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Pope Benedict XVI's legacy is incalculable. His contributions to the Church as cleric and theologian are vast and varied, and his life of faith and theological work are so deeply intertwined that it is impossible to understand Benedict the theologian without understanding Benedict the devout Catholic. Surprisingly, Benedict himself never wrote anything describing the "theology of Benedict XVI," and the connections between the various dimensions of his thought are not often apparent. Author Richard DeClue provides an overview of Benedict's biography and theological method and deftly articulates the unity within his writings by exploring, chapter by chapter, each of Benedict's principles regarding the Trinity, revelation, creation, Christology, liturgy, and more. The Mind of Benedict XVI captures the cohesive nature of Benedict's life and thought and offers a profound theological portrayal of one of the most dynamic Catholic figures of the last century.

The statistics are troubling: 6.5 people leave the Catholic Church for every one that joins, and 50% of young people who were raised Catholic are no longer Catholic today. The Catholic Church is hemorrhaging young people. Behind these statistics are countless stories of wounded families. Millions of mothers and fathers are longing for their prodigal children to come home to the Church, crying: "Where did we go wrong?" The passive wait-and-see approach is no longer an option. We need a different strategy. We need to understand the real reasons why our young people drift away, and we need a game plan to bring them home. We need Return.

In James Matthew Wilson's fourth full-length collection of poems, the writer joins the great saint and theologian Thomas Aquinas to pause before "the thought of earthly sorrows" and to pray for "such a world that had so much to say." These poems stand in wonder before the tumult and beauty of created things and the capacity of the soul to rise above it. We move from encounters with the world as revelation, mystery, and promise, to great scenes of sin and fracture such as the bombing of Dresden, the execution of the Roman philosopher Cicero, and scandals in the Church. The volume begins with the prospects for an unborn child soon to enter our stormy world and concludes with a "Farewell" to the place, home, and setting of many of these poems. Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds is a story and pilgrimage through the troubles of our age and beyond them to the reason for our hope, "for all things turn about the love of God."

Among the many masterpieces of G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man is his crowning achievement. It was the book that set a young atheist named C.S. Lewis on the path toward Christianity. Evelyn Waugh called it "a permanent monument" that "needs no elucidation." And its lively prose and compelling defense of Christianity have dazzled readers ever since. But a little elucidation, it turns out, is needed. Chesterton's presentation of the story of humanity and religion is filled with obscure literary, historical, mythological, philosophical, and theological references--most of which are largely lost on today's readers. And Chesterton's paradoxical and apparently wandering style proves, at times, disorienting to newcomers. In this groundbreaking guide--the first of its kind--one of the world's leading authorities on Chesterton walks readers through the entirety of this great apologist's text. Complete with an introduction, footnotes, and running commentary, Dale Ahlquist's tour through Chesterton's classic will draw new readers into his literary world--and old readers even deeper into his literary genius.

What is the meaning of life? Do we create meaning or find it? Every person, implicitly or explicitly, has a conception of the meaning of life, which is intimately connected to our view of human freedom. How we answer these questions determines the course of our lives and our fulfillment. Drawing from the great writer G.K. Chesterton, Brady Stiller identifies four dominant philosophical positions on meaning in our day--determinism, existentialism, skepticism, and nihilism--and evaluates their answers to these ultimate questions, and how they fall short. Evoking Chesterton's notion of paradox, Stiller proposes a philosophical position more true to reality--namely, that the meaning of life is both objective and subjective at the same time. By viewing life as a story with both determined and undetermined aspects, we are equipped to coauthor our stories with the divine author, discovering our role in the grand drama of creation.

"Socrates once said that a good person does not worry much about the little things, like whether he lives or dies, but only about the one big thing: whether he is a good person or a bad one. In Ethics for Beginners, celebrated philosopher Peter Kreeft reclaims the importance of ethical study in answering life's big questions: What is the meaning of life? How should I live? How should I treat other people? Unlike many modern texts on the subject, this one asserts that ethics is real, that good and evil are knowable, and that we can learn to act well and so become better and happier people. Surveying the "big ideas" of the thirty-two most important ethical philosophers, Ethics for Beginners is an apprenticeship to the greatest minds in history. With expert analysis and reflection from Kreeft, it offers a challenging and unforgettable treatment that is suitable for classroom and individual use alike"--

