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How God Works: The Science Behind the Benefits of Religion
By David DeSteno. 2021
Drawing on a wealth of new evidence, pioneering research psychologist David DeSteno shows why religious practices and rituals are so…
beneficial to those who follow them—and to anyone, regardless of their faith (or lack thereof).Scientists are beginning to discover what believers have known for a long time: the rewards that a religious life can provide. For millennia, people have turned to priests, rabbis, imams, shamans, and others to help them deal with issues of grief and loss, birth and death, morality and meaning. In this absorbing work, DeSteno reveals how numerous religious practices from around the world improve emotional and physical well-being.With empathy and rigor, DeSteno chronicles religious rites and traditions from cradle to grave. He explains how the Japanese rituals surrounding childbirth help strengthen parental bonds with children. He describes how the Apache Sunrise Ceremony makes teenage girls better able to face the rigors of womanhood. He shows how Buddhist meditation reduces hostility and increases compassion. He demonstrates how the Jewish practice of sitting shiva comforts the bereaved. And much more.DeSteno details how belief itself enhances physical and mental health. But you don&’t need to be religious to benefit from the trove of wisdom that religion has to offer. Many items in religion&’s &“toolbox&” can help the body and mind whether or not one believes. How God Works offers advice on how to incorporate many of these practices to help all of us live more meaningful, successful, and satisfying lives.Three Gospels
By Reynolds Price. 1997
Reynolds Price pays tribute to his literary love of translation in this adaptation of the Gospels of Mark and John,…
in addition to a gospel written by the esteemed novelist himself.Esteemed novelist, dramatist, scholar, essayist, and poet, Reynolds Price turns his attention back to a literary love he had discovered earlier in his career: translation.But for Reynolds that didn&’t mean abandoning his passion for writing original work; powerful and imaginative, Three Gospels offers eloquent translations of the Gospels of Mark and John as well as a gospel never before seen—an original one written by Price himself.These stunning triumphs of imagination tell and retell some of the most iconic ancient stories in Price&’s unparalleled literary voice.Letter to a Man in the Fire: Does God Exist and Does He Care?
By Reynolds Price. 2000
Does God Exist and Does He Care?In April 1997 Reynolds Price received an eloquent letter from a reader of his…
cancer memoir, A Whole New Life. The correspondent, a young medical student diagnosed with cancer himself and facing his own mortality, asked these difficultQuestions. The two began a long-distance correspondence, culminating in Price's thoughtful response, originally delivered as the Jack and Lewis Rudin Lecture at Auburn Theological Seminary, and now expanded onto the printed page as Letter to a Man in the Fire.Harvesting a variety of sources -- diverse religious traditions, classical and modern texts, and a lifetime of personal experiences, interactions, and spiritual encounters -- Price meditates on God's participation in our fate. With candor and sympathy, he offers the reader such a rich variety of tools to explore these questions as to place this work in the company of other great tetsaments of faith from St. Augustine to C. S. Lewis.Letter to a Man in the Fire moves as much as it educates. It is a rare combination of deep erudition, vivid prose, and profound humanity.Evidence for Faith: Deciding the God Question
By John Warwick Montgomery. 2004
Twenty essays that argue for the truth of what C.S. Lewis called "mere Christianity." The contributors - all distinguished scholars…
- present their evidence from a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, archaeology, biology, history, law, and cosmology. Step by step the writers construct a convincing argument for the accuracy of the Bible and the credibility of the Christian faith.No-Nonsense Guide to Religion (No-Nonsense Guides #20)
By Symon Hill. 2010
“Religion” is a term that the media often use without any clarification. But it is a loaded word that encompasses…
hundreds of different beliefs. Religion can be seen as a source of war and peace, love and hate, dialogue and narrow-mindedness. The globalization of communications has raised awareness of religious conversion, with more people than ever before belonging to a different religious community than their parents. The No-Nonsense Guide to Religion considers how religion has shaped our culture, and how our culture is shaping religion today.Prophecy and Politics in the Early Carolingian World (Apocalypse and the Global Middle Ages)
By Andrew Sorber. 2024
Prophetic and apocalyptic rhetoric play critical roles in the development and articulation of political authority in the reigns of Charlemagne…
