Art Religion

Who is Jesus? What is he like? And who am I, encountering Jesus? These questions were just as important to Christians in the Middle Ages as they are today. And yet—as C.S. Lewis noted—the modern church tends to forget that people of different cultures and times also thought carefully about who Jesus was; and sometimes their ideas and emphases were different. Medievalist scholar Grace Hamman believes that we can deepen our understanding and adoration of Christ by looking to the Christians of the Middle Ages.

Perhaps in no other way do we more vibrantly reflect our creator than with our creativity. Whether through music, writing, baking, painting, posting on social media, dancing, or any other form of artistic expression within our grasp, we were created to create. Yet, there are times we may be unsure about our art, times when our creating and making doesn't feel possible or purposeful or practical. Rachel Marie Kang wants you to know that your art is not peripheral to life—it is at the very heart of why you exist and what you have to offer to yourself and to the world.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of C. S. Lewis' death, celebrated Oxford don Dr. Alister McGrath presents us with a compelling and definitive portrait of the life of C. S. Lewis, the author of the well-known Narnia series. For more than half a century, C. S. Lewis’ Narnia series has captured the imaginations of millions. In C. S. Lewis - A Life, Dr. Alister McGrath recounts the unlikely path of this Oxford don, who spent his days teaching English literature to the brightest students in the world and his spare time writing.

Trusting God. It's such a cliche. Yet nothing means more to our heavenly Father than when we surrender our lives completely to him and choose to believe he has our best in mind. David modeled that kind of deliberate dependence: as a shepherd boy, as a man running for his life, as a king who made grave mistakes. In both triumph and failure, David looked to God rather than to himself. In Embracing Trust, Joanna Weaver, bestselling author of the runaway hit Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, shares personal stories, practical tips, and life-changing principles gleaned from Scripture.

Life is happening right in front of us, and within us—but still, we manage to miss so much of it. Awake Where You Are provides the antidote, inviting us to go deep into our own bodies, to inhabit our sensory experience carefully; to learn the art of living from the inside out, and, in the process, to find ease, clarity, and an authentic, unshakeable freedom. The practices in the book literally bring us back into our skin, where we can reconnect with a more rich, meaningful, and peaceful life.

Extreme physical effort, especially when coupled with risk and deprivation, has been known to produce strong effects in people. These range from "runner's high" or being "in the zone" to far more mystical experiences: visions, hallucinations, and superhuman performance. Bone Games is the story of Rob Schultheis' exploration of this strange terrain - the altered states of consciousness that can be an elusive product of extreme sports.

Free yourself from the limitations of the earth plane and the laws of space and time. Astral Voyages presents more than 65 exercises that train you to safely leave your physical body and return unharmed from explorations of the upper astral plane and the causal, mental, or etheric realms. You might even venture to the soul plane and observe the process of selecting your next lifetime!

Originally delivered in 1962 for artists - and made available now for the first time in English - St. John Paul II's (Karol Wojtyla's) penetrating spiritual exercises on divine beauty and its reflection in our humanity - and the art it produces - remain as timely as ever. The retreat itself, of course, forms the heart of this attractive volume.

Power is fundamental in our lives—we express it in every conversation, relationship, and choice we make. All too often, we equate force and domination with power, while gentleness and compassion are considered “soft” or “weak.” The destructive nature of this skewed perspective has never been more obvious, yet there is reason to hope. With Gentle Power, Dr. Emilia Elisabet Lahti shares an illuminating guide to an emerging shift in the way we define true strength.

From prehistoric Mexico to modern Istanbul, Mary Beard looks beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery to explore the history of art, religion, and humanity. Conceived as an accompaniment to How Do We Look and The Eye of Faith, the famed Civilizations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant volume on how we have looked at art.

The Art of Self-Mastery presents 11 timeless classics and the greatest inspirational works of our time condensed and introduced by PEN Award-winning historian and New Though Scholar Mitch Horowitz.

The Art of Listening to Life, Joseph's third book, is an in-depth look at understanding the creative process that is behind the adverse situations and circumstances that enter our lives and provides vital and powerful clues for making sense of what is happening. When we ignore our own inner wisdom, life sends us messages. If the initial messages are missed or ignored, then they can become intense callings that manifest themselves in a more powerful way, through injury and disease.

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world we live in, more so than all the recent events put together. The pandemic has made humans question certain assumptions, relook at priorities and adjust life according to the new normal in the twenty-first century. As we take stock of life ahead, beyond this cusp of change, focus emerges as the fulcrum to help ease this transformation.

In a world filled with self-promotion and individualism, Improving Your Serve, by the highly esteemed pastor, teacher, and author Charles Swindoll, brings us back to the timeless biblical principle of servanthood. This classic book on volunteering and service shines a light on how we can live more purposefully by serving others effectively. With very few titles that focus on how to be effective in service and volunteerism, Improving Your Serve fills a crucial gap.

Whether you are a single parent, a battered wife, an abused teenager, or an insecure woman, there is a cure for every crisis! In this soft word for the sensitive ear, there is deep cleansing for those inaccessible areas of the feminine heart. The wisdom in this book fights back the infections of life.

Philip K. Dick was a visionary writer. From post-apocalyptic San Francisco to Nazi-occupied America, his strange alternative futures have transfixed the world. But his life was every bit as unusual as his fiction. A Life of Philip K Dick opens a window into PKD's unique mind. Written with close cooperation with two of his ex-wives and a number of his friends, we are taken through his five marriages, his periods living in squalor, and his souring literary success. We are also given unparalleled insight into his transcendental experiences.

In this engaging and intriguing work, renowned Japanese psychologist Hayao Kawai examines his own personal experience of how a Japanese became a Jungian psychoanalyst and how the Buddhism in him gradually reacted to it.

Mindfulness and insight - clearly knowing what is happening in one's present moment experience - and concentration - the ability of the mind to remain steady and undistracted - are foundational elements of meditation, yet people are often confused about how these aspects of the practice fit together. Should they be doing insight meditation or concentration practices? How does concentration fit into insight meditation? To help, The Art and Skill of Buddhist Meditation offers specific guidance.

Brennan Manning has been dazzingly faithful in preaching and writing variations on the ragamuffin theme, Yes, Abba is very fond of you! But today the crowds are gone and the lights are dim, the patches on his knees have faded. If he ever was a ragamuffin, truly it is now. In this his final book, Brennan roves back his past, honoring the lives of the people closest to him, family and friends who've known the saint and the sinner, the boy and the man. Far from some chronological timeline, these memories are witness to the truth of life by one who has lived it.

Part history, part cultural biography, and part literary mystery, The Orientalist traces the life of Lev Nussimbaum, a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince and became a best-selling author in Nazi Germany. Born in 1905 to a wealthy family in the oil-boom city of Baku, Lev escaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan. He found refuge in Germany, where, writing under the names Essad Bey and Kurban Said, his remarkable books about Islam, desert adventures, and global revolution became celebrated across fascist Europe.