John W Newton

The Addison Collection provides thoughts and observations designed to encourage us to think about philosophical, social, and political issues of interest. ""It's a Buck"" describes a teenage boy's thoughts and feeling while experiencing the initial frustrations and then unexpected rewards of being a first-time, successful deer hunter. ""Retreats of Stones and Mosses"" is a short story about a population of tiny minnows that find and experience a temporary utopia in their country stream. It illustrates how an absence of daily challenges, which are found in a mainstream environment, can lead to apathy and prolonged despair. ""Space Visitors"" involves aliens who arrive on Earth and provide insight on our perception of time and space travel. They state that the emphasis we place on an ideal life in the hereafter shouldn't cause us to overlook the importance and beauty of contemporary life. The treatise, ""Our Model Nation,"" suggests that the basic values and character of America serve as a forerunner to how the world of the future will be structured. It addresses issues specific to crime and punishment, threats of aggression, natural vs. institutional government, and social destiny. The reader should find this collection interesting, enjoyable, and thought-provoking.

This is the story of a young frontiersman and Lakota maiden who marry and establish a trading post in the northwest region of the Louisiana Territory during the mid-1800s. It's about dealing with their very real feelings of love and hate, strength and fear, joy and sadness as they face numerous challenges in bridging the gap between two seemingly incompatible cultures. It's a story about fulfilling a dream and the perseverance it takes to accomplish it. Additionally, Wilderness Nation describes the expansive beauty and wonders of nature and the undeniable unity that exists among all creatures of life, all people, and God. The book further offers a unique and profound philosophy of life that's championed by an enlightened group of Native Americans confined to a single village of a few hundred people. The Lakota philosophy takes a very realistic approach to the world. It accepts all its good aspects, including the joys of life, sound health and happiness, and justice when served. But it also understands the world with its numerous bad features of floods and bitter cold weather, the dangers of illness, and the violence and death that results from hostile enemies. In living a good life, each Lakota villager will eventually be united with the Great Spirit of Life.

Important goals of mankind, such as eliminating injustice and attaining a higher quality of life, are achievable. To achieve them, however, requires a will and a way. God provides the will. The focus of A Pen Named Man: Our Destiny is to illustrate the way. The route to social fulfillment is through the establishment of universal institutions designed to enable man to serve as God's representative on Earth and ""automatically"" satisfy his purpose in life. Family is the most important institution of mankind. It forms the nucleus of social living and fosters a deep sense of love and commitment among biologically related people who live together in an emotionally secure environment. Religion ties human behavior to morality and serves as the pathway between an individual and his God. Government establishes a standardized code of equality and fairness. Where the goal of the institution of religion is a moral world, the role of government is a just world. Employment is the institution that opens the door to attaining one's purpose in life. A restructured universal institution of employment provides every individual with the opportunity to contribute his time and resources toward the betterment of mankind. By working in an occupation that makes a product or provides a service useful to society, a person is able to earn the necessities of life for himself, attain psychological fulfillment, and provide support to those who are physically or mentally unable to take care of themselves.

Important goals of mankind, such as eliminating injustice and attaining a higher quality of life, are achievable. To achieve them, however, requires a will and a way. God provides the will. The focus of A Pen Named Man: Our Destiny is to illustrate the way. The route to social fulfillment is through the establishment of universal institutions designed to enable man to serve as God's representative on Earth and automatically satisfy his purpose in life. Family is the most important institution of mankind. It forms the nucleus of social living and fosters a deep sense of love and commitment among biologically related people who live together in an emotionally secure environment. Religion ties human behavior to morality and serves as the pathway between an individual and his God. Government establishes a standardized code of equality and fairness. Where the goal of the institution of religion is a moral world, the role of government is a just world. Employment is the institution that opens the door to attaining one's purpose in life. A restructured universal institution of employment provides every individual with the opportunity to contribute his time and resources toward the betterment of mankind. By working in an occupation that makes a product or provides a service useful to society, a person is able to earn the necessities of life for himself, attain psychological fulfillment, and provide support to those who are physically or mentally unable to take care of themselves.

A person cannot create a butterfly out of non-living components and breathe life into it. Neither can he construct a star like our sun nor a magnificent celestial body like planet Earth. God, however, can do these things and more Although a human being cannot create a butterfly, he can live a good and decent life and serve as God's representative on Earth by becoming the gardener and governor of Nature. The one thing we know of our spiritual element, or soul, is that it's derived from God and sustains our biological and non-biological realms. In A Pen Named Man: Our Essence we focus on the worldly components of man, that is, those components we can sense, touch, and feel. Hence, we identify and discuss the physical side of man with its several body systems as well as the mental side with its rational and emotive elements. A central theme involves the need to synthesize the physiological and psychological components into a compatible and workable union, such that the drives and needs of neither realm dominate one's behavior in an unrealistic, unattainable manner. Human values are debated relative to being permanent and good for all time vs. temporary and adjusted with time and circumstance. Two significant values under review deal with the justification for taking another person's life and the morality of sexual involvement inside and outside of marriage. The emotion of love is discussed in detail.

Description: The person of exile may be considered a wanderer, a nomad, a refugee, or a rebel. People of exile can be the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the outcast, the left out, and the pushed away. Different terms are used, but what defines them all is separation. Exile is a dangerous and dominant theme that runs through Scripture, through the lives of the people of Israel, and through the universal church. Women who have known the sacred place of exile are uniquely qualified to form a women's mission. The case is made for a momentum shift in missiological thinking. There is a desperate and aching need for a women's mission, which could lead the way to a women's missionary movement. The emergence of such a mission/movement is indeed fraught with skepticism and suspicion from many of those inside the church and leaders in the missionary world. But the radical, disruptive, costly following of Jesus to those ""outside the camp"" is our calling. Endorsements: ""Are you 'radicalized for mission'? Do you want to be 'radicalized for mission'? You are not alone The Sacred Place of Exile provides examples and stories of women through history, including women today who are taking the gospel and addressing issues of social injustice in the risky, out-of-the-way places around the world. These will challenge and encourage you to go and do likewise together."" --Elizabeth Glanville, Associate Professor of Leadership, Fuller Theological Seminary ""Carla Brewington has not only thought about and studied this subject with great care, but she also has ministered--with much creativity and courage--to those who are outside the camp. In this fine book she has much to teach all of us who care about new ways of bringing the gospel to those who have been the unreached."" --Richard Mouw, President, Fuller Theological Seminary About the Contributor(s): Carla Brewington is Director of Harvest Emergent Relief, working primarily in high-risk areas of Asia. She received her doctorate in Missiology from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.