Books published by International Scholars Publications,U.S.

Professor Gromada has provided fellow-theologians and researchers with a complete and accurate history of the different stages, transitions and influences which lead to the actual text on ministry in 'Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry' (BEM) produced by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches in January 1982 in Lima, Peru. In this serious and methodical exposition, both published and unpublished sources and documentation are utilized as well as the author-participant's own material. In addition, individual theologians and theological perspectives are identified and highlghted and the eventual direction of ecumenical discussions is fully described.

Four official Roman Catholic magisterial documents deal with the laity in an extensive way: The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, The Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, the 1983 Code of the Canon Law, and the 1988 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World. Yet, it remains difficult to claim theological consensus on the meaning and scope of the vocation and mission of lay people in the Church. Seeking to explore the lack of consensus further, this thought-provoking study systematically probes and compares all four texts, and addresses the problematic questions posed by some recent theologies of the laity: the rejection of the hierarchical structure of the Church, the influence of class-conflict ideology, a lack of emphasis on the secular character of the laity and a neglect of sacramental identity. A major contribution to theological and pastoral studies, this ground-breaking analysis will prove of special service to lay and permanent deaconate formation programs.

Based on a thorough reading of Cyril's Commentary on John, Lawrence Welch's analysis constitutes a compelling reconsideration of Cyril of Alexandria's early Christology. Challenging the traditional Logos-Sarx framework of study, Dr. Welch argues that for Cyril, the doctrine of the person of Christ cannot be considered apart from the doctrine of salvation or from the doctrine of Church's worship.

In Narcissistic Giving, Gerald Alper chronicles the unconscious defenses, gambits and strategies by which fightened people seek to escape the imagined terrors of relating to one another and to themselves.

With impetus provided by the accumulated historical and textual evidence supporting reincarnation, this book first examines Gospel evidence that Jesus actually taught reincarnation and karma rather than resurrection. Deardorff's compelling analysis bolsters other studies indicating that the concept of resurrection displaced reincarnation in earliest Christianity due to its pre-belief by certain Pharisee converts, and specifies how the Gospels came to reflect this belief.Jesus in India reexamines the evidence that the "lost years" of Jesus' youth were spent in the India. Deardorff's analysis brings out the plausibility of Jesus having gained knowledge about reincarnation and related spiritual matters under certain yogis in India. With the empty tomb on Easter morning not to be explained by resurrection, the book reviews six resuscitation hypotheses and presents a seventh one that withstands previous objections.This well documented research constitutes an important addition to the existing literature on comparative religions and a thought provoking contribution to the on-going debate on the historicity of a wide range of New Testament passages.