The Blossoming of Christianity


Book Description

I AM WRITING THIS BOOK BECAUSE GOD HAS ASSIGNED ME TO BRING A GOOD-NEWS MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. THE GOOD NEWS THAT GOD HAS SENT ME TO GIVE TO THE PEOPLE ARE IN REGARD TO HIS PERSON AND HIS GLORIOUS WORKS, IN REGARD TO HIS SON WHO HAS THE ACTUAL POWER TO CLEANSE ALL PEOPLE OF SIN, AND IN REGARD TO HIS KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND HOW THAT KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS TO BE MANIFESTED ONTO THE PLANET EARTH. HOWEVER, JUST AS IT HAS BEEN FOR ALL THE OTHER PROPHETS AND MEN OF GOD THAT GOD HAS SENT INTO TO THIS WORLD TO BRING A GOOD-NEWS MESSAGE, INCLUDING JESUS, I AM BEING PERSECUTED. I AM TORMENTED BY UNGODLY NIGHTMARES AND I AM BEING BELEAGUERED BY UNGODLY PEOPLE. IF I CANNOT GET THE HELP I NEED FROM YOU, THE TRUE PEOPLE OF GOD, AND FROM THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD, INCLUDING THE GOVERNMEN OF THE UNITED STATES, TO STOP THESE VICIOUS ATTACK ON ME, I PROBABLY WILL NOT BE AROUND TO SEE THIS BOOK ON THE MARKET. I AM NOT A WELL-EDUCATED MAN, JUST A HUMBLE SON OF A COTTON SHARECROPPER THAT GOD HAS CHOSEN TO BRING GOOD NEWS TO HIS PEOPLE. SO, IF IN READING THIS BOOK YOU FIND SOME TECHNICAL OR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR MY SHORTCOMING IN THOSE AREAS. MY HEALTH IS FAILING RAPIDLY AND I JUST DO NOT HAVE THE TIME OR ENEGY TO MAKE THIS BOOK PERFECT IN ALL RESPECT. IT IS MY CONVICTION THAT WHEN YOU, THE TRUE PEOPLE OF GOD, HAVE READ THIS BOOK, YOU WILL SURELY RECOGNIZE THIS GOOD NEWS AS AN AUTHANTIC MESSAGE FROM OUR FATHER. BUT, A RECOGNITION OF THIS FACT IS NOT ENOUGH, WE MUST THEN JOIN FORCES WITH GOD AND TAKE THE NECESSARY STEPS, AS THEY ARE LAID DOWN IN THIS BOOK, TO RID THE WORLD OF ALL EVIL AND ALL EVIL PEOPLE.... HAVE NO FEAR, FOR GOD WILL BE WITH YOU. get your unofficial number to signify that you want your place in THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN go to: www.thegreatcensus.yolasite.com




Christian Reading


Book Description

Uncovered in 1941 near Cairo, the Tura papyri brought to light numerous works attributed to Didymus the Blind, including commentaries and grammatical lessons on the Psalms and Ecclesiastes. Previously thought to reflect exercises in exegesis or instruction in virtue, the lessons include 300 authentic student questions, demonstrating that grammar in late antiquity was based not on Homer or Menander, but on the Old Testament. Blossom Stefaniew argues that these lessons constitute an unusual instance of non-confessional reading and study of the Bible, directed at conveying general knowledge of the linguistic, moral, physical and social orders to young people. Grammar was about knowledge of the general order of things, not only how to read and speak well, but how to behave properly and know what is appropriate. Didymus’s work epitomizes this transformation of education and civic culture, raising a claim that language, comportment, and common sense were governed by a Christian order. By reanalyzing the paradigms of religion and pedagogy, Christian Reading intervenes in existing scholarship by focusing on the history of Christianity as part of the history of reading, study, and scholarship.




