At the Roots of Christian Bioethics explores Professor H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.’s pursuit for the decisive ground of the meaning of human existence and knowledge of appropriate moral choice. Engelhardt has been the most influential, cogent, but critical voice within bioethics of the past several decades. The essays in this volume compass epistemological, methodological and topical contributions to bioethics, political theory, and Christian theology. Each explores Engelhardt’s diagnosis of the contemporary social and cultural crisis, seeking to make sense of the decidedly post-Christian and often openly anti-Christian ethics that dominates public morality and politic policy.

Each author investigates Engelhardt’s personal and tireless enquiry to secure ultimate moral foundations as well as to recognize the full implications of the results of his investigations: that Christian bioethics does not originate in human reason but in the command of God.

The book should be read by bioethicists, philosophers, religious scholars, public policy experts, and the Orthodox faithful.

Review
This volume is indispensable for anyone who wishes to understand the fabric of the contemporary phenomenon of bioethics. –Stephen A. Erickson, E. Wilson Lyon Professor of Humanities and Professor of Philosophy, Pomona College, Claremont, CA

Tris Engelhardt has done more than any other figure in contemporary bioethics to bring the resources of the entire history of philosophy to bear on the ethical issues that emerge from contemporary biomedicine. His views are always provocative and frequently ground-breaking. These essays provide a fresh look at many of the themes he has explored throughout his career. Highly recommended for those who want to come to terms with the views of this giant of contemporary bioethics. –David Solomon, W.P. and H.B. White Director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture

This in-depth study on the realm of death presents a message of hope held by the first generation of Christians and the early church. Using Scripture, patristic tradition, early Christian poetry, and liturgical texts, Archbishop Hilarion explores the mysterious and enigmatic event of Christ’s descent into Hades and its consequences for the human race. Insisting that Christ entered Sheol as Conqueror and not as victim, the author depicts the Lord’s descent as an event of cosmic significance opening the path to universal salvation. He also reveals Hades as a place of divine presence, a place where the spiritual fate of a person may still change. Reminding readers that self-will remains the only hindrance to life in Christ, he presents the gospel message anew, even in the shadow of death.

Christ’s descent into Hades is a most mysterious event in the New Testament history. The book includes texts from the New Testament, apocrypha, and early Christian poetry dealing with the theme, a review of the relevant works by the Holy Fathers and a short discourse into the Western theological tradition. Hymns by St. Ephraem the Syrian and St. Romanus the Melodist that have formed the basis of other liturgical texts and are still used in the Orthodox Church are reviewed, as well as the liturgical texts from the Octoechos, the Lenten Triodion, and the Festal Triodion telling about Christ’s descent into Hell and His victory over death. The author’s studies into the dogmatic contents of the texts are very important to the comprehension of the Orthodox faith, as the dogmas become an object of contemplation in prayer for Christians rather than abstract speculative truths.

There are many Greek, Syrian, and Latin texts never translated into Russian in the book. Some of them have not been used by the authors working on the theme of Christ’s descent into Hell.

The book was first published in Russian in 2001and reprinted in 2005. It has been translated into Italian and Romanian.

About the Author
Archbishop Hilarion (Alfeyev), Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, is well known throughout the Orthodox Church as a leading theologian, writer, and musical composer. He holds a doctorate in Philosophy from Oxford University and a doctorate in theology from St Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris.

There once was a woman who planted some wheat…

So begins this rhythmical, festive children’s book about the joy of a farmer as she works to grow the wheat and bake that bread that she will offer back to her Creator in Eucharistic celebration. The vibrant images — reminiscent of fields in the American mid-west — sparkle in light-saturated, warm jewel-tones and provide the perfect backdrop for the story of a woman in love with the earth, and her labor, and equally in love with her God.

Jane G. Meyer is a contributing editor and columnist for a journal for Orthodox Christian women, The Handmaiden , and is currently finishing her second young adult novel. Ned Gannon lived in New York for seven years, illustrating and painting for galleries, before taking a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. He has had work exhibited at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, and the Society of Illustrators Gallery in New York.

A truly significant contribution to Christian children’s literature. In a style reminiscent of that of a ballad, Jane tells the central story of Christianity. It is the story of a grain of wheat, dead in the soil, rising with the first rays of the spring sun, bringing an abundant harvest to us, and becoming the bread that gives us life… Ned Gannon’s paintings provide a perfect illustration to this beautiful story. Together with its companion book,The Man and the Vine, The Woman and the Wheat will make a wonderful first introduction for children to the mystery of the Divine Liturgy.

Fr Sergei Sveshnikov, author of Break the Holy Bread, Master: A Theology of Communion Bread.

Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: St Vladimirs Seminary Pr (November 20, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0881410594
ISBN-13: 978-0881410594

The Old Testament as Authoritative Scripture in the Early Churches of the East represents the latest scholarly research in the field of Old Testament as Scripture in Eastern Christianity. Its twelve articles focus on the use of the Old Testament in the earliest Christian communities in the East. The collection explores the authoritative role of the Old Testament in the churches of the East and its impact on the church’s doctrine, liturgy, canon law, and spirituality.

