Surprised By Beauty
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Author | : Robert Reilly |
Publisher | : Ignatius Press |
Total Pages | : 724 |
Release | : 2016-04-21 |
Genre | : Music |
ISBN | : 1681497042 |
The best music of the 20th century "developed our capacity for feeling, deepened our compassion, and furthered our quest for and understanding of what Aristotle called 'the perfect end of life' ". — from the Foreword by NPR music critic Ted Libbey The single greatest crisis of the 20th century was the loss of faith. Noise—and its acceptance as music—was the product of the resulting spiritual confusion and, in its turn, became the further cause of its spread. Likewise, the recovery of modern music, the theme to which this book is dedicated, stems from a spiritual recovery. This is made explicitly clear by the composers whose interviews with the author are collected in this book. Robert Reilly spells out the nature of the crisis and its solution in sections that serve as bookends to the chapters on individual composers. He does not contend that all of these composers underwent and recovered from the central crisis he describes, but they all lived and worked within its broader context, and soldiered on, writing beautiful music. For this, they suffered ridicule and neglect, and he believes their rehabilitation will change the reputation of modern music. It is the spirit of music that this book is most about, and in his efforts to discern it, Reilly has discovered many treasures. The purpose of this book is to share them, to entice you to listen—because beauty is contagious. English conductor John Eliot Gardiner writes that experiencing Bach's masterpieces "is a way of fully realizing the scale and scope of what it is to be human". The reader may be surprised by how many works of the 20th and 21st centuries of which this is also true.
Author | : Lisa-Jo Baker |
Publisher | : Tyndale House Publishers |
Total Pages | : 241 |
Release | : 2014 |
Genre | : Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | : 1414387857 |
A lawyer with a well-stamped passport and a passion for human rights, Lisa-Jo Baker never wanted to be a mom. And then she had kids. Having lost her own mother to cancer as a teenager, Lisa-Jo felt lost on her journey to womanhood and wholly unprepared to raise children.Surprised by Motherhoodis Lisa-Jo's story of becoming and being a mom, and in the process, discovering that all the "what to expect" and "how to" books in the world can never truly prepare you for the sheer exhilaration, joy, and terrifying love that accompanies motherhood.Set partly in South Africa and partly in the US (with a slight detour to Ukraine along the way), Surprised by Motherhoodis a poignant memoir of one woman's dawning realization that being a mom isn't about being perfect--it's about being present.
Author | : Carolyn Weber |
Publisher | : Thomas Nelson |
Total Pages | : 337 |
Release | : 2013-02-04 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 0849949319 |
When Carolyn Weber set out to study Romantic literature at Oxford University, she didn't give much thought to God or spiritual matters—but over the course of her studies she encountered the Jesus of the Bible and her world turned upside down. Surprised by Oxford chronicles her conversion experience with wit, humor, and insight into how becoming a Christian changed her. Carolyn Weber arrives at Oxford a feminist from a loving but broken family, suspicious of men and intellectually hostile to all things religious. As she grapples with her God-shaped void alongside the friends, classmates, and professors she meets, she tackles big questions in search of truth, love, and a life that matters. From issues of fatherhood, feminism, doubt, doctrine, and love, Weber explores the intricacies of coming to faith with an aching honesty and insight echoing that of the poets and writers she studied. Surprised by Oxford is: The witty memoir of a skeptical agnostic who comes to a dynamic personal faith in God Rich with illustration and literary references Gritty, humorous, and spiritually perceptive An inside look at Oxford University Weber eloquently describes a journey many of us have embarked upon, grappling with tough questions and doubts about the meaning of faith—and ultimately finding it in the most unlikely of places.
Author | : Chris E. W. Green |
Publisher | : Wipf and Stock Publishers |
Total Pages | : 72 |
Release | : 2018-06-11 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 1532635664 |
This book explores the deep and abiding human need for contemplation, for coming to terms with and standing in awe of the nature and character of the God revealed in the Scriptures. When so much is wrong in the world, when our lives are troubled by so many threats, both real and imagined, we must learn to look to God and to see all things, including ourselves, in the light of who he is. A life of faithful contemplation begins to free us from the bad desires, false expectations, and corrupting illusions that bind us against our will and keep us from the fullness promised in the gospel.
Author | : C. S. Lewis |
Publisher | : HarperCollins |
Total Pages | : 159 |
Release | : 2017-02-14 |
Genre | : Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | : 0062565443 |
A repackaged edition of the revered author’s spiritual memoir, in which he recounts the story of his divine journey and eventual conversion to Christianity. C. S. Lewis—the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics—takes readers on a spiritual journey through his early life and eventual embrace of the Christian faith. Lewis begins with his childhood in Belfast, surveys his boarding school years and his youthful atheism in England, reflects on his experience in World War I, and ends at Oxford, where he became "the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." As he recounts his lifelong search for joy, Lewis demonstrates its role in guiding him to find God.
