Via Crucis

Besides being a meditation on the way of the cross, this book reminds the reader that in Jesus, our God has revealed his complete, personal, and total love for each person that he has created.

Whereas liberal arts and sciences education arguably has European roots, European universities have evolved over the last century to become advanced research institutions, mainly offering academic training in specialized disciplines. The Bologna process, started by the European Union in the late nineties, encouraged European institutions of higher education to broaden their curricula and to commit to undergraduate education with increased vigor. One of the results is that Europe is currently witnessing a proliferation of liberal arts and sciences colleges and broad bachelor degrees. This edited volume fills a gap in the literature by providing reflections on the recent developments in Europe with regard to higher education in the liberal arts and sciences. The first section includes reflections from either side of the Atlantic about the nature and aims of liberal arts and sciences education and the way in which it takes shape, or should take shape in European institutions of higher learning. The edited volume takes as a distinct approach to liberal arts and sciences education by focusing on the unique way in which core texts – i.e. classic texts from philosophical, historical, literary or cultural traditions involving “the best that has been written” – meet the challenges of modern higher education in general and in Europe in particular. This approach is manifested explicitly in the second section that focuses on how specific core texts promote the goals of liberal arts and sciences education, including the teaching methods, curricular reflections, and personal experiences of teaching core texts. The edited volume is based on a selection of papers presented at a conference held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in September 2015. It is meant to impart the passion that teachers and administrators share about developing the liberal arts and sciences in Europe with the help of core texts in order to provide students with a well-rounded, formative, and genuinely liberal education.

Franz Liszt is most well-known for his compositions for piano and orchestra, but his influence is also strong in chamber music, choral music, and orchestral transcriptions. This new collection of essays presents a scholarly overview of all of the composer's work, providing the most comprehensive and current treatment of both his oeuvre and the immense amount of secondary literature written about it. Highly regarded critics and scholars write for both a general and academic audience, covering all of Liszt's major compositions as well as the neglected gems found among his choral and chamber works. Following an outline of the subject's life, The Liszt Companion goes on to detail Liszt's critical reception in the German press, his writings and letters, his piano and orchestral works, his neglected secular choral works, and his major organ compositions. Also explored here are his little-known chamber pieces and his songs. An exhaustive bibliography and index of works conclude the volume. This work will both elucidate aspects of Liszt's most famous work and revive interest in those pieces that deserve and require greater attention.

Struggle, failure, triumph: while triumph is the thing sought, struggle has its joy, and failure is not without its uses. "It is not the goal," says Jean Paul, "but the course which makes us happy." The law of life is what a great orator affirmed of oratory--"Action, action, action!" As soon as one point is gained, another, and another presents itself. "It is a mistake," says Samuel Smiles, "to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failure." He cites, among others, the example of Cowper, who, through his diffidence and shyness, broke down when pleading his first cause, and lived to revive the poetic art in England; and that of Goldsmith, who failed in passing as a surgeon, and yet wrote the "Deserted Village" and the "Vicar of Wakefield." Even when one turns to no new course, how many failures, as a rule, mark the way to triumph, and brand into life, as with a hot iron, the lessons of defeat!

This book is illustrated with the representations in relief of the 14 events singled out for contemplation of the Passion of Christ, usually found along the walls of the nave of Catholic Churches and a painting by El Greco of Christ on the Cross with Mary, John and Mary Magdalene. The Stations of the Cross, or "Via Crucis" (or "Via Dolorosa") as it is called in Latin, is a devotion that consists of meditating on 14 events which took place during the Passion of Christ, from His being condemned to His burial. The Way of the Cross of this eBook includes the method composed by St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). The reference to Bible passages and the stanzas of the "Stabat Mater" have been added.