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Confessions
By Jonathan Teubner. 2017
St. Augustine’s Confessions is one of the most important works in the history of literature and Christian thought. Written around…
397, when Augustine was the Christian bishop of Hippo (in modern-day Algeria), the Confessions were designed both to spiritually educate those who already shared Augustine’s faith, and to convert those who did not. Augustine did this through the original maneuver of writing what is now recognized as being the first Western autobiography – letting readers share in his own experiences of youth, sin, and eventual conversion. The Confessions are a perfect example of using reasoning to subtly bring readers around to a particular point of view – with Augustine inviting them to accompany him on his own spiritual journey towards God so they could make their own conversion. Carefully structured, the Confessions run from describing the first 43 years of Augustine’s life in North Africa and Italy, to discussing the nature of memory, before moving on to analyzing the Bible itself. In order, the sections form a carefully structured argument, moving from the personal to the philosophical to the contemplative. In the hundreds of years since they were first published, theuy have persuaded hundreds of thousands of readers to recognize towards the same God that Augustine himself worshipped.Dialogue Concerning Natural Religion
By Ian Jackson, John Donaldson. 2017
David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is a philosophical classic that displays a powerful mastery of the critical thinking skills…
of reasoning and evaluation. Hume’s subject, the question of the existence and possible nature of God, was, and still is, a persistent topic of philosophical and theological debate. What makes Hume’s text a classic of reasoning, though, is less what he says, than how he says it. As he noted in his preface to the book, the question of ‘natural religion’ was unanswerable: so ‘obscure and uncertain’ that ‘human reason can reach no fixed determination with regard to it.’ Hume chose, as a result, to cast his thoughts on the topic in the form of a dialogue – allowing different points of view to be reasoned out, evaluated and answered by different characters. Considering and judging different or opposing points of view, as Hume’s characters do, is an important part of reasoning, and is vital to building strong persuasive arguments. Even if, as Hume suggests, there can be no final answer to what a god might be like, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion shows high-level reasoning and evaluation at their best.Disbelief 101: A Young Person's Guide to Atheism
By Tom Flynn, S. C. Hitchcock. 2009
Filled with wit, humor, and clear metaphor, this exploration into atheism is written specifically for young adults, though any adult…
interested in learning more about atheism will find value within. Not just focused on atheism, this crash course in logical thinking addresses the issues of indoctrination, whether it be religious, political, or commercial, and makes the case that morality is created through reasoning and logic, not through divine communication. Many hot topics are touched upon, such as traditional arguments for God’s existence, the relationship of evolution and religious belief, the incompatible nature of science and religion, and the harmfulness of both Christianity and Islam.The Bay Psalm Book: The First Book Printed in British North America, 1640
By Zoltan Haraszti. 2016
The founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony came to the New World seeking religious freedom, and their first publication was…
a hymnal: The Bay Psalm Book, printed just twenty years after the Pilgrims' arrival. This book, with which the Pilgrims literally sang their praises to God, presents a translation of the Psalms from Hebrew, transposed into metrical rhyme for congregational singing. An instant success, the book was adopted throughout the colonies and remained in use for well over a century. Only eleven known original editions survive, one of which recently sold at auction for a record $14.2 million, making it the most expensive book in the world. This facsimile of a rare first edition includes a companion volume, The Enigma of the Bay Psalm Book, which provides an academic study of the psalter's history and contents. Both books are encompassed in this single volume, offering readers and collectors a personal edition of a major icon of book history and a great artifact of American culture.An Exhortation to Peace and Unity (Start Classics)
By John Bunyan. 2013
Beloved religion is the great bond of human society and it were well if itself were kept within…
the bond of unity and that it may so be let us according to the text use our utmost endeavours to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace These words contain a counsel and a caution the counsel is That we endeavour the unity of the Spirit the caution is That we do it in the bond of peace as if I should say I would have you live in unity but yet I would have you to be careful that you do not purchase unity with the breach of charity John Bunyan was an Christian writer preacher and Reformed BaptistThe First Rasta: Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism
By Stephen Davis, Hélène Lee. 2003
Going far beyond the standard imagery of Rasta--ganja, reggae, and dreadlocks--this cultural history offers an uncensored vision of a movement…
with complex roots and the exceptional journey of a man who taught an enslaved people how to be proud and impose their culture on the world. In the 1920s Leonard Percival Howell and the First Rastas had a revelation concerning the divinity of Haile Selassie, king of Ethiopia, that established the vision for the most popular mystical movement of the 20th century, Rastafarianism. Although jailed, ridiculed, and treated as insane, Howell, also known as the Gong, established a Rasta community of 4,500 members, the first agro-industrial enterprise devoted to producing marijuana. In the late 1950s the community was dispersed, disseminating Rasta teachings throughout the ghettos of the island. A young singer named Bob Marley adopted Howell's message, and through Marley's visions, reggae made its explosion in the music world.Boomerang Joy: Joy That Goes Around, Comes Around
