Wounded Visions

Jonas Jonson, who was directly involved with the ecumenical movement for forty years, offers in this book an inside perspective on an ever-changing global Christianity. Reviewing developments in ecumenism from the 1960s to the present, Jonson discusses the decolonization of mission, interreligious relations, “God’s preferential option for the poor,” and unity in diversity. He also maps the global ecumenical landscape and presents the “Fourth Church” — comprising charismatic, Pentecostal, and evangelical movements of the twentieth century. How did the ecumenical movement respond to the fall of communism, the opening of China, and the globalization of financial markets? Why did so many big churches, caught in the whirlwind of change, retreat from their ecumenical commitments in order to promote and protect their own interests? Jonson addresses these questions and more in this comprehensive review of global Christianity and the ecumenical movement.

Detective Eve Dallas searches the darkest corners of Manhattan for an elusive killer with a passion for collecting soulsin this novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling In Death series. On one of the city's hottest nights, New York Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas is sent to Central Park—and into a hellish new investigation. The victim is found on the rocks, just above the still, dark water of the lake. Around her neck is a single red ribbon. Her hands are posed, as if in prayer. But it is the eyes—removed with the precision of a surgeon—that have Dallas most alarmed. As more bodies turn up, each with the same defining scars, Eve is frantic for answers. Against her instincts, she accepts help from a psychic who offers one vision after another—each with shockingly accurate details of the murders. And when partner and friend Peabody is badly injured after escaping an attack, the stakes are raised. Are the eyes a symbol? A twisted religious ritual? A souvenir? With help from her husband, Roarke, Dallas must uncover the killer's motivation before another vision becomes another nightmare...

The disunity of the church is a social and theological scandal for it betrays the prayer of Jesus that we "will be one . . . so that the world will believe" (John 17:21). As a Baptist whose academic background focused on the Orthodox Church and whose teaching has included Catholic and Protestant contexts, this division is for Elizabeth Newman personal and professional. Attending to the Wounds on Christ's Body rests on the conviction that the broad tradition of Christianity already contains resources to heal the church, namely the saints of the church. Newman examines especially how Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) speaks to the whole church today in the midst of political, economic, and ecclesial brokenness. Teresa's reliance upon three scriptural figures--dwellings, marriage, and pilgrimage--helps make sense of an ecclesial way of life that is inherently unitive, a unity that stands in contrast to that of the nation-state or the global market. Teresa's scriptural journey offers an alternative at once liturgical, political, and economic. This Doctor of the Church provides "medicine" that can repair wounds of division that separate brothers and sisters in Christ.

The production, distribution, and perception of moving images are undergoing a radical transformation. Ever-faster computers, digital technology, and microelectronic are joining forces to produce advanced audiovision -the media vanishing point of the 20th century. Very little will remain unchanged. The classic institutions for the mediation of film - cinema and television - are revealed to be no more than interludes in the broader history of the audiovisual media. This book interprets these changes not simply as a cultural loss but also as a challenge: the new audiovisions have to be confronted squarely to make strategic intervention possible. Audiovisions provides a historical underpinning for this active approach. Spanning 100 years, from the end of the 19th to the end of the 20th century, it reconstructs the complex genesis of cinema and television as historically relative - and thus finite - cultural forms, focussing on the dynamics and tension in the interaction between the apparatus and its uses. The book is also a plea for "staying power" in studies of cultural technology and technological culture of film. Essayistic in style, it dispenses with complicated cross references and, instead, is structured around distinct historical phases. Montages of images and text provide supplemental information, contrast, and comment.

Healing a Wounded World is a study of world wisdom traditions in the context of the historical human problems they undertake to address and alleviate. This study takes its cues from the Sufi-inspired novel Shikasta by Nobel laureate Doris Lessing, illustrating and elucidating this modern example of the traditional practice of using fiction to convey social and spiritual lessons. In this sense, Healing a Wounded World might be described as an account of the facts behind the fiction, demonstrating commonalities of world religions in their function of diagnosing and remedying 'diseases' in the body of humanity. The immediate underlying inspiration of Healing a Wounded world, Lessing's masterwork Shikasta, presents a panoramic picture of the human condition and a dramatic description of the modern predicament. A major contribution of Lessing's work in Shikasta is in having brought to the public a wealth of spirituality and wisdom in a secular context and a nondogmatic manner relevant to everyday life, beyond the boundaries of formal religion and sectarian conventions. As a work of social criticism and a cautionary tale, the message of Shikasta is if anything more important now than ever; the current corona virus pandemic, and the rise of virulent nationalism, indeed, are dramatic reminders of the immense importance of what Doris Lessing refers to in Shikasta as 'Substance-of-We-Feeling,' essential to the survival of life on earth.

A unique look at Christian biblical interpretation and theology from the perspective of Native American tradition. This book focuses on four specific experiences of Jesus as portrayed in the synoptic gospels. It examines each story as a “vision quest,” a universal spiritual phenomenon, but one of particular importance within North American indigenous communities. Jesus’ experience in the wilderness is the first quest. It speaks to a foundational Native American value: the need to enter into the “we” rather than the “I.” The Transfiguration is the second quest, describing the Native theology of transcendent spirituality that impacts reality and shapes mission. Gethsemane is the third quest. It embodies the Native tradition of the holy men or women, who find their freedom through discipline and concerns for justice, compassion, and human dignity. Golgotha is the final quest. It represents the Native sacrament of sacrifice (e.g., the Sun Dance). The chapter on Golgotha is a discussion of kinship, balance, and harmony: all primary to Native tradition and integral to Christian thought.

If you have longed for the Father's answers as your heart has been secretly breaking...find supernatural strength and impartation, immense encouragement and renewed hope within these pages Wounded Warriors is a collection of posts from Wendy's public facebook page and additional material. These posts which appeared over the course of a year specifically recounted deeply personal prophetic and seer encounters between the Father, Jesus and Wendy during a time of her intense emotional struggle in the aftermath of seperation and divorce. Wendy's heartfelt, personal messages resonated with so many people who have also found themselves in the icy grip of abandonment and heartbreak, facing an uncertain future. This book will bring consolation and hope, joy and focus for the journey out of the loneliness and silence of the wilderness. ..".Know this, beloved child of my heart, the tsunami is over, the robbery, grief and loss of yesteryear are swiftly coming to an end." And our great and marvellous Emperor would lift your face tenderly to His and whisper, ..". It is time to rise. Come away, my beloved, come away and dance with me."