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I recently came across this devotional and have been captivated. The daily readings, which stretch from November 24 to January 7, include some of the most profound reflections on the season that I have ever seen – in both concept and scope, classic and contemporary – all gathered together into a single volume.
First Presbyterian Church News
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This handsome hardback has brief readings from some of the world’s leading literary and spiritual writers, offering just enough meaty and aesthetically-rich writing to please and challenge anyone who wants to dip in to a more mature sourcebook.
Hearts and Minds Bookstore
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Lent is a season of restraint, but this compiled book is a Lenten (and paschal) smorgasbord, offering more than 70 excerpted readings for Lent and Easter. Inside you’ll find writings of spiritual leaders, theologians, literary favorites, mystics, and justice heroes, including Clarence Jordan, Kathleen Norris, Ernesto Cardenal, Simone Weil, Wendell Berry, Madeleine L’Engle, Philip Berrigan, and Oscar Wilde, to name a few.
Sojourners
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Seeking Peace is not a self-help book, nor does it offer a quick fix for the problems of the world. What it does offer is a different definition of peace, and the disciplines to cultivate a shift in mindset to a simpler way, Jesus’s way.
Today's American Catholic
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Why Forgive? took each of us on a quest that would introduce us to hope, and expose us to our own hurts, wounds, and short-comings. And yet, in the midst of this, it pointed to the possibility that each of us had yet to explore: self-forgiveness.
Prison Fellowship Australia
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Rich in Years is my prize book now on loan to the rest of our little community. Have showed it to many people who on just browsing knew it was for them and ordered it.
I am an avid reader both professionally and to grow my own journey – Rich in Years is the one that has – and I hope will – always find me in readiness for ‘that next room where the Master Jesus awaits me’
Margaret Redmond
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It’s hard to go wrong with writers such as these. . . . Born of obvious passion and graced with superb writing, this collection is a welcome – even necessary – addition.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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This book is both informative and practical – written with a short chapter for each week of the year. Designed to spark conversation within a group devotion setting, readers can dive deep into community together.… This book delves into the nitty-gritty details of Christian community living and encourages readers to confront the dissatisfaction stirred up by its challenging pages. Though not a light text by any means, this book is ideal for those seeking to approach Christian community more intentionally and comprehensively.
Evangelical Church Library Association
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…Drawn from the full sweep of church history and an impressive range of ecumenical voices.
Mennonite Quarterly Review
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Enjoyable, meaningful, and helpful. Not a ‘talk down’ but a thoughtful read.
Barbara Bedell, Times Herald-Record
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A 2016 Englewood Honor Book – one of the thirty best books of the year for the life and flourishing of the church.
Englewood Review for Books
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This is a stellar contribution to our understanding of the whys and wherefores of Christian community. The 52 selections seem perfect for a year of weekly group study and the detailed discussion guide in the appendix is particularly useful for this purpose. Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People is a thoughtfully compiled and well edited guide to the subject.
Nancy Roberts, Catholic Sentinel
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To listen to those who have lived community across the centuries is to drink at a deep well of wisdom. The call to community is challenging, and yet the recognition of the real challenges of community both tempers naive enthusiasm and offers wise counsel to those who pursue intentional communities out of faithfulness to Christ.
InterVarsity Emerging Scholars Network
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Escape Routes is a gem of a book from an infinitely wise pen – a lucid, poetic, and pragmatic companion for “people who feel trapped in life’s hells.” Though rooted in the author’s personal faith, it transcends religious boundaries and has universal, ecumenical appeal.
Shira Dicker, National Foundation for Jewish Culture
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Beautiful…Arnold does not give us a magic formula for coping with life’s hells – there is none – but gently reminds us that the first step begins with ourselves. Drawing on the wisdom of men and women of many faiths, this book is one that can be appreciated by all.
Ari L. Goldman, Columbia University
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Not many authors pack as much wisdom, and as little fluff, into a page as Arnold. If you're wondering who you want to be when you grow up, Escape Routes offers a road map to real life. If you're already grown up and wondering if you missed something, this book offers a hard but real path to rebirth.
