This article discusses 'national churches' in the ethnic sense. See state church for church organizations at a national level.

National church is a concept of a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in a draft discussing the question of church and state around 1828 wrote that

"a National Church might exist, and has existed, without [Christianity], because before the institution of the Christian Church - as [...] the Levitical Church in the Hebrew Constitution, [and] the Druidical in the Celtic, would suffice to prove".^[1]

John Wordsworth, bishop of Salisbury, wrote about the National Church of Sweden in 1911, interpreting the Church of Sweden and the Church of England as national churches of the Swedish and the English peoples, respectively. Lake (1987) traces the development of Presbyterianism in 16th-century England from the status of a "godly minority" which saw itself surrounded by the corrupt or hostile mass of the population, into a "genuine national church".^[2]

The concept of a national church remains alive in the Protestantism of England and Scandinavia in particular. While, in a context of England, the national church remains a common denominator for the Church of England, the Lutheran "folk churches" of Scandinavia, characterized as national churches in the ethnic sense as opposed to the idea of a state church, emerged in the second half of the 19th century, following the lead of Grundtvig.^[3]

Karl Barth denounced as heretical the tendency of "nationalizing" the Christian God, especially in the context of national churches sanctioning warfare against other Christian nations during World War I.^[4]

See also[link]

• God and the State
• National god
• State religion

References[link]

• William Reed Huntington, A national church, Bedell lectures, Scribner's, 1897.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since February 2012.</li> It relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Tagged since August 2009.</li> It may contain wording that merely promotes the subject without imparting verifiable information. Tagged since February 2012.</li>

Eric Metaxas in 2012

Eric Metaxas (born 1963) is an American author. He is best known for two biographies: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery about William Wilberforce. He has also written books and videos for VeggieTales.

Biography[link]

Metaxas grew up in Danbury, Connecticut and graduated from Yale University, where he edited the Yale Record, the nations oldest college humor magazine. Metaxas lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter.

Writing[link]

Although heavily criticized by Bonhoeffer scholars such as Victoria Barnett, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy was named 2010 ECPS Book of the Year and came out on numerous 2010 "Best of the Year" lists. Metaxas was the 2011 recipient of the Canterbury Medal awarded by the Becket Fund for Religious Freedom. He was also awarded the 2011 John C. Pollock Award for Biography by Beeson Divinity School and a 2011 Christopher Award in the Non-fiction category.^[1]

Metaxas has written over 30 children's books, including It's Time to Sleep, My Love and Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving. He's also written books and videos for VeggieTales and provided the voice of the narrator in "Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen." His biography of Wilberforce, Amazing Grace, was adapted to a 2006 film.^[1]

His humor writing has been published in the Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times.

Other activities[link]

He has appeared as a cultural commentator on CNN, the Fox News Channel, and the History Channel and has been featured on many radio programs, ranging from NPR to Focus on the Family.

On February 2, 2012, Metaxas was the keynote speaker for the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.^[2]

See also[link]

Children's literature portal

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• William Wilberforce

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

This article about a children's author from the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Tommy Davis
Left fielder / Designated hitter
Born: (1939-03-21) March 21, 1939 (age 73) Brooklyn, New York
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 22, 1959 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
October 2, 1976 for the Kansas City Royals
Career statistics
Batting average	.294
Home runs	153
Runs batted in	1,052
Teams
Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–1966) New York Mets (1967) Chicago White Sox (1968) Seattle Pilots (1969) Houston Astros (1969–1970) Oakland Athletics (1970) Chicago Cubs (1970) Oakland Athletics (1971) Chicago Cubs (1972) Baltimore Orioles (1972–1975) California Angels (1976) Kansas City Royals (1976)
Career highlights and awards
3× All-Star (1962, 1962², 1963) World Series champion (1963) 2× NL batting title (1962, 1963)

Herman Thomas Davis, Jr. (born March 21, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American former Major League Baseball left fielder and third baseman. He played from 1959-1976 for ten different teams, but he is best known for his years with the Los Angeles Dodgers. During an 18-year baseball career, Davis batted .294 with 153 home runs, 2,121 hits and 1,052 runs batted in. He was also one of the most proficient pinch-hitters in baseball history with a .320 batting average (63-for-197) – the highest in major league history upon his retirement, breaking the .312 mark of Frenchy Bordagaray. In 1962, he finished third in the MVP voting after leading the major leagues in batting average, hits and runs batted in. Davis' 153 RBIs in that season broke Roy Campanella's team record of 142 in 1953 and remain the franchise record; his 230 hits are the team record for a right-handed batter (second most in franchise history behind only Babe Herman's 241 in 1930), and his .346 average was the highest by a Dodger right-handed hitter in the 20th century until it was broken by Mike Piazza in 1997.

