A tired girl wanders the street. A grungy man rifles through a Dumpster. A weary mom hauls her baby as she begs for food. Nameless and anonymous to those around them, these people are avoided, consistently ignored at best, cruelly mistreated at worst. But each has a name. Each has a past. And each life has meaning. Blinky lost his wife to cancer. Blinded by grief, he forsook his former life. Forgetting the past, he formed a bond with others who are homeless by choice. Pogo defended the woman he loved from an attacker and fled Mexico to avoid retribution. Chazz fought in a war and came home a hollow shell. They had retreated from society and met by chance on the stark streets. A children's book, given to them by a little girl, helps them retrieve, not only their lives, but the desire to make a difference for God's glory. In Michael Corneiller's thought-provoking novel, The Beggars' Gift, it takes all the King's men to seek a solution to the plague of destitution that is taking over Pimlico. The factories are closing, the workers going home, empty and broken, and this dying town's only hope is its outcasts. But one woman continues to give. Maggie Lowell opens a food pantry for the homeless. Asking for help, Maggie looks for ways to provide. For fourteen-year-old Kanie, her compassion means everything. Unwittingly involved with an intimidating robber, Kanie tries to break away while thwarting his old boss. But when he runs to what he thinks is a safe haven, the green house, he discovers a disturbing scheme. A persuasive predator is promising homeless children a better life. Can Kanie escape his new prison? Will The Beggars' Gift revive hope and save Pimlico from the economic depression? God has a plan to resurrect all the King's men, but can they find the missing children and save the entire town?

This book explores the ethical and social implications of unilateral gifts of esteem, offering a perceptive guide to the uniquely South Asian contributors to theoretical work on the gift.

The unforgettable conclusion to the ground breaking trilogy begun with the Nebula Award-winning "Beggars in Spain". Two hundred years in the future regular human beings hate and fear the Sleepless and the SuperSleepless, genetically modified humans who are immune to disease and hunger, and need no sleep. When the Sleepless plot to take over the world and leave regular humans powerless, civilization and the very meaning of the word "human" hang in the balance.

Praised as "a deeply felt, deeply moving tale . . . chilling and finely tuned" (Publishers Weekly), Susan Palwick's first novel Flying in Place won widespread acclaim for its haunting exploration of a troubled childhood. Now, after a decade, Palwick returns with the powerful tale of a family cast out of an idyllic realm, learning to live in our own troubled world--an exciting and insightful examination of humanity in the spirit of Ursula Le Guin's The Disposessed and Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. Lémabantunk, the Glorious City, is a place of peace and plenty. But it is also a land of swift and severe justice. Young Darroti has been accused of the murder of a highborn woman who had chosen the life of a Mendicant, a holy beggar whose blessing brings forgiveness. Now his entire family must share his shame, and his punishment--exile to an unknown world. Grieving for the life they have left behind, Darroti and his family find themselves in a hostile land--an all-too-familiar American future, a country under attack in a world torn by hatred and war. There, each tries to cope in their own way. Some will surrender to despair. Some will strive to preserve the old ways. Some will be lured by the new world's temptations. And some, sustained by extraordinary love, will find a way to heal the family's grief and give them hope.

Why, asks Kelly Johnson, does Christian ethics so rarely tackle the real-life question of whether to give to beggars? Examining both classical economics and Christian stewardship ethics as reactions to medieval debates about the role of mendicants in the church and in wider society, Johnson reveals modern anxiety about dependence and humility as well as the importance of Christian attempts to rethink property relations in ways that integrate those qualities. She studies the rhetoric and thought of Christian thinkers, beggar saints, and economists from throughout history, placing greatest emphasis on the life and work of Peter Maurin, a cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement. Challenging and thought-provoking, The Fear of Beggars will move Christian economic ethics into a richer, more involved discussion.

Takes the reader step-by-step through traditional Reiki level 1 and 2 classes, discussing history, method and application.

These practical action projects introduce students to the wonders of doing sharing and relating.