By Barbara Johnson. 1998
The Book of Eternity
By Atem. 2016
A journey of discovery of the universe and of the self.'The Book Of Eternity' is a philosophy which is spiritual…
yet not religious; concise rather than verbose, and resonates with a part of us which is just beginning to awaken.A book not only to be read but to be experienced; and once experienced, never to be forgotten.Bread for the Journey
By Henri J. M. Nouwen. 1997
When beloved author Henri Nouwen set out to record this daybook of totally new reflections, he suddenly found himself on…
"a true spiritual adventure." For in these 366 original, interlocking morsels of daily wisdom, Nouwen provides both sustenance and a trail for us to follow, as he unveils, to his own surprise, his personal map of faith. From the delicate interplay of human experience to the surrender to Christ and the embrace of Christian community, that journey of Christian spirituality is explored and celebrated here in each eloquent, thought-provoking passage, "The table is one of the most intimate places in our lives. It is there that we give ourselves to one another. When we say, 'Take some more, let me serve you another plate, let me pour you another glass, don't be shy, enjoy it,' we say a lot more than our words express. We invite our friends to become part of our lives. We want them to be nurtured by the same food and drink that nurture us. We desire communion.... Every breakfast, lunch, or dinner can become a time of growing communion with one another." Intimately personal and inspiring, Bread for the Journey is a daily feast of fresh insight into the challenges and deep joys of a life lived in close communion with God. Nouwen is a wise, loving companion who invites us along as he finds joy in the community of loss, true freedom in forgiveness of others, and hope in surprising places. Each daily meditation is a stepping-stone along a path of private discovery, offering Nouwen's seasoned yet fresh ideas on kindness, love, suffering, and prayer, the Church as God's people, and the importance of Jesus in one's life-reflecting, as a whole, Nouwen's own 'personal creed.' Bread for the Journey brims with daily nourishment and guidance for devoted followers and new friends alike -- food for thought on a yearlong journey of discovery and faith.Beliefs that Changed the World: The History And Ideas Of The Great Religions
By John Bowker. 2015
Religious beliefs have shaped the history of the world. Their effect can be seen in culture, philosophy and politics, and…
they have inspired people to serve others and to create great works of art, architecture and music. Yet differences in belief can cause bloodshed and war. Never before has it been more urgent to understand the great religions if we are to make sense of our 21st century world, its achievements and its conflicts. This new, revised edition of Beliefs That Changed the World tells the story of the major faiths from their earliest beginnings to their present day impact.The Gujarat Carnage
By Asghar Ali Engineer. 2003
In February 2002, 59 Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive in a rail coach at Godhra. The National Human Rights Commission…
investigated the episode. This is a compilation of reports, surveys, and other significant material on the carnage.The Secret History of Lucifer (New Edition): And The Meaning Of The True Da Vinci Code
By Lynn Picknett. 2006
In her new account of an old religion, Lynn Picknett explains that Lucifer means 'the light bringer' and was a…
personification of the Morning Star, the planet Venus and its goddess. 'He' was originally 'she' -- a divine representation of love, light and human warmth. The early Christian Church appropriated the name Lucifer, and it became synonymous with darkness and the Devil. Yet many great thinkers have covertly followed the old Luciferan way, most famously Leonardo da Vinci, who encrypted the symbols of his heretical beliefs in his work, visible only to those who have the key.City of the Good: Nature, Religion, and the Ancient Search for What Is Right
By Michael Mayerfield Bell. 2018
How we came to seek absolute good in religion and nature—and why that quest often leads us astrayPeople have long…
looked to nature and the divine as paths to the good. In this panoramic meditation on the harmonious life, Michael Mayerfeld Bell traces how these two paths came to be seen as separate from human ways, and how many of today’s conflicts can be traced back thousands of years to this ancient divide.Taking readers on a spellbinding journey through history and across the globe, Bell begins with the pagan view, which sees nature and the divine as entangled with the human—and not necessarily good. But the emergence of urban societies gave rise to new moral concerns about the political character of human life. Wealth and inequality grew, and urban people sought to justify their passions. In the face of such concerns, nature and the divine came to be partitioned from the human, and therefore seen to be good—but they also became absolute and divisive.Bell charts the unfolding of this new moral imagination in the rise of Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Jainism, and many other traditions that emerged with bourgeois life. He follows developments in moral thought, from the religions of the ancient Sumerians, Greeks, and Hebrews to the science and environmentalism of today, along the way visiting with contemporary indigenous people in South Africa, Costa Rica, and the United States. City of the Good urges us to embrace the plurality of our traditions—from the pagan to the bourgeois—and to guard against absolutism and remain open to difference and its endless creativity.Dear God; Children's Letters to God
By Carmel Reilly. 2007
Dear God, Why did you make elephants such a funny shape? Love Wendy A wonderful collection of heartwarming letters written…
by children from different backgrrounds around the world. With great candour and sincerity the children ask questions, make suggestions and even offer advice. Dear God is a charming antidote to cynicism. The letters are by turns funny, touching, joyful and heartbreaking. The end result is a fascinating tour of the minds of young children.The Pocket Book of Revelation: From The King James Bible
By Hugh Barker. 2007
