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TAN – The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

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Title: The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: or Manresa
Series:
Published by: Tan Classics
Release Date: December 1, 1999
Contributors: St. Ignatius Of Loyola (Author)
Genre:
Pages: 344
ISBN13: 978-0895551535

Is it time to take your spiritual pulse, re-orient yourself to your Creator, and seek His guidance to live your faith more seriously?

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola outline the rigorous self-examination and spiritual meditations St. Ignatius set forth. Readers will learn how to make a new beginning on the path to holiness, repenting of their sins and attaining freedom from Satan's power.

Though St. Ignatius wrote The Spiritual Exercises as a handbook for a four-week guided retreat, this edition contains step-by-step explanations suitable for independent use over any time period.

St. Ignatius of Loyola was born in 1491 in Guipuzcoa in the Basque country. He was brought up in the household of Ferdinand and Isabella as head treasurer and joined the army in 1517. In 1521, while defending the citadel of Pamplona his leg was broken by a cannon ball and, having nothing to read but the Life of Christ, and the Lives of the Saints during his recuperation, he became inspired to direct his competitive spirit toward heavenly goals. In 1537 after many trials he was ordained a priest and in 1541 founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He died at Rome in 1556, and was canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.

Moody – How to Pray

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Title: How to Pray
Series:
Published by: Moody Classics
Release Date: October 1, 2007
Contributors: R. A. Torrey (Author), Rosalie De Rosset (Editor)
Genre:
Pages: 128
ISBN13: 978-0802456526

From the Back Cover

"The intelligent child of God must be driven to say, 'I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and all my heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray.'"

Stunning and forthright, R.A. Torrey's "little book on prayer" is a reflection of the writer who once had it said about him, "One wonders if there has ever lived a man who did so many things well for Christ."

Torrey succinctly deals with the key elements of life-changing prayer, such as praying in the Spirit, abiding in Christ, obstacles to prayer, the best times to pray, seeking revival through prayer, and more. Torrey outlines a practical strategy for living life in conversation with God.

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RUBEN ARCHER TORREY (1856-1928), educated at Yale University and Divinity School, was renowned as an educator, a pastor, a world evangelist and an author. He pastored Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, was the superintendent of Moody Bible Institute for nineteen years, and served as the dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles from 1911 to 1924, when he retired to embark upon full time evangelistic campaigns around the world. Mr. Torrey wrote more than forty books including How to Pray and How to Promote and Conduct a Successful Revival. Mr. Torrey was married to Clara and together they had five children.

Metamorphoses

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Title: Metamorphoses
Published by: Penguin Classics
Release Date: August 3, 2004
Contributors: Ovid (Author), David Raeburn (Translator), Denis Feeney (Introduction)
Genre:
Pages: 768
ISBN13: 978-0140447897

In Metamophoses, Ovid brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation—often as a result of love or lust—where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy. Erudite but light-hearted, dramatic and yet playful, Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists throughout the centuries from Shakespeare and Titian to Picasso and Ted Hughes.

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) was born in central Italy. He was sent to Rome where he realised that his talent lay with poetry rather than with politics. His first published work was 'Amores', a collection of short love poems. He was expelled in A.D. 8 by Emperor Augustus for an unknown reason and went to Tomis on the Black Sea, where he died.

J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit

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Title: The Hobbit
Series:
Published by: HarperCollins; Illustrated edition
Release Date: June 25, 2020
Contributors: J.R.R. Tolkien
Genre:
Pages: 307
ISBN13: 978-0008376116

J.R.R. Tolkien's own description for the original edition: "If you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take an interest in a humble hero (blessed with a little wisdom and a little courage and considerable good luck), here is a record of such a journey and such a traveler. The period is the ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men, when the famous forest of Mirkwood was still standing, and the mountains were full of danger. In following the path of this humble adventurer, you will learn by the way (as he did) -- if you do not already know all about these things -- much about trolls, goblins, dwarves, and elves, and get some glimpses into the history and politics of a neglected but important period. For Mr. Bilbo Baggins visited various notable persons; conversed with the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent; and was present, rather unwillingly, at the Battle of the Five Armies. This is all the more remarkable, since he was a hobbit. Hobbits have hitherto been passed over in history and legend, perhaps because they as a rule preferred comfort to excitement. But this account, based on his personal memoirs, of the one exciting year in the otherwise quiet life of Mr. Baggins will give you a fair idea of the estimable people now (it is said) becoming rather rare. They do not like noise."

