Mysticism Books

Book SynopsisMost of Krishnamurti's books are transcriptions from the many talks he gave. This book however contains short pieces from his notebooks, which are heartfelt and intimate. More than 55 short entries, between one and six pages long, start with descriptions unfolding amidst mountains, jungles and rolling meadows and then end with his own spontaneous musings. The writing feels totally spontaneous and in-the-moment, and is never clichéd or too smooth. You are drawn to consider his words carefully, because your mind is quiet. For Krishnamurti, the challenge is to keep our minds free from preconceptions and ultimately free from any concepts at all. So, you don't "decide" to meditate and you never consciously meditate at all as a distinct action. You actively meditate from one second to the next but without effort. It's just how you are. Our minds can bring us down and seemingly conspire against us, but a quieter contemplation of how things truly are can also bring breakthroughs and peace. This is exactly what this book is for, through its vivid scenes and helpful contemplations. Krishnamurti is perfect for seekers who have exhausted all the "how tos" and are disillusioned by teachers who are coasting or who are writing books to generate an income when they have nothing to say. The spiritual market is maturing and there are many people who want more. This is for them.

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Book SynopsisPreviously unpublished - This is a collection of Krishnamurti's speeches and informal talks where he discusses war, politics and global tensions. It's especially vital in these times where people are overwhelmed by bad news and discord on all sides.

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Book SynopsisThis book represents a significant contribution to debates about identity, the arts and spirituality. Written in an autoethnographic style, the author charts his own journey into understanding the interface between himself, culture and digital technology. He charts a course through West African orate and literate traditions and their relationship to the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans, describing how they became a source of so many dance traditions in Europe and the Americas, such as capoeira, Afro Brazilian and Cuban movement, Hip Hop and Samba. He enters into a detailed analysis of Western linear time and the African curved time; the flux of the Return Beat. He sets out a description of the Yoruba religion of the Orishas; centred around the figure of Olodumare and the concept of Ashe, the animating force of the natural world. As a practitioner of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, he draws comparisons with Chinese spiritual practice and other philosophical traditions, always linking these with the movement of the body both as generative forces and reflective frames. He constructs the framework of the Return Beat, physical journal and mobile studio practice from an understanding of many intercultural, conceptual and performative practices, embodied over his career as a performer.

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Book SynopsisSufism is a growing and global phenomenon, far from the declining relic it was once thought to be. This book brings together the work of fourteen leading experts to explore systematically the key themes of Sufism's new global presence, from Yemen to Senegal via Chicago and Sweden. The contributors look at the global spread and stance of such major actors as the Ba 'Alawiyya, the 'Afropolitan' Tijaniyya, and the Gülen Movement. They map global Sufi culture, from Rumi to rap, and ask how global Sufism accommodates different and contradictory gender practices. They examine the contested and shifting relationship between the Islamic and the universal: is Sufism the timeless and universal essence of all religions, the key to tolerance and co-existence between Muslims and non-Muslims? Or is it the purely Islamic heart of traditional and authentic practice and belief? Finally, the book turns to politics. States and political actors in the West and in the Muslim world are using the mantle and language of Sufism to promote their objectives, while Sufis are building alliances with them against common enemies. This raises the difficult question of whether Sufis are defending Islam against extremism, supporting despotism against democracy, or perhaps doing both.Trade Review‘Highly recommended … one of the best academic treatments of contemporary Sufism.’ -- Global Intellectual History'Global Sufism is well worth the read and will no doubt be of great benefit in the classroom as we move towards more nuanced, subtle and less normative modes of studying Islam and Sufism.’ * Muslim World Book Review *'Insightful and nuanced, this engaging and informative book is a must read for those who follow contemporary Sufism, whether academically or personally. From Rumi to rap, San Francisco to Senegal--we get both backstory and analysis of the dynamics of a new global Sufism.' -- Marcia Hermansen, Professor and Director of Islamic World Studies, Loyola University Chicago'Ranging between "Afropolitanism", state-sponsored anti-Salafism and the American New Age movement, these essays chart the varied and sometimes contradictory claims to the legacy and legitimacy of traditional Islam. This is a timely survey of the complex "glocal" politics of transnational Sufism.' -- Nile Green, Professor of History, UCLA, and author of 'Sufism: A Global History''This volume shows Sufism's amazing viability and adaptability to new circumstances and challenges. It provides a comprehensive and erudite analysis of the vicissitudes of Sufism in various parts of the Muslim world and in the West.' -- Alexander Knysh, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Michigan, and author of 'Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism''This rich volume provides a selection of chapters on contemporary Sufism in its varied appearances in a global world. All chapters are thoroughly contextualised and present orders, informal groups, individuals and ritual practices as well as political dimensions and influences from present-day spirituality.' -- Catharina Raudvere, Professor of the History of Religions, University of Copenhagen‘Effectively shatters many interrelated shibboleths we still cling to in our understanding and teaching of Sufism … From radio programs to Rumi to rap music, [the book] covers with depth and concision a rich amount of ground within its pages.’

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Book SynopsisGod, Pope Francis affirms, is present in nature, and he wants us to share that perspective, because he believes that it can generate in us a sense of wonder, awe, reverence and love for nature in all its aspects. This sense will make us strong enough to dedicate ourselves to the demanding task of caring for what he calls ‘our common home.’ When my home is under threat I will fight tooth and nail to protect it and those living in it, because I love it. Such commitment is needed today if our small and fragile planet is to be brought back to health. Brian Grogan brings the background of Ignatian spirituality and a lived appreciation of God’s creation to his book of meditations on Pope Francis’ Encyclical, Laudato Si. Rather than an exhaustive explanation of the encyclical, this book serves as a daily invitation to notice in ordinary creation the invitation of God to love and care for all God’s creation. Read slowly each morning, it could give a focus for living the day in recognising God in all things, and the call of God to be a co-creator of his beautiful world each day.

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Book SynopsisDiscover the philosophy, practice and true spirit of Sufism, and the Sufi’s journey of love and devotion, with this accessible and insightful guide. For many, Sufism remains a mysterious and little-understood subject. In S for Sufi, Hasnain Waris demystifies Sufism by offering an introductory yet comprehensive guide to the subject. Full of popular Sufi stories, proverbs and anecdotes, this insightful book decodes the wisdom hidden in the literature, philosophies, doctrines and practices of Sufism.By drawing upon the works of some of the most prominent Sufi masters, including Rumi, Ghazali and Kabir, Hasnain offers compelling and fresh insights into key themes of Sufism. He breaks down all the proponents of this mystical tradition in a way that is at once inspiring, stimulating and digestible.S for Sufi is ideal for all those who are seeking to understand the universal truth about life and higher consciousness. It also offers profound learnings on how to unlock one’s spiritual potential and break from the narrow confines of the material world.

