Organizations Books

It was as a Passover meal was concluding that Jesus took bread and grape juice from the table and began what has become what some call a religious ceremony. Mike Root points out that each time the meal of remembrance is spoken of in apostolic teaching and practice, it was done as part of a meal. Since every Christian is a priest, the author points out that "the Lord's Supper" needs no priestly intercession in order to be pleasing to the Master. Excellent thinking and writing is "Spilt Grape Juice." Many will be surprised by what is obviously taught in the Bible about our walk with the Lord Jesus. This book "tells it like it is."

While the Bible encourages the saints to follow the traditions handed down to them (II Thess. 2:15) these traditions did not include the ones that we have formulated in our hearts and minds. Anytime you read something that challenges the "pattern" or "tradition" that men have set in place you will be ridiculed and have feelings of guilt, but you will begin to realize how far removed we are from the original New Testament church and their work and worship as it was prescribed by God. This is a must read for any serious student. Sometimes we need a little "Spilt Grape Juice".

Mike's thought-provoking insights are a breath of fresh air to a somewhat stagnated brotherhood.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was packed full of very precise, useful information and the included CD-ROM was a terrific bonus! I especially enjoyed the straight forward approach that the book presents. Sponsorship has evolved and our company's views about sponsorship need to as well. This book provided us with the information and tools that we need to move our corporate sponsorship program into the twenty first century.

This book was indispensable! It helped me understand how wise corporate sponsors determine who gets accepted for a sponsorship! If you are having difficulty obtaining a corporate sponsor, I would highly recommend reading this book. Understanding how businesses make their sponsorship decisions gives you an edge over your competition. I am now better prepared to pitch my presentation and have high hopes of landing a great sponsor! The cards are now stacked in my favor.

This book is outstanding. It has totally revolutionised the way we approach our investment in sponsorship. I had never realised we were so backward until I read this book and it made so much sense. We are now in the process of renegotiating many of our sponsorships to get better results for the brand, not just put our logo in front of people.

The tools and checklists that are included in the book and on the CD-ROM have made changing our approach much easier. They work on all sizes and types of sponsorship. We have even customised some of them for our regional marketing people so that they can do a better job on the smaller sponsorships that they invest in.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in sponsorship.

Very very good condition, no complaints.
Acctually, I tell all my friends what great deals I get from Amozon! I may just be one of your top advocates.

Commenting on the communion of saints in heaven and how their various differences of temperament and intellect must ultimately complement one another in some as yet utterly unimaginable variegated whole, St. Therese of Lisieux once said: "Delightful and surprising will be the friendships found there - I am sure of it ... [A] simple little child may be the intimate friend of a patriarch." Dwight Longenecker in his new book, St. Benedict and St. Therese: The Little Rule and the Little Way, sees in this almost casual remark the kernel of a much larger reflection: how the nineteenth-century French Carmelite saint - not much more than a little child herself at the time of her death - might indeed easily be imagined hand-in-hand with the Father of western monasticism, the sixth-century St. Benedict of Nursia; for, despite the apparent incongruence of this unexpected pairing, their "Way" and "Rule" are in essence one. The "little way" of St. Therese of the Child Jesus is really nothing less than an utterly radical faith and dependence on Jesus Christ. "Sanctity," she says in her final days, "does not consist in performing such and such acts; it means being ready at heart to become small and humble in the arms of God, acknowledging our weakness and trusting in his fatherly goodness to the point of audacity." (p. 215) Such conviction, expressed while nearly at the point of death, finds its spiritual complement in St. Benedict's "little Rule for beginners": "Let us then never withdraw from discipleship to him, but persevering in his teachings in the monastery till death, let us share the suffering of Christ through patience, and so deserve also to share in his kingdom." (p. 38)

Longenecker has provided us with the good fruit of his experiment of exploring and interrelating the timeless wisdom of these two immensely influential saints. A Benedictine Oblate himself, he has already shown himself to be an enlightening guide through Benedict's monastic Rule, as applied to family life, in his Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers. Some of his insights are carried over into this new book, but enriched and expanded as they interact with the Carmelite saint's doctrine. (Here, I note in passing, Longenecker summons to mind others of the school of Benedict who have proven themselves able commentators on the writings of great Carmelites: e.g., one thinks of Blessed Columba Marmion's indebtedness to St. Teresa of Avila, and Dom John Chapman's masterful grasp of the concepts of St. John of the Cross.)

