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Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult That Bound My Life
By Sarah Edmondson. 2019
As seen in the HBO docuseries THE VOW: The shocking and subversive memoir of a 12-year-NXIVM-member-turned-whistleblower, and her inspiring true…
story of abuse, escape, and redemption."'Master, would you brand me? It would be an honor.' From the second I climb onto the table, acutely aware that I am lying in the sweat of my sisters, I will have blocked that out. Lying there completely naked, I am at my most vulnerable but determined to prove my strength. I try to keep my legs closed as my body wills itself to protect my most private area. . . . I tell myself: I am a warrior. I birthed a human. I can handle pain. But nothing could have ever prepared me for the feel of this fire on my skin."Scarred is Sarah Edmondson's compelling memoir of her recruitment into the NXIVM cult, the 12 years she spent within the organization (during which she enrolled over 2,000 members and entered DOS—NXIVM's "secret sisterhood"), her breaking point, and her harrowing fight to get out, to expose Keith Raniere and the leadership, to help others, and to heal. Complete with personal photographs, Scarred is also an eye-opening story about abuses of power, female trust and friendship, and how sometimes the search to be "better" can override everything else.• In the tradition of Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, Escape by Carolyn Jessop, and Troublemaker by Leah Remini• This tell-all follows Sarah from the moment she takes her first NXIVM seminar, to the invitation she accepts from her best friend, Lauren Salzman, into DOS, to her journey toward become a key witness in the federal case against its founders• Evokes questions about friendship, ethics, good and evil, making it a brilliant selection for book clubsAudio edition read by the author.Religion and Humour: An Introduction (Engaging with Religion)
By David Feltmate. 2024
This timely and lively introduction to exploring the intersection of religion and humour evaluates existing scholarship and methodologies within the…
field, arguing for a culturally critical approach to the study.Hinged on a qualitative sociological framework, this book asks questions about the construction, presentation, and purpose of humour in religious contexts. It is broken down by theoretical approach, with chapters covering: a “comparative religions” approach; a theological approach; how social sciences offer us useful tools for research; and a review of existing theoretical models. As the first volume to introduce the field of religion and humour, this engaging book is essential reading for students approaching the topic for the first time, and for anyone with an interest in related fields such as religion and popular culture and humour studies.Weathering the Reformation explores the role of the Little Ice Age in early modern Christian culture and considers climate as…
a contributing factor in the Protestant Reform. The book focuses on religious narratives from Strasbourg between 1509 and 1541, pivotal years during which the European cultural concept of nature splintered along confessional differences. Together with case studies from antagonistic religious communities, Linnéa Rowlatt draws on annual weather reports for a period during which the climate became less hospitable to human endeavours. Social uunrest and the cultural upheaval of Reform are examined in relation to deteriorating climactic conditions characteristic of the Spörer Minimum. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of religious history and climate history.Former special assistant to President Trump, New York Times bestselling author, and evangelical Christian Cliff Sims shares the lessons he learned on…
faith, politics, and the Christian witness while working in the halls of power. American life today is consumed by politics. Even our churches are tearing themselves apart over political candidates, cultural flashpoints, and debates about whether certain pastors are vessels for the Holy Spirit or an unholy political agenda. So how should Christians approach our lives in this time of strife and division? How should we engage in politics and respond when we find that our beliefs are at odds with the culture? And how do we keep our focus on eternity when the present attractions of the world are there in front of us at every turn? Cliff Sims, the son of a Baptist minister and man of deep Christian faith, has walked the halls of power, serving as a Special Assistant to President Trump and Deputy Director of National Intelligence. While working at the highest levels of the American government, he experienced firsthand the cutthroat world of power politics, an environment that can test the character of any follower of Jesus, and he wrestled continually with how to live out his faith. In this book, Cliff shares hard-earned wisdom from his time serving in government, giving Christians lessons on how to live faithfully and with integrity. Recounting stories from the West Wing, Air Force One, and top secret bunkers, Sims offers practical advice and biblical insight on how to let the light of Christ shine in our dark world, regardless of our politics. The Darkness Has Not Overcome is a must-read for every Christian who has found themselves exasperated by politics, fearful about the future, or discouraged by the times in which we live.The Routledge Handbook of Megachurches (Routledge Handbooks in Religion)
