All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time
Saints have typically been figures from the distant past, canonized for miraculous lives of perfection and self-denial. Orbis editor-in-chief Ellsberg here redefines this stereotype in this diverse and substantial compendium of the lives of men and women, ancient and contemporary, who gave themselves completely to their vocations. Well-known saints, apostles, and martyrs take their place beside lesser-known figures (the woman with a flow of blood who touched Jesus' hem), theologians and philosophers (e.g., Martin Buber, Simone Weil, Kierkegaard), artists (Van Gogh, Mozart, J.S. Bach), literary figures (Dante, Tolstoy), social reformers (Gandhi, Schweitzer), and numerous others who do not fit into neat categories. A different figure is introduced for each day of the year to coincide with feast days or birth/death dates, and helpful biographical sources are provided.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.