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Book SynopsisAfter years of lucid dreaming, the author spontaneously experiences a series of religious encounters with intense light which bring an awareness of the presence of God. He describes a number of these encounters in detail. The greater part of the book then presents an analysis of these experiences. Perhaps the most unique part of the analysis, based on the author''s study of his hypnopompic lattice imagery, is the description of how the internal visual image is constructed and seen three-dimensionally. In fact, the visual image is shown to be identified with the part of oneself that sees the image. Every part of the visual field is a nonduality of seer and seen. Finally he analyzes the imagery of dreams (out of which the experiences of light arise), light (as visual image and as spiritual event), and the awareness of the presence of God. His religious experiences of light are shown not to be dreams, but to lie, in a sense, beyond dream imagery and dreaming.

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Book SynopsisChristianity is in crisis in the West. The Inkling friend of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, analysed why. He developed an account of our spiritual predicament that is radical and illuminating. Barfield realized that the human experience of life shifts fundamentally over periods of cultural time. Our perception of nature, the cosmos and the divine changes dramatically across history. Mark Vernon uses this startling insight to tell the inner story of 3000 years of Christianity, beginning from the earliest Biblical times. Drawing, too, on the latest scholarship and spiritual questions of our day, he presents a gripping account of how Christianity constellated a new perception of what it is to be human. For 1500 years, this sense of things informed many lives, though it fell into crisis with the Reformation, scientific revolution and Enlightenment. But the story does not stop there. Barfield realised that there is meaning in the disenchantment and alienation experienced by many people today. It is part of a process that is remaking our sense of participation in the life of nature, the cosmos and the divine. It's a new stage in the evolution of human consciousness.

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Book SynopsisAs it celebrates the true worth of courage, Quiet Courage of the Inner Light faithfully records some keynotes of author Philip Pegler’s lifelong spiritual quest. This book reflects upon the joys, hardship and profound lessons to be learnt on the challenging path to the ground of being. At the centre of these reflections resides an essential paradox. It is within the anguished darkness of tragedy or disaster that most often the clear light of fortitude is kindled. And it is within the shadows of doubt or desolation that you may stumble upon a hidden doorway to the deepest reality. It is the dawning of deep understanding concerning our true spiritual identity that paves the way for the discovery of a natural faith, universal in nature and all-embracing in compassion. Here is a book that nurtures such faith by honouring the essence of life, approaching a transcendent mystery through the immanence of all created things.

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Book SynopsisThis is a new account of the late-fourteenth-century mystic and pilgrim Margery Kempe. Kempe, who had 14 children, travelled all over Europe and recorded a series of unusual events and religious visions in her work The Book of Margery Kempe, which is often called the first autobiography in the English language. Anthony Bale charts her life, and tells her story through the places, relationships, objects and experiences that influenced her. Extensive quotation from Kempe's Book, and generous illustration, gives fascinating insight into the life of a medieval woman. Margery Kempe is situated within the religious controversies of her time, and her religious visions and later years put in context. Lastly there is the story of the rediscovery, in the 1930s, of the unique manuscript of her autobiography.Trade Review"Margery Kempe of Lynn Norfolk took pains in the decades of her prime to have her life as mother, wife, and pilgrim recorded for posterity. With erudition and sympathy, Bale frames Margery-a doubting, aching, troubled, and fiercely independent woman-within the European cities that staged her life, and so makes her more familiar than any fifteenth-century woman has ever been." -- Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History, Queen Mary University of London, author of "Cities of Strangers: Making Lives in Medieval Europe" "Margery Kempe: A Mixed Life is an evocative, vivid, and learned study of a complicated and intriguing text, The Book of Margery Kempe. Bale's captivating study blends rigorously researched biography with incisive analysis of the text. The book combines academic prowess with an almost poetic representation of people, events, and places, and brings to the fore the trials and triumphs of Kempe's negotiation of her mixed life." -- Laura Kalas, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature, Swansea University, author of "Margery Kempe's Spiritual Medicine: Suffering, Transformation and the Life-course"

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Book SynopsisThis book is a study of women’s involvement in occult practices in Weimar Germany. Women during the Weimar period experienced an unprecedented level of liberation. This included a greatly increased role in the work force as well as participation in other realms that were traditionally the province of men. They were also given the liberty to be more outwardly sexualized. Women engaging in occult practices during this period present an interesting example of the liberated woman. The occult woman reversed all traditional gender roles by the pretense of possessing powers that threatened male dominance. The book investigates the significance of the occult in the Weimar period by drawing on popular, scientific, and legal writings of women’s involvement in the occult. In addition to examining reports of women engaging in actual occult practices (expressive dance, mediumism, and witchcraft), this book also considers various fictional depictions of women as demonic or as possessing supernatural powers (ghosts, vampires, and monsters). The author contends that both actual practices, as well as fictional depictions, constructed an imaginary female identity as a dangerous and grotesque monster.Trade Review«Connecting history, public discourse, and literary and filmic renditions of ‘occult women,’ Barbara Hales compellingly demonstrates how these figures are bound up with the fraught position of women in Weimar culture. Her richly textured readings add important nuance to our understanding of the complexity of gender in this era.» (Anjeana K. Hans, Associate Professor of German Studies, Wellesley College, and author of Gender and the Uncanny in Films of the Weimar Republic) «Excavating a rich, diverse trove of historical sources – from journalism, psychology, and criminology to literature and film – Dr. Hales’s cultural history of women and the occult in Weimar Germany exposes a shadowy and little-explored realm of anxiety, pleasure, and power around the rise of the New Woman.» (Valerie Weinstein, Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Niehoff Professor in Film and Media Studies, University of Cincinnati, and author of Antisemitism in Film Comedy in Nazi Germany)Table of ContentsCONTENTS: The Occult Woman as Metaphor for Weimar’s New Woman – The Ghost – The Vampire and the Monster Double – The Witch and the Gypsy – The Trance-Dancer and Medium.