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892–1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

TAN – The Story of a Soul

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Title: The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux
Series:
Published by: Tan Classics
Release Date: April 1, 2010
Contributors: Thérèse of Lisieux (Author), Mother Agnes of Jesus (Editor), Michael Day CONG. ORAT. (Translator)
Genre:
Pages: 192
ISBN13: 978-0895551559

The Story of a Soul conveys St Therese of Liseux's "Little Way" of spiritual childhood - her "elevator" to Heaven, as she called it. This method was approved by Pope Pius XI as a way for all to grow in holiness through unfailing confidence and childlike delight in God's merciful love.

Again and again in this book, St. Therese shows us how her "Little Way" of love and trust comes straight from Sacred Scripture.

This book belongs in every Catholic home, for Pope St Pius X stated St. Therese of Liseux the "greatest Saint of modern times".

St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as \"Therese of the Child Jesus\" and \"The Little Flower\", was the last of nine children born to Louis and Zelie Martin, at France in 1873. She was often anxious and depressed in childhood, as she suffered the early death of her mother. After she converted interiorly and began to read Thomas a Kempis\' The Imitation of Christ, she joined 2 of her sisters in a discalced Carmelite convent as a nun at just 15 years old. After her oldest sister was elected prioress, Therese became a permanent novice to allay suspicions that her family was dominating the small community. She lived humbly, concealing her intense prayer life and countless sacrifices.

Therese is the author of her own popular autobiography entitled The Story of a Soul, which she began writing in 1895, and she instituted a simple path to holiness now widely known as the \"Little Way\". She died of tuberculosis on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24 and was canonized only 28 years later, in 1925, by Pope Pius XI. She was later installed as the thirty-third Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997.

Moody – Holiness (Abridged)

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Title: Holiness (Abridged): Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots
Series:
Published by: Moody Classics
Release Date: June 1, 2010
Contributors: J. C. Ryle (Author), John MacArthur (Foreword)
Genre:
Pages: 288
ISBN13: 978-0802454553

Back Cover

Most hope to go to heaven when they die; but few, it may be feared, take the trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there. A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within.

J.C. Ryle gets right to the point: "Are we holy? Shall we see the Lord? That question can never be out of season."
Beginning with the "exceeding sinfulness of sin." Ryle moves through justification and sanctification toward holiness, expounding on its attributes and its manifestation in the hearts and lives of men and women. From there, he goes on to the implications of being holy - the fight, the cost, the reward - all the while focusing on the One who alone is truly holy - the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Convicting yet comforting, Ryle's words challenge us to forgo bland satisfaction and strive for holiness.

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J.C. Ryle’s Holiness has imparted a standing challenge to Christians for 130 years. In this new, slimmed-down series of excerpts from Ryle’s masterwork, we aim to present his original message to a whole new generation. Holiness, Ryle argued, was not simply a matter of believing and feeling, but of doing.

JOHN CHARLES RYLE (1816-1900) was born in Cheshire County, England. He attended Eton and then went on to Oxford, finishing his Oxford studies in 1837. In 1841 Ryle was ordained as a minister in the Anglican Church, and in 1880 he was named the first Bishop of Liverpool. Throughout his ministry he became known and beloved as a defender of the evangelical reformed faith.

