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Talking with the Children of God: Prophecy and Transformation in a Radical Religious Group
By Gordon Shepherd, Gary Shepherd. 2010
Grounded in direct, systematic observation by neutral observers, Talking with the Children of God is a unique study of the…
radical religious movement now known as The Family International. The book draws on extraordinarily candid interviews with the group's leaders and administrative staff. In revealing new information about the organization's history, beliefs, and use of prophecy, Gordon Shepherd and Gary Shepherd offer a highly detailed case study that is both an antidote to sensationalized coverage of the group and a means for understanding the transformational practices of new religious movements in general. One of the most controversial groups emerging from the Jesus People movement of the 1960s, the Family originally was known as The Children of God. Under leader David Berg, members proclaimed an apocalyptic "Endtime," shunned secular occupations, lived communally, and adopted unusual sexual practices that led to abuse scandals in the 1970s and 1980s. Following Berg's death in 1994, the organization began to dramatically alter its evangelization efforts and decision-making processes. Talking with the Children of God builds a picture of a complex organization with ten thousand core members worldwide, including details on the lives, careers, and responsibilities of the second generation and their efforts to defend their faith. The authors summarize the Family's history and beliefs as well as its controversial past. In particular, they analyze the organization's use of prophecy--or channeled revelations from Jesus and other spiritual beings--for making decisions and setting policy, revealing how this essentially democratic process works and how it shapes Family life and culture. These remarkable insights are the result of sixteen years of surveys and field observations conducted in Family member homes in sixteen countries, plus four days of face-to-face interviews with Family leaders and organizational staff. The volume also includes condensed transcripts of the interviews with analysis by Shepherd and Shepherd.Sojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years among the Mormons
By Jan Shipps. 2001
Infused with Jan Shipps’s lively curiosity, scholarly rigor, and contagious fascination with a significant subculture, Sojourner in the Promised Land…
presents a distinctive parallel history in which Shipps surrounds her professional writings about the Latter-day Saints with an ongoing personal description of her encounters with them. By combining a portrait of the dynamic evolution of contemporary Mormonism with absorbing intellectual autobiography, Shipps illuminates the Mormons and at the same time shares with the reader what it has been like to be on the outside of a culture that remains both familiar and strange.This third edition book offers a paradigm shift in thinking (from binary to complex) and enables visibility for the intersectionality…
of multiple identities that range from privileged to oppressed. For example, real people’s heterogeneous racial identities within the same racial group are visible. A paradigm shift in learning (from conceptual to transformative) connects conceptual learning (cognition) to their experience (affect). “…. transformation does not simply emerge due to the individual’s awareness…. but is experienced” (Benetka & Joerchel, 2016, p. 22). Uncensored first-person (subjective) written responses to specific questions to access unconscious and implicit bias will connect the writer’s experience to conceptual learning of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Writing in third person (objective) interrupts the transformative aspect by bypassing the accessibility of inner experience. Writing in first-person connects the writer to their experience which allows the unconscious to be accessed if it is practiced on a regular basis. This book is for everyone who wants to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion measures by learning to access their unconscious bias. Understanding social justice and equity and good intentions alone do not lead to accessing unconscious bias.This book explores the location of spirituality and mysticism in modern Indian religious and intellectual life. It examines select personalities…
and their ideas since the early twentieth century, their role in the interwoven spheres of socio-religious and political thought, and in burgeoning spiritual imaginaries, often at the intersection of academic and public discourse. As part of a global ecumene connected by affective bonds, these spiritual cosmopolitans often defied binary frameworks (East/ West; imperial core/ periphery; colonizer/ colonized), and in the upshot reappraised and recast the very concept of religion in response to overarching ‘this-worldly’ exigencies.The Word According to Eve: Women and the Bible in Ancient Times and Our Own
By Cullen Murphy. 1998
“A disarming, intelligent, and timely book” that re-examines religious history and scripture with a focus on the feminine experience (The…
