{"product_id":"guardians-and-prophets","title":"Guardians and Prophets","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCatholics today are exhausted by a Church that can seem perpetually at war with itself. But the genius of Catholicism is not that it eliminates the great tensions of faith—but that it holds them together.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGuardians and Prophets\u003c\/em\u003e is for Catholics weary of polarization and longing for a deeper vision of the Church—one that transcends factional thinking without ignoring real differences. Written in an accessible, pastoral voice and grounded in scripture, the saints, and the Catechism, this book reveals that the Catholic instinct for both\/and is not weakness or compromise but one of the Church’s deepest gifts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough \u003cem\u003eGuardians and Prophets\u003c\/em\u003e, you will\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eexplore the great tensions of Catholic life, including Guardians and Prophets, Rules and Relationship, Maintenance and Mission, Solidarity and Subsidiarity, the Already and the Not Yet, and Faith and Reason;\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003elearn a language that heals and unites rather than deepening division;\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ediscover more about yourself and others as you recognize your own instincts and inclinations; and\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003efind practical paths toward greater communion as members of the Body of Christ.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWoven throughout is Bobby Fredericksen’s own story of living these tensions for more than seventeen years—in his work, community, and parish, and as a convert, husband, father, and layman in the pew. His experience makes the theological personal and the personal theological, offering an honest and hopeful perspective on what it means to love the Church amid its imperfections. As Fredericksen reflects, “I started to look more carefully at what was underneath all this division. The more I thought and prayed about it, the more I kept circling back to the same discovery. Tension was not something to be resolved. The tension itself, when held rightly, with Jesus Christ at the center, was the whole point.” The path through polarization does not lead left or right. It leads to the Cross, where we encounter Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, and discover a God infinite enough to hold everything together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGuardians and Prophets\u003c\/em\u003e invites you to resist the temptation to choose one side over another and instead embrace how seemingly opposing values can be held together in Christ. In doing so, you may find a path toward healing the divisions in the Church, beginning with those in your own heart.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ave Maria Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45682394464309,"sku":"1-64680-532-1","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0639\/8056\/8629\/files\/1-64680-532-1.jpg?v=1788444676","url":"https:\/\/www.avemariapress.com\/products\/guardians-and-prophets","provider":"Ave Maria Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}