Longenecker movingly tells of his own "encounter" with St. Therese while visiting Lisieux; and how later he found that, beneath the conventionally sugary language of her writings, so typical of her place and time and youth, the deceptively sweet "Little Flower" was in actuality a "steel magnolia". Perhaps most worthy of note, as Longenecker stresses, it is really her ordinariness that provided the rich soil for her remarkable holiness, and thus her holiness can be a model for us all. In this she reminds us of the holiness-in-ordinariness implicit to Benedict's Rule. Longenecker writes: "The Benedictine way is a `little way' because, like Therese of Lisieux's little way, it relies on surrender, not superiority; grace, not greatness." (p. 41) Noting how much of the Rule is given to liturgical, disciplinary, and household concerns, he says:

By focusing on the mundane matters of everyday life Benedict points to a deeper truth: that these
details are the stuff of reality, and that by paying attention to the details of ordinary life we will
find our way to heaven. Someone has said the devil is in the details; Benedict thinks the divine is
in the details. (p. 45)

Likewise, St. Therese insists that it is the day to day details in which real, practical sanctity is cultivated. She recognizes this fact as the hidden basis of even the holiest of all earthly homes: "What does me a lot of good when I think of the Holy Family is to imagine a life that was very ordinary ... their life was the same as ours." (p. 214)

Longenecker has also interwoven into the fabric of his own reflections valuable "Thoughts and Prayers" which launch every chapter, as well as the insights of such writers as Chesterton, Balthasar, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and others throughout the text. His own thoughts on humility and spiritual childhood are particularly well worth our prayerful pondering, and, though these might conceivably have been presented by a lesser devotional writer in cloying or sentimental fashion, Longenecker keeps before us the nitty-gritty realities and often painful sacrifices such crucial elements of genuine discipleship demand. We are, throughout this valuable little book, never far from the truth that "the Gospel command to become as little children is a call to return to a state of innocence through the excruciating path of experience." (p. 62)

For those searching for solid Catholic spiritual fare, or for an introduction to either of these saints (or, of course, to both), this book is unreservedly recommended.

St Benedict & St Therese can be read for several reasons and will appeal to a variety of readers. First, it offers an insightful analysis and comparison of the spirituality of Benedict "The Little Rule" and Therese "The Little Way." On another level, it is offers a practical application of their principles for our own spiritual direction. And to add pleasure to delight, it presents both of these in a VERY well-written, sometimes Chestertonian style. Longenecker often surprises you by reaching past the usual spiritual platitudes for the deeper truths. His manner is sometimes humorous, but never trite. His style is often breezy, but never without weight. Here are two examples:

ON MIRACLES: "The main problem for sophisticated people is not that miracles are incredible, but that they are an error in taste. . . . Benedict and Therese call us to follow a little way, and it may be that for humility to begin growing, our grown-up taste must be the first to go. Miracles, relics, sentimentality, pilgrimages, and wonderful answers to prayer lie at the heart of ordinary religion, and since Benedict and Therese are apostles of the ordinary it is fitting that their religion sits happily among the sentimental, the miraculous, and the tasteless." (p.47-48)

ON OBEDIENCE: "Obedience promises freedom, but there is a huge risk because obedience also threatens the most odious form of slavery. Religious people have an unfortunate taste for Pharisaism, and the call to obedience attracts two kinds of Pharisees - those who love to dominate and those who love to be dominated." (p.86)

Anyone who bemoans the meager fare of 90% of what is currently published to inspire and educate the aspiring Christian, should buy this book to ensure that the more worthy 10% will not disappear forever. If you or a friend has a liking for St. Therese or St. Benedict, you don't have to worry that you are buying a repeat of a half dozen other books you've already read. This book contains a fresh and useful approach. I hope to see many titles from this author in the future.