New York Times). In the world that created the Bible, there were no female scholars and theologians, yet in recent decades, owing to such stunning discoveries as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts, as well as advances in historical understanding and the rise of feminism, a generation of scholars has found new ways to interpret the Scriptures and the societies that created them—exploring avenues traditionally ignored by male-dominated religious study.Surveying the new scholarship and the personalities of those who have created it, The Word According to Eve not only explores afresh the history of our religions but offers exciting new challenges to our sense of worship.“Provocative and lucid . . . an engaging book.” —The Boston GlobeWaco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage
By Jeff Guinn. 2023
&“Impressively researched and written with storytelling verve&” (The Wall Street Journal), this is the definitive account of the disastrous siege…
at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, featuring never-before-seen documents, photographs, and interviews, from former investigative reporter Jeff Guinn, bestselling author of Manson and The Road to Jonestown.For the first time in thirty years, more than a dozen former ATF agents who participated in the initial February 28, 1993, Waco raid speak on the record about the poor decisions of their commanders that led to this deadly confrontation. The revelations in this book include why the FBI chose to end the siege with the use of CS gas; how both ATF and FBI officials tried and failed to cover up their agencies&’ mistakes; where David Koresh plagiarized his infamous prophecies; and direct links between the Branch Davidian tragedy and the modern militia movement in America. Notorious conspiracist Alex Jones is a part of the Waco story. So much is new and stunning. Guinn puts you alongside the ATF agents as they embarked on the disastrous initial assault, unaware that the Davidians knew they were coming and were armed and prepared to resist. His you-are-there narrative continues to the final assault and its momentous consequences. Drawing on this new information, including several eyewitness accounts, Guinn again does what he did with his bestselling books about Charles Manson and Jim Jones, revealing &“gripping&” (Houston Chronicle) new details about a story that we thought we knew.Mencius
By Mencius. 2003
Mencius was one of the great philosophers of ancient China, second only in influence to Confucius, whose teachings he defended…
and expanded. The Mencius, in which he recounts his dialogues with kings, dukes and military men, as well as other philosophers, is one of the Four Books that make up the essential Confucian corpus. It takes up Confucius's theories of jen, or goodness and yi, righteousness, explaining that the individual can achieve harmony with mankind and the universe by perfecting his innate moral nature and acting with benevolence and justice. Mencius' strikingly modern views on the duties of subjects and their rulers or the evils of war, created a Confucian orthodoxy that has remained intact since the third century BCE.Mary Magdalen: Truth and Myth
By Susan Haskins. 1993
A dramatic, thought-provoking portrait of one of the most compelling figures in early Christianity which explores two thousand years of…
history, art, and literature to provide a close-up look at Mary Magdalen and her significance in religious and cultural thought.The Laws of Manu
By Wendy Doniger with Brian K. Smith, Wendy Doniger, Brian K. Smith. 1991
The Laws of Manu form a towering work of Hindu philosophy. Composed by many Brahmin priests, this is an extraordinary,…
encyclopaedic representation of human life in the world, and how it should be lived. Manu encompasses topics as wide-ranging as the social obligations and duties of the various castes, the proper way for a righteous king to rule and to punish transgressors, relations between men and women, birth, death, taxes, karma, rebirth and ritual practices. First translated into English in 1794, its influence spread from Nietzsche to the British Raj, and although often misinterpreted, it remains an essential work for understanding India today.Limitless Sky: Life lessons from the Himalayas
By David Charles Manners. 2014
This is the remarkable true story of a young man's initiation in the Himalayas. David Manners was trekking in Nepal…
when he stumbled upon the mountain home of a jhankri, or Nepalese shaman. The jhankri accepted David as his pupil, and so began the next stage of David's extraordinary journey, in which he embarked upon an adventure that was more challenging and, ultimately, life-affirming than anything he could have imagined. In Limitless Sky, David shares the wisdom and insights he learnt from those transformational days in the Himalayas. These include practical guidance on how to live a full and fearless life, how to find happiness and how to live in ways that nurture both ourselves and others. As David reveals, the life lessons he learned amongst the mountains of the Himalayas could benefit us all today.Lunch with the FT: A Second Helping
By Lionel Barber. 2013
Lunch with the FT has been a permanent fixture in the Financial Times for almost 30 years, featuring presidents, film…
