Spirituality and religious experience Books

Book Synopsis‘We are all on a journey. None of us knows where ours will take us, and when we do, and it is over, we will not be able to tell anyone what it all meant, or where it took us. This is the goal of our pilgrimage, a journey of unknowing, where what we thought we knew turns out to have been a shadow of a something leading us ever forward, ever deeper. ‘Crossroad is a story that cannot be finished yet; a story of journeys, mostly on foot, through places that in this present resonate with the lives lived in them in their long past: a shingle beach in Norfolk, a river in Cambridgeshire, a hill in what was Westmorland and an island in present Cumbria, a cave on an island in ancient Dalriata, in Iona, and Lindisfarne.’ ~ In this beautifully-written book, Charles Moseley invites you to share with him many journeys, each in their way a kind of pilgrim quest. You can read them as a guide for you to follow, literally, in his footsteps – to Iona, Lindisfarne, Walsingham, Aran. Or you can walk alongside him in the spirit of faltering honesty, wry humour, spiritual questing, and the ever-present appreciation of landscape, ancient resonances, a tasty sandwich, a pair of good boots and a trusty stick.Trade Review'Crossroad is an extended meditation on the meaning of journeying, illuminated by a lifetime of wide and varied reading, and centred round a vividly recorded walk from the Cambridgeshire Fens to the ancient shrine of the Virgin at Walsingham. Charles Moseley’s evocative reflections on significant places and memorable personal encounters invite the reader to their own inner pilgrimage, in the company of a wise, witty and deliciously garrulous guide.' -- Eamon Duffy‘It is a delight. I love the way the worlds ‘bleed’ into each other – the physical world, the worlds of Charles Moseley’s memory and of his knowledge. No one else would see what he sees as he walks, because no one else would have those same connections; and yet he can share them, and help us see them, and then add our own world in as well. I found all of this a deeply helpful reflection.’ -- Jane Williams‘Charley Moseley has written a tale that could have only been lived and walked. To give us access to his sense-making journey towards understanding life and the deeper mysteries, Moseley deftly employs the practice and metaphor of pilgrimage. This book is an erudite exploration of history, landscape and personal meaning. The various strands of chapters of pilgrimages to islands, shrines, rivers and hills each provide their different wisdom.’ -- Guy Hayward, Director and Co-Founder of the British Pilgrimage Trust

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Book SynopsisHow can working parents live wisely with God at the centre, learn to be still and know him, while juggling demands of family and career at today's hectic pace? Katharine Hill draws on a wealth of experience from advising government, working with families and bringing up her own, to help you flourish in your calling and walk closely with the Lord.

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Book SynopsisThe Dog Walker’s Guide to God contains 52 five-minute-reads to inspire dog walkers to ponder the mysteries of faith and the wonders of God. In each chapter, Henry Martin offers a simple reflection and an illustration to be read just before setting out and then chewed over while you and your dog walk together. He invites you to consider: the everyday (house-training, basic obedience, toys and instructions), the profound (crime, punishment, rejection, adoption, ageing, death and the afterlife), the theological (salvation, the Scriptures and prayer), the psychological (and physiological) differences between humans and dogs, the disgusting (including why your dog might scoot its rear across your new carpet!) and, underlying all of these, love (human, Divine and canine). These are universal themes, and the reflections are just as valuable as resources for anyone who is housebound, or those without a dog in their lives.

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Book SynopsisFather Brown, the fictional priest detective created by novelist G. K. Chesterton, is one of English literature’s most compelling characters. In 53 short stories, published between 1910 and 1936, Chesterton’s crime-solving cleric demonstrated a unique combination of humility and humour, razor-sharp sharp intellect, and devout Christian faith. This skilfully-curated devotional volume collects 365 episodes from the adventures of Father Brown, rich with the integrity, wit and deep spiritual wisdom of Chesterton’s cherished creation. Each extract is short enough to be read in a daily sitting, and is accompanied by an appropriate passage from the Bible and a prayer to aid personal reflection. The collection can be started at any point during the year, and will become a much-loved companion through your days, months and seasons.

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Book SynopsisPresented in short, beautiful, often shattering chapters, The Song of the Poor is an intense, moving and inspirational record of the experiences of a young Scottish priest, Fr Tommy Greenan, living and working among the poorest of the poor in civil war-torn El Salvador in the 1980s, shortly after the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

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Book SynopsisA spiritual study of the apocalyptic challenges of our time.

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Book SynopsisA handbook for developing social and spiritual harmony.