By Afe Adogame, Chad M. Bauman, Damaris Parsitau, Jeaney Yip. 2024
The Routledge Handbook of Megachurches provides a survey of global megachurch phenomena, with an international slate of authors introducing existing…
and emerging research on a wide variety of relevant topics.Over the past decade, the field of megachurch studies has matured and become global in its scope and orientation. The Handbook offers 33 chapters by top scholars in the field, focusing in particular on: The location, demographic nature, and transnational connections of megachurches. Megachurch worship, hermeneutics, and theology (in theory and practice). Megachurch institutional dynamics. The various ways that megachurches have both influenced and been influenced by their social contexts in terms of class, age, gender, sexuality, and pop culture. The Handbook's interdisciplinary orientation makes it essential reading for sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, media specialists, pop culture observers, business strategists, leadership consultants, marketing analysts, scholars of religion, and Christian historians, theologians, and missiologists. Experienced scholars of megachurches will gain valuable insight into aspects of megachurch research beyond their own specializations. Scholars new to the field will find the chapters useful as signposts for where to begin their own academic exploration. Christian pastors and laypeople will learn more about this increasingly prominent and influential form of their faith.Nothing Sacred
By Stathis Gourgouris. 2024
Nothing Sacred makes a bold call for reconceptualizing the projects of humanism and democracy as creative sources of emancipatory meaning,…
from the immediate political sphere to the farthest reaches of planetary ways of living.Restaging Aristotle’s classic notion of the “political animal” in broad historical and geographical frames, Stathis Gourgouris explores the autopoietic capacities of human-being in society, while developing new frameworks of anticolonial humanism and radical democracy as the only worthy adversaries of neoliberal capitalism.This reconfigured anthropological horizon enables us to imagine new ways of living by learning to pursue a radical politics of autonomy and a planetary vision that upholds life-affirming coexistence and equal sharing against the fetishism of hierarchy and servitude, money and technologic, sovereignty and endless growth.Written with daring, erudition, and anarchic contestation, this book seeks the political through a poetic perspective. Nothing Sacred rejects niche thinking in the academy and engages a vast domain of reflections on the problem of human-being in today’s dismal world.Celtic Druidry: Rituals, Techniques, and Magical Practices
By Ellen Evert Hopman. 2024
• Explains how to make and use the essential tools of a Celtic Druid and how to create Druid rituals…
for seasonal rites, blessings, and other sacred observances • Details Druidic magical techniques and divination practices, as well as plant spells for performing magic with herbs • Explores the Gods and Goddesses of the Celtic pantheon, Druidic cosmology, and the Druidic festivals that occur throughout the year In this authentic handbook for the Celtic Druid path, Ellen Evert Hopman shares lessons, rituals, and magical techniques drawn from the ancient wisdom teachings of the Celts as well as a modern Druid Order created by the leading minds of 20th-century Celtic Reconstructionism. Hopman begins by exploring what we know about the original ancient Druids, citing Druid-contemporary sources such as Caesar and Diodorus Siculus as well as transcriptions of Druid oral teachings. She explains the basic tools and clothing of a Celtic Druid, including instructions for making the essential tools of the craft, such a Crane Bag, the Serpent Staff, and the Apple Branch, the tool used to open a Druid rite. She explores meditation techniques based on ancient texts and discusses the Gods and Goddesses of the Celtic pantheon, Druidic cosmology, and the Druidic festivals that occur throughout the turning of the year. She shares hymns to the Moon and the Sun as well as invocations for connecting with specific deities and elements. She also outlines the basics of Druidic liturgy, enabling you to create Druid rituals for seasonal rites, baby blessings, house blessings, hand-fastings, funerals, and other sacred observances. Detailing