The Caim Community

False ways litter the world. Even the great religions have become prisoners of colonial frameworks or of a selfishness that betrays their essence. As a result, our planet faces climate catastrophes, nuclear holocausts, and internet surveillance that makes us prisoners of unseen predators. There is a Way, however, whose time has come. It is ingrained in the psyche of humanity. It resonates with Perennial Wisdom, with Chinese who understand it as Tao, with the Buddhist Eightfold Path, the Five Pillars of Islam, indigenous peoples whose insights have been summarised as The Harmony Way, and above all with Jesus who declared ‘I AM the Way’ (John 14:6) and whose first disciples were known as ‘followers of The Way’, based on Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matthew 5-7). Whereas traditional monasticism restricted its vows to celibates cut off from the world, new Monasticism makes vows rooted in the Beatitudes accessible to everyone. One reason Benedictinism survived through the second millennium is because its founder wrote a detailed commentary on its rule. Here the founding guardian of a new monastic community writes a commentary on its Way of Life which he has reflected on daily for over a generation – and which promises to flourish through the third millennium.

Why is the Christian Church declining in numbers and effectiveness in the twenty-first century? In A Celtic Model of Ministry Jerry Doherty, experienced clergyman and Celtic scholar, shows that the decline is caused by a crisis of individualism, a crisis of faith, and a crisis of lifestyle. Doherty responds to these crises by providing a Celtic spirituality by way of ministry of early Celtic Christians in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Brittany, and the Isle of Man. He provides a model for ministry today in the local congregation and a guideline for the successful future of the Church modeled after the early Celtic communities. Doherty applies the model in congregational development studies and ministry. He explores the problems that have caused the decline of the Church and how paradigms of ministry in current use are no longer adequate. In A Celtic Model of Ministry Doherty proposes that a new model for thinking and building ministry today, especially in the local congregation, may be found in early Celtic Christian communities. Churches need to be a spiritual center, a learning center, and a community center.

A Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-option under the Islamic Republic offers, for the first time, an original, timely examination of the pivotal role poetry plays in policy, power and political legitimacy in modern-day Iran. Through a compelling chronological and thematic framework, Shams presents fresh insights into the emerging lexicon of coercion and unrest in the modern Persian canon. Analysis of the lives and work of ten key poets traces the evolution of the Islamic Republic, from the 1979 Revolution, through to the Iran-Iraq War, the death of a leader and the rise of internal conflicts. Ancient forms jostle against didactic ideologies, exposing the complex relationship between poetry, patronage and literary production in authoritarian regimes, shedding light on a crucial area of discourse that has been hitherto overlooked.

The Celtic Christians beheld the world around them and perceived the divine life of God as upholding every aspect of the material universe. Their prayers and poems, their liturgies and theological interpretations give Christians a sense of faith that is confident in a merciful and infinitely creative, healing God.

In this volume, contributors demonstrate the real-world application of Indigenous theory to the work they do in their own communities and how this work is driven by urgency, responsibility, and justice—work that is from the skin. In From the Skin, contributors reflect on and describe how they apply the theories and concepts of Indigenous studies to their communities, programs, and organizations, and the ways the discipline has informed and influenced the same. They show the ways these efforts advance disciplinary theories, methodologies, and praxes. Chapters cover topics including librarianship, health programs, community organizing, knowledge recovery, youth programming, and gendered violence. Through their examples, the contributors show how they negotiate their peoples’ knowledge systems with knowledge produced in Indigenous studies programs, demonstrating how they understand the relationship between their people, their nations, and academia. Editors J. Jeffery Clark and Elise Boxer propose and develop the term practitioner-theorist to describe how the contributors theorize and practice knowledge within and between their nations and academia. Because they live and exist in their community, these practitioner-theorists always consider how their thinking and actions benefit their people and nations. The practitioner-theorists of this volume envision and labor toward decolonial futures where Indigenous peoples and nations exist on their own terms. Contributors Randi Lynn Boucher-Giago Elise Boxer Shawn Brigman J. Jeffery Clark Nick Estes Eric Hardy Shalene Joseph Jennifer Marley Brittani R. Orona Alexander Soto

Christianity must be understood not as a religion of private salvation, but as a gospel movement of universal compassion, which transforms the world in the power of God’s truth. Amid several major global crises, including the rise of terrorism and religious fundamentalism and a sudden resurgence of political extremism, Christians must now face up fearlessly to the challenges of living in a “post-truth” age in which deceitful politicians present their media-spun fabrications as “alternative facts.” This book is an attempt to enact a transformative theology for these changing times that will equip the global Christian community to take a stand for the gospel in an age of cultural despair and moral fragmentation. The emerging post-Christendom era calls for a new vision of Christianity that has come of age and connects with the spiritual crisis of our times. In helping to make this vision a reality, Searle insists that theology is not merely an academic discipline, but a transformative enterprise that changes the world. Theology is to be experienced not just behind a desk, in an armchair, or in a church, but also in hospitals, in foodbanks, in workplaces, and on the streets. Theology is to be lived as well as read.

Although based primarily on MIS and computer science areas, Web engineering covers a wide range of disciplines, thus making it difficult to gain an understanding of the field. Web Engineering: Principles and Techniques provides clarity to this often muddied issue.

This book is a beautiful and dramatic collection of Celtic praise, compiled by Church of Scotland minister and Gaelic scholar Alistair Maclean, which was first published in 1937. It comprises over one hundred prayers, poems, sayings, and praises from the Christian tradition of the author's native Hebrides.