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Book SynopsisA study on the scientific basis of metaphysics and the possibility of communication with angels.

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Book SynopsisPeople - especially young people - are less spiritual and less affiliated with organised religion than at any other time in our history. I DON''T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE addresses that decline and presents an insightful examination of authentic spirituality for those who desire answers, guidance and perspective regarding an important aspect of their lives - their beliefs and relationship to a higher power.

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Book SynopsisLet's work together to develop inner light and counteract the darkness! --- Illustrated throughout in full colour, this booklet features 28 meditations and soul exercises to help develop courage and internal strength, supporting our inner being and spiritual self. The meditations can aid in clearing our emotional space and illuminating our thinking - strengthening health, bringing healing to dark impulses and assisting us in integrating death as an important part of life. The exercises are also a contribution to easing the tensions felt in the collective consciousness during this time of multiple global crises. --- In the concluding chapter, based on concepts from the research of Rudolf Steiner, the author puts into perspective the spiritual struggle underlying the coronavirus crisis.

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Book SynopsisThe essential work Gospel Doctrine was written by Joseph F. Smith, a pivotal figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Some stories are violent and strange, while others creep up on you and slowly suck you in. The plot is full of unexpected twists and turns that will keep the reader engaged. Readers are compelled to keep reading because the title character is so self-indulgent. This book is intended for LDS Church members as foundational literature, providing a detailed summary of their faith's fundamental beliefs and ideals. Smith's Gospel Doctrine delves into various areas of LDS theology, including God's nature, the plan of redemption, the role of Jesus Christ, the importance of prophets, and the value of temple ordinances. It also addresses moral and ethical issues, emphasizing the need of living a virtuous, Christ-like life. The book is extensively utilized as a resource for Sunday School classes and individual study within the LDS Church, making it an essential tool for members seeking to broaden their understanding of their religious beliefs. Smith's writing style is straightforward and friendly, making complex theological themes accessible to a broad readership.

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Book SynopsisThis well-constructed book offers practical guidance on how to realise the unimaginable: through clear, unambiguous language we are taken through techniques to access the subconscious mind and to use it with confidence to take charge of our own mind. With homely and commonplace analogies, Yogi Ramacharaka leads us through twelve clear steps in developing attention, so the individual consciousness is allowed to unfold naturally and beautifully. Yes, we can touch the intangible - and be our best selves. Captivating.Wendy Teasdill, BWY Yoga Teacher Trainer, Yogi, Writer Yogi Ramacharaka deftly explains concepts from the Raja Yoga tradition for a western audience, blending them with specific techniques - and the optimistic spirit - of Occultism. The result is a vision of a dawning future where mastery of the mind brings about a new, more enlightened stage in human development, and where the power to live a rewarding life comes from within. This new edition by Bamboo Leaf is very good, with

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Book SynopsisDrawing on his extensive experience in pastoral ministry and spiritual direction, Christopher Chapman explores the parallels between personal growth and nurturing a garden. In human life as in the natural world, growth can often be a struggle. God, like a patient gardener, chooses to grapple with what stands in the way of our fruitfulness, but requires our cooperation if we are to come into fullness of life. Earthed in God digs deeply into the riches of scripture and the Christian spiritual tradition to find resources for our growth, flourishing and abundance.

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Book SynopsisFICTIONAL PRACTICES OF SPIRITUALITY provides critical insight into the implementation of belief, mysticism, religion, and spirituality into worlds of fiction, be it interactive or non-interactive. This first volume focuses on interactive, virtual worlds - may that be the digital realms of video games and VR applications or the imaginary spaces of life action role-playing and soul-searching practices. It features analyses of spirituality as gameplay facilitator, sacred spaces and architecture in video game geography, religion in video games and spiritual acts and their dramaturgic function in video games, tabletop, or LARP, among other topics. The contributors offer a first-time ever comprehensive overview of play-rites as spiritual incentives and playful spirituality in various medial incarnations.

