The a 'Kempis Connection


Book Description

When a leading theology professor releases a series of papers set about finding links and influences of secret societies within the world’s Christian religions and political parties, it draws immediate attention from within the Vatican and American government. One such fellowship/secret society he delved into in depth held great interest for some of those examining their contents, for this group was deemed to be wiped out of existence in the middle Dark Ages. The professor, one Jackson MacInness, claimed that they not only currently existed but also still operated clandestinely within many houses of influence throughout the world. Then as a bonus to this news, he also claimed it was said they held control over a huge treasure put into their trust by the Knights Templar when fleeing France. He went on to add that they also were the guardians of the only true personal relics of Christ still on this earth—something left for mankind that did not leave with him at the time of his ascension into heaven. MacInness is offered the challenge to research and solve the puzzles within the ancient codes that could lead to their recovery. And so, he starts a venture of religious secrecy, unaware of attracting a group of desperadoes with the glint of gold in their eyes.




On the Passion of Christ


Book Description

A perfect complement to the movie, The Passion of The Christ, this book presents reflections that will enable the reader to focus deeply on the true meaning of the Passion. In his famous spiritual classic, The Imitation of Christ, Thomas À Kempis reminds the reader that in order to become a follower of Christ one must imitate his life, and to accomplish this he adds: "Let it then be our main concern to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ. It is impossible to imitate Christ without first knowing him, and the best way of getting to know him is by meditating on his life as it is described in the four Gospels." Thus, in this wonderful meditation book, perfect for Lent, or any time of the year, the great spiritual writer and monk gives profound, short reflections on Gospel passages about the passion and death of Christ. Each chapter, focusing on a specific aspect of the Passion of Our Lord, gives a prayer, a meditation and spiritual advice and closes with another short prayer. Very much in the same style as his The Imitation of Christ, this book covers the entire Passion, and makes great spiritual reading for anyone. Illustrated.




The Imitation of Christ


Book Description

The spiritual classic by À Kempis, the second most widely read spiritual book after the Bible, has had an astonishing impact on the spiritual lives of countless saints, peasants, and popes for centuries. Even today, the soul-searching words of the fifteenth-century cleric Thomas À Kempis continue to resonate, unbounded by time or geography. Drawing on the Bible, the Fathers of the early Church and medieval mysticism, his four-part treatise shrugs off the allure of the material world, blending beauty and bluntness in a supremely spiritual call-to-arms. This beautiful translation by Ronald Knox and Michael Oakley is considered by many teachers, writers, and readers to be the best English translation ever, and one that greatly enhances the life-changing insights of Thomas À Kempis. Illustrated. "If we could construct a composite picture of all great Christians-Catholic or non-Catholic-of the last five hundred years who found The Imitation substantially beneficial, enlightening, and inspiring, we would need no further proof that familiarity with this great classic is an integral part of a mature spiritual life and even a path to holiness." -Father Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R., Author,




The Complete Works


Book Description

DigiCat presents to you this unique and meticulously edited George Eliot collection: Novels: Adam Bede The Mill on the Floss Silas Marner Romola Felix Holt, the Radical Middlemarch Daniel Deronda Short Stories: Scenes of Clerical Life The Lifted Veil Brother Jacob Poetry: The Spanish Gypsy The Legend of Jubal and Other Poems: The Legend of Jubal Agatha Armgart How Lisa Loved the King A Minor Prophet Brother and Sister Stradivarius A College Breakfast-Party Two Lovers Self and Life Sweet Endings Come and Go, Love The Death of Moses Arion O May I Join the Choir Invisible Other Poems: Count that Day Lost Farewell On Being Called a Saint Sonnet Question and Answer Mid my Gold-Brown Curls Mid the Rich Store As Tu Va la Lune se Lever In A London Drawing Room Arms! To Arms! Ex Oriente Lux In the South Will Ladislaw's Song Erinna I Grant you Ample Leave Mordecai's Hebrew Verses Making Life Worth While Essays: Impressions of Theophrastus Such Three Months in Weimar Carlyle's Life of Sterling Woman in France: Madame de Sablé Evangelical Teaching: Dr. Cumming German Wit: Henry Heine The Natural History of German Life Silly Novels by Lady Novelists Worldliness and Other-Worldliness: The Poet Young The Influence of Rationalism The Grammar of Ornament Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt George Forster Margaret Fuller How to Avoid Disappointment The Wisdom of the Child A Little Fable with a Great Moral Hints on Snubbing From the Note-Book of an Eccentric Leaves from a Note-Book Translations: The Essence of Christianity by Ludwig Feuerbach George Eliot's Life, as Related in Her Letters and Journals – Biography




The Inner Life


Book Description

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves—and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives—and destroyed them. Now, Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are. Penguin's Great Ideas series features twelve groundbreaking works by some of history's most prodigious thinkers, and each volume is beautifully packaged with a unique type-drive design that highlights the bookmaker's art. Offering great literature in great packages at great prices, this series is ideal for those readers who want to explore and savor the Great Ideas that have shaped the world. The Inner Life is taken from Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ, a classic Christian devotional that has taught and inspired generations.




