1 comments about Confessions of a Parish Priest: An Autobiography.

1. Having read primarily Andrew M. Greeley's novels since 1982, I discovered through his Web Page a host of non-fiction titles which I began checking some out from ABQ's Library Branch. I was intrigued by the title. Knowing his choice of titles is usually his way of "playing" with his readers, I wondered just how open his memoir would be. Also, having read almost every novel as well as his column over the years, I was curious about how much these novels reflected the author. I was amazed how Greeley trusts his readers, creating an intimacy which I would dearly appreciate from a parish priest. What a model of integrity for any priest! Greeley is a master story teller in his novels but he demonstrates a superior skill in creating a memoir that is honest, insightful and critical while maintaining a delicate balance between personal history and motives as well as creating a special bond with the individual bond. Reading this book, I felt as though Greeley was having an intimate chat with only me, in much the same relationship as Blackie Ryan and one of his Irish Tribe! I appreciate Greeley's ability to write with phenomenal intelligence yet never patronizing the reader. Reading his memoirs has brought me insights into my own life and history so that Greeley is not just a priest and author but also a teacher and counselor. I also think that he is too hard on himself. In any event, I have to OWN this book as I own all his novels. I just purchased Furthermore: memoirs of a parish priest and this one to have handy as my "reference for living!" I recommend Confessions of a Parish Priest for all readers of intelligence for so many reasons. Regardless of religion, any discerning reader would be entertained, educated and satisfied "chatting" with this very special author and parish priest. I even read this aloud to my civil engineer husband! He was amazed. I learned so much about myself in the process. I tell everyone about it and think there should be a re-printing of this book...it is timely even today. Do yourself a favor and read Confessions of a Parish Priest. I wish this was required reading for every priest and minister and rabbi. All married couples and soon-to-marry folks would be relieved to read this book. He validates the laity, honors marital love and celebrates young people. His only "flaw" is that he believes in the goodness of people, the wisdom of married couples and trust in our youth. Reading this book was for me better than a vacation; I will revisit it frequently to refresh my mind, to uplift my spirit and restore my soul!

2 comments about Not a Tame Lion: The Spiritual Legacy of C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia.

1. This is an outstanding book! It covers both the life of C.S. Lewis and the high points of most of the topics that he covered in depth in his own books. A really good read!



2. 
   Author Terry Glaspey has devoted his lifetime to English literature, and is a particularly accomplished scholar of the life and writings of C.S. Lewis. Here Glaspey focuses his well-polished prose on helping the reader better understand the relationship of Lewis's work to its historical context.
   
   Witty, insightful and definitely a page-turner, Glaspey has given us a singular gift --- save this volume for an evening's read by a warm fireplace, and be prepared. This book captivates the reader and inspires all of us toward a greater understanding of one of the 20th century's best writers of allegory, theology, and culture.
   
   Dr. David Frisbie
   The Center for Marriage & Family Studies
   Author of Happily Remarried: *Making Decisions Together *Blending Families Successfully* Building a Love That Will Last

2 comments about Richelieu.

1. If you like to be educated in a relaxed easy to read manner, this is the book.



2. In Hilaire Belloc's wonderful book on Cardinal Richelieu we are presented with more than a biography, but with a panorama of Christendom, or rather its destruction, accomplished by the man of the title. Belloc shows how the power of the French Crown was vastly extended but that its greatest casualty was the dominance of Catholicism within the what is now Germany and its undermining in France itself. Richelieu's devotion to his royal master, Louis XIII, was greater than his devotion to the Catholic faith though he was a bishop and Cardinal. Richelieu did not wish for the destruction of Catholic supremacy but it was brought about by his excessive devotion to the state. By breaking the temporal power of the Calvinst nobles by arms without any attempt to peacefully bring these people back to the Church he undermined the Faith in France. Richelieu preserved the rupture a common Faith and culture by breaking the power of the House of Hapsburg both in Germany and even northern Italy. Richelieu even paid the king of Sweden, Gustavus Aldophus to attack the Holy Roman Empire in which the Catholic forces were beaten by this military genius. The Swedish king's death in battle saved the Austrian house of Hapburg but deprived it of its acendency over what is now Germany. He did all these things to secure the dominance of the French State which by the end of Richelieu's life was to eclipse both Hapburg Austria and Spain. This is only the beginning of the story of this flawed but truly great man by a great historian.

