A look at how support groups have affected American society argues that, although support groups provide a warmth and security that holds society together, they can lead to an unhealthy self-absorption and a trivialized sense of what is sacred.

This book provides a roadmap for the journey which begins when a traditional school decides to end its isolation from its community. Community Learning Centers provide teachers, administrators, parents, and community leaders with the tools they need to achieve important educational goals which include: high level student performance, after school programs which support student learning and provide enrichment activities in a safe environment, the acquisition of essential technological skills by both students and members of the community, expanding leadership opportunities for teachers, students and the community, and unlocking the storehouse of resources in the community to support the education of our youth.

Thomas Berry had a gentle yet mesmerizing and luminescent presence that was evident to anyone who spent time with him. His intellectual scope and erudite manner were compelling, and the breadth, depth, clarity, and elegance of his vision was breathtaking. Berry was an intellectual giant and cultural visionary of extraordinary stature. Thomas Berry’s vast knowledge of history, religions, and cultural histories is a unique blend revealing a genuine, original thinker. The ecological crisis, in all its manifestations, came to dominate Berry’s concerns. He perceived that the greatest need was to offer the possibility of a viable future for an Earth community. Many know of his proposal for a functional cosmology, the need for a new story, and a vital Earth sensitive spirituality. Few know of his rich and varied intellectual journey. The Intellectual Journey of Thomas Berry: Imagining the Earth Community is about the roots and insights hidden within his ecological, spiritual proposal. These essays, written by experts on Thomas Berry’s work, probe into, and reveal distinct themes that permeate his work, in gratitude for his contribution to the Earth.

To the modern mind, the concept of poverty is often confused with destitution. But destitution emphatically is not the Gospel ideal. A love-filled sharing frugality is the message, and Happy Are You Poor explains the meaning of this beatitude lived and taught by Jesus himself. But isn't simplicity in lifestyle meant only for nuns and priests? Are not all of us to enjoy the goodness and beauties of our magnificent creation? Are parents to be frugal with the children they love so much? The renowned spiritual writer Dubay gives surprising replies to these questions. He explains how material things are like extensions of our persons and thus of our love. If everyone lived this love there would be no destitution. After presenting the richness of the Gospel message, more beautiful than any other world view, he explains how Gospel frugality is lived in each state of life.

This is an era of increasingly complex problems, fewer and fewer resources to address them, and failing solutions. Is it possible to find viable solutions to the challenges we face today as individuals, communities, and nations? This inspiring book takes readers on a learning journey to seven communities around the world to meet people who have “walked out” of limiting beliefs and assumptions and “walked on” to create healthy and resilient communities. These Walk Outs who Walk On use their ingenuity and caring to figure out how to work with what they have to create what they need. In India, we meet people from Shikshantar, a community that is rejecting the modern culture of money, with its emphasis on self-interest and scarcity, in favor of a gift culture based on generosity and reciprocity. In Zimbabwe, we discover the capacity people have to adapt and invent new ways of surviving and thriving in the face of total systems collapse. Through essays, stories, and beautiful color photographs, Wheatley and Frieze immerse us in these communities that are accomplishing extraordinary things by relying on everyone to be an entrepreneur, a leader, an artist. From Mexico to Greece, from Columbus, Ohio, to Johannesburg, South Africa, we discover that every community has within itself the ingenuity, intelligence, and inventiveness to solve the seemingly insolvable. “It’s almost like we discovered a gift inside ourselves,” one Brazilian said, “something that was already there.” “This book gives insight and beauty to the new world beyond consumerism and all of its side effects. Written with poetic and reflective grace, it is an intimate journey through communities that are creating a future with their own hearts, hands, and relationships.” —Peter Block, author of Community and coauthor of The Abundant Community The Enhanced Edition includes 25 minutes of animation, video, and audio. The animation shows the “Two Loops Theory of Change” with a voiceover from co-author Deborah Frieze. Three videos show inspirational “Walk On” communities in Brazil, South Africa, and India. This edition also includes the “Walk Out Walk On” theme song. Margaret Wheatley cofounded and led the Berkana Institute, a global foundation that partners with people developing healthy and resilient communities. Deborah Frieze succeeded her as Berkana’s president and created the Berkana Exchange with many of the people described in this book. Margaret is the author of several books, including Leadership and the New Science, A Simpler Way, Turning to One Another, Finding Our Way, and Perseverance.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "James and Deborah Fallows have always moved to where history is being made.... They have an excellent sense of where world-shaping events are taking place at any moment" —The New York Times • The basis for the HBO documentary streaming on HBO Max For five years, James and Deborah Fallows have travelled across America in a single-engine prop airplane. Visiting dozens of towns, the America they saw is acutely conscious of its problems—from economic dislocation to the opioid scourge—but it is also crafting solutions, with a practical-minded determination at dramatic odds with the bitter paralysis of national politics. At times of dysfunction on a national level, reform possibilities have often arisen from the local level. The Fallowses describe America in the middle of one of these creative waves. Their view of the country is as complex and contradictory as America itself, but it also reflects the energy, the generosity and compassion, the dreams, and the determination of many who are in the midst of making things better. Our Towns is the story of their journey—and an account of a country busy remaking itself.