I really found this book both inspiring and realistic. Sen acknowledges the challenges (especially in today's political climate) but lays out what it takes to get the job done. Her practical, real-world guidance walks you through organizing your local community to help achieve change and get results on the issues you care about.

Passion & pragmatism don't always come together in community organzing -- kudos to Ms. Sen for showing us how to balance the two! I'm so glad that someone has finally written a comprehensive book on the strategy & practice of organizing...considering where our nation is headed, this comes not a moment too soon.

Given the critical importance of social change today, it is stunning that most of the recent books on community organizing focus on personal reflections and sociological analyses instead of giving us the whole package. In "Stir It Up," Rinku Sen manages to squeeze a powerful vision, racial and social justice analysis, profiles of organizing groups, a detailed contact list of organizations and networks, and tools for creating real change into two hundred pages. This is a watershed book for the social justice organizing movement, illuminating the principles and practices that ground multi-racial, social justice, racial justice, and direct action organizations that have developed in the past twenty-five years.

If you are serious about systemic change that addresses the root causes of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia, then this book offers you a framework and process for creating real change. Sections of the book go through the identification and selection of issues using a social justic lens, working with emerging constituencies, running campaigns and taking action, research, and, most critically, framing our struggles and organizations to address systemic oppression. Readers will get a clear sense of the unrelenting human movement toward freedom through profiles of extraordinary groups that continue to win both concrete change and a reordering of power in our society. Kudos to Rinku Sen for taking the time to describe the growth, development, and work of the racial and social justice movement to the world!

If you've ever lived or visited Minneapolis, you might have never been to a food cooperative (or even know they exist all around the city). Or maybe, you consider them a staple of your household and your neighborhood. Storefront Revolution is an excellent story of how the co-op movement gained momentum during the 1960s, but the story of food co-ops is almost a sidenote.
What I found extremely interesting is its view of Minneapolis and the rich (and tumultuous) countercultures that existed there. If you're a resident in the Twin Cities, you'll probably run into names every few pages that you'll recognize; former city councilmen and civic leaders. Like the rest of the country, the 1970s led to a huge dissolution of idealism in the Twin Cities. When some of the city's oldest co-ops started up, many of them were very unorganized and practically lived on hope alone. As they grew in distribution and reciepts, so did the trouble. 1975 was the year of the "Co-op Wars," a struggle between those who wanted to provide cheap food to impoverished and working class neighbors, and those who wanted to provide healthy organic food.
It may sound like a ridiculous cause to go to battle for, but Cox certainly lays the idealogical and political framework in context for the city, the state and the country at that time. If you're a Minneapolitan or St. Pauler (or whatever they're called) and are interested in a road less traveled in local history, this book is well worth the money. Of course, if you're a true believer in the co-op communal ethic, you can get it at the library.

This book gives a history of the food co-ops in Minneapolis in the 1970's. I found this book very interesting, mainly because I am a resident of Mpls and learned the history of the co-ops I shop at today. I found the tales of the co-op wars, in which the anarchists and communists battled for control of the co-ops, to be most interesting. I learned what worked and what didn't work in such a large coaliton of people working for the same goal. For readers who don't live in the Twin Cities, it is still an interesting study of co-ops and the anti-capitalist movement.

This book gives a history of the food co-ops in Minneapolis in the 1970's. I found this book very interesting, mainly because I am a resident of Mpls and learned the history of the co-ops I shop at today. I found the tales of the co-op wars, in which the anarchists and communists battled for control of the co-ops, to be most interesting. I learned about what worked and what didn't work in such a large coaliton of people working towards the same goal. For readers who don't live in the Twin Cities, it is still an interesting study of co-ops and the anti-capitalist movement.

