How to use Verbum for Apologetics (pt. 4)

Save 18% on the The Select Works of Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI

May 15, 2013 By Aric Nesheim Leave a Comment

Right now, you can still get this important collection at a special Pre-Pub price. The print edition for this huge 21-volume set would be well over $300, but you can get the full-featured digital texts now for just $179.95.

Along with our collection containing all the writings of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during his pontificate, the Select Works of Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI provides you with Ratzinger’s most essential writings on the Church, politics, Mary, faith, and more. This collection—21 volumes—amasses just shy of 4,000 pages, giving you an incredibly comprehensive body of work by one of the greatest scholars, theologians, and religious teachers of the twenty-first century.

With the recent conclusion of Benedict XVI’s papacy, this collection couldn’t be any timelier. Spanning from some of his early publications—such as Theology of History in Bonaventure, in 1971—to his most recent Dogma and Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to Daily Life, published in 2011, this collection traces the development of Joseph Ratzinger’s thought.

These texts come alive in Verbum, linking Ratzinger’s scriptural and theological references to other works in your library. Renowned resources in both theology and philosophy, Joseph Ratzinger’s works become a catalyst for more profound and deeply integrated study within your Verbum library.

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How to use Verbum for Apologetics (pt. 7)

May 13, 2013 By Aric Nesheim Leave a Comment

In this final week of Easter, we’ve decided to do something special. Below, of course, is the final Easter apologetics training video, featuring the Scott Hahn Collection which you can get now at 15% off. But we’ve also decided to give 15% off of every one of the apologetic resources we’ve featured during this Easter season. If you missed a deal on a resource this week, you still have one last chance to grab it before Pentecost this coming Sunday. The coupon code VerbumEaster2013 gets you 15% off all of the apologetic resources listed below in addition to any Verbum base package we offer.

In the mean time, watch the video below for some tips on integrating some of Dr. Scott Hahn’s great works with the rest of your titles in your Verbum Library:

Get any of these resources for 15% off with the coupon code VerbumEaster2013 !

Happy seventh week of Easter!

Filed Under: Apologetics, Products, Training

Theology of the Body Collection

May 8, 2013 By Aric Nesheim Leave a Comment

The Theology of the Body Collection (7 vols.) ships this Friday, but you can still lock in a Pre-Pub price at nearly 30% off if you order it now. This is an indispensable collection for anyone interested in the discourse centered on sexuality, especially in our modern era.

G. K. Chesterton wrote in his beautiful hagiography of St Francis that “the moment sex ceases to be a servant it becomes a tyrant.” The same might be said of any bodily passion, but Chesterton points out that there is something different about the sexual appetite compared to, say, that for food.^{^[1]} Why is it that sex takes on such a unique role in the spectrum of human appetites? What is it about sex that makes it one of the most central and contentious topics in all of human history?

From September of 1979 to November of 1984, Pope John Paul II gave a series of 129 audience addresses aiming to wrestle with these very questions. John Paul II posits that it is the “body, and it alone” that is “capable of making visible what is invisible, the spiritual and the divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the invisible mystery hidden in God from time immemorial, and thus be a sign of it” (Feb 20, 1980). Pope John Paul II thus understands the human body as something that demands its own theological discourse: if we are the imago Dei (image of God), then it behooves us to study and understand that image so that we may better understand that which it reflects.

We live in a time when the conversation around human sexuality is not only extremely contentious, but all around us. When we turn on the news (or read our blogs), when we go to work, when our children come home from school with questions—the topic of sexuality is discussed everywhere. How best do we address this controversial and extremely important topic? The Theology of the Body Collection gives us more than just a place to start—it is a comprehensive collection giving us John Paul II’s enormous study and a set of six other resources that offer reflections on the theology of the body, as well as numerous other Catholic reflections on sexuality.

Get this important collection today and save 27% at our pre-pub price.

^{^[1]} Though it is obviously true that the consumption of food is something that has been contentious throughout all of human history as well: Dietary laws, food taboos—even our modern obsession with eating the “right kinds” of food—all point to the fact that our bodies are an essential part of our being. We are not disembodied spirits; God has created us in his image as embodied souls.

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How to use Verbum for Apologetics (pt. 6)

May 6, 2013 By Aric Nesheim 2 Comments

It’s the sixth week of Easter, and this week we’ll be giving 15% off the Catholic Apologetics Collection with the coupon code CathApol2013. Below is a training video featuring this great collection. We’ll look at the topic of the eucharist and how Verbum can help you compile some great notes around this often controversial subject:

Also remember that there are only two weeks left to get in on our Easter Sale—15% off any one of our base packages with the coupon code VerbumEaster2013!