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Book SynopsisWhat is happening when someone has a mystical experience, such as “feeling at one with the universe” or “hearing God’s voice?” Does philosophy provide tools for assessing such claims? Which claims can be dismissed as delusions and which ones convey genuine truths that might be universally meaningful? Valuable insights into such pressing questions can be found in the writings of Immanuel Kant, though few philosophical commentators have appreciated the implications beyond his famous “Copernican hypothesis.” In Kant and Mysticism, Stephen R. Palmquist corrects this skewed view of Kant once and for all. Beginning with a detailed analysis of Kant’s 1766 work Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, Palmquist demonstrates that in Dreams Kant first discovers and explains his plan to write a new, “critical” philosophy that will revolutionize metaphysics by laying bare the limits of human reason. Palmquist shows how the same metaphorical relationship—between reason’s dreams (metaphysics) and sensibility’s dreams (mysticism)—permeates Kant’s mature writings. Clarifying how Kant’s final (unfinished) book, Opus Postumum, completes this dual project, Palmquist explains how the “critical mysticism” entailed by Kant’s position has profound implications for contemporary understandings of religious and mystical experience, both by religious individuals and by philosophers seeking to understand such experiences.Trade Review“Palmquist … is to be applauded for his willingness to challenge conventional accounts of the development of Kant’s Critical philosophy and broaden the scope of Kant interpretation in this and other works.” - J. Colin McQuillan, St. Mary’s University“Kant and Mysticism lucidly unfolds a significant alternative to the standard interpretations of Dreams [of a Spirit-Seer] and, more generally, mysticism in Kant’s philosophy. It is an eloquent and nuanced reading of the conceptual development of Kant’s Critical philosophy in its historical context and Kant’s thinking of problems of experience, intuition and the religious that will become an essential reference for future scholarship.” - Eric S. Nelson, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology“The whole book is a bold attempt to overturn and dismantle the standard interpretation (namely, that Kant is primarily an empirical philosopher, the all-destroyer of metaphysics and a reducer of religion to morality) and its frown on any form of mysticism in Kant whatsoever.” - Prof. Chris L. Firestone, Trinity International University * Kantian Review *Kant and Mysticismdoes a good job of capturing what is mystical in Kant, pushing some key Kantian themes toward the mystical while seemingly preserving their spirit. . . . Palmquist thus helps us to see a Kant whose concern with the limits of knowledge goes beyond developing a metaphysics, and whose concern with religion goes beyond grafting doctrines onto morality. . . . Palmquist’s work deserves praise and attention for drawing together underutilized parts of Kant’s work in an illuminating way. * Review of Metaphysics *Kant’s Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, his early sardonic critique of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, is often taken as an odd and unimportant episode in the development of Kant’s critical philosophy. But Stephen R. Palmquist convincingly shows that Kant was significantly influenced by Swedenborg’s writings, borrowing elements of epistemology, ethics, and religious thinking from Swedenborg. Palmquist’s work also profoundly deepens our understanding of the extent to which a mysticism of reason lies at the heart of Kant’s whole critical philosophy. -- Ronald M. Green, Dartmouth CollegeThe term "mysticism" is generally regarded as having negative connotations for Kant. Thus, for example, references to Kant’s interest in K.A. Wilmans’ dissertation on this topic are often one-sided. Consequently, works clarifying Kant’s actual relation to mysticism are most welcome. In view of the widespread disregard for Kant’s central questions, this new book is of the highest importance, especially its last chapter, on the mystical implications of Kant’s Opus Postumum. -- Norbert Fischer, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-IngolstadtPalmquist's holistic and perspectival interpretation offers a provocative way to rethink Kant's arguments and their implications. -- Eric S. Nelson, Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyTable of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: The Problem of Mystical Experience in KantPart ISwedenborg’s Influence on Kant’s Critical AwakeningChapter 1 — The Copernican Hypothesis as the Key to Kant’s Awakening from Dogmatic SlumberChapter 2 — The Impact of Swedenborg’s Mysticism on Kant’s Metaphysical DreamsChapter 3 — Kant’s Awakening: The Copernican Hypothesis as the Key to Critical MysticismChapter 4 — Kant’s Metaphysical Dream: A System of Critical PhilosophyPart IIKant’s Critical Philosophy as a Critique of MysticismChapter 5 — Does Mystical Experience Always Prompt Delirium?Chapter 6 — Kant’s Critique of Delirious MysticismChapter 7 — Critical Mysticism as Immediate Experience of the MoralChapter 8 — Key Metaphors Guiding Kant’s Critical MysticismPart IIIThe Opus Postumum as an Experiment in Critical MysticismChapter 9 — Can the Original (Threefold) Synthesis Be Consciously Experienced?Chapter 10 — The Categorical Imperative as the Voice of GodChapter 11 — Matter’s Living Force as Immediate Experience of the WorldChapter 12 — The Highest Purpose of Philosophy as Exhibiting the God–ManConclusion — Kantian Mysticism for the Twenty-First Century