5 comments about The Walk A Moment In Time When Two Lives Intersect.

1. Reading the truth of how God does work in each of our lives is there in that book...is like being six years old and playing dress up and standing in shoes 10x's your size! It's simply your future...but you're not there yet! You will have to grow into it. But they are the right shoes. This is the response of a friend I lent the book to. I agree wholeheartedly it just that she put it better than I ever could. Michael Card's work always leaves me with a closer taste of the Lord.



2. "I want to show you how a Christian man dies." This is what Dr. Bill Lane told Michael Card when Bill discovered he had a terminal illness. If you are led to believe this is a book about death, you are mistaken. It is a book about life, Bill Lane's life and Michael Card's life. If you were as fortunate as Michael was, and knew Bill, you will hear his voice and feel his presence on every page. If you enjoy Michael's music and wonder where his Christian maturity and spiritual insight comes from, in meeting Bill Lane you will have discovered the answer. If you have never heard of either of them, after reading the book you will discover what a "walk" with Jesus Christ can mean to you in life and in what the world calls "death".



3. I found this book in a discount store and could not pass it up because of my interest in discipleship. I could not put this little book down! I has several ah-ha moments as I read through Card's thoughts. Here are a few that have stuck with me: 1)God embodies truth in people. God sent truth into the world through Jesus, who is the truth. In the same way, a discipler is one who embodies aspects of truth. This thought is not emphasized in the book, but it has stuck with me and made me think of how to disciple someone. 2)Sonship is established in the wilderness. Through trial we find how much we need Jesus. We notice he is close to us. Card writes profoundly as one who has suffered and learned from it. He ties in discipleship by talking about his mentor's role during the tough times of his life.
   In the end, Card writes with a clear knowledge of Scripture. Several times while reading the book, I wanted to put it down and become more familiar with my Bible, not because I doubted the truth of his comments but because the Word is eternally interesting, satisfying, and freeing. Card's love for truth and the person of Christ is contagious. Don't miss out on this book!



4. Sharply designed new soft cover edition of this book takes Tuesdays WIth Morrie to a spiritual place. Best reason to buy this edition is the inclusion of a CD of Michael Card and his mentor Bill Lane taken from a Moody Radio broadcast before Dr. Bill Lane's death. The book creates a holy hunger in the reader for pursuing relationships such as Card and Lane have known. While you always have a sense of Michael Card's humanity in his books and Bible studies - this one pulls back the curtain on the heart of an author who learned to love well.



5. Michael Card wrote a good book about him and his friend Dr. Bill Lane which I think is good but the Lord took him and Michael Card's Nephew which is amazing quickly the Lord will come back and get us unto him the Bible tells us that he will com back for his people soon which he took Michael's Nephew so early and I ordered some of Michael Card's Music I can't wait to receive it an the mail hear it for the first time I hope he will write a another book soon I really like how he writes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No comments about Samuel Proctor: My Moral Odyssey.

No comments about Rebel Between Spirit And Law: Ahmad Zarruq, Sainthood, And Authority in Islam.

1 comments about A Kiss for Lucifer.

1. Before reading this book, I had no clue about what was exactly Lucifer, Satan, the Shadow. Or this whole Darkness side, or how to understand the role of the Shadow, the transmutation of ourselves and all these things that we use to forget, because it is a little disturbing for the peace of the mind.
   
   Thanks to this book, I could make peace with this Archangel- Lucifer! This so spiritual Being who made the sacrifice of Himself to enter so deep into the dark, bringing His Light, hurting Himself. Loosing His wings...
   I could make the difference between Lucifer and Satan. I could feel how the Shadow "works" within the religions, the governments, our simple lives. How it is important for us to merge our 2 sides, light & shadow, that is the real Gold, the real Alchemy. How to integrate them and accept this.
   I have made such a big step in my life since I read this book that I would advice it to anybody that wants to go further in the understanding of themselves.
   
