Christianity Books

Brother Joseph Schmidt presents an extraordinary life of the Little Flower. Brother Joseph says, "Theresa is our comtemporary" and so she is. By her image of God as living and merciful she pre-dated Vatican II. After reading Brother Schmidt's, "Everything is Grace," I re-read Theresa's "Story of a Soul. Thanks to Brother Schmidt, I got much more out of the second reading of Theresa's autobiography

This book really draws the reader into the mystery of sainthood. But, it does it in such a real and simple way. Therese was real and simple. It's actually possible to see oneself in her. This was an amazing experience for me.

In Everything Is Grace, Joe Schmidt elegantly helped me to fall in love
with Therese. Therese showed me how to walk in the heart of love. The
gifts of surrender and gratitude have become for me a daily offering.
Bearing serenely those behaviors that are displeasing to me has become
a daily challenge. Joe Schmidt helped convince me that Therese's "Little
Way" is the only way. Joe Schmidt's clarity, precision, and ease of reading were highlights for me in Everything is Grace. I continue to
highly recommend this book to others.

Review by Rita Schmitz, CSJ

I have read several books on the life of St. Therese and enjoyed them all. This one, however, is much more than the story of a sweet, young girl. This one makes real the grit and determination of a woman bent on knowing and loving Jesus within her world. She awakens my spirit to do the same. The author has shared not only the facts of Therese's life but has also shared deep insights into the life of this woman of faith.

Joseph Schmidt, FSC has written a new and refreshingly insightful book on Therese of Lisieux, using her original and unedited documents. She becomes more accessible to us little ones and that was the intention of her Little Way.
Steven Vesely, S.T.
Secretary General
Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity

In. My. Purse.

All. The. Time.

Seriously ---- This book is amazing. It has a permanent home in my purse... (it's not too small, not too big - just right) And I use it almost daily....or at least a few times per week. Sometimes I'm in a bad place and need a quick inspirational message, and sometimes I just feel like feeling better about something....Whatever the reason, you will LOVE THIS BOOK. I ordered 5 more after I got it to give to friends and family...that's how much I love it. I know when some open it they will think "ummm....ok..?" at first....but they end up thanking me later.

GET THIS BOOK you wont be sorry!

this book has been so helpful at valuable to me so many tough times like i'm going through now. the messages are short but powerful. this book will certainly help you restore your peace. like another poster said mine is getting worn out.

Each time my spirt is down, or I'm going through a situation, I turn to this book. I hold the book in my right hand by its spine, fan the pages with my left hand to stop at randum. The passages I've read, I have felt its deep spirtual feeling and I understand its meaning. Then I reflect on my situation and the passage fits. It helps me to understanding whats going on. It uplifts my spirit to deal with my situation. It give me insight to view my problem from a different angle. It also assures me that what I am currently going through will end. I will get through it. In my view, its a powerfull book. I have read several other books by Iyanla, even watched her talk show (sorry that went off the air), but like the bible, I keep Faith In The Valley near by.

This is my FAVORITE book by Iyanla Vanzant because of: It's size(small enough for your tiny purse), its lack of preach-i-ness and how the index is organized by subject. I feel its a synopsis of all the subjects covered in her other books. I also feel the book is applicable to women of ALL cultures. You can use it as a daily guide or you can use the index to find a subject for which you could use guidance.

I can not express how insightful and helpful this book is! It really makes you look deep into the reason(s) why you thought you needed a book of affirmations in the first place. This book is perfect for those "why me" and "I really can't take any more" moments when you feel like life, and everything in it, needs to give you a break. If you're a woman experiencing a lot of change in your life and it seems like you just can't handle another crisis (or is it a crisis afterall?), this is the book for you. I carry it in my purse!

Essays in Trintarian theology are seldom written in quite such a folksy style. Section headings include, â€~It’s the Economy’, â€~Soul Provider’, and â€~The Trinity from Infinity’. Not how I’d write, but, hey, I’m not as clear as Scott Hahn at getting my point across.

The strength of this book lies in the clarity of individual passages. Hahn’s demolition of the use of the â€~gender neutral’ use of â€~Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier’ to replace Father, Son and Spirit is brief and lucid, â€~It’s good for us to tell our loved ones how much we appreciate what they do for us; but it’s far better to tell them how much we love them for who they are as persons.’ Another highlight is his extended discussion of the Fall.

