A leading publisher of professional books in the field of middle level education, NMSA provides resources both for understanding and advancing various aspects of the middle scholl concept and for assisting classroom teachers in planning for instruction.

For John Wesley, the Bible is the joyfully consistent testimony of God’s never-ending grace and ever-seeking love. Likewise, studying the Bible is more than merely knowing what Scripture says; it is also about living every day as a child of God. Beginning with the Core Terms found in the NRSV version of The Wesley Study Bible, Bishop Willimon systematically lays out key Wesleyan tenets of faith so that you will have a fresh way to hear God’s voice, share in God’s grace, and become more like Jesus Christ. This book can be used as an eight-week, small-group study. A Leader Guide is also available order #9781426708237 Let this book be your trusted companion to the NRSV version of The Wesley Study Bible as you grow to love God with a warmed heart and serve God with active hands.

This accessible introduction to the Christian faith offers a hands-on look at the whole story of the Bible in an effort to help the person in the pew grapple with what it means to be a Christian in a world of conflicting ideologies and competing claims. This We Believe presents eight beliefs that form the basis of the Christian faith in the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions. This thought-provoking book is sure to inspire conversations and prayers concerning the story of the Bible, our theological heritage as Reformed Christians, and the changing culture in which we live.

In 1995, the National Middle School Association published a position paper defining foundational characteristics of developmentally responsive middle schools and program components that would create the kind of schools young adolescents need and deserve. This book provides a comprehensive, whole vision of schooling for the middle grades and makes more practical and accessible the basic concepts set forth in the 1995 position paper. The chapters are: (1) "The Imperative to Act" (Thomas O. Erb); (2) "Educators Committed to Young Adolescents" (C. Kenneth McEwin and Thomas S. Dickinson); (3) "Developing and Implementing a 'Shared Vision'" (Sue Swaim); (4) "High Expectations for All" (John Arnold); (5) "Advisory: Advocacy for Every Student" (Ross M. Burkhardt); (6) "School, Family, and Community Partnerships" (Joyce L. Epstein); (7) "A Positive School Climate" (Marion Johnson Payne); (8) "Curriculum That Is Challenging, Integrative, and Exploratory" (Chris Stevenson); (9) "Varied Teaching and Learning Approaches" (Barbara L. Brodhagen); (10) "Assessment and Evaluation that Promote Learning" (Gordon F. Vars); (11) "Flexible Organizational Structures" (Deborah Kasak); (12) "Programs and Policies that Foster Health, Wellness, and Safety" (Jean Schultz); and (13) "Comprehensive Guidance and Support Services" (Sherrel Bergmann). All chapters contain references. (KB)

Committee Serial No. 9.

In 1896 William James published an essay entitled The Will to Believe, in which he defended the legitimacy of religious faith against the attacks of such champions of scientific method as W.K. Clifford and Thomas Huxley. James's work quickly became one of the most important writings in the philosophy of religious belief. James Wernham analyses James's arguments, discusses his relation to Pascal and Renouvier, and considers the interpretations, and misinterpretations, of James's major critics. Wernham shows convincingly that James was unaware of many destructive ambiguitities in his own doctrines and arguments, although clear and consistent in his view that our obligation to believe in theism is not a moral but a prudential obligation -- a foolish-not-to-believe doctrine, rather than a not-immoral-to-believe one. Wernham also shows that the doctrine is best read as affirming the wisdom of gambling that God exists, a notion which James failed to distinguish from believing and which, among other things, he explicitly identified with faith. James's pragmatism, a theory concerning the meaning of truth, is shown to be quite distinct from the doctrine of The Will to Believe. In concentrating on a careful analysis of this doctrine of the will-to-believe, Wernham not only makes a major contribution to understanding James's philosophy, but also clarifies issues in the philosophy of religion and in the analysis of belief and faith.

The research literature on causal attribution and social cognition generally consists of many fascinating but fragmented and superficial phenomena. These can only be understood as an organised whole by elucidating the fundamental psychological assumptions on which they depend. Psychological Metaphysics is an exploration of the most basic and important assumptions in the psychological construction of reality, with the aim of showing what they are, how they originate, and what they are there for. Peter White proposes that people basically understand causation in terms of stable, special powers of things operating to produce effects under suitable conditions. This underpins an analysis of people's understanding of causal processes in the physical world, and of human action. In making a radical break with the Heiderian tradition, Psychological Metaphysics suggests that causal attribution is in the service of the person's practical concerns and any interest in accuracy or understanding is subservient to this. Indeed, a notion of regularity in the world is of no more than minor importance, and social cognition is not a matter of cognitive mechanisms or processes but of cultural ways of thinking imposed upon tacit, unquestioned, universal assumptions.

“God created us to be lovers,” writes Nick Wagner in his introduction to Spiritual Direction in Context. “When we love, we are in right relationship. We are acting for justice. The ministry of every spiritual director, in any context, is to serve as a guide into the depths of that love relationship.” Here, in this provocative collection of essays, respected leaders in the field of spiritual direction explore the myriad of contexts in which this relationship takes place and offers practical ways to respond to them. As the popularity of spiritual direction grows, directors are facing situations that monks and nuns – for centuries the exclusive practitioners of this profession – never had to face. The essays in this book, drawn from Presence, the journal of Spiritual Directors International, look deeply at spiritual direction in a number of contexts, including the workplace, with the aging, in hospitals, with women’s groups, with youth, with the homeless, and with those in mourning. Spiritual Direction in Context is the third in the SDI series.