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Religious Responses to Pandemics and Crises: Isolation, Survival, and #Covidchaos (Routledge Studies in Religion)
By Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Christian A. Eberhart, Marianne Bjelland Kartzow. 2024
Religious Responses to Pandemics and Crises explores various dimensions of the interrelations between the individual, community, and religion. With their…
global scope, the contributions to this volume represent reflections on the rich and multifaceted spectrum of human responses in a variety of different religions and cultures to the current SARS-2-COVID-19 pandemic and similar crises in the past.The contributions are organized in three thematic parts focusing on strategies, rituals, and past and present responses to pandemics and crises. They reflect on the intersection of personal or communal responses and state-mandated policies relative to SARS-2-COVID-19 while outlining different strategies to cope with the pandemic crisis. Timely questions explored include: How do individuals connect with or disconnect from religious and spiritual communities during times of personal and collective crises, including pandemics? How do religious practices such as rituals bridge individuals and communities? How do religious texts from past and present highlight and represent crises and pandemics? Dynamic and multidisciplinary in its inquiry, this volume is an outstanding resource for scholars of religion, theology, anthropology, social sciences, ritual theory, sex and gender studies, and contemporary medical science.Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did.
By John Mark Comer. 2024
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry calls us to rediscover the path that…
leads to a deeper life with God. &“One of the most important books I have read in a decade . . . If we would all follow in this way, our lives would change and the world would change.&”—Jennie Allen, author of Get Out of Your Head and Find Your People We are constantly being formed by the world around us. To be formed by Jesus will require us to become his apprentice. To live by what the first Christian disciples called a Rule of Life—a set of practices and relational rhythms that slow us down and open up space in our daily lives for God to do what only God can do—transforms the deepest parts of us to become like him. This introduction to spiritual formation is full of John Mark Comer&’s trademark mix of theological substance and cultural insight as well as practical wisdom on developing your own Rule of Life. These ancient practices have much to offer us. By learning to rearrange our days, we can follow the Way of Jesus. We can be with him. Become like him. And do as he did.How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps
By Ben Shapiro. 2020
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!A growing number of Americans want to tear down what it’s taken us 250 years to…
build—and they’ll start by canceling our shared history, ideals, and culture.Traditional areas of civic agreement are vanishing. We can’t agree on what makes America special. We can’t even agree that America is special. We’re coming to the point that we can’t even agree what the word America itself means. “Disintegrationists” say we’re stronger together, but their assault on America’s history, philosophy, and culture will only tear us apart.Who are the disintegrationists? From Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States to the New York Times’ 1619 project, many modern analyses view American history through the lens of competing oppressions, a racist and corrupt experiment from the very beginning. They see American philosophy as a lie – beautiful words pasted over a thoroughly rotted system. They see America’s culture of rights as a façade that merely reinforces traditional hierarchies of power, instead of being the only culture that guarantees freedom for individuals.Disintegrationist attacks on the values that built our nation are insidious because they replace each foundational belief, from the rights to free speech and self-defense to the importance of marriage and faith communities, with nothing more than an increased reliance on the government. This twisted disintegrationist vision replaces the traditional “unionist” understanding that all Americans are united in a shared striving toward the perfection of universal ideals.How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps shows that to be a cohesive nation we have to uphold foundational truths about ourselves, our history, and reality itself—to be unionists instead of disintegrationists. Shapiro offers a vital warning that if we don’t recover these shared truths, our future—our union—as a great country is threatened with destruction.New York Times BestsellerHow far are Americans willing to go to force each other to fall in line?According to the…