The Liturgy has endured for around 2000 years as the primary means of worship for most Christians. We even have an early Eucharist Liturgy in the Didache, the 2nd century early Church manual. Due to the importance of the liturgy, every scholar and church leader needs to engage its development. This book will help in this task (at least for the scholar or priest/pastor. It's a bit academic to keep the interest of the average person in the pew).

This collection is grouped into three main sections: Theology and Rite, Development of the Liturgy, and Pastoral Orientation. Within the Development of Liturgy section there are seven sub-sections: General Intro, Initiation, Eucharist, Ordination, the Divine Office, the Calendar, and the Setting of the Liturgy. There are 65 essays total including, `A Theology of Worship,' `(Initiation in the) the Modern Period,' `The Anglican Eucharist,' `The History of the Christian Year,' and the ever-elusive `Methodism (and the Eucharist).' The essays cover a wide range of topics, interpretations, and time periods. Both Catholic and Protestant thought are represented nicely, in order to provide a truly useful survey. Also included are numerous glossy black-and-white photos of churches, liturgical manuscripts, and old church manuals.

I highly recommend this book for the liturgical scholar, the early or later Church historian, priests, pastors, and the interested layperson. The scholars are all top-notch, and the book is illuminating and will answer most questions about the Liturgy. The only drawback is that this book is priced rather high, since it is considered a textbook.

The Study of Liturgy provides an easily readible and comprehensive history of the development of Liturgy. This study shows how such things as seasonal colors, vestments,Church calenders,and specific prayers came to be part of liturgical worship. What makes this book so useful is it's quality writing. Here, both students of Liturgy and interested laypersons can find facenating answers to their questions concerning liturgical function and ritual. How does the wearing of vestments impact worship? Why do the participants do what they do and when? What is Lent? What's up with all the bowing and hand gestures? Liturgical worship can be an awesome and majestic expierence. This wonderful book will demystify this type of worship for liturgical church goers and those of more reformed traditions alike.The authors have produced a quality work that can be read by non-technical persons and thoroughly enjoyed.

Study Liturgy?
The late Dean of St. Paul's, was dining at a high table in Oxford and was asked by his neighbor, a distinguished liturgist, whether he was interested in liturgy.'No,' said the Dean, Neither do I collect postage stamps'; quoted from : Couratin ,Introduction to Liturgy, the Pelican Guide to Modern Theology, Vol. 2. But, even though he criticized Dr. Inge's estimate of liturgical study - a trivial branch of archaeology - his study was part of volume 2 : Historical Theology.

What is liturgy?
Liturgy is neither 'historical' nor a collection of prescribed forms for public worship as per webster's student dictionary. Liturgy is the work of the laity and ministry for their life in the spirit, a real participation in the mystical body of Christ. This is what the outstanding editors of this masterly book reflect in this revision: the last two decades of intense liturgical productivity, ecumenical openness among not only scholars but also ecclesiastical corpus.

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi
When you browse through this book you will find out about Will Durant's "Mansions" of liturgy, after you read some chapters you will realize the "pleasures of Liturgy". Ecumenical character of this monumental work is maintained by a panel of 25 contributors who seem to believe in what they write, practicing scholars.

The Editors and contributers:
G. Wainwright (Doxology) was my guarantee to the first edition , P. Bradshaw (Daily prayer in the early Church) enhanced my decision to buy an additional revised edition.
Just read the last chapter "Pastoral orientation" to find out how D.Tripp ingeniously sammerizes the real impact of liturgy on the people of the Lord. You may as well start with E.Yarnold's:
"The liturgy of the Faithful",I challenge you to stop reading!
I would love to find K. Ware and G. Bebawi , both of Oxford U. within the future contributers of the next edition, since liturgy is only whole with eastern orthodox authenticity.