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Book SynopsisChanneled Transmissions from Yeshua offering evolved, authentic, and original wisdom for the deepest realization of truth, love, and peace through balance, liberation, and transcendence from the burdens that anchor us to suffering and fear. As a child, Carissa Schumacher was told by an angelic presence that she would be a channel for Yeshua of Nazareth. She did not know what that meant at the time nor the impact it would eventually have on her life and countless others. After devoting much of her life to service as an intuitive guide and spirit medium, in late 2019, Yeshua''s Divine Presence suddenly came through her channel for the first time. Over the next months, Yeshua shared his timely, universal, and revelatory messages. The Freedom Transmissions is the result.This singular book offers a pathway to peace by following the Four Elements of Balance: Simplicity, Stability, Surrender, and Stillness. When we embody these four energies, we create and attract the most abundance, nourishment, joy, and flow to our lives.The Freedom Transmissions unburdens us from unnecessary suffering, strengthens our faith and sense of wholeness, and restores balance and peace, reminding us that we are One with the Divine. The joy of these Transmissions is that they are for all people and not just some people on the basis of beliefs or dogma. Yeshua welcomes in all people who come in humility and a genuine desire to find and know self as One with God. This essential text encourages us to choose Faith over Fear, Forgiveness over Blame, Freedom over Suppression, and ushers us from the era of division and polarity to an era of co-creation, transparency, compassion, and equality.

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Book SynopsisThis classic that has sold more than 12 million copies uncovers the simple, positive message of love through an examination of 1 Corinthians 13.

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Book SynopsisAre you ready to be blessed beyond what you can ask or imagine? Lysa Terkeurst will equip you to hear and recognize God’s voice and discover the incredible opportunities He’s already placed in front of you as you learn to say yes to His call.

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Book SynopsisIn volume 2 of this monumental work, Mircea Eliade continues his magisterial progress through the history of religous ideas. The religions of ancient China, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Buddha and his contemporaries, Roman religion, Celtic and German religion, Judaism, the Hellenistic period, the Iranian syntheses, and the birth of Christianity - all are encompassed in this volume.

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Book SynopsisAndrew Newberg explores the latest findings of neurotheology, the multidisciplinary field linking neuroscience with religious and spiritual phenomena. He investigates some of the most controversial—and potentially transformative—implications of a neurotheological approach.Trade ReviewA tour de force in this emerging field, Neurotheology provides a superb review of the science to date and shows the many directions the field may go in the future. This book raises profound implications for neuroscience, medicine, theology, and philosophy. Fascinating and clearly written and accessible for everyone. Truly mind-blowing. -- Harold Koenig, Duke University Medical CenterThis book offers the promise that ‘neurotheology’ can help move us beyond the conflict between science and religion toward the truth or at least to a more unified and universal perspective on the interface between spirituality and the brain. Neurotheology covers many potential points of contact between science and religion, acknowledges the existence of complexity and the dangers of simple reductionism, and presents clear information on the capabilities and limitations of various forms of neurological assessment. -- John Peteet, Harvard Medical SchoolIn Neurotheology, Andrew Newberg discusses the possibility of a fruitful dialogue between neuroscience and religion and how this sort of investigation may have a profound impact on how we see spirituality, ourselves, and life. A world expert in the neuroimaging study of spiritual experiences, Newberg proposes a nondogmatic approach to the scientific study of spirituality and successfully advocates for fruitful exchanges between science and religion. -- Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Federal University of Juiz de ForaA magnificent work! Newberg is a superb scientist, yet still writes for a curious reader or college student an entirely gripping scholarly account. He addresses some of humanity's all-time epic questions of ultimate meaning with systematic, fine grain research that could only be technically possible in the past decade. A true work of scholarship, with rigor, artful synthesis, and a deep bench of knowledge around spirituality and religion. -- Lisa Miller, Ph.D., Professor and Founder, Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityThis is an excellent introduction to the emerging field of neurotheology as well as a concise assessment of the contributions of neuroscience to our understanding of a broad range of religious and spiritual issues. * Reading Religion *This volume serves as both a great introduction to the various empirical approaches available to the study of religious phenomena and a strong argument for the crucial role of neurophysiology in aiding the psychology, cognitive science, and anthropology of religion to better understand the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of religious experience and behavior. * Quarterly Review of Biology *This book very usefully highlights complex material related to brain research and neuroscience as applied to areas of human experience broadly categorized as religious. * Religion *[A] comprehensive look at the field of neurotheology, or the neurology of religion. . . . Given that the larger relationship between science and religion has been contested for centuries, Newberg’s latest evidential support for a scientific understanding of why humans practice religion will be a welcome overview for interested readers. * Publishers Weekly *Newberg's book will be of most value to those who are struggling to reconcile science and spirituality. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction: If Neurotheology Is the Answer, What Is the Question?1. Neurotheology and the Happy Prison of the Brain2. What is Neurotheology?3. Neuroscience and Neurotheology4. What is Religion from a Neurotheological Perspective?5. What is Spirituality from a Neurotheological Perspective?6. Neurotheology and the Evolution of Religion7. Neurotheology and Psychology8. Brain Pathology and Religion9. Religious Myths and the Brain10. The Ritualizing Brain11. Religious and Spiritual Practices12. The Spiritual But Not Religious Brain13. Free Will and the Brain14. Escaping the Prison of the Brain: Mysticism15. The End of Faith and the Beginning of NeurotheologyNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisJesus turned water into wine, Mohammad split the moon into two, and Buddha walked and spoke immediately upon birth. According to recent statistics, even in the present age of advanced science and technology, most people believe in miracles. In fact, newspapers and television regularly report alleged miracles, such as recoveries from incurable diseases, extremely unlikely coincidences, and religious signs and messages on unexpected objects. In this book the award-winning author and philosopher Yujin Nagasawa addresses some of our most fundamental questions concerning miracles. What exactly is a miracle? What types of miracles are believed in the world''s great religions? What do recent scientific findings tell us about miracles? Can we rationally believe that miracles have really taken place? Can there be acts that are more religiously significant than miracles? Drawing on a vast variety of fascinating examples from across the major religions, Nagasawa discusses the lively debate on miracles that ranges from reported miracles in ancient scriptures in the East and West to cutting-edge scientific research on belief formation. Throughout, he drives us to ask ourselves if and how we can still believe in in miracles in the twenty-first century.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade Reviewa thought-provoking book * Raiyan Azmi, Catholic Herald *a very fair-minded treatment of miracles * Paradigm Explorer *Nagasawa has a fairly detached view of the whole subject, which neither denigrates the believer nor exalts the sceptic ... [He] writes engagingly, and with a relatively easy to understand style ... this is a book I would recommend to both believer and sceptic. * Jonathan Cowie, Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation *Miracles inhabit the human psyche. They evoke intense, polarizing reactions - uncritical acceptance from believers, derisive denial from nonbelievers. In this much-needed book, Yujin Nagasawa, an innovative and fearless philosopher, expands our understanding of miracles and provides a sweeping, thoughtful, penetrating, objective account of their origins and meaning. * Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Creator and Host, PBS TV series Closer To Truth *'Miracles' is just the sort of topic that is perfect for Oxford University Press's extensive 'Very Short Introductions' series in that it is specific enough to allow for a focused treatment, and yet expansive enough to be of interest to a wide readership...The book would certainly be a helpful addition to any undergraduate course that touches on miracles, particularly because of the many lively illustrations and examples that Nagasawa includes in the text. * Brett Hendrickson, Reading Religion *Table of ContentsPREFACE; REFERENCES; FURTHER READING; INDEX

