This book is a bit old (1993), but the pictures are vibrant and gorgeous. So many of my favorite spots of Chicago are included in this gem. There is so much to take in when you visit Chicago, and the stunning architecture is no exception. Incredible shots of Marina Towers, the Sears Tower, the John Hancock building, and a particularly gorgeous photo of the Merchadise Mart are also in this book, along with spontaneous shots of the Museums and just plain old Windy City life. A must-have for any Chi-Town resident or regular. It's worth hunting down (this book is now out of print).

In the pre-raphaelite spirit of detailed craftsmanship this accomplished range of Christina Rossetti's poetry is illustrated by fine works of art that includes paintings by her brother and other pre-raphaelite painters, all contrasting with today's ugly, imitative fashions.

(Please note: This book is not entitled Passion and Devastion but Passion and Devotion)

Mr. Wagner has shared some very insightful and helpful information that extremely valuable for those who feel led of God to plant new churches. Some of the suggestions are so simple one might overlook them, others are obviously those of one with experience in the field. The information presented was informing, and easy to read. I could'nt put the book down, I read it cover to cover in the course of a two or three days. Excellent book! I highly recommend it!

Fr Sullivan provides a superb overview here of Catholic ecclesiology. He goes in to detail about how the Church of Christ is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, yet in still an imperfect/incomplete sense. This work is inundated with references to Magisterial documents and Ecumenical Councils, especially Vatican II. The Catholic doctrine of "Outside the Church there is no salvation" is well elucidated with an emphaisis on the culpability of the individual. Without denying this doctrine Fr Sullivan recommends the more current understanding of the Church as the "Universal Sacrament of Salvation".

Questions such as "Who belongs to the Church?", "How are Protestants related to the Catholic Church?" and issues regarding the Catholic Church's eucharistic communion with the Orthodox Churches of the east are answered in detail with copius citations to Church documents.

This work also offers a thorough explanation of why the Church that Jesus established soley "subsists in" the Catholic Church. A must for either any Catholic wanting to find out more about the Church's beliefs or inquiring non-Catholics.

Connecticut Survival, part of The Survival Series, is a comprehensive guide to dealing with all of the bureaucratic stuff of life, yet it is concisely written. It has all the forms your teenager or young adult will have to fill out sooner or later -- registration to vote, job application, passport, tax forms, and more, so they can become familiar with them in advance. It also has good advice -- like how much money is safe to borrow or how to make a budget. It explains how to open a checking account and balance a check book! That's why I think every high school senior should have this book, or its companion books, New York Survival and California Survival. The books list lots of web sites that are useful for navigating life. I feel better knowing my college freshman can use this guide to help her manage her new independence.

Current wisdom is that shareholder value should be the guiding light for corporate management. The US is following this lodestar. US companies outperform all other so who can quarrel with this? European companies are following the US example. The author wonders if companies are digging their own graves by doing so. Her arguments may not be watertight but they make you sit up and think. She correctly states that a company's success is dependent on innovation. There is no evidence that concentrating on shareholder value is best for innovation. The blossoming of the electronics industry is not based on the free market or entrepreneurship or shareholder value. The foundation was enlightened procurement by the Department Of Defence. IBM, INTEL and DEC all owe their success to "buy only American" defence orders according to her analysis. She also shows that the stock market only plays a very small role in providing capital for investment. Most funding comes from depreciation and retained earnings. Equity issues are only important to buy out owners and to allow companies to acquire other ones. An interesting analysis shows that the benefit of an acquisition almost always accrues to the shareholders of the acquired company and almost never to the acquiring company. Institutional investors (and raiders) are the only shareholders with influence. Their only interest is share performance. They have aligned their interest with that of top management through stock options and bonus plans depending on share performance. Company managers can now become very rich when increasing the value of the shares. As the average tenure of a CEO is around five years, it leads automatically to a short-term perspective. She believes that there is more to the economic value a company can produce than shareholder value. This point is not dealt with in any detail other than the emphasis on innovation and organisational learning that are long-term processes. One interesting point is the difference between German and Japanese companies on the one hand and US on the other. US companies do not see it as an objective to upgrade the job opportunities for its employees. In the past companies offered good pay for relatively simple jobs. The company attitude is to move these jobs to low cost countries and make the employees redundant. Most of the redundant people have to take lower paid service jobs. She believes that companies can and should follow a different path and enrich the kind of work the company can offer and invest in the education of its employees. She gives no real-life examples of US companies that have successfully done so. The different path taken by German is described very lucidly. Even though German companies have made much greater effort than American companies in upgrading its workforce, they face other problems. Financing pensions is big problem, so is the restructuring of the banks. Getting the "upgraded" specialists at all levels to work as teams across specialist borders is very difficult. This book presents many thought-provoking challenges to readers that believe in shareholder value and the free market without any reservations or concerns.