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Book SynopsisMysticism is an element of religion or spirituality which emphasizes direct apprehension of the divine, whether the divine is understood from a theistic or non-theistic perspective. The author argues that such "mystical" experiences can be gained through the practice of specialized techniques of spiritual transformation, techniques which have been passed down through the ages by Traditions of Masters (or "Holy Traditions"). These esoteric traditions are made up of masters and students, who share secret doctrines and rituals; and they can be found in cultures from the Upper Paleolithic Period through the present. The Global Mystical Tradition studies these traditions, their mystical experiences, and practices, from a global syncretistic perspective, noting similarities and in some cases interaction between the "Holy Traditions" of different cultures.Trade ReviewProfessor Naschak illuminates numerous strands of the world’s esoteric traditions in The Global Mystical Tradition. He skillfully turns and twists through sacred paths to examine all angles of each one, while in the process weaving together stronger cords that serve to reinforce his central argument that by exploring these mystical traditions one can unveil hidden interrelationships. Climbing the cable created from this interweaving allows the reader to ascend to greater heights, ultimately, approaching the divine with both a solid guide and support. This text is a valuable addition to the personal libraries of anyone interested in comparative religious studies, mysticism, or mythology. -- Darren Iammarino, Ph.D. author of Religion and RealityThe Global Mystical Traditions, by Bruce Naschak, is the latest example of exploring the esoteric heart of religious traditions across cultures by suspending the dominant social, institutional, and organizational parameters. While introductory and highly accessible, the book makes a strong case for reading the sacred for the sake of discovering the sacred and re-visiting religions in the footsteps of William James, Ninian Smart, Mircia Eliade, or R. C. Zaehner. Encyclopedic in nature, the book makes smooth transitions across traditions in excavating what each examined culture found in their own core of beliefs, and in so doing, the book stays focused on exploring and analyzing their essential texts, introducing central figures from history, and relating one tradition to others in the web of world culture. Bruce Naschak has successfully mastered this ambitious project of addressing mystical traditions across cultures and is a must read for those who are interested in exploring the connecting thread across different mystical traditions. -- Sthaneshwar Timalsina, San Diego State UniversityTable of ContentsIntroductionChapter 1: ShamanismChapter 2: HinduismChapter 3: BuddhismChapter 4: DaoismChapter 5: EgyptChapter 6: GreeceChapter 7: JudaismChapter 8: ChristianityChapter 9: IslamConclusionBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisDreams Beyond Time: On Sacred Encounter and Spiritual Transformation offers readers an overview of dreams research as applied to non-ordinary dreams. Lee Irwin describes four basic types of dreaming: normative, mythic, psychic, and transpersonal, and he illustrates each type with specific dream examples. These types of dreaming are then used as a lens to look more closely at additional dream types that indicate dreaming as a process of creative discovery. Through virtual dreaming encounters, latent human potentials are revealed and suggest aspects for spiritual development based on dream recording, interpretation, and analysis. In turn this leads to a metaphysical description that is pan-sentient, illustrating a vivid, living universe of process-becoming in which certain dream types reveal mythic, psychic, and transpersonal capacities as intrinsic to a deeper more awakened sense of intersubjective self-awareness. While dream theories from many diverse authors are explored, the author uses an existential and phenomenological method to analyze dreaming contents in relationship to altered states of mind, trance, out of body and near-death experience, meditation, imagination, and stages of lucid self-awareness. Transpersonal dreams are given considerable attention in relationship to mystical traditions, paranormal research, and the comparative anthropology of self.Trade ReviewLee Irwin’s lifetime of dream journaling and his many unusual dream experiences gives Dreams Beyond Time a unique first-person authority. Dreams Beyond Time guides us to a deeper understanding of dreams and dreaming by surveying much previous scholarship, and provides its own open-ended, unique, and very valuable perspective based on decades of experience. Strongly recommended—there is no other book on dreams and dreaming like this one. -- Arthur Versluis, author of American Gurus, American GnosisTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Touching the WhalePart One: Dreaming ValuesChapter One: Discovering the DreamChapter Two: Deconstructing the DreamPart Two: Dreaming EncountersChapter Three: Dream CosmologiesChapter Four: The Psycho-Ontological MatrixPart Three: Dream InterpretationsChapter Five: The Metaphysics of DiscoveryChapter Six: The Reconstructed DreamConclusion: A Self-Surpassing MultiverseAppendix OneReferencesIndexAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisThis study of Galilee in modern times reaches back to the region's Biblical roots and points to future challenges in the Arab-Jewish conflict, Israel's development, and inter-faith relations. This volume covers an array of subjects, including Kabbalah, the rise of Palestinian nationalism, modern Christian approaches to Galilee's past and present, Zionist pioneering, the roots of the Arab-Jewish dispute, and the conflict's eruption in Galilee in 1948. The book shows how the modernization of Galilee intertwined with mystical belief and practice, developing in its own grassroots way among Palestinians, Orthodox Jews, Christians, and Druze, rather than being a byproduct of Western intervention. In doing so, The History of Galilee, 1538–1949: Mysticism, Modernization, and War offers fresh, challenging perspectives for scholars in the history of religion, military history, theology, world politics, middle eastern studies, and other disciplines.Trade ReviewMatt Silver has written a fascinating history of the Galilee region where cultures and religions have both clashed and collaborated for thousands of years, and where many of these same conflicts and layers of cooperation continue until today. Beyond being such a gifted writer and wonderful historian, Matt has lived in the Galilee for decades and was one of the founders of a remarkable and inspiring initiative: the Galilee Jewish-Arab school, where a group of families and educators banded together over 20 years ago to create a school and community in which Arab and Jewish children and adults could learn and live together, creating coexistence and partnership instead of perpetuating the fear, hatred, ignorance and conflict between them.Matt’s scholarship and historical research of the Galilee is rooted in his belonging to the region and his commitment to helping build interfaith and intercultural collaboration among its diverse populations. -- Lee Gordon, Center for Jewish-Arab Education in IsraelOne of the most comprehensive volumes of history on the medieval through the modern period of a region that is little known but very significant for the study of the Middle East and the study of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in this period. There is something for almost every discipline. From Geographers, Geologists, and Philosophers to Legal scholars, Historians, Religious studies, Political Scientists, as well as Economists, finance and anthropologists, rabbis, ministers of all Christian denominations, and even Islamic research scholars. -- Richard Freund, Christopher Newport UniversityTable of ContentsTable of ContentsIntroductionChapter 1: Kabbalistic GalileeChapter 2: Ottoman GalileeChapter 3: The Quest for the Historical GalileeChapter 4: Zionist Pioneering GalileeChapter 5: The Fight for Galilee, 1948Appendix A: Glossary

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Book Synopsis The easiest guide to astrology, ever. Through 100+ easy-to-follow charts, diagrams, and graphs, expert astrologer Julia Topaz helps you decode the secrets of the stars so that you can move forward in life and love with cosmic clarity.Brimming with scarily accurate insights, cheeky observations, and invaluable celestial wisdom, Astrolographs illuminates each sign’s unique traits, personality quirks, and compatibilities. Discover how the signs behave (or misbehave!) when it comes to romance, friendship, work, leisure, finances, and more, as you observe them: On vacation: See who packed seven suitcases, who is on a beach yoga retreat, and who missed their flight altogether. At the gym: Find out who is taking selfies in the mirror, who is hogging the treadmill, and who is in pigeon pose. Dating: Discover who chose a dating pic from their deep-sea fishing expedition, who wants someone to marathon romcom with, and who is most likely to slide into your DMs with love poems. And so much more! This innovative and playful guide makes a perfect resource to share with friends and to give as a gift to anyone who loves reading their daily horoscope or exploring all the sun signs and their meanings.Perfect for: Anyone interested in astrology or seeking astrology books for beginners Readers who enjoy personal transformation and self-help books Fans of Julia Topaz's work Gift-giving to any zodiac lover for birthday, anniversary, or just for fun Fans of astrology books like The Astrology of You and Me and You Were Born for This