At last,the Book: The Study of Liturgy:
I learned from this book more than what I learned in fourty years about the liturgy of the One Holy Universal Apostolic Church. Brought up in the ancient Church of Alexandria as didaskalos (teaching deacon, a tradition of the Alexandrine Megalopolis that started with Origen), I hope you appreciate what liturgy and its study can do for your enlightment, spiritual revival may also be a fruit, but for sure ecumenical fellowship in the Corpus Christi, the ever living.
Look at the table of contents and make your decision, because when you read this book, it will invite you to a new life, an ancient tradition of the real Church that will never be old.
If you have only one book on liturgy it should be this work, but it will be the first love, others will follow , some of those mentioned in the preface.

The wisdom of the heart must be aligned with the presence of the force of life. Rumi said "In between all right doings and all wrong doings there is a field. I will meet you thEre." This must be revered. Bow now your head to the east. As Ellen said in one of her funny episodes of "Ellen": I must bow toward Mecca Now". A joke, but it's true. We must bow toward the force..Good day.

This book presents personal stories of outstanding, contemporary Sufi women, describing how they came to the "straight path" of Sufism and how this path has transformed their lives. Here are some examples of strong, intelligent women, many of whom are Islamic Sufis, who challenge the image of Muslim women often presented in the media. Compelling stories.

It is about time that a women's movement show the immense contribution women have made to spirituality, and Sufism in particular. These stories of modern Sufi women are truly inspirational for the feminine in all of us. Women often feel religion is a masculine field. Yet, this book, published by the renowned Sufi Women Organization, shares the struggles and triumphs of contemporary Sufi women ... who are shining examples of the strength of women's spirituality. The only book of its kind that I have come across.

Many people do not relize the necessity of support for pastors and ministers. As a pastor's daughter I daily see the stress, pressure and frustration weighing on my father. This book has excellent suggestions for ways to bless those who bless others. There is no way any pastor or religious worker can perform their duty to the community and God without the support of EVERYONE in their congregation. Please read and use!

(Initial review Aug. 25, 1999)
I'm now reading it thru for the 2nd time, the first being two years ago. I have put some of the suggestions into action and have had great success with them. If you have a good pastor (I have the best one in the world) and you want to encourage/assist/take care of him, you simply must read this book. It has so many practical ideas in it, and they are pretty easy to put into action. Now, two years later, knowing my pastor better, some of the ideas are more timely, so the book is fresh even the second time around. But make no mistake, there are many things you can do right away!

I have alot of "how to" books, and this one goes on the top shelf. Recently, my pastor told me "Jamey, you are a pastor's dream". This book will help YOU get the same compliment.

I wish everybody in our congregation would read this book - You know what? I think I will buy it for them!!

2005 - Recently we used this book as a guide to determining benefits, vacation, time off, sick time and things like that for our Pastor.

Practical...doable...easy to use and follow...a must for all people interested in seeing their pastors thrive and grow in their ministries. Especially useful for church boards. Can also be useful for those searching for new pastors.

This book is amazing from the point of view of a H.R Professional.As the head of HR for a Global Multi National Corp I have been looking at a concise book which will help me to sell the idea of a Learning Organization to the top management.

I'am planning to distribute a copy of this book to each of the Executive Committe Members in my Company.

The 10 steps outlined in the book are Simple and Clear which will motivate any Top Mgmt to go towards creating a Valuable Organization.

A must read for every H.R Professional.

I've had to read many learning organizational books for my graduate studies -- this was one of my favorites out of maybe 10 I've read. One, it's fun to read! The examples are erudite, taken from other disciplines like science and math, not just business. The 10 steps are easy to follow, logical and well represented. The authors rely on concrete examples that everyone can relate to. If I had to train a group of people or point an organization towards achieving its goals as a learning organization, I would rely on this book as my bible. Great writing style, great examples -- overall one of the most enjoyable I've read!

