Because the Ten Commandments seem harsh and unyielding to modern ears, few today realize that they embody the most perfect expression of human freedom. Only by abiding by the Commandments can you have a fully human life and achieve union with God. But you need more than a tenth-grade understanding of them to unleash their remarkable spiritual power in your daily life...which is why Fr. Brian Mullady has written this remarkable book that reveals the many often-overlooked, soul-nourishing elements and implications of each of the Commandments. Here you'll come to understand how the Commandments are not just ten individual rules; they are an entire plan of life that draws you ever more into God and brings you enduring peace with others—and with yourself. With the help of the wise Fr. Mullady, you'll soon come to see how the Commandments not only distill the teachings of Christ in the Beatitudes but are themselves fulfilled when you live in accordance with those Beatitudes. You're sure to close the pages of this book with renewed gratitude for the incredible divine gift of the Commandments and with a greater resolve to believe in them, to meditate on them, and to strive ever to live in accordance with them. From Fr. Mullady you'll learn: How obedience and love are necessary companions How the moral truths revealed by God complement the truths of nature How the First Commandment speaks of a kind of “marital love” God shares with us How “tempting God” involves doubt about God's nature The two conditions that mark any legitimate Sabbath rest Four ways you can place your anger under the control of reason The two kinds of “natural” rights you have as a human — and its relation to the right to own property The five main categories of sinful speech How the “negative” commandments complement the “positive” commandments

The Hebrew Bible is arguably the most influential work of all time—the most prized, and most studied, literary possession of Western civilization. Yet its message remains enigmatic, obscured by the cryptic nature of its archaic vocabulary. Using the “Ten Commandments” as an illustrative portal, Hilton Bik explains how the West fundamentally misunderstands the Holy Word emanating from the East. Drawing upon an illustrious array of contemporary scholarship he demonstrates how traditional biblical commentary is chronically jeopardized by entrenched presuppositions that preclude an accurate interpretation of the exotic narrative. This unbiased, historically based analysis of the ancient manuscript yields some startling discoveries—insights that test the very foundational ideas of both Judaism and Christianity and question the commonly accepted nexus between the Decalogue and civil society.

Theologian Fr. Brian Mullady brings enlightenment and consolation to the faithful with this concise yet powerful summary of the teachings of the Catholic Church about Christ. Masterfully addressing the gap in the knowledge of modern Christians about the nature and implications of the traditional, systematic doctrine of Christ, Fr. Mullady confronts the efforts of modern theologians to separate Christ from His Cross and suggest that His purpose on earth was merely to resist unjust social structures and advance wise moral teachings. Such fundamental misunderstandings of Christ, Fr. Mullady says, lead to a flawed interpretation of Scripture that wrongly minimizes miracles and reimagines uncomfortable sacrifices. To remedy such confusion, he documents how the nature of the union between God and man in Christ came to be defined over a 500 year period by major councils of the Church. Drawing on these gradual but consistent pronouncements of the Church, Fr. Mullady

Christian Writing Decoded provides the reader with a detailed history and analysis of the most important Christian writings. The Didache was rediscovered in the Monastery of the Holy Sepulcher in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey) in 1873 by the Metropolitan Philotheos Byrennios, who would later become the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Nicomedia (Izmit, Turkey). This manuscript is the sole extant copy of the complete work in Greek and was written in 1056 by a scribe named Leon. The Didache’s guarded but judicious approach to itinerant figures may be a reminder for us to be tolerant of outsiders who seek Jesus in truth, even if their ways are different from ours—as long as they do not teach us to alter our own practices. This book provides an original history and analysis of The Didache coupled with an appendix that includes the Christian writing.

The idea of a Lenin renaissance might well provoke an outburst of sarcastic laughter. Marx is OK, but Lenin? Doesn’t he stand for the big catastrophe which left its mark on the entire twentieth-century? Lenin, however, deserves wider consideration than this, and his writings of 1917 are testament to a formidable political figure. They reveal his ability to grasp the significance of an extraordinary moment in history. Everything is here, from Lenin-the-ingenious-revolutionary-strategist to Lenin-of-the-enacted-utopia. To use Kierkegaard’s phrase, what we can glimpse in these writings is Lenin-in-becoming: not yet Lenin-the-Soviet-institution, but Lenin thrown into an open, contingent situation. In Revolution at the Gates, Slavoj Žižek locates the 1917 writings in their historical context, while his afterword tackles the key question of whether Lenin can be reinvented in our era of “cultural capitalism.” Žižek is convinced that, whatever the discussion—the forthcoming crisis of capitalism, the possibility of a redemptive violence, the falsity of liberal tolerance—Lenin’s time has come again.

