Circling the Table


Book Description

What if Christian worship took place as a conversation at a round table spread with elements of earth’s gifts of nurture and beauty? This book describes such a practice—Roundtable Worship—and lays out a fresh and challenging theological foundation for it. Central to this foundation is the struggle to reconstruct the images of governance and justice that have always lain at the heart of a worship shaped by biblical traditions. Drawing on the practice of circle conversations at the heart of movements for reconciliation and restorative justice, Everett presents a theological vision rooted in biblical covenant-making, a social image of the Trinity, and an understanding of the church as “the covenanted public of Christ’s Spirit.” Roundtable worship provides a hospitable setting where people can begin to give deeper voice to their life, listen appreciatively to each other’s longing for reconciliation, and anticipate in imagination and action a renewed public life beyond the angry and violent polarizations of our age.




Circling the Sun


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR, BOOKPAGE, AND SHELF AWARENESS • “Paula McLain is considered the new star of historical fiction, and for good reason. Fans of The Paris Wife will be captivated by Circling the Sun, which . . . is both beautifully written and utterly engrossing.”—Ann Patchett, Country Living This powerful novel transports readers to the breathtaking world of Out of Africa—1920s Kenya—and reveals the extraordinary adventures of Beryl Markham, a woman before her time. Brought to Kenya from England by pioneering parents dreaming of a new life on an African farm, Beryl is raised unconventionally, developing a fierce will and a love of all things wild. But after everything she knows and trusts dissolves, headstrong young Beryl is flung into a string of disastrous relationships, then becomes caught up in a passionate love triangle with the irresistible safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and the writer Baroness Karen Blixen. Brave and audacious and contradictory, Beryl will risk everything to have Denys’s love, but it’s ultimately her own heart she must conquer to embrace her true calling and her destiny: to fly. Praise for Circling the Sun “In McLain’s confident hands, Beryl Markham crackles to life, and we readers truly understand what made a woman so far ahead of her time believe she had the power to soar.”—Jodi Picoult, author of Leaving Time “Enchanting . . . a worthy heir to [Isak] Dinesen . . . Like Africa as it’s so gorgeously depicted here, this novel will never let you go.”—The Boston Globe “Famed aviator Beryl Markham is a novelist’s dream. . . . [A] wonderful portrait of a complex woman who lived—defiantly—on her own terms.”—People (Book of the Week) “Circling the Sun soars.”—Newsday “Captivating . . . [an] irresistible novel.”—The Seattle Times “Like its high-flying subject, Circling the Sun is audacious and glamorous and hard not to be drawn in by. Beryl Markham may have married more than once, but she was nobody’s wife.”—Entertainment Weekly “[An] eloquent evocation of Beryl’s daring life.”—O: The Oprah Magazine




Little Book of Circle Processes


Book Description

Our ancestors gathered around a fire in a circle, families gather around their kitchen tables in circles, and now we are gathering in circles as communities to solve problems. The practice draws on the ancient Native American tradition of a talking piece. Peacemaking Circles are used in neighborhoods to provide support for those harmed by crime and to decide sentences for those who commit crime, in schools to create positive classroom climates and resolve behavior problems, in the workplace to deal with conflict, and in social services to develop more organic support systems for people struggling to get their lives together. A title in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series.




Circle Forward


Book Description




Circling the Elephant


Book Description

Christian theologians have for some decades affirmed that they have no monopoly on encounters with God or ultimate reality and that other religions also have access to religious truth and transformation. If that is the case, the time has come for Christians not only to learn about but also from their religious neighbors. Circling the Elephant affirms that the best way to be truly open to the mystery of the infinite is to move away from defensive postures of religious isolationism and self-sufficiency and to move, in vulnerability and openness, toward the mystery of the neighbor. Employing the ancient Indian allegory of the elephant and blind(folded) men, John J. Thatamanil argues for the integration of three often-separated theological projects: theologies of religious diversity (the work of accounting for why there are so many different understandings of the elephant), comparative theology (the venture of walking over to a different side of the elephant), and constructive theology (the endeavor of re-describing the elephant in light of the other two tasks). Circling the Elephant also offers an analysis of why we have fallen short in the past. Interreligious learning has been obstructed by problematic ideas about “religion” and “religions,” Thatamanil argues, while also pointing out the troubling resonances between reified notions of “religion” and “race.” He contests these notions and offers a new theory of the religious that makes interreligious learning both possible and desirable. Christians have much to learn from their religious neighbors, even about such central features of Christian theology as Christ and the Trinity. This book envisions religious diversity as a promise, not a problem, and proposes a new theology of religious diversity that opens the door to robust interreligious learning and Christian transformation through encountering the other.




Circle Forward Supplement


Book Description

Intended to be used as a supplement to the original 2015 edition of Circle Forward, this Circle Forward Supplement contains the new module of Circles, recently added to the revised edition, for adults in schools to talk about race and equity issues. Educators who already have the original version can now access this new material without having to purchase the 2020 edition. This supplement to Circle Forward is intended to be used in conjunction with the original publication of Circle Forward: Building a Restorative School Community. Critical information for building the capacity to use the Circles in this publication is in the original book. Circles that explore race and equity issues raise many challenges and require sustained commitment and learning. For this reason, we do not recommend using this supplement without a foundation of understanding the Circle process and developing a Circle practice.




Circling the Drain


Book Description

Enter into the worlds of fifteen young women who, despite their vastly different circumstances, seem to negotiate an eerily similar and unavoidably dangerous emotional terrain. With a visceral bite or a surreal edge, each electrically charged story in Circling the Drain presents women trying to understand the nature of loss--of leaving or being left--and discovering that in the throes of feverish conflict, things are rarely what they seem. By turns dark and lyrical, ferocious and playful, these stories are precise, startling, and undeniably original. Reading them is a cathartic, mesmerizing literary experience.




Circling and Authentic Relating Practice Guide (2nd Edition)


Book Description

Circling is a group conversation practice, and part of a rapidly-growing worldwide movement called "Authentic Relating". It is a unique developmental practice that is about "getting somebody's world", being seen and accepted for who we really are, and feeling connected to other human beings and part of a larger whole. Circling may also be our best modern-day hope for creating a kinder and gentler society, one that would be less polarized and more attuned to real human needs. And on top of all this, Circling is super-fun and very affordable! The Circling and Authentic Relating Practice Guide is the most comprehensive digital resource available on the Authentic Relating movement. In addition to a practice guide with many examples of what to do and say in groups, it also contains a history of the movement, a section on precursors (which include Integral theory, Non-Violent Communication, and "we-space"), an extensive resources section, sample leader formats, and instructions for starting your own groups, either in person or online.




Scribner's Magazine


Book Description