The Redeemed Image of God examines the classical development of imago Dei, the image of God, in Christian theology, and reconstructs the doctrine in order to recover the role of the image in redemption and the importance of human embodiment in salvific relationships. The author argues that the imago Dei is the point of contact that enables a rich web of relationships to others, but most importantly the redemptive relationship to the Other, God. From this perspective, not only can the imago Dei be saved, but the imago Dei is essential in saving us. Windley-Daoust retrieves the deep classical meaning of the Image of God as redemptive point of contact and addresses the wholistic worldview of our century through dialogue with existential phenomenologists Gabriel Marcel and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. This contemporary reconstruction of the image of God theology fully values the Incarnation as enabling redemption, and the human body as touchstone to the transcendent. This is a new vision of the imago Dei, and a theologically suggestive understanding of the human as embodied spirit.

Suicide, for years, has been a public health crisis in the Western world. Yet more and more states and countries are allowing physician assisted suicide or euthanasia. Have you wondered whether it is actually wrong to end your life if you are mortally ill? Susan Windley-Daoust engages in an extended discussion with a game dialogue partner who thinks that there are five good reasons to employ physician-assisted suicide--and proves those common reasons (or "tricks of the heart") may be well-intended, but make no moral or spiritual sense. She argues that PAS is based in medical ignorance, a utilitarian understanding of the human, and a spiritual vacuum--and the Christian Church needs to engage these realities quickly and directly by recovering the art of dying well. This book is written to all those considering the issue, from those considering PAS as an option in their own lives, to those called upon to vote on the legality of PAS in their states, to those who minister to the dying.

An increasingly post-Christian world is forcing parishes to re-envision how they “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). Pastors and lay leadership must pivot to building mission-first parishes, equipped to proclaim the Gospel to those who have not heard it — while the number of practicing Catholics falls with increasing speed.

Parish leaders are hungry for programs and resources to help address these challenges. Yet no single model or program can suit every parish, and leaders are bogged down with options, many of which offer no clear goals or methods. In The Four Ways Forward, Susan Windley-Daoust, theologian and diocesan director of missionary discipleship, provides a road map to pastors and parish staff to make sense of it all.

To become an apostolic parish, there are four effective models to choose from, each built on a distinct, necessary insight and method in the art of conversion:

Radical hospitality and proclamation?The practice of spiritual multiplication?Organizational mission (re)focus?Highlighting divine signs and wonders in our midst

Every fruitful, joyful, evangelizing parish should embrace the insights and methods of at least three of the four models. This book not only describes each model, giving examples of how it is being used in parishes today, but offers a practical blueprint toward crafting a response to the post-Christian world, including notes on spiritual roadblocks that can get in the way.

The Redeemed Image of God examines the classical development of imago Dei, the image of God, in Christian theology, and reconstructs the doctrine in order to recover the role of the image in redemption and the importance of human embodiment in salvific relationships. The author argues that the imago Dei is the point of contact that enables a rich web of relationships to others, but most importantly the redemptive relationship to the Other, God. From this perspective, not only can the imago Dei be saved, but the imago Dei is essential in saving us. Windley-Daoust retrieves the deep classical meaning of the Image of God as redemptive point of contact and addresses the wholistic worldview of our century through dialogue with existential phenomenologists Gabriel Marcel and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. This contemporary reconstruction of the image of God theology fully values the Incarnation as enabling redemption, and the human body as touchstone to the transcendent. This is a new vision of the imago Dei, and a theologically suggestive understanding of the human as embodied spirit.

Suicide, for years, has been a public health crisis in the Western world. Yet more and more states and countries are allowing physician assisted suicide or euthanasia. Have you wondered whether it is actually wrong to end your life if you are mortally ill? Susan Windley-Daoust engages in an extended discussion with a game dialogue partner who thinks that there are five good reasons to employ physician-assisted suicide--and proves those common reasons (or "tricks of the heart") may be well-intended, but make no moral or spiritual sense. She argues that PAS is based in medical ignorance, a utilitarian understanding of the human, and a spiritual vacuum--and the Christian Church needs to engage these realities quickly and directly by recovering the art of dying well. This book is written to all those considering the issue, from those considering PAS as an option in their own lives, to those called upon to vote on the legality of PAS in their states, to those who minister to the dying.

An increasingly post-Christian world is forcing parishes to re-envision how they “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). Pastors and lay leadership must pivot to building mission-first parishes, equipped to proclaim the Gospel to those who have not heard it — while the number of practicing Catholics falls with increasing speed.

Parish leaders are hungry for programs and resources to help address these challenges. Yet no single model or program can suit every parish, and leaders are bogged down with options, many of which offer no clear goals or methods. In The Four Ways Forward, Susan Windley-Daoust, theologian and diocesan director of missionary discipleship, provides a road map to pastors and parish staff to make sense of it all.

To become an apostolic parish, there are four effective models to choose from, each built on a distinct, necessary insight and method in the art of conversion:

Radical hospitality and proclamation?The practice of spiritual multiplication?Organizational mission (re)focus?Highlighting divine signs and wonders in our midst

Every fruitful, joyful, evangelizing parish should embrace the insights and methods of at least three of the four models. This book not only describes each model, giving examples of how it is being used in parishes today, but offers a practical blueprint toward crafting a response to the post-Christian world, including notes on spiritual roadblocks that can get in the way.