Hahn restates a traditional understanding of both the Trinity and the Christian family, meeting both feminist and moral objections by starting with a study of relations. What is the pattern of familial relations implied by the statement that â€~It is not good for man to be alone’, and what is the pattern of divine relations implied by the creation of man, united as male and female in the likeness of God? How does the pattern of one relationship illuminate and explain the nature of the other? Suddenly our relations with one another are revealed as statements about God.

Hahn makes enlightening use of a concept of a â€~trustee family’ extended beyond the household or â€~domestic’ family, and demanding loyalty to and stewardship of its property, traditions and life. This is the antithesis of the â€~atomistic family’, the individual forging his or her destiny alone, in company with others only while they serve the individual’s wants.

Linked to this is an attempt to draw out the â€~maternal impulse’ in the Godhead by considering the Holy Spirit as indwelling Mother Church â€" the Bride of Christ. He is careful and challenging. Because of his Pneumatology, for Hahn the Church, like the family, is a reflection in her economy of the eternal Trinity, implications of which include a rejection of referring to God as Mother, and the exclusion of women from holy orders.

This book is penetrating, accessible and readable. It challenges us to more work. The questions that this book raises will repay study.

The remarkable thing about Scott Hahn's own brand of high-street theology is that it loses nothing in quality or depth. Since his conversation from hard-core Protestantism, Hahn has devoted himself to explaining the beauty and coherence of the Catholic faith to ordinary lay people. And with his infectious enthusiasm he certainly has a talent for uncovering richness of Church doctrine hidden in Scripture. But that's not all. Often, as in First Comes Love, he probes new depths, his obvious love of the Word of God leading him to insights that are, as Aidan Nichols observes in the foreword to this book, both wholly original and wholly orthodox.

The most revolutionary theory Hahn promulgates in First Comes Love is the idea that there was something left of the divine image for the man and woman to bring to completion themselves, a life-giving sacrifice. Sacrifice, Hahn argues, is the only way humans can imitate the interior life of the Trinity.

Hahn's ideas do not remain merely theoretical. In the second part of the book he brings his theology home, quite literally, with an honest discussion of how this self-giving love works practically in the family; it is a slow and gradually learned process. He includes a brief glance at the celibate vocation, as providing no less an opportunity for self-giving than married life, but this could perhaps be treated at greater length.

Hahn embarks on some bold but cautious explorations into the identity of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity in a chapter devoted to the Holy Spirit. Leaning on the Scriptures and the writings of various saints and theologians, he incorporates Mary's maternity into this vision of the Spirit. This chapter demonstrates just how responsible Hahn is as a theologian. He openly and most willingly submits all his findings to the judgment of the Magisterium.

Hahn writes personally as always, with his trademark wordplay, painful or ingenious according to your taste. His theology is both profound and highly accessible, suited to those unused to reading academic works. All credit and indeed thanks to Hahn for cashing in on the fact that the Truth is simple.

Scott Hahn's "First Comes Love" is, overall, a very fine book. It is a Trinitarian treatment of biblical theology that focuses on sacrificial self-giving as the mode of divine life that is to be replicated in the life of the church and to transform family life. "Family" is the dominant idea, encompassing the divine Trinitarian family, nuclear and extended human families, and the church. Within this overall theme, Hahn makes a number of intriguing specific points:

1) He sets things up by pointing out that Adam was not to be alone but was called into family life. When Jesus comes, however, He calls people "away from their primal families, their tribes" toward participation in the divine family. (At some points, Hahn expresses this using the language of nature and supernature, which strikes my ear as a dissonance.)

2) He has some profound points on Sabbath, points that bear much more extensive meditation and study. The covenant name, Yahweh, he points out, does not appear in the creation account until after the Sabbath, and he uses this common observation to highlight the fact that the Sabbath is already at creation a sign of covenant. As he puts it, with the Sabbath, "something has changed in the relationship between God and creation. Most especially, something has changed in the relationship between God and His highest creation. . . . As a result of the seventh day, the day of the oath, God lives in covenant, a family bond, with humankind. God is not just our creator but our Father."

On the one hand, I want to say that a covenant relationship exists from the moment of the creation of Adam. Covenant is not something added to Adam's life as such. (Hahn, I think, disagrees; and I sense the presence of a nature/supernature framework intruding again.) On the other hand, the sudden use of the covenant name in 2:4 is striking, and perhaps suggests some kind of formalization of covenant relationship with the Sabbath day. Perhaps, though, the use of the covenant name serves to introduce the work of the sixth day (2:4 begins a new section in Genesis), a point that would support the notion that Adam is CREATED always already in covenant with God, rather than created and THEN brought into covenant with God.