stars, musical icons and business leaders from around the world.The column is now a well-established institution, which has reinvigorated the art of conversation in the convivial, intimate environment of a long and boozy lunch.This new and updated edition includes lunches with:Elon MuskDonald TrumpHilary MantelRichard BransonZadie SmithNigel FarageRussell BrandDavid GuettaYanis VaroufakisJean-Claude JunckerGwyneth PaltrowRebecca SolnitJordan PetersonChimamanda Ngozi AdichieAnd more...Krishna: Srimad Bhagavata Purana
By Edwin F. Bryant. 2003
The Purana is one of the two most important and popular Hindu texts, the other being the Ramayana. It is…
part of the popular tradition, rather than a literary classic like the Upanishads or the Gita. It tells the story of the god Krishna, the supreme godhead of the Hindus and worshipped by them for over two and a half millennia. The most popular stories about him occur in this, the 10th book, which is the climax of the epic. The stories relate to Krishna's childhood and adolescence in the forests of Vrindavan among the herdspeople, delightful tales which lie behind much of Hindu art, appearing in painting, temple sculpture, drama, dance and song.Jesus: One Hundred Years Before Christ - A Study In Creative Mythology
By Alvar Ellegard. 1999
The starting point for the book is the following anomoly: If Jesus lived as has been supposed at the beginning…
of the 1st century AD, the only NT documents written by a near contemporary, the Epistles of St Paul, make no mention of him as an historical figure, neither do they record any of his sayings, but rather they talk of him as a vision or mystical experience of the risen Christ. Further, the same is true of the earliest Christian non-NT texts, such as the Epistles of St Clement, roughly contemporary with Paul. Furthermore, contemporary records of the region from non-Christian sources, such as those by the Jewish historian Josephus, fail to mention Jesus at all where we would expect them to; the mentions that there are have recently been shown to be later interpolations by medieval Christian apologists - the gospel accounts of Jesus and his millieu are inaccurate in all major respects e. g. the relative dates of Herod and Pilate, if contemporary Roman and Jewish historians, who had no theological axe to grind, are taken as measure. By comparative textual studies, the author shows that the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and sayings were written approximately 100 years after Jesus is supposed to have lived, and so 100 years later than alleged contemporaries such as Paul, Clement, Josephus etc.The Life and Passion of William of Norwich
By Thomas Of Monmouth. 2014
A fascinating surviving chronicle from 12th-century England which holds a unique and terrible place in the history of anti-SemitismThe Life…
and Passion of William of Norwich gives a remarkable insight into life in a medieval cathedral city, brilliantly capturing the everyday concerns of ordinary people and focussing on the miraculous cures carried out at a shrine. But this was no ordinary shrine; fervent worshippers gathered around the burial-place where they believed that a boy was buried, a boy murdered by the Jews of Norwich. A chilling, highly significant document, The Life and Passion of William of Norwich is, as far as we know, the earliest version of what was to become the 'blood libel' which has haunted Europe ever since. Miri Rubin both superbly translates the book and in her introduction interprets the sequence of events that led to the monk Thomas of Monmouth's appalling narrative. The consequences of his fantasies have been incalculable.The Imitation of Christ (The five Foot Shelf Of Classics Ser.)
By Thomas À Kempis. 2013
One of the most influential and well-loved books of Christianity, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis appears here…
in Penguin Classics in a new translation by Robert Jeffery, with an introduction by Max Von Habsburg, notes, a chronology and further reading.The Imitation of Christ is a passionate celebration of God's love, mercy and holiness, which has stimulated religious devotion for over five hundred years. With great personal conviction and deep humanity, Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) demonstrates the individual's reliance on God and on the words of Christ, and the futility of a life without faith, as well as exploring the ideas such as humility, compassion, patience and tolerance. Thomas spent some seventy years of his life in the reclusive environment of monasteries, yet in this astonishing work he demonstrates an encompassing understanding of human nature, while his writing speaks to readers of every age and every nation.Thomas à Kempis was born at Kempen near Dusseldorf in 1380. He received the priesthood in 1413. Thomas wrote many other devotional works besides The Imitation of Christ, his masterpiece, as well as biographies of Gerald Groote and Florentius Radewyn. He died in 1471.The Very Revd Robert Jeffery was born in 1935 and ordained in 1959. He has written on matters of Church history, spirituality, mission and ecumenism. In 1978, he became Archdeacon of Salop, and was Dean of Worcester from 1987-96 and subsequently Canon and Sub-Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. He retired in 2002 and is an Hon Doctor of Divinity of Birmingham University.Max von Habsburg is the author of Catholic and Protestant Translations of the Imitatio Christi 1425-1650 (2011).If Only I Had Told
