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Agrippina: The Most Extraordinary Woman Of The Roman World
By Emma Southon. 2019
Sister of Caligula. Wife of Claudius. Mother of Nero. The story of Agrippina, at the center of imperial power for…
three generations, is the story of the Julio-Claudia dynasty—and of Rome itself, at its bloody, extravagant, chaotic, ruthless, and political zenith. In her own time, she was recognized as a woman of unparalleled power. Beautiful and intelligent, she was portrayed as alternately a ruthless murderer and helpless victim, the most loving mother and the most powerful woman of the Roman empire, using sex, motherhood, manipulation, and violence to get her way, and single-minded in her pursuit of power for herself and her son, Nero. This book follows Agrippina as a daughter, born in Cologne, to the expected heir to Augustus’s throne; as a sister to Caligula who raped his sisters and showered them with honors until they attempted rebellion against him and were exiled; as a seductive niece and then wife to Claudius who gave her access to near unlimited power; and then as a mother to Nero—who adored her until he had her assassinated. Through senatorial political intrigue, assassination attempts, and exile to a small island, to the heights of imperial power, thrones, and golden cloaks and games and adoration, Agrippina scaled the absolute limits of female power in Rome. Her biography is also the story of the first Roman imperial family—the Julio-Claudians—and of the glory and corruption of the empire itself.Without a Prayer: The Death Of Lucas Leonard And How One Church Became A Cult
By Susan Ashline. 2019
The horrifying true story of a fatal encounter inside the secluded Word of Life Christian Church, a parish-turned-cult in upstate…
New York. Teenager Lucas Leonard made shocking admissions in front of the altar—he’d practiced witchcraft and conspired to murder his parents, among other horrific crimes. The confessions earned him a brutal beating by a gang of angry church members, including his parents and sister. Lucas arrived at the hospital dead, awakening the sleepy community of Chadwicks, New York, to the horror that had been lurking next door. Nine members of Lucas’ church would eventually find themselves facing murder-related charges. But how did they get to that point? And what made Lucas confess? The full story has never been told—until now. Emmy-nominated journalist Susan Ashline delves deep into the Leonard family history, the darkness within the Word of Life Christian Church, and what led Lucas, his family, and his community to that fateful night.This book gives an in-depth analysis of the role of faith in the work of Tearfund, a leading evangelical relief…
and development NGO that works in over 50 countries worldwide. The study traces the changing ways that faith has shaped and influenced Tearfund’s work over the organisation’s 50-year history. It shows how Tearfund has consciously grappled with the role of faith in its work and has invested considerable time and energy in developing an intentionally faith-based approach t relief and development that in several ways is quite different to the approaches of secular relief and development NGOs. The book charts the different perspectives and possibilities that were not taken and the internal discussions about theology, development practices, and humanitarian standards that took place as Tearfund worked out for itself what it meant to be a faith-based relief and development organisation. There is a growing academic literature about religion and development, as well as increasing interest from development ministries of many Northern governments in understanding the role of religion in development and the specific challenges and benefits involved in working with faith-based organisations. However, there are very few studies of actual faith-based organisations and no book-length detailed studies showing how such an organisation operates in practice and how it integrates its faith into its work. In documenting the story of Tearfund, the book provides important insights into the practice and ethos of faith-based organisations, which will be of interest to other FBOs and to researchers of religion and development.Climate Machines, Fascist Drives, and Truth
By William E. Connolly. 2019
In this new installation of his work, William E. Connolly examines entanglements between volatile earth processes and emerging cultural practices,…
highlighting relays among extractive capitalism, self-amplifying climate processes, migrations, democratic aspirations, and fascist dangers. In three interwoven essays, Connolly takes up thinkers in the "minor tradition" of European thought who, unlike Cartesians and Kantians, cross divisions between nature and culture. He first offers readings of Sophocles and Mary Shelley, asking whether close attention to the Anthropocene could perhaps have arrived earlier had subsequent humanists absorbed their lessons. He then joins Deleuze and Guattari's notion of an abstract machine with contemporary earth sciences, doing so to compare the Antique Little Ice Age of the late Roman empire to contemporary relays between extractive capitalism and accelerating climate processes. The final essay stages a dramatic dialogue between Alfred North Whitehead and Michel Foucault about the pursuit of truth during a time of planetary turbulence. With Climate Machines Fascist Drives, and Truth, Connolly forges incisive interventions into key issues of our time.Religious Studies and the Goal of Interdisciplinarity (Routledge Focus on Religion)
By Brent Smith. 2019
