Organizations and Institutions Books

From Planeta Journal - This fascinating history of liaisons among powerful institutions is both well-written and deeply sad. Chapters examine the Catholic Church's history in Latin America from its Colonial Legacy to current relations in Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Other countries come under the magnifying lens as well, including Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and El Salvador. This study is recommended for any reader interested in human rights and democratic development in the region.

Church-State Issues in America Today is a well conceived and nicely executed group of essays about politically consequential matters of religion. Praeger is a well regarded publisher of books on religion and politics. With this new release Praeger provides a timely three-volume set bound beautifully front and back and printed on high quality paper. The essays strike a good balance between the technical aspects of the issues and their social or policy ramifications. That said, I must disclose that I have a chapter in volume one. However, I receive no royalties from sales of the set.

Each chapter is written by one or more subject matter experts. While a few professors of large reputation are contributors to the publication, most of the scholars are in the front half of their academic careers. There is variation in the richness of the essays with some being primarily descriptive while others are analytical and theoretically inquisitive. All of the chapters are accessible to the educated layperson, little technical jargon being evident except where First Amendment jurisprudence makes it inescapable. For the most part the chapters are labors of love, the authors making full use of the opportunity to distinguish their writing craft, knowledge and insights.

Volume One is entitled "Religion and Government." It includes foundational essays on church-state relationships and also contains both theoretical and historical chapters. Subject matter ranges from the public expression of faith by political leaders to the internationalization of church-state issues and the limits of free exercise. Some of the chapters have cutting edge material seldom written so informatively.

Volume Two is entitled "Religion, Family, and Education." Here the reader finds essays on the creation-evolution debate as it pertains to public schools, student religious expression, school vouchers, religion in higher education, and more. While there is some overlap between essays, it reads more like interplay than repetition, each contributor having his or her own approach to describing and sometimes evaluating the work of the High Court.

Volume Three is entitled, "Religious Convictions and Practices in Public Life." A bit thicker than volume two (an additional 100 pages), its essays range from the abortion debate to same-sex marriage, the stem cell debate, biomedical ethics, illegal immigration, religious environmentalism and more. Like the other volumes, it has a short appendix of highlighted court cases to help newer students of First Amendment jurisprudence. All said, this set contributes measurably to our understanding of religion and politics in America.

If you want understanding and revelation on God's purpose and plan for the Church this book is a must read. A must read for leaders and ministers.

New York Times, Internet Edition

By Rebecca Fairley Raney

Even through the confusion of the last 30 years, people have managed to maintain some basic social tenets: don't hit, don't run around naked and don't laugh in church. Laughing at a church is definitely out of the question.

Perhaps that's why Herman Krieger is getting so many laughs. He made a career of making light of churches in a photo essay called "Churches ad hoc", a sort of renegade Rorschach test fit for any Sunday school.

In Krieger's eye, a statue of a Jesus without hands is "Carpal Deum." A boarded-up church is "The Pope's Answer to Luther." And a happy blond toddler on the lawn of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church becomes "Young Zionist."

This sometimes irreverent photo essay on churches draws a variety of responses. It is either too funny to be religious or too religious to be funny. The pictures speak to the perspective of whoever sees them. Christians see devotion. Atheists see satire. Photographers see artistry.

Krieger was most surprised at the response from Christians. He thought they might take offense. "I'm not a Christian," he said, "and I got so many comments from people who thought I knew something about theology."

In more than a year since the site went up, "Churches ad hoc" has drawn more than 50 links from Christian Web sites, and pastors often ask if they can use his pictures for their calendars and newsletters. The photographs were even exhibited in the Art Rageous tent at the 1996 Cornerstone Church Festival in Illinois. After the festival, Christian chat rooms lit up with praise, and many people called the photos the best art exhibit shown.

On his own Web site, Krieger lists people's responses. "Your photography is as playful and cogent as your prose," one fan wrote. "By the way, I pastor a small church in Washington, D.C., and thoroughly enjoyed your poking through the pious facade."

Paradoxically, the response from atheists and freethinkers has been just as enthusiastic.

"Thanks for carrying on the tradition of laughing at religion!" one wrote.

"You manage to capture the essence of the hypocrisy that fuels all religions in a very clever and humorous style," another commented.

Then there are the photographers, who see only photography. "I loved your panoramic photos; I wish I had your skill so that my contemporary photos of Detroit would look even close. Care to pass along any tips?"

When his work holds such broad appeal, you have to wonder why Krieger is giving his pictures away for free. But he's 71, and his days of working for other people are gladly past. He produced the photo essay in pursuit of the bachelor's degree in fine arts he earned after he retired.

Photography has long held a fascination for Krieger. He worked for a photo lab technician during his teens in Detroit in the 1940s and did darkroom work for press photographers. During World War II, the Army put him to work as a photo lab technician.