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Book Synopsis«You have done a magnificent study of Julian. The initial chapters are splendidly researched though I missed the Syon Abbey contribution. Then I loved your final chapters where the footnotes keep giving Julian's text. I especially applaud your seeing the Carmelite aspect which I don't think others have.» (Julia Bolton Holloway, Hermit of the Holy Family, Florence) «A new work on Julian of Norwich is always a cause for celebration and Dr Clemmer's book is no exception. The reader is enabled to follow Julian closely before, during and after her unique visionary experience, examining contemporary history and spirituality from many angles. And the story continues right up to Edith Stein in the twentieth century. This book will delight all Julian lovers, as well as others who want to know Julian better and appreciate her in greater depths.» (Sr Elizabeth Ruth Obbard ODC, Quidenham Carmel, Norwich) Julian of Norwich in Her Phenomenology engages Julian’s primordial religious experience of May 1373; her subsequent definition to its revelation within her spiritual texts; and their hermeneutics made manifest from centuries of historical context. The meaning of Julian’s experience continued to unfold throughout her life: with its grace, and by insight with her own use of phenomenological method. The historical manifestation of Julian’s graced experience is given its closest phenomenological expression within her Short Text (Amherst) and in her Long Text (Sloane), with their collective human-Divine collaborations. But first, they arise phenomenally for Julian in the reciprocal gaze exchanged between her God and her soul. It is by God’s Trinitarian gift of love, and in her grace-filled collaboration with others, that Julian’s spiritual texts preserve, and guard, her experience of prayer and contemplation grounded in God: namely, with humanity’s resting in God’s substance, and with God’s resting and ruling in her own soul as God’s homeliest home.Table of ContentsContents: Introduction: God’s «Revelation of Love» and Julian’s «Divine Gift to All» – Introduction to the Historical Julian of Norwich – The Historical Julian (up to and including 6 May 1373) – In Julian’s New Creation (her Nine Nights and Days in May 1373) – From Vision to Anchorite (from Sunday 15 May 1373 to c.1393) – The Politics of Church and State (1373–1393) – Walter Hilton and the Cloud author – and Julian’s Short Text (1380s–c.1393) – Julian’s Hidden Life in God’s Love, and Lollardy (1393–1418) – Julian’s Long Text: The Benedictine Nuns of Cambrai (1623–1651) and Father Augustine Baker, O.S.B. (1575–1641) – The Cambrai and Paris Benedictine Nuns (1651–1670) and Fr. Serenus Cressy’s «Mother Juliana» Long Text (1670) – Serenus Cressy’s Editions (1670–1902) and his Polemics with Edward Stillingfleet (1657–1672) – Julian of Norwich’s Critical Long Texts (1947–2016) and their English Translations and Modernizations (1877–2015) – The Short Text The Amherst Manuscript, British Library, Additional 37,790 Analytical Transcription and Annotation – Preface to Part II – Sections 1 – 25 Analytical Transcription and Annotation – Julian’s Long Text: Her Trinitarian Theology of Love – Julian’s Grace as Divinization: The Unity of Finite and Eternal Being – Julian’s Grace as Charity: Her Transformation in Prayer by Divine Love – Julian’s Grace as Faith: Life, Love, and Light.

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Book SynopsisSomething crucial and quite unprecedented happened to kabbalah in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Though it had previously been considered a highly secretive and esoteric tradition, its practitioners began to spread its doctrines throughout the Jewish world with missionary zeal. Their goal was ambitious: no less than the remodelling of the religious and ethical attitudes of the entire Jewish population, a reformation of Judaism. Few aspects of Jewish life and religious practice were not changed as a result of the spread of kabbalah. These innovations originated mainly in the city of Safed in Galilee. They were introduced by kabbalistic adepts, but would not have gained broad acceptance if they had not made sense to people in terms of their everyday lives. The kabbalistic corpus that emerged should thus be interpreted not just as the elaboration of a secretive literary tradition, but as a response to the needs of Jewish society in its manifest historical context. In addition, Roni Weinstein argues, these kabbalistic innovations were partly a response to changes in the Catholic world-view, revealing an intimate link with Counter-Reformation Catholicism that is explored here for the first time. The religious and political changes taking place in contemporary Ottoman settings also contributed to these changes. The effect of these developments on Jewish culture was nothing short of revolutionary, deeply affecting people’s lives at the time and also laying the foundations for change in future generations. Yet they were not presented as revolutionary: the early modern kabbalists understood that they would only succeed in spreading their message if they presented their doctrines as the natural continuation of what went before. Weinstein’s sociological reading of mystical texts encompasses a number of methodological innovations, including the need to consider the impact of the non-Jewish environment in the fashioning of Jewish texts. He sees the emergence of ‘Jewish modernity’ as the result of developments that were intrinsically Jewish rather than as a response to outside influences during the Enlightenment; controversially, he therefore places its origins in the Mediterranean world of the late sixteenth century rather than in eighteenth-century Berlin. His argument is based on a wide range of Jewish sources—including theological tracts, kabbalistic and ethical literature, hagiographies, mystical diaries, halakhic rulings and responsa, and community and confraternal regulations—as well as the testimonies non-Jewish travellers, and Catholic religious literature. This stimulating new reading of the development of kabbalistic texts and practices opens a new chapter in the understanding of Jewish modernity. The Hebrew edition of this book was awarded the Goren-Gottstein Prize for the Best Book in Jewish Thought 2010–2012.Trade ReviewReviews 'A significant, provocative contribution to the literature.' S.T. Katz, Choice'A truly impressive impressive of original and seminal scholarship . . . extraordinarily informative, exceptionally well-written, organized, and presented, making it unreservedly recommended for both academia as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.' Midwest Book Review‘Roni Weinstein challenges the common assumption that the kabbalistic world-view owes its popularity to its theological and metaphysical content. Rather, he argues, the social context of kabbalistic thought is at least as significant. Weinstein has written an exciting and groundbreaking book which raises important new questions. If he is correct, his book is a landmark breakthrough.’ From the citation for the Goren-Gottstein Prize for the Best Book in Jewish Thought 2010–2012‘Weinstein brings a totally fresh approach to the subject . . . his understanding of kabbalistic texts as a window into the cultural, social, and psychological realities of the beginning of the modern period . . . enables them to be perceived, for the first time, in the wider context of early modern Mediterranean society . . . From this perspective, the kabbalistic texts developed in Safed are not so much the continuation of an earlier tradition but a response to the process of modernization that dominated the period in a way that changed every reality. . . . Weinstein’s explanation of why it was that kabbalah developed in the time and place that it did is convincing . . . Overflowing with original ideas, his work offers a breakthrough that can be considered revolutionary. His connecting the development of kabbalah to the development of modernity makes this a very modern book. . . . eminently readable because it contextualizes palpable human concerns within the broad intellectual panorama of the times rather than limiting itself to the confines of “kabbalah studies” or “Jewish thought”.’ Jonathan Garb Zion'This book is essential for understanding early modern Jewish religious thought and would be a valuable addendum for studies on the broader impact of early modern movements in Christianity. The English is polished and no previous knowledge of kabbalah is necessary for full comprehension. The concise text is rich in content and stimulating in its broad outlook. This study is not only a useful tool for crosscultural comparisons but it itself is a model for such a study. It could only be written by a person who has mastery both in early modern history and in early modern thought both Jewish and general. Luckily, the author meets these requirements and the result is a model monograph.' Shaul Stampfer, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsNote on Transliteration Introduction: A Social Historian Looks at Early Modern Kabbalah 1 A New God: The Theological Innovation 2 Like Giants on the Shoulders of Dwarfs: The Rise of the Jewish Saint 3 Religious Confraternities 4 ‘From my body I shall envision God’: The Body and Sexuality 5 Sin and Repentance: The Jewish Confession 6 Another God. Catholic Tradition in Safed Kabbalah: The Sephardi--Conversos Link 7 Summary: Kabbalah of Safed and Modernity Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFrom internationally renowned medium, spiritual teacher and bestselling author Gordon Smith comes a captivating tale about finding your way through death, grief and loss. 'Nothing that lives can truly die,' said the stag, 'but we must all experience a winter in our lives, otherwise we haven’t truly lived.' Following the tragic death of his sister, 10-year-old Dill's life changes forever. In an attempt to escape their grief, Dill and his parents move to his grandmother’s remote cottage in the countryside. Isolated from his family, who are struggling to come to terms with their loss, Dill spends his time exploring the wild landscape with his trusty spaniel, Bramble. He soon learns that life in his new home, the Dip-n-Dells, is anything but lonely. With the help of his grandmother, Dill learns a magical language that allows him to befriend the animals of the Dip-n-Dells and uncover the secrets of the mystical landscape around him. As his friends in nature help him to understand the cycles of life and death, the cloud of sadness surrounding Dill begins to lift. Determined to share this gift with his parents, Dill and his friends set out to bring light back into their lives. In doing so, he finds out that where love is involved, anything is possible....