3) Hahn points out that the serpent uses a plural verb in the temptation of Eve, confirming that he is addressing both Adam and Eve. Further, he suggests that the serpent's assurance that "You shall not die" if they eat the fruit implies the opposite as well: "You shall die if you do not." Pointing out that the Hebrew word for "serpent" describes a dragon, he describes the temptation scene this way: "if the serpent was indeed a monstrous beast, and if Adam did indeed dread death, then suddenly we can understand our forefather's silence. He feared his own death. Moreover, he feared physical death more than he feared offending God by sin. He stood by quietly while Eve continued in conversation with the beast. He stood in silence while the serpent issued his veiled threat."

4) And this very fine formulation of covenant: "Every covenant required a sacrifice symbolic of man's total self-giving. For a covenant is not a contract; it is not an exchange of goods. A covenant is an exchange of persons. One person gives up his former self, his former identity, to be accepted into a new family."

Not unexpectedly, there are some typically Roman Catholic turns in the argument that I object to. But to repeat, overall this is a stimulating and helpful book.

This is a very fine book. I think that Scott Hahn does an exemplary job in showing how a reflection of the Holy Trinity resonates in the construction of a family.

He has received some flack from those who take exception to some of the feminine characterizations of the Holy Spirit in his reflections on the Holy Trinity. What he says, of course, as his book illustrates, is supported by great theologians such as Cardinal Ratzinger and Matthias Scheeben. The explanations that he gives, both in the Endnotes as well as in the text, are more than adequate, in my view, to cover the objections which he has confronted.

Unfortunately, in our time, the devil is not only in the details, but also in the pronouns. Because of the onslaught of radical feminism, and other ideologies that are not compatible with the Catholic Faith, there is a great sensitivity to the kind of pronouns used for the Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity, and so, the sensitivity and contrary feelings that might be aroused from the beautiful speculation that this book contains, can perhaps, in the light of the circumstances of the present time, be understood, if not appreciated.

The only adjustment that I would suggest would be, in addition to what he already has in the text, to place some of the information he has in the Endnotes into the text so that the objections could more readily be refuted -- illustrating, as he says so well, that there is no intention to indicate any kind of gender or sexual differentiation in the Godhead. It might also have been helpful had there been an allusion to the pronouns used for the Holy Spirit in John 14-16.

That being said, I certainly salute the work that Hahn has done, and congratulate him for it. I assure you that in my view it is not only completely orthodox, but also exceptionally useful.

A practical guide to understanding the trinity. This book starts off by talking of the three types of families, then talks about how the family resembles the trinity. The process where the husband and wife become one in marriage and conceive a child is the embodiment of the trinity. The book goes on to talk about the covenants God has made with his people, and the New covenant Jesus made through the church, then it talks about the love of God and living a more Godly life. The last part of the book talks about the similarities of the family and the church. This is another excellent book by Scott Hahn and has given me a deeper understanding of God.

This is, believe it or not, the first book I've read in a long time dealing with spiritual issue rather than apologetics. It is brilliant! It basically expounds on the title, that God alone suffices. It discusses how we constantly rely on ourselves and have faith in our own doings etc. It has given me a different outlook on life. I can't wait to read Biela's other books.

This is one book which I can't find adequate words to describe. Still I would give it 10 stars if I could. Dr. Biela presents the works and thoughts of the great Catholic mystics (St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Faustina Kowalska, etc.) in language that a 21st century reader can grasp. In addition he takes key New Testament passages with Jesus' words and elaborates on them so vividly that readers can easily recognize situations in our daily lives where those words are applicable. Not a day goes by where something I have read in these books does not come to mind.

Needless to say Dr Biela's series of books has given me a radically different perspective as to what closeness to God means, and how God acts in our lives. Basically, we are nothing and God in us is and does everything. We come to this realization by removing the blinders in our lives which impede us from seeing this truth. Events which appear adverse to us can in fact be God's instrument to remove obstacles that separate us from Him. More than ever I seek to recognize how everything I do and everything that happens to me is God's action.

I could try to go on but, again, no words of mine "suffice". Read it and prepare to be overwhelmed.

When I first saw the cover of this book I had to step back and let it sink in - how was GOD in the event of the tragic 9/11? The book does not go into the events of 9/11, but the book spelled out for me how the only true reliance is GOD and everything else, everybody else, will fall short of my deepest desires for unconditional love. This book, in a very succinct way, shows the distinction between the Creator and His creatures/creations. I found it extremely inspiring and hopeful.It has really helped me to see things in a new way - even such tremendously tragic things as 9/11.

