James Papandrea
Showing all 5 resultsSorted by latest
-
Praying Like The Early Church
$18.95Add to cartThere are many misconceptions about prayer, ranging from what it is to how and why we pray. Dr. James Papandrea breaks open the wisdom of early Christians to transform and enrich your spiritual life and help you develop a daily rhythm for fruitful conversation with God. Here is the spiritual game plan you need to assist you in opening your heart to the Father’s invitation, receiving His love, living virtuously in practical ways, and entering into deeper communion with Him.
Through the lives of early Church Fathers and Mothers, Dr. Papandrea emphasizes the centrality of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist in our lives of prayer, providing methods to help you benefit more at Mass and in daily life, and ways to grow in gratitude and devotion. You will learn how the sacraments were practiced in the early Church and their power in flooding us with God’s graces today. Additionally, you will see why communal worship is vital and the role of pilgrimage in Christian life.
In these life-changing pages, you will find:
* Why the Eucharist was the most important prayer from the Church’s inception
* How Our Lady shows us what prayer really is and ways we can imitate her
* Three meta-virtues in prayer and five characteristics of righteousness
* How to pray without ceasing and develop “prayer attitudes”
* Three tips on surrendering yourself to God’s will
* Three things that block God’s grace (Brace yourself!)Dr. Papandrea also reveals the biblical roots of making the Sign of the Cross and what the early Christians taught about the layers of meaning in the Our Father. Moreover, he documents what early Christians believed regarding reading the Bible, praying for the dead, the role of the saints, repetition in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Included at the end of each chapter are sections on how to pray like an early Christian and resources on how “to go deeper.” An invaluable prayer plan, prayers from early Christians, and other helpful resources are also featured.
-
Reading Scripture Like The Early Church
$19.95Add to cartBefore the Bible existed as we know it, the early Church developed a thorough understanding of what Scripture is – and what it isn’t. Over the centuries, fundamentalist and modernist thinking corrupted the proper understanding of Scripture and unleashed a series of heresies ranging from Sola Scriptura to the evolution of doctrine.
In this brief yet penetrating book, Dr. James Papandrea cuts through the confusion by revealing what the early Church Fathers actually taught and believed about the Holy Scripture as well as how they read, understood, and interpreted the Word of God. He explains the process by which the books of the Bible were selected and demonstrates the harmoniousness and complementarity of the Gospels.
With Dr. Papandrea’s guidance, you will see how Scripture attests to the truth of the sacraments, Catholic doctrines, and the hierarchy of the Church founded by Christ. You will come to understand how the Church Fathers differentiated the “literal” and “figurative” interpretations of Scripture (it will likely surprise you!). You’ll come to appreciate as never before the multiple layers of biblical meaning, from the historical and prophetic to the allegorical, apocalyptic, eschatological, and typological.
Dr. Papandrea further explains:
*How Scripture was written and why the Bible is infallible and reliable
*What is meant by “divine inspiration”
*Why revelation is dynamic and why authentic scriptural interpretation cannot contradict doctrine
*How our approach to reading the Old Testament differs from that of reading the New
*The spiritual senses of Scripture and how the Old Testament is fulfilled in Christ
*The importance of understanding the fullness of Scripture and the dangers in taking passages out of context
In addition, Dr. Papandrea provides tips for biblical interpretation and advice on how to choose the most accurate Bible translation. Most significantly, you will recognize how reading Scripture is a relational exercise that helps you encounter our Lord in His divinity and His humanity and enter into the mystery of salvation.
-
Reading The Church Fathers
$21.95Add to cartHeresies, schisms, culture of death, persecutions, excommunications … While reflective of headlines from today, these difficulties roiled Christians of the early Church as well. In fact, the earliest Church manual, the Didache,brought clarity to a range of moral issues that our culture continues to grapple with to this day.
Here is one of the most lucid and comprehensive overviews of the Patristic period ever written. With simplicity and clarity, Dr. James Papandrea introduces you to all the major theologians, philosophers, and martyrs of the early Christian church and explains the theological principles that guided the Church from the New Testament era through the apologists, and, ultimately, to the development of the major doctrines. Best of all, he uniquely situates the teachings of the early Church Fathers against the social and cultural context of the Roman Empire and its relationship to the Church.
Dr. Papandrea will introduce you to the gnostics and their influence on the early Church, as well as explain how Church mothers, such as Macrina the Younger, laid a foundation for the monastic life to come. You’ll learn how our understanding of the sacraments developed and when devotion to Our Lady and the saints emerged. You’ll also explore how the New Testament canon was formed as well as the criteria used to interpret early Christian writings.
A must-have resource, Reading the Church Fathers offers helpful charts, recommended texts, and summaries of important theological concepts and doctrines. It also reveals:
*How the early Church refuted heresies
*How catechesis was taught and shared
*The order of the liturgy in early Christianity
*The marks of the early Church and the role of tradition
*How apostolic succession was defined
*What is meant by the development of doctrine
-
Week In The Life Of Rome
$20.00Add to cartIn first-century Rome, following Jesus comes at a tremendous social cost.
An urbane Roman landowner and merchant is intrigued by the Christian faith-but is he willing to give up his status and lifestyle to join the church? Meanwhile his young client, a catechumen in the church at Rome, is beginning to see just how much his newfound faith will require of him.
A Week in the Life of Rome is a cross section of ancient Roman society, from the overcrowded apartment buildings of the poor to the halls of the emperors. Against this rich backdrop, illuminated with images and explanatory sidebars, we are invited into the daily struggles of the church at Rome just a few years before Paul wrote his famous epistle to them. A gripping tale of ambition, intrigue, and sacrifice, James Papandrea’s novel is a compelling work of historical fiction that shows us the first-century Roman church as we’ve never seen it before.
-
How Christianity Saved Civilization
$18.95Add to cartIn these pages, scholars Mike Aquilina and Jim Papandrea take us back in time to show what the world looked like without Christianity. You’ll see many similarities to our time, including the glorifi cation of humiliation and violence, the dehumanization of the weak, and the killing of their young.