your favorite things - the things you love - how long would it take for you to name yourself? If you’re anything like me, you’ve tried to love God and love others without thinking too much about yourself. Wanting to avoid self-centeredness, I doubted myself and condemned myself - I even hated myself - until I noticed the ancient words of Mark 12:31: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” A gentle whisper led me in a new direction, and everything in my life began to change.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, written between 1522 and 1524, are a set of meditations, contemplations and prayers by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. They are divided into four thematic parts and composed with the intention of helping participants in religious retreats to discern the will of God in their lives.

Considered a cornerstone of modern Christian theology, Charles Spurgeon’s All of Grace is an exploration into the way Christians envision themselves. While many people see themselves as strong, Spurgeon argues that if humans were strong there would have been no need for Jesus to have sacrificed himself. The actions of Jesus were shrouded in a love of the weakness of humanity, and to Spurgeon that truth was being further shrouded by modern pride. The book itself was a call to Christianity to look at repentance as a gift and to accept its grace into their lives.

The Gospel of Nicodemus also known as the “Acts of Pilate” is an apocryphal piece giving a detailed account of the trial, death, and resurrection of Christ. This work is broken up in several sections: the Trail of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Crucifixion of Christ, the Resurrection, and the Descensus ad Infermos – Christ’s decent into Hell.

The Holy Bible, authorized King James version, narrated by Daniel David Jensen.

Against the backdrop of a catastrophic pandemic that has spared nothing and altered everything, this remarkable document is a cry from the heart of a pastor to all peoples to see beyond their differences and to grow together to build a new and peaceful world. Pope Francis addresses his renewed call to universal fraternity to all people of good will, regardless of their religious convictions.

Confessions is the name of an autobiographical work, consisting of 13 books, by Saint Augustine of Hippo, written in Latin between 397 and 400 AD. The work outlines Saint Augustine's sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written, and Professor Henry Chadwick wrote that Confessions will "always rank among the great masterpieces of western literature."

Religio Medici: The Religion of a Doctor (1643) by Sir Thomas Browne is an explanation and analysis of the author’s religious belief in relation to his profession as a medical doctor. As such, it is a spiritual testament and a psychological self-portrait based on the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity. In the preface, Browne explains that his text is not a scholarly work, requesting that it be approached by a mind informed by faith and open to accepting his self-exploration. The first part explores faith and hope; and the second, charity.

Over the centuries, the claim has repeatedly been made that Jesus Christ not only walked the earth, but also spent his early and post-crucifixion years in a variety of places, including Egypt, India, Great Britain, Japan, and America. Indeed, traditions maintain that Jesus, the great God-man of the West, lived, learned, loved, and died in such places. Popular modern literature also purports that Jesus sired children who then became the ancestors of various royal families of Europe, including France and/or elsewhere, depending on the author.

When a white, middle-class, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied man begins to question all of these cultural realities that he has been raised within, something is sure to give. The cultural fishbowl is sure to be cracked. Woven is such a story. The gradual awakening of a man to his gender, economic, and racial privilege. It is the story of growing up within contemporary evangelicalism, the dissatisfaction that began to arise, and the subsequent journey of self-discovery. Woven is a story of dissatisfaction. A story of struggling and wrestling, and questioning.

This short but helpful book is a must for all Christians who want to walk in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ, pleasing him in all things. Pink aptly uses Proverbs 4:23 to show that keeping or guarding the heart is key to walking in that worthy manner. For from the heart are all “the issues of life.” As goes the heart, so goes the life. Whether you are a young or old Christian, or whether you live in prosperity or in adversity, this is a superb guide to practical Christian thinking and living.

This book explores the concept of prophecy in Judaism as defined by two great figures of Jewish history. Moses Maimonides and Abraham Joshua Heschel are two influential scholars who have impacted the many streams of Judaism. A simplistic dichotomy could be made between their two perspectives labeling Maimonides as a rational philosopher and Heschel as a mystical one. Both the study of Jewish prophecy and the approaches of both of the scholars are complex topics, but not impossible to decipher. The nature of revelation is also part of this discussion.

The Bondage of the Will was published in 1525 as a rebuttal to Desiderius Erasmus. The piece is known as one of the first discussions on free will and predestination during the Reformation.

This book invites you to look behind the metaphors and symbolic language, and consider the underlying perspectives that the Bible itself provides about the death of Christ. It extracts an exciting idea: that the death of Jesus was never about a transaction taking place in heaven with God, but rather that it was intended to have a very real impact on each one of us. It was intended to change us, not God!