The Imitation of Christ


Book Description

The Imitation of Christ is the work of at least three men: Gerard Groote, Florent Radewijns, and Thomas a Kempis. The first two were founders of the Brethren of the Common Life, a lay religious society that flourished in the Netherlands from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. Working on their manuscripts, first as a compiler and editor and then as a coauthor, was Kempis. So successful were Kempis's efforts that the work became the golden treasury not only of their community but also of the contemporary spirituality movement known as the Modern Devotion. Its prescriptions might very well be known as the Perennial Devotion for its continual appeal through the centuries. In its fifteenth century Latin original the Imitation was not a silken cord of consecutive prose. Rather it was a series of scratchings, the sort that a spiritual director would note down in preparation for sermons and addresses. What wasn't always in the original was exactly how Kempis developed each topic sentence or wisdom quotation as he delivered it. In this new rendition William Griffin recovers the original experience of listening to Kempis as he taught and preached to his spiritual charges. Using a variety of literary and historical means, Griffin enhances the original, making the insights of this seminal exposition of Christian life more accessible.




A Call to Serve


Book Description

"Two veteran Catholic journalists, one based at the Vatican and the other in the U.S., collaborate to explore the unprecedented papal election of Pope Francis ... [drawn] from conversations, interviews, inside information and the Pope's own writings and talks"--Page 4 of cover.




Life with God


Book Description

Too often, our study of the Bible focuses on searching for specific information or some formula that will solve our pressing needs of the moment. But what if we approached the Bible differently, and instead of transforming the text to meet our needs, allowed it to transform us? That's exactly the idea behind Life with God, Richard J. Foster's much-anticipated book on the Bible. Foster, bestselling author of Celebration of Discipline and general editor of The RenovarÉ Spiritual Formation Bible, claims that God has superintended the writing of Scripture so that it serves as the most reliable guide for Christian spiritual formation. According to Foster, the Bible is all about human life "with God." As we read Scripture, we should consider how exactly God is with us in each story and allow ourselves to be spiritually transformed. By opening our whole selves—mind, body, spirit, thoughts, behavior, and will—to the page before us, we begin to grasp all the Bible has to teach about prayer, obedience, compassion, virtue, and grace and apply it to our everyday lives to achieve a deeper relationship with God. With a wealth of examples and simple yet crucial insights, Life with God is an indispensable guide to approaching the Bible through the lens of Christian spiritual formation, revealing that reading the Bible for interior transformation is a far different endeavor than reading the Bible for historical knowledge, literary appreciation, or religious instruction.




Quid est sacramentum?


Book Description

‘Quid est sacramentum?’ Visual Representation of Sacred Mysteries in Early Modern Europe, 1400–1700 investigates how sacred mysteries (in Latin, sacramenta or mysteria) were visualized in a wide range of media, including illustrated religious literature such as catechisms, prayerbooks, meditative treatises, and emblem books, produced in Italy, France, and the Low Countries between ca. 1500 and 1700. The contributors ask why the mysteries of faith and, in particular, sacramental mysteries were construed as amenable to processes of representation and figuration, and why the resultant images were thought capable of engaging mortal eyes, minds, and hearts. Mysteries by their very nature appeal to the spirit, rather than to sense or reason, since they operate beyond the limitations of the human faculties; and yet, the visual and literary arts served as vehicles for the dissemination of these mysteries and for prompting reflection upon them. Contributors: David Areford, AnnMarie Micikas Bridges, Mette Birkedal Bruun, James Clifton, Anna Dlabačková, Wim François, Robert Kendrick, Aiden Kumler, Noria Litaker, Walter S. Melion, Lars Cyril Nørgaard, Elizabeth Pastan, Donna Sadler, Alexa Sand, Tanya Tiffany, Lee Palmer Wandel, Geert Warner, Bronwen Wilson, and Elliott Wise.




The Tablet


Book Description