Robert Hugh Benson's Lord of the World delivers a stark warning of the dangers of secular humanism. Written in 1907, the novel chronicles the rise of the Antichrist in a dystopian future, where God has been abandoned and humanity itself has become the object of worship. Percy Franklin, one of the few Catholic priests left, finds himself putting everything on the line for the faith that is now a crime punishable by death. Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis recognized the prophetic character of this novel, which depicts the ultimate consequences of a secular "new world order." What promises peace and progress in reality brings only destruction and despair, and in the face of such evil can stand only one opponent: the Catholic Church.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) is widely regarded as one of the greatest poets of the English language. A Jesuit priest known for his sophisticated but innovative style, Hopkins wrote poetry that expressed the full range of emotional and spiritual experience, taking readers through trials and triumphs before coming to a place of deep resignation in God. As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Selected and Annotated Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins offers thirty-seven of this Victorian poet's greatest works with detailed, line-by-line annotations by Dr. Holly Ordway that provide valuable literary and cultural references, illuminate Hopkins' word choice, and help readers unpack his complex sentence structure. Featuring classics like "The Windhover" and "God's Grandeur" but also various lesser-known poems, it is perfect for the seasoned poet and the first-time reader alike, acquainting them with this brilliant mind of the Catholic tradition.

In No Lasting City, Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt collects essays written over a twenty-five-year period that explore the relationship between theology, politics, and culture. Drawing on the Christian theological tradition and engaging thinkers from Augustine and Julian of Norwich to Max Weber and Michel de Certeau, Bauerschmidt sketches a picture of faithful engagement with politics and culture that has robustly Christological contours. The stories of Flannery O'Connor, the paintings of the Flemish Primitives, the curricula of medieval universities, and modern accounts of mystical experience all serve as points by which the path of God's pilgrim city is charted, as a way both of understanding our past and present and of orienting us toward our hoped-for homeland.

In The Theology of Robert Barron, Matthew Levering explores the key themes and sources of Bishop Robert Barron's theological vision, tracing the development of his thought from his years as a student in the 1970s and 80s to the present. Levering surveys Barron's theology by studying his critical engagements with a cast of thinkers from his formative period, including Andrew Greeley, Michel Corbin, Raymond Brown, Edward Schillebeeckx, John P. Meier, George Lindbeck, Alasdair MacIntyre, Stanley Hauerwas, and Richard Rohr. Levering shows how Barron appropriated, elaborated, and critiqued the thought of these interlocutors to develop a powerful and nuanced theology of his own. At the center of Barron's theological vision is the non-competitive Creator God, who radically transcends the order of finite beings while sustaining all things by his power and presence. Because God does not "compete" ontologically with his creatures, he is able to come so near as to become one of us without ceasing to be himself. We encounter Christ as the central character of the drama that unfolds in Sacred Scripture. Barron emphasizes that Christianity is an embodied, communal way of being. To become a Christian is to enter into a distinctive cultural milieu, venerate its saints, adopt its sensibility, and embrace its practices. Levering shows how Barron integrates these speculative, moral, and spiritual dimensions into a theological picture that, although deeply and distinctly Catholic, is also oriented to the world outside the Church and to evangelism.

Enter what G.K. Chesterton called "the glorious fairyland of George MacDonald"! This delightful collection of classic stories will introduce the reader to the "forgotten father of fantasy fiction." According to C.S. Lewis, there is "hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continuously close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself," and MacDonald deeply influenced the Christian fantasy writers who followed him, including J.R.R. Tolkien and Madeleine L'Engle. This beautiful collection includes MacDonald's stories "The Golden Key," "The Light Princess," and "Little Daylight," as well as stunning full-color illustrations by Anastasia Nesterova and an introduction for the young reader by children's book author and Editor of Word on Fire Spark Haley Stewart. It is sure to spark the imagination of any reader.

Mee t a friar who tamed a dangerous wolf, an abbess who rescued a wounded boar, a faithful man who shared a tiger's cave, and many more holy men and women befriended by God's creatures!

Una reciente encuesta del Pew Forum reveló la alarmante cifra de que el 69% de los Católicos no cree en la Presencia Real de Cristo en la Eucaristía. Para la mayoría de los Católicos en la actualidad, la Eucaristía es meramente un símbolo de Cristo, y la Misa es meramente una colectividad de personas que piensan parecido que se reúne a recordar su vida. Esto evidencia un desastre espiritual porque la Eucaristía es "la fuente y culmen de la vida Cristiana". En respuesta a esta crisis, el Obispo Robert Barron, entonces el Presidente del Comité sobre Evangelización y Catequesis de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos, comenzó a trabajar con sus hermanos obispos en una solución. De estas conversaciones surgió el Avivamiento Eucarístico Nacional. Esto es Mi Cuerpo: Un Llamado a un Resurgimiento Eucarístico tiene el propósito de acompañar este resurgimiento. En este texto breve pero revelador, el Obispo Barron ofrece un análisis tripartito de la Eucaristía como comida sagrada, sacrificio y Presencia Real, ayudando a los lectores a comprender el sacramento del Cuerpo y Sangre de Jesús más minuciosamente para que puedan enamorarse de él más completamente. Descubra la verdad profunda que brota de las palabras de Jesús en la Última Cena: "Tomen y coman, esto es mi Cuerpo . . . Beban todos de ella, porque esta es mi Sangre, la Sangre de la Alianza".

