Bøger af Michael Counsell

Many people claim that the Bible supports their views, when they are simply selecting verses and reading them out of context to bolster their prejudices. This book imagines Mary Magdalene telling her life story. It is by a published author who has made a lifelong study of the text of the Bible, and of the way people lived in the time of Jesus; it should encourage readers to use their own imagination to enter into the minds of Jesus and his disciples. It is fiction, in that all these events are unlikely to have happened to one person. But each event is closely based on the Bible account of something which certainly happened to somebody, and the fictional structure should help people to imagine what the experiences felt like, and what the words meant to the hearers at a particular point in history. At this time there are many debates about the role that women should play in the home, society, the church and its ministry. 'She was the First Apostle' may make you think again about what answers the Bible gives to these questions.

Jim Counsell's War 1914-18 is the story, researched and told by his son, of a young man of 18 who, on the day war broke out, volunteered to join the British Army, imagining that war was 'a game for gentlemen.' He was soon disillusioned, and this memoir graphically describes the awfulness of life in the trenches, or, in the case of the Royal Artillery, in the forward observation posts. In 1916 he was commissioned as an officer, and there are graphic descriptions of his life over the next two years, together with top quality photographs of the lighter side of life in the battlefield. Then in 1918 he was ordered to stay behind to watch a gun which was stuck in the mud and had to be abandoned, push one shell in the breech and another down the muzzle, and pull a lanyard to explode the gun when the enemy came close to it. He achieved this safely, but on the way back to rejoin his unit he was hit by shrapnel, and his right arm had to be amputated. This may have saved his life, since he was still in hospital when the war ended. There he met and married the hospital cook, who was the author's mother.

A comprehensive, informative guide to various aspects of Christian belief. It contains biblical doctrines, the contribution of major theologians and theological movements, and differences between the major church groupings.

Night time signifies many things. Apart from the rest and refreshment that sleep brings, the night is a time for gazing at the stars, dreaming and loving. For some it means keeping vigil as they tend the very young, or the sick. For others, it means working so that others may rest peacefully. For most people, there are occasions when the night brings no relief: when we are worried or afraid, trouble never looms larger than in the early sleepless hours. Yet such times can lead to a richer experience of intercession, meditation and contemplation. These experiences of the night are universal and have inspired poetry, prayers, lullabies, songs and stories down the ages. This wide-ranging collection is the perfect bedside companion and will help soothe us to sleep, dispel night time fears and attune us to the gifts and opportunities that each new day brings.

This informative, pocket-sized guide is a travelling companion for the growing number of visitors to the sites of the Early Church. Combining practical information with devotional insights, this illustrated guide is useful for tour operators and pilgrims alike.

Containing prayers from every era of our spiritual history, from every continent and from every Christian tradition, this is a book that is equally useful as a worship resource or as an inexhaustible store for personal prayer.

England's rich spiritual history is portrayed in this informative pocket travel companion covering more than a thousand places that can be visited today, including cathedrals and abbeys, simple chapels and pilgrim shrines.

A Bible dictionary in a popular and user-friendly format. Arranged as an A-Z with special sections on the individual books of the Bible, the life and teachings of Jesus, the miracles, parables, history, law, prophecy and poetry, Bible themes and doctrines. Follows the style of 'A Basic Church Dictionary'.