Filed Under: Apologetics, Products, Training

St. Louis de Montfort and Modern Mariology

May 3, 2013 By Aric Nesheim Leave a Comment

Today’s guest post is by Brandon Rappuhn, a Logos marketing copywriter.

In many ways, St. Louis de Montfort was the St. Dominic of the seventeenth century. He was a zealous traveling preacher, lived in poverty to meet the needs of those in poverty, and had a voracious approach to prayer and devotion. His work in spreading devotion through the rosary met with momentous success, and he founded three religious orders that imitated his practices of poverty, prayer, and charity: the Daughters of Wisdom, the Missionaries of the Company of Mary, and the Brothers of St. Gabriel. The feast of the rosary was introduced on the year of his death, and shortly thereafter, the Angelus was revitalized by Pope Benedict XIII. His three famous books, The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, The Secret of the Rosary, and The Secret of Mary, have all been gathered in the recent St. Louis de Montfort Collection.

St. Louis de Montfort came along during a period of advancement in the discussion of Mariology. Saints Bellarmine and Lawrence, along with Pope Alexander VII, advanced Thomas Aquinas’ twelfth-century investigations of Mariology, while Jesuits and Baroque artists produced more literature and artwork focused on the Virgin Mary than had ever previously existed.

Despite this advancement in Mariology, the Enlightenment era of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries marked a notable decline in Marian writings. The elevation of rationalism and empiricism challenged everything from Marian intercession to the Virgin Birth. The rosary was seldom prayed, the writings on Mary scaled back, and feast days for Mary were all but removed from the calendar. The persecution of the Catholic Church in France and Spain during this period also contributed to a decline in Marian studies (though St. Alphonsus Ligouri developed a few noteworthy texts on Mary, most notably The Glories of Mary.)

The rediscovery of St. Louis de Montfort’s famous works in the middle of the nineteenth century contributed to a spark in the revival of devotion to Mary and prayer through the rosary. Pope Alexander VII’s discussions of the Immaculate Conception were renewed by Pope Pius IX and the First Vatican Council, and the nineteenth century closed with the reign of the famous “Rosary Pope,” Leo XIII, who wrote a record number of encyclicals on the Virgin Mary.

Whether for your own personal devotions or for your investigation of Roman Catholic Mariology, we’ve compiled St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort’s famous writings on Community Pricing for you. Bid whatever price you think it’s worth—with the rest of the Verbum community, you can determine the price you’ll pay for the collection when it ships, often saving you hundreds of dollars in the long run. New to Community Pricing? Check out the video on the landing page and see how it works!

Filed Under: History, Mary, Products

Behold, Your Mother: A Closer Look at Mary as the New Eve

May 1, 2013 By Aric Nesheim Leave a Comment

Today’s guest post is by Kyle Fuller, marketing assistant at Logos Bible Software.

May is the month that the Church, starting in thirteenth century, has dedicated to reverence and veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In observance of this Marian month, let’s remember the miraculous things God did through her, and what we can learn from her obedience and love.

madonna-and-child-giving-blessings “What the virgin Eve bound by her unbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.” —Lumen Gentium, 56

St. Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians that Jesus Christ is the New Adam. “Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45). If in Christ Jesus we have the new Adam, then it is through the Blessed Virgin Mary that we have the new Eve.

“The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.” —Genesis 3:20

Eve was the mother of all Creation; beside Adam, she looked after all the lands and animals, and birthed humanity. Mary was, in turn, the mother of all the New Creation, looking after us after Christ died. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Jesus commanded on the Cross that Mary be the mother of his new Creation, that she look after us after his death (and ultimately his resurrection)—“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26–27). Both virgins brought forth new life, one for this world and one for the next.

Just as the former—that is, Eve—was seduced by the words of an angel so that she turned away from God by disobeying his word, so the latter—Mary—received the good news from an angel’s announcement in such a way as to give birth to God by obeying his word . . . And as the human race was subjected to death by a virgin, it was liberated by a virgin; a virgin’s disobedience was thus counterbalanced by a Virgin’s obedience. —St. Irenaeus, “Against Heresies” 3:22:24

Eve was created immaculate. She walked the Earth pure and unsullied by the stain of sin. In fact, sin did not enter the world until she and Adam brought it. Ever since the Fall, sin has been destroying the world, bringing men and women to their knees repenting and asking for God’s grace and mercy. But just as sin came into the world through a spotless virgin, so salvation would come through another. Eve lived her life disobeying God, falling into darkness and brokenness. Mary lived her life in obedience to God, even when it seemed an insurmountable task was placed before her.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is what Eve was created to be. God formed Eve because Adam needed “a helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18). Rather than helping Adam follow God’s commands, Eve aided him in turning away from God. Mary did the exact opposite. At the wedding of Cana, the Holy Mother encouraged her son to perform his first miracle, and show the world that he was the Christ, beginning his ministry. Both women were created to be helpers, but only one led a man into God’s obedience and plan—to be our savior.