establishment media, the intelligentsia, and our political chattering class, the greatest threat to American freedom lies in right-wing authoritarianism. We’ve heard that some 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump represent the rise of American fascism; that conservatives have allowed authoritarianism to bloom in their midst, creating a grave danger for the republic.But what if the true authoritarian threat to America doesn’t come from the political right, but from the supposedly anti-fascist left?There are certainly totalitarians on the political right. But statistically, they represent a fringe movement with little institutional clout. The authoritarian left, meanwhile, is ascendant in nearly every area of American life. A small number of leftists—college-educated, coastal, and uncompromising—have not just taken over the Democratic Party but our corporations, our universities, our scientific establishment, our cultural institutions. And they have used their newfound power to silence their opposition.The authoritarian Left is aggressively insistent that everyone must conform to its values, demanding submission and conformity. The dogmatic Left is obsessed with putting people in categories and changing human nature. Everyone who opposes it must be destroyed.Ben Shapiro looks at everything from pop culture to the Frankfurt school, social media to the Founding Fathers, to explain the origins of our turn to tyranny, and why so many seem blind to it.More than a catalog of bad actors and intemperate acts,The Authoritarian Moment lays bare the intolerance and rigidity creeping into all American ideology – and prescribes the solution to ending the authoritarianism that threatens our future.Do Dead People Walk Their Dogs?: Questions You'd Ask a Medium If You Had the Chance
By Concetta Bertoldi. 2009
Highly unorthodox questions and answers about life after life from America's most delightful mediumConcetta Bertoldi has been communicating with the…
"Other Side" since childhood. In her previous book, the bestselling Do Dead People Watch You Shower?, she addressed questions about the afterlife that ranged from the poignant to the provocative. Now she returns with Do Dead People Walk Their Dogs?, a second volume of intriguing observations about our beloved deceased. Moving, funny, and fascinating, it will open your eyes to what really comes after life—while offering intimate insights into Concetta's own astonishing life and what her gift has meant to her marriage, her friendships, and the path she was destined to take.The Way of Serenity: Finding Peace and Happiness in the Serenity Prayer
By Jonathan Morris. 2014
FOX News religion analyst, program director of the Catholic Channel on SiriusXM radio, and bestselling author Father Jonathan Morris reveals…
how the Serenity Prayer offers a sure path to peace and fulfillment for everyone, not just those in recovery programs. The Serenity Prayer states:Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,The courage to change the things I can,And the wisdom to know the difference.Exploring the prayer phrase by phrase, Morris shows the hope that can be found by gaining a deeper spiritual understanding of its words and by practicing its message. Enlightening and profound, The Way of Serenity includes moving narratives, illuminating historical anecdotes, and pertinent biblical passages that demonstrate the power of the Serenity Prayer to help us grow closer to God and find greater peace and happiness.Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America's Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology
By Max Allan Collins, A. Brad Schwartz. 2020
"The thrilling history of the torso murderer. The tale of the ‘Untouchable’ who got Al Capone but failed to solve…
his goriest case." —Dan Jones, The Sunday TimesIn the spirit of Devil in the White City comes a true detective tale of the highest standard: the haunting story of Eliot Ness's forgotten final case–his years-long hunt for "The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run," a serial killer who terrorized Cleveland through the Great Depression. “After helping to put Al Capone behind bars, lawman Eliot Ness came to Cleveland, where he did battle with a vicious killer. ... Even Ness was stumped trying to apprehend the ‘torso murderer’ responsible for a series of ghoulish killings. ... The authors have done Ness justice." —Wall Street JournalIn 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime-fighter–fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history–arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer.Eliot Ness's greatest case had begun. Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz–the acclaimed writing team behind Scarface and the Untouchable–uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping and unforgettable nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research.Ness had risen to fame in 1931 for leading the “Untouchables,” which helped put Chicago’s Al Capone behind bars. As Cleveland's public safety director, in charge of the police and fire departments, Ness offered a radical new vision for better law enforcement. Crime-ridden and devastated by the Depression, Cleveland was preparing for a star-turn itself: in 1936, it would host the "Great Lakes Exposition," which would be visited by seven million people. Late in the summer of 1934, however, pieces of a woman’s body began washing up on the Lake Erie shore–first her ribs, then part of her backbone, then the lower half of her torso. The body count soon grew to five, then ten, then more, all dismembered in gruesome ways.As Ness zeroed in on a suspect–a doctor tied to a prominent political family–powerful forces thwarted his quest for justice. In this battle between a flawed hero and a twisted monster–by turns horror story, political drama, and detective thriller–Collins and Schwartz find an American tragedy, classic in structure, epic in scope.Religionless Christianity: God's Answer to Evil
By Eric Metaxas. 2024
Christianity is not about rituals but changed hearts. In the prophetic tradition of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxas calls slumbering Christians…
