Organizations and Institutions Books

If you've ever wondered what C-town was like before you got there, this is the book for you.

This book has a huge collection of pictures that chronicle thehistory of Clemson University. It is a must have for any Clemsonfanatic or those who truly enjoy learning about the old days at Clemson.

Walking on a Rolling Deck: Life on the Ark

Berken's first book is amazing! I didn't want to put it down! It hits on everything: spirituality, disability, family, community, cancer, humor and simply living life. Life on the Ark is very real and very down to earth.

What makes this book so great is that anyone can read it, and find something to relate to. Anyone who knows someone who has dealt with cancer. Anyone who knows someone with a disability. Anyone who has dealt with divorce, and family, and starting over, and then incorporating the power of spirituality into all of those things.

This book is amazing, and no matter who you are, or where you are on your journey, you will learn something from this book... and no doubt you will laugh and cry.

Walking on a Rolling Deck: Life on the Ark is the true-life memoir of author Kathleen C. Berken, of her life-changing choice to work as a live-in assistant in a L'Arche community in Clinton, Iowa, aiding men with developmental disabilities. A deeply spiritual testimony, Walking on a Rolling Deck tells of the inevitable difficulties of adjusting to change, confronting the specter of breast cancer, but most of all, of the benevolent power of God's love - a power all too often ignored, neglected, or obscured in today's world. Ultimately a simple story of Christian life and the resonance of faith, illustrated with a handful of black-and-white photographs, Walking on a Rolling Deck is highly recommended for Christian readers and anyone seeking to quietly contemplate the mystery of God that permeates even the most mundane aspects of daily life.

The historical fallout of the actual Military/Chivalric Orders has been both good and bad. If taken out of the context of the current trend of political correctness, the influence of these organizations was objectively and long-term more good than bad.
For example, the first of all Orders, the Knights Hospitallers, of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (also known as the Knights of Malta, where they built and defended a fortress against one of the most famous seiges in history), essentially invented and administered the first organized hospital in history. They also conceived and implemented the first ambulance service and were the first to realize that patients with contagious disease should be quarantined. They considered their patients (the sick and the poor)their "liege lords," and it is hard not to admire the fact that they took an oath to serve them upon becoming knights of the Order.
The Knights of Malta, no longer of any militaristic attribute, save under obligation if called upon to defend the Church against enemies of religion (largely a ceremonial oath), continue this tradition of serving the sick and poor in the modern world, including AIDS wards and hospitals in the Americas. One wishes for a little more explication of the peaceful and charitable attributes of the chivalric orders in Walsh's book, but it is otherwise excellent. The typeface alone transports one into the Middle Ages! Highly recommended for any history buff.

Many are genuinely surprised when they learn that monks and monastic orders were not always dedicated to peaceful pursuits of prayer and public service. While the prevailing image of monks today is that of cloistered, contemplative people, with the occasional order who sends their members out into the world to work in non-profit, community service activities, this has not always been image. Indeed, for well over half the history of the Christian church, monks were far more than this. They were the professors who ran schools, keepers of the libraries, some of the greatest landlords (which made them feudal lords to serfs), governmental administrators for the territories around their monasteries, and, for a brief but significant time, they were soldiers, defending their powers and lands as fiercely as any other soldier.

There are many monastic orders whose names come down to us today - the Knights Templar, the Teutonic Knights, the Knights of Malta - whose purpose was more for war than for peace. In the name of the Church (and therefore, by extension, of God), they fought Crusades and other battles trying to secure the borders, or expand the borders, of Christendom, against the Muslims in the south and east, and Huns and barbarians to the north.

Michael Walsh argues that the Knights Templar may well have been the first Christian 'order'; while Benedictine orders, Franciscan orders, and other such still survive (including the Cistercian order, another claimant for honour as the first 'order'), the Templars and other military-oriented orders have ceased. Perhaps this is because military might is, in most of the modern world, now the exclusive province of the state, and private militaries even for institutions such as the Church are not only discouraged, but illegal. (The Vatican has very minor military orders, but then, Vatican City is its own nation-state.)