(d. 814) and Louis the Pious (d. 840). The rhetorical authority derived from claims of receiving revelation, interpreting divine communication, speaking for God, and foreseeing calamities became a competitive medium through which individuals legitimized political behaviour, debated their long- and short-term aspirations, and struggled for political supremacy. Ranging from claims of revelations, dreams, and visions, to the adoption of rhetorical voices based on biblical prophets, to the interpretation of signs and portents, prophetic rhetoric enjoyed extensive experimentation and varied application throughout early medieval political discourse.Prophecy and Politics in the Early Carolingian World argues that claims of divine revelation, resistant to any attempts to monopolize them, provided a powerful means of speaking with authority for all participants in Frankish political discourse. This authority proved instrumental in the articulation and dismantling of effective Carolingian royal authority from 768 to 840. The volume introduces and reinterprets early Carolingian political discourse and intellectual activity, as well as the centrality of apocalypticism in the Carolingian period, by emphasizing prophecy, or revelation and authority, rather than prediction and calamity.Early Carolingian political discourse was a dialogue that took place across royal proclamations, legal statements, historical texts, visions, scriptural commentaries, and manifestations of the natural world, and in this dialogue, the ability to interpret God’s will was as powerful as it was problematic.Challenging Modernity
By Robert N. Bellah. 2024
From the 1960s until his death in 2013, Robert N. Bellah was the preeminent figure in the study of religion…
and society. He broke new ground in mapping the religious dimensions of human experience, from the great breakthroughs of the first millennium BCE to the paradoxes of American civic life. In three final essays, published here for the first time, Bellah grapples with the contradictions of modernity, and seven leading thinkers respond with profound, exhilarating new perspectives on our present predicament.Challenging Modernity critically assesses the modern project to shed light on the tensions between its transcendent aspirations and the perils we now face. Its contributors analyze the roots of the collapse of the political, economic, and cultural institutions that promised perpetual progress but now threaten global catastrophe. Reflecting the range of Bellah’s scholarship, they span the disciplines of history, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. They extend Bellah’s insight that only deep historical, cultural, and religious understanding can help us meet modernity’s harrowing challenges by sharing responsibility for the global interdependence of our common fate.Holy Ghosted: Spiritual Anxiety, Religious Trauma, and the Language of Abuse
By Tiffany Yecke Brooks. 2024
How to recognize the tactics of spiritual abuse—and save your faith Are you questioning the church of your upbringing…
but want to maintain your faith? Do you want to cut ties with your denomination, but fear abandonment by God? Are you struggling with spiritual anxiety—fear of hell, obsessive religious ritual, or feelings of never measuring up? Tiffany Yecke Brooks first explored reconstructing faith in Gaslighted by God. In this much needed follow-up, she equips readers to understand and name tactics of spiritual abuse and manipulation. Each chapter covers a different method of control found in toxic religious communities—including legalism, indoctrination, praise, and fear—and how to identify and respond to it in a healthy way. Brooks also reframes scriptural passages commonly weaponized by those in power. Weaving together interviews with diverse Christians and her own experience, Brooks offers a voice to those feeling isolated by spiritual anxiety. Empowered by this guide, readers will learn to trust their intuition, seek truth fearlessly, and love God and neighbor without restraint or fear.Faith Embodied: Glorifying God with Our Physical and Spiritual Health
By Stephen Ko. 2024
Scientist, physician, and pastor Stephen Ko explains how to live and worship incarnationally and glorify God with our bodies.Many of…
us don't see much connection between spiritual and physical health. We say grace before digging into greasy, fatty meals we know are bad for us. We read Scripture on our phones before switching to social media feeds that hijack the neural circuitry in our brains. Or we take our physical health too seriously, distancing ourselves from the sick and the needy whom Jesus embraced.On his journey from pediatrician to public health officer for the CDC to senior pastor of the largest New York Chinese Alliance Church, Stephen Ko has seen that these divisions between physical and spiritual health are artificial. In Faith Embodied, he reminds us that our "bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19). Christ incarnate is deity in flesh, and His spirit is incarnate in us. Living and worshiping incarnationally is consciously embracing what the Creator has designed in His image, from the finest, microscopic details to vital organs within our body, enabling the Holy Spirit to work in us.Faith Embodied will teach you to:Understand subconscious ways that thwart the design of the Creator.Embrace choices that invite incarnational health, living, and worship.Experience God in every aspect of your life, from flesh and bone to heart and soul.View the five senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste) in a different lightReflect the image of God in the way you breathe, move, create, love, and rest.Weaving together insights from faith, science, and medicine, Ko reveals the marvelous ways in which our physical and spiritual health can prepare us to become instruments of God's healing in the world.A companion streaming video study is also available.Spiritual Life (Talking Philosophy)