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Book SynopsisIn Colleen O’Flaherty-Hilder’s second book, Orla has returned to Crystal Island after her Crystal awakening. Alongside her promised consort, Finn, she is tasked with choosing new leaders for the seven Federations of the Earth. They will replace the Chief Generals who are controlled by the dangerous Shadow and have led the planet down a path of greed and destruction for many decades. Fourteen new leaders are chosen – seven men and seven women – with the potential to access their buried Crystal Wisdom. But first, they must remove the influence of the deeply embedded Shadow. Under this new leadership, will the planet be able to heal?

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Book SynopsisThe Book of Margery Kempe set in the context of medieval medical discourse. Margery Kempe's various illnesses, mental, spiritual and physical, are a recurring theme in her Book. This volume, the first full-length interdisciplinary study from a medical humanities perspective, offers a medicalized reading of Kempe's spirituality in the context of the ubiquitous medieval notion of Christ the Physician, and thus a new way of interpreting the Book itself: as a narrative of Kempe's own engagement with the medical paradigms of which she has previously been a passive subject. Focusing on the interactions of medicine, mysticism and reproduction as a feminist project, the author explores the ontology of female flesh; the productive use of pain, suffering and sickness; and the ethics of a maternal theology based on the melancholic and surrogate activities that underlie Kempe's experience. Structured broadly via a traverse through the life course, the book shows how Kempe's response to suffering is illuminated by the medieval medical discourse by which she is contemporaneously read, and by which she engineers her own construction and understanding of self. It also explores Kempe's persistent attendance to her mystical body and refusal to compromise her instinct to authentically show how she feels.Trade ReviewMargery Kempe's Spiritual Medicine offers a multitude of new starting points for considering the Book of Margery Kempe. Readers will appreciate the monograph's dynamic movement across texts and contexts and its generous engagement with Kempe as a self-defining woman, mystic, and author. Kalas succeeds in showing how Kempe's distinctively feminine embodiment of suffering could assume historically specific meanings and authority. * SPECULUM *This volume provides an illuminative and thoughtful exploration of the way medicalized understandings of female corporeality shaped Kempe's mystical experience. It not only offers a number of exciting, fresh interpretations of Kempe's Book, but also testifies to the multiplicity of ways that medical humanities methodologies can complicate and enrich our understanding of literary text * STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER *The author's close reading of Kempe's life cycle, her Book, and numerous primary documents relating to medicine and health make for a learned and convincing study. This book will be valuable not only to Kempe scholars but also to students and researchers interested in the critical overlap between spirituality, medicine, and the female body in the Middle Ages and beyond. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *Laura Kalas's new study of Margery Kempe within the context of medieval medical thought and practice deserves a place in the pantheon of other transformative studies of Kempe's Book. ...[T]his study establishes important cultural and theoretical grounds for our reading of Kempe's suffering, as well as contributing to the growing field of medical humanities. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *Laura Kalas has set the benchmark in this fine piece of work and has set it high. -- Luke Penkett, The Julian Centre * MAGISTRA *Kalas's study makes an extremely important and highly engaging contribution to existing scholarship on The Book of Margery Kempe and to the field of medical humanities more generally. -- Journal of British StudiesTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Bleeding the Tears of Melancholia 2. 'Þe mukke' of Marriage and the Sexual Paradox 3. Lost Blood of the Middle Age: Surrogacy and Fecundity 4. Margery Medica: The Healing Value of Pain Surrogacy 5. The Passion of Death Surrogacy 6. Senescent Reproduction: Writing Anamnestic Pain Afterword / Afterlife Select Bibliography Glossary of Medical Terms

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Book SynopsisThe world faces a crisis of meaning. The old stories whether the exclusive claims of rival religions or the grand schemes of perennial philosophy seem bankrupt to many. The editorial stance of this book is that mysticism and science offer a way forward here, but only if they abandon the idol of a single logical synthesis and acknowledge the diversity of different ways of knowing. The contributors, from disciplines as diverse as music, psychology, mathematics and religion, build a vision that honours diversity while pointing to an implicit unity.