This book offers a survey of the development of interdisciplinarity in religious studies within academia and offers ways for it…
to continue to progress in contemporary universities. It examines the use of the term ‘interdisciplinary’ in the context of the academic study of religion and how it shapes the way scholarly work in this field has developed. The text uses two main elements to discuss religious studies as a field. Firstly, it looks at the history of the development of religious studies in academia, as seen through an interdisciplinary critique of the university as an epistemological project. It then uses the same interdisciplinary critique to develop a foundation for a 21st-century hermeneutic, one which uses the classical concepts reprised by that interdisciplinary critique and retools the field for the 21st century. Setting out both the objects of religious studies as a subject and the techniques used to employ the study of those objects, this book offers an invaluable perspective on the progress of the field. It will, therefore, be of great use to scholars of research methods within religious studies.St. John of the Cross has been called "the most sublime of all Spanish mystics," and his spiritual masterwork, Dark…
Night of the Soul, stands as one of the greatest contributions to the literature of mysticism. From the Trade Paperback edition.Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
By Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. 2007
From admired historian-and coiner of one of feminism's most popular slogans-Laurel Thatcher Ulrich comes an exploration of what it means…
for women to make history. In 1976, in an obscure scholarly article, Ulrich wrote, "Well behaved women seldom make history. " Today these words appear on t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, greeting cards, and all sorts of Web sites and blogs. Ulrich explains how that happened and what it means by looking back at women of the past who challenged the way history was written. She ranges from the fifteenth-century writer Christine de Pizan, who wroteThe Book of the City of Ladies,to the twentieth century#x19;s Virginia Woolf, author ofA Room of One's Own. Ulrich updates their attempts to reimagine female possibilities and looks at the women who didn't try to make history but did. And she concludes by showing how the 1970s activists who created "second-wave feminism" also created a renaissance in the study of history.The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great
By Ben Shapiro. 2019
America has a God-shaped hole in its heart, argues New York Times bestselling author Ben Shapiro, and we shouldn't fill…
it with politics and hate. In 2016, Ben Shapiro spoke at UC Berkeley. Hundreds of police officers were required from 10 UC campuses across the state to protect his speech, which was -- ironically -- about the necessity for free speech and rational debate. He came to argue that Western Civilization is in the midst of a crisis of purpose and ideas. Our freedoms are built upon the twin notions that every human being is made in God’s image and that human beings were created with reason capable of exploring God’s world. We can thank these values for the birth of science, the dream of progress, human rights, prosperity, peace, and artistic beauty. Jerusalem and Athens built America, ended slavery, defeated the Nazis and the Communists, lifted billions from poverty and gave billions spiritual purpose. Jerusalem and Athens were the foundations of the Magna Carta and the Treaty of Westphalia; they were the foundations of Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.Civilizations that rejected Jerusalem and Athens have collapsed into dust. The USSR rejected Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, substituting a new utopian vision of “social justice” – and they starved and slaughtered tens of millions of human beings. The Nazis rejected Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, and they shoved children into gas chambers. Venezuela rejects Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, and citizens of their oil-rich nation have been reduced to eating dogs. We are in the process of abandoning Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, favoring instead moral subjectivism and the rule of passion. And we are watching our civilization collapse into age-old tribalism, individualistic hedonism, and moral subjectivism. We believe we can reject Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law and satisfy ourselves with intersectionality, or scientific materialism, or progressive politics, or authoritarian governance, or nationalistic solidarity. We can’t. The West is special, and in The Right Side of History, Ben Shapiro bravely explains that it’s because too many of us have lost sight of the moral purpose that drives us each to be better, or the sacred duty to work together for the greater good, or both. A stark warning, and a call to spiritual arms, this book may be the first step in getting our civilization back on track. A New York Times BestsellerFaith Community Nursing: An International Specialty Practice Changing the Understanding of Health
By P. Ann Solari-Twadell, Deborah Jean Ziebarth. 2020
A multi-authored book, with editors and authors who are leaders in Faith Community Nursing (FCN) that aims to address contemporary…