This book along with the Families of Nazareth Movement have changed my life! My life, and my spiritual journey, were at a stand still until I started reading this book, and faith sharing with the Families of Nazareth Movement. I can see that God is in everything that happens in my life, and more importantly, I regonize my sinfulness and am aware of God's abundant Mercy. This fact is so important because it keeps me from entering, or staying in despair. When things are going wrong I know that God is present in even the worst situations. If I accept the graces God can use all situations as a tool toward my sanctification. All three of the books are a must read for anyone who wants to go deeper on the journey toward union with God.

God Alone Suffices is a book that everyone longing to deepen his/her relationship with God will want to read. The author "contextualizes" the "eternal" spirituality of John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and Therese of Lisieux, making their teachings accessible to all who live in the 21st century. Our human tendency to create "illusory reliances" (material, psychological and spiritual), the ways in which we experience their breakdown in our lives, and steps that we can take to move toward making God our sole reliance are analyzed by the author in a readable but profound manner. A radical understanding of sin which reaches to the very depths of our being is maintained throughout, even as the author successfully encourages us never to lose hope. This book is a must for everyone!!

Let not the unassuming title mislead you. This is not a simple introduction to Christianity but a bold philosophical treatise to the heart of Christianity. In this commentary on the Apostle's creed, Father Ratzinger first dissects what it means to assert, "We believe..." and continues to the conclusion on what (or rather who) is the essence of Christianity. Christianity is not a religion or a creed but a person. It is a challenge to the philosophies of men and their attempts to understand God outside the context of the Son.

Father Ratzinger draws on unlikely philosophers and theologians such as Nietzsche and Luther to make his point. He finds and reveals truth in the Lutheran martyr Bonhoeffer and his passion. But Father Ratzinger takes us beyond simply finding deep philosophical truths and guides us to a passion and adoration of the personification of truth in Jesus. Father Ratzinger seems to echo Francis Bacon who said, "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." Only, the religion of Father Ratzinger is not a thing but a person. The book ends with the hope that is contained in that person, "A salvation of the world does exist - that is the confidence that supports the Christian and that still makes it rewarding even today to be a Christian."

There is enough philosophical insight here to challenge the most theoretical thinkers. But Father Ratzinger does not stop at mere theory but goes on to the concrete implications to the Christian found in that theory. There is perhaps no more thorough "introduction" than this to a vibrant faith. Well worth the investment of reading and re-reading to plumb the depths of philosophical truths contained in that faith. Very highly recommended for every Christian.

Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) is a rare gem. He has a clear mind that cuts like a scalpel. Combine that with a stellar education, decades of painstaking and thorough study, and a gift for writing profoundly yet with simplicity. Introduction to Christianity is a fine example of his erudition and seemingly effortless intellectual elegance. His capacity to consider and master a vast array of histories, cultures, theologies and philosophies, and integrate them into his own penetrating thought, is remarkable.

Really good, but really hard. Not an "Introduction" in the way most of us understand the word. But it is B16, so it is well worth trying to understand.

Written 40 years ago by Ratzinger, this book still resonates with the times. In itself, this shows that Ratzinger is focused on what really matters in the Christian mystery - he nevers gets side tracked into going down blind and fruitless alleys. It is only on my second reading of this book that I began to see how important a book this is. This book is an important exploration of the nature of belief and of the articles of belief set down in the Apostles creed. I believe that in this book Ratzinger surpasses his mentors, namely De Lubac and von Balthasar. His analysis of the kenosis of Christ is particularly impressive, Christ "being from" and "being for".

Ratzinger first deals squarely with belief and points out that it is within the context of doubt that the theist and the atheist can enter into dialogue. After all, the Christian believes; he does not see. Likewise, the atheists "sees" what is optical and does not believe in what cannot be empirically verified. But, both the Christian and the atheist, if he is honest, must have doubts about the nature of his belief or non-belief. There must be times when the atheist says: "yet perhaps it is true (page 46).

For Ratzinger the word credo means:

"man does not regard seeing, hearing and touching as the totality of what concerns him, that he does not view the area of his world as marked off by what he can see and touch but seeks a second mode of access to reality, a mode he calls in fact belief, and in such a way that he finds in it the decisive enlargement of his whole view of the world" (page 50).

For Ratzinger the radicality of Christianity is that "God has come so near to us that we can kill him and that he thereby, so it seems, ceases to be God for us".

Ratzinger poses the question of whether "it would not have been much simpler to believe in the Mysterious Eternal... to leave us as at an infinite distance". (page 55)

Ratzinger notes that belief does not come "though the private search for truth but through a process of reception.. Faith cannot and should not be a mere product of reflection" (page 92). Faith demands unity and calls for the fellow believer; it is by nature related to a Church." (page 98).

