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The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without
By John Oakes. 2024
With fasting at an all-time high in popularity, here is the first deep exploration into the surprising history and science…
behind the practice—essential to many religions and philosophies.Whether for philosophical, political, or health-related reasons, fasting marks a departure from daily routine. It involves doing less but doing less in a radical way. Based on extensive historical, scientific, and cultural research and reporting, The Fast illuminates the numerous facets of this act of self-deprivation. John Oakes interviews doctors, spiritual leaders, activists, and others who guide him through this practice—and embarks on fasts of his own—to deliver a book that supplies readers curious about fasting with profound new understanding, appreciation, and inspiration. In recent years, fasting has become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons—from health advocates who see fasting as a method to lose weight or to detox, to the faithful who fast in prayer, to seekers pursuing mindfulness, to activists using hunger strikes as an effective means of peaceful protest. Notable fasters include Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Gandhi, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Cesar Chavez, and a long list of others who have drawn on its power over the ages and across borders and cultures. The Fast looks at the complex science behind the jaw-dropping biological phenomena that occur inside the human body when we fast. Metabolic switching induced by fasting can prompt repair and renewal down to the molecular level; such fasting can provide benefits for those suffering from obesity and diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and more. Prolonged fasting can serve both to reinvigorate the immune system and to protect it against damage. Beyond the physical experience, fasting can be a great collective unifier, an instant leveler that connects us purely by virtue of being an act accessible to all, and it has been adopted by religions and political movements all over the world for millennia. Fasting is central to holy seasons and days such as Lent (Christianity), Ramadan (Islam), Yom Kippur (Judaism), Uposatha (Buddhism), and Ekadashi (Hinduism). On an individual level, devout ascetics who master self-deprivation to an extreme are believed to be closer to the divine, ascending to enlightenment or even sainthood. Through the ages, fasting in the name of justice—a hunger strike—has signaled purity of intent and action. It&’s a tactic that demands commitment, serves to highlight the cruelty of those in authority, and appeals to shared values: that we&’re united by a common humanity and we deserve to be heard. Advocates who have waged hunger strikes include Gandhi in India, Bobby Sands in Ireland, and the Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City. Fasting reminds us of the virtues of holding back, of not consuming all that we can. Ultimately, this book shows us that fasting is about much more than food: it is about taking control of your life in new and empowering ways and reconsidering your place in the world.Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources
By Roger Ariew, Eric Watkins. 2019
The most widely read anthology for the study of modern philosophy, this volume provides key works of philosophers and other leading…
thinkers of the period, chosen to enhance the reader&’s understanding of modern philosophy and its relationship to the natural sciences of the time. The third edition incorporates important contributions of women and minority thinkers into the canon of the modern period, while retaining all of the material of the previous edition. Included are works by Princess Elisabeth, Margaret Cavendish Duchess of Newcastle, Lady Anne Conway, Anton Wilhelm Amo, Lady Damaris Masham, Lady Mary Shepherd, and Emilie Marquise Du Châtelet.The Work Of The People: What We Do In Worship And Why (Vital Worship Healthy Congregations Ser.)
