Wisely avoiding the temptation to depict the earliest Church as idyllic, Professor Harrington explores the texts of the New Testament (and a few non-canonical texts from the apostolic fathers) to extrapolate what we might learn about, and from, Jesus' first followers. The result is a book that is both profound and practical. Exposing the similarities between the first and the twenty-first century milieus in which the Church must minister, Father Harrington demonstrates the wisdom of looking to the early Church for operational religious models in the modern world.

Beyond the title which is centred on what is currently viewed as the original Church, the question is « Did Jesus found the Church? »
The best way to reach the answer is to read the book. This will give the reader the opportunity to discover that the interest of the book does not lie so much in the answer itself, as in all the things that one will discover on the way, while progressing towards the answer.
One of them is a method for reading the various books of the New Testament by starting to put them in context. In other words, by making a quick overview of who wrote the text, when, for what kind of people, in what social and historical context and for what particular purpose. All things that are essential to anybody who wants to extract the genuine substance of the message.
There is nothing more deceiving than to isolate a few lines from an unknown context and to apply them literally 2000 years later in a different world. This process can also be dangerous if it is used to support a particular ideology.
Another interesting thing regarding a better understanding of the Scriptures is the idea of "hermeneutical spiral" superseding that of "hermeneutical circle." It still runs from Jesus to the texts, the Christian experience and back to Jesus, but it adds a third dimension to the dynamic. It enables us not to go around forever in circles, but to rise each time a little closer to the ultimate truth.
Last but not least, the reader will discover all along the book a variety of interesting insights on basic notions such as wisdom, resurrection, disciple, apostle, baptism, the Lord's Supper and the essence of the Gospel itself. One gets the impression that the author has blown off some centuries of accumulated dust over these definitions, and given them a fresh meaning more consistent with their original purpose and more closely related to our overall life.

The Church According To The New Testament: What The Wisdom And Witness Of Early Christianity Teach Us Today by the learned biblical scholar Daniel Harrington (Professor of New Testament, Weston Jesuit School of Theology) draws upon biblical and ecumenical theology to help the reader better appreciate and understand what the foundational Christian texts teach about the Church. The focus is on what the theological content of the individual books comprising the New Testament can tell us about being a community of faith in the contemporary world. Questions for reflection and discussion are provided to assist the reader in learning to apply the wisdom of the new Testament and the witness of early Christians to the issues and concerns of modern life. The Church According To The New Testament is articulate, insightful, informed and informative reading.

i found your book excellent in bedside procedures and normal values but unfortunately i have not found enough guides in clinical pictures (diagnosis)and full investigations for separate disease entities to help in query bizzare clinical presentations in our wards

I highly recommend this text for third year medical students. It properly assumes that the third year medical student knows next to nothing about clinical medicine and proceeds to explain abbreviations, commonly used drugs, procedures, protocols on rounds, and a whole host of useful things needed to survive and thrive in the hospital setting. I used it not only in medical school, but during my residency as well (especially during the first two years), especially when learning critical care medicine. Definitely shell out a few bucks and buy this book before you start your clinical rotations during medical school.

It takes seconds to find what you need to know, and as you see from the table of contents it truly is a fantastic all-in-one must buy, must have for the serious medical student or pharmacist intern. This book will make you shine.

Dr. Reisberg has provided a good introduction to the core issues facing cognitive psychology. He presents with clarity the crucial experiments that have shaped questions and research regarding pattern recognition, categorization, problem solving, language, and especially memory. Most importantly he is not content to give only one view, but offers alternatives which the interested reader may seek out. The chapters on memory are some of the strongest, as are the topics on judgment and decision making. Psycholinguistics is given only one chapter, but that is to be expected since that field merits its own book.