The bishops had need of 'police' forces that these orders served; the bishop of Rome, particularly when organised papal states were formed, needed a proper military establishment that nonetheless reflected the idealistic concerns of the church. Kings and princes would also rely on the church, the most powerful overall institution in the world, and the only one that was 'world-wide' (at least to the world that counted in their eyes), for military support; the popes relied on the final loyalty being to the papacy rather than any given crown through these orders to maintain influence and sway throughout the world. However, like many powerful, wealthy institutions, the various orders of Knights fell under suspicion, disarray, and ultimately, military defeat.

Walsh traces the history of decline and dissolution, and also talks about the mythology that has arisen around the most famous military order, the Templars. London's legal establishment still finds its heart in the same Temple the Templars built and used; the downfall of the Templars was dramatic, but its cause remains controversial. Some charges of magic, others of blasphemy and obscenity of various types, others of secret and dangerous knowledge possessed by the Templars, still float around to this day in scholarly and popular imaginations.

Walsh has presented in this text a wonderful narrative history of the military orders, primarily focusing upon the Middle Ages, around the Crusades, with preliminary history and aftermath surrounding that pivotal time. He has an appendix which lists the various military orders with brief descriptions for ready reference. There is a good bibliography and a useful index. However, what will stand out most to anyone who first picks up the volume is the beauty of the book itself, with full-colour pages throughout. Pictures of places, uniforms, buildings, artwork and maps are presented in glorious colour. Added to these are many line-art and grayscale drawings and impressions. The text is not densely packed, making reading very easy on the eye as well as interesting to the imagination.

This is a text that will definitely serve to make history interesting to those who might otherwise be bored with the subject, and make for wonderful reading experiences for those who have no such issues with history.

This is probably as close as any general reader, student or researcher will come to a reality that even now, 60 years later, remains at once mysterious and horrifying - a must read for anyone interested in this period of time.

A great addition to the literature out there on the holocaust. I cannot commend the author enough for his work and diligence in trying to present the Sonderkommando prisoners for who they really were; men thrown into a role they neither wanted or expected by the Germans who let them do all the 'dirty work' in their 'Final Solution' to the Jewish problem. Many historians, as is presented in the book, have misunderstood what these men did and why they did it. Their influence at times was to survive and tell what they had witnessed, but at other times they couldn't take it and took their own lives. One memorable story is when a son meets his mother, in the end instead of sending her to the gas chambers he goes with her. They did not choose to help the Germans in their mass murder campaign but were rather choosen by the Germans due to their health and availablility at the time. You could say they were 'at the right place at the right time' and even so these men were the ones who started an uprising and destroyed a crematorium. They lived through hell, they left their emotions with their past lives and accepted what they were handed out. They did as they were told and survived to tell their stories, regrets, and messages for present and future generations.

This is a wonderful resource; it contains very useful, easy to read information specifically for the role of Lay Reader, but it's also very applicable for Drama Ministry or any kind of public speaking.

This is an excellent resource for Lectors, Liturgical Co-ordinator/Directors. Offices of Worship etc. It was very helpful. The examples are wonderful it covers the basics of proclaiming then it has actual examples from the Lectionary.

Dr. Earles carefully presents Biblical justification why we as believers should be focused on the principles of Christ, and not on traditions of the various "denominations" of Christianity.

The answer to the title question (and much more) is found in this teaching. The message is short, yet powerful. A must-read piece for anyone, such as myself, who has moved from one church to another -- searching for the right "style" and "tradition" in worship.

Dr. Earles carefully presents Biblical justification why we as believers should be focused on the principles of Christ, and not on traditions of the various "denominations" of Christianity.

The answer to the title question (and much more) is found in this teaching. The message is short, yet powerful. A must-read piece for anyone, such as myself, who has moved from one church to another -- searching for the right "style" and "tradition" in worship.

