Crossing The Threshold

A great international bestseller, the book in which, on the eve of the millennium, Pope John Paul II brings to an accessible level the profoundest theological concerns of our lives. He goes to the heart of his personal beliefs and speaks with passion about the existence of God; about the dignity of man; about pain, suffering, and evil; about eternal life and the meaning of salvation; about hope; about the relationship of Christianity to other faits and that of Catholicism to other branches of the Christian faith.With the humility and generosity of spirit for which he is known, John Paul II speaks directly and forthrightly to all people. His message: Be not afraid!

New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan weaves the intimate, unputdownable story of an investigator confronting the most important--and most dangerous--mystery of her career. Investigative reporter Max Revere has cracked many cases, but the one investigation she's never attempted is the mystery from her own past. Her mother abandoned her when she was nine, sending her periodic postcards, but never returning to reclaim her daughter. Seven years after the postcards stop coming, Martha Revere is declared legally dead, with no sign of what may have happened to her. Until now. With a single clue—that her mother’s car disappeared sixteen years ago in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay—Max drops everything to finally seek the truth. As Max investigates, and her mother's story unfolds, she realizes that Martha teamed up with a con man. They traveled the world living off Martha’s trust and money they conned from others. Though no one claims to know anything about Martha or her disappearance, Max suspects more than one person is lying. When she learns the FBI has an active investigation into the con man, Max knows she’s on the right path. But as Max digs into the dark secrets of this idyllic community, the only thing she might find is the same violent end as her mother.

Who is Hindu, who is Muslim? The answer, according to Dominique-Sila Khan, is not as simple as generally assumed. By analyzing documentary sources as well as original field data, she examines the shaping of religious identities in South Asia, particularly in North India. The author argues that the perception of Islam and Hinduism as two monolithic and perpetually antagonistic faiths coexisting uneasily in South Asia has become so deeply ingrained that the complexity of the historical fabric is often overlooked or ignored. She demonstrates how the emergence of clear-cut categories is a comparatively recent phenomenon, and shows how the past is characterized by a remarkable fluidity and diversity in the social and religious milieus of the two faiths. In exploring the historical mechanisms that have led to the emergence and crystallization of religious identities the author sheds light on the increasing number of conflicts which threaten the harmonious co-existence of South Asian communities today.

Voytilla takes the mythic structure developed by Christopher Vogler in "The Writer's Journey" and applies this idea to 50 classic motion pictures. 100 original carts with mythic icons.

Crossing the Threshold is the official history of the role played by the Marriage Equality organisation in leading the way for the successful passage of same-sex marriage in Ireland. Featuring contributions from lead campaigners, their personal perspectives will inspire anyone with an interest in campaigning for social justice, anyone who volunteered, marched or canvased, or who wished to know how the drive for marriage equality played out over the previous decade. Leading figures, including Katherine Zappone, Ann Louise Gilligan, Gráinne Healy, Brian Sheehan and Niall Crowley, broach everything from fundraising and political strategic support to personal efforts and sacrifices, giving a full understanding of the multi-faceted undertaking of running a campaign that continues as a shining example of what it means to strive for a socially progressive Ireland. Crossing the Threshold is the swansong of all those involved - an insightful confirmation of everything that has been achieved. Hear the voices of the campaigners and examine the details of the strategies adopted that changed Irish hearts and minds to say Yes to equality in the Marriage Referendum 2015.

In Crossing the Threshold, Metaphors of an Evolving Faith, Harlene Walker invites us to accompany her on a metaphorical hike through her cathedral forest while she explores her Christian faith and spirituality. In the land of “don’t know,” the landscape changes radically until we finally come to an open garden of compassion. Her faith-life evolves: realistically she recognizes that our society has evolved from post-Christian to post-theistic. In this new paradigm, as she laughs, cries, and feels frustrated or surprised, she sees both her spirituality and her faith strengthen. She has prepared herself, and us, to grow deeper into the wisdom of the heart and soul. As we accompany her through many personal conversions, Walker shows us that crossing thresholds is the work of body, mind, and spirit, and that there is more than one threshold to cross.

