Why sacraments?

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Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu

With interactive online access, The Abingdon Worship Annual 2015 offers fresh worship planning resources for pastors and worship leaders. Using a theme idea based on the lectionary readings, each week's offering of prayers and litanies follows a basic pattern of Christian worship: Invitation and Gathering, Proclamation and Response, Thanksgiving and Communion Sending Forth. Alternative ideas for Praise Sentences and Contemporary Gathering Words are offered for those who work in contemporary worship settings. Searchable online extras, along with the entire print text in PDF format for ease of n.

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[edited by] Paul Burns

This edition of Butler's lives of saints features saints from many nations and backgrounds and includes new articles on recently canonized saints. The index offers the list of saints from the complete edition, and includes all new canonizations and new dates, making it the most up-to-date listing of saints available. Butler's lives of the saints remains a remarkable reference source and, through its comprehensive biographies, a valuable aid to devotion and a rich source of historical information.

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Dianne Kirby

"This collection provides the first systematic examination of the role of religion in the Cold War. As the 'War on Terror', with its profound religious implications, is increasingly perceived as the 'new Cold War', it is more imperative still to understand the political influence of religion and its role in the international arena.". "This specially commissioned new research and scholarship adds a whole new dimension to the cumulative process of Cold War scholarship, showing why religion is a key Cold War variable. It provides new perspectives and crucial insights into the ubiquitous, multi-dimensional conflict that dominated the latter half of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.

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Anthony J. Wilhelm

If Christ Among Us is an example of a new trend in explaining one's religious beliefs without denigrating those of others, we are better off than before--but not much better. The spirit of the book is obvious from the opening chapter's assertion that ""the story of Christ among us is a study of the Catholic faith."" The implication, of course, is that the story of Christ among us is not readily discernible in the non-Catholic churches, and in that respect Father Wilhelm has not broken with his preconciliar precursors. He has, however, dispensed with the vitriol that hitherto has been as necessary a part of apologetics as the various proofs of the existence of God. For the rest, the book follows the conventional lines of books written to explain, defend, and propagate the Catholic faith: the existence and knowability of God, the divinity of Christ, the foundation and authentic mission of the Catholic Church, etc. A rather unusual feature is that the author is at pains to emphasize what is common dogma in all Christian churches, and he does often present, somewhat summarily, the Protestant viewpoint on matters of difference. However, an overall impression of the author's inflexibility that expresses itself in the we-are-absolutely-right-and-they-are-absolutely-wrong syndrome, despite his good will and intentions, detracts from the purposes of his book. The older Catholics generally won't mind; the younger will.