issues in faith-based, whole person, community based health offering cost effective, accessible, patient centered care along the patient continuum while challenging contemporary health policy to include more health promotion services. Twenty-five chapters take the reader from a foundational understanding of this historic grass-roots movement to the present day international specialty nursing practice. The book is structured into five sections that describe both the historical advancement of the Faith Community Nursing, its current implications and future challenges, taking into account the perspectives of the pastor, congregation, nurse, health care system and public health national and international organizations. The benefits of this book are that it is intended for a mixed audience including lay, academic, medical professionals or health care executives. By changing the mindset of the reader to see the nurse as more than providing illness care, the faith community as more than a place one goes to on Sunday and health as more than physical, creative alternatives for promoting health emerge through Faith Community Nursing.The Yoni Egg: Reveal and Release the Sacred Feminine Within
By Lilou Macé. 2000
Reveals the practices and rituals of the yoni egg for physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual growth and healing • Explains…
how to use a yoni egg at different stages of life to access inner beauty and wisdom, improve your sex life, prevent urinary incontinence and other women’s concerns, prepare for and recover from childbirth, release emotional trauma, boost confidence, and enhance vital energies • Reveals the properties and benefits of 12 different stone eggs along with guidelines for choosing the egg that will work best for you • Includes contributions from Taoist and tantric master teachers, including Mantak Chia, Minke de Vos, Aisha Sieburth, Jutta Kellen-Shepherd, Sarina Stone, Shashi Solluna, and Jose Toiràn, as well as testimonials from women of all ages Used for thousands of years throughout Asia, including by the royal concubines of the Chinese emperors, yoni eggs are egg-shaped stones used internally to help tone the pelvic floor and vaginal muscles as well as increase sensitivity, enhance intimate awareness, release emotional traumas, and open access to the sacred feminine within. In this full-color step-by-step guide, Lilou Macé details the techniques and rituals of yoni egg practice, aiming to dispel fears and reservations about its use and reveal its profound benefits for body, mind, and spirit. She explains how the yoni is not merely a body part, but the portal to greater wisdom and self-knowledge--your temple of the sacred feminine. Providing an anatomical guide to the yoni, she shows how it contains reflexology points and energy meridians that can be worked with through different placements of the yoni egg. She offers detailed instructions for yoni egg exercises, including how to use a yoni egg for the first time, and explores how these techniques can help you have more intense orgasms, prevent urinary incontinence and other women’s health issues, prepare for and recover from childbirth, release trauma and negative emotions trapped within your body, boost your confidence and femininity, and unlock access to your inner source of creativity and wisdom. The author explores the properties and healing benefits of 12 different gemstone eggs, from the well-known jade egg to lesser-known eggs such as amethyst, obsidian, and green aventurine, along with guidelines for choosing the stone type and egg size that will work best for you. Concluding with rituals for initiating yourself into the power of your yoni and for releasing the sacred feminine within, the author shows how each of us has the power to heal, to be kind to ourselves, and to reveal our own inner beauty and wisdom.The Forever Angels: Near-Death Experiences in Childhood and Their Lifelong Impact
By P. M. Atwater. 2000
A groundbreaking study of the lifelong effects of near-death experiences in the newly born, babies, toddlers, and children up to…
age five • Draws on interviews with nearly 400 childhood experiencers, both fully matured and young, as well as more than 40 years of NDE research involving over 5,000 people • Reveals how those who experience a near-death state at a young age are profoundly affected for the rest of their lives, including developing psychic and intuitive abilities, “wisdom beyond their years,” and a pervasive feeling of being “homesick for heaven” • Investigates the wide-awake consciousness of babies being born, womb memories, and the experience of being alive on the other side of death In this major study of near-death experiences with the newly born, babies, toddlers, and children up to age five, NDE expert P. M. H. Atwater reveals how those who experience a near-death state or other worlds at a very young age are profoundly affected for the rest of their lives, including developing psychic and intuitive abilities, higher intelligence and “wisdom beyond their years,” and a pervasive feeling of being “homesick for heaven.” Drawing on interviews with nearly 400 childhood experiencers, both fully matured and young, Atwater explores their accounts of what it is like to be alive on the other side of death as well as what makes them different from others, complemented by a deep analysis of statistical evidence from her more than 40 years of NDE research involving more than 5,000 people. She shows how, in contrast to adult experiencers, child and infant experiencers of near-death states cannot compare “before” with “after” as adults do, because they don’t have a “before.” The world of these “forever angels” is the life continuum, a stream of consciousness that has always existed and always will. Integrating “where they once were” with “where they now are” is a lifelong