A Year Crowned with Goodness (Part One) is the first installment of three books with devotions based on the Gospels of the historic lectionary. It runs from Septuagesima (the first Sunday of Pre-Lent) to Exaudi (the last Sunday in Easter). Rev. Peter M. Burfeind, author of Gnostic America, applies insights from his studies of Gnosticism to his meditations. Recognizing a dangerous Neo-Gnosticism arising in American culture, he not only addresses many of its dangers in these devotions, but presents insights into the Gospels that come into focus when set in juxtaposition to the counter-theology of Gnosticism.
A Year Crowned with Goodness, Part Two is the second installment of three books with devotions based on the Gospels of the historic lectionary. It runs from Pentecost through the Last Sunday of the Church Year. The meditations not only probe the depths of meaning in these Gospels, but uses them as a platform to address the rising threat of Gnosticism in American culture. In the Part Two, certain themes emerge. Early on during the ordinary time following Trinity Sunday, Gospels from Luke dominate. Luke teaches us about God's abundance. In Christ God pours out abundant grace to us, and we in turn show abundance to our neighbors. Against a Gnosticism which rejects this world as limiting by its materiality, Jesus shows that a redeemed world bursts with abundance. Later in the Trinity Season, the theme of new wine bursting old wine skins comes to the fore. Here, the Gospels properly relate the New Testament to the Old Testament. Where the Gnostics outright rejected it, Jesus fulfills it.
