Vocation and Desire


Book Description

First published in 1989. Generations of critics have seen George Eliot as a conservative Victorian high moralist and sybil. Vocation and Desire questions that image, and finds in her work elements of anger, feminism, subversiveness, revenge, iconoclasm, wit, and eroticism – elements that we have been taught not to expect. After looking at the development of the sybilline image and the gradual eclipse of the subversive George Eliot – which Eliot herself initiated – Dorothea Barrett goes on to investigate the evidence of the novels themselves and finds an alternative emphasis. Her study of the heroines of the six major novels and issues of language and desire provides a refreshing and acute analysis of the contradictions and strengths of Eliot’s work. She also considers the reception of George Eliot by feminist critics and the broader implications of her work for contemporary feminism. This title will be of interest to students of literature.




Living Your Heart's Desire


Book Description

If you've ever daydreamed about alternate paths or wondered how you can find peace in today's rat race, this book is for you. You can find your true calling where God's grace and the daily grind meet. Many of us follow a seemingly arbitrary and rushed path to a paycheck. Once you're out of school, whether it's high school or college, you're expected to go to work. You work hard to pay your dues. Then, one day, you feel stuck. You feel restless and like a mercenary...the "it's just a job" mentality. Soon, these feelings of alienation and cynicism spill over into the rest of your life. Clapper goes beyond the usual career counseling formula in Living Your Heart's Desire. He explains why it's more helpful to understand the theology behind work, calling, and human freedom. You'll discover a variety of visions of what it means for you to lead a life of Christian faithfulness in all realms of existence. You'll be equipped to understand yourself as a Christian in the workforce as well as understand how to be content -- no matter what you do for a living -- among the discontented. "We must ask if the life we are living is a worthy expression of gratitude for what God has done for us," Clapper writes. "Our most important response is the shape of our entire life. It is, in short, our vocation." Easy to read and relevant to today's economy and world (with many references and lessons from movies), this book can help you lead a more fulfilled, rewarding, and joyful Christian life -- regardless of how you earn a paycheck. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make this perfect for small group discussions. Learn to see your "Office Space"-like world as a Spirit-filled and vital calling in Christ. As one reviewer has said, Living Your Heart's Desire will help you "understand the connection between faith of the head and faith of the heart, as well as the next step on your faith journey." Take comfort in knowing that God has a plan for your life. Revel in it.




Let Your Life Speak


Book Description

PLEASE NOTE: Some recent copies of Let Your Life Speak included printing errors. These issues have been corrected, but if you purchased a defective copy between September and December 2019, please send proof of purchase to [email protected] to receive a replacement copy. Dear Friends: I'm sorry that after 20 years of happy traveling, Let Your Life Speak hit a big pothole involving printing errors that resulted in an unreadable book. But I'm very grateful to my publisher for moving quickly to see that people who received a defective copy have a way to receive a good copy without going through the return process. We're all doing everything we can to make things right, and I'm grateful for your patience. Thank you, Parker J. Palmer With wisdom, compassion, and gentle humor, Parker J. Palmer invites us to listen to the inner teacher and follow its leadings toward a sense of meaning and purpose. Telling stories from his own life and the lives of others who have made a difference, he shares insights gained from darkness and depression as well as fulfillment and joy, illuminating a pathway toward vocation for all who seek the true calling of their lives.




Visions of Vocation


Book Description

Vocation is more than a job. It is our relationships and responsibilities woven into the work of God. In following our calling to seek the welfare of our world, we find that it flourishes and so do we. Garber offers here a book for parents, artists, students, public servants and businesspeople—for all who want to discover the virtue of vocation.