By Michael McGhee. 2024
The original claim made in the introduction to this classic volume was that it broke fresh ground: that it set…
a new agenda for the philosophy of religion and was a reaction against a narrow conception of the discipline that had little to say philosophically about human experience, or subjectivity, or about the religious imagination, or the idea of 'spirituality'. In a new Foreword to the book, Michael McGhee reflects on how the discipline has changed or remained the same in the intervening twenty-five years since first publication. He argues that the connections between 'philosophy' and 'spirituality' are still developing; and that what we think of as 'religious' or 'spiritual' is shifting, along with ideas about self-knowledge. The book contains pertinent chapters by some of the leading thinkers in the field, including Rowan Williams, Janet Soskice, Fergus Kerr, Stephen Clark and Paul Williams, who offers a comparative piece on Tibetan Buddhism.A Philosophy of Faith: Belief, Truth and Varieties of Commitment (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
By Finlay Malcolm, Michael Scott. 2023
Faith occupies an important place in human lives. It can be directed towards God, friends, political systems and sports teams,…
and is said to help people through crises and to motivate people to achieve life goals. But what is faith? Philosophers and theologians have, for centuries, been concerned with questions about the rationality of faith, but more recently, have focussed on what kind of psychological attitude faith is. The authors of this book bring together, for the first time, the different elements of this recent debate, staking out the different positions and arguments, and defending a novel ‘true grit’ theory of faith, from which the rationality and language of faith are addressed from a fresh perspective. The book engages with a range of questions about the nature of faith, including: Does faith require belief? Is faith motivational? What is the relationship between faith, trust and hope? Do expressions of faith aim at the truth? And, in what sense is faith resilient? The authors defend a distinctive conception of faith involving resistance to psychological, practical and epistemic challenges, from which a novel account of the psychology and epistemology of faith is developed. The treatment of the topic draws extensively on the philosophy of mind, language and religion, and provides a map of this exciting field of study for newcomers to the philosophy of faith. A Philosophy of Faith will appeal to researchers and advanced students in philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language and epistemology who are interested in the topic of faith.The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic
By Stephen M. Krason. 2012
In this stimulating volume, Stephen M. Krason considers whether the Founding Fathers' vision of the American democratic republic has been…
transformed and if so, in what ways. He looks to the basic principles of the Founding Fathers, then discusses the changes that resulted from evolving contemporary expectations about government. Referencing philosophical principles and the work of great Western thinkers, Krason then explores a variety of proposals that could forge a foundation for restoration.Acknowledging that any attempt to revive the Founders' views on a democratic republic must start in the public sphere, Krason focuses on concerned citizens who are aware of the extent to which our current political structures deviate from the Founders' vision and want to take action. Ultimately, a democratic republic can exist, be sustained, and flourish only when there is a deep commitment to it in the minds and norms of its people.Written by a foremost authority in the field of US Constitutional law, this book will appeal to those interested in American history, society, and politics.Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies: A Guide for Students and Faculty (Routledge Undergraduate Research Series)
By Ruben Dupertuis, Chad Spigel, Jenny Olin Shanahan, Gregory Young. 2023
Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies provides students and faculty with an invaluable guide to conducting research projects across all areas…
in the study of religion. With an emphasis on student-faculty collaboration, this concise book addresses the key areas, methods, and practical issues to inform the practice of original undergraduate research across a wide range of subdisciplines.In fourteen short chapters, the authors lay out the stages of the research process and different research methodologies; discuss approaches, examples, and ethical issues particular to religious studies; and address the unique value and challenges of collaborative research with undergraduate students, including case studies of student-faculty collaboration. Designed to be utilized by students and faculty as both a textbook and reference, this book offers an essential resource for all those engaging in or leading undergraduate research across religious studies.The Epistemology of Spirit Beliefs (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