On the nature of the Trinity, he noted that: "He is one, but at as the exceedingly great, entirely Other, he himself transcends the bounds of singular and plural; he lies beyond the" (page 125).

On the "I am who I am" scene in exodus, he notes that the words sound like a "rebuff","like a refusal to give a name than the pronouncement of a name (page 127) "I am" is as much as to say "I am here for you" " a Being-for". (page 129).

"The name is no longer merely a word, but a person: Jesus himself." (page 133) Ratzinger goes on to say that the meaning of a "name" is its invocability. God, by having a name, becomes accessible to me. "He is handing himself over to men in such a way that he can be called upon".

"And by doing this he enters into coexistence with them; he puts himself within reach; he is "there" for them". The name is no longer just a word at which we clutch; it is now flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone. God is one of us" (page 134/135).

Ratzinger notes the great saying by Tertullian: "Christ called himself truth, not custom". (page 141)

His thought then becomes even more metaphysical:

"Whoever looks thoroughly at matter will discover that it is being-thought objectivised thought. So it cannot be ultimate. All being is ultimately being-thought and can be traced back to

"Christian belief in God means that things are the being-thought of a creative consciousness of a creative freedom and that the creative conciousness that hears up all things has released what has been thought into the freedom of its own, independent existence". (page 137).


"The doctrine of the triune God, means at bottom renouncing any solution and remaining content with a mystery that cannot be plumbed by man (page 168)". "Faith consists of a series of contradictions held together by grace". (page 171).

"It now became clear that the dialogue, the relatio stands behind substance as an equally primordial form of being". I note here that Ratzinger preempts some of the philosophical work done by the great Jesuit Thomist, Norris Clarke and by the personalist, John F Crosby. "Father is purely a concept of relationship. Only in being for the other is he Father; in his own being in himself he is simply God". (page 183). "By calling the Lord "Son", John gives him a name that always points away from him and beyond him; he thus employs a term that denotes essentially a relatedness, He thereby puts his whole Christology into the context of the idea of relation" (page 185).

Moving on to focus of the office and nature of Christ, he notes that Christ "performs himself and gives himself; his work is the giving of himself" (page 204). "The person of Jesus is his teaching and his teaching is he himself" "message and person are identical" (page 206). "Jesus is his work" "His being is pure actualitas of "from" and "for"(page 228).

"For John, the picture of the pierced side forms the climax not only of the crucifixion scene but the whole story of Jesus... his existence is completely open. Now he is entirely "for"; now he is no longer a single individual but "Adam" from whose side, Eve, a new mankind is formed". (page 241) "The future of man hangs on the Criss - the redemption of Man is the Cross. And, he can only come to himself by letting the walls of his existence be broken down, by looking on him who has been pierced" (p242)

"Talk of original sin means no man can start from scratch any more (completely unimpaired by history" (page 249). "Last judgement, on the other hand is the answer to these collective entanglements" (page 249).

"Being a Christian means essentially changing over from being for oneself to being for one another". "Christ is the infinite self expenditure of God" (page 261).

"Love demands infinity, indestructibility; indeed it is, so to love demands, infinity, indestructibility; indeed, it is, so to speak, a call for infinity" (page 302).

Ratzinger's analysis of the resurrection and the Last judgement is deeply impressive, noting its deeply serious nature. Of hell, he notes that it "consists in man's being unwilling to receive anything, in his desire to be self sufficient. It is the expression of enclosure in one's own being alone."

Finally, on the Church, Ratzinger approaches the evil evident in the Church in a sober fashion. "At bottom there is always a hidden pride at work when criticism of the Church adopts that tone of rancorous bitterness which today is already becoming a fashionable habit"

He notes that Christ in his earthly ministry scandalised others; is is surprising that he does so again when he gives himself over to be broken sacramentally on his altars, ministered, at times, by deeply sinful ministers and consumed also by those whose lifes often contradict the gospel. Don't we all in our own way contradict the gospel in our daily lives?

Our Holy Father is great! He is so clear in his writing and conveying his ideas. He articulates and conveys theological ideas in ways that students can grasp, digest, and make their own. I know this was written long before he would even be considered for Pope- but it only goes to show that he has been doing the kind of work and prayer this work needs to be able to do for a long time. He is the kind of student who has done the work so well and sought such understanding as to teach well.