"From the songs of scripture to the hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Church has always used metaphor and image, meter and rhyme, and the music of language to illuminate and inculcate the faith"--Dust jacket.

"Our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed." These words of St. Paul in his Letter to the Corinthians express the highest mystery of the Catholic faith, which Christians around the world contemplate and celebrate every year during the Lent and Easter seasons: the suffering, dying, and rising of Jesus. In this new book from Word on Fire, readers are offered a week-by-week guide through these sacred seasons with a series of reflections on Lenten themes like death, temptation, repentance, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; the events of the Paschal Mystery of Christ recalled during Holy Week; and the joy of the Gospel reflected in the Easter season. Featuring key passages from Scripture, extended readings from Bishop Robert Barron, and hymns, poetry, prayers, and additional reflections from across two thousand years of Catholic tradition, The Paschal Mystery is a perfect companion guide for parishes, families, and individuals longing for a deeper encounter with Christ during Lent and Easter.

The first stage of the divine Word's human life was in Mary's body. For nine months, he whom the heaven of heavens cannot hold was housed, as a real human baby, within his mother's womb. But contemporary Christology has little to say about this period of the life of Jesus. In Redeemer in the Womb, Fr. John Saward reclaims this forgotten pearl from the treasury of revelation, drawing from Scripture, the Church Fathers and chief Doctors, Christian philosophy and theology, liturgy, poetry, and iconography. The Incarnation of God the Son in the Virgin's womb reveals the greatness of man's dignity, and allows us to look afresh at human life in the womb and the beauty, truth, and goodness of this first chapter of the human story.

In 1995--one hundred years after the birth of cinema in Paris--a Vatican-appointed commission compiled a list of forty-five significant films. The entries vary widely, ranging from light-hearted favorites like The Wizard of Oz to challenging arthouse features such as The Seventh Seal. This list, released under Pope St. John Paul II, was an important milestone in the dialogue between the Church and the wider culture. Yet for many Catholics and cinephiles alike, it remains undiscovered or unclear. What was the list for? And why did the commission choose these particular titles? In this groundbreaking study, David Paul Baird, Andrew Petiprin, and Michael Ward walk readers through the entire Vatican List, film by film. The authors show that its aim was not to serve as a "best-ever" register, nor as an anthology of approved works; rather, it was to guide people in an appreciation of cinema as an artistic language and a bearer of spiritual and moral messages. In addition to theologically and historically informed commentary, each chapter includes film stills, quotations, fun facts, and questions for further reflection and discussion. Elevated yet entertaining, Popcorn with the Pope is perfect for anyone interested in delving deeper into a Christian approach to movies.

"In this new book, Fr. Damian Ference proposes a more precise lens for decoding Flannery O'Connor's narrative art, one that originates in O'Connor's own words about herself: Hillbilly Thomism. The author examines the various ways in which St. Thomas Aquinas and the philosophical tradition of Thomism shaped not only O'Connor's view of reality but also the stories she told to help us see and know it."--from inside front flap.

"An exploration of J.R.R. Tolkien's Catholic faith and how it shaped his life and his literary work. How was he formed as a Catholic? What was the nature of his spirituality? Why does this matter for our understanding of his writings? These questions are important because Tolkien's Christian faith was at the heart of his life and work, yet it is routinely either overlooked or mishandled"--

"In this page-turning memoir, Fr. BUrke takes readers on an intimate personal journey--from his childhhod outside of Chicago, to his success in baseball, to his conversion to Catholicism, and finally, to his acceptance of his vocation" --Book jacket.

"Analyzing the philosophical foundations of the four reigning secular ideologies of our day--utilitarianism, classical liberalism/ libertarianism, progressivism/wokeism, and non-theistic conservatism--[the author] shows how Catholic teaching, while respecting the genuine concerns of these worldviews, responds to their errors and deficiencies by providing a more rational and moral alternative"--Flap page 1 of dust jacket.

"First edition published 2008 by Orbis Books"--Title page verso.

"Primarily aimed at bishops, priests, and deacons. The chapters in this book, born in the main conferences offered to bishops, priests and seminarians in various parts of the world and at different times, offer some reflections based upon the metaphorical image of the Church as God's garden or field in which we encounter the pastoral challenges before us today. Foreword by Fr. Paul Murray"--

The culture of contempt--the lust to wound perceived opponents who are seen not just as wrong but as evil--has become global in scope. Fed by the rise of "cheap speech" in media, seismic shifts in digital technology, and a boom industry based on selling outrage, people are increasingly unable to understand, much less dialogue with, their ideological rivals. The Catholic Church understands itself as the evangelizer of culture; yet this culture of contempt has evangelized much of the Church. A distressing range of Catholic media platforms and commentators have introduced the poison of contempt into the heart of Catholic life--and with exacting fidelity. In this timely and important new book, Vatican journalist and Crux Editor John L. Allen Jr. offers a bracing analysis of our fractured Catholic media landscape. Examining six case studies of the culture of contempt wounding the Church--four from around the globe, and two from the United States--Allen offers not only a sobering look at the direction Catholic media has headed, but an urgent call for it to change course.

