Böcker av Amy Frykholm

In the dusty corner of a library, journalist Amy Frykholm discovers a footnote that leads her on a decades-long search for Mary of Egypt--runaway, prostitute, holy desert dweller, saint, and archetypal wild woman. As their storylines crisscross maps and centuries, both become more fully revealed--in the embrace of the sacred.

The first fully-realized biography of Julian of Norwich-theologian, anchorite, and visionary of the Middle Ages. A groundbreaking and sometimes controversial biography that offers full tribute to the mystic Julian of Norwich. In May 1373, a thirty year-old woman living in East Anglia suffered an illness. She received visions-what she later called "e;sixteen showings"e;-revealing to her secrets of the love of God. When she fully recovered, Julian recorded and richly explored those revelations, creating what became the first English-language book written by a woman. Drawing on Julian's own writings, Frykholm's biography paints a vivid picture of the 14th century and this remarkable woman's place in it. Through plague, church corruption, economic devastation, and great personal loss, she presciently addressed her culture's greatest fears and anxieties. Ultimately, Julian of Norwich's life is shrouded in mystery, and yet she has become a significant figure in contemporary spirituality today. "e;Frykholm...has audaciously done something many people would have said was not possible: written [Julian's] biography. Frykholm has combined a careful reading of Julian's writings (at times scrupulous, at times midrashic, but at all times attentive) with a deep immersion in the scholarship of 14th-century England to offer an informed and absorbing...account of Julian's life."e;-Lauren F. Winner, Books & Culture"e;[Frykhom's] narrative, which she calls 'an act of empathetic imagination,' crackles with life."e;-The Denver Post"e;A sympathetic and realistic portrayal of a saint who, as it turns out, is both holy (that is, set apart) and as complicated as you and me....It reads with the energy of a novel and the insight of a spiritual classic."e;-Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Christianity Today

Throughout the two-thousand-year span of Christian history, believers in Jesus have sought to articulate their faith and their understanding of how God works in the world. How do we, as we examine the vast and varied output of those who came before us, understand the unity and the diversity of their thinking? How do we make sense of our own thought in light of theirs? The Christian Understandings series offers to help. In this crisp and engaging volume Amy Frykholm offers a tour through more than two millennia of Christian thought on the future. Starting with the contexts of the Hebrew Bible and moving forward, Frykholm outlines the enduring fascination believers have had with future events and the myriad ways they have articulated their beliefs about what the future holds. From the imperial contexts of the book of Revelation to the end times prophecy of Harold Camping, Frykholm presents a thoughtful and insightful tour. - back of the book.

';A fascinating, troubling, and finally heartening book that subtly shows ways that Christians might reconcile their bodies with their devotion to God. Highly recommended for individual Christians but also for pastors and church groups.'Library Journal, starred reviewStories of sexual scandals in churches throughout the nation have been downright routine in recent years, suggesting to many Americans that a deeply rooted problem plagues American Christianityand prompting some to abandon their congregations altogether. In See Me Naked, Amy Frykholm takes us beyond simple indictments of, or blind allegiance to, Christian cultures to explore the complex, intimate intersection of sexuality and spirituality as it affects the lives of ordinary Christians. Recounting with care and nuance the life histories of nine American Protestants, Frykholm shows us the harm done by the rules-based sexual ethic now dominant, which alternately denies and romanticizes sexuality. But she also points to how American Christians might otherwise access their spiritual tradition to heal the divide between religion and sexuality. One story examines the intricate relationship between a man's religious faith and his sexual addiction. In another, a man defines religion as a wall that kept him from the discovery that he was gay. One young woman uses sex to defy her devout parents, while another seeks to transcend her body by going without food. Nearly everyone interviewed in See Me Naked remains a Christian, with some further on their journey than others. Yet each of them is working to understand the connection between their desires and their faith. Ultimately, their storiesstories of pain and violence, perseverance and courageattest to the healing power of struggling through the wild and uncertain experiences of life. See Me Naked explores the many ways that people work to recover from harmful beliefs and restores the notion that one of the key insights of Christianity is that the body, with all its struggles, pains, and difficulties, is a vehicle of the holy and can lead us into a more full relationship with God.