I found the history and illustrations found in this book unforgettable. I think of it every time I drive past a church now because I now understand so much more about what is embedded in the history of different forms of chuch buildings. The aim of the book is to explore the history of American Protestant architecture, but the real meat of the book is a marvelous guide to American church history as a whole. I learned a lot.

A new book that uses Kilde's contribution for understanding a vibrant church is called Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity, and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church. This church meets in a converted movie theater in Hollywood. The book shows how having church in a theater shapes the religion of the church. I highly recommend it.

The exterior and interior designs of church structures testify not only to economic standing and technological advances; they also witness to broader cultural changes and to the religious and social motivations of the builders. The disclosure of these motivations-and the meanings and values associated with the buildings themselves-is the subject of Kilde's study of nineteenth-century evangelical architecture. Of particular interest to her are the changing politics of space: statements of power, authority, and relationship (between God, clergy, and laity-and with "the world") made in stone, wood, and glass; the correlation of "sacred" and "secular" designs; and the reciprocal influences between the style or function of worship and the disposition of the space. Although Kilde's study progresses from the Federalist style at the beginning of the nineteenth century, to the Gothic revival at roughly mid century, and to the neomedieval auditorium at century's end, throughout she keeps an eye on the theater-style church and the (internal and external) dynamics that brought its increasing popularity. Particularly interesting was her treatment of buildings associated with revivalist Charles Grandison Finney as a case study on the emergence of the theater design from experiments in the early decades of the century. Helpful as well was her discussion of the ongoing evolution of the theater style as it adjusted to meet the needs of revivalism and of the family-oriented congregation.

Because of her multidisciplinary approach, Kilde's well-researched contribution will be valuable to scholars of architectural history, cultural studies, church history, and liturgical studies. But such a broad approach across fields sometimes results in an overgeneralization of specialist terminology. A liturgical scholar will find troubling the use of "cathedral" to mean a large building, false distinctions between "liturgical" and "non-liturgical," and reference throughout to the congregation as the "audience" even among evangelicals.

The worship ideas in this book helped folks in my church experience the power of Christ.

"When Will Jesus Be Enough?" encourages us to transcend our particular worship styles and denominational differences and challenges each of us not to confine our worship of God to any formula. This is a creative and uplifting book and is a great resource for church leaders.

I have never read such a great book on the question before. It seems like today's Christians have been led astray by Father of Lies. If you remember, Jesus Christ Jews, "Children of the Devil" in the Gospel of John and called Satan, "The Father of Lies". In my opinion, any preacher who says that Jesus Christ is a Jew is either ignorant about Judaism of the Second Temple period or a false prophet intentionally trying to lead Christians astray. Our LORD Jesus Christ warned about false prophets in the Last Days who will lead Christians away from the LORD Jesus Christ.

This book is absolutely revolutionary! This book openned my eyes to some questions that have been bugging me for a long time. And I like the fact that this book is written in a very readable way -- difficult concepts were explained effectively. I feel like I have grown personally as the result of reading this book. I am sure that this book will remain one of the most influential books of all time for me. I highly recommend it!

As a preacher trying to open the minds, hearts and souls of all people to take God out of the box and receive God as fully as possible, this book provides necessary and useful tools for the struggle. I have been preaching and teaching inclusive language without some of the basic tools offered in this book. The substantive information on the reasoning behind inclusive (expanded)language has added to the gifts of information the Spirit provided. All people interested in Kindom building should read this book!

The one thing I can't understand is why this wonderful book is now out of print. The Neufer Emswilers are right up there with Brahms & Simon, and Sellars & Yeatman: this is one of the funniest parodies ever written. The classic jargon ("Right on!" for Amen); the wonderfully mixed metaphors ("...who cling to their blankets of sin like silent crutches"); and the sinister yet strangely puerile chapter on Machiavellian strategies ("... mix a popular and unpopular change together to achieve maximum acceptance...") are all at least amusing, and frequently simply hilarious.