Of God and Pelicans

Of God and Pelicans
Author: Jay Byrd McDaniel
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Total Pages: 176
Release: 1989-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780664250768

Jay McDaniel's book discusses the understanding of God's relationship to all living things, the foundations and guidelines for a life-centered ethic, the understanding of Christian spirituality, and feminism. It is a powerful statement on justice, peace, and respect for the integrity of all creation.

The Wisdom of Pelicans

The Wisdom of Pelicans
Author: Donald W. McCullough
Publisher:
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2004-01-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780786260782

Donald McCullough, a respected Presbyterian pastor and president of San Francisco Theological Seminary, watched his world tumble down around him when a private confession of an affair became public. Writing with courage and absolute candor, McCullough describes the pain of hitting bottom, and how watching the pelicans at the ocean shore helped him to recover the hope - and the faith - he thought he had lost forever.

How to Read Your Way to Heaven

How to Read Your Way to Heaven
Author: Vicki Burbach
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2017-01-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1622823605

Many of us commit to some form of spiritual reading, but we find that our book choices are sporadic and often based on a whim rather than following a purposeful plan. Designed for individual or group settings, How to Read Your Way to Heaven will guide your quest to delve deeper into a relationship with Christ by meditating on the written word while organizing your reading around the four pillars of the Catholic Faith — the Creed, the sacraments, morality, and prayer. How to Read Your Way to Heaven is not merely another book to read. It is designed to be an invaluable tool for guiding and organizing your reading to help you on your journey to become a saint. And best of all, this fully integrated do-it-yourself spiritual reading program that can be easily followed by the busiest of Catholics with the tightest of schedules. By following this plan, you’ll meditate daily on Sacred Scripture and read the entirety of the Catechism over the course of the program. You’ll be introduced to a treasure-trove of the greatest Catholic books ever written, and you’ll learn prayerful reading methods such as lectio divina as well as time-tested advice on where and when to read. Here you’ll also find a list of the favorite books by leading Catholics of our day, including Bishop James Conley, Fr. Mike Schmitz, Fr. C.J. McCloskey, Jennifer Fulwiler, Peter Kreeft, Patrick Coffin, Karl Keating, Lisa Hendey, Fr. Timothy Gallagher, Mike Aquilina, and so many more. Spiritual reading arms us for battle. We are called to be saints, and yet daily we are bombarded by a culture that drives our minds and hearts away from the supernatural life. Because what we choose to read makes a significant difference in our spiritual growth and understanding, we present this structured reading guide to help you read with a purpose.

The Way of Beauty

The Way of Beauty
Author: David Clayton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2015-07-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781621381419

In The Way of Beauty, David Clayton describes how a true Catholic education is both a program of liturgical catechesis and an inculturation that aims for the supernatural transformation of the person so that he can in turn transfigure the whole culture through the divine beauty of his daily action. There is no human activity, no matter how mundane, that cannot be enhanced by this formation in beauty. Such enhanced activity then resonates in harmony with the common good and, through its beauty, draws all people to the Church--and ultimately to the worship of God in the Sacred Liturgy. The Way of Beauty will be of profound interest not only to artists, architects, and composers, but also to educators, who can apply its principles in home and classroom for the formation and education of children and students of all ages and at all levels--family, homeschooling, high school, college, and university. "Since the good, the true, and the beautiful are a manifestation of the Trinity, it is always a grievous fault to leave beauty out of any discussion of the relationship between faith and reason. This being so, I am thrilled at the way David Clayton illustrates how beauty stands in eternal communion with the good and the true."--JOSEPH PEARCE, Aquinas College "In spite of the great proclamation that the sacred liturgy is the font and apex of all we are about as Catholics, fifty years after the Council we still seem far from seeing and living this truth in all its fullness. Drawing upon years of experience as artist and teacher, David Clayton thoroughly unpacks this truth and shows, with an impressive range of examples, how it can and should play out every day in our schools, academic curricula, cultural endeavors, and practice of the fine arts. His treatment of the ways in which architecture, liturgy, and music reflect the mathematical ordering of the cosmos and the hierarchy of created being is illuminating and exciting. The Way of Beauty is a manifesto for the re-integration of the truth laid hold of in intellectual disciplines, the beauty aspired to in art and worship, and the good embodied in morals and manners. Ambitiously integrative yet highly practical, this book ought to be in the hands of every Catholic educator, pastor, and artist."--PETER KWASNIEWSKI, Wyoming Catholic College "In The Way of Beauty, David Clayton offers us a mini-liberal arts education. The book is a counter-offensive against a culture that so often seems to have capitulated to a 'will to ugliness.' He shows us the power in beauty not just where we might expect it--in the visual arts and music--but in domains as diverse as math, theology, morality, physics, astronomy, cosmology, and liturgy. But more than that, his study of beauty makes clear the connection between liturgy, culture, and evangelization, and offers a way to reinvigorate our commitment to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the twenty-first century. I am grateful for this book and hope many will take its lessons to heart."--JAY W. RICHARDS, Catholic University of America "Every pope who has promoted the new evangelization has spoken about how essential 'the way of beauty' is in engaging the modern world with the Gospel. What is it about the experience of beauty that can arrest the heart, crack it open, and stir its deepest longings, leading us on a pilgrimage to God? David Clayton's book provides compelling answers."--CHRISTOPHER WEST, Founder and President of The Cor Project DAVID CLAYTON is an internationally acclaimed Catholic artist, teacher, and published writer on sacred art, liturgy, and culture. He was Fellow and Artist in Residence at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire from 2009 until May 2015 and is the founder of the Way of Beauty program, which has been taught for college credit, featured on television, and is now presented in this book.

