The world's religions have emerged as one of the greatest geopolitical forces now shaping our lives. Now available in an updated edition, this authoritative atlas is an essential resource for understanding the powerful role of religion around the globe. In an accessible text packed with information, it maps the current nature, extent, and influence of each of the major religions and shows, country by country, how religions are spread through broadcasting, missionary work, schooling, and...
In Search of Soul explores the meaning of “soul” in sacred and profane incarnations, from its biblical origins to its central place in the rich traditions of black and Latin history. Surveying the work of writers, artists, poets, musicians, philosophers and theologians, Alejandro Nava shows how their understandings of the “soul” revolve around narratives of justice, liberation, and spiritual redemption.  He contends that biblical traditions and...
Awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 1913, Rabindranath Tagore (1861— 1941) is considered the most important poet of modern-day India. He was also a distinguished author, educator, social reformer, and philosopher. Today, Tagore along with Mahatma Gandhi is prized as a foremost intellectual and spiritual advocate of India's liberation from imperial rule. <br><br>This inspiring collection of Tagore's poetry represents his «simple prayers of common life.» Each...
Seventeen-year-old Alice Marie Krayenbraak is beautiful, witty, a star student, and a gifted athlete. On the surface, she has it all. But in Alice’s hometown of Dutch Center, Iowa, nothing is as it seems. Behind the façade of order and tidiness, the family farm is failing. Alice’s mother is behaving strangely amid apocalyptic fears of Y2K. And her parents have announced their plans to send her special-needs sister Aldah away. On top of it all, the uniformly Dutch...
Bring a world of justice voices to Sunday worship with «A Child Laughs,» an anthology of reflections, liturgies, and prayers from seventy-seven writers in eleven different countries. Find meditations, worship resources, and action steps on topics of gun violence, addiction, chronic illness, migration, reproductive health, climate change, and more. «A child’s laugh should be the butterfly wing, the ripple-maker, for all the world. There are many children crying—we hear them echoing from news...
A collection of stories that fuses the sensibilities of Gabriel Garcia Marque, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Henry James and Philip Roth Set in venues as diverse as Israel, Hungary, Paris, Cambridge and, even, Austin, Texas A diverse set of characters, including a narrator who marries a French wife and discovers there is more to a cross-cultural marriage than the cinema suggests and a married older woman who seduces, first, a psychologically fragile adolescent boy and then, in quick succession, his...
Exposes the invisible ways in which Christian privilege disadvantages religious minorities in America The United States is recognized as the most religiously diverse country in the world, and yet its laws and customs, which many have come to see as normal features of American life, actually keep the Constitutional ideal of “religious freedom for all” from becoming a reality. Christian beliefs, norms, and practices infuse our society; they are embedded in our institutions, creating the structures...
"Dies ist die Offenbarung Jesu Christi, die ihm Gott gegeben hat, seinen Knechten zu zeigen, was in Kürze geschehen soll; und er hat sie gedeutet und gesandt durch seinen Engel zu seinem Knecht Johannes, der bezeugt hat das Wort Gottes und das Zeugnis von Jesus Christus, alles, was er gesehen hat. Selig ist, der da liest und die da hören die Worte der Weissagung und behalten, was darin geschrieben ist; denn die Zeit ist nahe." Mit Günther Fischer und Tobias Hoffmann treffen zwei...
What is Tantra? Tantra techniques are very ancient and some form is found in many ancient cultures. The Sanskrit word tantra implies continuation, weaving together, but there is no real single definition. Tantra includes many sets of techniques, usually action-oriented, to weave together mind and body. Simple Tibetan Buddhism: A Guide to Tantric Living offers:a concise introduction to the unique history and traditions of Tibetan Buddhisma clear explanation of how Tibetan Buddhism differs from...
Secret Drugs of Buddhism is the first book to explore the historical evidence for the use of entheogenic plants within the Buddhist tradition. Drawing on scriptural sources, botany, pharmacology, and religious iconography, this book calls attention to the central role which psychedelics played in Indian religions.[/b] It traces their history from the mysterious soma potion, celebrated in the most ancient Hindu scriptures, to amrita, the sacramental drink of Vajrayana Buddhism. Although amrita...
“A fantastic spiritual journey.” —Urban Reviews “Michelle Stimpson will have you laughing, crying and relating to each of her vivid, vocal characters.” —AAMBC Book Reviews Camille Robertson had her fifteen minutes of fame in the late ’90s with the sexy R&B girl group Sweet Treats. Now she works as a telemarketer and longs for the past. With her thirtieth birthday around the corner, Camille is determined to break back into the music industry. But her new agent says her only chance is to...