The Book of Revelation is the apocalyptic final book of the the New Testament. In the final confrontation between heaven…
and hell, the worlds of heaven, earth, and hell are invoked. Using real and symbolic characters, the cryptic nature of this work has made it a source of controversy amongst scholars and religious thinkers. It has an enduring fascination for both Bible students and lay readers.Myths of Creation
By Philip Freund. 2003
An exploration of mythology, religious belief, and scientific theory on the origins of the universe. A classic study of mythology,…
this examination investigates stories from all continents and ages--with all their startling similarities and contrasts--to reveal the workings of the human mind and imagination. Philip Freund provides revealing insight into the universality of ideas and faith by examining a wide range of texts such as the Old Testament, the Upanishads, and Gilgamesh in his search for parallels between creation fables. The analysis estimates, for example, that more than 500 flood legends have been told by more than 250 tribes and peoples from around the world. Also featured are clear presentations of the theories of towering figures such as Freud, Jung, Frazer, Campbell, and Malinowski who have proposed variously that myths are primitive history based on literal fact, a means of expressing profound tribal wisdom and psychological and sexual truth, or that they represent a search for kinship with the animal and vegetable world. Fascinating and erudite, this revered book ranks among the select handful of core texts in any mythology collection.A Theology of Liberation
By Jonathan Teubner, Marthe Hesselmans. 2017
Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez wanted to solve the problem of how the church could conduct itself to improve the lives…
of the poor, while consistently positioning itself as politically neutral. Despite being a deeply religious man, Gutiérrez was extremely troubled by the lukewarm way in which Christians in general, and the Catholic Church in particular, acknowledged and supported the poor. In A Theology of Liberation, he asked what he knew was an awkward question, and came to an awkward answer: the Church cannot separate itself from economic and political realities. Jesus showed his love for the poor in practical ways – healing the sick, feeding the hungry, liberating the oppressed. His example showed Gutierrez that economic, political, social and spiritual development are all deeply connected. His problem-solving prowess then led him to conclude that the church had to become politically active if it was to confront poverty and oppression across the world. For Gutierrez, the lives of the poor and oppressed directly reflect the divine life of God.Gender, Religion and Education in a Chaotic Postmodern World
By Lynn Davies, Al-Khansaa Diab, Zehavit Gross. 2012
The immense changes that the world is undergoing in terms of globalization and migration of peoples have had a profound…
effect on cultures and identities. The question is whether this means shifts in religious identities for women and men in different contexts, whether such shifts are seen as beneficial, negative or insufficient, or whether social change actually means new conservatisms or even fundamentalisms. Surrounding these questions is the role of education is in any change or new contradiction. This unique book enhances an interdisciplinary discourse about the complex intersections between gender, religion and education in the contemporary world. Literature in the social sciences and humanities have expanded our understanding of women's involvement in almost every aspect of life, yet the combined religious/educational aspect is still an under-studied and often under-theorized field of research. How people experience their religious identity in a new context or country is also a theme now needing more complex attention. Questions of the body, visibility and invisibility are receiving new treatments. This book fills these gaps. The book provides a strong comparative perspective, with 15 countries or contexts represented. The context of education and learning covers schools, higher education, non-formal education, religious institutions, adult literacy, curriculum and textbooks. Overall, the book reveals a great complexity and often contradiction in modern negotiations of religion and secularism by girls and boys, women and men, and a range of possibilities for change. It provides a theoretical and practical resource for researchers, religious and educational institutions, policy makers and teachers.Confucius: A Smile from Eternity
By Atem. 2017
“When Tsze sat himself down upon a big rock, he said to the Earth:‘Why is it that you are always…
so hard to manage?’And the Earth said to Tsze:‘Because the Great One created me so that you might learn your lessons.’”Confucius is the Latin name of the great Chinese philosopher Chung-Fu-Tsze. As the Chinese empire was crumbling, Confucius used his erudition and great wisdom to establish order amidst the political and social chaos.He believed in the integrity of law and tradition, and that inner knowledge had to be activated so that virtue, order, and harmony could be suffused into society. For centuries his philosophy has been the foundation of Chinese society.His wisdom is reflected in this series of channelled quotes that capture the humour, profundity, and exquisite simplicity of existence.“The greatest lessons are learned in the stillness of one’s own self.”The Victorian Ghost Story and Theology
By Zoe Lehmann Imfeld. 2016
This book argues that theology is central to an understanding of the literary ghost story. Victorian ghost stories have traditionally…
been read in the context of agnosticism - as stories which reveal a society struggling with Christian orthodoxy in a new 'Enlightened' world. This book, however, uses theological ideas from St Augustine through to modern theologians to identify a theological journey taken by the protagonists of such stories, and charts each stage of this journey through the short stories it examines. It also proposes a theory of reader participation which creates an imaginary space in which modern epistemology is suspended. The book studies the work of four major authors of the supernatural tale: Arthur Machen, M. R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu and Henry James.