The theory of evolution is considered the unifying theory of biology. An accurate understanding of evolution is vital both for the understanding of diverse topics in biology, but also for societal issues such as antibiotic resistance or biodiversity. In contrast, decades of research in science education have revealed that students have difficulties to accurately understand evolutionary processes such as mutation and natural selection. The majority of this research relies on a conceptual framework of so-called key concepts (variation, selection, inheritance), derived from scholarly descriptions of natural selection. Recent research suggests that non-domain specific concepts such as randomness, probability, spatial and temporal scales, so called threshold concepts, are important for evolution understanding in addition to the key concepts. Thus, many important elements of evolutionary theory are counter-intuitive or lie outside direct perception. Hence, representations such as visualizations, models and simulations are considered to be important for teaching and learning evolution. While the importance of visualizations is generally acknowledged for science education, less is known about how visual design can facilitate students understanding of threshold concepts, such as random mutations or spatial scales. This thesis uses the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER) as the guiding framework for exploring the significance of threshold concepts by analysing the conceptual content of students’ explanations and extant visualizations of natural selection. MER combines scientific content with teaching and learning perspectives for the analysis and design of learning environments. Content analysis of visualizations available online showed that most fail to fully represent the basic principles of natural selection (variation, selection and inheritance). Moreover, the representational potential of visualizations was seldom used to represent threshold concepts such as randomness in origin of variation. Visualizations were also biased to animals as the context of evolution. Similarly, upper-secondary and tertiary students’ explanations of natural selection were seldom complete in terms of the basic principles and threshold concepts such as randomness were often lacking. Especially significant was the almost complete lack of randomness in upper-secondary students’ explanations. In addition, threshold concepts were context-sensitive across the items used (bacteria, cheetah and salamander), for example spatial scale and randomness was significantly more common in responses to the bacteria item compared to the cheetah and salamander items. Considering the results from these studies, three interactive visualizations were developed (evolution of antibiotic resistance and fur colouration in mice). The visualization design was conducted iteratively following a Design-Based Research approach and evaluated in classroom settings in secondary and upper-secondary Swedish schools. The results showed that visualizations targeting randomness and genetic level events such as mutations can guide students towards a more scientific conception of natural selection. However, there were differences across the visualizations and student samples. In addition, while students often inferred randomness from the visuals, the results showed that integration of randomness into explanations of natural selection may be challenging. Hence, future research should explore the role of guidance and reflection for students understanding of randomness. The thesis also discusses the role of students’ intuitive conceptions in relation to the use of interactive visualizations and how these preconceptions interact with the presented message. By using the theory of frame semantics, framing effects and conceptual integration, students’ issues of achieving an accurate understanding of evolution are discussed in relation to the theory of conceptual change. Implications for teaching and learning natural selection as well as visualization design for learning are also discussed. Evolutionsteorin förs ofta fram som biologins förenande teori. Vikten av en korrekt och användbar evolutionsförståelse har därför ofta betonats, inte minst för elevers förståelse inom biologins olika delområden men också för att fatta beslut i samhällsfrågor som exempelvis antibiotikaresistens. Många av de centrala delarna av evolutionsteorin är kontraintuitiva eller abstrakta och decennier av forskning har visat att elever har svårigheter att förstå evolutionära processer som mutation och naturligt urval. Representationer såsom visualiseringar, modeller och simuleringar är därför viktiga för att ge elever direkta erfarenheter av evolutionära processer. Även om vikten av visualiseringar är allmänt accepterad inom naturvetenskapsundervisning så är det mindre känt hur visualiseringars utformning specifikt bidrar till att utveckla elevers förståelse av vetenskapliga fenomen såsom evolution. Dessutom har forskningen på elevers evolutionsförståelse till stor del fokuserat på så kallade nyckelbegrepp (variation, selektion och arv) som härletts från vetenskapliga beskrivningar av evolutionsteorin. Dessa begrepp antas vara nödvändiga men också tillräckliga för elevers evolutionsförståelse. Dock har vikten av icke domänspecifika begrepp kopplade till evolutionsteorin, såsom slump, sannolikhet, spatial och temporala skalor (så kallade tröskelbegrepp), inte undersökts i någon högre grad. Den här avhandlingen använder Model of Educational Reconstruction för att utforska betydelsen av tröskelbegrepp för evolutionsförståelse. Med utgångspunkt i den vetenskapliga beskrivningen och historiken undersöks förekomsten av tröskelbegrepp i befintliga visualiseringar för lärande samt elevers förklaringar för att formulera designprinciper för interaktiva visualiseringar av evolution. Dessutom beskrivs utvecklingen av ett antal interaktiva visualiseringar samt undersökningar av deras potentiella användning i klassrumsmiljöer. Avhandlingen diskuterar även betydelsen av elevers intuitiva föreställningar i relation till användandet av interaktiva visualiseringar och hur dessa föreställningar interagerar med det presenterade budskapet. Genom användning av ramsemantisk teori inklusive ”framingeffekter” och ”blendteori” diskuteras elevers svårigheter och utveckling av en vetenskaplig evolutionsförståelse i relation till tidigare teorier om begreppsförändring. Konsekvenser av ”ramsemantisk teori” och ”framingeffekter” i visuella medier diskuteras även i relation till visuell design för lärande.

Through 40 eloquent prayers and small simple photographs that mirror and interpret the text, Being Home is a celebration of mindfulness. As M. Scott Peck put it, "This is simply the best book I know on the subject of the sacrament of the present moment, and a great work of devotional literature." 43 duotone photographs..