to battle.Picking up where he left off in his electrifying Letter to the American Church, Eric Metaxas renews and deepens his call to believers not to &“practice&” their faith but to live it—heroically and with joy. Invoking famous but misunderstood words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he shows that God&’s answer to evil is &“religionless Christianity&”—the rejection of religiosity and the embrace of a living and active faith, one that consumes the whole person and affects every aspect of his life. The awakening of this faith will bring revival, a &“new birth of freedom&” and a renaissance of Christian culture.Studying Christian Spirituality
By David B. Perrin. 2024
Studying Christian Spirituality proposes a framework to discover how spirituality can be understood beyond the conventional boundaries that religions have…
established.Its nine chapters discuss a wide variety of issues and questions, which include: definitions of spirituality; the impact of models of God; human-spiritual development; the importance of context; historical criticism; anthropology; interpretation of texts and art; and examples of spiritual practice. David B. Perrin clearly explains the traditional relationships between Christian spirituality and theology and history. He also proposes greater connections with the human sciences, such as philosophy, psychology, phenomenology, and sociology, and reshapes the classical approaches to Christian spirituality, its texts, practices, and experience.This interdisciplinary volume is an essential reference for scholars and students at all levels who desire to develop a deeper understanding of Christian spirituality’s research methods, and its relevance to the world today.The French philosopher-mystic-activist Simone Weil (1909–1943) has drawn both passionate admiration and scornful dismissal since her early death and the…
posthumous publication of her writings. She has also provoked an extraordinary range of literary writing focused on not only her ideas but also her person: novels, nonfiction, and especially poetry. Given the challenges of Weil’s ethic of self-emptying attention, what accounts for her appeal, especially among women writers?This book tells the story of some of Weil’s most dedicated—and at points surprising—literary conversation partners, exploring why writers with varied political and religious commitments have found her thought and life so resonant. Cynthia R. Wallace considers authors who have devoted decades of attention to Weil, such as Adrienne Rich, Annie Dillard, and Mary Gordon, and who have written poetic sequences or book-length verse biographies of Weil, including Maggie Helwig, Stephanie Strickland, Kate Daniels, Sarah Klassen, Anne Carson, and Lorri Neilsen Glenn. She illuminates how writing to, of, and in the tradition of Weil has helped these writers grapple with the linked harms and possibilities of religious belief, self-giving attention, and the kind of moral seriousness required by the ethical and political crises of late modernity. The first book to trace Weil’s influence on Anglophone literature, The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil provides new ways to understand Weil’s legacy and why her provocative wisdom continues to challenge and inspire writers and readers.This book offers an account of religious schooling committed to ‘queer-thriving’ and envisions how queer staff and students can live…
their lives without being ‘accommodated’ within heteronormative religious traditions.Engaging with queer theological perspectives across the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, the book begins by situating queer thriving as a viable part of the work of the religious school, and not just as something reserved for progressive education more broadly. Taking three areas that are typically used to justify religious heteronormativity (religious texts, religious values, religious rituals), it engages queer theologies to showcase how an educational approach committed to queer thriving can be enacted in religious schools in ways that are also theologically sensitive. The book then explores how religious school communities can navigate differences around queerness and religion in ways that are supportive of queer staff and students. It takes desire as an everyday reality in classrooms and applies a queer lens to this to challenge heteronormativity and to imagine alternative modes of relationship between staff, students, and communities that enable queer staff and students to thrive.Showcasing possibilities of resistance for the opposition between religious and queer concerns, it will appeal to researchers, postgraduates and academics in the fields of religion and education, whilst also benefitting those working across philosophy of education and educational theory, sex education, sociology of education, social justice education, queer theologies, religious studies, and sociology of religion.Madan Mohan: An Enchanting Saga
By Sushant Bharti. 2023
Conservation Architect and Researcher Sushant Bharti highlights the significance of the Madan Mohan, an ancient and important temple in Vrindavan,…
India that has had a prominent impact both locally and globally throughout its history. The text includes a captivating portrayal of the temple both at home and in the Indian diaspora, a tribute to the attractive, ever enchanting nature of the structure and its spiritual potency.The establishment of Gaudiya Vaishnavas in the Braj region catalysed a novel movement centered around the devotion to Radha and Krishna. This movement, in turn, spurred construction of the Madan Mohan, one of the most significant and prominent temples in the area during the Mughal reign. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, each temple emerged as a distinct exemple of Mughal artistry, showcasing a seamless integration of diverse architectural components and novel experimentation. The Madan Mohan temple stands as a remarkable testament to the confluence of social, economic, and political forces that transcended regional boundaries during the zenith of Mughal dominance.The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics
By Curtis Chang, Nancy French. 2024
For the exhausted, the hurting, and the faithful, The After Party helps reframe our political identity away from the "what" of political…
positions and toward the "how" being centered on Jesus.This paradigm-shifting book complements The After Party Project--a six-part, video-based, highly interactive curriculum that provides churches, small groups, and individuals with an on-the-ground, biblically based approach to a very complex topic.The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics helps readers who feel despair about political divisiveness:Engage with others across political differencesLearn specific steps to reframe political identity outside of partisan dividesFocus on how we relate to one another as Jesus teaches before moving to the what of political topicsThe After Party is ideal for:Republicans, Democrats, and Independents looking for renewed hope and humility for our nationLocal leaders seeking to counter animosity toward political opponents, susceptibility to lies, and other practices that threaten the common goodCongregations, classes, and small groups watching The After Party video seriesPastors who want to encourage their congregants to trade their partisan mindsets for the mind of ChristIt's not too late. In today's political environment, faithfulness to a biblical how of political engagement shines as a radical challenge to both the Right and the Left. If you worry about what politics is doing to your community, your family, and your own well-being, The After Party will transform your political imagination.It's time for us to go beyond party politics and--as Christians--believe in the true "party" yet to come.Sonny: The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses, John "Sonny" Franzese
By S. J. Peddie. 2022
&“Couldn&’t put it down.&” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy (Goodfellas) and CasinoThe extraordinary life and times of a legendary crime boss who refused…
to squeal—but who finally agreed to talk to an award-winning New York Newsday reporter shortly before his death at age 103 . . . John &“Sonny&” Franzese reportedly committed his first murder at the age of fourteen. As a &“made man&” for the Colombo crime family, he operated out of his Long Island home specializing in racketeering, fraud, loansharking, and other illicit deeds he would deny to his dying day. His career in organized crime spanned over eight decades—and he was sentenced to fifty years in prison for robbery charges. But even behind bars, Sonny Franzese never stopped doing business . . . This is the true story of an old-school mafioso as it&’s never been told before. Newsday reporter S. J. Peddie interviewed Franzese in prison—and uncovered a lifetime of shocking secrets from the legend himself: * Why FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had a very personal interest in Sonny. * How Sonny managed to juggle numerous affairs with women, including a famous model. * How Sonny spent a third of his life in prison—and still managed to earn untold millions for the mob. * How Sonny accidentally revealed some of his worst crimes—to a &“friend&” wearing a wire. Through it all, Franzese refused to break the Mafia&’s code of silence. Authorities believe he may have murdered, or ordered the murders of, forty to fifty people. Yet he earned a grudging respect from law enforcement and an absolute reverence from his fellow gangsters. Eventually he managed to outlive them all—until his death in 2020 of natural causes, a rare event in the Mafia. Thanks to a series of exclusive firsthand interviews, the astonishing life story of John &“Sonny&” Franzese can be told in all its bold, brutal, and blood-spattered glory. This is a must-read for anyone fascinated with Mafia history—and a rare look inside a criminal mind that has become the stuff of legend.The Story of the Scrolls: The miraculous discovery and true significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls
By Dr Geza Vermes. 1999
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran, Palestine, in 1947 was one of the greatest archaeological finds of…
all time. Written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and hidden in caves by an ancient Jewish sect, these mysterious manuscripts revolutionized our understanding of the Bible, of Judaism and the early Christian world. Geza Vermes is the world's leading Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, whose English translations brought these extraordinary documents to thousands, and whose life has been inextricably interwoven with the scrolls for over sixty years. In this illuminating book he relates the controversial story of their discovery and publication around the world, revealing cover-ups, blunders and academic in-fighting, but also the passion and dedication of many of those involved. He shares what he has learned about the scrolls and, evaluating passages from them, gives his views on their true significance and what they can teach us, as well as those areas where scholarly consensus has not yet been reached. Few scholars have been as closely associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls as Vermes. Writing with candour and unique authority, he has created an ideal introduction to understanding these miraculous documents.Stillness Through My Prayers