Druidic magical techniques, Hopman shares charms and incantations for abundance, protection, and healing as well as plant spells for performing magic with herbs. She discusses many forms of Druidic divination, including interpreting omens and divining with the ancient Irish alphabet, Ogham. Exploring the special connection between humans and Nature, a core component of Druidic practice, the author explains how to bond with Nature and the sacred land as well as examining the connection between Druids and trees. Revealing how to become a modern Druid, this concise yet detailed guide presents everything you need to know to start your journey on the Druidic path.You can find emotional freedom. Learn to see through the haze of conflicted feelings and move forward in your life…
with confidence. Licensed therapist and bestselling author Dr. Alison Cook guides you through a groundbreaking 3-step process to find the freedom you crave.When you're tangled up inside, it's hard to find clarity. Yet so many of us guilt-trip or gaslight ourselves instead of working our way through complicated feelings….I should be a good friend, even though I feel hurt by past betrayals.I should be content, even though I feel lonely or unfulfilled.I should just have faith, even though I feel discouraged by unanswered prayers. This jumbled-up knot is a cry for gentle care and patient attention, but most of us haven't been given the tools required to unravel it.I Shouldn't Feel This Way is your guide out of the chaos and into the calm and clarity you need to face life's challenges. Drawing from over twenty years of research and clinical practice, Dr. Alison Cook guides you through a groundbreaking 3-step process that has helped tens of thousands of people find emotional freedom and surprisingly simple breakthroughs. Dr. Alison shows you how to:identify guilt and know what to do with it,trade feeling stuck in your head for clarity,move from comfortable numbing to courageous conversations, andmake decisions that break cycles of defeat. Change starts when you finally stop beating yourself up for the way that you feel. I Shouldn't Feel This Way is your pathway to emotional freedom. It is time to finally work through your complicated feelings so you can start living with the clarity and confidence you crave.Where is jerusalem? (Where Is?)
By Ellen Morgan. 2024
Learn all about Jerusalem—a sacred city in the Middle East that has existed for over five thousand years. From the…
#1 New York Times Best-Selling Who Was? series comes Where Is?, a series that tells the stories of world-famous landmarks and natural wonders. In 2005, a group of construction workers in Jerusalem made an incredible discovery. Underneath the parking lot they were digging up lay an ancient city that was built in the tenth century! Three years later, gold coins from an even earlier century were found at the site. The city of Jerusalem is like a layer cake of history—more than five thousand years of complicated history—all of which author Ellen Morgan explains clearly and objectively in this audiobookRitual and Its Consequences: An Essay On The Limits Of Sincerity
By Adam B. Seligman, Robert P. Weller, Michael J. Puett, Bennett Simon. 2008
Converting the Missionaries: The Wheeler Family and the Ojibwe
By Nancy Bunge. 2024
This book tells the uncommon story of a missionary family in the Midwestern United States, and their interactions with the…
indigenous Ojibwe. When Leonard and Harriet Wheeler arrived at La Pointe, Wisconsin in July of 1841, hoping to help the Ojibwe understand and accept the value of Christian civility, they did not expect such a profound transformation of their own lives. The Wheelers’ empathy for the Ojibwe not only grew during their twenty-five years of mission work in Northern Wisconsin, much of it spent trying to protect the Ojibwe from predatory whites, it also influenced the lives of their children.Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
By John A. Beck. 2011
Learning the meaning and significance of biblical images will revolutionize your grasp of the Bible as a whole. Scripture is…
packed with symbolic imagery and metaphors: looms, donkeys, water cisterns, grapes, sackcloth—all carry symbolic or emotional weight that sharpens the broader picture of the passage.The biblical authors used their reality to enhance the impact of their message on the audience around them, and the language they used is rich with meaning. The words might be familiar today, but the cultural connotations of things like manna, millstones, or myrrh might be missed by contemporary Christians and might cause us to lose the fullest significance of the Bible passage.The Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery surveys the use and connotations of familiar images in the Bible to illustrate the intricate and subtle ways they're put to work in the text. The types of entries include:Cultural artifacts from the biblical world (such as arrow or