While there are many books about brain-compatible learning, systems thinking, communication, organizational and culture change, multiple intelligences..., this book has integrated them all into a very practical, wise and interesting manual for organizational growth. Ideally, people in any organization should start with the assessment tool and go sequentially through all the ten steps: 2. promote positive, 3. safe thinking, 4. risk taking, 5. people as resources, 6. learning power, 7. map the vision, 8. model the vision, 9. systems thinking, 10. get show on the road. But there are so many useful guidelines, stories and exercises, you can dip into any page and be enriched and enlightened. Just take "16 principles that promote learning" (pp. 16-19) or the 36 assessment items (pp. 66-67), they are very specific goals for us to aim at. "Why most training doesn't work" (pp. 168-171) should be required reading for all trainers. In fact, the whole book should be required reading by all those in management or interested in fostering growth through participative learning. For follow-up, it helps to read Peter Kline's The Everyday Genius, that gives a more comprehensive background to the Integrative Learning that underlies the present book. People can also go on to Peter Senge and team's books--if they haven't done so. In another revised edition, it might help to include an index and also update the checklist on 7 multiple intelligences to include the natural and existential intelligences.

What a quirky excellent book! This is a true gem for anyone with even the smallest interest in church history and trivia. I often found myself chuckling to myself while reading this book, "So that's where that came from." A great and easy read.

I've always been a fan of T.J. McTavish (this is his first published book, but he's appeared in the scholarly journal "Quackenbush" from time to time over the years). He's really outdone himeslf here. Get this book. In fact buy 5 of them. One for yourself, and one to give to 4 friends (or enemies).

A student in my systematic theology class gave me this book a few days ago, and I have already finished it once, and can tell it will be a regular companion. It is not a systematic theology text by any means -- what it is instead is a collection of trivia about Christianity, Christendom, the Bible and beliefs.

There is no general organising principles behind the book other than if it is Christian, or even vaguely related to the subject, it might warrant a place here. For example, on page six there is a short section on Muslim beliefs about Jesus (including the idea that the prophet Muhammad believed the Christian Trinity to be referring to Jesus, Mary and God the Father; Muhammad was right in saying that this is not the Trinity and that Jesus never claimed it; however, that is not what the Christian concept of the Trinity is).

There are various charts and lists. One example is the list of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence and their denominational affiliations; 13 of the signers are listed as of unknown affiliation, only one is listed as Roman Catholic, and none from outside Christianity.

This is a book that leaves none out -- not even the Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox have exclusive claim in these pages, as McTavish lists half a dozen autocephalous (meaning, self-contained and self-regulating) groups beyond the big three. These include the Nestorians (at one time early in Christian history perhaps the dominant Christian body), the Abyssians, the Armenians (the first nation to formally adopt Christianity, in 301), the Coptics and the Jacobite/Oriental Orthodoxers.

If you want to know who was good-looking in the Bible, you'll find the list here (various people are described as good-looking in different terms). If you'd like to know the names of the 16 men who might have had claim to being one of the 12 apostles (and we're not including Paul here), the list is in these pages. Most of us know people who are named for biblical characters (or at least whose names derive predominantly from biblical inspiration), but what are the least popular names? How many women have you known who were named Lo-Ruhamah, or how many men named Romamti-ezer?

This is a little gem, full of fun facts and trivia in short, easily read and digested bits. Where something has a biblical reference, McTavish provides it. There is a subject index that concludes the text; unfortunately, there are no other reference materials such as notes or a bibliography (which would be helpful for authority and verification of some of the information).

I am very grateful for this gift, and shall remember this as a potential gift for other friends, religious or not, who might be interested in knowing the odd bit of trivia here and there about Christianity (and, truly, some of it is very odd, such as the list of those excommunicated, which includes back in 1054 both the Pope and patriarch of Constantinople; hmmm, does that mean the whole church is gone now?).

Take and read!