At a time in history when we think we have heard the lowest of the low when it comes to our spiritual leaders, this book just fell into my lap. And what a book it is! Not all Catholic priests; but all spiritual leaders, it is tragic how human so many of them are -- and how easily we give them the power to judge our human frailties. How easily their victims trusted them! How tempting it is to take advantage of, and betray that trust.

Perhaps it is we who are to blame for giving any one human being the power of God in our lives. If anything will make you rethink that paradigm, this book will.

"For I have sinned - True storied of clergy who kills" contains eleven horrible stories of pastors, priest, ministers, and nuns who commit the ultimate sin : they kill! In each story Mr John Glatt explains the perpetrators and their victims backgrounds, the act of killing, and what happens afterwards - all in vivid detail.

The victims range from a 22-year-old woman to a couple in their 90s. In one story the murder weapon was found next to the Bible and in another the murderer later delivered the victims graveside eulogy.

Mr John Glatt has done an excellent job with "For I have sinned". He pays attention to many details and he writes in an easy-to-read manner. It is one of those books that is extremely hard to put down. If you think you know your priest, then read this book. The victims thought they knew their priests....

With 8 pages of photos.

I understand other works on Von Dutch/Kenneth Howard are on the horizon, but you have to give credit to St John Morton who has put together a photo essay of the "legendary" craftsman, machinist, artist, and renown pin striper (as of this writing) for doing it now!

This is the first book devoted exclusively to hot rod artist Von Dutch (although there is currently another one in the works by (I believe) Last Gasp in connection with a retrospective of his work currently showing in California). This book is a private publication (i.e. self-publication) put out with obvious care by St. John Morton. Apparently, it's available in 3 forms (the least expensive being the hard cover edition, another edition with a leather spine and slip cover and the third, most expensive edition which has a full leather cover). I bought the leather spined, slip covered edition which is hand signed and numbered by the author.

The downside to this book is that most of the photos of Von Dutch's pinstriping, paintings and custom car work have already appeared in the Last Gasp publication "Kustom Kulture." There are, however, a few new pieces in this book. The other downside is that some of the images look like very high quality photocopies of images published elsewhere. As long as you understand that this is a private pressing book, I think you'll be very happy with it. Again, it's obvious that the author devoted loving attention to the creation of this book. And, to date, it's the most comprehensive review of Von Dutch's work available.

Definitely worth owning.

How does one measure a musical composer's thoughts and attitudes? When a composer does not provide the words to his own music, what are we to judge him by? And when the words are drawn from a sacred text or determined by a liturgical context? With a composer like Wagner who vehemently embraced a nationalistic gestalt, it is easy to understand the accusations of anti-Semitism. With Bach, it is less so.

Consequently the brevity of Michael Marissen's 36-page essay on the subject of anti-Judaism in Bach's St. John Passion. Marissen's methodology is to briefly examine the parts of John's Gospel that have caused scholars to deem it the most anti-Judaic of the four canonical Gospels, to review the choral responses to the biblical texts in light of Lutheran theology as it would have been understood a century after the Reformer's death (Bach owned many volumes of Luther's writings as well as the Calov and Olearius Bible Commentaries), and to compare what Bach actually did with what he could have done (as evidenced by what other musicians did and by the approaches taken in such popular culture forms as the passion plays). Only rarely does Marissen turn to an analysis of the music to make his points. He does this in his discussion of cadence in relation to Jesus' sense of his own identity (p. 12-14) and in his discussion as to whether Bach used fugue to express the obstinacy of Jesus' Jewish adversaries (p.30 ff). Musical discussion within the text is keyed to the recording of Sigiswald Kuijken (editio classica 77041-2-RG, BMG Music), though an Appendix of Musical Examples lists seven other recordings of the work as well.

The central essay is well argued and easy to follow. The footnotes are extensive and helpful, as is the list of Works Cited. The Annotated Literal Translation of the Libretto, which makes up the second half of the book, uses different type treatments to help the reader distinguish between Gospel text, chorale responses to the biblical narrative, and aria/arioso responses. The book also includes a 5-page Appendix on Anti-Judaism and Bach's Other Works (namely, the Cantatas for the 10th Sunday after Trinity and the St. Matthew Passion).

Although I have no training in music whatsoever, I was nonetheless, drawn into Marrisen's fascinating essay. (Calling this slim volume a book is really a misnomer. I literally finished it in one 90 minute sitting.)Brevity, notwithstanding, this is a carefully written analysis of the theological worldview that influenced one of Bach's most artistically lovely, if controversial pieces. He readily admits that a poisonous strain of Lutheran anti-Semitism infected the ecclesiatical community of which Bach was a part , while at the same time offering that some evidence exists to support the idea that Bach may not have subscribed to such thinking. In the end, I do not know if I was necessarily convinced by Marrisen's argument. Much more needs to be said about Bach's perspective in light of his entire corpus. Focusing on one work is an interesting, but finally too selective technique. Even so, Marissen does a good job of encouraging the reader to approach, even works of artistic power as beautiful as Bach's with the critical eye the historically anti-Semitic Christian West demands.

Another significant addition to the Works of Saint Augustine by New City Press. This addition contains all the particular treatises of the Great Doctor of the West dedicated to sexuality, save one ("On Marriage and Concupiscence" also in this series, in the Anti-Pelagian Collection).
The angle of this edition, demarked as "a translation for the 21st Century," is certainly borne out, for better or worse, by its translator's word choices. It does sound at times as though its individual treatises did not come from the turn of the fifth century, but from the turn of the 21st century. Yet this should lead to minimal difficulty.
The signature of the Works of Augustine, their excellent binding and notes, makes this volume an enduring component for any study. Dr. Rotelle has done a worthy job of introducing each treatise and has guaranteed that these treatises will be available for the modern debate.