sandal)Components of natural history (such as fox or fig tree)Named places (such as Mount Sinai or Nazareth)Components of Israel's physical geography (such as mountain or wilderness)Each entry describes an image's characteristics, appearance, intended use, and cultural connotations, as well as the rhetorical impact of its use in the Bible. As you read, you'll begin to understand things like why Jesus called for us to become the salt of the earth, why dew was a controversial topic in Bible times, and why a roof might be mentioned to draw attention to a violation of expected norms.With accessible, well-illustrated entries and numerous black & white visuals, The Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery is an inspiring portal into the biblical world for any student of the Bible.The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control
By Abraham H. Foxman. 2007
The representative of the Jewish community and staunch defender of human rights, Foxman delivers a powerful blow to such ideas…
as "The Israel Lobby." He shows how old stereotypes associated with the most virulent forms of bigotry have been resurfacing and taking subtle new forms. From Carter to Mearsheimer, he addresses the public figures who make these beliefs appear credible. He also reveals a disturbing parallel trend: the decline of global Jewish solidarity, which he argues is critical for dealing with the current threat. Foxman advocates forthright and decisive solutions to an international crisis, ensuring that this will be an important clarion call.Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up
By John Allen Paulos. 2008
A Lifelong Unbeliever Finds No Reason to Change His MindAre there any logical reasons to believe in God? Mathematician and…
bestselling author John Allen Paulos thinks not. In Irreligion he presents the case for his own worldview, organizing his book into twelve chapters that refute the twelve arguments most often put forward for believing in God's existence. The latter arguments, Paulos relates in his characteristically lighthearted style, "range from what might be called golden oldies to those with a more contemporary beat. On the playlist are the firstcause argument, the argument from design, the ontological argument, arguments from faith and biblical codes, the argument from the anthropic principle, the moral universality argument, and others." Interspersed among his twelve counterarguments are remarks on a variety of irreligious themes, ranging from the nature of miracles and creationist probability to cognitive illusions and prudential wagers. Special attention is paid to topics, arguments, and questions that spring from his incredulity "not only about religion but also about others' credulity." Despite the strong influence of his day job, Paulos says, there isn't a single mathematical formula in the book.Mirror of God: Christian Faith as Spiritual Practice
By James W. Jones. 2003
What are the benefits of being a spiritual person? This is the question that James Jones explores in his newest…
book, The Mirror of God. Jones contends that true religious belief is not a passive process and that one must work hard towards believing in God through acts such as prayer, meditation and communal worship. He explores the boundaries between psychotherapy and religious practice, looks at what Christians might learn from Buddhists and shows their effects on the body and mind. Jones is a psychologist as well as a professor of religion and, ultimately, he provides a blueprint for worship that's smart, effective and grounded in the real lives we all live.Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America
By John J. Fialka. 2003
Sisters is the first major history of the pivotal role played by nuns in the building of American society. Nuns…
were the first feminists, argues Fialka. They became the nation's first cadre of independent, professional women. Some nursed, some taught, and many created and managed new charitable organizations, including large hospitals and colleges. In the 1800s nuns moved west with the frontier, often starting the first hospitals and schools in immigrant communities. They provided aid and service in the Chicago fire, cared for orphans and prostitutes in the California Gold Rush and brought professional nursing skills to field hospitals run by both armies in the Civil War. Their work was often done in the face of intimidation from such groups as the Know Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan.In the 1900s they built the nation's largest private school and hospital systems and brought the Catholic Church into the civil rights movement. As their numbers began to decline in the 1970s, many sisters were forced to take professional jobs as lawyers, probation workers, managers and hospital executives because their salaries were needed to support older nuns, many of whom lacked a pension system. Currently there are about 75,000 sisters in America, down from 204,000 in 1968. Their median age is sixty-nine. In Sisters, Fialka reveals the strength of the spiritual capital and the unprecedented reach of the caring institutions that religious women created in America.American Heretics: Catholics, Jews, Muslims and the History of Religious Intolerance
