Bradshaw Books

The O'Shea family is bound by religious values. And ripped apart by those values at the same time.

Ruth O'Shea's journey begins as she tries to flee an abusive past. She boards a ship bound for the U.S. and finds herself in the middle of a dangerous adventure on the high seas.

Meanwhile, Ken O'Shea, Ruth's cousin, is battling the locals in Scotland. As he and his colleagues build Airdrie Chapel, he deals with the dejection of the town's citizens who don't want Mormons in their backyard.

As he continues his mission, a policeman's daughter catches his eye in the heart of controversy. He attempts to educate her on the true path the Mormons follow.

Patrick, Ken's younger brother, is experiencing a revolution of his own. As his parents plan to move the remaning O'Sheas from England to Northern Ireland, Patrick refuses to go. Without his parents' watchful eyes, he takes a spiraling path of rebellion.

Each of the O'Sheas has a unique story to tell. Every chapter follows them step-by-step through their adventures of the '60s.

This book was absolutely fantastic. The character development was superb. I was particularly impressed with the development of Ruth, one of the main characters. She is a character that many people can undoubtedly identify with. It is a tale of love, faith and devotion that anyone interested in or a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should read. I anxiously await the sequel.

Terracotta Summer is a wonderful story with real life characters learning about love in it's many different forms. I also loved how this book taught that through adversity we learn and grow. This book is set in the sixties in England, Scotland and Ireland. It was interesting to learn about the LDS Labor Missionaries, which I hadn't ever heard of before. Their work was difficult but necessary. I don't want give away too much of the story so, all I can really say is read it, you will be very glad you did.

An entertaining short novel with a variety of characters developed very well with few words. The Brittish setting offers a delightful flavor. The plot has adventure, romance, and light intrigue. I was amazed at how the author brought about her conclusion with so few pages remaining. Kept me guessing. Looking forward to the sequel.

I originally read this book hoping it would shed more light on the life of Empress Theodora, who was a bearkeeper's daughter and circus actress/whore during the late Roman Empire (in Constantinople). Justinian, the emperor-to-be, fell in love with her, and shortly after they were married they were crowned emperor and empress (in the same arena where she once performed her circus tricks).

Although Bradshaw's novel is a well-written piece of historical fiction, her story focuses on Theodora's alleged bastard son, John. The reader, along with John, meets a much older Theodora near the end of her reign. The book follows John's rise from scribe to army commander to consul of the palace guard, describing in rich detail the quality of life in the Roman Empire circa 530 A.D.

However, it offers few glimpses into Theodora's childhood or her rise to power. So while it was a good read, the book's title is deceptive.

This novel should be entitled "The Grandson of the Bearkeeper" because the main character of the story is Juan, the bastard son of the Empress Theodora. It is a soft story about a young man who learned after the dead of his father the origin of his mother and went to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire where his mother is the omnipotent ruler of the empire and has to learn the habits and protocol of the court in order to pleased Theodora who has great plans for him. Through the pages of the novel, the extinguished empire get alive again and the reader can take a walk for the streets of Constantinople, once the center of the Byzantine art, culture and the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire later known as the Byzantine Empire.

Bradshaw is wonderful at writing interesting, fast, novels about likeable intelligent, sensible characters in interesting times and places, novels which are extremely readable and a pleasure from first to last page. Usually her novels are slices of life in a period, not directly about the movers and shakers though in this case our main character gets to be very closely involved with the main movers and shakers of the Byzantine Empire.

This is one of my favorite Bradshaw novels. The novel is mostly about John, an alleged ... son Theodora had, and the glimpses of Theodora and Justinian are somehow more interesting than in other novels I had read about them. Wish I could do justice to the book with a good review ;) but it's a book whose charm is difficult to describe. If you like Bradshaw's novels, good luck at finding this one, it's very good. If you haven't read any of her novels, Island of Ghosts is another favorite and is much easily available, at least right now.

My wife is an avid fan, John Bradshaw's books are very easy to read and put into practice. A good book.