Consider the Birds

Consider the Birds
Author: Debbie Blue
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2013-08-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1426775903

From biblical times to today, humans have found meaning and significance in the actions and symbolism of birds. We admire their mystery and manners, their strength and fragility, their beauty and their ugliness—and perhaps compare these very characteristics to their own lives in the process. Though admired today, the birds of Scripture are largely unseen and underappreciated. From the well-known image of the dove to the birds that gorge on the flesh of the defeated “beast” in Revelation, birds play a dynamic part in Scripture. They bring bread to the prophets. They are food for the wanderers. As sacrifices, they are the currency of mercy. Highlighting 10 birds throughout Scripture, author Debbie Blue explores their significance in both familiar and unfamiliar biblical stories and illustrates how and why they have represented humanity across culture, Christian tradition, art, and contemporary psyche. With these (usually) minor characters at the forefront of human imaginations, poignant life lessons illuminate such qualities as desire and gratitude, power and vulnerability, insignificance and importance—even as readers gain a better understanding that God’s mysterious grace is sometimes most evident in His simplest of creatures.

The Day of the Pelican

The Day of the Pelican
Author: Katherine Paterson
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2009-10-19
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 054741739X

2013 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award Meli Lleshi is positive that her drawing of her teacher with his pelican nose started it all. The Lleshis are Albanians living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors, and suddenly they are homeless refugees. Old and young alike, they find their courage tested by hunger, illness, the long, arduous journey, and danger on every side. Then, unexpectedly, they are brought to America by a church group and begin a new life in a small Vermont town. The events of 9/11 bring more challenges for this Muslim family--but this country is their home now and there can be no turning back.A compassionate, powerful novel by a master storyteller.

Like a Pelican in the Wilderness

Like a Pelican in the Wilderness
Author: Stelios Ramphos
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000
Genre: Apophthegmata Patrum
ISBN: 9781885652409

A dialogue with the teachings of the desert fathers, to see what light they can shed on some of the central theological issues of today.

The Pelican

The Pelican
Author: Martin Michael Driessen
Publisher: AmazonCrossing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Friendship
ISBN: 9781542044875

"[A] funny, serious, clever novel." --The New York Times From award-winning Dutch author Martin Michael Driessen comes a fearlessly funny tragedy about an improbable friendship, unstable dreams, missed opportunities, and epic coincidence. In a quiet coastal town in Yugoslavia, two men seeking more than the Communist regime can offer find their lives deceitfully entwined. Andrej is a postman in complete denial of his existence. He yearns for respect and fame but commits petty crimes for reasons he doesn't fully comprehend. Josip is an increasingly irrelevant cable car operator and unfaithfully married. Life was so much simpler when neither one knew the other's secrets. Now that they do--discovered quite by accident--each man has resorted to blackmailing the other. As their anonymous misdeeds escalate, a farce of mutual dependency begins. So does the unlikeliest of friendships when Andrej and Josip finally meet face-to-face. In a tale set against the impending wars, Martin Michael Driessen ingeniously explores the foibles of two painfully ordinary men boldly staking their claims on life.

The Birds, Our Teachers

The Birds, Our Teachers
Author: John Stott
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781598566826

Stott's labor of loveBiblical lessons from a lifelong bird watcherJohn Stott traces his lifelong love of bird-watching back to boyhood country walks with his father, who told him to shut his mouth and open his eyes and ears. Because of these lessons in observation, Stott learned to carry his binoculars and camera with him wherever he travels. In this unique and intriguing book, he takes seriously Jesus' exhortation on the Sermon on the Mount, Behold the fowls of the air (Matt. 6:26). He reveals lessons on faith from the feeding of ravens, on repentance from the migration of storks, on freedom from the flight of the eagle, on joy from the song of the lark and more.Illustrated with full-color photographs taken by the author in his travels around the world, The Birds Our Teachers combines information about birds with biblical truths and personal anecdotes that will fascinate bird-lovers and Bible readers.DVD includes audio-visual footage from Stott's trip to the Falkland Islands, as well as a separate audio book track. Stott calls his work an introduction to the science of orni-theology.