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The Monastery Of The Heart - 21 Humility
The Monastery Of The Heart - 21 Humility
by SPCK - Joan Chittister
Humility “After ascending all these steps of humility, we will quickly arrive at the ‘perfect love’ of God which ‘casts out fear.’” In Benedictine spirituality, there is a twelve-runged ladder that leads to God… Taken from The Monastery Of The Heart by Joan Chittister
The Monastery Of The Heart - 24 Good Zeal
The Monastery Of The Heart - 24 Good Zeal
by SPCK - Joan Chittister
Good Zeal “Just as there is a wicked zeal of bitterness which separates from God, so there is a good zeal which leads to God.” The Rule of Benedict was written in the sixth century, in an ascetical climate more given to personal self-denial than to the discipline of community bui…
Great Christian Thinkers - 18 St. Eusebius of Vercelli
Great Christian Thinkers - 18 St. Eusebius of Vercelli
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Eusebius of Vercelli I invite you to reflect on St. Eusebius of Vercelli, the first bishop of northern Italy of whom we have reliable information. Born in Sardinia at the beginning of the fourth century, he moved to Rome with his family at a tender age. Later, he was institut…
Great Christian Thinkers - 65 St. Thomas Aquinas
Great Christian Thinkers - 65 St. Thomas Aquinas
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Thomas Aquinas His Life and Context We continue our meditation on some of the great thinkers of the Middle Ages. We recently looked at the great figure of St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan, and here I discuss the one whom the Church calls the Doctor Communis, namely, St. Thomas A…
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes - 4 Prelude
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes - 4 Prelude
by SPCK-Kenneth E. Bailey
Prelude To begin this topic, a brief overview of the history of “rhetorical criticism” may be helpful. In 1969, in his presidential address to the Society of Biblical Literature, James Muilenburg issued a call for moving beyond form criticism to what he titled “rhetorical critici…
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes - 8 The Wisdom of God
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes - 8 The Wisdom of God
by SPCK-Kenneth E. Bailey
The Wisdom of God In review, the overall structure of Paul’s first essay is as follows: 1.1 Divisions in the Church (1:10-16) 1.2 The Wisdom and Power of God: Revealed Through the Cross (1:17–2:2) 1.3 The Wisdom of God: Revealed Through the Spirit (2:3-16) 1.4 Christian Unity (3:…
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes - 15 Three Roadblocks
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes - 15 Three Roadblocks
by SPCK-Kenneth E. Bailey
Essay 2 Sex Three Roadblocks In the previous section of the essay (2.1) Paul cut the Gordian knot. He told the Corinthians to remove the offender from the fellowship of the church. Here he discusses head-on three aspects of this case of incest that must be dealt with. These are n…
The Minister as Entrepreneur - 18 What factors help entrepreneurship to happen?
The Minister as Entrepreneur - 18 What factors help entrepreneurship to happen?
by SPCK - Michael Volland
What factors help entrepreneurship to happen? When asked about what he felt would aid the exercise of entrepreneurship in his situation as a minister, Roger responded by talking about the need to strengthen and renew faith in congregations and said that he felt that if this happe…
Lectio Divina the Sacred Art - 5 “GIVE ME A WORD”
Lectio Divina the Sacred Art - 5 “GIVE ME A WORD”
by Christine Valters Painter
“GIVE ME A WORD” What is a sacred text? Traditionally it comes from a collection of authorized religious writings, such as the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. The desert mothers and fathers believed that God spoke to them directly and intimately through the words of the Bible, w…
Meeting God in Paul - 1 Outsiders and insiders: Paul’s social world
Meeting God in Paul - 1 Outsiders and insiders: Paul’s social world
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Outsiders and insiders:Paul’s social world When daylight came, the magistrates sent their officers with the order ‘Release those men.’ The jailer reported these instructions to Paul: ‘The magistrates have sent an order for your release. Now you are free to go in peace.’ But Paul …
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 17 Wanted: New Categories
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 17 Wanted: New Categories
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter Four HISTORY AND THE FIRST CENTURY THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD (iii) Wanted: New Categories What we find, in short, is that the epistemological tools of our age seem inadequate for the data before us. One of the present ironies, typical of movements within the…
The Monastery Of The Heart - 18 A Listening Heart