But then his career took a turn. He went to California in 1950, earned a degree in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley, then spent 30 years as a computer programmer in Holland. When he retired, he and his wife moved to Eugene, Ore., and he promptly enrolled for classes at the University of Oregon.

He shot the first pictures for "Churches ad hoc" in 1993. In the last four years, he took his camera wherever he went: Oregon, California, New York, Las Vegas, Arizona, Illinois, Washington state.

Krieger started shooting churches on a whim after taking a picture of a cross in a tree for a different essay. His own religious background did not prohibit him from pursuing the concept; he was raised Jewish. In fact, he thinks his upbringing helped.

"I can look at them without getting emotionally involved," he said.

The work continues to prompt comments such as: "clearly your artistry transcends ideological statements and speaks to people of all faiths, or of no faith."

To the diverse, boisterous masses of the Web, he contributed a unifying icon, an image that was a success not because he set out to make a point, but because he didn't.

I am the founder of St. Louis, Missouri's first charter school - the St. Louis Charter School... This book is an invaluable resource on national education and urban trends. It is packed with a wealth of data on schools, student, and cities. Once you have read the book, you will be armed with real numbers, case studies and examples to use in planning and promoting your own charter school or engaging in conversations with others about education reform and the history of public education in America.

This oversized book is a most interesting and scholarly examination of the role of architecture and theater as tools that the sixteenth century Spanish missionaries used to convert the Mesoamerican natives to Christianity. The original missionaries; twelve Franciscans in 1524, twelve Dominicans in 1526 and seven Augustinians in 1533; noted the similarities between European Christian thought of the time and the Aztec beliefs they found in New Spain. Although fundamentally different, coincidental similarities abounded: both cultures thought the world was about to end; both used architecture for rituals and pageantry, both loved theatrical presentations using large casts of people. The early missionaries took the notion of building a New Jerusalem literally and the mendicant compounds were built with the plans of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem in mind. These complexes included open altar areas and architectural details such as a short tower or a row of three arches that could symbolize Jerusalem. Drama became a catechetical tool and the missionaries knew the natives responded favorable to the sights and sounds on the altar, be it the liturgy of the mass or a religious play. Both cultures loved crosses and Aztec crosses would include an obsidian mirror at the center, reflecting the sun. This sunlight could be linked to Jesus, the light of the world, or to the Canticle of the Sun of St. Francis. Likewise, the Aztec blood sacrifices seemed to make possible a fundamental acceptance of the life-giving sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. A culture familiar with rituals of cutting out a sacrificial victim's heart might embrace the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This book is very scholarly with 50 pages of notes and a 29 page bibliography, but it is not only for the scholar. It is oversized, beautifully designed and richly illustrated with hundreds of color examples of Aztec relics, early missionary buildings, rare manuscript pages and remarkable building decorations, many photographed by the author on site. A superb demonstration of how the mendicant friars "changed the root metaphor and Christianized a continent."

It's almost unfathomable to imagine the amount of tedious research that went into the development of Classical Pastoral Care. All four volumes are worth purchasing. But volume three, "Pastoral Counsel" is worth the price of the entire series. Here Oden collates amazingly relevant quotes from the halls of Church history, all demonstrating how God's people, pastoral and lay, men and women, have always ministered pastoral care one to another.

More than a history text, Oden's work is a counseling theory and training manual. As you read, you gain insight into how to apply Christ's truth to crushing suffering and horrific sin.

Reviewer: Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, "Biblical Psychology," and "Martin Luther's Pastoral Counseling."

I guess the title of my review says it all. I use this book/cd when I need to fill an entire page in the weekly church bulletin I edit, and while that need does not come up more than a few times a year, these well-written clip notes are invaluable to me. They provide me with more than "filler" -- they are wonderful educational tools for any Catholic parish. I often find myself trying to find ways to fit them into my bulletin, rather than only using them when I have a lot of space to fill. If there is a second edition, I'll be first in line to buy it!

I have had this book for a number of years now and, although published quite some time ago, this text is still THE definitive taxonomic source for this group of asexual microfungi commonly producing fructifications of some sort. I would not recomend this book for the novice, however, due to the nature of the taxonomic keys which require careful observation with a compound microscope and proper stains. Although it is profusely illustrated, a beginier will not likely be able to identify his/her collection without a thorough understanding of condiogenesis in general and more specifically conidiogenesis as this relates to this group of fungi. However, I would recomend the book for plant pathologists, for example, who have a name on their collection based on host substrate, but want more information (i.e., original description, literature etc.). Although a very difficult group of fungi to identify (determining conidiogenesis within acervuli is a task unto itself!) this text still represents the authoritative bible of the group.

After a college bound student has decided on a major to pursue in college, this resource should be used to find the colleges and universities, which offer the degree of interest. Schools are listed by state under each major. Degrees (certificates to doctorates) available in that major at each institution are also noted.