The style of this book surpasses anything that Mr. Bradshaw has written. In other words, although his other books are nice, his writing style is not fluent. He must have had help perhaps, but this one flows fluently. The quality of the material is earth shattering. Very few books have I read from cover to cover within a week and this one I did. This is something I can go over and over.

WHEN I READ THIS BOOK, I SAW MY FRIEND TIFFANY ALL OVER IT. SHE CREATES CONFRONTATIONS AND THEN WITHDRAWS. I THINK SHE NEEDS TO READ HIS OTHER BOOKS. I REALLY CARE FOR HER, SO I HOPE SHE DOESN'T TAKE IT PERSONAL THAT SHE CAN BE CRAZY AND STUBBORN AS AN OLD MULE. I THINK I READ A SENTENCE OR TWO ABOUT MYSELF ALSO.

Reading Family Secrets allowed me to understand my family and myself at a deeper level. While reading the book, I often burst into tears of healing and compassion for myself and those in my family of origin. It allowed me to give myself a break about some of the things I've done and things I thought, realizing that I got those beliefs unconsciously from my family. It is a must read for anyone looking to truly understand their family and love themselves.

I first read this book, June 1995, while sitting at the beach, far away from a store, and one month before I was to host a family-reunion.

My mind was searching for a way to be who I decide I am, while I do my best to respect each of my family members - a tall order, at best.

Usually, while I am reading a book, be that fiction or non-fiction, I have paper to write notes into. But I didn't have them, at this time.

One chapter into reading this wonderful book, I had to leave the beach, to buy a notebook, because there are so many powerful tools in this book, ones which I absolutely had to capture in my own written words, as the thoughts and emotions rose up.

And once I finished reading this book, and reviewed my notes, I was still amazed at how much more I knew about each of my family members, particularly the one family member who until then I wondered if he even had emotions.

You cannot passively read a book like this, and expect to heal what ails you. You must partner with John Bradshaw, to understand who you are, through who you have and may still be surrounded by.

I had one challenge, in reading this book: John Bradshaw advises readers to ask relatives about facts about other relatives. In some families, communication is so toxic that no one will tell the truth.

And when this is the case, in your family, as you ask yourself the questions, look around you, and expect to find the answer, through holding the question close to your soul.

Also, if you haven't read a book like this, and done extensive work, prior, you could look around you, and see who in your life is a mirror of your family members.

This will speak volumes to you.

Reading this book, prior to hosting my family reunion was so cathartic that my mantra became, "I don't care how many actually show up. I'll do my part to encourage those who do show up to feel welcome."

What I noticed, and continue to notice, as a result of having read this wonderful book, is that no matter where we come from, we can use that past to claim our voice. And doing this does require us to admit, over and over again, what was, and what we desire.

For those who believe that looking back in the past is blaming those from the past; dangerous; or, is a risk of being trapped by the past, I must say that having studied my past, I am free to look at my notes and see that what I was really doing was accepting who and where I was then.

It is in accepting our deepest pains that we automatically enhanced who we are.

Read this book to use your past to catapult yourself into your true self.

John Bradshaw really gets you curious about your family history. I found out more about my family background in a month than I had my whole life. He shows you the importance of tracing patterns and behaviours back through generations so you can become aware of your own tendencies and avoid repeating previous generational issues. Truly fascinating!

Well-written book, even though some of the treatments methods the therapists use with the clients are strange to me. However, lots of good suggestions on how to help yourself.

If a person has trouble being close to others, is a perfectionist, acts self-centered and never asks for help, these are signs they may suffer from 'counter-dependency', the opposite of co-dependency. Two psychologists team up to reveal counter-dependency as the barrier to creating strong relationships, examining the foundations of counter-dependency, showing how to spot and cope with such people, and teaching how to gain and heal within committed relationships. The result is an outstanding guide which reveals some little-covered roots of relationship issues, making for a recommended pick for any library strong in self-help psychology.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

In Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap, the authors looked to the true causes of co-dependency. They stated that 98% of the human population is co-dependent and that this reflected stilted emotional development caused by unmet needs in the first six months of life. Essentially, psychological development is halted at this point so that the individual can find what he or she needs to resolve the situation.