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Book SynopsisJulian Jaynes'' 1976 book, The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, continues to arouse an unsettling ambivalence. Richard Dawkins called it "either complete rubbish or a work of consummate genius, nothing in between". The present book suggests that the bicameral mind is a phantasm; the dating of the origin of consciousness contradicts archeological and literary evidence; and the theory contributes nothing toward explaining why some physical states are conscious while others are not because the nonconscious bicameral brain is neurophysiologically equivalent to the conscious brain.However, the author pays tribute to Jaynes''s work as a work of "consummate genius" because it compels us to re-evaluate the significance of humankind''s earliest traditions and texts that might shine light on the "very suspicious totem of evolutionary mythology" that consciousness has evolved continuously and gradually from worms to man.The present book suggests that the evolution of the relationship between consciousnesses, mass, energy, and spacetime radically changed nearly 6,000 years ago during the epigenetic, evolutionary degeneration of a little-known, threadlike structure originating from the center of the central nervous system called Reissner''s fiber. The earliest Egyptian, Hebrew, Indian and Chinese traditions, buried beneath the dust of fallen Babel and thousands of years of distortions and disguisings, describe this process during the origin of religion and mystical traditions.

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Book SynopsisA chance meeting with a mother of six inspires a young American, James Robertson, who has just lost his wife in childbirth, to visit her spiritual director, Peter Calvay, who lives in the Outer Hebrides. In the first part of the book - The Hermit, the young man learns how to pray and how to meditate according to the ancient Christian tradition. In the second part of the book The Prophet, Peter is presumed lost at sea and James is invited to order his personal effects. He finds details of Peter's own spiritual journey that inspires James to deepen his own spiritual life.This part is crammed with good practical advice on prayer for the reader as well as describing the deeply human story of the young woman with whom Peter falls deeply in love. Eventually Peter turns up alive and well and in the third part of the book - The Mystic - the two meet again this time on the mainland where Peter has come to attend his mother's funeral. Peter uses the story of his own parent's love for each other as the perfect paradigm with which to explain the mystic way. The teachings of the "Cloud of Unknowing" and the great mystics St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila are explained with great clarity by paralleling the mystic life with married life. Deeply moving lessons are drawn for those committed to each way that can lead to the fullest possible experience of love here on earth.Trade ReviewFilled with insights into spiritual growth and the options for meeting God in daily prayer time. Crux of the NewsIf this book ends up on the shelf next to Introduction to the Devout Life, they will be in fitting company. David McLaurin, winner of the "Daily Express Book of the Year Award" for his novel Bishop of San FernandoThe format and flow of a novel but the impact of a work of deep mysticism. This little book can revolutionize the way you pray. To get better at doing 'the most important thing' in your life, we recommend you read this book. Larry Holley O.S.B., Book Nook , USAHis engrossing style masks the depth of his practical advice and specifics about many forms of prayer from the traditional to the new. Stanley M. Grabowski, Ph.D., Pastoral LifeDavid Torkington writes about prayer, the true deep prayer of the heart that surrenders us to the Father of Jesus. So simply expressed, so colloquial, that we understand the total love of God as the essential act of being human. Sr. Wendy Beckett, Mount Carmel

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Book Synopsis"This message is vitally important in our dangerously polarised world." - Karen Armstrong "Islam, the Faith of Love and Happiness offers an antidote [...] by presenting the heart of Islam." - John L. Esposito What does Islam teach us about the pursuit of happiness? How can we gain true happiness in this life before the next? Through touching stories, humorous anecdotes, and profound insights into the spiritual realm that draw on sacred Islamic teachings, Dr Bagir's work shines a brilliant light into the darknesses that all too often overwhelm us.This volume consists of 29 short and inspirational chapters that take the reader on a spiritual quest to overcome the soul's maladies and experience true happiness.Trade Review"This book is greatly needed at a time when the profound vision of the Sufi tradition has been marginalised in much Islamic discourse. Sufi's have consistently emphasised the crucial fact that mercy and compassion lie at the heart of the religious quest and this message is vitally important in our dangerously polarised world." -- Karen Armstrong, author of the best selling books, Muhammad: A Prophet for our time, Islam: A Short History, A History of God and Fields of Blood. || "Terrorist attacks by militant extremists like Al Qaeda and ISIS and the exponential growth of Islamophobia by well funded organizations have brush-stroked the faith of the vast majority of mainstream Muslims. Islam, the Faith of Love and Happiness offers an antidote, to foster a paradigm shift to counter this dark view of Islam by presenting the heart of Islam, the extent to which Islam, the Quran and Muhammad offer a message of love and happiness." -- John L. Esposito, Professor of Islamic Studies, Georgetown University || "This practical book presents the inner depths of Sufi teachings in a way that is directly relevant to our constant efforts to reach for happiness." - Professor Komaruddin Hidayat, Islamic scholar and bestselling author of Life's Journey || "When we peer inside our souls and still cannot find happiness, we must dig even deeper. This book is like a whetstone that sharpens our abilities to uncover true happiness from within." -- Gobind Vashdev, spiritual teacher and bestselling author of Happiness Inside || "Islam, the Faith of Love and Happiness is a delight! It is... greatly engaging and accessible. [It shows that] love is the thread that connects and supports and holds together the enterprise that is Islam." -- Eric Winkel, translator of Futuhat al-MakkiyahTable of ContentsForeword | Preface | PART 1: INTRODUCTION | DIVE INTO LOVE, SEIZE HAPPINESS | PART 2: LIFE IS AN ODYSSEY OF LOVE | PART 3: SOURCES OF HAPPINESS | About the Author

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Book SynopsisWords and Wonderings is a celebration of gratitude, kindness, mindfulness, truth and the love of beauty through the gifts and giftedness of poets, artists, musicians, gardeners, bakers and many more, who discover their creativity in communion with others.

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Book SynopsisThis Easter book is not about easy answers. The words of Jesus from the Cross are difficult and challenging. And yet the fact that they emerge from a situation of human agony gives them huge relevance for our times. And the God whom Jesus addresses from the Cross remains at the heart of humanity and continues to weep with us.

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Book SynopsisThis full-colour book offers a unique insight into labyrinths in the UK and wider, combined with Di's own stunning photography. It begins with a potted history of the labyrinth and hints for walking one, shares personal reflections and stories from the labyrinth and explores the variety of settings in which labyrinths are now to be found. It includ

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Book SynopsisIn this book David Osborne tells of a long pilgrimage on foot to the island of Iona, an ancient centre of Celtic Christianity. In telling the story he draws on the Bible, the Christian tradition and other sources of wisdom to suggest the qualities we need to develop in ourselves for the journey we face into the future.