By Marlea Gilbert, Christopher Grundy, Eric T. Myers, Stephanie Perdew. 2007
Worship is the work of the people of God. Patterns of worship shape how we pray and how we live.…
Despite its centrality to church life, worship is too often taken for granted as something a congregation experiences rather than collectively creates. The Work of the People simply and clearly explains the structure of worship, the actions and words we use in liturgy, the environment in which it all happens--in other words, what we are doing and why. This book will guide congregations in worshiping in a way that encourages participants' spiritual growth, welcomes new participants into faith, and sends people out as the body of Christ to transform the world. Respectful of local custom and the traditions and practices of the Church as a whole, The Work of the People will help worship leaders make the best use of their congregation's resources and clarify their choices about how they will worship together. Built around a basic service--gathering, service of the Word, Eucharist, and sending--this book is both theological and practical, and encourages all worshipers' active participation in Spirit-led worship of the God of all Creation.Reasoning From The Scriptures With The Jehovah's Witnesses
By Ron Rhodes. 1993
Christians have great news to offer Jehovah's Witnesses. In this revised and updated version of the top-selling Reasoning from the…
Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses (more than 90,000 copies sold), author and Bible expert Ron Rhodes helps readers delve into the Bible and use practical tools to share God's truths with those who come calling. Convenient side-by-side comparisons of the New World Translation and the Bible, along with answers to each doctrinal error espoused by the Witnesses Point-by-point lists of the favorite tactics and arguments used by the Witnesses—along with effective, biblical responses to each Questions you can ask to challenge the Jehovah's Witnesses' confidence in the Watchtower Society With easy-to-understand helps, concise information, direct comparisons of beliefs, and a compassionate presentation, this resource from Ron Rhodes is ideal for personal and church libraries and for any reader who wants to confidently share the gospel.Church Administration: Creating Efficiency for Effective Ministry
By Robert Welch. 2011
For churches and religious nonprofit operations, the business of business is not business - it is ministry. Still, such institutions…
have to make plans. Because skilled organization is needed to accomplish specific tasks, a leader must train and motivate workers in progress and effectiveness. This second edition of Church Administration helps pastors and church staff become effective and efficient leaders, managers, and administrators. Among the topics discussed are: Administration Documents, Organizing the Church, Administering Personnel Resources, Financial Resources, Physical Resources, and Administering Risk Management. Writing for students as well as those already in this line of work, author Robert H. Welch promises, "If you understand the tenants of general administration and the techniques of ministerial leadership your job will be made significantly easier."Reviving the Ancient Faith, 3rd ed.: The Story of Churches of Christ in America
By Richard T. Hughes, James L. Gorman. 2024
A balanced, well-documented history of the Churches of Christ in America The Churches of Christ is a denomination defined…
by not being a denomination. These communities intended to restore a primitive Christianity, undivided by historical quarrels. Despite this ideal, the Churches of Christ in America have a surprisingly complex history dating back to the nineteenth century. James L. Gorman&’s fresh edition of Richard T. Hughes&’s classic work, Reviving the Ancient Faith, illuminates the movement started by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. The authors trace the movement&’s sociological transformation into a denomination from the 1830s into the twentieth century. Four developments forged this new identity: the premillennialist controversy, the divide over institutions, the racial segregation of congregations and schools, and the fight over liberalism in the 1960s. New to the third edition, the final chapters bring the history of Churches of Christ from the 1960s up to 2022, analyzing the growing diversity of the movement amid intradenominational &“culture wars.&” Reviving the Ancient Faith, 3rd edition, challenges readers to learn the historical basis of Church of Christ identity and beliefs. Students of the history of the Church of Christ and American religion will derive from its pages a more holistic and informed understanding of the tradition.Against Extraction: Indigenous Modernism in the Twin Cities
By Matt Hooley. 2024
In Against Extraction Matt Hooley traces a modern tradition of Ojibwe invention in Minneapolis and St. Paul from the mid-nineteenth…
century to the present as that tradition emerges in response to the cultural legacies of US colonialism. Hooley shows how Indigenous literary and visual art modernisms challenge the strictures of everyday life and question the ecological, political, and cultural fantasies that make multivalent US colonialism seem inevitable. Hooley analyzes literature and art by Louise Erdrich, William Whipple Warren, David Treuer, George Morrison, and Gerald Vizenor in relation to histories of Indigenous dispossession and occupation, enslavement and Black life, and environmental harm and care. He shows that historical narratives of these cities are intimately bound up with the violence of colonial systems of extraction and that concepts like Indigeneity and sovereignty extend beyond treaty-granted promises of political control. These works, created in opposition and proximity to the extraction of cultural, political, and territorial resources, demonstrate how Indigenous claims to life and land matter to rethinking and unmaking the social and ecological devastations of the colonial world.The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump
By Peter Wehner. 2019
The New York Times opinion writer, media commentator, outspoken Republican and Christian critic of the Trump presidency offers a spirited…