Counter-dependency is another major concern to healthy human development. Counter-dependency is the opposite of co-dependency. Whereas co-dependent people look to others (or substances) to solve their issues; individuals who are counter-dependent refuse to depend upon anyone. They attempt to be completely independent and isolate themselves from others.

Counter-dependency begins between the ages of six months and three years. At this age, children are beginning to explore their surroundings. If they have the unconditional love and security of their parents, children eagerly learn about their surroundings and begin to become independent people. If during this exploration the child is abused or otherwise traumatized, the child learns that the world is an unsafe place and that he or she can't trust anyone. To the outside world this individual might seem to have it all together but underneath they are miserable and completely alone.

This is one of those books that is a must read for anyone interested in high strangeness phenomena. I doubt that there is another book like it. It is entirely centered in the Sedona, Arizona area.Some of the material is really weird in a strangeness sense but you are impressed by the honesty of the authors and its easy to see that they themselves were grappling with a way to present and explain their experiences and findings.

I've read through this book a number of times. It is full of many interesting morsels of information -- and, of course, it is poorly researched. So many of the claims and stories in this book need to be researched by the authors themselves (I've actually had to do some of the research myself). But give Dongo credit for getting this information into the public realm.

It's a New Age-metaphysical type of book, so be warned.

I first read one of Tom Dongo's books in 2000. I was visiting a friend in Sedona, AZ, when I saw his book, Mysterious Sedona, on the shelf. I was a little interested in the ET/UFO subject at the time. I didn't expect to read anything special when I bought it, just the usual ET/UFO book. As soon as I started reading the book, I knew it wasn't your usual UFO book. I finished the book in about 2 days. Subsequently, I bought all of Tom Dongo's books, and overall, I thought Merging Dimensions was the best. Now I'm hooked on the subject. Tom Dongo delves deeper into the subject than most other contemporary authors writing on the subject. I would highly suggest this book to anyone even remotely interested in the subject of ET/UFO/Paranormal activity and research.

Ok - I am new to the world of fly fishing - but, I have spent about $5,000 on equipment and trips already since June - this is a must in your vest or fanny pack on the water - helped me enjoy my time on the water and reduce frustration with remembering the knots - buy a nail knot tool before you do anything else...

Excellent, concise and handy little guide with easy-to-follow verbal and illustrated instructions for an assortment of essential fly fishing knots.

I found this book to be extremely helpful. It is waterproof so you can take it with you and have it available when you need it.

I have found this book very useful in putting into perspective a number of liturgical practices and issues. I can commend this to anyone with an interest in the patterns of liturgical worship.

When the first edition of this study appeared in 1992, the initial shock it caused was indicated in a review written by George Saint-Laurent for this journal: "Tacit assumptions are spelled out, presuppositions are investigated, and long-standing hypotheses are proved to be attractive and imaginative but, alas, unsubstantiated by the evidence . . . . Indeed, this reviewer has been forced painfully to conclude that he must revise the content of his own courses in substantive ways and discard many of those cherished 'insights' which he has so confidently presented for years" (JECS 2.3 [1994], 356). But Bradshaw's piercing methodological study of ancient Christian liturgiology has not yet had the impact it is due. Hence, ten years later he moves the following observation, without changing a word, from the midst of his first edition to page one of the second: "While conscious reflection on the methodologies appropriate to the discipline has constituted a significant element in scholarly research in such areas as biblical studies and ecclesiastical history in the course of recent decades, the same has not really been true in the field of liturgical history."

