One of the great novels of the 1930s, Such Is My Beloved recounts the tragic story of two down-and-out prostitutes and the young priest who aspires to redeem their lives. The novel is at once a compassionate portrait of innocence and idealism, and an emphatic condemnation of a society where the lines between good and evil are essentially blurred. Such Is My Beloved is widely considered to be Morley Callaghan’s finest novel.

“Never before has the delight and wonder experienced in young love, in which is implicit physical discovery, been conveyed with such touching honesty or with rhapsody so involving unconscious pathos. Those who seek to drag any honest writing through the gutters of their own minds will do the same with this. Those who are not afraid of the strange miracle of life will understand this brave verse.” —William Rose Benét

Where do Canadians encounter religious meaning? Not where they used to! In ten lively and wide-ranging essays, William Closson James examines various derivations of the sacred in contemporary Canadian culture. Most of the essays focus on the religious aspects of modern Canadian English fiction — for example, in essays on the fiction of Hugh MacLennan, Morley Callaghan, Margaret Atwood and Joy Kogawa. But James also explores other, non-literary events and activities in which Canadians have found something transcendant or revelatory. Each of the chapters in Locations of the Sacred can be read independently as a discrete analysis of its subject. Taken as a whole, the essays make up a powerful argument for a new way of looking at the religious in contemporary Canada — not in the traditional ways of being religious, but in activities and locations previously thought to be “secular.” Thus, the domains and modes of the religious are expanded, not restricted.

They call her the Langlinais Bride—though she's seen her husband only one time . . . on their wedding day, twelve years ago. For years naÏve, convent-bred Juliana dreaded being summoned to the side of the man she wed as a child so long ago. Now her husband, Sebastian, Earl of Langlinais, has become ensnared in his villainous brother's wicked plots—and has no choice but to turn to his virgin bride for help. Juliana now finds herself face-to-face with a man so virile and so powerful that she's fascinated by him—just as he asks her to go against everything she holds true. Sebastian never counted on being enchanted by the beauty of this innocent angel he intended to keep as wife in name only—and he dares not reveal to her the secret reason why their love can never be . . .

This misunderstood moment—is essential to what it means to be Christian The Transfiguration of Christ is one of the most impressive and mysterious miracles of Christ, and yet one of the least known and understood biblical events. Yet, it spawned a long tradition of spiritual ascent and contemplative prayer. This book examines the Transfiguration in the context of the Gospel, Christian spirituality, and the traditions of the church. Andreopoulos explains the Transfiguration—the revelation of the full divinity of Christ in front of his disciples—as a continuous event. He also explains threads that are common in the event of the Transfiguration and in other parts of the gospels, such as "the voice of the Father" heard first at John's baptism of Jesus. This Is My Beloved is a book that bridges East and West in its pursuit of understanding the power and meaning of what transfiguration meant then, and now.

A great many books have been written about Jesus, the Christ. While they help us to understand the church’s theology, they do little to help us relate to the human side of Jesus, the carpenter from Galilee. Until we can see ourselves as partners with him in the human race, his divine nature seems out of reach and somewhat irrelevant to our daily life. The Rev. Doyle Snyder’s book, This Is My Beloved Son: Jesus, the Man, attempts to address this fact. Drawing on his pastoral experience and his years of Bible study and teaching, Rev. Snyder examines the life and ministry of Jesus from the perspective of his struggles as a human being attempting to share with other humans the mysteries and glory of the Kingdom of God. Soundly based in the basic tenets of the Christian faith, this work still invites the reader to examine those tenets for himself, and to decide whether these parts of the scripture are literal fact or whether they were intended to be metaphorical. Whether you are investigating these truths for the first time or are an experienced student of Bible study, you will find something new and stimulating in these pages. Among the chapter titles in his book are the following: Amazing Surprises Not a Fairy Tale The History of Jesus’ People The Social and Political Climate The Teaching of Jesus The Challenge of the Bible Discovering Jesus in the Gospels Why Was Jesus Crucified? Women in the Church Christians and Miracles Was Jesus Right?

Is it possible to write an artistically respectable and theoretically convincing religious novel in a non-religious age? Up to now, there has been no substantial application of theological criticism to the works of Hugh MacLennan and Morley Callaghan, the two most important Canadian novelists before 1960. Yet both were religious writers during the period when Canada entered the modern, non-religious era, and both greatly influenced the development of our literature. Faith and Fiction: A Theological Critique of the Narrative Strategies of Hugh MacLennan and Morley Callaghan is a significant contribution to the relatively new field studying the relation between religion and literature in Canada.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a spellbinding and dazzlingly innovative portrait of a woman haunted by the past. Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is still held captive by memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Meanwhile Sethe’s house has long been troubled by the angry, destructive ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Sethe works at beating back the past, but it makes itself heard and felt incessantly in her memory and in the lives of those around her. When a mysterious teenage girl arrives, calling herself Beloved, Sethe’s terrible secret explodes into the present. Combining the visionary power of legend with the unassailable truth of history, Morrison’s unforgettable novel is one of the great and enduring works of American literature.

Travel to ancient Palestine at the time of Jesus and the Roman Empire, and ask: What could a cynical, nonconformist, dry-goods salesman, a disgruntled blacksmith, and a musing mendicant all have in common? The answer: Down deep, they all want something better. The nonconformist, Manaheem, Herod’s truth-seeking foster brother, is hired by Herod to foment an insurrection against Pontius Pilate. Manaheem recruits the blacksmith, Barabbas, to lead the insurrection – much to the dismay of Barabbas’s Godly but fearful wife. The mendicant, an unfortunate but pensive young man named Timotheus, joins with an older beggar unsympathetic to his musings. Pontius Pilate sees himself as a weak ruler, but his wife pushes him to take over Herod’s territory. Meanwhile, Manaheem reunites with his former wife, Claressa, and after much soul searching, tries to blackmail Herod, losing Claressa in the process. Barabbas turns to robbery, enlisting the aid of the two beggars. Timotheus hesitates and almost turns back, but then decides to go along. Does redemption lie ahead, and at what cost to those who find it? Find out in this incredible tale filled with conflict, suspicion, and treachery.

##Step back into New Testament times--to Ancient Palestine at the time of Christ and of the historical Roman Empire, and ask: What could a cynical, non-conformist dry-goods salesman, a disgruntled blacksmith, and a musing mendicant all have in common? The answer: Down deep, they all seek something better. But will they find the true fulfillment they are seeking? The non-conformist, Manaheem, Herod's foster brother, is hired by Herod to foment an insurrection against Pontius Pilate, whom he distrusts. Manaheem recruits the blacksmith, Barabbas, to be the insurrection leader, to the dismay of Barabbas' Godly but fearful wife (when he finally tells her). The mendicant, an unfortunate but pensive young man named Timotheus, joins with an older beggar completely unsympathetic to his musings. Pontius Pilate sees himself as a weak ruler, but his wife pushes him to be stronger and to even take over Herod's territory. Manaheem re-unites with his former wife, Claressa. In need of more money, he tries to blackmail Herod over his illicit affair With Herodius, his brother’s wife, but, Herod decides to marry Herodius and send his present wife back to her father. John the Baptist preaches to Herod and looses his head. Herod's palace is attacked, and suspecting Pilate, he tells Manaheem go ahead with the mission. Barabbas is successful in forming a group of insurrectionists and they rehearse for the big day. But will the insurrection succeed? . ----------------------- ###WRITING STYLE: The writing style is a unique eclectic style, combining poetry, straight dialogue and 1st person stream-of-consciousness narrative with the 3rd person narration.