For anyone interested in his or her own genealogical links to medieval Europe and early Christianity, Alan Koman's new book offers an extraordinary opportunity. For the first time, the lives of 275 early European saints are retold and accompanied by lineages connected those saints to twenty-four of the great men and women of medieval Europe. Today, those twenty-four men and women have hundreds of millions of living descendants. The historical period covered by this work is vast. From St. Gregory "the Illuminator" (b. 256-d. 326) to St. Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster (b. ca 1277-d. 22 March 1322), the saints presented in this book span ten centuries. Some were great men, such as Alfred "the Great," Bernard of Clairvaux, and Charlemagne; others, such as Elizabeth of Hungary, Marie of Brabant, and Odilia, led lives that are just as moving today as in their own time.

The language of heritage permeates Scripture, encouraging Christians to approach church history like a family history. But the notion of ancestry also constrains the world’s Catholics and Protestants to trace their confessional descent from Europe, rendering them perpetual latecomers in the historical chain. "Ancestral Feeling" systematically diagnoses the postcolonial problems generated by an ancestral outlook. But, applying critical theories in cultural studies to the study of church history, the book experiments with ways that the Western Christian inheritance can awaken the memory of one’s own ancestors. Writing a personal reflection on her family’s history in British-ruled Hong Kong, Renie Chow Choy engages autobiographically with England’s ecclesiastical art, architecture, music, and literature, in order to affirm her attachment to a heritage normally associated with English national identity. For global and immigrant Christians brought into a relationship with English Christianity by colonialism but are bypassed by its history, this book makes a bold declaration: England’s Christian heritage is also our story.

This book discusses how a genealogical history of the modern world can be created by linking the Royal Families of Western Europeans database to Unifying Ancestry. This new edition extends the original analysis by including a coherence metric to evaluate the content of the Unifying Ancestry database, which is freely available online educational software within the CoreGen3 analysis workbench. The author discusses why common ancestors of the Royal Families of Western Europe comprise an optimal Unifying Ancestry experience and further illustrates this by using historically influential people as examples. Specifically, algorithms for validating the Unifying Ancestry are applied to a 330,000-person Research Genealogy and then used to link to historical royal descendants. Genealogical evaluation properties for consistency, correctness, closure, connectivity, completeness and coherence are demonstrated. These properties are applied to a Research Genealogy to generate a unifying ancestry for western Europeans. The unifying ancestry is then used to create a genealogical history of the modern world. All the analyses can be reproduced by readers using the Unifying Ancestry CoreGen3 program.

After a decade of chasing stories around the globe, intrepid travel writer Stephanie Elizondo Griest followed the magnetic pull home--only to discover that her native South Texas had been radically transformed in her absence. Ravaged by drug wars and barricaded by an eighteen-foot steel wall, her ancestral land had become the nation's foremost crossing ground for undocumented workers, many of whom perished along the way. The frequency of these tragedies seemed like a terrible coincidence, before Elizondo Griest moved to the New York / Canada borderlands. Once she began to meet Mohawks from the Akwesasne Nation, however, she recognized striking parallels to life on the southern border. Having lost their land through devious treaties, their mother tongues at English-only schools, and their traditional occupations through capitalist ventures, Tejanos and Mohawks alike struggle under the legacy of colonialism. Toxic industries surround their neighborhoods while the U.S. Border Patrol militarizes them. Combating these forces are legions of artists and activists devoted to preserving their indigenous cultures. Complex belief systems, meanwhile, conjure miracles. In All the Agents and Saints, Elizondo Griest weaves seven years of stories into a meditation on the existential impact of international borderlines by illuminating the spaces in between and the people who live there.

In decades of community organizing, racial justice, and pastoral work, Sandhya Rani Jha has discovered that communities and individuals who honor and recognize their ancestors tend to thrive and navigate hard seasons with more ease. People of color and white people alike have a myriad of ancestors (biological, cultural, and movement) who can help us navigate the challenges of today by learning from both the wisdom and follies, the suffering and overcoming, the spiritual practices and the acts of resistance that our ancestors navigated…and sometimes created. With an approachable and conversational tone, Rebels, Despots, & Saints shares case studies of activists and spiritual leaders as well as ways to re-think who our ancestors are and how to relate to them. Writing and discussion prompts and suggestions for personal and community rituals provide readers the tools needed to connect with their own ancestors and find grounding for racial reconciliation and liberation in their own communities. These reflections always connect to the work of dismantling white supremacy as a spiritual practice.

After a decade of chasing stories around the globe, intrepid travel writer Stephanie Elizondo Griest followed the magnetic pull home—only to discover that her native South Texas had been radically transformed in her absence. Ravaged by drug wars and barricaded by an eighteen-foot steel wall, her ancestral land had become the nation's foremost crossing ground for undocumented workers, many of whom perished along the way. The frequency of these tragedies seemed like a terrible coincidence until Elizondo Griest moved to the New York–Canada borderlands. Once she began to meet Mohawks from the Akwesasne Nation, she recognized striking parallels to life on the southern border. Having lost their land through devious treaties, their mother tongues at English-only schools, and their traditional occupations through capitalist ventures, Tejanos and Mohawks alike struggle under the legacy of colonialism. Toxic industries surround their neighborhoods, while the U.S. Border Patrol militarizes them. Combating these forces are legions of artists and activists devoted to preserving their indigenous cultures. Complex belief systems, meanwhile, conjure miracles. In All the Agents and Saints, Elizondo Griest weaves seven years of stories into a meditation on the existential impact of international borderlines by illuminating the spaces in between and the people who live there. This edition features a new preface by the author.