This is a wonderful way to review all the bovines that so captured us last summer before their last round up and auction. All the favorites are here along with their original locations. The hardback gives you more bovines and more views of the pasture than the paperback.

"If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."--Jn. 4:10

What is this gift of God, the revelation of God? No simple answer, not least of all for Catholics, who believe in faith that the revelation of God springs from the threefold origin of scripture, tradition, and magisterium.

Fr. Francis A. Sullivan, S.J. brings a fine, discerning intellect to bear on the question of the magisterium. With 36 years' grist of teaching experience at the venerable Gregorian University, Fr. Sullivan draws key distinctions that manifestly reject the excesses of the conservatives, for whom every declaration of the magisterium is to be accepted without question, as well as of the liberals, for whom every aspect of the magisterium that is not set forth as infallible dogma is to be contested and, for all practical purposes, discarded.

In order to define the different levels of authority by which doctrines are set forth as well as the varying degrees of adherence required, Fr. Sullivan uses as his framework the new Formula for the Profession of Faith that in 1989 was required as an oath for all those who assume a responsible position in the Church.

According to this formula, there are three kinds of doctrine: dogma infallibly or definitively taught, pertaining to the depositum fidei, which requires an act of faith; truths infallibly or definitively taught, pertaining indirectly to the deposit of faith, which must be firmly accepted and held; and non-definitive teachings of the Pope and the Bishops when they exercise their authoritative magisterium, which obliges the religious submission of will and intellect.

As in many instances throughout the book, Fr. Sullivan makes the following all-important distinction concerning religious submission to non-definitive teachings.

...The essential difference between "assent" and an attitude of willingness to accept the magisterium is that assent is an "either-or" proposition; one either gives one's assent or one does not. On the other hand, an attitude of willingness admits of varying degrees (p. 24).

I believe that any Catholic who wishes to genuinely understand the meaning of the term "magisterium," and, as a corollary, Church teaching, would benefit greatly from Fr. Sullivan's exposition.

Apt historical examples elucidate rather abstract ideas. To illustrate different degrees of dogmatic weight, for instance, Fr. Sullivan discusses three distinct Marian doctrines. The first is the virginal conception of Jesus, which has a clear basis in scripture and is consistent with Christian belief and Church teaching from earliest times. He says it is an instance of an infallible dogma taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium. The second doctrine is the perpetual virginity of Mary, which is not found in scripture although conciliar and papal documents witness to constant and universal belief. This, Fr. Sullivan opines, is a dogma but undefined. The third is the virginity of Mary in giving birth to Jesus. Fr. Sullivan agrees with Karl Rahner that this doctrine is not uniform, constant, nor clear enough to be recognized as a dogma.

The book dwells somewhat at length on infallible dogmas, so that it is apparent that here is where the author believes the most explanation is due.

Those who take issue with the magisterium will find provocative, enlightening, and persuasive discussions on, for example, the fourteenth-century papal bull Unam Sanctam, which posited the primacy of the spiritual over the temporal power, the Council of Trent on the indissolubility of marriage, or the present pope's 1994 apostolic letter on women priests.

Fr. Sullivan's dense style is not to everyone's taste. However, it is, in my opinion, lucid, eminently reasonable, and intellectually satisfying.

Paradoxically, from the dry text of doctrine flow the waters of devotion.

"The Curse of Ruby Mountain" teaches kids about outdoor safety and survival, but it gives them some pretty darn good adventure at the same time. We need more books like this.

I am a student studying to be a teacher. I tends to be very frustrated with the terms that i either didn't know or, forgot what it means. Until my professor recommended me this book. I was in awe and am very grateful to have this book. This book helped me through my school years. There are many terms that are not in regular dictionary, such as "Teacher-centered". This book has the defition! I don't know if there any other books like this one.