A Moral Creed For All Christians

Widely heralded for his bold and prophetic ethical thought, Maguire urges that Christianity's real relevance for the renewal of American public life lies not in the myopic morality of the Christian Right nor in any particular program of the Left but in the enduring relevance of Jesus and biblical Christianity. His new work builds on his earlier volume, The Moral Core of Judaism and Christianity, with the benefit of a new generation of social studies of the New Testament and a keen appreciation for the radically changed situation Christians confront today. Daniel C. Maguire is Professor of Ethics at Marquette University, a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics, and president of the Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health and Ethics. A frequent lecturer and media commentator, Maguire is author of many influential works in ethics, such as Death by Choice (1974), The Moral Choice (1975), The Moral Revolution (1986), Sacred Energies (Fortress Press 2000), and Sacred Choices (Fortress Press 2001).

U. K. Book of the Year 2017! For many Christians, prayer is an obligation that has little bearing on everyday life. The story of the 24/7 prayer movement demonstrates in gripping detail how prayer is far more than an obligation and how God is far more interested in prayer than we are. Continuing to chronicle the life and extraordinary ministry of the 24/7 prayer movement for a readership anxiously awaiting this title, Pete Greig tells story after story of God’s faithful interaction with human prayer to change lives and cultures.

Unlike Richard Dawkins, the Revised Edition, Contemporary Creed sees no conflict between evolution and God, faith and modern science. But what sort of God creates a violent universe with a Big Bang almost 14 billion years ago and appears to do little or nothing to prevent built-in suffering and natural disasters like earthquakes, famines, disabled children and cancers? The Christian God leaves a lot unexplained! Some writers give superficial answers whereas Morris — who helps care for his own handicapped grandson — gets to the root of difficulties and succeeds in finding credible pathways through sixty problems of Christian beliefs and ethics. He writes for believers and unbelievers: for Christians like himself who admit their doubts, and for atheists and agnostics interested in life’s big questions. His unusual format of 90% prose and 10% original poetry is entertaining, and the style straightforward everyday language, offering conclusions that are often open-ended, undogmatic. His systematic theology becomes a brief A-Z that may be read in any order for individual Bible study, or by house groups that want a provocative structure for lively discussion.

The Apostles' Creed is a treasure trove of basic Christian beliefs and wisdom that helps ensure the integrity and orthodoxy of our faith. Sadly, modern churches have often hesitated to embrace the ancient creeds because of our "nothing but the Bible" tradition. In What Christians Ought to Believe Michael Bird will open your eyes to the possibilities of the Apostles' Creed as a way to explore and understand the essential teachings of the Christian faith. Bringing together theological commentary, tips for application, and memorable illustrations, What Christians Ought to Believe summarizes the basic tenets of the Christian faith using the Apostles' Creed as its entryway. After first emphasizing the importance of creeds for the formation of the Christian faith, each chapter, following the Creed's outline, introduces the Father, the Son, and the Spirit and the Church. An appendix includes the Apostles' Creed in the original Latin and Greek. What Christians Ought to Believe is ideally suited for both the classroom and the church setting to teach beginning students and laypersons the basics of what Christians ought to affirm if they are to be called Christians.

How can the things we do and say in Church impact our lives and shape the decisions we make on a daily basis? What kind of life is implied for people who believe the things that Christians believe? Faithful Living attempts to think through these questions and considers the formational impact worship can have on Christian ethics, and therefore on the lives of Christian disciples. It focuses on one of the Church’s regular practices, reciting the Nicene Creed, and offers an ethical commentary on the Creed’s key ideas and themes, challenging Christians from all traditions to think through their faith in order to live faith-fully before God. In so doing, it seeks to hold Christian belief and practice (what are often more formally called doctrine and practice) together. Each chapter addresses one clause from the Creed, attending to its theological meaning, before turning to the ethical implications associated with it. Topics include community, food, politics, disability, suffering, hope, discernment, and catechesis.

Over 3 million copies sold! Essential reading for Catholics of all walks of life. Here it is - the first new Catechism of the Catholic Church in more than 400 years, a complete summary of what Catholics around the world commonly believe. The Catechism draws on the Bible, the Mass, the Sacraments, Church tradition and teaching, and the lives of saints. It comes with a complete index, footnotes and cross-references for a fuller understanding of every subject. The word catechism means "instruction" - this book will serve as the standard for all future catechisms. Using the tradition of explaining what the Church believes (the Creed), what she celebrates (the Sacraments), what she lives (the Commandments), and what she prays (the Lord's Prayer), the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers challenges for believers and answers for all those interested in learning about the mystery of the Catholic faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a positive, coherent and contemporary map for our spiritual journey toward transformation.

By the time Christianity became a political and cultural force in the Roman Empire, it had come to embody a new moral vision. This wise and eloquent book describes the formative years--from the crucifixion of Jesus to the end of the second century of the common era--when Christian beliefs and practices shaped their unique moral order. Wayne A. Meeks examines the surviving documents from Christianity's beginnings (some of which became the New Testament) and shows that they are largely concerned with the way converts to the movement should behave. Meeks finds that for these Christians, the formation of morals means the formation of community; the documents are addressed not to individuals but to groups, and they have among their primary aims the maintenance and growth of these groups. Meeks paints a picture of the process of socialization that produced the early forms of Christian morality, discussing many factors that made the Christians feel that they were a single and "chosen" people. He describes, for example, the impact of conversion; the rapid spread of Christian household cult-associations in the cities of the Roman Empire; the language of Christian moral discourse as revealed in letters, testaments, and "moral stories"; the rituals, meetings, and institutionalization of charity; the Christians' feelings about celibacy, sex, and gender roles; and their sense of the end-time and final judgment. In each of these areas Meeks seeks to determine what is distinctive about the Christian viewpoint and what is similar to the moral components of Greco-Roman or Jewish thought.