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Book SynopsisThe silent sin of envy can adversely affect one's ministry and even prevent revival, but here is help and hope for leaders of all churches, great and small--and anyone who wants the peace that comes with a life free of envy.

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Book SynopsisIn Myriad Intimacies postcolonial theorist, spiritual practitioner, and filmmaker Lata Mani oscillates between text and video, poetry and prose, genre and form, register and voice, and secular and sacred to offer a transmedia exploration of the interrelatedness of lives, concepts, frameworks, and aspects of self. She draws on concepts from tantra—a philosophy that celebrates matter as alive, embodiment as sacred, and the senses as a form of intelligence—alongside feminist, critical race, and cultural theory to meditate on the ways in which everyone and everything exists in mutually constitutive interrelations. Addressing issues ranging from desire, the body, nature, and love, to otherness, identity politics, social justice, #MeToo, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Mani foregrounds the power and necessity of recognizing relationality as foundational. Throughout, she offers a way of reframing what we think we know and how we come to know it, demonstrating that it is only by Trade Review"Myriad Intimacies is a book of contrasts. It is a layered work that grapples with macro ideas, and at the same time, takes an intimate look at a microscopic aspect of a large idea." -- Nandita Chowdhury Bose * India Currents *Table of ContentsList of Videos ix Acknowledgments xi In your hands this book xiii Introduction. Integral Entanglements, Formal Experiments 1 1. The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tantric Invitation to Humanity 9 2. The Nocturnes with Nicolás Grandi 14 3. Speaking to the Sacred 18 4. The Algorithm of Love 22 5. De Sidere 7 with Nicolás Grandi 23 6. Intimate Stranger 30 7. Tantra and the Body 31 8. To Bend into the Wind 34 9. Love Is Not a State of Exception 39 10. California Poppy 42 11. “A Glorious Thing Made Up of Stardust”: What Pat Parker and Rohith Vemula Ask Us to Consider 43 12. Benediction 48 13. Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than You Think: Beyond the Rhetoric of Otherness 49 14. Words Fall into Empty Mind with Nicolás Grandi 54 15. Does the Mind Have a Heart? 55 16. Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones . . . but Words? On Social Justice Rhetoric 58 17. “What I Noticed Most Was That I Had Become a Poet”: Renewing the Language of Politics 63 18. Continual Evolution 68 19. Am I Doing Enough? Crisis, Activism, and the Search for Meaning 69 20. The Tantra of Action 73 21. “We Inter Are”: Identity Politics and #MeToo 77 22. A Malleable Border Teeming with Life 84 Afterword 87 Dark Goddess 96 Out of the One Many 94In Silence the Mind Breathes with Nicolás Grandi 97 References 99 Index

