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Spirituality
Spirituality
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Daily Readings with the Desert Fathers
1004
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The way of life of the fourth century Desert Fathers in daily doses.



Spirituality
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Led by His Love: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey to the Orthodox Faith
1009
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Archpriest Gordon T. Walker served God for his entire life, from his childhood as a Baptist in Alabama through years as a Protestant pastor and finally, after decades of searching for the true Church, as an Orthodox priest. One of the founding leaders of the former Evangelical Orthodox Church, Fr. Gordon had a special heart for youth and founded Grace Ministries to facilitate serving them. In the course of his ministry, he touched hundreds of lives with the boundless love and grace of God. This memoir, compiled and edited after his repose by his brother Phillip Walker, reveals the servant heart of a dedicated man of God.



Spirituality
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The Enlargement of the Heart
1005
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This is the Second American Edition of The Enlargement of the Heart, now published with invaluable indexes (of Scriptural References and of Names and Subjects). Already regarded as a classic, The Enlargement of the Heart consists of a series of remarkable presentations on the nature and purpose of human existence in Saint Silouan the Athonite (1866-1938) and Elder Sophrony of Essex (1896-1993), and an Appendix comprised of two lectures on Monasticism. Delivered in Wichita, Kansas, at the 2001 Clergy Brotherhood Retreat of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, each lecture is published here in full together with its Asides and corresponding Questions & Answers.



Spirituality
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The Path to Salvation
1006
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Patristic literature provides an age-old, tried and tested model of spiritual life, foreign to fleeting fashions. Throughout the last two thousand years, Christ has raised up patristic writers who have defended that original model. In modern times, however, this model is being pushed aside, the taste for genuine mystical expression is disappearing, and the initial Christian impetus is being disfigured.

That is why the works of St. Theophan the Recluse are so vital for today. He keeps the ancient patristic model sharp and clear, presenting it in modern language. He speaks to contemporary people who have been exposed to new realities, and thus renders inestimable help in linking them to the original Christian impetus and revealing to them the way into the Heavenly Kingdom.

The works of St. Theophan changed the spiritual face of Russia in the 19th century. With the publication of his greatest work, THE PATH TO SALVATION, the English-speaking world now has the opportunity to benefit likewise from this powerful inheritance to the people of the modern age.

Saint Theophan the Recluse is first and foremost a Church Father for modern times. Deeply aware of the roots of the modern age, he reinterprets ancient patristic wisdom in order to adapt it to the needs of the modern unchurched mind, which has been divorced from the Orthodox philosophy of life and even from the rudimentary principles of practical Christianity.

This classic textbook of spiritual life, now being offered in its entirety for the first time in English, seems to have been sent directly to today's readers by the great Russian recluse himself. Every line breathes his profound psychological understanding, his intricate experience in spiritual struggle, and above all his love, compassion and all-consuming desire that every person might be saved. Inspiring the reader with a sober longing for acquiring the Kingdom of Heaven, St. Theophan provides an infallible system for taking the Kingdom by force, in a Christian life of grace and repentance.



Spirituality
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The Soul's Longing: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on Biblical Interpretation
1008
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Utilizing all that is valuable in historical-critical and related research, Dr. Mary Ford demonstrates with force and clarity just why biblical hermeneutics needs to return to the perspectives and methods of early Christian interpreters, particularly those of Eastern Church tradition. Since the late Middle Ages, biblical interpretation in Western Christianity has been largely guided by historical-critical methodology. Highly useful for questions of "Introduction" (the "who, what, when, where and why" of biblical writings), it has nevertheless led to a serious "reductionism," represented most flagrantly today by members of the "Jesus Seminar." The indispensable link between exegesis and spiritual life has been largely obscured, with the result that concern for the Gospel promise of salvation has been subordinated to scientific inquiry of the text. Her focus is consistently on the basic question, "What does the soul long for?" She answers the question by a careful criticism of non-orthodox trends in interpretation (from Spinoza to contemporary exegetes), and by demonstrating how a hermeneutic inspired by the Church Fathers can be faithful to the text, while leading the reader to discover what it means to be "a child of God." We are greatly indebted to Professor Ford for achieving her intended goal: to demonstrate that authentic and authoritative biblical interpretation is intimately related to the life of faith. This important book is a treasure that will be of special interest to clergy and students of theology, as well as to lay persons who experience the soul's deep longing for God. - Fr John Breck



Spirituality
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Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life
1014
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Idleness. Apathy. Restlessness. Procrastination. These are symptoms of what early Christian theologians called despondency (acedia), a spiritual sickness rooted in a lack of care or effort. A condition as old as the ancients, despondency thrives in today's culture of leisure, anxiety, and digital distraction. Time and Despondency is a penetrating synthesis of ancient theology, spiritual memoir, and self-help practicality. It envisions despondency as the extension of a broken relationship with the experience of time. Driven by the fear of death and the anxiety of living, despondency drives us to abandon the present moment, forsaking the only temporal realm in which we have true fellowship with Christ. The remedies offered by time-honored Christian thinkers for this predicament constitute not only an antidote to despondency but also stepping stones back to the present moment. In regaining the sacredness of time, we re-encounter the Resurrection of Christ in the dark and restless moments of our lives.