The One Year Christian History is not an exhaustive "greatest hits" of Christian History nor is it intended to be. What it is is a book that offers bite-sized glimpses into the people and events that make up the rich history of the Christian faith. Although I would not recommend this book for anyone looking for an in depth daily devotion, I would recommend it for anyone who wants an interesting book laid out in an easy to read format for daily reading.

We have been reading this book for the past year and just purchased a copy for a friend. It offers incites into people's lives, summaries of events and people, and quotes that you will want to share with others. We recommend it highly to all who are interested in the past and influences on people's lives.

This book was given to us by friends. It is fascinating, and the stories are inspiring. We read it every day as part of our devotional. We have given copies to friends and adult children. Very worthwhile.

Excellent education on Christian history as a daily devotional with wonderful examples of walking in the faith, even unto death.
Highly recommend.

This devotional is worth your money and effort to purchase. It tells each day what happened in church history on the day you are reading.

There is a lesson to be learned from the past. This devotional is not based on Scripture. So, it is not the standard devotional. Make sure you know that before buying.

It is a real jewel for church history buffs!

By looking at five different aspects of our personalities, we can see how our uniqueness in each of the areas combines to create an incredible potpourri of advantages and opportunities. Through an examination of spiritual gifts, passion, abilities, personality and life experiences, the author takes us on a journey to understanding our original divine design. With copious quotes, lists, and reflection questions, the author forces the reader into a very personal examination of the way that they are hard-wired. The The appendices are not superfluous but take the user on a journey that is exciting and filled with potential. It would be difficult to read this book and not emerge more confident and self-assured.

5 Reasons why this book is a MUST read. Here's my SHAPE acrostic.

Simple: Erik does an incredible job of making this stuff easy to use.

Helpful: The Spiritual profile that every participant leaves w/ helps the reader to succinctly understand what their next step for service is.

Authentic: if you're able to go through the small group curriculum ( video ) you'll seek Erik's authenticity. It's the real deal.

Passion: As you read the book you'll sense a desire to want to do something bigger than your normal everyday routine. You'll discover or rediscover your passion to impact lives or causes on a daily basis.

Experience: You must experience SHAPE either in book form or through the small group curriculum. Both are incredible resources!!

This book helped confirm the strengths I felt I had. The assessment really opened my eyes to the specific ways my spiritual strengths can be used to help others. I also appreciated the part of the book about having a board of advisors and a training partner. We can learn a lot from the people God has put in our life.

What an eye opener! After reading SHAPE and applying what I learned, I discovered where I truly am in my life, what I am good at, and where to spend my energy in daily living. Based on the content of SHAPE, I have made significant changes that have improved me, my marriage, and my other relationships. This is a must read if you want to get to know yourself on a deeper level, put your true talents to work on what matters most in life, and make a difference in the world you live in....

This book was a great follow up to the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. While Warren's book helped me understand that God created me for a purpose, SHAPE helped me discover how I am made to achieve this purpose and the practical steps to put this purpose into action!
Since reading both these books, God has revealed my purpose and shape to me and I am dedicating my life to becoming a marriage and family therapist. I am currently working in the field and going to school to get licensed as a therapist!

St. Therese has a lot to say to this day and age. Her "Little Way" is so simple and based on love. I have personally found Story of a Soul very useful in my spiritual life. Even though she is a saint, she is very easy to relate to where ever you are in life's journey. It is a book that I certainly will be reading again as it has made such an impact on my life. Saint Therese may be called The Little Flower but after reading this you realise that she is a stirdy little flower made of steel! A lot of people can be put off her by how she is portrayed, as was I before I read about her life in her words. So get to know her!

This book is a great place to start learning about Therese. Includes the full text of the autobiography, and some supplementary material incl. a introduction to the autobiography and life of Therese and some of her letters and prayers. You can get much of this stuff online, but the book is a delight, with many pictures.

Therese is a very special person, and I recommend a familiarity with her beautiful soul.

Excellent book and in her own words unedited. Also a good little book on St. Therese is 'Heart of a Soul'. This book Iam reviewing is A MUST Read.