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Book SynopsisA book for Millennials who are seeking to make sense of life, tried and tested on a group of Christians and non-ChristiansTrade ReviewI kept saying "YES!" as I turned the pages of this book. Again and again Graham Tomlin puts his finger on things I’ve struggled with both personally and professionally. He has a rare ability to make confusing things clear and complex things simple. Being Yourself pulls no punches. It gets right to the root of the Western psychosis, offering an ancient, time-tested, more hopeful alternative that rings deeply true. -- Pete Greig, 24-7 Prayer International & author of 'How To Pray' on 'Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea'Most books about religion are boring. This one isn't. It is intriguing and provocative, speaking to our deepest concerns and heaviest questions. In beautiful prose, and with a wide range of reference, Graham Tomlin unpacks a whole world . . . and it is a spacious and attractive one. This exposition of faith in the twenty-first century arrives at a simplicity the far side of complexity. The book is a real gift. -- James Mumford, author of Vexed: Ethics beyond political tribes on 'Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea'Tomlin does a fine job in finding a simple structure in which weighty theological conundrums can be tackled without defence or triumph. * Church Times on 'Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea' *This book presents Christianity in a fresh way for the times. -- Winston Marshall, Mumford & Sons on 'Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea'One of the best, most honest, most theologically grounded and therefore most practically helpful books on evangelism to have come out in recent years. -- Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York on 'The Provocative Church'A refreshingly honest book from a theologian who clearly knows that most of society doesn’t think the way the church does, and wants to do something about it. * Church of England Newspaper on 'The Provocative Church' *Here we have a gripping (even exciting) new approach to priesthood . . . almost every page is rich with biblical, theological, historical and practical wisdom – to be read, considered, and then read again! -- Gordon Kuhrt * Anvil on 'The Widening Circle' *

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Book SynopsisOn Easter, 2014, Britain's best-loved vicar, the Rev. Richard Coles, led a pilgrimage to all the major historic sites of the Holy Land: from Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee in the North, via Jericho and the Jordan River, to Bethlehem and, finally, Jerusalem. All of the pilgrims in his care were practising Christians, except one: the writer Kevin Jackson, a diffident and sympathetic atheist intrigued by the chance to take part in this modern-day version of an ancient act of piety, and to learn some more about his old friend, the media clergyman. Coles to Jerusalem is Kevin Jackson's light-hearted diary of that pilgrimage, and a close-up portrait of Richard Coles both as priest and as man. As the journey proceeds, Coles reminisces at length about his past life as a rock star and radical gay agitator, his new life as a spiritual leader and a popular broadcaster on BBC radio and television, and the strange, unpredictable path that led him from self-destructive debauchery to faith and vocation. With a lively supporting cast of fellow pilgrims, Coles to Jerusalem ranges among the magnificence of ancient monuments and the banalities of the guided tour, the grim political background of contemporary Israel and the comedy of a group of idiosyncratic English folk abroad, the intensity of worship and the lightness of banter. It will be irresistible to all admirers of Richard Coles, who has contributed a foreword; and a revelation to those who have never encountered his wisdom and warmth.