Baseball career[link]

Early career[link]

Davis attended Boys High School in Brooklyn, where he was a basketball teammate of future Basketball Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, as well as a long jumper on the school's track and field team with record breaker Bernard Lowther. In 1956, he was considering signing with the New York Yankees, but a phone call from Jackie Robinson convinced him to sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers instead.^[1] In his minor league career, he won batting titles in the Midwest League and Pacific Coast League.

The Dodger Years[link]

By the time Davis made the majors, the Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles; he debuted with a pinch-hitting appearance on September 22, 1959. He batted .276 in his 1960 rookie season, and .278 in 1961, before enjoying his breakout year in 1962. His .346 batting average edged out Frank Robinson's .342 for the National League batting crown; he also had career bests with 27 home runs, 120 runs and 9 triples as the Dodgers finished the regular schedule tied for first place with the San Francisco Giants, but lost a three-game playoff. He finished third in the MVP balloting, with teammate Maury Wills winning the award and Willie Mays finishing second. In 1963 he won his second batting title, edging Roberto Clemente by 6 points, and finished eighth in the MVP balloting. In the 1963 World Series, the Dodgers swept the New York Yankees; batting cleanup, Davis hit .400 in the Series, tripling twice in Game 2 and driving in the only run of the 1-0 Game 3 victory, his first-inning single off Jim Bouton driving in Jim Gilliam.

To date, Davis' back-to-back batting titles are the only two in the Dodgers' Los Angeles history. Only two right-handed hitters have won multiple National League batting titles since: Bill Madlock with four, and Roberto Clemente with three. Davis' feat is all the more remarkable because he played his home games at Dodger Stadium—a reputed "pitcher's park."

Davis slumped to .275 in 1964 as the Dodgers finished out of contention for the pennant. On May 1, 1965, against the visiting Giants, he broke and dislocated his ankle sliding into second base while trying to break up a double play and was lost for the remainder of the season. Three days later the Dodgers called up Lou Johnson to replace him. They won the World Series that year, defeating the Minnesota Twins in seven games. Davis rebounded in 1966, batting .313 (but with only three home runs and 27 RBIs in 313 at bats). Los Angeles was swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, with Davis starting only two of the four games and batting .250.

10 teams in 10 years[link]

After the 1966 World Series, Davis was traded to the New York Mets, along with Derrell Griffith, for Ron Hunt and Jim Hickman. After batting .302 with 16 home runs and 73 RBIs in 1967 he was traded again, this time to the Chicago White Sox in a six-player deal, with the Mets acquiring Tommie Agee and Al Weis—two men who would play major roles in the Miracle Mets winning the 1969 World Series. In 1968, in what would become the "Year of the Pitcher," Davis led the White Sox in hitting with a .268 average—27 points higher than the White Sox' co-leaders, Ken Berry and Don Buford, had hit in 1967.

