Deep Down Things: Essays on Catholic Culture explores common threads that characterize Catholicism. The contributors look successively at: Catholic culture and everyday life of the parish and of work, at Catholic culture and the imaginative life of poets and fiction writers, and at Catholic culture and postmodern life where individual conscience, skepticism, and relativism challenge Church authority and faith itself. They do so while looking for foundational components that persist and com...

Tomáš Halík provides a poignant reflection on Christianity’s crisis of faith while offering a vision of the self-reflection, love, and growth necessary for the church to overcome and build a deeper and more mature faith.In a world transformed by secularization and globalization, torn by stark political and social distrust, and ravaged by war and pandemic, Christians are facing a crisis of faith. In The Afternoon of Christianity, Tomáš Halík reflects on pas...

Winner of an Abraham Lincoln Institute Book AwardThough not blind to Abraham Lincoln's imperfections, Black Americans long ago laid a heartfelt claim to his legacy. At the same time, they have consciously reshaped the sixteenth president's image for their own social and political ends. Frederick Hord and Matthew D. Norman's anthology explores the complex nature of views on Lincoln through the writings and thought of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary Mc...

On the heels of the advance since the twentieth-century of wholly physicalist accounts of human persons, the influence of materialist ontology is increasingly evident in Christian theologizing. To date, the contemporary literature has tended to focus on anthropological issues (e.g., whether the traditional soul / body distinction is viable), with occasional articles treating physicalist accounts of such doctrines as the Incarnation and Resurrection of Jesus cropping up, as well. Interestin...

In his two previous books translated into English, Patience with God and Night of the Confessor, best-selling Czech author and theologian Tomáš Halík focused on the relationship between faith and hope. Now, in I Want You to Be, Halík examines the connection between faith and love, meditating on a statement attributed to St. Augustine—amo, volo ut sis, “I love you: I want you to be”—and its importance for contemporary Christian practice. Halík suggests that becaus...

Praise for Gerald Astor"No one does oral history better than Gerald Astor. . . . Great reading."-Stephen Ambrose on The Mighty Eighth"Gerald Astor has proven himself a master. Here, World War II is brought to life through the hammer blows of their airborne triumphs and fears."-J. Robert Moskin, author of Mr. Truman's War, on The Mighty Eighth"Astor captures the fire and passion of those tens of thousands of U.S. airmen who flew through the inferno that...

International best-selling author and theologian Tomáš Halík shares for the first time the dramatic story of his life as a secretly ordained priest in Communist Czechoslovakia.Born in Prague in 1948, Tomáš Halík spent his childhood under Stalinism. He describes his conversion to Christianity during the time of communist persecution of the church, his secret study of theology, and secret priesthood ordination in East Germany. Halík speaks candidly of his doubts and ...

West Virginia is a state of overwhelming beauty. Shared traditions, shared tragedies, and shared histories bind its people to the land and each other with a strong sense of place, family, and home.In striking black-and-white photos culled from state and national archives, accompanied by text from an award-winning writer, Historic Photos of West Virginia captures the history of this remarkable state. Even readers unfamiliar with its history will find a compelling drama in i...

In this masterfully written book, Tomáš Halík calls upon Christians to touch the wounds of the world and to rediscover their own faith by loving and healing their neighbors.One of the most important voices in contemporary Catholicism, Tomáš Halík argues that Christians can discover the clearest vision of God not by turning away from suffering but by confronting it. Halík calls upon us to follow the apostle Thomas’s example: to see the pain, suffering, and poverty o...

Auf der Flucht vor einer gefährlichen Hundebande verlassen die jungen Stadthasen Max, Chester und Kela ihre Heimat und wagen sich tief in den Zauberwald. Ihr Ziel: Die sagenumwobene Schule Lärchenhain, wo sie sich magische Unterstützung erhoffen. Schnell merken sie, dass Zaubertränke sich nicht so leicht stehlen lassen – und dass echte Magie weit mehr erfordert als nur Tricks und Mut. Nach einer missglückten Aufnahmeprüfung müssen sie bei einem Theaterstück beweisen, wie sehr sie dazugehör...

As he took charge of his city’s response to the 9/11 attacks, New York City's mayor Rudy Giuliani became the most admired man in America, and perhaps the world. Featuring interviews with longtime political associates, teachers, protégées, and friends, as well as his opponents, critics, and other astute political observers, Giuliani presents a living portrait of one of the most prominent and controversial politicians of our era.

The timeless human desire to be more beautiful, intelligent, healthy, athletic, or young has given rise in our time to technologies of human enhancement. Athletes use drugs to increase their strength or stamina; cosmetic surgery is widely used to improve physical appearance; millions of men take drugs like Viagra to enhance sexual performance. And today researchers are exploring technologies such as cell regeneration and implantable devices that interact directly with the brain. Some conde...