challenge. The author explores how those who have a near-death experience very early in life, or even in utero, grow up “different”--sometimes geniuses, sometimes lost, yet unusually psychic and smart, all at the same time. She reveals how these experiences and their knowledge of the afterlife affect the individual in many areas, including family life, dating, health, education, and spirituality, as well as increasing the experiencer’s potential for thoughts of suicide, out-of-body experiences, and PTSD symptoms. Examining the forever angels’ memories of the womb, birth, early childhood, and the other world, Atwater investigates the wide-awake consciousness of babies being born, the vivid recall of mature childhood near-death experiencers, and how memory of the life-continuum never fades, nor does the desire to go back.When Free Exercise and Nonestablishment Conflict
By Kent Greenawalt. 2017
“Congress shall make no law reflecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The First Amendment aims…
to separate church and state, but Kent Greenawalt examines many situations in which its two clauses—the Nonestablishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause—point in opposite directions. How should courts decide?Denisovan Origins: Hybrid Humans, Göbekli Tepe, and the Genesis of the Giants of Ancient America
By Andrew Collins, Gregory L. Little. 1996
Reveals the profound influence of the Denisovans and their hybrid descendants upon the flowering of human civilization around the world…
• Traces the migrations of the sophisticated Denisovans and their interbreeding with Neanderthals and early human populations more than 40,000 years ago • Shows how Denisovan hybrids became the elite of ancient societies, including the Adena mound-building culture • Explores the Denisovans’ extraordinary advances, including precision-machined stone tools and jewelry, tailored clothing, and celestially-aligned architecture Ice-age cave artists, the builders at Göbekli Tepe, and the mound-builders of North America all share a common ancestry in the Solutreans, Neanderthal-human hybrids of immense sophistication, who dominated southwest Europe before reaching North America 20,000 years ago. Yet, even before the Solutreans, the American continent was home to a powerful population of enormous stature, giants remembered in Native American legend as the Thunder People. New research shows they were hybrid descendants of an extinct human group known as the Denisovans, whose existence has now been confirmed from fossil remains found in a cave in the Altai region of Siberia. Tracing the migrations of the Denisovans and their interbreeding with Neanderthals and early human populations in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas, Andrew Collins and Greg Little explore how the new mental capabilities of the Denisovan-Neanderthal and Denisovan-human hybrids greatly accelerated the flowering of human civilization over 40,000 years ago. They show how the Denisovans displayed sophisticated advances, including precision-machined stone tools and jewelry, tailored clothing, celestially-aligned architecture, and horse domestication. Examining evidence from ancient America, the authors reveal how Denisovan hybrids became the elite of the Adena mound-building culture, explaining the giant skeletons found in Native American burial mounds. The authors also explore how the Denisovans’ descendants were the creators of a cosmological death journey and viewed the Milky Way as the Path of Souls. Revealing the impact of the Denisovans upon every part of the world, the authors show that, without early man’s hybridization with Denisovans, Neanderthals, and other yet-to-be-discovered hominid populations, the modern world as we know it would not exist.A 21-day course for modern meditators It can be difficult for the hyperactive 21st century mind to relax into an…
experience of silence and awareness. Recognizing this, the revered mystic Osho developed new meditation techniques to address the challenges of the modern mind. A Course in Meditation demonstrates these techniques in an easy-to-navigate format. Each day, learn a new aspect of meditative living followed by a simple, practical meditation and awareness practice. After each experience, reflect on the accompanying quote of the day, or use the provided space to take notes. Throughout the course, Osho imparts his unique insights on love, anger, relaxation, and more to guide you toward a space of inner acceptance, joy and mindfulness. A Course in Meditation shows how we can reclaim the meditative nature that we each come in to the world with, but lose over time as we are initiated into the ways of society. From beginners eager to find stillness to more experienced meditators who wish to elevate their practice, Osho’s guide to meditation can teach everyone to separate themselves from their minds for a transformation of consciousness that brings a new understanding of what it means to be alert and responsive to whatever life brings. “Without meditation you do not know the secrets of life, you know only the surface of life.” -OSHOOsho, known for his revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation, continues to inspire millions of people worldwide in their search to define a new approach to individual spirituality that is self-directed and responsive to the everyday challenges of contemporary life. Osho was described by UK's Sunday Times as one of the "1000 Makers of the 20th Century." His internationally bestselling works are available in 60 languages around the world.Who Was Harriet Tubman? (Who Was?)