Andy Crouch, Christianity Today
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A humble and thoughtful offering…with stories and personal anecdotes that gently urge readers to a more meaningful life.
Foreword Reviews
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Arnold dispenses much practical advice while exposing the roots of such human perennials as loneliness, frustration, alienation, and despair. Sometimes his medicine is Zen-like in its common sense.
Booklist
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Called to Community is an extraordinary and welcome addition to personal reading lists, as well as church, seminary, community, and academic library Christian Studies collections
Midwest Book Review
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As with the Bible, this book is not to be read alone, or lived alone, but embodied in community. Will we take up and read – and live?
Paul Louis Metzger, Patheos
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This book functions as a guide to community: to understanding the true nature of community, to cultivating a spirit and heart that is prepared to live in community, to learning how to desire the right kind of community, in the first place.
Kyle Roberts, Patheos
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This is one meaty, yet very accessible, book for those who love the Church enough to give it some serious thought, knowing that serious thought can lead to serious action. Whether in small groups or individually, as we read Called to Community, we will be hearing voices from the road, people with trail dust on their faith. They know what they’re talking about. And this invitation to come alongside them is a great place to start finding some new roads in an old faith of our own.
David Swartz, Patheos
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I can only hope that it will be widely read, because I am certain that contained in this book is the future of being Christian.
Stanley Hauerwas
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This stunning collection of some of the best spiritual writers of all time came out in 2001 from the exceptionally thoughtful, high-quality publishing house founded by a simple-living community. What a delight to have seasonal readings from theological voices like Jürgen Moltmann, mystics like Bernard of Clairvaux, poets — from Sylvia Plath to T.S. Eliot to Jane Kenyon — contemplatives such as Henri Nouwen, and storytelling writers like the late Brennan Manning.
Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Books
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Thought-provoking and soul-challenging…Arnold writes with an eye-opening simplicity that zings the heart.
Houston Chronicle
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A most impressive book…so powerful that tears often impede reading.
ALA Booklist (Starred Review)
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A much-needed message not only for South Africa, but for the whole world.
Nelson Mandela
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Arnold is one hundred percent correct in his observation that children are unwelcome in our culture, and his book Why Children Matter is clear, truthful and courageous.…His message needs to be heard loud and clear.
Br. Kenneth Hoagland, principal, Kellenberg Memorial High School, Uniondale, New York
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This book is timely and fresh, and will be easily understood by those trying to set a path grounded in faith for their children. Recommended for all parents.
Alfred T. Frontera, MD
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As he writes about respect, discipline and consideration for others, Arnold says what most educators feel to be true. But too many of them are holding back their feelings out of fear, and it is the children who are being hurt.
Gerard Gretzinger, former superintendent, Kingston City Schools, New York
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Wise, gentle, and full of hope and common sense, this is a book for today's parents, who are trying to raise children to be happy and good in a world where crude, ugly, and violent alternatives surge into children’s hearts and minds all the time. Arnold writes with courage, taking a clear spiritual and moral approach which could get lots of criticism today. This gives us all an extra reason for reading, and passing on to others, this delightful book.
Joanna Bogle, British journalist and author
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Stunning.…Who would have thought that there was anything new to say about childhood? In 'Their Name Is Today', Arnold surprises us at every turn.
Diane M. Komp, MD, professor emeritus of pediatrics, Yale University
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A deeply inspiring tribute to children.…Arnold’s basic message is clear, and well worth heeding: a deep reverence for children will make the world a better place.
Publishers Weekly, October 6, 2014
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In our hard-charging culture, children often get pushed to the edges of our crowded schedules. Arnold understands the pressures, but points to another way. 'Their Name Is Today' is practical and compelling.
Timothy Jones, author, Nurturing Your Child’s Soul
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Arnold writes with deep insight, reminding us of the meaning of childhood and the need to protect it for the sake of the children and all of humanity.