Nonetheless, a growing number of scholars are coming to share the main points of Bradshaw's thesis: when the fragmentary nature of the evidence and the problems of interpreting it are adequately taken into account, rather little can be known about Christian worship in the first several centuries. What we do know points to diversity of liturgical practices rather than uniformity. Hence, the notion that "a single coherent line of liturgical evolution can be traced from the apostolic age to the fourth century" must be scrapped (ix). Bradshaw powerfully proves these points with his penetrating and, at times, devastating reviews of secondary studies and thorough analyses of primary sources. Indeed, he has set the standard for future research on ancient liturgy; any scholar who ignores this foundational work risks laboring in vain.

This second edition has been expanded and restructured with very little taken out but much added. Bradshaw has amended the following chapters to include important research from the past decade: "Worship in the New Testament," "Liturgy and Time," "Ancient Church Orders," and "The Background of Early Christian Worship" (formerly "The Jewish Background of Christian Worship," now renamed to accommodate a brief section on pagan influence). The chapter on ancient church orders, which has been enriched by Bradshaw's ongoing studies of the Apostolic Tradition, is the most authoritative and concise introduction to the documents, the scholarship, and the continuing enigmas of this odd genre. He arranges the chapters on Christian Initiation, the Eucharist, and "Other Major Liturgical Sources" by geographical provenance, thereby highlighting the differences in liturgical practices among various communities.

The first chapter, "Shifting Scholarly Perspectives," has seen the most revision. It has absorbed the chapter previously entitled "Ten Principles for Interpreting Early Christian Liturgical Evidence." One can still discern the "ten principles" although they are presented under different forms and not enumerated as such. Bradshaw restructures the chapter so that it focuses on the methodologies employed by liturgical historians: philological, structuralist (Dix), organic (Baumstark), and comparative (Mateos, Taft). He then recommends the hermeneutics of suspicion for dissipating the naiveté with which previous scholars have approached the sources. The chapter on the Eucharist similarly reads as a fascinating review of scholarship. Perhaps the most significant additions are drawn from Enrico Mazza's work, in light of which Bradshaw expands his conclusions on the development of Eucharistic prayers.

The final two chapters did not appear in any form in the first edition. Devoted to Christian ministry, the first of these dwells on the roles of deacons, presbyters, bishops, and priests in both Latin and Greek sources. The second and last chapter investigates "The Effects of the Coming of Christendom in the Fourth Century." It differs markedly from the other chapters, for in it Bradshaw does not review scholarship so much as provide his own theories regarding post-Nicene Christian worship. While cautioning against overstating the differences between pre- and post-Nicene worship, he argues that the influx of new members did result in some radical changes. Pagan influences crept in while the questionable moral comportment of many new converts led to changes in the understanding and structure of key rituals. Bradshaw refers to such developments as "seeds of further liturgical destruction" (219) and finds evidence of a "tendency towards disintegration . . . rather than the full flowering of the Christian vision" (213).

In the light of the preceding chapters, one sees Bradshaw's own scholarly skepticism folding back on him. How can he speak of "the Christian vision" after going to such great lengths to emphasize the diversity of Christian liturgical practices and theologies? And in the use of such evaluative terms as "disintegration" and "destruction," can one detect the very type of unwarranted presuppositions that Bradshaw so frequently exposes in other scholars? Despite such unguarded moments, this final chapter proves a splendid capstone to Bradshaw's study. For in it he offers possible explanations of the apparent unity in post-Nicene liturgy that many scholars have erroneously assumed indicates unity in the preceding centuries.

This book is truly a model of method. It constitutes a sweeping summary and evaluation of over a century of scholarship on early Christian worship and an exemplary exploration of the primary sources by the person who currently is the master of the field. This is an indispensable methodological guide for any serious scholar investigating the first centuries of Christian liturgy and an obvious springboard for teaching the topic to graduate students. In lieu of a bibliography one finds an index of modern authors and a rather sparse subject index, but given the meticulous organization of the text, it can, nonetheless, be easily consulted as a reference tool.

Daniel Van Slyke

In his The Early Church: An Annotated Bibliography of Literature in English, Thomas A. Robinson acknowledges the important contribution of this work by Paul Bradshaw. Even Robinson's high praise of the work's significance seems understated in light of its subsequent reception, however.

