This book of prayers, meditations and reflections is for everyone seeking to live their Christian faith in love. As a response to the Year of Faith and to Share the Good News: National Directory for Catechesis in Ireland, it provides a series of starting points for prayerful meditation, encouraging the reader to take time in the presence of the Lord, recognising his call and their own willingness to listen, reflect and be renewed. To follow Christ is to bring his light to life in our world, to pray and act and reflect in his love. As we recall the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II, we pray for the confidence to put its vision into action in our lives.

The second in a two-part series designed to help parents and families prepare for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Communion with their children. This guide takes a step-by-step approach to the Sacrament of Communion using accessible, child-friendly language and illustrations, emphasising it as an opportunity for the family of God to gather together to be nourished by the Word and by the Eucharist. It contains both activities and prayers for children, and points for reflection for parents.

In nine pieces of blank verse, Mary Bridget Judge explores the physical and emotional torment of the Saviour from the Last Supper to his Glorious Resurrection. Centred on the themes of the five sorrowful mysteries, the verses offer the reader a new way to experience the Passion of Christ. By looking through the eyes of Jesus, the author immerses herself in the enormity and generosity of his humble and willing sacrifice.

This bestselling book from leading mental health professional and parenting expert Dr John Sharry has now been updated and expanded. Advocating a balanced approach to parenting, Parenting Teenagers sets out a step-by-step guide that shows you how to stay supportively involved in your teenagers’ lives, while also setting rules and teaching responsibility. Emphasising a positive approach that builds on your strengths as a parent, this book will not only help you solve discipline problems and reduce conflict, but also have more satisfying and enjoyable relationships with your teenagers. Drawing on his popular and influential columns in the Irish Times, the book now contains an extensive question and answer section addressing the many concerns for parents of teenagers in the modern world, such as study and motivation, technology and cyberbullying, relationships and sexuality, depression and suicide; as well as dealing with drugs, alcohol and many other topics. Dr John Sharry is a mental health professional with over twenty years’ experience, a bestselling author of ten positive psychology and parenting books, developer of the award-winning Parents Plus Programmes and a weekly health columnist for the Irish Times. His books have been translated into nine languages including Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic.

The less-discussed character in the Bible is the woman: two talking animals therein have sometimes received more page space. This volume shines the light of close scrutiny in the less-trodden direction and focuses on biblical and allied women, or on the feminine side of Creation. Biblical women are compared to mythical characters from the wider Middle East or from contemporary literature, and feminist/womanist perspectives are discussed alongside traditional and theological perspectives.

The letter that claims to be addressed by Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy upon the martyrdom of Peter and Paul is not included among the epistles. It was composed originally in Greek, but it is exhibited in Arabic.

This volume explores the fascinating narrative structure and thematic elements of Matthew 8–9 which typologically present Jesus as the ‘New-Moses’ leading his people out of eschatlogical exile. This typology is created using imagery of Jesus’ healing diseases which find their antecedent in the Mosaic legal suit of Deut 28–30, and Matthew’s explicit citation of Isa. 53, in which the Servant is predominantly envisioned as a Mosaic figure. The intervening call narratives brings a reconstitution of the twelve tribes. The author concludes by exploring the possible rationale and motivation for Matthew’s typological association of Jesus with Moses.

The Trinity played a significant role in Jonathan Edwards’ theology. But what was the nature of his trinitarian theology? A common view among Edwards scholars is that he embraced the dialectical psychological and social models of the Trinity. This study suggests that Edwards consistently used one model of the Trinity—the Augustinian mutual love model. Edwards uses the mutual love model to portray the loving relationships among the divine persons and in doing so stands in continuity with other early-Enlightenment apologists for traditional trinitarianism.

This book describes the development of the Christian understanding of God from the second to the eighth century as witnessed by major theologians who gradually realized that the Incarnate Word made flesh was not the God of the philosophers. They helped construct the great dogmas of the Christological councils. Beginning with the Apologists and ending with Maximus Confessor, the theological tradition overcame the notion of impassible deity in favor of the humble God of Christian faith, the Word made flesh.

What is truly timeless? This book explores two ancient Greek terms for eternity, aiônios and aïdios. It traces these terms from their earliest occurrence in Pre-Socratic philosophy and Plato and through their interaction with Jewish thought and down into the patristic fathers, where they play a crucial role in debates over eternal punishment vs. universal salvation.

What was Canaanite religion like during the Middle Bronze Age, at the time of the biblical patriarchs? This volume presents a theoretical model for identifying ritual behavior in the archaeological record, providing a test case using the rich material culture and structures that have been unearthed at the biblical city of Gerar (Tel Haror, Israel).

In recent years, the Qur’ān has come to the forefront of scholarly investigations in Islamic studies. However, the traditional interpretation of the book, commonly termed tafsīr, remains a vast, virtually untapped field of investigation. Many Muslims tend to ignore the material, seeing it as a storehouse of traditional restraints, and scholars frequently gloss over its importance as a historical record of the Muslim community, not appreciating the depth and breadth of the literature. The essays gathered here expose and explore various aspects of the field of tafsīr, and their potential for scholarly research.

Matti Moosa provides an introduction and a translation of Rev. Bulus Behnam’s 1946 work on the basic principles of the Christian faith based on the Holy Scriptures, showing that the Syrian Church considers the Holy Bible its sole authority for salvation.

The heretofore unpublished Kitab al-Zina, virtually unknown in western scholarship, is a glossary of important Islamic terms by the 9th/10th-century Ismaili polymath Abu Hatim al-Razi. Some lament that Razi’s historical approach to etymology failed to catch on and that had it done so, the face of Arabic dictionary writing might have been altered for the better. His organization of material was uniquely Ismaili as he took pains to synthesize contradictory information into a harmonious whole. This study examines sections of Razi’s work with a view towards his contributions to the field of grammar and linguistics.

This volume, with a short preface, contains the Mass for the Syro-Chaldean Malabar Church in fully vocalized east Syriac script with a parallel Latin translation.

The Sentences of the Syriac Menander appears in two Syriac manuscripts in the British Library, a full version in one codex, and a far shorter version, only a small fraction thereof, in another. This book presents a commentary on the text in its complete version focusing on parallels from both Jewish tradition and the Greco-Roman world, showing that the text is not, as it claims, the work of the Greek author Menander, but rather a work of Jewish Wisdom Literature composed in Syriac, possibly in the ancient city of Edessa itself, and preserved within Christian monastic circles.