Americans are drifting away from the Church in record numbers. At the heart of this crisis is a failure in communication. With over ten years of experience working with over ten thousand churches as the founder of Flocknote, Matthew Warner offers church leaders a practical guide to leading their flock somewhere truly meaningful--no matter their church role! You'll learn: ▪ Why some people listen and others don't ▪ How to get them to open (and respond to) your messages ▪ Why most church websites and apps don't work ▪ How to ask for money (and why it should be fun) ▪ Mistakes most church leaders make ▪ Why people should even follow you in the first place ▪ Where to find the time for all of this ▪ And so much more!

"The Word became flesh and lived among us." These words of St. John the Evangelist express the foundational mystery of the Catholic faith, which Christians around the world contemplate and celebrate every year during the Advent and Christmas seasons: the Incarnation. In this new booklet from Word on Fire, readers are offered a week-by-week guide through these sacred seasons with a series of reflections on the Messiah, the Annunciation, the Incarnation, the Journey to Bethlehem, the Nativity, and the Holy Family. Featuring key passages from Scripture, extended readings from Bishop Robert Barron, and hymns, poetry, prayers, and additional reflections from across two thousand years of Catholic tradition, The Word Became Flesh is a perfect companion guide for parishes, families, and individuals longing for a deeper encounter with Christ during Advent and Christmas.

Newman on Doctrinal Corruption examines John Henry Newman's understanding of history and doctrine in his own context, first as an Oxford student and professor reading Edward Gibbon and influenced by his close friend Hurrell Froude, then as a new Catholic convert in dialogue with his brother Francis, and finally as an eminent Catholic during the controversies over the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception (in dialogue with Edward Pusey) and papal infallibility (in dialogue with Ignaz von Döllinger). Author Matthew Levering argues that Newman's career is shaped in large part by concerns about doctrinal corruption. Newman's understanding of doctrinal development can only be understood when we come to share his concerns about the danger of doctrinal corruption--concerns that explain why Newman vigorously opposed religious liberalism. Particularly significant is Newman's debate with the great German Church historian Döllinger since, in this final debate, Newman brings to bear all that he has learned about the nature of history, the formation of Church doctrine, the problem with private judgment, and the role of historical research.

The sign of the cross finds its roots in the earliest centuries of the Church and is used today by millions of Christians worldwide. But it is all too easy to make this sign in a routine and superficial way at the beginning and end of a prayer, failing to recognize its true significance. In The Sign of the Cross: Recovering the Power of the Ancient Prayer, Bert Ghezzi reminds us that the sign of the cross is a prayer in itself--one that bears great spiritual power. Ghezzi offers a short history of the sign of the cross and then highlights several key truths to reflect upon as we make this sign. By making the sign of the cross, we open ourselves to God and confess our faith in the Trinity; we renew our Baptism, choosing to live the supernatural life that we received through it; we affirm and declare ourselves as disciples of Christ, and accept and embrace suffering in union with his suffering; we repel the devil, reminding him of the victory of Christ on the cross; and we resist our self-indulgence and tendency toward sin. The sign of the cross sums up our Christian life and vocation, and calls us to embrace the will of God and to reject everything that is opposed to it. This simple but profound act of faith affirms God's love for us and opens us up to the spiritual power he wants to release in our lives.

How can we share the Gospel and make disciples in our modern culture? Many people, including young people from Christian homes, are walking away from the faith, or have never had it presented to them in a compelling manner. However, our polemical, distracted media environment makes it difficult to have thoughtful discussions about anything. In this context, literature and the arts have a powerful role to play by providing an engaging and inviting way to share the Christian faith. In Tales of Faith, Holly Ordway shows how literature--and especially old literature--can foster fruitful discussions that allow us to meet people where they are and help them move closer to knowing Christ, or to knowing and loving him more fully and deeply. Here, readers will find a practical, accessible guide to using literature to discuss topics such as the nature of God, virtues and vices, the Crucifixion, longing and sadness, and much more. For each literary text, Ordway provides an introductory essay, a selection from the text (or the whole poem for short pieces), questions for discussion or personal reflection, activities, and recommended resources. Drawing from ancient classics like the Odyssey and the Aeneid and medieval masterpieces like Beowulf and the Divine Comedy, and providing both practical advice and spiritual guidance for the reader, Tales of Faith offers teachers, parents, and all lovers of classic literature an invaluable resource for sharing the faith through story.