By Peter Gottschalk. 2013
In the middle of the nineteenth century a group of political activists in New York City joined together to challenge…
a religious group they believed were hostile to the American values of liberty and freedom. Called the Know Nothings, they started riots during elections, tarred and feathered their political enemies, and barred men from employment based on their religion. The group that caused this uproar?: Irish and German Catholics—then known as the most villainous religious group in America, and widely believed to be loyal only to the Pope. It would take another hundred years before Catholics threw off these xenophobic accusations and joined the American mainstream. The idea that the United States is a stronghold of religious freedom is central to our identity as a nation—and utterly at odds with the historical record. In American Heretics, historian Peter Gottschalk traces the arc of American religious discrimination and shows that, far from the dominant protestant religions being kept in check by the separation between church and state, religious groups from Quakers to Judaism have been subjected to similar patterns of persecution. Today, many of these same religious groups that were once regarded as anti-thetical to American values are embraced as evidence of our strong religious heritage—giving hope to today's Muslims, Sikhs, and other religious groups now under fire.I Ching: The Book of Change
By David Hinton. 2015
A master translator's beautiful and accessible rendering of the seminal Chinese textIn a radically new translation and interpretation of the…
I Ching, David Hinton strips this ancient Chinese masterwork of the usual apparatus and discovers a deeply poetic and philosophical text. Teasing out an elegant vision of the cosmos as ever-changing yet harmonious, Hinton reveals the seed from which Chinese philosophy, poetry, and painting grew. Although it was and is widely used for divination, the I Ching is also a book of poetic philosophy, deeply valued by artists and intellectuals, and Hinton's translation restores it to its original lyrical form.Previous translations have rendered the I Ching as a divination text full of arcane language and extensive commentary. Though informative, these versions rarely hint at the work's philosophical heart, let alone its literary beauty. Here, Hinton translates only the original strata of the text, revealing a fully formed work of literature in its own right. The result is full of wild imagery, fables, aphorisms, and stories. Acclaimed for the eloquence of his many translations of ancient Chinese poetry and philosophy, Hinton has reinvented the I Ching as an exciting contemporary text at once primal and postmodern.My Guru and His Disciple
By Christopher Isherwood. 1980
My Guru and His Disciple is a sweetly modest and honest portrait of Isherwood's spiritual instructor, Swami Prabhavananda, the Hindu…
priest who guided Isherwood for some thirty years. It is also a book about the often amusing and sometimes painful counterpoint between worldliness and holiness in Isherwood's own life. Sexual sprees, all-night drinking bouts, a fast car ride with Greta Garbo, scriptwriting conferences at M-G-M, intellectual sparring sessions with Berthold Brecht alternated with nights of fasting at the Vedanta Center, a six-month period of celibacy and sobriety, and the pious drudgery of translating (in collaboration with the Swami) the Bhagavad-Gita. Seldom has a single man been owed with such strong drives toward both sensuality and spirituality, abandon and discipline; out of the passionate dialectic between these drives, My Guru and His Disciple has been written.This book addresses the most suggestive themes of transhumanism and critical posthumanism by placing them in dialogue with classic problems…
of metaphysics, and with some great thinkers of the past (Bruno, Spinoza, and above all Leibniz). The main purpose of this comparison is to invite transhumanists and critical posthumanists to consider a highly complex problematic tradition rooted in the history of philosophy. This study also makes use of examples drawn from the history of mythology, angelology, and mysticism. At the same time, the book promotes dialogue between scholars of classical metaphysics and philosophy of religion, and the potential metaphysical/spiritual theories developed independently by transhumanist and posthumanist thinkers within an anti-dualist and naturalistic philosophical framework. The goal is to ‘enhance’ contemporary transhumanism and posthumanism by promoting the need to safeguard intelligence as a principle, without falling into the trap of a violent and egotistic metaphysics.