Joan Almon, co-founder, Alliance for Childhood
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Beautiful.…It is Arnold’s reverence for children that I love.
Jonathan Kozol, author
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'Their Name is Today' is welcome reading for parents, grandparents, teachers and all those who care deeply about nurturing the next generation of happy, healthy, whole children.
Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children’s Defense Fund
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A message that is desperately needed today…should be in the hands of every educator and teenager.
Alice von Hildebrand, Hunter College
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I am very happy for this book and for its moral conviction.
Pope Benedict XVI
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Simple and short, but deep, this is one of the best books on handling sexuality in a way that honors God.
J. I. Packer, Regent College
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Clear, compassionate, uncompromisingly Christian, and straight from (and to) the heart.… Pretty close, I think, to what Jesus would say if he were to write a book about sex today-and probably as socially acceptable as he was.
Peter Kreeft, Boston College
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'Seeking Peace' has a lucidity and power completely comprehensible to any person of good will. Peace is the central characteristic of the Gospel, and it is too often avoided or ignored.
Philip Berrigan, Plowshares
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Everybody talks about peace, even as they prepare for war. This is a book that talks about peace in a way that prepares us to make it happen.
Tony Campolo, Eastern College
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'Seeking Peace' is a book for people who realize that we are fish out of water. Arnold speaks out of a living tradition of radical response to the challenge of one whose very name is Peace. There is living water here for gasping fish.
Brother David Steindl-Rast, Mount Saviour Monastery
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An excellent work… 'Seeking Peace' is the very essence of what we are all about.
Muhammed Gemea’ah, The Islamic Cultural Center of N.Y.
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A splendid book drawing on the rich experiences of the author and on relevant observations by legendary activists and writers…A valuable contribution to contemporary thought, and a guide for action as the struggle continues.
Jesse L. Jackson, The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
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'Seeking Peace' addresses important challenges facing our society. I commend the author for seeking to assist all of us with this life-long journey.
Former Senator Bill Bradley
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'Seeking Peace' is a tough, transcendent envisioning of peace: neither fatuous nor sentimental, but arduous and courageous. Arnold writes in the tradition of the Berrigans, of Simone Weil and Thomas Merton. Activists of all stripes, even those who think themselves agnostics, ought not to ignore this book.
Jonathan Kozol, author, Amazing Grace
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'Seeking Peace' inspires each of us to seek peace within our own hearts…It gives hope that we can find wholeness, happiness, and harmony, which is after all the fulfillment of God’s plan for humanity.
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
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I have found much in these pages for reflection and comfort and hope this book will reach many who are in need of such consolation and understanding as the years mount up.
Cardinal Cassidy, president emeritus, PCPCU, the Vatican
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Rich in Years is rich in wisdom, rich in courage, rich in hope. The people we meet in these pages and the stories they tell all build in us a confident assurance that God is with us every step of our journey.
Richard J. Foster, author, Celebration of Discipline
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A symphony of voices of men and women willing to talk about aging. The author weaves their stories together as a pastor who knows how to listen. There is much beauty here and not a trace of sentimentality.
Eugene H. Peterson, author and scholar, The Message Bible
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In this compact yet compelling book, Arnold brings the reader a wealth of personal stories about growing older. His hope-filled insights encourage those rich in years to also remain rich in faith.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York
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On these pages are wonderful words of hope. Savor them. As I sing in a recent song, ‘What we do now, you and me, will affect eternity – God’s counting on me, God’s counting on you.’
Pete Seeger, musician
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Using profound and stimulating stories, Arnold welcomes us into an elegant fabric of elderly life, abundant with significance. I know you will find this book spiritually enriching.
Marva J. Dawn, author, Being Well When We're Ill
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A moving, lyrical invitation to see old age through a transformative lens. Deeply rooted in his revolutionary Christian faith and suffused with love, Arnold’s work challenges the widespread preoccupation with extending life at all costs – and avoiding the consequences of aging – with touching stories of the quiet triumphs won in the lives and deaths of people who trusted in God.
Eugene Rivers III, Azusa Christian Community