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Book SynopsisWith Numinous Seditions, celebrated poet and essayist Tim Lilburn investigates inner dispositions that might help us bear the new sorrows of the climate crisis. The book draws from the West’s almost forgotten contemplative tradition in its Platonic, Islamic, Christian, and Zoharic forms. It also explores ideas from modern philosophers Jan Zwicky, Gillian Rose, Dorothy Day, and Simone Weil, and from contemporary poets Don Domanski, Philip Kevin Paul, Anne Szumigalski, and Roberto Harrison. Lilburn suggests that listening, noticing, reading, and stretching our imaginations are all part of an interior stance that can assist with the difficult tasks of forming deep relationships with the land, with Indigenous peoples, and with pedagogy itself. Numinous Seditions is for scholars and readers interested in poetry, environmental philosophy, and in the possibility of a contemplative politics.Trade Review"Numinous Seditions proposes to expand the human imagination with a call to renewed vision. It invites the reader into active, thoughtful engagement with arguably the most crucial question of our time: what can I make of myself, in the world we have made for ourselves?" H. L. Hix, University of Wyoming"Among the book’s ample gifts are its refusal of confected hope and its hosting of a larger conversation. Here Ibn ‘Arabī brushes foreheads with Anne Szumigalski, Andrew Ahenakew’s polar bear shares the sky with the angel of pseudo-Dionysius. In contemplating shards of ancient wisdom, Lilburn seeks the grace needed to grieve the conflagration of the world." Warren Heiti, author of Attending: An Ethical Art“The lucent essays gathered in Tim Liburn’s new book offer what they adumbrate: a ‘refugium for attentiveness,’ opening lines of earthbound thought, enriching our lexicon, and retrieving forgotten practices in order to cultivate a contemplative, compassionate, and creative modus vivendi in the midst of the unspeakable sorrow of ecological unravelling, climatic disruption, and the continuing legacies of imperialist violence. Amongst them is a meditation on lectio divina that might be taken as a guide for reading these essays themselves, many of them tending towards the fragmentary, punctuated with pauses, and all of them replete with invitations to see, feel, and imagine otherwise.” Kate Rigby, author of Meditations on Creation in an Era of ExtinctionTable of ContentsPreface New Sadness Interiority and Climate Change Contemplative Practices, Contemplative Pedagogies Hoping for Something to Appear | The Poetry of Don Domanski Poetry’s Practice of Philosophy | Anne Szumigalski Reading William Chittick Reading Ibn ‘Arabi Happy Incompetencies, the Self’s Other Routes Poverty and the Doom of Acedia Ontological Loneliness and the Balm of Metaphor Two Readings on Snow, Two Readings on Sorrow In the Time of Extreme Heat, In the Time of the Discovery of Unmarked Graves at the Site of Residential Schools Numinous Seditions Dream Coda Glossary Reading Index

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Book SynopsisKodo Sawaki Roshi [1880 - 1965] was commonly referred to as ''Homeless Kodo'' due to his nomadic lifestyle. In the tradition of Soto Zen, which emphasizes zazen (sitting meditation practice) above the use of texts and koans, he is one of the most influential teachers of the twentieth century. In this book, hundreds of pith sayings taken from his wide-ranging teachings have been carefully compiled and grouped according to subject by one of his closest students.The reader is easily struck by Sawaki''s sincerity, depth and directness. What comes across so immediately is his uncompromising dedication to zazen and his determination to transmit an authentic practice. This he does by pointing out, with biting accuracy, the many pitfalls we ''ordinary humans'' stumble into. His teaching is at the same time both completely faithful to the Buddhist ancestors and absolutely relevant to our many modern predicaments. Are you worried about your career? Fighting with your spouse? Concerned about money? Complaining about how busy you are? Homeless Kodo has a piece of advice for you.Kodo Sawaki Roshi also has an appeal to those who are decidedly irreligious, in his irreverence and criticism of hollow traditions. He ruthlessly challenges political and societal conformity, consistently referring his readers back to the essence tenets of zen.Very few of his works have been translated into European languages. Of all his books, perhaps it is this one, To You, which best captures his contribution to the tradition.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Bracingly honest and deeply comforting.” — A People magazine Book of the Week "Little Matches is gripping and true in all ways, and I am so glad to have spent time in the company of Maryanne and Caitlin. This is a fine, affecting memoir that will stay with me for a very long time." — Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion and The Interestings “This luminous, harrowing memoir is a tale of a mother’s devotion and grief, yes, but when I closed Little Matches, tears standing still in my eyes, I was left with a sense that I had met not one but two remarkable spirits, my world enlarged.” — Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance and Hourglass “A brave exploration into the power and depth of what it means to love and be loved, and the grief that is both the cost and measure of that love. It is a book about hope, revealing the light that continues to connect us to all those we’ve loved.” — Laura Lynne Jackson, NYT bestselling author of Signs and The Light Between Us “Here is love in ink, and you will feel it: a book about life, including death. O’Hara’s great achievement is showing us that inside of human connection, everything has a home—despair, hope, fear, beauty, decay. It turns out that death poses no threat to love.” — B. J. Miller, author of A Beginner’s Guide to the End "The bravest and most generous of memoirs, Little Matches is the diary of your dearest friend, intimate and universal, an exquisitely written poem of deepest love, grief, and devotion. This is a journey of the soul. I feel haunted by these pages and profoundly blessed to have read them.” — Lisa Genova, author of Still Alice and Every Note Played “To the stalwart scientists and physicians who go to battle in service of the seriously sick, who peer into microscopes and imagine the unseeable deep within to discover cures, I urge you to pick up your heads and look through the lens of Maryanne O'Hara's Little Matches to fully understand your power, to know what is at stake in your pursuits to transform hope to joy, tears to laughter, and to feel the weight of what happens if we fail.” — Patrick R. Connelly, PhD, Senior Vertex Fellow, Vertex Pharmaceuticals "Maryanne O’Hara has written an extraordinary book, beautiful, heartbreaking, and so full of life on every page that I was reminded that loving deeply is full of risk and the only way to live. This is the most meaningful book I’ve read in a very long time." — Jane Bernstein, author of The Face Tells the Secret and Rachel in the World “A raw yet comforting journal of grief, pain, and sparks of hope.” — Kirkus Reviews “In this vividly written memoir novelist O’Hara shares a painful but ultimately beautiful account of her daughter Caitlin’s life with cystic fibrosis. . . . Her compelling story will resonate with anyone seeking a light in the darkest depths of grief.” — Library Journal