Author | : N. T. Wright |
Publisher | : Zondervan |
Total Pages | : 356 |
Release | : 2008-02-05 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 0061551821 |
For years Christians have been asking, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?" It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer. It is not heaven. Award-winning author N. T. Wright outlines the present confusion about a Christian's future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright, who is one of today's premier Bible scholars, asserts that Christianity's most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection. He provides a magisterial defense for a literal resurrection of Jesus and shows how this became the cornerstone for the Christian community's hope in the bodily resurrection of all people at the end of the age. Wright then explores our expectation of "new heavens and a new earth," revealing what happens to the dead until then and what will happen with the "second coming" of Jesus. For many, including many Christians, all this will come as a great surprise. Wright convincingly argues that what we believe about life after death directly affects what we believe about life before death. For if God intends to renew the whole creation—and if this has already begun in Jesus's resurrection—the church cannot stop at "saving souls" but must anticipate the eventual renewal by working for God's kingdom in the wider world, bringing healing and hope in the present life. Lively and accessible, this book will surprise and excite all who are interested in the meaning of life, not only after death but before it.
Author | : Jen Pollock Michel |
Publisher | : InterVarsity Press |
Total Pages | : 221 |
Release | : 2019-05-14 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 083087092X |
In a world filled with ambiguity, we want faith to act like an orderly set of truth-claims to solve the problems that life throws at us. While there are certainties in Christian faith, at the heart of the Christian story is also paradox, and Jen Pollock Michel helps readers imagine a Christian faith open to mystery. Jesus invites us to abandon the polarities of either and or in order to embrace the difficult, wondrous dissonance of and.
Author | : Patrick Madrid |
Publisher | : Sophia Institute Press |
Total Pages | : 209 |
Release | : 2017 |
Genre | : Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | : 1622823737 |
Here you’ll read the eye-opening, often heartrending life stories of ten people who struggled with some of the most difficult issues human beings face – and who, as they struggled – were drawn out of pain and darkness by the beauty of Catholic teachings about life, marriage, and human sexuality. Dramatic and thought-provoking, these intensely personal stories address virtually every controversial issue surrounding life, including in vitro fertilization, abortion, contraception, and more. Gathered by popular Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid, they turn on its head the oft-heard charge that Catholics embrace the Church’s teachings on life only “because they are Catholics.” These good folks show the opposite: they are Catholics because of the Church’s pro-life teachings. In these pages you’ll meet, among others: AnneMarie S., one of San Francisco’s highest paid call girls, made pro-life – and then Catholic – by a Catholic radio talk show. Leticia A., the sexually-abused Texas Baptist teenager, whose life of wild promiscuity was brought abruptly to an end by her need for true marriage, which she found only in the Church. Heather S., the pregnant teenager whose soul was awakened to the Faith by ten pro-life words from Pope John Paul II. Jewels G., the post-abortion pro-abortion crusader, whose failed suicide left her alive long enough to meet good Catholic women who explained the Church’s teachings, turned her pro-life, and won her to the Faith. Leila M., the contracepting, pro-sterilization wife whose views were overthrown by the stark contrast between Planned Parenthood and the sweet memory of the wise pro-life teachings of her college ethics teacher, good Father Ryan. Chris A., the sexually profligate Jewish lawyer, who too late came to see the evil of the abortions he enabled, and now works as a Catholic apologist seeking to end this American holocaust. Plus others, who came into the Church after being “Surprised by Life.”
Author | : Danya Ruttenberg |
Publisher | : Beacon Press |
Total Pages | : 258 |
Release | : 2009-08-01 |
Genre | : Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | : 9780807010693 |
At thirteen, Danya Ruttenberg decided she was an atheist. As a young adult, she immersed herself in the rhinestone-bedazzled wonderland of late 1990s San Francisco-drinking smuggled absinthe with wealthy geeks and plotting the revolution with feminist zinemakers. But she found herself yearning for something she would eventually call God. Surprised by God is a memoir of a young woman's spiritual awakening and eventual path to the rabbinate, a story of integrating life on the edge of the twenty-first century into the discipline of traditional Judaism, without sacrificing either. It's also an unflinchingly honest guide to the kind of work that goes into developing a spiritual practice-and it shows why, perhaps, doing this in today's world requires more effort than ever.
Author | : Belden C. Lane |
Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | : 328 |
Release | : 2011-04-21 |
Genre | : Religion |
ISBN | : 0199831688 |
In this novel exploration of Reformed spirituality, Belden C. Lane uncovers a "green theology" that celebrates a community of jubilant creatures of all languages and species. Lane reveals an ecologically sensitive Calvin who spoke of himself as ''ravished'' by the earth's beauty. He speaks of Puritans who fostered a ''lusty'' spirituality in which Christ figured as a lover who encouraged meditation on the wonders of creation. He presents a Jonathan Edwards who urged a sensuous ''enjoyment'' of God's beauty as the only real way of knowing God. Lane argues for the ''double irony'' of Reformed spirituality, showing that Calvinists who often seem prudish and proper are in fact a people of passionate desire. Similarly, Reformed Christians who appear totally focused on divine transcendence turn out at times to be closet nature mystics, exulting in God's glory everywhere. Lane also demonstrates, however, that a spirituality of desire can be derailed, ending in sexual excess and pantheism. Ecologically, holy longing can be redirected from a contemplation of God's splendor in the earth's beauty to a craving for land itself, resulting in disastrous misuse of its resources. Between the major chapters of the book are engaging personal essays drawn from the author's own love of nature as a Reformed Christian, and providing a thoughtful discussion of contemporary issues of species diversity and the honoring of an earth community.