Spirituality and religious experience Books

Book SynopsisFeaturing narrative, chants, songs, and rituals, Dreaming the Dark has helped many thousands of women use magic, spirituality, and community to bring about political and social change. This anniversary edition of the best-selling classic includes a new preface reflecting on the fifteen years since the book's original publication.

Read more less

Book SynopsisGod''s Phallus explores the dilemmas created by the maleness of God for the men of ancient Judaism and for Jewish men today.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSpirituality for Daily LifeTrade ReviewProfessor Derkse's little book is a worthwhile read for any person striving to put into practice the characteristically Benedictine principles of simplicity and integration as a means to live a more satisfying life - a life that is fruitful because it is meaningful.Pastoral Music

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the Gospel of John Jesus directs us, Abide in me, as I abide in you. This book is an invitation to make the Word of God your home through the practice of lectio divina. Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB, encourages you to turn the words of Scripture over in your heart as a plough turns over the soil to welcome the seed.Trade ReviewWhether you are a pro at lectio divina or are still struggling to understand the practice, this book will inspire you.Cistercian Studies QuarterlyAbide is an inspiring and imaginative collection of meditations, questions, and reflections on the Word of God. Our quest for the Holy One is a daily one which is played out in our ordinary lives and not in some magnificent cathedral. . . . Wiederkehr opens fresh ways of perceiving tradition: for example, each time we prayerfully walk through a Scriptural passage, we are on our own private pilgrimage. Each time we sit down at ‘the altar of our own lives to evaluate our growth in Christ,’ we are on a pilgrimage.Spirituality & PracticeThis rich trove of reflections on the Scriptures is the fruit of Macrina Wiederkehr’s many years of faithful attentiveness to the Word. In Abide, readers are invited to allow themselves to be formed by the Word through the practice of lectio divina, using five steps: wait, read, listen obediently, pray, and abide. Wiederkehr’s insights into the biblical text and well-formed questions aid readers to deepen in their ability to be led by the Spirit into abiding presence with the Word of God, encountered both in the Scriptures, and in every person.Barbara E. Reid, O.P., Ph.D., Author of Abiding Word: Sunday Reflections for Year B and Choosing the Better Part? Women in the Gospel of LukeIt doesn’t take long to recognize that this is a book in which every page has been born of prayer. Page by page, word by word, Macrina Wiederkehr fashions a guesthouse for the reader fortunate enough to cross the threshold. Here is a place of hospitality where she invites us in and keeps vigil with us, inspiring us in turn to become, in our own lives, a place of welcome for the Word. With her rich imagery, poetic sensibility, reverence for language, and practical wisdom, Macrina reawakens us to the lively power of the scriptures, and reminds us of their purpose: to be a place of meeting where we encounter the living God.Jan Richardson, author of In the Sanctuary of Women: A Companion for Reflection & PrayerSister Macrina invites us to enter into the biblical Word of God as if coming into the warm shadows of a sanctuary to spend time with God “in the silent cathedral of our beings.” She makes us conscious of a living presence as she opens selected passages with beautifully written meditations, sharing her own daily journey of faith. With her help we learn to slow down and listen, waiting patiently and confidently for the Lord to speak to our hearts.Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSBOur reading and study of the Bible must move into personal reflection and contemplative prayer if we desire Scripture to do its transforming work within us. Macrina Wiederkehr shows us how to let God's Word make its home in our hearts and become an instrument of our healing, encouragement, and hope. This inspiring work offers us the fruit of her lifelong romance with the Word of God so that the Word may also become our heart's greatest desire.Stephen J. Binz, biblical scholar, author, and speakerJohn Michael Talbot is not only a troubadour of God, but over 25 years ago founded a modern community of men and women. In this book he returns to the roots of Christian monasticism and, based on his own lived experience, comments on the Rule of Benedict, to make its spiritual riches fruitful for us contemporary men and women. He reads the Rule with a modern eye and opens it up as much for people who live in a community as those living in the world of everyday work. For this reason, these meditations are also suitable for Benedictine secular oblates. A life based on the principles of the Rule of Benedict makes the world a more Christian and more human place. And with this, Benedict himself becomes a blessing for our times.Notker Wolf, OSB, Abbot Primate of the Benedictine OrderThis handy introduction to the Rule of Benedict would be an ideal gift for someone seeking an overview of St. Benedict’s teaching. The brief chapter by chapter commentaries take the mystery out of unfamiliar terms and usages from the sixth century. The book explains the original application of the monastic norms and shows how they may be adapted in our time for use in communities and families.Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB, New Subiaco Abbey

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Thoughts Matter, Mary Margaret Funk focuses on renouncing the thoughts belonging to one's former way of life. Her eight chapters focus on different thoughts - food, sex, anger, dejection, acedia (profound weariness of the soul), vainglory (taking credit for good actions), and pride.Table of ContentsContents Iconographer’s Preface ix Rebecca Cown Introduction xvii Chapter 1: About Thoughts 1 Chapter 2: About Food 16 Chapter 3: About Sex 31 Chapter 4: About Things 65 Chapter 5: About Anger 79 Chapter 6: About Dejection 104 Chapter 7: About Acedia 115 Chapter 8: About Vainglory 141 Chapter 9: About Pride 159 Notes 177 Appendix 1: Monastic Practices 185 Appendix 2: Was Jesus Angry? 188 Select Bibliography 195