In October 1968 Davis was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft. During the 1969 season he batted .271 in 123 games with the Pilots before being traded to the Houston Astros, where he hit .241; his 20 stolen bases that year were a career high. He began 1970 with Houston, hitting .282, before his contract was sold to the Oakland Athletics in June; he hit .290 with the A's before being sent to the Chicago Cubs for the last two weeks of the season. The Cubs released him in December, and he re-signed with the A's as a free agent, rebounding with a .324 campaign in 1971. But Oakland released him at the end of 1972 spring training; he signed with the Cubs again in July, but played only a month before being traded to the Baltimore Orioles, where he would spend the next three seasons. In Baltimore, he served as the designated hitter from 1973–75, finishing third in the 1973 batting race with a .306 mark and placing tenth in the MVP vote; in 1974 he was second in the American League with 181 hits. In 1974 he won the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award (later re-named for Edgar Martínez). He played in two American League Championship Series (both times, in 1973 and 1974, the Orioles lost to the eventual World Series champion Athletics). The Orioles released him in 1976 spring training, and he signed with the Yankees but did not play for them. From June to September he hit .265 with the California Angels before ending the season with the Kansas City Royals. He retired after being released by the Royals on January 17, 1977, having played for ten different teams in eighteen seasons. He occasionally expressed resentment for his numerous moves, remarking late in his career: "I'm very bitter, bitter as hell. Why do I keep getting released? Don't ask me no reason why." But he conceded his reputation as having a casual style of play, noting, "the lazier I felt the better I hit," and admitting that he often went into the clubhouse to read and even to shave between at bats as a DH with Baltimore. After his retirement from baseball as a player, he served as a Seattle Mariners coach in 1981 and published a book called Tales From the Dodgers Dugout [1] in 2005.

See also[link]

• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
• List of major league players with 2,000 hits

References[link]

Additional reading[link]

• Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (2000). Kingston, NY: Total/Sports Illustrated. ISBN 1-892129-34-5.

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since June 2010. It may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view. Tagged since June 2010. Its tone or style may not reflect the formal tone used on Wikipedia. Tagged since June 2010.

Linda George is an ethnic Assyrian singer who resides in the United States Of America. The vast majority of her songs are sung in her native Assyrian language.^[1][2] George is widely known by the Assyrian community in countries in the USA, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Georgia and her homeland Iraq.

Early career – 1980s[link]

George's career started in the Assyrian community in Chicago discovered of Assyrian singer Sargon Gabriel. Sargon featured Linda on his track "Dalaleh". The track became a popular record in the Assyrian community and helped land George her own album. George's first album, Hal Eiman, was released in 1983 and was instantly a success. Linda soon became popular and recognizable with the help of songs such as the title track "Hal Eman", "La Khaswit M'Barokh", "Nishra D'Atour and "Marqidly".

It was not until her third album Neqmeh Min Garbiat Atree that George had major success. The album, released in 1986, featured some of George's most popular songs. Songs such as "Asheeta", "Taleeboota", "Mokhibbie Kheesheleh" and "Ktowa Khashana".

Breakthrough – 1990's[link]

With her next three albums, Alahata D'khooba, Shooprah o Khaila, Wardeh Bil Drananet Khooba and Kooma Khwara, George continued her success into the early 1990s. She became the first Assyrian singer to use contemporary beats and music with traditional Assyrian singing.^{[citation needed]} This was showcased on songs such as the party song "Kooma Khwara" where she also provided a remix version. George was the first Assyrian singer to sing in a different language on her albums. On one of the tracks featured on the album Wardeh bil Drananet Khooba, Linda sings in French. She also sings in English on one of the tracks on the album " Alahta D'Khooba Shoopra O'Khaila"

After dabbling with different beats and contemporary mixes on her three previous albums, George changed the way of Assyrian Music on her seventh Album, "Khamra Teeka" released in 1993. The album, featuring the song "Matlab D'Libba" , featured a first for Assyrian Music.^{[citation needed]} The song featured a rap segment sung in part English, part Assyrian written & performed by Walid Ishak aka M.C. Roc the rapper of Groovetek .

The song, dubbed the "Chapeh Chapeh Song" became successful. Other tracks on the album such as "Khamra Teeka", the title track, showed the direction that George's music was heading. The albums' other standout track however was the heart-wrenching song "Barwar". The song was released after the Gulf War and after the region of Barwar in Northern Iraq was bombed and left in shambles. The song tells the story of the devastation of the war but leaves listeners with a glimpse of hope and strength.

In the Mid to late 1990s, George released two albums. Her last studio album of the decade was 1995's "Khoot Goolpane't Malakha". The album contained a little bit of everything that Linda's previous albums featured, such as traditional music, upbeat contemporary beats, ballads and dance hits. In 1999, Linda released "Colours of my Country", a live album of traditional folk hits performed live in Media TV based in Bruxell, Belgium.

Legacy[link]

2000's[link]

After a year she was sponsored by Froggie record in Australia to release her first album in English, the soon after the record company was legally vanished, Linda was only able to release 3 singles and return to the stated then for the Assyrian New Year celebration on April 2001 she made her historical tour to North of Iraq, where she was welcomed by over 20,000 Assyrian fans.