   This book is also a golden mine of metaphysics knowledge, and such a wise in-depth cutting hedge information.
   Everybody should read it and feel the transformation that it brings through these remarkable pages.
   A "must read", definitely.

1 comments about Glory Descending: Michael Ramsey And His Writings.

1. A reader in the writings of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961 - 1974, is long overdue. Although this particular volume does not quite make up for the deficit, it does a fine job in providing readers a generation of Ramsey's death an introduction to one of the most holy men to have ever sat within the see of Canterbury. It is accompanied by several essays on Ramsey's theology as well as two homilies, the first by the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the second by Douglas Dales, the leading scholar of Ramsey's thought and author of a fantastic study of Ramsey's theology entitled Glory!. Bound quite sturdily in a hardcover book and beautifully printed, it is obvious that those who edited Glory Descending - Douglas Dales, John Habgood (former Archbishop of York), Geoffrey Rowell (Anglican Primate of Europe), and Rowan Williams (current Archbishop of Canterbury) - edited it not just with an eye to the mind, but to the heart as well. It is no exaggeration to write that this volume is lovingly edited.
   
   This book is not, however, a theological reader so much as a theological devotional. This may sound strange, for theology and devotion are often seen as being antithetical to each other - and in certain forms of Christianity they are - but in the life of Michael Ramsey, the heart and the head were always joined together, with neither division nor confusion. Thus, the writings collected and edited within this volume are, like many devotionals, given in rather short form; some selections are a few pages long, but most only a few paragraphs (and some not even that). It is a format that one might think would not work, but it actually works surprisingly well. In perusing the pages of Glory Descending one is therefore given to depth: of the heart and the mind. The book is actually arranged according to the Church year, so that various readings are set within the historic seven season framework, but whether or not one wishes to read it seasonally, it reads quite smoothly.
   
   Ramsey is perhaps best known for his book The Gospel and the Catholic Church, which was first printed in 1936. To this day it remains the greatest work on ecclesiology ever written by any Anglican theologian - and, for that matter, one of the finest works of ecclesiology ever written by any Catholic Christian period. Ramsey was, through and through, an Anglican: deeply rooted in the Bible, Church and Sacraments. His writings - on the Church, the sacraments, Christ, God, prayer, the transfiguration (all of which are sampled extensively in this book) - breathe the breath of the ages; it is obvious that Ramsey did not do theology as if he were shooting from the hip but yielded himself to a deep, deep study of the Tradition. The voice he speaks with is not simply his own, but joined to the chorus of the saints of all ages, East and West (and Ramsey was deeply indebted to Eastern Orthodoxy, being the first Archbishop of Canterbury to ever be invited to visit the Russian Orthodox church - during the reign of Stalin, no less! - as well as being quite active in the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius; Geoffrey Rowell has a wonderful essay within this volume on Ramsey's indebtedness to the Easter church, especially with regard to the transfiguration of Christ). This ability to join his voice - to yield his voice - to the great doctors, East and West, only shows his own humility and, at the same time, also let his own voice resound that much more clearly - but, such is the paradox of all saints!
   
   Glory truly descended upon St. Michael Ramsey of Canterbury; he is among the last of the great Anglican theologians and he is too often neglected today, for his writings reveal a deep spirituality, animated by Scripture and rooted in prayer, a compassionate and humble spirit that was equally at home with Biblical scholars and the great saints of ages past. This hardcover book is not just a book to be read, but a book to be meditated upon again and again. In every age there are a handful of genuinely holy people that really point the way to God; Michael Ramsey was one of them. This is a fine introduction and survey of one of Anglicanism's - and Christianity's - finest and no Anglican, especially, should be without a familiarity with his writings - which were, in many ways, doxologies at the same time. May his memory be eternal.

No comments about Jewish Mystical Autobiographies: Book of Visions and Book of Secrets (Classics of Western Spirituality).

No comments about The Fortunate Years: An Amish Life.