In the 1930s, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer anticipated the restoration of the Church after the coming Second World War through a new kind of monasticism, a way of life of uncompromising adherence to the Sermon on the Mount in imitation of Christ. Since then, the renewal of Christian monasticism has become a great spiritual movement. Imbued with a love for God and neighbour, and with a healthy self-love, people are going to monasteries to deepen their relationship with God, to pray, andto find peace. While some monastic institutions are suffering a decline in traditional vocations, many Christians are exploring monastic lifestyles. This book introduces The Community of the Transfiguration in Australia, the story of a new monastic community and an inspiring source of hope for the world at another time of spiritual, social, and ecological crisis.

The Journey from Prison to Community: Developing Identity, Meaning and Belonging with Men in the UK provides a practical guide for practitioners working with men to successfully make the transition between prison and the community. This transition presents significant challenges, especially for those who have served many years in prison; for those who have experienced multiple cycles of release/recall; for those whose personality traits make it harder for them to build relationships and cope with strong emotions; and for those whose lives have been characterised by trauma, chaos, crime and institutionalisation. Drawing on the authors' clinical expertise and the lived experiences of real service-users, alongside the latest research in the field, the book identifies key issues in transition and explores the impact of these issues. Crucially, it provides guidance, tools and support to professionals working with men in the UK to build a crime-free, socially integrated and meaningful life after incarceration, featuring real-life stories of those who have made the transition. This is an essential read for professionals working in a range of settings across prison and community environments, while the wide variety of professional experience represented in the book broadens its appeal to forensic and clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, probation officers, prison staff and those working in the third sector. It is also valuable resource for qualified professionals, those in training, support roles, and managers involved in planning strategy and service delivery.

In Speech of the Grail, storyteller and ceremonialist Linda Sussman explores a new way to speak, one that heals and transforms. She takes for her guide Wolfram von Eschenbach's epic tale of the Grail, showing how it depicts a path of initiation toward healing speech--to "doing the truth" in word and action. "The Grail! The word stirs a deep response in the Western imagination. Joseph Campbell called the medieval stories where it is first mentioned 'the founding myth of Western civilization,' because 'according to this mythology, there is no fixed law, no established knowledge of god, set up by prophets or priests, that can stand against the revelation of a life lived with integrity in the spirit of its own brave truth.' Campbell and many other scholars, artists, and seekers have seen the Western wisdom path disclosed in the image of each knight entering the forest where no one else has made a path. The quest is to recover the elusive Grail, thereby returning its sustenance to the world. The presence of the Grail nurtures an invisible web of relationships that connect individual destiny to service of others and to the earth, thereby granting meaning" (Linda Sussman, from her introduction). Sussman begins with a beautiful retelling of the story, allowing readers to inwardly reproduce the potent inner images of the text. Then she shows that it is not so much a path toward perfection as a recovery of the proper relationship with our own imperfections. She shows, too, that it is a path in which male and female aspects work together to overcome evil.

An "intelligent church" is deliberately thoughtful about its theology and practice and about the connection between the Bible and modern culture. This theologically rooted and practical book will help you move you and your church along the path toward more faithful and effective ministry of God's love in a changing world.