In 2003, LG influenced by her last trip to North of Iraq she named her new release of "Silence of a Valley". The album featured new music from Linda as well as new music videos. she also reunited with Walid Ishak aka M.C. Roc for a new song called omtho hich lemaytho .Music from the album was used for the Assyrian feature length film "Cost of Happiness", released by Strategic Entertainment. With the release of the new album also came George's website.

In 2005, after Saddam Hussein was de-throned as the leader of Iraq, Linda released "I am Free", a CD sung in Arabic with 4 songs. The lead single, "Ana Hurra" was released world wide as an anthem for the newly liberated Iraq. The songs' video was shot by Strategic Entertainment. The second single off the album, "Hulla Hulla" was subsequently released and a video was shot and premiered on Middle Eastern television stations.

More hits such "Parkhaneeta", " Doushi", "Tlaneeta D'Timmal", from the album titled "Doushi", was released in 2007.

2010s[link]

After being in demand and trvelling 2 million air miles by 2010. and being the most photographed woman in the Assyrian history. LG worked hard on her latest album titled " Mokhneeten Minokh" recording the album musically in Sweden and recording the vocals, final mixing, and mastering in the U.S. As she toured to Australia for the 22nd time Easter Tour of 2010, she was able to finised video taping one of her hit on this album, "Madeleey".... 2 more hits on this album was released as video clips, currently working on " Dakhit Msaya" in the U.S and "Mokhneeten Minokh" in Sweden.

Discography[link]

• 1983 – Hal Eiman
• 1984 – Kursia D'Malkoota
• 1986 – Neqmeh Min Garbiat Atree
• 1988 – Warda b'il Drananeh d'Khooba
• 1988 – Kinara D'Rookha
• 1989 – Alaha't Khooba, Shoopra O Khaila
• 1991 – Kooma O'Khwara
• 1993 – Khamra Teeka
• 1994 – Peace On Earth (Christmas Album)
• 1995 – Khoot Goolpane't Malakha
• 1999 – Colors of my Country
• 2001 – No Quarter (English Single)
• 2003 – Silence Of A Valley
• 2005 – I am Free (Arabic Single)
• 2007 – Doushi
• 2010 – Mokhneeten Minokh

Links[link]

• Official Linda George site

References[link]

1. ^ Linda George assyriancafe.com, Retrieved January 2011
2. ^ http://www.qeenatha.com/viewprofile.php?id=50

v t e Assyrian/Syriac musicians Folk music Gabriel Asaad Evin Agassi Sargon Gabriel Linda George Juliana Jendo Jean Karat Elias Karam Paulus Khofri Habib Mousa Ashur Bet Sargis Janan Sawa Nawfal Shamoun Shamiram Urshan Sacral music Fairuz Nouri Iskandar Hanna Petros Abeer Nehme Wadih El Safi Elias Zazi Western/Assyrian music Aril Brikha Josef Özer

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (March 2009)

Tim Hawkins
Background information
Occupations	Singer, Songwriter, Comedian
Years active	2002-present
Website	TimHawkins.net

Tim Hawkins is a Christian comedian,^[1] songwriter, and singer, best known for parodying popular songs, such as Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take The Wheel"^[2] and "The Candy Man" stand-up material based on marriage, homeschooling and parenting. Hawkins has released three CDs and five DVDs of his material since 2006. In 2007, Hawkins began to release his comedy on the Internet, with his videos gaining more than 50 million views on YouTube and Facebook since.

Personal life[link]

Hawkins has four children, and a wife who is winning a battle with breast cancer, which Hawkins often alludes to during a serious portion of his stand-up show. When he does this he asks the audience to pray for them. He played outfield in college for the University of Missouri.^[3]

Self Published Works[link]

• Pretty Pink Tractor (2011)
• Rock Show Comedy Tour (with Bob Smiley & John Branyan) (2011)
• INSANITIZED (2010)
• I'm No Rockstar (2009)
• Bananas II (2008)
• Full Range of Motion (2007)
• The Government Can
• Cletus Take the Reel
• Extremely Madeover
• Tuna Fish Sandwich

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Official Store