God, Sexuality, and the Self


Book Description

God, Sexuality and the Self is a new venture in systematic theology. Sarah Coakley invites the reader to re-conceive the relation of sexual desire and the desire for God and - through the lens of prayer practice - to chart the intrinsic connection of this relation to a theology of the Trinity. The goal is to integrate the demanding ascetical undertaking of prayer with the recovery of lost and neglected materials from the tradition and thus to reanimate doctrinal reflection both imaginatively and spiritually. What emerges is a vision of human longing for the triune God which is both edgy and compelling: Coakley's théologie totale questions standard shibboleths on 'sexuality' and 'gender' and thereby suggests a way beyond current destructive impasses in the churches. The book is clearly and accessibly written and will be of great interest to all scholars and students of theology.




God at Work


Book Description

When you understand it properly, the doctrine of vocation—"doing everything for God's glory"—is not a platitude or an outdated notion. This principle that we vaguely apply to our lives and our work is actually the key to Christian ethics, to influencing our culture for Christ, and to infusing our ordinary, everyday lives with the presence of God. For when we realize that the "mundane" activities that consume most of our time are "God's hiding places," our perspective changes. Culture expert Gene Veith unpacks the biblical, Reformation teaching about the doctrine of vocation, emphasizing not what we should specifically do with our time or what careers we are called to, but what God does in and through our callings—even within the home. In each task He has given us—in our workplaces and families, our churches and society—God Himself is at work. Veith guides you to discover God's purpose and calling in those seemingly ordinary areas by providing you with a spiritual framework for thinking about such issues and for acting upon them with a changed perspective.




Paths Of Love


Book Description

"At last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love!" Love is the heart of every vocation. This book about vocation to marriage, priesthood, or religious life, has several unique features. First, while being addressed to all Catholics, not only to theologians, it does not oversimplify vocation, or give a mere compilation of advice, but aims to present the rich depth and wealth of the Christian understanding of vocation in a simple and accessible manner. Secondly, this book goes right to two great saints at the heart of quite different traditions on vocation, namely St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Ignatius Loyola, and the basic difference between them, a difference which is often unappreciated, or is passed over superficially. The goal is not to decide in favor of one over the other, nor to examine in detail their historical or theological connection; this book rather aims to use these different points of view to convey all that belongs to a full Christian and human approach to vocation.




Called to Life


Book Description

How do I find fulfillment in life? How do I obtain happiness? Despite a multitude of self-help books in recent years, these eternal questions have become increasingly urgent in today’s directionless world. Author Jacques Philippe provides some answers. In his new book, Called to Life, he explains that a complete and fulfilled life is much more assured when we stop trying to chart our own course, when we realize that we are essentially creatures called by God. He goes on to describe where and how these calls take place: the events of life, the Word of God in Scripture, and interior motions of the Holy Spirit. Learning to recognize and follow these calls is what leads to a happy and full life. Called to Life includes a special section on how to read Sacred Scripture prayerfully (Lectio Divina), making this a timely source of inspiration and guidance following up on the recommendations of Pope Benedict XVI and the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Word of God.




And You Are Christ's


Book Description

Father Thomas Dubay, one of the foremost authorities on the religious life, discusses one of the most important but not fully appreciated or understood charisms of the consecrated life, the charism of virginity. Although the idea of virginity is unpopular and even despised in modern society, Dubay emphasizes that the importance of evangelical virginity is rooted in its Biblical foundation, both in the Old and New Testaments. Examining in detail what the call to virginity is and how it is integrated into the whole of consecrated life, Dubay presents his study in such a way as to be of importance to men as well. Noting that a woman, because of her feminine nature and traits, can image and live the Church's wedded relationship to Christ more realistically, Dubay points out that men with the celibate charism are also members of the virgin Church that is wedded to Christ, just as in the Old Testament the People of God was a virgin bride wedded to Yahweh. The common and distinct elements of male and female consecrated love are fully captured in these pages.




A Woman's Place


Book Description

In A Woman's Place, Katelyn Beaty, insists it's time to reconsider women's work. She challenges us to explore new ways to live out the scriptural call to rule over creation - in the office, the home, in ministry, and beyond.