Greek – The Histories

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Title: The Histories
Series:
Published by: Penguin Classics
Release Date: April 29, 2003
Contributors: Herodotus (Author), John M. Marincola (Editor, Introduction), Aubrey de Sélincourt (Translator)
Genre:
Pages: 784
ISBN13: 978-0140449082

Few facts are known about the life of Herodotus. He was born around 490 BC in Halicarnassus, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor. He seems to have travelled widely throughout the Mediterranean world, including Egypt, Africa, the area around the Black Sea and throughout many Greek city-states, of both the mainland and the islands. A sojourn in Athens is part of the traditional biography, and there he is said to have given public readings of his work and been friends with the playwright Sophocles. He is said also to have taken part in the founding of the colony of Thurii in Italy in 443 BC. He probably died at some time between 415 and 410 BC. His reputation has varied greatly, but for the ancients and many moderns he well deserves the title (first given to him by Cicero) of ‘the Father of History’.

John Marincola was born in Philadelphia in 1954, and was educated at Swarthmore College, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University. He has taught at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, and at Union College in New York, and is currently an Associate Professor of Classics at New York University. From 1997 to 1999 he was Executive Director of the American Philological Association, and in 1999-2000 he was a Junior Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC. He is the author of Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography (Cambridge, 1997), Greek Historians (Greece and Rome New Surveys in the Classics 31, Oxford 2001), and of several articles on the Greek and Roman historians. He is currently at work on a book on Hellenistic historiography.

J.R.R. Tolkien – The Fellowship of the Ring

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Title: The Fellowship of the Ring
Series:
Published by: HarperCollins; Illustrated edition
Release Date: June 25, 2020
Contributors: J.R.R. Tolkien
Genre:
Pages: 407
ISBN13: 978-0008376123

Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power — the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring — the ring that rules them all — which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as the Ring is entrusted to his care. He must leave his home and make a perilous journey across the realms of Middle-earth to the Crack of Doom, deep inside the territories of the Dark Lord. There he must destroy the Ring forever and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892–1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

TAN – The Life of St. Francis of Assisi

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Title: The Life of St. Francis of Assisi
Series:
Published by: Tan Classics
Release Date: April 1, 2010
Contributors: St. Bonaventure St. Bonaventure (Author)
Genre:
Pages: 184
ISBN13: 978-0895551511

"Francis, go and build up My house, which thou seest, is falling into ruin." To fulfill this command of Our Lord, St Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) began by restoring physical churches and continued by building up the spiritual Church in souls. Francis' humility, purity, and true joy inspired many to conversion and a deeper faith.

Never ordained a priest, St. Francis nonetheless was a preacher and a miracle-worker of the first order - curing, prophesying, casting out devils, turning water into wine, and raising people frmo the dead.

The Life of St Francis of Assisi by St Bonaventure conveys a picture of the Saint that renders an indelible impression of a man totally transformed by God.

St. Bonaventure was born, with the given name of John, to Giovanni di Fidanza and Maria Ritella in 1221 at Bagnoregio, Italy. His life was so pure that it was said that he seemed not to have inherited Original Sin. According to legend, he received the name of Bonaventure (bona ventura, good fortune) at a very young age from St. Francis of Assisi and was cured of an illness through the saint's intercession. In 1243 he became a Franciscan (considered the Order's second founder) and later earned the position of Master of Theology with St. Thomas Aquinas at Paris in 1257. He was made a Cardinal by Pope Gregory X and later presided at the Council of Lyons in 1274, where he died suddenly. He was canonized by Pope Sixtus IV in 1484 and is known as the Seraphic Doctor of the Church.

St. Bonaventure also wrote the Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, Breviloquium, De Septem Itineribus Aeternitatis, Itinerarium Mentis ad Deum, De Reductione Artium ad Theologiam, and Soliloquium. His feast day is celebrated on the 15th of July.

Moody – The Imitation of Christ

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Title: The Imitation of Christ
Series:
Published by: Moody Classics
Release Date: October 1, 2007
Contributors: Thomas A'Kempis (Author), Rosalie De Rosset (Editor)
Genre:
Pages: 320
ISBN13: 978-0802456533

From the Back Cover
"There is no middle ground; our faith must be passionately focused on Christ, or we become earthbound, caught up with concerns, pleasures, and friends who will inevitably fail us."