By Hans Van Eyghen. 2023
This book assesses whether belief in spirits is epistemically justified. It presents two arguments in support of the existence of…
spirits and arguments that experiences of various sorts (perceptions, mediumship, possession and animistic experiences) can lend justification to spirit-beliefs.Most work in philosophy of religion exclusively deals with the existence of God or the epistemic status of belief in God. Spirit beliefs are often regarded as aberrations, and the falsity of such beliefs is often assumed. This book argues that various beliefs concerning spirits can be regarded as justified when they are rooted in experiences that are not defeated. It argues that spirit-beliefs are not defeated by recent theories put forth by neuroscientists, cognitive scientists or evolutionary biologists. Additional arguments are made that traditional theistic belief is epistemically linked to spirit beliefs and that unusual events can be explained in terms of spirit-activity. The book draws on theistic arguments, phenomenal conservatism and defenses of religious experiences to argue for the justification of spirit-beliefs.The arguments draw on examples from various religious traditions ranging from Christianity and Islam to Haitian Vodou and Tibetan Bon.The Epistemology of Spirit Beliefs will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working in philosophy of religion, religious epistemology, ethnography and cognitive neuroscience.God and Difference: The Trinity, Sexuality, and the Transformation of Finitude (ISSN)
By Linn Marie Tonstad. 2016
God and Difference interlaces Christian theology with queer and feminist theory for both critical and constructive ends. Linn Marie Tonstad…
uses queer theory to show certain failures of Christian thinking about God, gender, and sexuality. She employs queer theory to dissect trinitarian discourse and the resonances found in contemporary Christian thought between sexual difference and difference within the trinity. Tonstad critiques a broad swath of prominent Christian theologians who either use queer theory in their work or affirm the validity of same-sex relationships, arguing that their work inadvertently promotes gendered hierarchy. This volume contributes to central debates in Christianity over divine and human personhood, gendered relationality, and the trinity, and provides original accounts of God, sexual difference, and Christian community that are both theologically rich and thoroughly queer.Offering an original application of the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina to the humanities, this book demonstrates the need…
for further emphasis on deep reading, reflection, and contemplation in contemporary university classrooms. Each chapter provides readers with an historical overview of the four movements of this monastic method: lectio (reading), meditatio (interpreting), oratio (responding), and contemplatio (experiencing wisdom), and suggests ways to incorporate these practices in humanites courses. Keator demonstrates that the lectio divina method is a viable pedagogical tool to guide students slowly and methodically through literary texts and into a subjective experience of wisdom and meaning.Meaningful Aging from a Humanist Perspective
By Peter Derkx, Anthony B. Pinn. 2024
Aging is a topic of growing interest. As life expectancy in western societies is increasing, the growing number and proportion…
of ‘elderly’ persons raise urgent questions on how to age ‘well’. Predominantly, questions on aging are taken from biomedical and economic paradigms, which are intertwined. While people of age are seen as a cost in society, biomedical research aims at curing the declining effects of aging, thus furthering ideals of ‘healthy’ aging, ‘active’ aging, or ‘successful’ aging. In this book, Peter Derkx offers a comprehensive account of meaningful aging with Anthony Pinn responding in a fruitful and constructive way, for the benefit and edification of all of us.This book is about sustainability in its broadest sense. It argues that the ongoing science-policy dialogue on sustainable development (as…
framed by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals) is insufficient to drive the planet to desired sustainable futures. This conversation, followed by transformative action, must be inclusive of other forms of interpretation of reality (arts, spirituality, and ancestral knowledge) and non-modern cosmovisions. This is more a book about dialogues than about the common dualism problem/solution, and such dialogues are approached as an essential trigger of regeneration. The book takes the reader from a historical perspective of the human-nature relationship through to a discussion on sustainable futures as utopias. The optimism conveyed by the book is justified by a plethora of global examples of such regenerative dialogues.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.