Contents
Nicolae Roddy: Introduction – J. Edward Walters: Son of Man, Son of God: Aphrahat’s Biblical Christology – Merja Merras: Ephraem the Syrian and the Authority of the Old Testament Writings – Bryan A. Stewart: Levitical Paradigms for Christian Bishops: The Old Testament Influence on Origen of Alexandria – Mark W. Elliott: Leviticus between Fifth-Century Jerusalem and Ninth-Century Merv – David Kneip: The Holy Spirit in Cyril of Alexandria’s Commentary on Isaiah – Robert A. Kitchen: Winking at Jonah Narsai’s Interpretation of Jonah for the Church of the East – Jonathan Loopstra: A Syriac Tract for the «Explanation» of Hebrew and Foreign Words – Nicolae Roddy: Does the Orthodox Lectionary Subvert the Gospel? The Pericope of the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Matt 21:36-46) – Timothy Scott Clark: A Question for the Audience: The Prokeimenon and Poetics in Eastern Liturgy – Edith M. Humphrey: Grand Entrance: Entrance into Worship as Rhetorical Invitation and Liturgical Precedent in the Older Testament – Rajkumar Boaz Johnson: The Use of the Old Testament in the Syrian Christian Traditions of India.

About the author
The Editor: Vahan S. Hovhanessian holds a Ph.D. in Biblical studies from Fordham University in New York. He is Professor of Biblical Studies at the St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in New Rochelle, New York, and Visiting Professor of Biblical Studies at the Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey. He has published books and articles in the English, Arabic, and Armenian languages in the fields of Biblical studies, Pauline theology, New Testament pseudepigrapha, and the early Church in the East. He is the chairman of the Bible in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Traditions unit of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Hardcover: 148 pages
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing; First printing edition (November 15, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 143310735X
ISBN-13: 978-1433107351

St Basil’s homilies on the subject of wealth and poverty, although delivered in the fourth century, remain utterly fresh and contemporary. Whether you possess great wealth or have modest means, at the heart of Basil’s message stands the maxim: Simplify your life, so you have something to share with others. While some patristic texts relate to obscure and highly philosophical questions, Basil’s teachings on social issues are immediately understood and
applicable. At a time when vast income disparity and overuse of limited environmental resources are becoming matters of increasing concern, Basil’s message is more relevant now than ever before.

There is no way to describe the power, simplicity, wisdom, and freedom of his words…you will think they were written yesterday—not 1600 years ago! … precisely he describes our modern struggle with material wealth, our responsibility to our fellow man, and how to live a life in balance.
—Gregory P. Yova, from the Foreword

Father Paul Schroeder is an independent scholar and translator of early patristic texts. He resides in Portland, Oregon and is the Proistamenos of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Portland Oregon.

Contents
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
To the Rich
I Will Tear Down My Barns
In Time of Famine and Drought
Against Those Who Lend at Interest
Appendix: The Pseudo-Basilian Homily On Mercy and Justice
Bibliography

Excerpt: [St Basil] describes these lenders as predators in the truest sense, “rushing like a hound to the hunt,” while the debtors “quail like quarry at the pursuit”; he urges the prospective borrower, “do not allow yourself to be tracked and hunted down like some kind of prey.” Basil warns the poor to live within their constrained means so as not to become trapped in the downward spiral of debt, vividly describing the miserable life of the debtor who lives in terror of meeting the creditor. But he concludes with stern words for the lenders who oppress them: “Listen, you rich, to the kind of counsel I am giving to the poor on account of your inhumanity: to remain in dreadful circumstances, rather than accepting the assistance oUered by loans at interest.” He urges these lenders to convert their loans into giTs, entrusting to the poor the portion of their money that lies idle and unused, in confidence that God will serve as guarantor on these “loans,” providing a rich return on their investment.

Available February 15, 2010. Pre-order Price Guarantee! Order now and if the Amazon.com price decreases between your order time and the end of the day of the release date, you’ll receive the lowest price.

Available March 2010. Description not yet available.

Available March 25, 2010. This is a book with the big answers to the big questions every person asks themselves about faith, science and doubt. It is perfect for individual or group study, high school seniors and up.

Available March 25, 2010. This is the compelling story of a Protestant American missionary sent to convert the Orthodox to his evangelical faith who insteads converts to Orthodoxy. A powerful testimony to the spiritual truth of the Orthodox faith.

Available April 1, 2010. Sociocultural anthropologists have taken increasing interest in the global communities established by Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, but the many streams of Eastern Christianity have so far been neglected. Eastern Christians in Anthropological Perspective fills this gap in the literature. The essays in this pioneering collection examine the primary distinguishing features of the Eastern traditions–iconography, hymnology, ritual, and pilgrimage–through meticulous ethnographic analysis. Particular attention is paid to the revitalization of Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches that were repressed under Marxist-Leninist regimes.

About the Author
Chris Hann is a founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany. Hermann Goltz holds the chair for theology and culture of the Eastern Orthodox Churches at the Theological Faculty of the Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.