True Companions

When we quit sabotaging intimacy in our relationships by demanding unconditional love, we discover something much greater—the deeply satisfying, transformational love that is companionship. In these pages psychologist Kelly Flanagan shows how each of us has within ourselves, exactly the way we are, the gifts that are needed to cultivate the life-long relationships we are longing for, whether it is within marriage or friendship. He shows us how self-knowledge leads the way to growing in love for both God and others. He shows us how understanding our own loneliness can help us relieve the pressure on our companions. And he shows us how understanding our own psychological and emotional defenses can help us to make the choice to love more vulnerably. More than a marriage book, this is a companionship book. Anyone—from single young adults to elderly married couples, from the divorced to the widowed, from siblings to friends—can benefit from the wisdom it uncovers about what it means to be human and to be true companions. Groups, couples, and individuals can use the companion study guide for five sessions on how to show up in your most important relationships.

This collection of essays celebrates the field dogs Chris Madson has lived with, and loved, over a lifetime. There are stories of choosing pups and the trials of the early years; stories of time in wild places across North America in pursuit of pheasants, sharptails, prairie chickens, blue grouse, bobwhite, and Gambel’s quail; and stories of the bond that comes from spending years with these special companions. Madson writes with affection and humor as he remembers with a smile and a lump in the throat what these dogs have meant to him—in the field, at home, and in his heart.

How do we cultivate the life-long relationships we are longing for, whether within marriage or friendship? In his book True Companions, psychologist Kelly Flanagan shows how each of us can enjoy the deeply satisfying, transformational love of companionship. He shows us how self-knowledge leads the way to growing in love for both God and others. He shows us how understanding our own loneliness can help us relieve the pressure on our companions. And he shows us how understanding our own psychological and emotional defenses can help us to make the choice to love more vulnerably. In this five-session companion study guide, groups, couples, and individuals will learn how to show up in our most important relationships. Anyone—from single young adults to elderly married couples, from the divorced to the widowed, from siblings to friends—can benefit from the wisdom it uncovers about what it means to be human and to be true companions.

Contemporary philosopher William Desmond has many companions in thought, and one of the most important of these is Augustine. In lucid prose that draws on the riches of a vibrant philosophical-theological tradition, Renée Kӧhler-Ryan explores Desmond’s metaxological philosophy. She elaborates on how Desmond’s philosophical work in discovering how humans are constantly “between” remains in conversation with a tradition of thinkers that includes Plato, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Shakespeare. This book concentrates especially on how Desmond both draws upon and develops some of the central insights in Augustine. At the same time, it brings together philosophy, theology, and literature into a rich engagement of ideas that impact the way humans think and live. Whether considering how our elemental wonder at creation brings us closer to God, or how our most intimate revelations about being human happen in the interior space of prayer, reading Desmond with Augustine illuminates a porous and interdisciplinary space of inquiry. Companions in the Between is a unique contribution to the growing body of scholarship on William Desmond’s thought. It opens with a foreword from Desmond. Its pages will entice any reader who wants to know more about how contemporary philosophy can contest a space where philosophers are formulaically expected to shy away from divine transcendence.

Appendix C William Herschel: the greatest visual observer of all time - by Larry Mitchell -- Appendix D Image credits -- Index

Beyond religion and enlightenment a dimension of life. Those with an interest in Buddhism or Islam or Judaism or Christianity, may find a Life in the Spirit. Beyond lay alien realms of life. Climbing higher, insights into heavens and the Dimension of Eternal Life – the incomprehensible God. But there is a problem. The Holocaust has wiped out Jewish Life in the Spirit and damaged others. One man is taught how to repair. In the man’s mind a diamond around his heart and a golden chain. Later it becomes clear that is a calling from the spirit. To such the spirit explains what he needs to understand. A more complex challenge presents itself: an eternal companion. As to what she is, however, is a mystery. The Dimension of Eternal Life is sensed, seen in the mind, and interactions in his eternity become possible. Can mortals gain insights into eternal life? A tale of eternal companions, Eternity, and how it comes together. To discern sense, which is not true telepathy, between any two people is hard enough. To do so with an alien source ever so hard. Mark’s eternal companion is a heavenly being, not a soul in the spirit. She needs two ‘bodies’, Helen but mostly Lisa, to assist her preparing Mark to understand he has been born into eternity already and she is his eternal companion - a soul mate. Kim also desires to experience human life in a simulated environment, in Life in the Spirit which can be an image of life in the real world. Some chapters go into the past and explain the effort of repairing Life in the Spirit over 40 years in the 'wilderness' (confusion).

We are pleased to annouce that God’s Companions by Samuel Wells has been shortlisted for the 2007 Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing. www.michaelramseyprize.org.uk Grounded in Samuel Wells’ experience of ordinary lives in poorer neighborhoods, this book presents a striking and imaginative approach to Christian ethics. It argues that Christian ethics is founded on God, on the practices of human community, and on worship, and that ethics is fundamentally a reflection of God's abundance. Wells synthesizes dogmatic, liturgical, ethical, scriptural, and pastoral approaches to theology in order to make a bold claim for the centrality of the local church in theological reflection. He considers the abundance of gifts God gives through the practices of the Church, particularly the Eucharist. His central thesis, which governs his argument throughout, is that God gives his people everything they need to worship him, be his friends, and eat with him. Wells engages with serious scholarly material, yet sets out the issues lucidly for a student audience.

The church's relationship with depression has been fraught: for centuries, depression was assumed to be evidence of personal sin or even demonic influence. The depressed have often been ostracized or institutionalized. In recent years the conversation has begun to change, and the stigma has lessened—but as anyone who suffers from depression knows, we still have a long way to go. In Companions in the Darkness, Diana Gruver looks back into church history and finds depression in the lives of some of our most beloved saints, including Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King Jr. Without trying to diagnose these figures from a distance, Gruver tells their stories in fresh ways, taking from each a particular lesson that can encourage or guide those who suffer today. Drawing on her own experience with depression, Gruver offers a wealth of practical wisdom both for those in the darkness and those who care for them. Not only can these saints teach us valuable lessons about the experience of depression, they can also be a source of hope and empathy for us today. They can be our companions in the darkness.