By Stanislaus Kennedy. 2006
Stillness: A deep silence and quiet calm, bringing feelings of peace, solace, contentment and serenity.You may need this book if…
you have ever felt afraid, unsure, anxious or uncertain...You may need this book if you have ever had sleepless nights, feared the morning, faced difficult decisions, felt worried about the future or craved an answer to life's many mysteries...You may need this book to start to trust and accept, to forgive and let go, with love and peace.In Stillness Through My Prayer, Sister Stan shares simple, profound and calming prayers that she herself uses to help her achieve Stillness - that most elusive and treasured state of mind.'I cannot think of a better biography of a spy chief'Richard Davenport-Hines, The SpectatorSir Maurice Oldfield was one of the…
most important British spies of the Cold War era. _________A farmer’s son from a provincial grammar school who found himself accidentally plunged into the world of espionage, Sir Maurice was the first Chief of MI6 who didn’t come to the role via the traditional public school and Oxbridge route. Oldfield was the voice of British Intelligence in Washington at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of JFK, and was largely responsible for keeping the UK out of the Vietnam War. Working his way to the top of the secret service, he took on the job of rebuilding confidence in the British Secret Service in the wake of the Philby, Burgess and Maclean spy scandals.This is the fascinating life story, told in detail for the first time, of a complex, likeable character as well as a formidable intelligence chief.Spider Woman: A Life – by the former President of the Supreme Court
By Lady Hale. 2021
Lady Hale is an inspirational figure admired for her historic achievements and for the causes she has championed. Spider Woman…
is her story. As 'a little girl from a little school in a little village in North Yorkshire', she only went into the law because her headteacher told her she wasn't clever enough to study history. She became the most senior judge in the country but it was an unconventional path to the top. How does a self-professed 'girly swot' get ahead in a profession dominated by men? Was it a surprise that the perspectives of women and other disadvantaged groups had been overlooked, or that children's interests were marginalised? A lifelong smasher of glass-ceilings, who took as her motto 'women are equal to everything', her landmark rulings in areas including domestic violence, divorce, mental health and equality were her attempt to correct that. As President of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale won global attention in finding the 2019 prorogation of Parliament to be unlawful. Yet that dramatic moment was merely the pinnacle of a career throughout which she was hailed as a pioneering reformer. Wise, warm and inspiring, Spider Woman shows how the law shapes our world and supports us in crisis. It is the story of how Lady Hale found that she could overcome the odds, which shows that anyone from similar beginnings will find that they can cope too.Speaking of Siva
By A. K. Ramanujan. 1973
Speaking of Siva is a selection of vacanas or free-verse sayings from the Virasaiva religious movement, dedicated to Siva as…
the supreme god. Written by four major saints, the greatest exponents of this poetic form, between the tenth and twelfth centuries, they are passionate lyrical expressions of the search for an unpredictable and spontaneous spiritual vision of 'now'. Here, yogic and tantric symbols, riddles and enigmas subvert the language of ordinary experience, as references to night and day, sex and family relationships take on new mystical meanings. These intense poems of personal devotion to a single deity also question traditional belief systems, customs, superstitions, image worship and even moral strictures, in verse that speaks to all men and women regardless of class and caste.Shamed: The Honour Killing That Shocked Britain – by the Sister Who Fought for Justice
By Sarbjit Kaur Athwal. 2013
In 1998, Sarbjit Athwal was called by her husband to attend a family meeting. It looked like just another family…
gathering. An attractive house in west London, a large dining room, two brothers, their mother, one wife. But the subject they were discussing was anything but ordinary. At the head of the group sat the elderly mother. She stared proudly around, smiling at her children, then raised her hand for silence. ‘It’s decided then,’ the old lady announced. ‘We have to get rid of her.’‘Her’ was Surjit Athwal, Sarbjit’s sister-in-law. Within three weeks of that meeting, Surjit was dead: lured from London to India, drugged, strangled, and her body dumped in the Ravi River, never to be seen again.After the killing, risking her own life, Sarbjit fought secretly for justice for nine long, scared years. Eventually, with immense bravery, she became the first person within a murderer’s family ever to go into open court in an honour killing trial as the Prosecution’s key witness, and the first to waive her anonymity in such a trial. As a result of her testimony, the trial led to the first successful prosecution of an honour killing without the body ever being found.But her story doesn’t end there. Since the trial, her life has been threatened; her own husband arrested after an allegation of intimidation. Shamed is a story of fear and of horror – but also of immense courage, and a woman who risked everything to see that justice was done.