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Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light - The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta

Mother Teresa

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 117 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This historic work reveals the inner spiritual life of one of the most beloved and important religious figures in history.

During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion to people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands of others nobody else was prepared to look after has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world. Little is known, however, about her own spiritual heights or her struggles. This collection of her writing and reflections, almost all of which have never been made public before, sheds light on Mother Teresa's interior life in a way that reveals the depth and intensity of her holiness for the first time.

Compiled and presented by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., who knew Mother Teresa for twenty years and is the postulator for her cause for sainthood and director of the Mother Teresa Center, MOTHER TERESA brings together letters she wrote to her spiritual advisors over decades. A moving chronicle of her spiritual journey—including moments, indeed years, of utter desolation—these letters reveal the secrets she shared only with her closest confidants. She emerges as a classic mystic whose inner life burned with the fire of charity and whose heart was tested and purified by an intense trial of faith, a true dark night of the soul.

Published to coincide with the tenth anniversary of her death, MOTHER TERESA is an intimate portrait of a woman whose life and work continue to be admired by millions of people.

The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life

A. W. Tozer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 72 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Daily reading required! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a book about the attributes of God. Tozer does an outstanding job of pointing us to God by recalling those things which the Bible says are true of God Almighty.

A few ideas Tozer repeats throughout the book. These ideas are:

1) Modern man has lost the vision of the majesty of our God, and the first step to aquiring it is to determine to "Aquaint ourselves with God".

2) In attempting to see God the way that He truly is, we must believe in order that we may understand, not the other way around.

3) That God is unitary in His being and that all of His attributes work together perfectly without conflict with each other. Also, since God is infinite then all of His attributes are infinite as well.

I read a chapter from this book daily, and my hunger for His presence has certainly increased as a result. This book has helped me to see how futile I am in myself and how pride and worldliness are my biggest hinderences to drawing near to the Lord. This book will help you to see that nothing else in life really matters in comparison to our Almighty God.

Editorial Review:

An Inspiring Classic on the Nature of God

What is the nature of God? How can we recapture a real sense of God's majesty and truly live in the Spirit? This beloved book, a modern classic of Christian testimony and devotion, addresses these and other vital questions, showing us how we can rejuvenate our prayer life, meditate more reverently, understand God more deeply, and experience God's presence in our daily lives.

Informative and inspiring, The Knowledge of the Holy illuminates God's attributes'from wisdom, to grace, to mercy'and shows through prayerful and insightful discussion, how we can more fully recognize and appreciate each of these divine aspects. This book will be treasured by anyone committed to the Christian faith. It bears eloquent witness to God's majesty and shows us new ways to experience and understand the wonder and the power of God's spirit in our daily lives.

Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics)

Lao Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 178 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

BEWARE OF CLUELESS REVIEWERS! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The naysaying reviewers did not bother to read this book through. Nowhere does it claim to be a literal translation, and following the lessons are the author's notes, explaining exactly what he did or didn't add, and why, as well as references to what was replaced from the original -- much of which is as wonderful as the lessons themselves. There is so much beauty and depth in this "new version" that this reviewer can see no reason for the downright fury it seems to provoke in these other readers. Perhaps they should keep reading the Tao -- ANY version.

Great living literature opens you up...this is one of those. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book has true value...unlike most books the Tao Te Ching can help you find meaning and truth in life.

Editorial Review:

In eighty-one brief chapters, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, provides advice that imparts balance and perspective, a serene and generous spirit, and teaches us how to work for the good with the effortless skill that comes from being in accord with the Tao—the basic principle of the universe.

Stephen Mitchell's bestselling version has been widely acclaimed as a gift to contemporary culture.

Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, Third Edition

Therese de Lisieux

Amazon Price: $12.95 List Price: $12.95 By: I C S Publications Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $4.93

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The book issued by Echo Library in 2006, edited by T. Taylor, is an obsolete translation of an inauthentic version of a classic 1 out of 5 stars.
17 of 20 people found this review helpful.

Rev. Thomas Taylor's early 20th century translation of the memoir of St. Therese of Lisieux, unfortunately republished in 2006 by Echo Library, was made from the only manuscript then available outside her monastery, one substantially rewritten by Therese's sister Pauline, who made seven thousand changes. Scholars interested in the documents which gave rise to the cult of St. Therese may wish to consult early versions of Taylor. I urge those who want to read what Therese wrote to read the third edition of "Story of a Soul" translated by Fr. John Clarke, OCD, and published by ICS Publications in 1976. The Clarke translation, made from the unretouched manuscript written by Therese (an authentic manuscript published in French only in 1956), is recognized as the standard throughout the English-speaking world. No other translation compares to it. The book is enriched by an introduction, afterword, and easy-to-read notes that set Therese's manuscripts in the context of her life, and the index makes it even more useful. Whether you have not read "Story of a Soul" or have read only earlier English translations (Taylor, Knox, Beevers), the Clarke translation will open the world of Therese to you. Don't miss it. You'll find it at Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, Third Edition

Editorial Review:

This book first published in 1898 in a highly edited verson, quickly became a modern spiritual classic, read by millions and tanslated into over fifty-five languages. John Clarke's acclaimed translation, first published in 1975, is now accepted as the standard throughout the English-speaking world.

Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

Barbara Brown Taylor

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Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

By now I expected to be a seasoned parish minister, wearing black clergy shirts grown gray from frequent washing. I expected to love the children who hung on my legs after Sunday morning services until they grew up and had children of their own. I even expected to be buried wearing the same red vestments in which I was ordained.

Today those vestments are hanging in the sacristy of an Anglican church in Kenya, my church pension is frozen, and I am as likely to spend Sunday mornings with friendly Quakers, Presbyterians, or Congregationalists as I am with the Episcopalians who remain my closest kin. Some-times I even keep the Sabbath with a cup of steaming Assam tea on my front porch, watching towhees vie for the highest perch in the poplar tree while God watches me. These days I earn my living teaching school, not leading worship, and while I still dream of opening a small restaurant in Clarkesville or volunteering at an eye clinic in Nepal, there is no guarantee that I will not run off with the circus before I am through. This is not the life I planned, or the life I recommend to others. But it is the life that has turned out to be mine, and the central revelation in it for me -- that the call to serve God is first and last the call to be fully human -- seems important enough to witness to on paper. This book is my attempt to do that.

After nine years serving on the staff of a big urban church in Atlanta, Barbara Brown Taylor arrives in rural Clarkesville, Georgia (population 1,500), following her dream to become the pastor of her own small congregation. The adjustment from city life to country dweller is something of a shock -- Taylor is one of the only professional women in the community -- but small-town life offers many of its own unique joys. Taylor has five successful years that see significant growth in the church she serves, but ultimately she finds herself experiencing "compassion fatigue" and wonders what exactly God has called her to do. She realizes that in order to keep her faith she may have to leave.

Taylor describes a rich spiritual journey in which God has given her more questions than answers. As she becomes part of the flock instead of the shepherd, she describes her poignant and sincere struggle to regain her footing in the world without her defining collar. Taylor's realization that this may in fact be God's surprising path for her leads her to a refreshing search to find Him in new places. Leaving Church will remind even the most skeptical among us that life is about both disappointment and hope -- and ultimately, renewal.

No Future Without Forgiveness

Desmond Tutu

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Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu stands alongside Nelson Mandela as one of the most iconic figures of the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. As archbishop of Cape Town throughout the 1980s, Tutu came to symbolize dignified, rational opposition to the iniquities of the apartheid regime, a faithful irreverence for unjust authority that led to his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. In 1995 he took up his greatest challenge, as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the remarkable yet harrowing attempt by South Africans to come to terms with the gross violations of human rights committed throughout the apartheid era by offering amnesty and forgiveness rather than punishment and dismissal.

No Future Without Forgiveness is Tutu's remarkable personal memoir of his time as chair of the commission. It records his insistence of the need to discover a "third way" in the healing of the national psyche and his powerful belief that "we can indeed transcend the conflicts of the past, we can hold hands as we realize our common humanity." Tutu's characteristic humor, resilience, and compassion are evoked in a way that demonstrates how essential they have been to his unique political style--and his ability to get results where all others failed. He recalls the darkest days of apartheid's "vicious awfulness" when, preaching about God's authority, he was "frequently tempted to whisper in God's ear, 'For goodness sake, why don't You make it more obvious that You are in charge?"'

No Future Without Forgiveness could be profitably read alongside Antjie Krog's equally compelling Country of My Skull, as it considers the emotional toll that such a process of national soul-searching has had upon its participants. As Tutu himself points out, "It is a costly business to try to heal a wounded and traumatized people, and those engaging in that crucial task will perhaps bear the brunt themselves ... we were, in Henri Nouwen's celebrated phrase, 'wounded healers.'" --Rachel Holmes, Amazon.co.uk

The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine

A. W. Tozer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Contains good fragments, but overall style makes it no easy read. 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This is a review of "The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine" by Tozer.

