Learning Religion

What was the starting point of Christianity? Was it in a little town in Bethlehem, just as the lyrics of our favorite Christmas songs contend? In truth, in the earliest days of Christianity, when Peter and Paul first set out to preach the gospel, the belief systems of early Christians were viewed as merely a new sect of Judaism.

In addition to the regular demands of preaching and shepherding, modern pastors feel undue pressure to entertain congregants and increase attendance numbers. Often, churches resort to the latest business models to keep pace. But true, life-giving guidance lies in Scripture and the wisdom of those having come before us. Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls helps pastors to embrace a classic, biblical vision of ministry through the study of selected pastoral virtues and early church figures.

If I asked you to name your favorite things - the things you love - how long would it take for you to name yourself? If you’re anything like me, you’ve tried to love God and love others without thinking too much about yourself. Wanting to avoid self-centeredness, I doubted myself and condemned myself - I even hated myself - until I noticed the ancient words of Mark 12:31: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” A gentle whisper led me in a new direction, and everything in my life began to change.

Everything you were taught about evolution is wrong. In this shocking book, Berkeley-educated doctor of biology Jonathan Wells lets you in on scientific discoveries you won't learn about from college and high-school textbooks - and reveals a dirty little secret known only to some of his fellow biologists.

What if intimacy with God doesn't begin with us knocking at God's door but with God knocking down ours? In Learning to Be Loved, author and Spoken Gospel CEO David Bowden and Hobby Lobby's Mart Green remind us that spiritual growth starts not with our giving but with our receiving. Learning to Be Loved unites biblical rigor and personal experience to show that intimacy with God isn't based on our ability to connect with him—but on all the ways he is constantly connecting with us.

The forces of persuasion are all around us. What you might often consider a free choice is quite often the result of persuasion from one or any number of forces. Persuasion influences people to make decisions about what they buy, where they live, who they vote for, and who they love. Persuasion can change our views, change our acts, change our personality, and change our world.

The Duggars: 20 and Counting! is a behind-the-scenes look at the supersize family that fascinates millions of television viewers around the world. From Idaho to Istanbul, people want to know how Arkansas parents Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar efficiently and lovingly manage 19 happy, home-schooled children without going into debt—or losing their minds!

Quando desejamos alguma coisa, é comum ficarmos mais concentrados na ideia de que não a temos do que na vontade de tê-la. Embora essa seja uma atitude inconsciente, ela é a principal responsável pela dificuldade que temos em alcançar nossos objetivos. Como os pensamentos deveriam ser a expressão de nossos desejos, toda essa negatividade acaba atraindo o oposto do que queremos. Essa é a ideia principal de Peça e será atendido, que nos estimula a identificar nossos verdadeiros sonhos e a criar as condições para realizá-los.

At a time when we are all more rudderless than ever, we look for the very best teachers and mentors to guide us. In Fully Alive, an unusual and gripping memoir, Timothy Shriver shows how his teachers have been the world's most forgotten minority: people with intellectual disabilities. In these pages we meet the individuals who helped him come of age and find a deeper and more meaningful way to see the world.

The practice of Reiki to heal yourself and restore your well-being may be the biggest secret Western conventional health care is keeping from you. With The Reiki Beginner’s Bible, you will embark on an inner journey that will take you back to the state of peace, joy, and happiness you were born to inhabit.

In The Spirit of Our Work, Dr. Cynthia Dillard centers the spiritual lives of Black women educators and their students, arguing that spirituality has guided Black people throughout the diaspora. She demonstrates how Black women teachers and teacher educators can heal, resist, and (re)member their identities in ways that are empowering for them and their students. Dillard emphasizes that any discussion of Black teachers’ lives and work cannot be limited to truncated identities as enslaved persons in the Americas.

In The Pathway to Powerful, Danny Silk - author of Culture of Honor and Keep Your Love On - teams up with Carla Chud to offer a practical road map for becoming a more powerful, healthy leader. Drawing from the journey Carla and her leadership team have taken to transform themselves and their organization, she and Danny lay out the steps to overcome fear-driven, dysfunctional leadership and establish the core values and practices of honor in their lives, team dynamics, and organizational culture.

Cutting. It’s become a buzzword lately, but very few books address it from the perspective of a youth worker or concerned friend. Marv Penner has lived in this world for the past few years, talking with teenagers online and meeting with them to understand what drives them and why they self-injure. In this timely and helpful book, youth workers, coaches, teachers, and others will get the information they need to begin to understand and help (or point to help) kids who cut.

Here is the remarkable story of how this humble language took vigorous root in Eastern European shtetls and in the Jewish quarters of cities across Europe; how it achieved a rich literary flowering between the wars in Europe and America; how it was rejected by emancipated Jews; and how it fell victim to the Holocaust. And also how, in yet another twist of destiny, Yiddish today is becoming the darling of academia. Yiddish is a history as story; a tale of flesh-and-blood people with manic humor.

A method of interpretation—a hermeneutic—is indispensable for understanding Scripture, constructing theology, and living the Christian life, but most contemporary hermeneutical systems fail to acknowledge the principles and practices of the biblical writers themselves. Christians today cannot employ a truly biblical view of the Bible unless they understand why the prophets and apostles interpreted Scripture the way they did.

This audio product enable a person who is taking biblical Hebrew to work on, by ear as well as through the eyes, all vocabulary words that occur in the Old Testament 20 times or more and all the names of people in the Old Testament that occur 100 times or more. Read by Jonathan T. Pennington.

Each of this book's four chapters covers one of the most important questions a person must ask themselves: What is the purpose of my life? How can I best realize the purpose of my life? Who do I want to be? How do I want other people to think of me? Rather than give you answers to these questions, this guide provides a framework that helps you develop your own answers while equipping you with the neuroscientific tools necessary to transform yourself into whomever you choose to be.

Anthony William, the "Medical Medium", uses his connection to a higher power which he calls the "Spirit" to provide unprecedented insight into how our diets affect not only our physical health, but our mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being. Don't miss out on this ZIP Reads summary of Anthony William's latest Medical Medium book that will change the way you feel - and eat - forever!

Maybe you've heard of Pope John Paul II's theology of the body and wondered, vaguely, what it's all about. Maybe you've never heard of it until now and are asking, theology of the what? Maybe you're already familiar with the basics and are ready to incorporate this teaching on sex, love and marriage into your own life.

Praying and waiting for God to answer can be confusing. When something—or everything—feels stuck because God doesn't seem to be answering our prayers, what next? Pastor and Grammy-nominated recording artist Travis Greene issues a challenge and asks us to examine our prayers—Are we praying for the right thing? Are we planning and preparing for what we've asked for? Are we praying for our will to grow closer to His? Or do we sometimes treat him like a genie in a bottle?