defense of politics and its virtuous and critical role in maintaining our democracy and what we must do to save it before it is too late. “Any nation that elects Donald Trump to be its president has a remarkably low view of politics.” Frustrated and feeling betrayed, Americans have come to loathe politics with disastrous results, argues Peter Wehner. In this timely manifesto, the veteran of three Republican administrations and man of faith offers a reasoned and persuasive argument for restoring “politics” as a worthy calling to a cynical and disillusioned generation of Americans. Wehner has long been one of the leading conservative critics of Donald Trump and his effect on the Republican Party. In this impassioned book, he makes clear that unless we overcome the despair that has caused citizens to abandon hope in the primary means for improving our world—the political process—we will not only fall victim to despots but hasten the decline of what has truly made America great. Drawing on history and experience, he reminds us of the hard lessons we have learned about how we rule ourselves—why we have checks and balances, why no one is above the law, why we defend the rights of even those we disagree with. Wehner believes we can turn the country around, but only if we abandon our hatred and learn to appreciate and honor the unique and noble American tradition of doing “politics.” If we want the great American experiment to continue and to once again prosper, we must once more take up the responsibility each and every one of us as citizens share.Why do people reject science and believe online conspiracy theories? How are people radicalized online and go on to commit…
acts of violence? Why is our society so politically polarized?Astonishingly irrational ideas are spreading. Covid denial persists in the face of overwhelming evidence. Anti-vaxxers compromise public health. Conspiracy thinking hijacks minds and incites mob violence. Toxic partisanship is cleaving nations, and climate denial has pushed our planet to the brink. Meanwhile, American Nazis march openly in the streets, and Flat Earth theory is back. What the heck is going on? Why is all this happening, and why now? More important, what can we do about it? In Mental Immunity, Andy Norman shows that these phenomena share a root cause. We live in a time when the so-called “right to your opinion” is thought to trump our responsibilities. The resulting ethos effectively compromises mental immune systems, allowing “mind parasites” to overrun them. Conspiracy theories, evidence-defying ideologies, garden-variety bad ideas: these are all species of mind parasite, and each of them employs clever strategies to circumvent mental immune systems. In fact, some of them compromise cultural immune systems – the things societies do to prevent bad ideas from spreading. Norman shows why all of this is more than mere analogy: minds and cultures really do have immune systems, and they really can break down. Fortunately, they can also be built up: strengthened against ideological corruption. He calls for a rigorous science of mental immune health – what he calls “cognitive immunology” – and explains how it could revolutionize our capacity for critical thinking.Hailed as “a feast for thought,” Mental Immunity melds cutting-edge work in science and philosophy into an “astonishingly enlightening and productive” solution to the signature problem of our age. A practical guide to spotting and removing bad ideas, a stirring call to transcend our petty tribalisms, and a serious bid to bring humanity to its senses.There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind
By Antony Flew, Roy Abraham Varghese. 2008
In one of the biggest religion news stories of the new millennium, the Associated Press announced that Professor Antony Flew,…
the world's leading atheist, now believes in God. Flew is a pioneer for modern atheism. His famous paper, Theology and Falsification, was first presented at a meeting of the Oxford Socratic Club chaired by C. S. Lewis and went on to become the most widely reprinted philosophical publication of the last five decades. Flew earned his fame by arguing that one should presuppose atheism until evidence of a God surfaces. He now believes that such evidence exists, and There Is a God chronicles his journey from staunch atheism to believer. For the first time, this book will present a detailed and fascinating account of Flew's riveting decision to revoke his previous beliefs and argue for the existence of God. Ever since Flew's announcement, there has been great debate among atheists and believers alike about what exactly this "conversion" means. There Is a God will finally put this debate to rest. This is a story of a brilliant mind and reasoned thinker, and where his lifelong intellectual pursuit eventually led him: belief in God as designer.With God in Russia: The Inspiring Classic Account of a Catholic Priest's Twenty-three Years in Soviet Prisons and Labor Camps
By Walter J. Ciszek, Daniel L. Flaherty. 2017
Republished for a new century and featuring an afterword by Father James Martin, SJ, the classic memoir of an American-born…
Jesuit priest imprisoned for fifteen years in a Soviet gulag during the height of the Cold War—a poignant and spiritually uplifting story of extraordinary faith and fortitude as indelible as Unbroken. Foreword by Daniel L. Flaherty.While ministering in Eastern Europe during World War II, Polish-American priest Walter Ciszek, S.J., was arrested by the NKVD, the Russian secret police, shortly after the war ended. Accused of being an American spy and charged with "agitation with intent to subvert," he was held in Moscow’s notorious Lubyanka prison for five years. The Catholic priest was then sentenced without trial to ten more years of hard labor and transported to Siberia, where he would become a prisoner within the forced labor camp system made famous in Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn’s Nobel Prize—winning book The Gulag Archipelago. In With God in Russia, Ciszek reflects on his daily life as a prisoner, the labor he endured while working in the mines and on construction gangs, his unwavering faith in God, and his firm devotion to his vows and vocation. Enduring brutal conditions, Ciszek risked his life to offer spiritual guidance to fellow prisoners who could easily have exposed him for their own gains. He chronicles these experiences with grace, humility, and candor, from his secret work leading mass and hearing confessions within the prison grounds, to his participation in a major gulag uprising, to his own "resurrection"—his eventual release in a prisoner exchange in October 1963 which astonished all who had feared he was dead. Powerful and inspirational, With God in Russia captures the heroic patience, endurance, and religious conviction of a man whose life embodied the Christian ideals that sustained him.Writings from the Zen Masters (Penguin Great Ideas)
By Various. 1957
These are unique stories of timeless wisdom and understanding from the Zen Masters. With rich and fascinating tales of swords,…
tigers, tea, flowers and dogs, the writings of the Masters challenge every perception - and seek to bring all readers closer to enlightenment.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.Faith Formation in Vital Congregations
By Marian R. Plant. 2009
Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (Harper Perennial Modern Thought Ser.)