Originally published in 1992, the second edition has been thoroughly expanded and updated and is now widely recognized as heralding a new age in the study of early Christian liturgy (Be sure to buy the current edition if you by used).

In the preface, Bradshaw borrows the nomenclature of comparative linguistics which distinguishes between "lumpers" (those who group diverse languages into a few familes) and "splitters" (those who inspect the resulting lumps and find fault lines). This work represents something like the latter approach as applied to the history of primitive Christian worship. Bradshaw summarizes this perspective in four guiding assumptions: 1) We know far less about the first three centuries of Christian liturgical practice than has been previously thought. 2) What we do know points to considerable diversity rather than a previously assumed uniformity. 3) The "classical shape of the liturgy " is more the result of the fourth century assimilation of different traditions than the perseverance of an original apostolic pattern. 4) The post-Nicene era reflects frequent liturgical compromise and mutation rather than the triumph of one way of doing things (though discrete examples of this are not unknown).

To cite one example, in his chapter, "Christian Initiation: A Study in Diversity," Bradshaw brings this methodology to bear on the catechumenate itself. After surveying the evidences from Syria, North Africa, Rome, Gaul and Spain, and Egypt, he concludes that one cannot legitimately speak of a standard or normative pattern of early initiation practice in ante-Nicene Christianity. He also concludes that the traditional distinctions between "Eastern" and "Western" practices is likewise illegitimate. While Bradshaw does admit of evidence for some common features that transcend the diversity of local practice (preparatory prebaptismal instruction, a formal act of renunciation and faith, anointing, immersion, and the imposition of hands), he also argues that these features do not always share a common form or meaning. His conclusion is that "there are just too many variations in structure and theology to allow us to construct a single picture in anything but the very broadest terms" (170).

Bradshaw readily acknowledges his debt to the prior work of Georg Kretchmar's "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Liturgie, inbesondere der Taufliturgie, in Ägypten" (really the first work to point out the irreducible diversity in the early Christian catechumenate). But Kretchmar's essay suffered for its inability to reach a wide audience. Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, on the other hand, has been widely read and cited as defining a new orthodoxy in the field. Prior work on the early Christian liturgy, however important in particular details, is really subject to revision according to the consensus that has gathered in this volume's wake and subsequent work must account for its concerns.

This book is a good collection of papers on software agents. I personally like the view of agents assumed in the book by Genesereth and the Introductory chapter.

This book is a collection of papers that survey the concept of intelligent software agents a.k.a "software robots." It is very accessible yet has the flavor of academic rigor in terms of citations etc. As of 2005, this material is decidedly dated; a whole era of dot-com boom and bust has happened in the interim. Most of the digerati academicians that have advocated, if not hyped, these technologies now have more modest consulting and academic lives now. Perhaps it is for the better for eventual real progress. Anybody seriously interested in this field must read this book to get grounded. A newer state-of-the-art survey book of its caliber is an unmet need at the moment. Would have been a 5 star review in 1999 but time corrodes.

This a really excellent collection of papers. Really well organized and includes writings from influential researchers in the field. It is the right book to start reading about agents, well fitted to serve as a basic reference

Practice of Prayer
If prayer is a means of communication with God, it follows that much of our praying ought to involve listening for what God has to say. Although there are many ways to pray, the basic forms of prayer, corporate or personal, are essential means for spiritual life. The unique gift of the image of God in us, keeps our communication with God personal, yet our praise has always been a communal doxology.
For sixty years, liturgical scholarship has alternately attempted to fit together pieces of evidence to suggest that a solid continuing line of evolution for the practice of early Christian worship that can be traced from the Jewish Christian Synagogue services in early apostolic age to the fourth century, when monastic types of prayer started to evolve in upper and lower Egypt.