This collection of papers arrives from the eighth annual symposium between the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies of Tel Aviv University and the Faculty of Protestant Theology of the University of Ruhr, Bochum held in Bochum, June 2007. The general theme of the Decalogue was examined in its various uses by both Jewish and Christian traditions throughout the centuries to the present. Three papers deal with the origin of the Decalogue: Yair Hoffman on the rare mentioning of the Decalogue in the Hebrew Bible outside the Torah; E. L. Greenstein considers that already A. ibn Ezra doubted that God himself spoke in the Ten Commandments and states that more likely their rhetoric indicates it was Moses who proclaimed the Decalogue; A. Bar-Tour speaks about the cognitive aspects of the Decalogue revelation story and its frame. The second part considers the later use of the Decalogue: G. Nebe describes its use with Paul; P. Wick discusses the symbolic radicalization of two commandments in James and the Sermon on the Mount; A. Oppenheimer explains the removal of the Decalogue from the daily Shem'a prayer as a measure against the minim's claim of a higher religious importance of the Decalogue compared to the Torah; W. Geerlings examines Augustine's quotations of the Decalogue; H. Reventlow depicts its central place in Luther's catechisms; Y. Yacobson discusses its role with Hasidism. The symposium closes with papers on systematic themes: C. Frey follows a possible way to legal universalism; G. Thomas describes the Decalogue as an "Ethics of Risk"; F. H. Beyer/M. Waltemathe seek an educational perspective.

This volume brings together original work from internationally recognized scholars that critically engages with the full range of Jameson's work, including: Sartre, Lukács, 'Third World' literature, architecture, postmodernity, globalization, film, dialectics and Brecht. In a series of lively, and at times iconoclastic readings, the contributors challenge accepted views of Jameson's work and locate his project in the historical, political and institutional context that shaped it. The volume concludes with an original contribution by Jameson himself, providing an opportunity for readers to critically engage with his work themselves.

The proceedings of the sixteenth joint meeting presented in this volume will show the fruits of the ongoing cooperation between the members of the British Society for the Study of the Old Testament and the Dutch Oudtestamentische Werkgezelschap. The theme of the conference was ‘Torah and Tradition’. The volume brings together many different approaches in describing the multifaceted traditions behind the Hebrew Bible in its present form.

"This collection of inter-related essays argues that the way in which Chronicles incorporates and develops material from Samuel-Kings offers an analogy for the way in which the final edition of Exodus was produced. Embedded within the text of Exodus there is an earlier Deuteronomistic version recoverable from the reminiscences of the exodus in Deuteronomy. This, it is suggested, is the most objective method available for recreating the literary history of Exodus and must constitute the first stage in any analysis of Exodus. Already, it produces some surprisingly radical results."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Communication has become an important theme and heuristic concept in practical theology for Roman Catholics during the ecumenical age. Communication Habits for the Pilgrim Church explains why the moral order is given priority in Vatican teaching about communication and the reasons for Catholic social teaching to make moral judgments about these new realities. Attention is given in the book to the historical context of Vatican Councils I and II. The first chapter shows that behind the pilgrim Church lies an emerging vision of the threefold ecclesial offices of priest, prophet, and king. Chapter two examines the text and context of the Second Vatican Council's pastoral decree «Inter Mirifica». Chapter three provides a documented history of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communication and its teachings. In chapter four we return to the threefold office and examine the contribution of Pope John Paul II. It includes an analysis of how the politics of the Magisterium shapes Catholic social teaching. Chapter five develops major tenets of a critical analysis of the communication of the post-Vatican II Church: attention is given to the discursive aspects of religious authority, argumentation, bureaucratization, and market culture. Chapter six takes a step toward examining the pragmatics of contemporary Vatican teaching. For Roman Catholic moral theology, religious ethics is now deeply concerned with providing moral teaching and guidance on ethical questions raised by the social conditions of globalization and media communication. Communication Habits for the Pilgrim Church concludes that there are three basic sociological and theological aspects of the pilgrim Church. These include a ritual approach to religious communication, the generational experience of Catholics and their respective attitudes toward Church teaching, and the important link in the faith's praxis between reflexivity and forming habits of communication.