This extraordinarily well-written book provides an invaluable introduction into the field of cognitive psychology. It is written in a clear, lucid and accessible way that facilitates reading and comprehension. Cognitive psychology is extremely interesting and insightful. It deals with concepts like memory, recognition, problem-solving and perception. Reisberg is a very proficient and eloquent author that supports the theories with empirical evidence and numerous experiments which clearly show the methods that psychologists use in their studies. This is without doubt the most meticulous, comprehensive and at the same time clear book on the subject matter.

Written with clarity and eloquence, this text emphasizes the empirical nature of the field and never "dumbs down" the material. Its very scholarly for a basic text. Finally, Dan Reisberg would never let anyone call him Dr. Reisberg.

This book is large and describes a wide range of breeds. Its descriptions of the temperments and history of the breeds is entertaining and helpful. The book however is written in British English and its focus is on breeds that the British enjoy and are familiar with.

I don't own this book, it's just in the library, but I instantly became addicted to it. The pictures are beautiful and colorful, and the info is accurate. I love the book that I can't hold it if somebody else gets the book! I make it a habit to get the book first. Too bad the book was sort of ruined by kids and the librarians won't let anybody read it because they are fixing it. I am still waiting for the book to be fixed!

Larkin's book will bring out the dog lover in even the hardest of hearts: the lovable snub-nosed Pug, the jolly grinning Samoyed, and the gentle brown-eyed German Shepherd are among the many friendly faces you'll encounter in this full-color guide to dogs. A section is devoted to each breed recognized by the British and American Kennel Clubs, and all the dogs are wonderfully photographed. Dr. Larkin's summaries of the various breeds are simple and truthful, if a bit brief. Though one should not consult this book alone when choosing to participate in complicated doggy matters such as breeding, grooming, or canine health, it makes a wonderful general reference for those with a love of canines.

I found it a as must have for managers, especially new managers. It give a simple easy to use method of dealing with conflict. Can be used in your job, community, and hope.

This book gives the main points in simple language that anyone can understand. Further all the points and key terms a mediator needs to remember are hightlighted and enclosed in boxes on the relevant pages.

All points are explained with examples and simple cases.

I recommend this book for all who prepare for examination. This is a good book for quick reference.

I found this book to be of tremendous value. Conflict Resolution is an easy to read resource that is full of practical information that can be applied immediately on the job. It is not only a must-have for managers and supervisors, but also an essential resource for anyone who would like to have more effective relationships and live a conflict free life. Daniel Dana writes with a friendly and often humorus style and it is clear that he has a vast knowledge of this topic. He has a great ability to take a complex subject and make it simple and easy to use with specific "how-to" steps, and that really makes this book valuable to me. I have now successfully used the resolution approaches outlined in this book both in my profession as a consultant and trainer, and in a family conflict situation that was causing a lot of pain. Additionally, the ideas in this book have worked for me in both one-on-one conflicts and group conflicts. The bottom line - this works.

Let's start out this review by stating up front that we disagree with Daniel Ben-Ami's assertion that a preoccupation with risk measurement and management is a detriment to the global economy. With that out of the way, we can say that Ben-Ami presents a unique analysis of the modern global economy that is not at all without merit. His contention that lagging growth is a greater peril to the world's economy than financial instability is reasonable and backed up by ample evidence and illustration. And his position that increased regulation could be doing more harm than good will be embraced by all free traders. On the basis of these discussions alone, we [...] recommend this book to anyone thinking seriously about international financial systems. But this book is perhaps most useful as a starting point for debate, which it will certainly generate in the mind of any informed reader. While you might quibble with Ben-Ami's conclusions ' as we do with his assertion that the threat of the 1990s financial crises was overblown ' you will not be bored.

Usually, books on the dry subject of modern finance are a difficult read but this one is a welcome and worthy exception. The text is so fascinating that I managed to "make it" in three rather short sessions - and without the slightest trace of boredom in the process. I found no superfluous or pseudo-profound sentences and even the footnotes of this carefully researched study fully deserve the reader's attention.

