Wrestling the Word


Book Description

This lively book for introductory Old Testament classes offers an appealing illustration of how faith and academic study can work together, motivating and equipping Christian believers to turn to the Old Testament as a profound resource for their daily negotiations of faith, identity, and culture. Throughout, Carolyn J. Sharp focuses on the basic fundamentals that are a necessary part of every student's education.




Wrestling with the Word


Book Description

On a Tuesday morning, Robert came into my office and said, "After hearing your sermon this week, I've decided to quit my job." Those words scared the bejeebers out of me. He had a wife and two kids, a mortgage, and other bills to pay! I could not think of what hair-brained thing I might have said that brought him to this conclusion. The sermon I had preached on Sunday was not about work, or jobs, or anything else that might lead anyone to decide that they needed to hand in their resignation. I asked him, "Why?" He told me. "You said in your sermon, 'If you had a million dollars, what would you do differently with your life?' Then you said, 'Why are you waiting for the money? If it is the right thing to do, then you go ahead and do it." As soon as you asked that question, the first thing that popped into my mind was, 'I would quit my job.' That made me realize how much I hated my job, and I decided right then and there that I was going to quit as soon as possible." I was relieved that he was not going to just up and quit that day. He had spent Monday developing a plan with his wife, which included finding another job before he quit his current one. However, he was determined to find a different job. I was so scared when Robert told me he was quitting his job; the idea that someone might take what I said so seriously they that would change their life, frightened me. What if I was wrong? What if they acted on what I said, and it turned out to be a terrible mistake? On the other hand, isn't the point of preaching to change lives? Read this book at your own risk; it may change your life!




Wrestling with the Word


Book Description

Many biblical texts seem almost impossible to preach. They may be violent or terrifying or strange or abrasive. They may deal with matters simply beyond human experience. The preacher could well be tempted to choose an easier text on offer! But leaving taxing passages untouched means the Bible is effectively silenced. In Wrestling with the Word, well-known and accomplished preachers grapple with a range of notoriously difficult biblical Old and New Testament texts. As well as providing sample sermons – in an exhilarating variety of structural styles and voices – they offer ideas to help in the planning process of interpreting and applying such passages. 'A well-constructed and delivered sermon has the potential to inspire people as few other experiences can.' The Rt Revd John Pritchard, from the Foreword




Wrestling with Words


Book Description

For too long, vocabulary instruction has suffered from inattention and quick fixes. Sometimes thought of as an instructional stepchild, many students are denied the power of a rich vocabulary. When teachers don't fully understand the various components of a robust program, instruction often boils down to copying definitions or memorizing static word meanings. Pouring over research and proven strategies from literacy experts, Aaron Daffern has identified five parts of a powerful vocabulary program: prepare, present, place, process, and play. By utilizing these five components, students will go beyond simple knowledge and will begin to wrestle with words as they integrate new vocabulary into their semantic knowledge systems. The first component, prepare, details how to select the highest impact words and avoid spending instructional time on words that are either obscure or common. Second, presenting new words is more than simply telling students what a word means. Teachers can utilize activating prior knowledge, bases/affixes, context clues, descriptive definitions, example/non-examples, friendly words/synonyms, and even grammar usage to define new terms. The third component, place, provides a variety of methods for students to take new words and tie them into what they already know. The fourth and largest component is process. Both basic and complex tasks should be employed to help students wrestle with new terms and analyze them in a variety of contexts. Finally, students can play with words to extend knowledge and explore shades of meaning. As a teacher, campus principal, and district instructional specialist and curriculum coordinator, Aaron Daffern has been educating students in Texas since 2000. He trains schools and districts around the country in student engagement and vocabulary instruction. Check him out online at AaronDaffern.com.




