In this study, the experience, spirituality and teaching of St Paul are made available for today. As we search for new ways of being Church, we can be inspired again by the earliest and perhaps greatest Christian writer of the first century. In particular, Paul of Tarsus models spirituality, pastoral practice and practical theology in a way that can be very helpful for todays believers. Through the prism of his experience, the light of Christ can be refracted again today, and just as previous generations found resources for new vision and courage in the apostle to the Gentiles, so can we in our time and culture.

In an increasingly health-conscious society, it often seems that people, when faced with the dying process, view it as an oddity, an aberration, rather than a natural part of life. This book takes a fresh look at the way that Jesus walked, and gives practical suggestions on how to take that experience and make it our own in a positive, loving way. It gives hope that we are not alone in our final hours, that we are filled with Divine love as we journey together. Growing out of the author’s experience as a hospice chaplain companioning the dying and their families, these meditations and prayers are based on the fears and hopes, and joys and sorrows of these individuals, and of the hospice staff who accompanied them.

A factual account of the origins and development of Catholic anti-Semitism from its beginnings at the time of the first schism with Judaism c. 135 to the present time. This book is intended as a receptacle through which to facilitate the confession and the repentance of the sins against the Jewish people and open the way for a new and vibrant evangelization. Ena Gray was born in Dublin in 1937. She joined the Dominican Sisters when she was seventeen and trained as a secondary school teacher. She is currently living in Ferns, Co. Wicklow, where she works as a Parish Sister.

This book offers a reflective journey through life and scripture toward inner peace, acceptance, and a more fulfilling existence. It includes reflections, scripture passages, life-questions, and some practical ways of responding to them. This book can be used alone in quiet personal reflection or with others in-group situations. John A. Flanagan is a priest from Co. Monaghan serving the Diocese of Clogher. He is currently the Diocesan Advisor for Primary Religious Education in the diocese. ""Exemplifies the best of contemporary Irish Catholicism-simple, fluent, and direct. Ideal for the traditional Catholic reader in Ireland or America."" -Library Journal

Abu-al-Barakat published two versions of the list of seventy disciples sent out by Jesus. Anton Baumstark presents here the Arabic text, along with a critical Latin version, of Barakat’s list that was allegedly translated from a Greek original.

Abu-al-Barakat published two versions of the list of seventy disciples sent out by Jesus. Anton Baumstark presents here the Arabic text, along with a Latin translation, of Barakat’s list that was allegedly translated a non-Greek source.

Paul Vetter presents here a critical edition of the Armenian version of the Acts of Peter and Paul along with a Greek translation. Vetter’s introduction to the text includes a discussion of the complex transmission history evident in the manuscripts.

These eighteen stories pertaining to Anastasius of Mount Sinai include unique information and variations of stories preserved elsewhere. Nau presents the edited Greek text along with an introductory discussion of authorship and sources.

The Life of Abercius, which received much attention after the archaeological discovery of the “inscription of Abercius,” previously existed in two recensions. Élie Batareikh found a manuscript containing a third recension and publishes here the Greek text of that recension.

A constant theme running through the ten Céifin Conferences since 1998 has been changes in family life. A key question to emerge from the first conference was, Who is rearing the next generation? and that question has not gone away. The family now needs to be examined, not as an argument for or against anything, but in itself. What does it really mean to our society and what does it contribute to human, social and spiritual development? The economic miracle, 1994, 2007, brought undreamed-of affluence. We welcomed it. However, there is no doubt that relationships suffered, particularly in the area of family and community. We are currently experiencing the beginnings of a recession. Food and fuel prices are escalating; jobs are threatened. The family will once again be on the frontline of experiencing difficult economic changes, coming on the back of a period when it experienced significant social and religious changes. How resourceful are family units after a period of consumerism? This conference should enable delegates to broaden their awareness of the current state of family life and the changing nature of relationships between home, school, and work-place , placing particular emphasis on a new vision for the changing family.

Anton Baumstark presents the Arabic text and Latin translation of an Egyptian version of the Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi. Baumstark discusses the date of the text and compares the content of the liturgical prayers with various contemporary sources.

This Syriac version of the “Liturgy of St. Athanasius” provides a valuable resource for the development of liturgical materials and practices in the Syrian Monophysite tradition. The text includes a critical apparatus and a Latin translation.

François Nau collated various manuscripts containing stories about the holy fathers of Sinai and presents here the critical and annotated text. These stories offer otherwise unknown information about St. John Climacus and include useful historical and geographic details.

Marius Besson presents the critical text of two manuscripts containing an apophthegmatic text with sayings attributed to Isaac of Nineveh. The text also includes a separate apparatus with references to parallel texts in various early Christian documents.

The records of two provincial synods found among the writings of Catholicos Timothy I provide a unique perspective into the christological disputes and struggle for authority in Syriac-speaking Christianity in the late 8th century.

Opium addiction in China during the closing decades of the Ch'ing dynasty afflicted all segments of society. From government officials to farmers, the population fell prey to the effects of the drug. Some provinces reported addiction rates as high as eighty percent. With the birth of Chinese nationalism, reformers -- missionaries who had witnessed the effects of opium on Chinese society, students who had studied abroad and returned to their native land with broader perspectives, families who had lost all through the addiction of a loved one, doctors who had firsthand knowledge that opium use led only to death -- cried out against the drug.Even though many were convinced that opium use had sapped the strength of China, ending the use of the drug was a complicated problem. Opium trade financed the colonial government of India, and imports amounted to many tons annually. Domestic poppies were also cultivated as source of income.Kathleen Lodwick examines the intersecting efforts of Protestant missionaries, particularly medical doctors, who had long denounced opium use, the British Royal Commission on Opium, which was decidedly pro-opium, the U.S. Philippine Commission, which denounced not only the trade but the Chinese people, and the British officials who finally undertook the task of ending the importation of opium to China.China kept few records on the amount of drug use or its effects. Missionary medical doctors conducted the first scientific survey on the effects of the drug, and their findings provided clear evidence of its perniciousness. Such evidence could not be ignored, whatever the fortunes involved, and missionaries conducted a campaign of education and awareness in China and abroad. As a result of their efforts, China and Britain entered into a treaty that called for all opium trade to cease by 1917, and both governments as well as the missionaries become immediately active toward that end. The suppression campaign was among the most successful of the late Ch'ing reforms.Lodwick tells a fascinating story of imperial exploitation and of a strain of honest crusaders who sought to right some of the wrongs their own nation was perpetrating. This book represents a strong argument against legalization of addictive drugs, a topic being discussed today in the United States as a solution to the societal problems our own drug use has caused.