Ben-Ami manages to explain in a few dozen pages the basics of apparently difficult concepts (as he rightly tells us, "even the most complex strategies tend to be built from simple components") such as derivatives, mutual funds, pension funds, hedging, etc. In the process, he shatters a lot of mistaken myths and conventional wisdom.

It is simply not true, he explains, that the instruments of modern finance are essentially speculative; on the contrary, they are usually a means for corporations and investors in general to better manage risk. Modern capitalists, unlike their predecessors of a more dynamic era, have an exaggerated aversion to risk and they try to build their portfolio in a way that minimises it. Thus a corporation dedicated to making cars, for instance, might prefer to invest part of its earnings in derivatives or hedge funds instead of innovating its production processes. The result would of course be a less dynamic form of capitalism, where more resources are spent on the financial markets - as opposed to the real, productive side of the economy. This, insists Ben-Ami, is in short what has been happening since the end of the post-war (1945-73) economic boom.

He offers powerful examples to illustrate his thesis. Yes, he says, it's true that George Soros made a billion dollars out of speculating against the British Pound in the early nineties - but that was only because the fundamentals of the British economy were really incompatible with the high value of its currency. A few years later Soros was betting on a fall of the Rouble and eventually lost two billion dollars. This time he had made a wrong analysis of the fundamentals of the Russian economy and got his fingers burned. The conclusion? Well, speculators really don't have the power to dominate events. So much for the idea that modern economies are but passive instruments at the hands of unscrupulous capitalistic sharks!

Ben-Ami regrets the general climate of fear for the future and horror of risk-taking that he thinks has taken hold of Western Europe and even more the USA in the last few decades - and has been, BTW, amply demonstrated in the recent near-hysteria caused by the appearance of a few cases of Anthrax in the US. He sees in this tendency a sign that the "animal spirits" that Keynes considered essential for the proper working of a dynamic capitalist economy are faltering.

The author doesn't present us a "solution" for this problem, probably because he's well aware of the fact that cultural attitudes are very hard to change. But he does warn that the climate of fear that currently permeates western society constitutes a clear impediment to stronger economic growth, both in the First and Third worlds. And he writes in such a clear, unpretentious style that one might just hope his analysis will eventually find a sympathetic hearing in the decision-making centers of Europe and the United States.

The author performs a complete and delicate post-mortem of modern capitalist beliefs and misconceptions. I read Ayn Rand's "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" some time ago. Daniel Ben-Ami constructs a compelling argument in favour of unregulated markets, healthy competition and good old fashioned risk taking. Unlike Raynd he steers away from abstruse philosophical theories and sticks with what really matters to the reader: Real life examples, cataloging the myriad failiures of faux-capitalism. If like me you whince every time you hear about another ill-thought out but well intended goverment safeguard, you'll enjoy this book for the intellectual ammunition it delivers.

This is the only book I have found that describes the important role of human nature in the process of effectively leading an organization. It also links that role into the strategy and improvement process in an understandable way. The philosophies of this book can be applied to virtually any situation.

Creating Shareholder Wealth by business consultant Dan Peter is an informed and informative business guide that focuses on ways to make a business more efficient and viable. From helping employees to embrace positive changes, to applying new measurement tools to accurately assess corporate health, to creating useful and practical organizational strategies, Creating Shareholder Wealth is filled cover to cover with a wealth of practical and applicable tips, tricks, and techniques which would be especially useful to executives. Creating Shareholder Wealth is highly recommended reading for anyone charged with the responsibility of improving their company's bottom line -- and shareholder value.

This book is easy to read and its' material even easier to apply. It tells how to develop, implement, and measure strategy in any size and type of organization. Plug your existing goals and initiatives into this framework and identify any gaps. It is readily communicated and understood enabling the entire workforce to focus on a single objective. The result is alignment of interests and greater success.