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Book SynopsisIn The Messenger: The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad, leading Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan considers the ways in which the Prophet''s actions, words and teachings can guide us in the modern world. The life of the Prophet Muhammad, to whom the Angel Gabriel revealed the verses of the Quran, has provided inspiration to Muslims for hundreds of years. Interspersed with spiritual and philosophical meditations, this profound and stimulating biography shows how Muhammad''s message can be used to address some of today''s most controversial issues - from the treatment of the poor and the role of women to the interpretation of jihad and relations with other religions. It offers Muslims a new understanding of Muhammad''s life and introduces non-Muslims to the story of the Prophet and to the riches of Islam. ''Fascinating ... punctuated by spiritual reflections, it tells Muhammad''s life from orphaned childhood to his death, with Islam dominant acrossTrade ReviewCommunicates a sense of spiritual transcendence * Guardian *Draws lessons that are crucial for Muslims and non-Muslims alike * Financial Times *Draws lessons that are crucial for Muslims and non-Muslims alike * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisWhy Baby Boomers Turned from Religion takes an in-depth look at the generation of post-WWII babies who came of age in the 1960s, and how they acted as a transitional generation between religious parents and non-religious children and grandchildren, forged different practices and sites of meaning, morality, community, and transcendence.Trade ReviewIt has great relevance to Catholic readers. * Pierre Hegy, Catholic Books Review *This book focuses exclusively on baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) from the UK and Canada who left the Anglican Church... The book concludes with a discussion of what those who left do believe. * Choice *