Christianity and the Transformation of the Book


Book Description

When early Christians began to study the Bible, and to write their own history and that of the Jews whom they claimed to supersede, they used scholarly methods invented by the librarians and literary critics of Hellenistic Alexandria. But Origen and Eusebius, two scholars of late Roman Caesarea, did far more. Both produced new kinds of books, in which parallel columns made possible critical comparisons previously unenvisioned, whether between biblical texts or between national histories. Eusebius went even farther, creating new research tools, new forms of history and polemic, and a new kind of library to support both research and book production. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book combines broad-gauged synthesis and close textual analysis to reconstruct the kinds of books and the ways of organizing scholarly inquiry and collaboration among the Christians of Caesarea, on the coast of Roman Palestine. The book explores the dialectical relationship between intellectual history and the history of the book, even as it expands our understanding of early Christian scholarship. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book attends to the social, religious, intellectual, and institutional contexts within which Origen and Eusebius worked, as well as the details of their scholarly practices--practices that, the authors argue, continued to define major sectors of Christian learning for almost two millennia and are, in many ways, still with us today.,




Blossoming Hope


Book Description

Black Christian women are sisters: We are connected through our identity in Christ and a common history forged by the African Diaspora. These cultural and spiritual legacies not only strengthen us, but also present us with unique challenges to our health and wholeness. As daughters of the Diaspora, we encounter negative stereotypes and denigrating images imposed upon us by others. As Christians, we can be tempted to overspiritualize our lives to the detriment of our wholeness. These realities can leave us merely surviving our fragmented lives, when in reality, we want to blossom! Well, Blossoming Hope: The Black Christian Woman's Guide to Mental Health and Wellness was written to help do just that. As a licensed psychologist, minister, and seminary administrator, Dr. Tonya Armstrong attends in Blossoming Hope to the need to transcend everyday stressors, difficulties of the past, and even mental health challenges to reach the highest purpose for which God created us. By taking seriously the cultural and spiritual identities of Black Christian women, Dr. Armstrong addresses the unique challenges of Black women and provides practical resources that promote wholeness. Using the transformative tools of psychoeducation, vignettes of Black Christian women living with mental illness, inspirational music, spoken word exercises, and a wealth of spiritual, mental health, and wellness resources, Dr. Armstrong guides us toward optimal functioning in mind, spirit, body, and soul. In short, Blossoming Hope equips you for full blossoming, firmly planted in the God of our hope.




Christ the Golden-blossom


Book Description

Arranged round the Christian year, this is a book to enrich private devotion and public worship. Exquisite imagery and theological learning lightly-worn characterise these prayers and readings from the era of Augustine, Alcuin, Dunstan, Bede and Cuthbert.




Saving Truth


Book Description

How can Christians defend truth and clarity to a world that rejects both? Increasingly, Western culture embraces confusion as a virtue and decries certainty as a sin. Those who are confused about sexuality and identity are viewed as heroes. Those who are confused about morality are progressive pioneers. Those who are confused about spirituality are praised as tolerant. Conversely, those who express certainty about any of these issues are seen as bigoted, oppressive, arrogant, or intolerant. This cultural phenomenon led the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary to name "post-truth" their word of the year in 2016. It's popularity and relevance has only increased since then. By accurately describing the Culture of Confusion and how it has affected our society, author Abdu Murray seeks to awaken Westerners to the plight we find ourselves in. He also challenges Christians to consider how they have played a part in fostering the Culture of Confusion through bad arguments, unwise labeling, and emotional attacks. Ultimately, Saving Truth provides arguments from a Christian perspective for the foundations of truth and how those foundations impart clarity to the biggest topics of human existence: Freedom. Human dignity. Sexuality, Gender, and Identity. Science and Faith. Religious pluralism and Morality. For those enmeshed in the culture of confusion, Saving Truth offers a way to untangle oneself and find hope in the clarity that Christ offers.




Though the Fig Tree Does Not Blossom


Book Description

This book charts a course through the equally inadequate options of despair and optimism to a responsible understanding and practice of Christian hope.