The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell

The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell
Author: Dyan Elliott
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2011-11-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812206932

The early Christian writer Tertullian first applied the epithet "bride of Christ" to the uppity virgins of Carthage as a means of enforcing female obedience. Henceforth, the virgin as Christ's spouse was expected to manifest matronly modesty and due submission, hobbling virginity's ancient capacity to destabilize gender roles. In the early Middle Ages, the focus on virginity and the attendant anxiety over its possible loss reinforced the emphasis on claustration in female religious communities, while also profoundly disparaging the nonvirginal members of a given community. With the rising importance of intentionality in determining a person's spiritual profile in the high Middle Ages, the title of bride could be applied and appropriated to laywomen who were nonvirgins as well. Such instances of democratization coincided with the rise of bridal mysticism and a progressive somatization of female spirituality. These factors helped cultivate an increasingly literal and eroticized discourse: women began to undergo mystical enactments of their union with Christ, including ecstatic consummations and vivid phantom pregnancies. Female mystics also became increasingly intimate with their confessors and other clerical confidants, who were sometimes represented as stand-ins for the celestial bridegroom. The dramatic merging of the spiritual and physical in female expressions of religiosity made church authorities fearful, an anxiety that would coalesce around the figure of the witch and her carnal induction into the Sabbath.

Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell
Author: Emanuel Swedenborg
Publisher:
Total Pages: 436
Release: 1758
Genre: Future life
ISBN:

To Catch a Bride

To Catch a Bride
Author: Anne Gracie
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2009-09-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101140038

Rafe’s Story Rafe Ramsey, son of the late Earl of Axbridge, doesn’t believe in love. But that doesn’t mean he’s willing to accept the marriage of convenience devised by his family to ensure the line of succession. Instead he impulsively takes on the task of tracking down the missing granddaughter of a wealthy English family, and heads off to faraway lands. In Egypt, he finds not a frightened young girl, but a beautiful woman who is running from something far more serious than an unwanted betrothal… Ayisha is no longer a wide-eyed, gullible child, and after six years on the streets, she is no man’s easy prey. However, she is no match for Rafe’s maneuvers…or his kisses. Before long she finds herself headed back to England with Rafe to embrace a new life and a new family. But when the dark secrets of her past catch up with her, it threatens to destroy them both. And Rafe will be forced to choose between the beliefs of a lifetime-and love.

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut
Author: Brad Jersak
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1630871281

Everlasting hell and divine judgment, a lake of fire and brimstone--these mainstays of evangelical tradition have come under fire once again in recent decades. Would the God of love revealed by Jesus really consign the vast majority of humankind to a destiny of eternal, conscious torment? Is divine mercy bound by the demands of justice? How can anyone presume to know who is saved from the flames and who is not? Reacting to presumptions in like manner, others write off the fiery images of final judgment altogether. If there is a God who loves us, then surely all are welcome into the heavenly kingdom, regardless of their beliefs or behaviors in this life. Yet, given the sheer volume of threat rhetoric in the Scriptures and the wickedness manifest in human history, the pop-universalism of our day sounds more like denial than hope. Mercy triumphs over judgment; it does not skirt it. Her Gates Will Never Be Shut endeavors to reconsider what the Bible and the Church have actually said about hell and hope, noting a breadth of real possibilities that undermines every presumption. The polyphony of perspectives on hell and hope offered by the prophets, apostles, and Jesus humble our obsessive need to harmonize every text into a neat theological system. But they open the door to the eternal hope found in Revelation 21-22: the City whose gates will never be shut; where the Spirit and Bride perpetually invite the thirsty who are outside the city to "Come, drink of the waters of life."

A Divine Revelation of Heaven & Hell

A Divine Revelation of Heaven & Hell
Author: Mary K. Baxter
Publisher:
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2019-09-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781641232784

In A Divine Revelation of Heaven, after thirty nights in which God gave her visions of the depths of hell and the punishments of the lost, Mary K. Baxter was shown for ten nights the glories of heaven--the home of redeemed souls. Included in this book are her depictions of heaven's gates, angels, music, worship, storehouses of blessings, joyful heavenly citizens, four living creatures, and brilliant throne of God. Mary also describes heaven's perfect order and purpose, what happens to children, and much more. These breathtaking glimpses of heaven, interspersed with applicable Bible verses, will turn your heart toward the beauty and joy that await every believer in Christ. In A Divine Revelation of Hell, over a period of thirty nights, God gave Mary K. Baxter visions of hell and commissioned her to tell people still alive on earth to reject sin and evil, and to choose life in Christ. Here is an account of the place and beings of hell contrasted with the glories of heaven. Follow Mary in her supernatural journey as she enters with Jesus into a gateway to hell and encounters the sights, sounds, and smells of that dark place of torment, including its evil spirits, cells, pits, jaws, and heart. Be an eyewitness to the various punishments of lost souls and hear their shocking stories. This book is a reminder that each of us needs to accept the miracle of salvation before it is too late--and to intercede for those who do not yet know Christ. Time is running out.

Forever

Forever
Author: Bobby Angel
Publisher: Pauline Books and Media
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2019-03-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0819827444

Get your marriage off to a great start--or renew the marriage you've shared for years--with this six-week devotional for couples, which takes inspiration from Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body. Experts Jackie François Angel and Bobby Angel will teach you how to pray together as a couple, opening you up to the wonders that God bestows on your marriage.

Crux, Mors, Inferi

Crux, Mors, Inferi
Author: Samuel D Renihan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2021-03-16
Genre:
ISBN:

Where was Christ's soul between his death and resurrection? Was it in heaven? Did it descend to the dead? This book answers that question, in two parts. The first half of the book is dedicated to exegesis, looking at what the Scriptures tell us about this important issue. The second half of the book is dedicated to historical sources relating to the doctrine of the descent in Protestant Churches in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The Choice

The Choice
Author: Thomas E. Trask
Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company
Total Pages: 312
Release: 1999
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780310227847

This stirring book urges believers to realize that everyone is responsible to reach the lost and that everyone can have the power to do all that God has asked them to do.