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Book SynopsisA guided tour of spiritual autobiography that grants readers new insights and appreciation of the genreThe genre of spiritual autobiography has flourished ever since Augustine essentially invented it in the fourth century. In Our Hearts Are Restless, Richard Lischer--himself the author of two spiritual memoirs--takes readers on a guided tour of the genre, examining the life writings of twenty-one figures from the expected (Thomas Merton) to the surprising (James Baldwin); from the sublime Julian of Norwich and Emily Dickinson to the outrageous Anne Lamott.Lischer is a perceptive reader and an engaging guide in the art and craft of spiritual writing. Our Hearts Are Restless shows readers how history''s most brilliant spiritual writers have sought and found a pattern of meaning in the face of tragedy, conflict, and the responsibilities of daily life.Trade ReviewLives--we learn to live by attending to lives. In our hunger for coherence we are tempted to simplify the lives of others as well as our lives. In this beautifully written book Richard Lischer's truthful account of lives, Christian and non-Christian lives, testifies to the complexity of what it means to live well. In this time when it is by no means clear what it means to live honesty as a Christian, Lischer's account of these lives gives us a way to go on. This is a book of wisdom that took a lifetime to write. * Stanley Hauerwas, author of Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir *Lischer has a storyteller's genius, a pastor's instinct for emotional authenticity, a preacher's eye for tracing gospel truth, a scholar's skill at critical inquiry, and a Christian understanding of love and suffering. As he opens up these faithful lives, he shows how true is John Donne's dictum: 'The art of salvation is but the art of memory.' * Ellen F. Davis, author of Opening Israel's Scriptures *A book holy and humane, reverential yet playful, absorbing but provocative, challenging and deeply affirming. After reading you feel wiser, more compassionate, more perceptive, more comfortable with your own struggles and shortcomings—but above all, eager to revisit your own yearnings and searchings, and recognise in them the loving patience of the Holy Spirit. Richard Lischer has shown us where treasure is to be found, and reignited our desire to find it. * Sam Wells, Author of Humbler Faith, Bigger God *This is an odd but oddly compelling book...Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, general readers. * Choice *There is much to ponder in this humane and challenging book. * Paradigm Explorer *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Artistry of the Soul Search and Surrender 1. Augustine: Restless Traveler 2. Augustine: Traveler's Rest 3. Thomas Merton: Journey Through Purgatory Revelations 4. Julian of Norwich: Seeing is Believing 5. Emily Dickinson: Camera Obscura How Goes the Battle? 6. John Bunyan: The Uncertainty Principle 7. Agnes Beaumont: Persecution and Defiance The Stripping of the Altar 8. Peter Abelard: Ruined 9. Heloise of Paris: What Will Survive of Us is Love 10. Etty Hillesum: The Radiance of a Yellow Star 11. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Last Lessons 12. C. S. Lewis: Surprised by Death 13. Reynolds Price: An Illness and a Healing Pilgrimages 14. Thérèse of Lisieux: The Little Way 15. Harriet Jacobs: Witness 16. Dorothy Day: A Life for the Poor 17. Kathleen Norris: A Revised Itinerary New Every Day 18. Anne Lamott: Adventures with Jesus 19. Heidi Neumark: A Ministry in the South Bronx Nomadic Faith 20. James Baldwin: Autobiography as Exorcism 21. Dennis Covington: A Snake Handler's Faith 22. Richard Rodriquez: The Long Way Home

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Book Synopsis''There are no unsacred places,'' the poet Wendell Berry has written. ''There are only sacred places and desecrated places.''What might it mean to behold the world with such depth and feeling that it is no longer possible to imagine it as something separate from ourselves, or to live without regard for its well-being? To understand the work of seeing things as an utterly involving moral and spiritual act? Such questions have long occupied the center of contemplative spiritual traditions. In The Blue Sapphire of the Mind, Douglas E. Christie proposes a distinctively contemplative approach to ecological thought and practice that can help restore our sense of the earth as a sacred place. Drawing on the insights of the early Christian monastics as well as the ecological writings of Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, Annie Dillard, and many others, Christie argues that, at the most basic level, it is the quality of our attention to the natural world that must change if we are to learn how to live in a sustainable relationship with other living organisms and with one another. He notes that in this uniquely challenging historical moment, there is a deep and pervasive hunger for a less fragmented and more integrated way of apprehending and inhabiting the living world-and for a way of responding to the ecological crisis that expresses our deepest moral and spiritual values. Christie explores how the wisdom of ancient and modern contemplative traditions can inspire both an honest reckoning with the destructive patterns of thought and behavior that have contributed so much to our current crisis, and a greater sense of care and responsibility for all living beings. These traditions can help us cultivate the simple, spacious awareness of the enduring beauty and wholeness of the natural world that will be necessary if we are to live with greater purpose and meaning, and with less harm, to our planet.Trade ReviewThose who desire to live in touch with and to participate in the restoration of this luminous and possibly numinous earth will deeply appreciate The Blue Sapphire of the Mind * Paul T. Corrigan, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment *Douglas Christie has written a book that is at once beautiful and scholarly, both lyrical in its prose and impressive in its erudition. ... This text is highly recommended for use in a graduate courses in contemporary spirituality and/or ecotheology. * Colleen Mary Carpenter, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Douglas Christie offers us a long and scholarly book that I have found both inspiring and challenging. * Peter Reason, Resurgence & Ecologist *In this remarkable book, Douglas Christie, a theologian and academic, sets out to explore the concept of contemplative ecology ... The writing is sparse and deep, clear and beckoning. * Jules Pretty, Times Higher Education *Table of ContentsCh. 1. Immersion in the Larger Whole: Toward a Contemplative Ecology ; Ch. 2. Contact, or the Blue Sapphire of the Mind ; Ch. 3. Penthos: The Gift of Tears ; Ch. 4. Topos: The Work of Place-Making ; Ch. 5. Prosoche: The Art of Attention ; Ch. 6. Logos: The Song of the World ; Ch. 7. Eros: Exchange, Intimacy, Reciprocity ; Ch. 8. Kenosis: Empty, Emptied ; Ch. 9. Telos: The Practice of Paradise

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Book Synopsis

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