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"An invaluable resource for educators, parents, and friends to begin deep conversations about virtue, God, and the meaning of life through the power of story."
Mark Galli was the editor in chief of Christianity Today for seven years, a Presbyterian pastor for ten years, and a passionate evangelical Protestant since first responding to an altar call in 1965 at thirteen years old. But in 2020, Galli formally returned to the faith in which he was baptized as an infant: the Roman Catholic Church. 

With All the Saints: My Journey to the Roman Catholic Church is the compelling memoir of one man’s search for the fullness of truth. Through honest and engaging storytelling, Galli recounts the various spiritual, theological, mystical, and ecclesial tributaries that led him to “cross the Tiber” back to Catholicism. Each tradition he passed through—Evangelical, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox—he embraced without satisfaction and left without bitterness, drawing him finally to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church: a Church of saints and sinners, all striving together in the great company of heaven; a Church that he could finally call home.

Honest, insightful, and entertaining, With All the Saints is a memorable love letter to Christ and his Church.
How can we share the Gospel and make disciples in our modern culture? Many people, including young people from Christian homes, are walking away from the faith, or have never had it presented to them in a compelling manner. However, our polemical, distracted media environment makes it difficult to have thoughtful discussions about anything. In this context, literature and the arts have a powerful role to play by providing an engaging and inviting way to share the Christian faith.

In Tales of Faith, Holly Ordway shows how literature—and especially old literature—can foster fruitful discussions that allow us to meet people where they are and help them move closer to knowing Christ, or to knowing and loving him more fully and deeply. Here, readers will find a practical, accessible guide to using literature to discuss topics such as the nature of God, virtues and vices, the Crucifixion, longing and sadness, and much more. For each literary text, Ordway provides an introductory essay, a selection from the text (or the whole poem for short pieces), questions for discussion or personal reflection, activities, and recommended resources.

Drawing from ancient classics like the Odyssey and the Aeneid and medieval masterpieces like Beowulf and the Divine Comedy, and providing both practical advice and spiritual guidance for the reader, Tales of Faith offers teachers, parents, and all lovers of classic literature an invaluable resource for sharing the faith through story.
Tales of Faith: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel through Literature
By Holly Ordway
Published by the Word on Fire Institute on July 18, 2022
Hardcover  |  192 Pages  |  6" x 9"
2023 Award Winner by the Catholic Media Association!
Retail Price: $29.95 $23.96
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ABOUT the AUTHOR

Holly Ordway is the Cardinal Francis George Fellow of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute and Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Houston Baptist University. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and is the author of Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle—earth Beyond the Middle Ages (Word on Fire Academic, 2021), Apologetics and the Christian Imagination: An Integrated Approach to Defending the Faith (Emmaus Road, 2017), Not God’s Type: An Atheist Academic Lays Down Her Arms (Ignatius, 2014), and various chapters and articles on imaginative apologetics, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the Inklings. She is also a Subject Editor for the Journal of Inklings Studies and a published poet.

WHAT PEOPLE are SAYING

“Tales of Faith will make you a better reader, thinker, and evangelizer. With Dr. Holly Ordway as your expert guide, you will not only encounter beautiful and fascinating stories and poems from Ancient Greece to medieval Italy; you will be equipped to share and discuss literature with others. This book will be an invaluable resource for educators, parents, and friends to begin deep conversations about virtue, God, and the meaning of life through the power of story."

—Haley Stewart, author of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be and co-host of The Fountains of Carrots Podcast
“Holly Ordway draws from her years of teaching to introduce Christians to the richness of the Western literary tradition. This practical guide shows readers the ways that literature can lead us through its beauty to deep discipleship.” 

—Jessica Hooten Wilson, author of The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints
“Holly Ordway encourages readers to cultivate intellectual hospitality by modeling it herself. She places a map before her readers and encourages us to join her as fellow companions on a convivial journey. She is both humble and sound in her own reception of literature. She balances scholarly heft with warmth and generosity, assuming the best of her readers and thus prompting us into greater integrity along the way.” 

—Natasha Duquette, Vice-President Academic, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College
“Holly Ordway has provided the Christian community with a much needed and very accessible reader of classical and medieval literature. She not only provides the necessary background and interpretive help; she asks probing questions that will push modern Christians to wrestle with issues of perennial importance. She is a knowledgeable and reliable guide, and I highly recommend her book for homeschoolers, classical Christian schools, and parish reading groups.”

—Louis Markos, Professor in English and Scholar in Residence, Houston Baptist University, and author of The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes

Click the button below to get a free sample from Chapter 3 of Tales of Faith - The Odyssey

































 

CONTENTS

Chapter One: Leading with Beauty

4 - The approach of this book
4 - What’s inside?

Chapter Two: Preparing for Our Literary Journey

7 - Using vs. receiving literature
9 - Cultivating intellectual hospitality
11 - Two spiritual challenges
13 - Practical advice

Chapter Three: Ancient Literature

16 - Backgrounds and Context: Myths and Legends
20 - The Greek Myths
39 - The Odyssey
53 - Oedipus Rex
60 - The Aeneid

Chapter Four: Medieval Literature

70 - Backgrounds and Context: Allegory
73 - “The Dream of the Rood”
85 - Beowulf
97 - Elegies
109 - Christ I
118 - Pearl

Chapter Five: Late Medieval Literature

133 - Backgrounds and Context: Dante’s Divine Comedy
137 - Inferno
147 - Purgatorio
158 - Paradiso

Chapter Six: Going Forward

170 - In schools and homeschools
171 - In parishes
172 - For individuals

Chapter Seven: Advice and Prayers from the Saints

Acknowledgments

ABOUT the BOOK

Vatican II called the Bible “the support and energy of the Church,” “the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life,” and “the food of the soul.” Yet, for many Catholics, their engagement with Scripture is often limited to what they hear at Mass—and the dull, safe, predictable homilies that obscure rather than break open up the Word of God. 

In Food for the Soul, the first book in a riveting three-part series, celebrated philosopher Peter Kreeft invites the faithful—clergy and laity alike—to a heart-to-heart relationship with Christ the Word through the Word of the Scriptures. Moving through the First Reading, Second Reading, and Gospel Readings for each Sunday and other major liturgical celebrations throughout the three-year lectionary cycle, Kreeft brings the Mass readings to life with his trademark blend of gentle wit and unyielding wisdom, challenging readers to plant their souls in the rich soil of Scripture and sharpen their minds with the Sword of the Spirit.

Whether you are a layperson looking for additional insight on the readings at Mass, or a priest or deacon looking for inspiration for a homily, Food for the Soul is a gift to the whole Church from one of today’s greatest Christian writers.

TABLE of CONTENTS

Introduction

Advent

Christmas Time

Lent

Holy Week

Easter Time

Ordinary Time
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