Fires Of Faith

The reign of Mary Tudor has been remembered as an era of sterile repression, when a reactionary monarch launched a doomed attempt to reimpose Catholicism on an unwilling nation. Above all, the burning alive of more than 280 men and women for their religious beliefs seared the rule of “Bloody Mary' into the protestant imagination as an alien aberration in the onward and upward march of the English-speaking peoples. In this controversial reassessment, the renowned reformation historian Eamon Duffy argues that Mary's regime was neither inept nor backward looking. Led by the queen's cousin, Cardinal Reginald Pole, Mary's church dramatically reversed the religious revolution imposed under the child king Edward VI. Inspired by the values of the European Counter-Reformation, the cardinal and the queen reinstated the papacy and launched an effective propaganda campaign through pulpit and press. Even the most notorious aspect of the regime, the burnings, proved devastatingly effective. Only the death of the childless queen and her cardinal on the same day in November 1558 brought the protestant Elizabeth to the throne, thereby changing the course of English history.

author Brock Brower -hardback History of the bible beginning

This book traces the origins of a faith--perhaps the faith of the century. Modern revolutionaries are believers, no less committed and intense than were Christians or Muslims of an earlier era. What is new is the belief that a perfect secular order will emerge from forcible overthrow of traditional authority. This inherently implausible idea energized Europe in the nineteenth century, and became the most pronounced ideological export of the West to the rest of the world in the twentieth century. Billington is interested in revolutionaries--the innovative creators of a new tradition. His historical frame extends from the waning of the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century to the beginnings of the Russian Revolution in the early twentieth century. The theater was Europe of the industrial era; the main stage was the journalistic offices within great cities such as Paris, Berlin, London, and St. Petersburg. Billington claims with considerable evidence that revolutionary ideologies were shaped as much by the occultism and proto-romanticism of Germany as the critical rationalism of the French Enlightenment. The conversion of social theory to political practice was essentially the work of three Russian revolutions: in 1905, March 1917, and November 1917. Events in the outer rim of the European world brought discussions about revolution out of the school rooms and press rooms of Paris and Berlin into the halls of power. Despite his hard realism about the adverse practical consequences of revolutionary dogma, Billington appreciates the identity of its best sponsors, people who preached social justice transcending traditional national, ethnic, and gender boundaries. When this book originally appeared The New Republic hailed it as "remarkable, learned and lively," while The New Yorker noted that Billington "pays great attention to the lives and emotions of individuals and this makes his book absorbing." It is an invaluable work of history and contribution to our understanding of political life.

"Waiting on God is difficult. We have not been promised a smooth voyage, but God does promise us a safe landing. . . . We want to comfortably rest on placid waters . . . but, we are called to bitter trials. . . . Patience means waiting. How do we wait? Patience is not a do-nothing policy. Especially when we are passing through hard places. . . ." In Faith in the Fire, civil rights activist and social-justice pioneer Dr. Gardner Taylor shares the inspirational wisdom gained throughout his extraordinary career as one of America’s most legendary and beloved preachers. The treasures collected here will inspire readers to pause and reflect on their lives and faith. Contained in this volume are Dr. Taylor’s observations, reflections, and teachings on subjects ranging from fear and faith to politics and integrity to wisdom and laughter. Each chapter’s eloquent messages have been selected to engage readers and support their deeper spiritual inquiry. CD NOT INCLUDED.

In the 1990s, churches across the southeastern United States were targeted and set ablaze. These arsonists predominately targeted African American congregations and captured the attention of the media nationwide. Using oral histories, newspaper accounts, and governmental reports, Christopher Strain gives a chronological account of the series of church fires. Burning Faith considers the various forces at work, including government responses, civil rights groups, religious forces, and media coverage, in providing a thorough, comprehensive analysis of the events and their fallout. Arguing that these church fires symbolize the breakdown of communal bonds in the nation, Strain appeals for the revitalization of united Americans and the return to a sense of community. Combining scholarly sophistication with popular readability, Strain has produced one of the first histories of the last decade and demonstrates that the increasing fragmentation of community in America runs deeper than race relations or prejudice. A volume in the series Southern Dissent, edited by Stanley Harrold and Randall M. Miller

Are there really laws governing the universe? Or is the order we see a mere artifact of the way evolution wired the brain? And is what we call science only a set of myths in which quarks, DNA, and information fill the role once occupied by gods? These questions lie at the heart of George Johnson's audacious exploration of the border between science and religion, cosmic accident and timeless law. Northern New Mexico is home both to the most provocative new enterprises in quantum physics, information science, and the evolution of complexity and to the cosmologies of the Tewa Indians and the Catholic Penitentes. As it draws the reader into this landscape, juxtaposing the systems of belief that have taken root there, Fire in the Mind into a gripping intellectual adventure story that compels us to ask where science ends and religion begins. "A must for all those seriously interested in the key ideas at the frontier of scientific discourse."--Paul Davies

Decades fighting other people’s fires prepared Kelvin Cochran to face his own fiery trial. He overcame poverty, prejudice, and pain to fulfill a childhood dream of helping others, rising to the top of firefighting’s professional ladder in Atlanta, Georgia. At one time nationally recognized as “America’s fire chief,” Kelvin unexpectedly found himself caught in a fireball of controversy over his orthodox Christian beliefs, for which he ultimately was fired by the city—making him a focal point in a national battle over religious freedom. Misrepresented by activists and the media, Kelvin relied on his faith to bring him through. In due course he emerged from the flames of scandal unscathed, like the friends of the prophet Daniel who were thrown into the burning furnace. Kelvin’s story is a sobering warning of how Christians faithful to biblical teachings are increasingly at risk of persecution in today’s culture. It is also an inspiring example of overcoming racial prejudice and adversity, and finding the courage to take the heat and stand for the truth.