This is a collection of short works by Augustine on the title subject (marriage and virginity). The table of contents is as follows:

General Introduction

The Excellence of Marriage (with introduction and notes)

Holy Virginity (with introduction and notes)

The Excellence of Widowhood (with introduction and notes)

Adulterous Marriages (with introduction and notes)

Continence (with introduction and notes)

Index of Scripture

General Index

All of the works in this collection were translated by Ray Kearney. In addition to the General Introduction, each work has a short introduction of its own and notes at the end. The introductions and notes are by David G. Hunter. The introductions aim to provide historical context for the works, with the general introduction providing an overview of the twenty-year period from which these works were written, and the individual introductions providing the background for each particular work. The notes supplied at the end mostly identify Augustine's references to other works, both by himself and by others. The supplementary material is not copious, but doesn't really need to be; none of the works in this collection is obscure or difficult.

"The Excellence of Marriage" was one of Augustine's most influential works. He wrote it to define the purpose of marriage and to defend it as a good - not as good as holy virginity but a good nevertheless. To this end, he defined the purpose of marriage (what goods it brings to those in the married state), and from this what the duties of marriage must therefore be. It is a work at once strange and familiar. It is strange in the pains it takes to defend the idea that marriage is not actually sinful (a charge that few would even think to make today). It is familiar in that many of the most criticized aspects of the Catholic view of marriage, such as the denial of divorce and the sinfulness of non-procreative sex, are presented and defended in this work. It is a powerful presentation of these embattled points of doctrine and well worth reading.

"Holy Virginity" is a work that necessarily followed Augustine's works on marriage. Having defended the goodness of marriage, a defense of the superior goodness of virginity was required. The argument is rhetorical in form and scriptural in content. The main purpose is completed fairly quickly - Augustine draws on the lives of Mary, Jesus, the Apostles, and the teachings of Paul to establish that holy virginity is a good thing. Surprisingly, he then devotes considerable space to warning those practicing virginity not to be over-proud of their state and its superiority over marriage and to caution those practicing virginity to humility.

"The Excellence of Widowhood" is a long letter written to a widow asking Augustine's advice. In content it is fairly thin, but it was interesting to note that in it Augustine explicitly names a simple principal underlying much of his writing - precept first, then exhortation. The precept here (that widowhood is an honorable state) is a small one, and is treated at much more length than its worth would seem to warrant.

"Adulterous Marriages" is a treatment of a variety of possible issues and complications surrounding adultery, particularly with regard to separation and remarriage. It was built on the same theological foundations as "The Good of Marriage", but was aimed less at expounding doctrine than answering possible objections to it and clarifying the finer points. It almost serves as a set of appendices to that prior and more foundational work.

"Continence" was written, surprising as it may seem to a modern audience, not to defend continence but to defend the goodness of creation in general and marriage in particular. The opposing position was Manichaean dualism, which taught that everything good was in the soul and everything bad was in the body. As he so often had to do, Augustine had to attack one extreme while at the same time not seeming to endorse the other.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was fast and It was a real cute story. My favorite part was when they were planning the plan for Emily to meet Troy in the parking lot of the theater class that their mom teaches.

This book has all the basic needs for making a book great. There is comedy, like when they are just fooling around in each others rooms. And there is love, like the love that is between Emily and Troy, and Elaine and Dean. And most importantly, there is love between the sisters. And if the sisters did not show the love for each other the way they did in the book, then this book would have gone down hill right from the begining. So in a way I learned that even in books that don't take me more that a week to read, and that barely have 130 pages, I still know that they can teach me things that I will need to know growing up. And you should never stop learning, even when kids are grown up.

It is not the most spectacular book that I have ever read. It was an easy, fast, and fun little book. "Red Hair, Too" is about a set of twins that had been separated at birth (Which comes out in Red Hair). It is about them getting to know each other. One of them lives in California with their mom, and the other with their dad in Florida. For most of the book the twins are trying to get to know each other, and their parent that they haven't lived with. In the end they get into a little bit of trouble that only a set of twins can do.

90 Days with the Christian Classics is perfectly suited for once a day dosing! For each day there is a portion of the Bible connected to a passage from a Christian author of yesteryear. My only disappointment was some difficulty in identifying the sources cited for each authors. The lives of the authors cited spans over 1000 years, so these are words from history for our age! Pertinent biographical information on the authors is also included briefly. The editors have done well to anchor this work with substantial amounts of Bible excerts. The Bible, which is the best selling book of all time, is truly a treasured echo from history for our age! The hard padded book cover is magnificent and will serve well when readers bring it along on their travels.

I read this book to my daughter and thought it was really cute. A rabbit (ABBY) joins in with all the other animals in picking on a different looking rabbit. Later she learns not to judge someone on their looks. When I turned to the last page and learned this book was written by a 6th grade girl I was very impressed. This book is fun to read with your child with rhyme and great illustrations.

I thought this product was pretty good given that there is very little out there on interactive disk in safety training. Some problems in getting the disk open but not bad. I would prefer a generic product for my own business

Charles 1920 commentary has not been surpassed in the depth of its text-critical analysis and the extent of its comparanda. It is, however, dated and Charles' prediliction for source theories, interpolations, clumsy editors, etc. holds little influence in today's world. It is nevertheless indispensible for serious scholarly study.

Brilliant gems from the writings of one of the world's greatest preachers. Arranged in over two hundred short selections including thoughts on fasting, vainglory, wealth, and Excellent and provoking reading for daily devotion.