If, then, piety is the virtue which binds us to the sources of all life, to God, to our parents, to the church, to Christ, certainly Christian piety binds us, in grateful love, to Mary—or our acceptance of Christ and of the mystery of our kinship with Him is imperfect, partial, and unfulfilled. —Cardinal John Wright

Jesus Christ is Lord. We are to look to him for grace, for mercy, and as the living Word of God. He is the Immanuel, “God with us,” and for our sake he sacrificed himself on the cross. He lived in obedience, whereas Adam lived in obstinacy. Mary, too, stands as an exemplar of humility, modeling everything we are supposed to be—obedient, trusting, and submissive to God’s will because he has shown us time and again he knows what is best for us. “For I know the plans I have for you,” he tells us through the Prophet Jeremiah. Yet for all of this, we often forsake the one who loves us more than we can comprehend. The Blessed Virgin Mary did not. She listened to the angel, said “yes” to God when Eve said “no,” and birthed the one who saved us all. Spend this May in prayer, offering your heart up to Mary, and ask yourself how you, too, can be a New Eve or Adam.

To celebrate the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are offering Queen Mother: A Biblical Theology of Mary’s Queenship and the Catholic for a Reason Collection—two resources that focus on Mary—for 15% off with the coupon code Mary2013.

Filed Under: Apologetics, Mary, Products, Theology

How to use Verbum for Apologetics (pt. 5)

April 29, 2013 By Aric Nesheim Leave a Comment

In light of the upcoming month of May (dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary), today I wanted to highlight our Catholic for Reason Collection, specifically volume two, Scripture and the Mystery of the Mother of God. This training video will cover some pretty basic features of Verbum (notes, highlighting and clippings) while showing off a couple passages written by Scott Hahn in this wonderful apologetics volume.

In Celebration of this Easter Season and this upcoming May, you can get 15% off the Catholic for a Reason Collection using the coupon code Cath4aReasonEaster until this Sunday! You can also get Verbum today and save 15% on any of our base packages with the coupon code VerbumEaster2013.

Enjoy the video, and feel free to ask any questions or leave a comment below!

Filed Under: Apologetics, Products, Training

Catholic Study Bible now available in Verbum

April 26, 2013 By Aric Nesheim Leave a Comment

The Catholic Study Bible (2nd ed.)has finally arrived in Verbum. A staple in the Catholic scholar’s arsenal of study tools, this amazing resource includes the detailed book-by-book reading guide for which it is famous.

This edition’s 500-plus pages of essays cover the whole Bible. You’ll gain access to a wealth of information about each book’s history, cultural context, theological themes, and interrelatedness. Included are dozens of full-color Oxford Bible maps, a detailed glossary of special terms, and—most of all—a world of scholarly insight that is both profound and readily accessible to any inquirer into the Sacred Scriptures. Follow the scholarly conversation about Scripture—link this comprehensive work to your other resources.

This study Bible has become a Catholic standard for scholars and laypeople alike. Finally, it’s available for you in Verbum.

Order it now on Pre-Pub before the price goes up.

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Popular Patristics

April 24, 2013 By Aric Nesheim 3 Comments

This Friday, the Popular Patristics Series (pt. 1) ships, and you can still get 31% off at a special pre-order price.

Much like The Classic Wisdom Collection, this series devotes different volumes to different topics. A group of some of the great Church Fathers, namely, St. Basil the Great, St. Cyprian of Carthage, Hippolytus, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. John Chrysostom, Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen, and Melito of Sardis, talk about issues ranging from social justice to the Lord’s Prayer.

This series stands out not just because of the Church Fathers’ amazing insights, but also because of how each volume is compiled: top theological and historical scholars have done meticulous research to find all the most relevant writings, delivering them all to you in one place.

The beginning of each volume includes an introduction written by a patristic scholar, giving a brief, clear description of the volume’s Church writings. Not only do you get timeless wisdom on topics that are increasingly relevant in our day and age—you also have the help of expert scholarship situating the texts to help you understand their historical context.

Of course, these resources integrate seamlessly into your Verbum library, letting you jump back and forth from this fantastic topical study to the rest of your resources.

The price goes up this Friday, so pre-order now while the collection is still more than 30% off.

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