This book is based around prints of 31 glass-plate photographs made primarily by Alice Snearly in and around Cache, OK, at the turn of the 20th century. The collection was acquired by Larry McMurtry, who donated the plates to the University of Texas Press, the publisher of the book.
Noyes, who wrote Los Comanches, provides some interesting but mainly inessential notes that at times border on the annoying, particularly when he noodles off into pointless speculation about how the subjects were thinking or feeling when their photo was taken based on the expressions on their faces.
There is a brief historical survey of the treaties that landed the Comanche on the reservation and the work of various Anglo religious, social, and political factions that gerrymandered their fate afterwards. Noyes also provides information on the Comanches' reservation life and their association with the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache who shared their reservation. Commentary on the dress of the subjects is informative with respect to the assimilation of the Comanches into Anglo cultural and dress patterns during this transitional period in the tribe's history, but numerous notations on tribal dress also indicate how important the peyote ceremony had become for the tribe in captivity.
The photos are generally soft-focus and relatively low contrast, making it difficult to pick out detail, and there are no magnified views. The notes, however, do well at identifying individuals and pointing out notable objects in the prints. Also, Noyes delivers some interesting anecdotal material on Quanah Parker and some of the other tribal leaders during the reservation years.

Excellent job by the authors with both the text and the selection of photographs. This is a very desirable book for readers interested in Comanches, the development of North Texas, early photography, or the process of Texas transitioning from frontier cultures into society as we have it today.

The historical introduction in this book has filled a huge gap by detailing the events of the lives of Commanches after they were placed on the reservation up to about 1915. Most of the happenings are the same for other reservation peoples and yet few nonIndians are familiar with the sequence of events after various native groups of people were put on reservations.

The photographs are unique and ones not previously seen before. Larry McMurty has provided a valuable service by making these images available through the University of Texas archives.

I warn you this review finds me in a bad mood.
This is too much of a sales pitch for Microsoft Word 2000: "the greatest word processor ever created" "easier" "improved" "personalized just for you" etc. The book does not tell you any of the common glitches... No help for any of this from the Complete Idiot's Guide.

I got this book from the library three times for my sister, who is a beginning computer user, but as we worked through a lot of the information, I found myself saying, "Wow, I didn't know how to do that!" several times. So I'm finally breaking down and just BUYING one! It always amazes me how many features of Word we aren't even aware of. I know it has really helped her get "unstuck" without calling me. It's always great to be able to figure it out on your own, and this book helps you to do just that. I would, however, recommend one of those laminated cheat sheets available at office supply stores. The cheat sheets at the front of the book are a little too simple.

I didn't need one of those big fat everything books to lug around. This one gives me enough to get my work done with a few laughs here and there.

This is a complex and well written novel. Set at the end of the T'ang dynasty (AD738)in China it shows how the dynasty fell. Virtually all the charcters in the novel are based on historical people and the society as laid out in the novel is obviously based on a lot of research. It involves death, deception, loyalty and dishonour - and the founding of Korea as a penal state for political dissidents. (shades of Australia!)

This is not a quick book to read (it's quite big at 920 pages). However at the end you marvel at the author's ability to portray so well a world so long gone. Esecially when you consider that the authors are from "the west" and not China.

I have read this book a total of four times since my mother bought me this book. The description of the T'ang city is extremely rich and very colorful and the characters are very wonderful to read.. To put it simply, it is about several characters who struggles to save the T'ang dynasty from corruption from within. If you're looking for a very good drama/mystery book, I strongly recommend you to hunt this book down, because it is worth the time to read..

This is one of the most incredible historical novels I have ever read. The sheer deviousness of the intrigue, the twists and turns of the plot, and the settings (both glorious and decadent) keep you glued to it, but remembering that most of the content is taken from historical fact is frosting on the cake. Cooney and Altieri do a remarkable job of taking actual historical events (and you would be surprised at how many of the events are actually historical!) and filling in the gaps with well-written prose to make each and every character come to life with personalities and motivations that explain it all. One of my all-time favorites!