Rev. Thomas Taylor's early 20th century translation of the memoir of St. Therese of Lisieux, unfortunately republished in 2006 by Echo Library, was made from the only manuscript then available outside her monastery, one substantially rewritten by Therese's sister Pauline, who made seven thousand changes. Scholars interested in the documents which gave rise to the cult of St. Therese may wish to consult early versions of Taylor. I urge those who want to read what Therese wrote to read the third edition of "Story of a Soul" translated by Fr. John Clarke, OCD, and published by ICS Publications in 1976. The Clarke translation, made from the unretouched manuscript written by Therese (an authentic manuscript published in French only in 1956), is recognized as the standard throughout the English-speaking world. No other translation compares to it. The book is enriched by an introduction, afterword, and easy-to-read notes that set Therese's manuscripts in the context of her life, and the index makes it even more useful. Whether you have not read "Story of a Soul" or have read only earlier English translations (Taylor, Knox, Beevers), the Clarke translation will open the world of Therese to you. Don't miss it. You'll find it at Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, Third Edition

It is a well written, inspirational text. I really liked the historical aspects as well as the religious excerpts. Great book for anyone experiencing an ongoing illness. It helps to put the disease in perspective. :)

This is an excellent book for those who want to really dig deep and see what Jesus was saying in the Sermon on the Mount and that he wasn't just talking to his disciples but to us too.

This is a wonderful book and well worth the time to invest in reading it. I would urge you to buy this timely book.

Through forceful, powerful, blatant, bold Calvinistic and evangelistic sermons, Pastor Jones did a marathon preaching on one of, if not the most controversial and heavily debated Sermon on the Mount; shattering other man-centered, self-centered, legalistic, antinomian, perfectionist interpretations. I have to admit before I read these sermons, I had most of my interpretations wrong. Here are some observations from what I took in. First, the Sermon on the Mount is not a social gospel where all it cares about is the actions, ethics and morale of the story. Though important, they are neither the meat nor the center of it; Christ the Preacher is. Not only is this so, but as Pastor Jones remarked in the concluding sermon, that throughout the course of it, Christ declares, I would say, both implicitly and explicitly, that he is the true giver, interpreter and center of the law. Second, no one can rightly live out the principles taught in it unaided unless one is a believer relying on the grace and power of God who enables him to do so. Third, it is not something one has to do to become a Christian. Instead, it shows what Christians should become as a result of a new gracious ruling principle in their hearts. Fourth, in some cases like turning to the other cheek, going extra miles, giving away both the cloak and the coat, loaning to those in need, not committing adultery, it is the general bigger-picture principles behind the detailed examples that was to be conveyed, not the actions themselves that are the most important. I wouldn't write what they are here, but let the readers discover on their own. Fifth; on the other hand, it involves some details which Pastor Jones beautifully expounds within the general description or principles, for example, on what the Lord's prayer means and how it is to be prayed properly with the right heart and attitude, how to determine the characteristics and signs of false prophets and professors, what it means to enter through the straight gate and going through the narrow way, what building house on sands and rock by the foolish and wise man signify and how we know which one of these categories we fall into. These are stunningly soul-searching; something critical that those of us who confess to be Christians should test ourselves with. Here is one of his quotes worth musing on what it urges us to do in regard to entering the strait gate,

"You have to go out of your way to find this gate. You will have to analyze yourself and be very honest with yourself, and having refused to hold back, say, `I am going on with this until I discover exactly what I have to do'. Here are so many who do not find this way of life because they have never sought the gate and entered in.... [it involves] fasting, sweating and praying... we must give ourselves no rest or peace until we know for certain that we are on this way."

And lastly, without trying to be simplistic, the underlying principle of it all is that it is the spirit, not the letters that matters. It is the heart, the desire, the attitude, the character and the outlook on one's life, not the actions, that Christ is concerned the most and therefore focuses his sermons on to graciously rebuke, correct and encourage. Despite his sober and frightening warnings, we should not lose heart but continue to persevere to the end to follow him for he who has began a good work in us will never leave us nor forsake us and will carry it on to completion.

This is a wonderful book that does not hide nor apologize for the fact that it is really a compilation of 60 sermons delivered by the author. Each chapter is one complete sermon. This will be helpful and instructive to some and confusing and frustrating to others. I, for one, love it. The illustrations he uses are very good but the questions he uses to cause one to search their own heart in light of the scripture are fantastic. He applies the passages being studied to real life in meaningful ways inviting the reader to interact with the passage and allow it to have its work on their heart.

This is NOT a preachy book but is it a book full of preaching...many a pastor would do well to study this book for its instruction on how to put a sermon together.

BTW, if you wish to purchase the electronic version of this two-volume-in-one-book BE AWARE that only Volume one is included in the electronic version.

This book on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is one of the best books ever produced by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. If you have never encountered Lloyd-Jones then you will be blessed as you read this book and discover a man with a passion for both the Word of God and the God of the Word.