Thomas a Kempis was not a haphazard follower of Jesus. The depth of his masterpiece mirrors the life of a man who did whatever was necessary to imitate his own Savior.

A Kempis lived as intentionally as he wrote. We must turn away from the things of this world, we must live sacrificially, we must be inundated with Christ's passionate teaching, and we must pray to be removed from distraction.

A classic in every state of the word, The Imitation of Christ places the fruit of one man's single-minded devotion to God's calling on his life within the reach of every reader. May we all commit to be this effective in our emulation of Jesus.

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Thomas a Kempis was not a haphazard follower of Jesus. The depth of his masterpiece mirrors the life of a man who did whatever was necessary to imitate his own Savior. A Kempis lived as intentionally as he wrote. We must turn away from the things of this world, we must live sacrificially, we must be inundated with Christ's passionate teaching, and we must pray to be removed from distraction.

THOMAS A¿KEMPIS (1380-1471) was a Dutch priest, monk, and writer born in Kempen, Germany. He attended a school near Deventer in Holland. Thomas of Kempen, as he was known at school, was so impressed by his teachers that he decided to live his own life according to their ideals. When he was 19, he entered the monastery of Mount St. Agnes and spent the rest of his long life behind the walls of that monastery. Thomas wrote a number of sermons, letters, hymns, and lives of the saints. The most famous of his works, by far, is The Imitation of Christ, a charming instruction on how to love God. The Imitation of Christ has come to be, after the Bible, the most widely translated book in Christian literature.

DR. ROSALIE DE ROSSET is a professor of Literature, English and Homiletics at Moody Bible Institute where she has been for forty-two years. She earned her M.A. in English from Northeastern Illinois University, M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Rhetoric from The University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition to teaching, she regularly appears on Moody Broadcasting Network programs as a guest and co-host, and speaks at conferences and seminars. She lives on the northside of Chicago.

Roman – The Twelve Caesars

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Title: The Twelve Caesars
Published by: Penguin Classics
Release Date: December 18, 2007
Contributors: Suetonius (Author), Robert Graves (Translator), James Rives (Revision and Introduction)
Genre:
Pages: 464
ISBN13: 978-0140455168

As private secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, the scholar Suetonius had access to the imperial archives and used them (along with eyewitness accounts) to produce one of the most colourful biographical works in history. The Twelve Caesars chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus, to the decline into depravity and civil war under Nero and the recovery that came with his successors. A masterpiece of observation, anecdote and detailed physical description, The Twelve Caesars presents us with a gallery of vividly drawn—and all too human—individuals.

James B. Rives has sensitively updated Robert Graves's now classic translation, reinstating Latin terms and updating vocabulary while retaining the liveliness of the original. This edition contains a new chronology, further reading, glossaries, maps, notes and an introduction discussing Suetonius' life and works.

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus was probably born in AD69—the famous "year of the four Emperors." From the letters of Suetonius’ close friend Pliny the Younger we learn that he practiced briefly at the bar, avoided political life, and became chief secretary to the Emperor Hadrian (AD117-38). Suetonius seems to have lived to a good age and probably died around the year AD140.

James Rives teaches in the area of Classical Studies at Stanford University. He is currently serving as Review Editor for Phoenix, Journal of the Classical Association of Canada.

J.R.R. Tolkien – The Two Towers

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Title: The Two Towers
Series:
Published by: HarperCollins; Illustrated edition
Release Date: June 25, 2020
Contributors: J.R.R. Tolkien
Genre:
Pages: 744
ISBN13: 978-0008376130

Frodo and the Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in the battle with an evil spirit in the Mines of Moria; and at the Falls of Rauros, Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape the rest of the company were attacked by Orcs.

Now they continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin - alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892–1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.