Beginning Wrestling


Book Description

It's like playing chess with your body--moves and countermoves that outwit and overpower your opponent. Once you learn the basic rules of school-style wrestling, and the strategies for winning matches, you're on your way to being a champion. And, whatever your age, size, or athletic ability, there is a place for you in the sport. It's a matter of getting yourself physically and mentally fit. Find out the right equipment to buy, especially shoes and headgear. Then, practice starting positions, following the instructions and photos of each stance. Add the essential offensive and defensive strategies, including inside step series, level changes, takedowns, and common countermoves. Learn to move and feint to create proper angles of attack, and control your opponent at will. A master plan shows how to set and reach weekly, monthly, and season-long goals. Sidebars feature famous people who got their start in wrestling.




Wrestling with God


Book Description

The bestselling author of The Holy Longing provides an inspiring message of hope and perseverance for all of us struggling with our faith in tumultuous times The last few decades have rapidly birthed a modern world that would have been unrecognizable fifty years ago. As long-held beliefs on love, faith, and God are challenged by the aggregate of changes that have overhauled our world, many of us are left feeling confused and uncertain while old norms are challenged and redefined at breakneck speed. In Wrestling with God, Ronald Rolheiser offers a steady and inspiring voice to help us avow and understand our faith in a world where nothing seems solid or permanent. Drawing from his own life experience, as well as a storehouse of literary, psychological, and theological insights, the beloved author of Sacred Fire examines the fears and doubts that challenge us. It is in these struggles to find meaning, that Rolheiser lays out a path for faith in a world struggling to find faith, but perhaps more important, he helps us find our own rhythm within which to walk that path.




Wrestling with Words and Meanings


Book Description

Honours the life and career of Professor Allan, commemorating at the same time the occasion of his 70th birthday. Brings together top-level researchers in linguistics who have all been inspired by Allan's work in some way. Offers glimpses into corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics and cultural linguistics as well as the more traditional descriptive, diachronic and typological perspectives.




Niño Wrestles the World


Book Description

Lucha Libre champion Niño has no trouble fending off monstrous opponents, but when his little sisters awaken from their naps, he is in for a no-holds-barred wrestling match that will truly test his skills.




No Is a Four-Letter Word


Book Description

Bestselling author and six-time WWE champion Chris Jericho shares twenty of his most valuable lessons for achieving your goals and living the life you want, jam-packed with fantastic stories and the classic off-the-wall, laugh-out-loud Jericho references he's famous for. The result is a fun, entertaining, practical and inspiring book from the man with many scarves but only one drive: to be the best. After reading No Is a Four-Letter Word, you'll discover that you might have what it takes to succeed as well ... you just need to get out there and do it. That's what Jericho would do.




Wrestling with God and Men


Book Description

For millennia, two biblical verses have been understood to condemn sex between men as an act so abhorrent that it is punishable by death. Traditionally Orthodox Jews, believing the scripture to be the word of God, have rejected homosexuality in accordance with this interpretation. In 1999, Rabbi Steven Greenberg challenged this tradition when he became the first Orthodox rabbi ever to openly declare his homosexuality. Wrestling with God and Men is the product of Rabbi Greenberg’s ten-year struggle to reconcile his two warring identities. In this compelling and groundbreaking work, Greenberg challenges long held assumptions of scriptural interpretation and religious identity as he marks a path that is both responsible to human realities and deeply committed to God and Torah. Employing traditional rabbinic resources, Greenberg presents readers with surprising biblical interpretations of the creation story, the love of David and Jonathan, the destruction of Sodom, and the condemning verses of Leviticus. But Greenberg goes beyond the question of whether homosexuality is biblically acceptable to ask how such relationships can be sacred. In so doing, he draws on a wide array of nonscriptural texts to introduce readers to occasions of same-sex love in Talmudic narratives, medieval Jewish poetry and prose, and traditional Jewish case law literature. Ultimately, Greenberg argues that Orthodox communities must open up debate, dialogue, and discussion—precisely the foundation upon which Jewish law rests—to truly deal with the issue of homosexual love. This book will appeal not only to members of the Orthodox faith but to all religious people struggling to resolve their belief in the scriptures with a desire to make their communities more open and accepting to gay and lesbian members. 2005 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards, for Religion/Spirituality