Lloyd-Jones, according to John Piper, is one of the last true Calvinistic Methodist from the days of George Whitefield. Here was a man who not only embraced Reformed Calvinism but also embraced a passion for God from the likes of Whitefield and John Wesley. He not only wanted to study the Bible and teach it clearly but he wanted to give people a hunger for Jesus that would become evident in holiness in life and character.

In this book, Dr. Lloyd-Jones explores the implications of the Sermon on the Mount for the Christian. He works his way slowly through each passage giving not only the content of the passage but many points of application for your life. I would encourage you to have your Bible open to Matthew 5-7 as you read this book and even more to memorize the passage (Psalm 119:11). This is a solid book well worth the price and its also a book you will refer to again and again.

This book was SO good. It is one of the best queer spiritual journeys I've ever read. Sara Miles is unpretentious and honest, and I think she captures the spiritual dilemmas that so many of us face right now.
If you are struggling with your spiritual journey and chafe against old names and categories, this book will change your life. I think it's going to be a very influential text.
Oh, and it's a fabulous read! I couldn't put it down.

Take This Bread: A Radical ConversionThis book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the community of food! Sara Miles is a writer and was an athiest who came to understand the role of sharing a meal in building community. After a varied career of cooking in restaurant kitchens and serving as an activist in poverty stricken and war torn countries, she comes home to a radical conversion resulting from the simple words: "Take this bread" said to her at a service of Holy Communion. Her conversion leads to growth in understaning the community that God intends for all humankind. Along the way, she is drawn into the community with afforded by a food pantry program she starts at her newly found church community.

Its all about the human hunger for belonging and for the meaning that comes from sharing food!

A wonderful book and a quick read!

Sara Miles' book "Take This Bread" is a perfect read for our times. Her realization that feeding others is an ultimate act of goodness came during a worship service. But the real story is what she did next. She went out from that church and created a feeding program when others said it couldn't be done. Then she helped others create feeding programs. I have recommended the book to people of different faiths and political views. They all love it. And even more, they have been inspired to get involved in helping the hungry. The new paperback version contains a Readers' Guide - perfect for book groups.

take this bread is one of the best left-of-center spiritual memoirs i've read, ever.

sara miles is a self-described liberal, an intellectual journalist who spent much of her life covering wars from the side of the oppressed (often in stark contrast to u.s. policy). she grew up in a staunchly athiest home (though both of her parents were children of missionaries, which ends up playing into her story in surprising and deeply satisfying ways), and was, as she says, the last person her friends would have expected to start talking about jesus.

sara walked into a san francisco church one day -- called, one might way; compelled, she wasn't sure why -- and took the eucharist. and something clicked, in that moment. she had an encounter with jesus that she was never able to dismiss or shake off. eventually, her connection with jesus became a compelling call to feed others, as she was fed. sara started a food pantry, literally ON the alter of her extremely nervous church. the book walks through her multiple conversions, and those of the people around her, many of them already professed christians.

the comparisons to anne lamott are easy (especially to anne's first spiritual memoir, traveling mercies). both are brilliant with words; both are liberals from san francisco, who grew up in book-loving, athiest, intellectual homes; both are liberal in every sense of the word; and both are deeply in love with jesus and passionate about following his lead. this -- i think -- is what seperates both anne and sara from classical liberals, who spent a good deal of their time distancing themselves from jesus.

but sara miles and anne lammott are not the same. sara doesn't have annie's wit, which, while i absolutely adore annie's wit, makes this book somewhat more compelling, and a bit less like a collection of witty, liberal, jesus-y essays. if annie's "theme" is her self-loathing and insecurity, sara's strong-willed theme is: food. food weaves its way through every chapter of the book: from her childhood, to her experiences as a chef in new york, to her connections with people in the third world, to her intitial and ongoing experience with jesus, to her establishment of one, then many, food pantries. it's hard not to read this book and not simultaneously hanker for a chunk of some cheese you can't pronounce, and want to give that cheese to someone who wouldn't otherwise experience their next meal.

wonderful, wonderful reading. challenging at points. highly edible. deeply nourishing.

I love reading about converts to the Episcopal Church, I am one myself. The more unusual the story, the more it interests me and Miles' story fits that bill. Although I found some things about her puzzling- for instance: she calls herself "lesbian" but has an affair with a man (Huh?!) and then she seems to think that getting pregnant in the middle of a war was a good idea (What?!), I thought her life was fascinating. She is also admirable for starting the food pantry, and for linking food to ministry and to communion- the Body of Christ. The analogy is excellent. It also shows how a church can be so open and welcoming to all people from all walks of life, and although not intended as an ad for the Episcopal Church, it sure serves as great publicity!