By Esther W.. 2013
‘The satanic sex ring takes place around a quarry, near your friend’s house. As well as your family there are…
four others, so far that we know of, involved.’When her dad was arrested and imprisoned for violently abusing his 15 children, Esther thought her life could begin at last. She couldn't have been more wrong. Another man was ready to take advantage of this vulnerable girl. Social services stepped in again, but this time they made things much, much worse . . .If Only I Had Told is Esther’s personal and very brave memoir that tells the truth about Orkney’s 1991 satanic sex scandal. It is a shocking account of how two evil men and a flawed system let down not just a young girl but a whole community.The Horrors and Absurdities of Religion (Penguin Great Ideas)
By Arthur Schopenhauer. 1970
A fascinating examination of ethics, religion and psychology, this selection of Schopenhauer's works contains scathing attack on the nature and…
logic of religion, and an essay on ethics that ranges from the American slavery debate to the vices of Buddhism. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.How to Be an Overnight Success
By Maria Hatzistefanis. 2017
Hard - won advice practical business advice from the hugely successful entrepreneur and founder of the Rodial skincare, Maria Hatzistefanis…
- with plenty of advice, tips and practical steps to follow, she demonstrates how to kick start your career and be the best you can be in business.'A truly very inspiring book' -- ***** Reader review'One of the best books I have ever read' -- ***** Reader review'Inspirational and real' -- ***** Reader review'Truly inspiring and a total must read' -- ***** Reader review'The tips, advice and actionable steps are fabulous!' -- ***** Reader review'Obsessed with this book I can't put it down!!' -- ***** Reader review*******************************************************************************************"You are not born an entrepreneur. It's a skill that you learn along the way."When the skincare company Rodial launched its cult 'snake' serum, the press quickly called the business an 'overnight success'. However, Rodial's founder Maria Hatzistefanis had been toiling for 18 years, building the company from scratch in her bedroom. Now, the beauty boss sets out to demonstrate in this very accessible book that its success stemmed from sheer hard work, tireless efforts and a lot of patience.Fashion-loving Maria set out with a dream to build a beauty business and - despite not excelling at school, and being fired from her first job - she has achieved it. She did it by dreaming big, working hard, surrounding herself with the best, taking risks, creating buzz and building her own personal brand, which is now a favourite with high-profile models and media personalities including Poppy Delevingne, Daisy Lowe and Kylie Jenner.Crucially, she believes anyone can do this and her book, brimming with good sense, great advice, tips and secrets - all presented in an easy, friendly style - shows how.Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit
By Wendy Doniger. 1975
Recorded in sacred Sanskrit texts, including the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, Hindu Myths are thought to date back as…
far as the tenth century BCE. Here in these seventy-five seminal myths are the many incarnations of Vishnu, who saves mankind from destruction, and the mischievous child Krishna, alongside stories of the minor gods, demons, rivers and animals including boars, buffalo, serpents and monkeys. Immensely varied and bursting with colour and life, they demonstrate the Hindu belief in the limitless possibilities of the world - from the teeming miracles of creation to the origins of the incarnation of Death who eventually touches them all.How to Live Your Best Life: Transform your mindset and manifest real success
By Maria Hatzistefanis. 2021
It's time to reset, adjust and take the power back.Having spent over 20 years building her hugely successful beauty empire,…
Maria Hatzistefanis managed to achieve all her childhood dreams and goals. She has attended exclusive parties, walked on glamorous red carpets and visited beautiful cities. Whilst this life of glamour and success is exhilarating, Maria is shocked to find that the happiness it brings is fleeting. This leads her to realise that her life needs a new focus. In this easy to follow guide Maria asks the fundamental question 'what is happiness?'. Analysing her own experiences, failures and fortunes, Maria provides clear, concise and intuitive strategies to help you tackle your own challenges. From aligning your thoughts and actions to detaching your success from achievements, Maria shares her practical secrets to mastering your mindset. How to Live Your Best Life will equip you with the tools you need to be in control of your own destiny. Brimming with good sense, great advice and clear tips Maria guides you on your journey to happiness and ultimately success.