Roots of Christian prayer:
Paul Bradshaw examines the historical roots of Christian prayer in the light of current New Testament studies, the ancient church tradition, and comparing these to recent developments in Jewish liturgical scholarship. He proposes a guidelines to Christian liturgical origins, adopting a more traditional approach, while acknowledging the limitations of our documented sources which describe the character of ancient Christian worship.
While exploring those roots of Christian spiritual devotion, he attempts to search and confirm the unity of private and communal prayer in the early Church. As an Anglican priest, addressing westerners in the first place, he underlines the fact that in the last two centuries a divorce of personal prayer discipline and communal liturgical spirituality should be reintegrated, removing the barrier between those two worship experiences.

Thematic Approach to Prayer:
Bradshaw, who distinguishes, in a historical perspective, between Monastic and Cathedral approach to prayer, gives five fundamental distinctive differences between the two ways of praying. While exploring Christian traditions of prayer, recalled the ancient biblical root of using the psalms in worship, used by the Therapeutae and Essenes, an evident Jewish root for the evolution of monastic prayer. He thus helps to rejoin the two variants into a whole approach to a prayerful life. Meanwhile, he underlines New testament hymns as documented source for the historical development of liturgical prayer, in an effort in the liturgical renewal movement, PRAXIS.

Revd Paul F. Bradshaw:
Professor of Liturgy, University of Notre Dame in London, renowned liturgical scholar and a member of the Church of England Liturgical commission, is an Anglican priest-vicar at Westminster Abbey. Bradshaw's scholarly interests focus primarily on the history of Christian liturgy, and especially the period from its Jewish roots to the fourth century. He has written or edited more than twenty books and seventy articles. He is also coeditor of a series of volumes of essays on Jewish and Christian worship. Together with two of his doctoral associates, completed a comprehensive commentary on the ancient church order known as the Apostolic Tradition.

Worship and Spirituality:
In association with PRAXIS, The Revd Prof Paul Bradshaw, will conduct a study day on worship and spirituality (3rd May 2006) based on his book, examining the tensions often encountered between liturgical spirituality and non-liturgical spirituality. Examples both from the history of Christianity and from modern experience will be explored.

This book should be required reading for anyone not appreciating their liturgical heritage. Bradshaw has written a readable, slim volume describing cathedral and monastic prayer - their appropriate use, history, the need for both in a full spiritual life ...

Cathedral prayer is the communal prayer with fixed roles, use of external signs, etc. generally oriented towards the benefit of the world at large. Monastic prayer is the private prayer with temporary roles, external signs only as training devices, generally oriented towards the benefit of the one praying. This distinction derives from early church practices.

Bradshaw shows that either practiced to the exclusion of the other is harmful - to the church and to the individual.

Consider this an essential book for anyone interested in prayer, liturgy or spiritual direction.

Modern worship warriors are often divided into two camps: those who value an emotional, experiential form of worship because it brings them closer to Jesus; and those who value objective, historical worship because it keeps them united with Christ through participation in the universal Church--the Body of Christ. Little did such worship warriors realize that these two competing values are actually 1700 years old--the Christian Church has always valued both emotional/idiosyncratic ("monastic") prayer and prayer that keeps them united with the universal church ("cathedral"). Unfortunately, the modern Christian has lost this distinction and the rich history associated with both forms.

Paul Bradshaw, a professor of liturgy at the University of Notre Dame's Theology Department, makes a distinction between these two forms of spirituality and argues that the Church (as well as the individual Christian) needs to incorporate and balance both forms into their worship life. Doing such will create an "upward spiral" of spirituality.

After comparing and contrasting "mostastic" and "cathedral" prayer, Bradshaw then shows how each may be incorporated in the worship life of a Church/Christian. Among the topics he covers are liturgy/worship; prayer with other Christians; the concept of the Body of Christ; the Psalms; public readings of Scripture; and private/family devotions.

I cannot recommend "Two Ways of Praying" highly enough. This book is well written, covers an important (yet often neglected topic), his thesis is presented well, and he makes his thesis relevant to both the professional church worker and the lay Christian. Bradshaw has definately influenced both my prayer life and my understanding of prayer greatly and for the better.