By Yona Zeldis McDonough, Who Hq. 2002
Born a slave in Maryland, Harriet Tubman knew first-hand what it meant to be someone's property; she was whipped by…
owners and almost killed by an overseer. It was from other field hands that she first heard about the Underground Railroad which she travelled by herself north to Philadelphia. Throughout her long life (she died at the age of ninety-two) and long after the Civil War brought an end to slavery, this amazing woman was proof of what just one person can do.Examining the twelve-decade legal conflict of government bans on religious garb worn by teachers in U.S. public schools, this book…
provides comprehensive documentation and analysis of the historical origins and subsequent development of teachers’ religious garb in relation to contemporary legal challenges within the United Nations and the European Union. By identifying and correcting factual errors in the literature about historical bans on teachers’ garb, Walker demonstrates that there are still substantial and unresolved legal questions to the constitutionality of state garb statutes and reflects on how the contemporary conflicts are historically rooted. Showcased through a wealth of laws and case studies, this book is divided into eight clear and concise chapters and answers questions such as: what are anti-religious-garb laws?; how have the state and federal court decisions evolved?; what are the constitutional standards?; what are the establishment clause and free exercise clause arguments?; and how has this impacted current debates on teachers’ religious garb?, before concluding with an informative summary of the points discussed throughout. The First Amendment and State Bans on Teachers’ Religious Garb is the ideal resource for researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of education, religion, education policy, sociology of education, and law, or those looking to explore an in-depth development of the laws and debates surrounding teachers’ religious garb within the last 125 years.A seminal figure in late antique Christianity and Christian orthodoxy, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus published a collection of more than…
240 letters. Whereas these letters have often been cast aside as readers turn to his theological orations or autobiographical poetry for insight into his life, thought, and times, Self-Portrait in Three Colors focuses squarely on them, building a provocative case that the finalized collection constitutes not an epistolary archive but an autobiography in epistolary form—a single text composed to secure his status among provincial contemporaries and later generations. Shedding light on late-ancient letter writing, fourth-century Christian intelligentsia, Christianity and classical culture, and the Christianization of Roman society, these letters offer a fascinating and unique view of Gregory’s life, engagement with literary culture, and leadership in the church. As a single unit, this autobiographical epistolary collection proved a powerful tool in Gregory’s attempts to govern the contours of his authorial image as well as his provincial and ecclesiastical legacy.Gently Between the Words: Essays and Poems
By Andrew Taylor-Troutman. 2019
Gently Between the Words guides and instructs our heartsIn his latest collection of essays and poems Taylor-Troutman guides readers through…
seemingly simple stories of death, life, parenting struggles, successes and failures that speak to larger questions we all face: How do we best spend our time? How can we raise our kids to be kind and confident? Who gives us guidance and wisdom? What does love look like in our lives on a day-to-day basis?In simple and important gestures like cleaning spilled milk with toilet paper, flipping the perfect pancake with your partner, and walking down the beach with your young child, readers find universal truths to guide their own lives regardless of personal circumstances.Gently Between the Words guides and instructs our hearts to keep the endangered language of beauty, love, forgiveness, grace, and sensitivity alive in order that we all might become more and more necessary to the urgency of our times and the dreams of our children. —Jaki Shelton Green, NC Poet LaureateThis book addresses the challenge of providing for the free exercise of religion without allowing religious exercise by some individuals…
and groups to impinge upon the conscientious convictions of others. State neutrality toward religion is impossible, because neutrality means inattention to religion for some, but leveling the playing field through accommodations or exemptions for others. Both formal and substantive neutrality have a place in addressing particular conflicts. One such example is public funding for religiously affiliated social service programs, for which neither type of neutrality is satisfactory and thus some restrictions are justifiable; conversely, private voluntary organizations that do not receive direct public funding should be allowed wide latitude regarding their practices. This title also examines the expansive free exercise claims that are now made by those who argue that following the law impinges upon their beliefs, as exemplified by the ministerial exception and the Hobby Lobby and Masterpiece Cakeshop Supreme Court cases. It concludes by analyzing the relationship between neutrality and marriage as a civil status, which impacts a variety of commitment types and plural marriage.Evangelicals and Republicans have been powerful—and active—allies in American politics since the 1970s. But as public opinions have changed, are…
young evangelicals’ political identities and attitudes on key issues changing too? And if so, why? In Rock of Ages, Jeremiah Castle answers these questions to understand their important implications for American politics and society. Castle develops his own theory of public opinion among young evangelicals to predict and explain their political attitudes and voting behavior. Relying on both survey data and his own interviews with evangelical college students, he shows that while some young evangelicals may be more liberal in their attitudes on some issues, most are just as firmly Republican, conservative, and pro-life on abortion as the previous generation. Rock of Ages considers not only what makes young evangelicals different from the previous generation, but also what that means for both the church and American politics.