Vainglory

Julia Roberts on the red carpet at the Oscars. Lady Gaga singing “Applause” to worshipful fans at one of her sold-out concerts. And you and me in our Sunday best in the front row at church. What do we have in common? Chances are, says Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, that we all suffer from vainglory -- a keen desire for attention and approval. Although contemporary culture has largely forgotten about vainglory, it was on the original list of seven capital vices and is perhaps more dangerous than ever today. In Vainglory: The Forgotten Vice DeYoung tells the story of this vice, moving from its ancient origins to its modern expressions. She defines vainglory, gives examples from popular culture, explores motivational sources, and discusses other vices associated with it such as hypocrisy and boasting. After exposing the many ways in which vainglory can rear its ugly head, she explores personal spiritual practices that can help us resist it and community practices that can help us handle glory well.

Vainglory begins in France in 1429, the year of the Siege of Orléans, as Victoire de Gloriole regains possession of the family castle from the English following the Battle of Agincourt. Having consolidated his position by marrying a beautiful Englishwoman, Victoire sets out to rebuild a dynasty and a castle. However some years on, he finds himself without a legitimate heir, and at war with a family of scheming cousins. From Joan of Arc and the 15th century wars with the English through to Catherine de Medici and the slaughter of the Huguenots, Vainglory tells the story of a power-hungry family who will let nothing and no one get in their way. Cleverly plotted and beautifully written, it is a historical novel of rare class.

Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Al Green, and other celebrities made cameo appearances in the autobiography of author, Anthony L. Freeman, which is also a history of our times. Vignettes seem to be apparent in the reflector glasses worn by the author, a fast-moving young man bent on realizing a successful career as a vocalist. As a young black child growing up in Atlanta, Anthony suffered a childhood that was marred by accidental violence, even as his country suffered from the more intentional violence and injury, with the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. The author’s life was highlighted by danger and glamour, and the narrative culminates in the march on Forsyth County, a major civil rights march in Georgia in which the author served as a marshal on January 19, 1987. Written by an author with a narrative gift and a very readable style, Lust and Vainglory: A Close Encounter with Death and Success describes the forces and events that shaped the author’s life. Even though the author knew fear at various times of his life, he never allowed it to impede his progress.

Vainglory-- a keen desire for attention and approval. Although contemporary culture has largely forgotten about vainglory, it was on the original list of seven capital vices and is perhaps more dangerous than ever today. DeYoung tells the story of this vice, moving from its ancient origins to its modern expressions. She defines vainglory, gives examples from popular culture, and discusses other vices associated with it such as hypocrisy and boasting. She then explores personal spiritual practices that can help us resist it and community practices that can help us handle glory well.

The fourth volume in this epic and classic undertaking by one of the most notable theologians of the Roman Catholic Church. This volume features theological considerations towards such topics as Virtues, Fortitude and Temperance, Graces and States of Life and other important topics that we often take for granted in our thinking in the church and in worship towards God. These topics must be carefully considered if we are to ever have a deep understanding and love of the one true God and his son Jesus Christ.

"The Summa Theologica is the best-known work of Italian philosopher, scholar, and Dominican friar SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS (1225 1274), widely considered the Catholic Church s greatest theologian. Famously consulted (immediately after the Bible) on religious questions at the Council of Trent, Aquinas s masterpiece has been considered a summary of official Church philosophy ever since. Aquinas considers approximately 10,000 questions on Church doctrine covering the roles and nature of God, man, and Jesus, then lays out objections to Church teachings and systematically confronts each, using Biblical verses, theologians, and philosophers to bolster his arguments. In Volume III, Aquinas addresses: faith and heresy charity peace and war mercy, anger, and justice prayer truth and much more. This massive work of scholarship, spanning five volumes, addresses just about every possible query or argument that any believer or atheist could have, and remains essential, more than seven hundred years after it was written, for clergy, religious historians, and serious students of Catholic thought."

The Longman Anthology of Old English, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman Literatures provides a scholarly and accessible introduction to the literature which was the inspiration for many of the heroes of modern popular culture, from The Lord of the Rings to The Chronicles of Narnia, and which set the foundations of the English language and its literature as we know it today. Edited, translated and annotated by the editors of Beowulf and Other Stories, the anthology introduces readers to the rich and varied literature of Britain, Scandinavia and France of the period in and around the Viking Age. Ranging from the Old English epic Beowulf through to the Anglo-Norman texts which heralded the transition Middle English, thematically organised chapters present elegies, eulogies, laments and followed by material on the Viking Wars in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Vikings gods and Icelandic sagas, and a final chapter on early chivalry introduces the new themes and forms which led to Middle English literature, including Arthurian Romances and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Laying out in parallel text format selections from the most important Old English, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman works, this anthology presents translated and annotated texts with useful bibliographic references, prefaced by a headnote providing useful background and explanation.

THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA: COMPLETE EDITION SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS — A Classic in Western Philosophy and the Catholic Church — Complete and Unabridged, contains the Complete Text and Supplements — Three Parts, 38 Tracts, 631 Questions, 3,000 Articles, 10,000 Objections and Answers — Over 2.5 Million words — Includes an Active Index and multiple Table of Contents to every Part, Question and Article — Includes Layered NCX Navigation — Includes Illustrations by Gustave Dore The Summa Theologica, or 'Summary of Theology' was written from 1265 to 1274. It is the greatest achievement of Saint Thomas Aquinas and one of the most influential works of Western literature and Philosophy. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern Philosophy was conceived as a reaction against, or as an agreement with, his ideas, particularly in the areas of Ethics, Natural Law, Metaphysics, and Political Theory. It is intended as a manual for beginners in Theology and a Compendium of all of the main Theological teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. It presents the reasoning for almost all points of Christian Theology in the West. The book is famous, among other things, for its five arguments for the existence of God, the Quinque viae. The Summa Theologica's topics follow a cycle: The Existence of God; Creation, Man; Man's Purpose; Christ; The Sacraments; and back to God. The first part is on God. In it, he gives five proofs for God’s existence as well as an explication of His attributes. He argues for the actuality and incorporeality of God as the unmoved mover and describes how God moves through His thinking and willing. The second part is on Ethics. Thomas argues for a variation of the Aristotelian Virtue Ethics. However, unlike Aristotle, he argues for a connection between the virtuous man and God by explaining how the virtuous act is one towards the blessedness of the Beatific Vision (beata visio). The last part of the Summa is on Christ and was unfinished when Thomas died. In it, he shows how Christ not only offers salvation, but represents and protects humanity on Earth and in Heaven. This part also briefly discusses the sacraments and eschatology. The Summa remains the most influential of Thomas’s works. Saint Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican Priest, born near Aquino, Sicily in 1225. He was an immensely influential Philosopher and Theologian in the tradition of Scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus. He died in 1274. As one of the 33 Doctors of the Church, he is considered the Church's greatest Theologian and Philosopher. Thomas is held in the Catholic Church to be the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood. He was canonized in 1323. PUBLISHER: CATHOLIC WAY PUBLISHING