Summoning Our Saints: The Poetry and Prose of Brenda Marie Osbey celebrates and illuminates the poetry and prose of one of the South’s and the nation’s most notable writers. A native of New Orleans and a former poet laureate of Louisiana who served magnificently in that function during the dark days after Hurricane Katrina, Osbey has summoned up a magical, beguiling, sometimes chilling and appalling portrait of the myriad chapters of New Orleans, Southern, and hemispheric history. Her dazzling narratives offer apertures into desire, death and remembrance, often through the voices of neglected and abused citizens. The essays in this collection examine Osbey’s essays and poetry collections, situating them within greater traditions of African American women’s writing, blues music, and West African religious traditions and Catholicism. The chapters are punctuated throughout with Osbey’s own reflections on her work and bring a long-needed and appreciative critical focus to a great artist, elucidating her contributions to our common cultural heritage. The book examines Osbey’s meditations on topics such as colonization, the African diaspora, the circumCaribbean, and contemporary parallels between Europe and the United States to showcase the ways in which they add valuable new insights to transnational studies.

“A parable for our time. . . . We are in deep need of simple truths, of rediscovering our ancient teachings, and Jalamanta may provide that opportunity.” —The Washington Post Book World For thirty years, Fatimah has tended her herd of goats and waited for her lover to return. Amado was banished after leading a revolt against the cruel despots of their village—the Seventh City of the Fifth Sun. He followed the teachings of the wise men and women and roamed the desert in search of knowledge. When his exile finally ends, he returns transformed—no longer the innocent lover of Fatimah’s youth but a prophet named Jalamanta, or “he who strips away the veils that blind the soul.” He brings enlightenment, cures addictions, and can perform miracles. But Jalamanta’s enemies see him as a dangerous threat to the status quo and will use any means necessary to stop him. His deep wellspring of faith and compassion will not allow him to give up or give in—even as he faces the greatest betrayal of all. A searing indictment of tyranny, oppression, and human suffering, Jalamanta is about the age-old battle between good and evil that rages in every heart. It is also a tribute to the love that is the creative force of the universe—the light that can banish ignorance and fear and illuminate the darkest corners of the soul.

Find Your Path in Witchcraft Confidently start your journey into witchcraft with the expert guidance of Danielle Luet. As a practicing witch who has refined her craft over decades, Danielle is the perfect spiritual mentor to guide you with wisdom, resources, rituals and more. Danielle first helps you decide which type of witchcraft you’d like to practice. Then take your first steps in your journey by learning how to source tools to aid you, establish a sacred space and practice ethically. Discover how to hone and deepen your practice in actionable, practical ways through divination, working with herbs and crystals, celebrating witches’ holidays and more. Guest chapters from other prominent voices in the witchcraft community provide unique insights into the ways you can personalize your experience. No matter where your path is heading, Danielle’s sage wisdom will ensure you begin your practice with confidence and grow into the witch you want to become.

Is it possible that angels, saints, and even our departed ancestors support and inspire us throughout our lives? How can we connect with them in a real way? Christine Valters Paintner, popular spiritual writer and abbess of the online Abbey of the Arts, says these sacred beings are paving the way for our journey toward God’s love, even as we pass through a world rife with struggle, discord, and violence. In The Love of Thousands, she helps us open up our spiritual imagination to encounter our heavenly helpers, allowing us to become everyday mystics. Paintner describes saints, angels, and our ancestors as sacred beings who surround us like concentric circles, watching over us with compassion and offering us spiritual guidance throughout our lives. In The Love of Thousands, she guides us to see the ways these beings support us, from the care of our guardian angels, to the wisdom of the mystics, to the witness of our loved ones who have crossed the threshold to the light of God’s presence. Paintner’s gentle guidance reveals that we can be inspired and sustained when we are open and attentive in exploring our connections to these holy companions walking alongside us. Transformed by the encounter, we can grow into the kinds of ancestors—part of the Communion of Saints—who offer spiritual support and wisdom to others in turn. Throughout The Love of Thousands, we are led to explore and better understand the teachings from scripture and tradition about the four archangels, the protection offered by our guardian angels, and what it might look like to wrestle with angels as Jacob did in the Old Testament; the witness of the saints and mystics, with an exploration of how we are all called to be mystics; the tradition of relics and the practice of pilgrimage; the presence of our ancestors, inviting us first to claim the blessings of our family heritage and then to embrace grief and explore healing the wounds of our lineage. Each chapter includes a reflection, practice, meditation, and creative exercise that will help cultivate an ongoing relationship with angels, saints, and our ancestors. Paintner also suggests various ways to engage with this book to reflect more deeply on the spiritual content, such as reading it over the course of a year or with others as a form of spiritual pilgrimage.