Holy Tears

What religion does not serve as a theater of tears? Holy Tears addresses this all but universal phenomenon with passion and precision, ranging from Mycenaean Greece up through the tragedy of 9/11. Sixteen authors, including many leading voices in the study of religion, offer essays on specific topics in religious weeping while also considering broader issues such as gender, memory, physiology, and spontaneity. A comprehensive, elegantly written introduction offers a key to these topics. Given the pervasiveness of its theme, it is remarkable that this book is the first of its kind--and it is long overdue. The essays ask such questions as: Is religious weeping primal or culturally constructed? Is it universal? Is it spontaneous? Does God ever cry? Is religious weeping altered by sexual or social roles? Is it, perhaps, at once scripted and spontaneous, private and communal? Is it, indeed, divine? The grief occasioned by 9/11 and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, and elsewhere offers a poignant context for this fascinating and richly detailed book. Holy Tears concludes with a compelling meditation on the theology of weeping that emerged from pastoral responses to 9/11, as described in the editors' interview with Reverend Betsee Parker, who became head chaplain for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City and leader of the multifaith chaplaincy team at Ground Zero. The contributors are Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Amy Bard, Herbert Basser, Santha Bhattacharji, William Chittick, Gary Ebersole, M. David Eckel, John Hawley, Gay Lynch, Jacob Olúpqnà (with Solá Ajíbádé), Betsee Parker, Kimberley Patton, Nehemia Polen, Kay Read, and Kallistos Ware.

In Holy Tears, Holy Blood, Richard D. E. Burton continues his investigation of Catholic France from Revolution to Liberation. From his focus in Blood in the City on public demonstrations of the cultural power of Catholicism, he now turns to more private rituals, those codes of conduct that shaped the interior lives of French Catholic women and determined their artistic and social presentation. "Here there is rather less blood, and considerably more weeping," Burton says. In portraits of eleven women, including Simone Weil and Sainte Thèrése, he traces the lasting power of particular expressions of suffering and sacrifice. How, Burton asks, does a rapidly modernizing society accommodate the cultural-historical legacy of religious belief, in particular the extreme conservative beliefs of ultramontane Catholicism? Burton pays particular attention to the doctrine of "vicarious suffering," whereby an individual suffers for the redemption of others, and to certain extreme forms of religious experience including stigmatization, self-starvation, visions, and apparitions.

The Holy Spirit is bringing the Church to a new place of prayer that we haven't seen in this generation. This kind of praying is prayer on the other side of words and is wrought in a people who have been delivered from their own strength, wisdom, and resource. this kind of praying is ugly, desperate, and vulnerable as God delivers us from our programs, personalities, and strategies, and gifts us the greatest gift He could give: The Gift of Tears. The Gift of Tears is God's work in a people who have come to the end of the themselves and find a new prayer born deep within them: tears.

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8 NLT Whatever you are going through as you read this, you need to hear these words: God sees you, He loves you, and your story is not over. Every tear you shed is precious to Him. Your suffering is not in vain. This collection of heartfelt essays, eye-catching word art, inspiring Scripture verses, honest prayers, and uplifting photography will meet you in your place of pain, offering solace and refuge for your weary soul. Lovingly written by Lindsey Wheeler, a pastor’s wife and adoptive mom who lives with chronic pain, Sacred Tears will bring you the blessed respite you’ve been longing for and remind you that you are never alone. You’ll discover what to do when you feel far from God, how to trust Him even when you don’t understand His plan for you, and how to handle the difficult decisions that often accompany painful situations. All this and more await inside. Experience the hope and comfort only God can provide.

Sacred Tears is a captivating story of my life as a Pastor's Wife, and how I was able to overcome numerous obstacles and adverse situations to discover my God-given purpose and destiny. Sacred Tears will take you on a journey of joy, love, sorrow, broken heartedness, strength, perseverance, humility, determination, sacrifice and forgiveness. This book is a living testimony of how God can transform a person's mess into a message and troubles into triumphs.

A personal and spiritual growth journal that walks you through a welcoming process of slowing down and reflecting on how to live a more Christ-centered, balanced life that values relationships and community.

1982 and Sami is far from home, trapped in war-torn Beirut, a city under siege by the Israelis. All he wants is to go home to his family in Sri Lanka but in order to stay alive he must learn to kill. David, a captain in the Sri Lankan army, is sent to the steamy jungles in the north of the country as punishment for an indiscretion and is thrown into the brutal insurrection by militant separatist Tamil Tigers. As civil war erupts in Sri Lanka and tears this once peaceful nation apart, David's love, the beautiful Priyani makes a difficult choice and the paths of these two men cross on opposing sides of the struggle. They must plumb the depths of their courage and question their beliefs about right and wrong. Sacred Tears, the first in a trilogy, is a powerful and evocative depiction of Sri Lanka's great beauty and recent tumultuous history. It will take you inside the story of this ancient nation and into the heart of a gripping human struggle.

"Fr. Benedict, with practical advice and prayers for use in times of distress, guides the reader through the effects of catastrophes in relationship to our faith in divine providence, in God's goodness and mercy, and in the light of Christ's suffering and death."--Back cover.

When a woman becomes pregnant, miscarriage is usually the furthest thing from her mind. Such was the case for Jessalyn Hutto when she became pregnant with her first baby. But as is all too common in our post-fall world, the life she carried came to an abrupt end. Death had visited her womb, and the horrors of miscarriage had become a part of her life’s story. ••• Ultimately, she would lose two children in the womb, at 6 and 15 weeks gestation. Through these painful losses, a whole new world of suffering opened up to her. It seemed that everywhere she looked women were quietly mourning the loss of their unborn children. Yet this particular type of loss has been grossly overlooked by the church. ••• Couples navigating the unique sorrow of losing a child are often left with little biblical counsel to draw upon. Well-meaning friends and family often offer empty platitudes and Christian clichés. But what these couples truly need is the hope of the gospel. ••• Short, sensitive, and theologically robust, Inheritance of Tears offers hope and comfort to those who are called to walk through the painful trial of miscarriage, and shows pastors and church members how to effectively minister to these parents in their time of need.

Explores the range and complexity of human emotions and their transmission across cultural traditionsWhat makes us laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time? How do these two primal, seemingly discrete and non-verbal modes of expression intersect in everyday life and ritual, and what range of emotions do they evoke? How may they be voiced, shaped and coloured in literature and liturgy, art and music?Bringing together scholars from diverse periods and disciplines of Hellenic and Byzantine studies, this volume explores the shifting shapes and functions of laughter and tears. With a focus on the tragic, the comic and the tragicomic dimensions of laughter and tears in art, literature and performance, as well as on their emotional, socio-cultural and religious significance, it breaks new ground in the study of ancient and Byzantine affectivity.Key featuresIncludes an international cast of 25 distinguished contributors Prominence is given to performative arts and to interactions with other cultures Transitions from Late Antiquity to Byzantium, and from Byzantium to the Renaissance, form focal points from which contributors look backwards, forwards and sidewaysHighlights the variety, audacity and quality of the finest Byzantine works and the extent to which they anticipated the renaissance