Read more less

Trade Review"So much of Christianity has been deprived of its context. Fr. Dominic White reconstructs this "Lost Knowledge"—the original cosmology—by leading us from lesser-known writings of the early Christians to the art, customs, and liturgy of later times. These are more familiar but now not fully understood because they too have lost their context. In this book we meet a brilliant mind, a warm heart, and a gentle humor that open up the somehow familiar world of our ancient cosmology and shed new (or old?) light on current disputes and concerns in the church." Dr. Margaret Barker, Author of Temple Themes in Christian Worship"A beautiful and timely book. In terms of scholarship, research and spiritual insight, this is a genuinely impressive book."Ian Coleman, The Way

Read more less

Trade Review"A seminal work....widely adopted."--Religious Studies Review

Read more less

Trade Review"Alison continues his extraordinary contribution to Christian theologies of atonement, worship and biblical exegesis with a book that is at once learned and engaging, theoretically profound and homiletically fecund." Reviewed in Christian Century, December 2006Table of Contents1. Monotheism and the Indispensability of Irrelevance 2. Worship in a Violent World 3. An Atonement Update 4. Transubstantiation: A Tour of Zion 5. Deliver Us from Evil 6. "So, They've Set Little Lions on Me?" 7. Reconciliation in the Wink of a Hippo 8. "But the Bible Says...?" A Catholic Reading of Romans 1 9. Good Faith Learning and the Fear of God 10. Human Sexuality...or Ecclesial Discourse? 11. Honesty as Challenge, Honest as Gift 12. Yes, But Is It True? 13. The Place of Shame and the Giving of the Spirit 14. A Letter to Friends

Read more less

Book SynopsisOffers multidisciplinary perspective on the mystical practices of heavenly ascent. Covering from the oldest form of Jewish mysticism through the dead sea scrolls, this title reveals an emphasis on the number seven and its association with heavenly themes, including those of a chariot, a Throne, a Temple and a divine Being.Trade ReviewWhile a scholarly book this is also quite readable especially the latter sections which deal with 20th-century European occult societies. * Catholic Herald, March 2009 *One of the most intelligent and deep digging comparative studies on the art of spiritual transformation. * Acta Comparanda XXI FVG, 2010 *Independent scholar Levenda (Unholy Alliance: A History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult) has been studying and writing about occult history for more than a decade. Here, he looks deeply into the astrological/astronomical roots of the occult tradition as well as at the related theme of an adept's celestial ascent through seven stages. Central to the narrative are the North Pole Star (Polaris) and those stars around the pole that never set, in particular, the seven stars of the Big Dipper. This study is recommended for academic libraries and public libraries with strong religion collections. -- James F. DeRoche * Alexandria, VA Library Journal *Table of ContentsPart I: Pre-Biblical Israel; 1. Ascent Myth and Ritual in Ancient Egypt; 2. Ascent Myth and Ritual in Ancient Babylon; Part II: Ezekiel; 3. The Vision of Ezekiel; 4. Ezekiel and Apocalypse; Part III: Hekhalot Literature; 5. Ezekiel's Vision as Template for Mystical Ascent; 6. The Chariots and the Throne: The Seven Palaces and Ursa Major; Part IV; 7. Ecstatic Flight in Siberian Shamanism; 8.Ecstatic Flight in Afro-Caribbean Ritual; 9. Ecstatic Flight in Asian Ritual and Alchemy; Part V: European Esotericism; 10. Pico della Mirandola and the Christian Kabbala; 11. The Sabbatian Movement, the Frankist Phenomenon, and Da'ath; 12. The Initiatory System of the SRIA and the Golden Dawn; 13. Aleister Crowley, Kenneth Grant, and Da'ath.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrue to Experience is a new anthology drawn from Williams'' many profound and thought-provoking writings including much previously unavailable material. True to Experience, like Williams himself, is unorthodox by the tenets of contemporary Christianity, but encompasses the uncertainties and fears, the joys and sorrows common to us all. It expounds a God-given universal humanity to which both Christians and non-Christians can respond.Trade Review"a profoundly Christian vision of life...also and real bargain."--Franciscan Magazine, September 2001

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisBest-selling author and popular speaker Tony Campolo writes to communicate the faith in understandable terms to secular people steeped in contemporary ideas about the nature of things, and to clarify for Christian readers how our beliefs intersect conclusively with modern concerns. He does that with both clarity and wit.

Read more less

Book SynopsisExploring the history of pilgrimage across cultures and religions, Foster uses tales of his own travels to examine the idea of approaching each day as a pilgrimage, and he offers encouragement to anyone who wants to experience a sacred journey.

Read more less