Based on all the positive reviews I was expecting to read a kind of second C.S. Lewis. This turns out not to be the case. The book by Tozer is brief (which is a plus in my view, since it is much more difficult to write a well thought through short book, than to dump ones incoherent thoughts in many pages) and has many good fragments. My main objection to this book is the style in which Tozer writes: perhaps it is my not being a native English speaker and not being brought up with the bible and not being used to a typical 'religious writing style', but I found the style of the whole book and his choice of words/phrases rather difficult. It makes no easy reading. Much use of "thou", quotes in older English and bible passages. All together I found this rather distracting from the content. Bottom line: it was not what I expected and hoped for.

My advise: manage your expectations, and first read a few sample pages before you decide to buy this book.

Editorial Review:

Beautiful cloth version of this Tozer classic. Whether you are thirsting for more of God or do not yet know of the "mighty longing after God" that so consumed A.W. Tozer's life and ministry, The Pursuit of God will draw you into a deep, abiding relationship with the One who "nourishes the soul." This spiritual masterpiece exposes the roadblocks that keep us from fully knowing God, reveals our responsibility of the pursuit, and ultimately leads us into the very presence of God Himself. From the Publisher This new edition has been published with a beautiful new cover to reach a whole new generation of readers. Also available: God's Pursuit of Man, Tozer's profound prequel to The Pursuit of God.

The Imitation of Christ (Dover Thrift Editions)

Thomas à Kempis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

All Jesus 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This book changed me. It taught me to stay away from anything that will hinder my faith and to follow Jesus with all my heart and soul and mind. Even though I'm still in the process of reading it, it changes me every day. Thomas A Kempis is the most devoted person I have encountered and I pray that many more people will be changed by this inspirational book. It taught me to be all about Jesus and about nothing else.

The blueprint 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book helped me to embrace some of the qualities within myself that I had previously been trying to change. The want to do so was triggered by the constant feeling of missing out on something or being judged by my fellow brothers and sisters here on earth. I no longer care what people think or say. To quote Mos Def: "I give a damn if any man records my legacy, I'm trying to live life in the sight of God's memory." This book is one of many that helps make it easy to do just that.

Editorial Review:

This classic, second only to the Bible for religious instruction and inspiration, has brought understanding and comfort to millions for centuries. Written in a candid and conversational style, the topics include liberation from worldly inclinations, preparation and consolations of prayer, and the place of eucharistic communion in a devout life.

Mother Teresa: In My Own Words

Mother Teresa

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Actions Louder than Words 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Even though this book is a very quick read, if you take the time to put yourself in her place through some of these short stories I think it will make you have a great respect for a person who did not write a book herself on how to make the world a better place, but rather inspired others to write about her ACTIONS, which no doubt affected countless numbers of people in one way or another. Overall, it is almost a prelude to learning more about her and, if you're so inclined to take her actions to heart, ask yourself why you aren't doing more good in the world yourself. Definetly would recommend, particularly as a companion to a biography.

Editorial Review:

Though Mother Teresa's words may be spare, her good deeds are abundant. The messages in this lovely collection--directed at coworkers, sisters, and others eager to hear the words of someone who lived the challenge she presented to others--are sure to provide inspiration for anyone who reads them. The quotes, stories, and prayers are a testament to the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner's generosity and strength of spirit: "Good works are links that form a chain of love"; "I never will understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish"; "Before judging the poor, we have to examine with sincerity our own conscience." Mother Teresa's words and deeds fortified and inspired the poor, the dying, and the suffering. These powerful messages, combined with black-and-white photos of this highly regarded woman doing the work she loved, make for a truly unforgettable book.

Jewish Literacy Revised Ed: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History

Joseph Telushkin

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Editorial Review:

What does it mean to be a Jew? How does one begin to answer so extensive a question?

In this insightful and completely updated tome, esteemed rabbi and bestselling author Joseph Telushkin helps answer the question of what it means to be a Jew, in the largest sense. Widely recognized as one of the most respected and indispensable reference books on Jewish life, culture, tradition, and religion, Jewish Literacy covers every essential aspect of the Jewish people and Judaism. In 352 short and engaging chapters, Rabbi Telushkin discusses everything from the Jewish Bible and Talmud to Jewish notions of ethics to antisemitism and the Holocaust; from the history of Jews around the world to Zionism and the politics of a Jewish state; from the significance of religious traditions and holidays to how they are practiced in daily life. Whether you want to know more about Judaism in general or have specific questions you'd like answered, Jewish Literacy is sure to contain the information you need.

Rabbi Telushkin's expert knowledge of Judaism makes the updated and revised edition of Jewish Literacy an invaluable reference. A comprehensive yet thoroughly accessible resource for anyone interested in learning the fundamentals of Judaism, Jewish Literacy is a must for every Jewish home.