By Immanuel Kant. 2009
The finest single-volume introduction to Kant's ethics available in English. —Philosophical Review, on the H. J. Paton translation Considered one…
of the most profound, influential, and important works of world philosophy, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals introduces his famous Categorical Imperative and lays down a foundation for all of Immanuel Kant's writings. In it, Kant illuminates the basic concept that is central to his moral philosophy and, in fact, to the entire field of modern ethical thought: The Categorical Imperative, the supreme principle of morality, stating that all decisions should be made based on what is universally acceptable. Featuring the renowned translation and commentary of Oxford's H. J. Paton, this volume has long been considered the definitive English edition of Kant's classic text. "Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals," Paton writes in his preface, "is one of the small books which is truly great: it has exercised on human thought an influence almost ludicrously disproportionate to its size."Deadly Thought: Hamlet And The Human Soul (Applications Of Political Theory Ser.)
By Jan H. Blits. 2001
Romantic Agency: Loving Well in Modern Life
By Luke Brunning. 2024
This is a book for people energized by the possibilities of modern intimacy, but who feel unsure about their own…
romantic lives. Alternative lifestyles such as nonmonogamy, while liberating in theory, can feel remote in practice, as we are fixed in place by insecurities and social pressures. In Romantic Agency, philosopher Luke Brunning encourages readers to think more deeply about what it means for relationships to not only work, but flourish. Guided by the thought that our abilities to be intimate cannot be taken for granted, he argues that our romantic agency is fragile and best cultivated alongside other people. Together we can become more realistic, balance playfulness with integrity, and value each other’s flourishing. Anyone can benefit from this exploration of intimate life, regardless of their relationship status or romantic ideals. Compelling and timely, Romantic Agency is a groundbreaking account of love and relationships.Why I Am so Clever (Penguin Little Black Classics)
By Friedrich Nietzsche. 2004
'Why do I know a few more things? Why am I so clever altogether?'Self-celebrating and self-mocking autobiographical writings from Ecce…
Homo, the last work iconoclastic German philosopher Nietzsche wrote before his descent into madness.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.Where I Lived, and What I Lived For (Penguin Great Ideas)
By Henry Thoreau. 2005
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.Thoreau's account of his solitary and self-sufficient home in the New England woods remains an inspiration to the environmental movement - a call to his fellow men to abandon their striving, materialistic existences of 'quiet desperation' for a simple life within their means, finding spiritual truth through awareness of the sheer beauty of their surroundings.Useful Work v. Useless Toil (Penguin Great Ideas)
By William Morris. 2008
Visionary English Socialist and pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris argued that all work should be a…
source of pride and satisfaction, and that everyone should be entitled to beautiful surroundings – no matter what their class. 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.Utopia
By Thomas More. 2012
'It remains astonishingly radical ... one of Utopia's most striking aspects is its contemporaniety' Terry EagletonIn Utopia, Thomas More gives…
us a traveller's account of a newly-discovered island where the inhabitants enjoy a social order based on natural reason and justice, and human fulfilment is open to all. As the traveller describes the island, a bitter contrast is drawn between this rational society and the practices of Europe. How can the philosopher reform his society? In his discussion, More takes up a question first raised by Plato and which is still a challenge in the contemporary world. In the history of political thought few works have been more influential than Utopia, and few more misunderstood.Translated and introduced by Dominic Baker-Smith