A Lily Among The Thorns

A new way for Christians to think about sexuality Author Miguel De La Torre, a well-respected ethicist and professorknown for his innovative readings of Christian doctrine, rejectsboth the liberal and conservative prejudices about sex. He insteaddevelops an ethic that is liberative yet grounded soundly in theBible; a sexuality that celebrates God’s gift of great sex byfostering intimacy, vulnerability and openness between lovingpartners. In A Lily Among the Thorns, De La Torre examines theBible, current events, history and our culture-at-large to show howand why racism, sexism, and classism have distortedChristianity’s central teachings about sexuality. The authorshows how the church’s traditionally negative attitudestoward sex in general—and toward women, people of color, andgays in particular—have made it difficult, if not impossible,to create a biblically based and just sexual ethic. But when theBible is read from the viewpoint of those who have beenmarginalized in our society, preconceived notions aboutChristianity and sex get turned on their heads. Taking onhot-button topics such as pornography, homosexuality, prostitution,and celibacy, the author examines how “reading from themargins” provides a liberating approach to dealing withissues of sexuality.

London 1815, just before Waterloo... After her noble father disowned her, Lady Serena Ravenshaw clawed her way from streetwalker to courtesan to prosperous innkeeper. Now she's feared and respected from one end of London to the other, by the lowest dregs of the city's underworld and the upper echelons of the beau monde, and she'll do anything to keep it that way. When mild-mannered chemist Solomon Hathaway turns up in her office, asking for her help, she immediately recognizes him from one fateful night years before. She's been watching and waiting for him for years-so she can turn the tables and put him in her debt, of course, and not because he looked like an angel and was kind to her when she needed it most. She's determined not to wonder what put that fresh grief in his eyes. But after a betrayal even Serena didn't expect, she must put aside her pride and work with Solomon to stop a ring of French spies and save her beloved inn, her freedom-and England itself.

Gives the contrast of the cruelty and persecution of leadership in China and aims to display love, compassion and endurance among believers

A comprehensive, illustrated biography of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk woman of the 17th century known as the "Lily of the Mohawks."

In Afrian American Christian Ethics, Samuel K. Roberts builds an ethic upon a Trinitarian foundation and explores scripture, tradition, human experience, and reason as sources for such an ethic. Using this framework he examines critical issues, including human sexuality and family life, medicine and bio-ethics, and the pursuit of justice.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – August 20, 1153) was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order. The Song of Songs is a book of the Hebrew Bible—one of the megillot (scrolls)—found in the last section of the Tanakh, known as the Ketuvim (or "Writings"). It is also known as Canticle of Canticles or simply Canticles from the Vulgate title Canticum Canticorum (Latin, "Song of Songs"). The protagonists of Song of Songs are a woman (identified in one verse as "the Shulamite") and a man, and the poem suggests movement from courtship to consummation. For instance, the man proclaims: "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." The woman answers: "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."Additionally, the Song includes a chorus, the "daughters of Jerusalem." (from wikipedia.com) This book contains 43 beautiful sermons that St. Bernard wrote on this book. He interprets the song of songs in reference to the love between God and the soul. God is deeply in love with us, and wills our love in return. This love between the soul and God, which is the most intimate love possible, is expressed in the analogy of bride and bridegroom, where the intimacy of love is especially expressed.

For over a decade Lily Green has terrorized the United States. Like a monster, she seemed to be everywhere and yet nowhere. Until one day, when her killing spree suddenly stopped. Where could she be? That is the question everyone wanted to know the answer to for the past year. There were allegations made by the beloved reporter Shannon Scott that Tom Childress had the answers, but even Tom found himself on the same side of that question.Where is Lily Green?Inspired by the desire to help Lily, and many like her, Tom opened up Eden's Mind; a special research center designed to cure the mentally unwell without the use of pharmaceuticals. He and his partner Zachary Gilbert believes the overuse of manmade chemical enhancements will eventually taint human genetics and that not every dark and twisted soul is a victim to a mental imbalance. Some people just need help to see the light and both of them are more than ready to show just how far they are willing to go to make the world a better place.

In Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems, you’ll take an incisive look at why sexual misconduct occurs in religious systems and how to implement proactive strategies for holistic change. Applicable to both Jewish and Christian communities, this illuminating exploration takes a look at the psychology behind scapegoating, why it is perpetuated, and how you can quell the damaging tradition of silence. Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems helps you see leaders of religious institutions in a way that the world has been afraid to see them--in a glass clearly. Enriched with metaphoric myths and fairy tales instead of technical jargon, its unique systemic perspective reveals the psychodynamics behind the obsession with family secrets and lets you understand this dysfunction from the perspectives of victim, abuser, and counselor. These specific areas will both inform and aid you in dealing with this difficult subject: the religious institution as a family system the religious system as an illusion of the perfect family the concept of God-transference and the overidealization of clergy clergy personal relationships and clergy congregational relationships vulnerability and the psychology of the victim strategies for healing dysfunctional religious systems Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems comes at just the right time--in an era when little has been written on the subject, especially from a systemic perspective, this work comes at a time when the phenomena of clergy sexual misconduct has rocked the very foundation of religious systems worldwide. Whether you’re a lay congregational leader, judicatory administrator, pastoral counselor, psychologist, or seminarian, you’ll find that the coping strategies and intervention techniques it outlines will guide you in pinpointing the sickness at its source and restoring felicity and order to your religious leaders and their communities.

Originally titled "Tropologia: A Key to Open Scripture Metaphors," this priceless classic is organized as follows: The Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures Book 1. Philologia Sacra; or Their Proper Heads and Classes, With a Brief Explication of Each Part I Part II Of Types Of Parables Book 2. Metaphors, Allegories, Similes, Types, Etc., Respecting the Members of the Trinity God the Father, the First Person in the Trinity The Second Person in the Glorious Trinity The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity Book 3. Metaphors, Allegories, Similes, Types, Etc., That Relate to the Most Sacred Word of God Book 4. Metaphors, Allegories, Similies, Types, Etc., Respecting Grace and the Blessed Ordinances of the Gospel Grace Baptism The Lord’s Supper The Holy Angels of God The Soul and Spirit of Man The Church of God Men in General The Saints Wicked Men True Ministers of the Gospel False Teachers and Churches Sin and the Devil The Devil The Means of Grace Affliction The End of the World The and Death Life of Man The Resurrection and the Life to Come Hell Types of the Old Testament Explained