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Book SynopsisThis collection helps us to be less bothered with our uncertainties about what we should be saying when we pray. We can read a prayer and then sit quietly for a few minutes, allowing the particular words and thoughts to meet with our inner self, with our soul, which is linked to the energies and wisdom of the Creator of all things.

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Book SynopsisSaying Goodbye is a resource book for anyone who is planning a funeral. You may be a family member or a friend of someone who has died. You may be planning your own funeral. You may arrange and conduct funerals professionally. Here you will find an abundance of words and ideas for celebrating a life in ways that are personal and honest. There are resources that do not assume a faith commitment, as well as resources that reflect Christian belief.

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Book SynopsisAdvent is close, expectation is holding its breath. The angels hover high above. Come, begin your journey - Hope Was Heard Singing can be used as part of a daily discipline for Advent, or as a book to dip into. It is a collection for personal reflection, and a rich resource, from an original voice, for congregations and small groups searching for material relevant to the 21st century. There are prayers, meditations, poems, a few wee plays thrown in for good measure and Bible readings on Advent themes. Much of the material was tried and tested at Dunblane Cathedral, where Sally is Associate Minister. On the hillsides, hope was heard singing unexpected Hallelujahs. In a Bethlehem backwater, hope hovered and love was born. And now, as the wise journey and the powerful start to pace the floor and mumble into sleepless nights, we gather - the light of the world is here. The job now is to keep it burning.

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Book SynopsisPowerful and moving readings, stories and poems for Easter.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe Cross in the Marketplace is a series of resources and complete liturgies for the major services of Holy Week. The book began life in community on Iona, and includes an Easter pilgrimage. You can use the book in your church or house group or read it on your own, to deepen your experience of Easter - and inspire action.

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Book SynopsisThis anthology shares the best of Alastair's Prayer and Thought for the Day pieces from nearly a decade. Here is that of God, transcendent, yet also here and now, immanent, within the day's hard news. 'O taste and see - '

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Book SynopsisMoments of Our Nights and Days is a resource book for planning baptisms, naming ceremonies, weddings and civil partnerships and marking the many other significant moments of our nights and days. There are resources that do not assume any faith commitment, as well as resources that reflect Christian belief

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Book SynopsisAdvent is a time of wonder and waiting - but that's not a passive thing. We need to walk into Advent with our eyes open. We walk through a world where wars are being waged and babies are being born. We are humbled by our inability to do much about what is wrong. But we do our best: to be kind, caring, to understand the meaning of mercy.

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Book SynopsisThis fascinating work profiles Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111), the foremost Islamic scholar and mystic of the medieval period. Attracting the patronage of the vizier Nizam al-Mulk early in his career, he was appointed head of the Nizamiyyah College at Baghdad, and attracted audiences from across the Islamic world, who sought his teachings on Islamic philosophy and jurisprudence. Eventually renouncing his position due to a spiritual crisis, he went into self-imposed exile, during which he wrote the Sufi masterpiece, Revival of the Sciences of Religion. Concise and lucid, this is a perfect introduction to the great man’s life and work.Table of ContentsPreface Abbreviations Names and terms Chronology INTRODUCTION The Seljuqs The “Schools” of Law The Notion of Kalam The Mu‘tazili Factor Ash‘ari and the Three Brothers Philosophy (Falsafa) The Isma‘ilis Sufism 1 THE RISE TO RENOWN A Child of Khorasan The Stages of his Career Early Studies: Sufi Masters and Theologians Juwayni The Patronage of the Powerful Ghazali at Court The Temptations of Prestige 2 DEVOTION TO THE LAW Ghazali’s Contributions to Law The Example of Analogy (qiyas) The Indolence of the Learned Shafi‘i: the Beloved Model Fidelity to the Law 3 THE DOUBLE-EDGED DISCIPLINE: GHAZALI AND THEOLOGY Theology vs Philosophy Against a “Religion of Donkeys” Ghazali the Theologian The Dogmatic Manual al-Iqtisad fi’l-i‘tiqad Ghazali’s Mode of Argument in “The Just Balance” The Shadow of Ibn Sina A Human Accent Ghazali on Divine Names The Absence of Insight as Insight A Manual for Meditation Ghazali’s Attitude towards Kalam 4 THE POISON OF PHILOSOPHY AND ITS ANTIDOTE Did Ghazali Destroy Philosophy in Islam? The Seductiveness of System The Exposition of Philosophy: the Maqasid al-Falasifa The Attack: Tahafut al-Falasifa 5 CRISIS AND RECOVERY The Breakdown of 1095 Sickness and Health Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal (“The Deliverer from Error”) Scepticism and Ghazali: His Early Crisis The Significance of Dream The Four Ways The Decisive Break and the Departure from Baghdad Baghdad, the “Nest of Darkness” The Role of Ahmad Ghazali 6 THE REVIVAL OF ISLAM The Character of the Ihya’ The Architecture of the Ihya’ CONCLUSION: KNOWLEDGE IN ACTION The Return to Teaching Death and Posthumous Career Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTraditionally, 'kabbalah' refers to the teachings of Jewish mystics, their reflections on the Divine and their experiences of God: through Kabbalah, we embark upon a spiritual quest to discover God, our souls and the nature of the world. In this fascinating anthology of Jewish mystical texts, Dan Cohn-Sherbok traces the tradition's development from the early rabbinic period to its present day resurgence. Beginning with an illuminating introduction to its history, this book presents the important texts which underpin Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, with supporting explanations provided to help readers unfamiliar with the subject. Essential for a deep understanding of this esoteric spiritual quest, Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism will captivate the interested reader and student alike.Table of ContentsPreface vii Chronological Table ix An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism 1 CHAPTER 1 The Bible and Early Rabbinic Period c1900 BCE- c.CE 900 27 CHAPTER 2 Medieval Jewish Mysticism c.900- c.1300 61 CHAPTER 3 Post- Medieval Mysticism c.1300-c.1750 95 CHAPTER 4 Modern Mysticism c.1750- 20th century 125 CHAPTER 5 Contemporary Kabbalah 21st century 151 Further Reading 169 References 171

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Book SynopsisThis work answers many of the questions often asked by seekers of inward illumination. What are the real implications of the doctrine of divine unity? How can proper concentration be achieved during spiritual exercises? And when should one avoid participating in Sufi gatherings?

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Book Synopsis

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