Religion Social

In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombies - people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried. Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context within vodoun culture. In the course of his investigation, Davis came to realize that the story of vodoun is the history of Haiti.

In Love Is a Choice, best-selling doctors Robert Hemfelt, Frank Minirth, and Paul Meier walk you through their 10 proven stages to recovery from codependency that results from external circumstances. Humans are susceptible to codependency because of our sinful tendency to use defense mechanisms to fool ourselves. In codependent relationships, deceitful games are played, and important Christian principles are often taken out of context and abused.

Italian folk magic is a beautiful, powerful, and effective magical tradition that is accessible to anyone who wants to learn it, including Italians who want to regain their magical heritage. Containing magical and religious rituals and prayers, this book explores divination techniques, crafting, blessing rituals, witchcraft, and, of course, the evil eye.

In We Will Not Be Silenced, Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer prepares you to live out your convictions against a growing tide of hostility. Gain a better understanding of nonbelievers' legitimate hurts and concerns regarding issues like racism, sexism, and poverty - and identify the toxic responses secular culture disguises as solutions. In the process, you'll see how you can show compassion and gentleness to those outside of the faith without affirming their beliefs.

If you have struggled personally against the powerful draw of pornography, or if you have ever tried to help someone fighting this battle, you know how hard it is to break free. But real freedom isn't found by trying harder to change. Nor is it found in a particular method or program. Only Jesus Christ has the power to free people from the enslaving power of pornography. In Finally Free, Dr. Heath Lambert, a leader in the biblical counseling movement, lays out eight gospel-centered strategies for overcoming the deceitful lure of pornography.

Part memoir, part guidebook, and part social history, For Small Creatures Such as We is the first book from the daughter of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan - a luminous exploration of Earth's marvels that require no faith in order to be believed. As Sagan shares these rituals, For Small Creatures Such as We becomes a moving tribute to a father, a newborn daughter, a marriage, and the natural world - a celebration of life itself, and the power of our families and beliefs to bring us together.

Según los japoneses, todo el mundo tiene un ikigai, un motivo para existir. Algunos lo han encontrado y son conscientes de su ikigai, otros lo llevan dentro, pero todavía lo están buscando. Este es uno de los secretos para una vida larga, joven y feliz como la que llevan los habitantes de Okinawa, la isla más longeva del mundo.

Lorsque mon père est décédé j'ai placé des objets dans son cercueil. Je n'en ai parlé à personne. Puis j'ai interrogé des médiums qui disent communiquer avec les morts. Découvriront-ils de quels objets il s'agit ? C'est le test. Peut-on parler avec les morts ? Des femmes et des hommes le prétendent et en font même profession. Des milliers de gens les consultent. Ces capacités sont-elles réelles ou sont-elles une illusion ? Pour répondre à ces interrogations, Stéphane Allix a interrogé six médiums.

In this classic and deeply insightful book, one of the world's most eminent philosophers describes the dilemma of modern man and points a way to conquering the problem of anxiety.

A study of the substantial evidence for a former race of giants in North America and its 150-year suppression by the Smithsonian Institution.

Before it was a religion, a culture, or even a system of meditation, what was Buddhism? On Buddhism Without Beliefs, celebrated teacher, translator, and former Buddhist monk Stephen Batchelor takes us back to the first years after the Buddha's awakening to reveal the root insights of Buddhism hidden beneath centuries of history and interpretation.

At a time when we are all confronted by not one, but many crossroads in our modern lives - identity, technology, trust, politics, and a global pandemic - celebrated mythologist and wilderness guide Martin Shaw delivers Smoke Hole: three metaphors to help us understand our world, one that is assailed by the seductive promises of social media and shadowed by a health crisis that has brought loneliness and isolation to an all-time high.

If life is but a dream, to what do we awake? The central premise of this book is the admittedly ridiculous but incontrovertibly true assertion that the universe does not exist. This is something you can understand conceptually, like watching a documentary about Antarctica, or experientially, like moving to Antarctica. There's also a related phenomenon where you fall asleep watching the documentary and wake up in the frozen wasteland.

It is June 1936. Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) has finally been granted a visa for asylum in Norway, having been banned first from living in Paris, and then the whole of France. With him comes the draft of The Revolution Betrayed: What Is the Soviet Union and Where Is It Going?, which is completed and sent to the publishers on the 4th of August. The book, published by Faber in 1937, is considered to be Trotsky’s major work on Stalinism.

White supremacy in the United States has long necessitated that Black rage be suppressed, repressed, or denied, often as a means of survival, a literal matter of life and death. In Love and Rage, Lama Rod Owens, coauthor of Radical Dharma, shows how this unmetabolized anger - and the grief, hurt, and transhistorical trauma beneath it - needs to be explored, respected, and fully embodied to heal from heartbreak and walk the path of liberation.

Power corrupts―as we've seen time and time again. People too often abuse their power and play god in the lives of others. Shady politicians, corrupt executives and ego-filled media stars have made us suspicious of those who wield influence and authority. Yet power is also the means by which we bring life, create possibilities, offer hope and make human flourishing possible. This is "playing god" as it is meant to be. With his trademark clear-headed analysis, Andy Crouch unpacks the dynamics of power that either can make human flourishing possible or can destroy the image of God in people.

We are living in crazy times. Biological men are competing and winning against biological women in sports. The newest Supreme Court justice declined to answer the simple question: “What is a woman?” Record numbers of young Americans now identify as transgender. Sexually explicit materials permeate schools. Pedophiles have rebranded as “minor-attracted persons.” Pastor and bestselling author Voddie T. Baucham Jr. equips Christians to fight back against this pervasive sexual identity ideology and stand firm in biblical truths.

Even in the best of relationships, all of us make mistakes. We do and say things we later regret and hurt the people we love most. So we need to make things right. But simply saying you’re sorry is usually not enough. In this audio book, #1 New York Times best-selling author Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas unveil new ways to effectively approach and mend fractured relationships. Even better, you’ll discover how meaningful apologies provide the power to make your friendships, family, and marriage stronger than ever before.

From the perspective of an unbeliever, Fear and Trembling explores the paradox of faith, the nature of Christianity, and the complexity of human emotion. Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of Abraham, who was instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac, and forces us to consider Abraham's state of mind. What drove Abraham, and what made him carry out such an absurd and extreme request from God? Kierkegaard argues that Abraham's agreement to sacrifice Isaac, and his suspension of reason, elevated him to the highest level of faith.

Let's Take Our Job Back is an urgent call to action for pastors and ministry leaders to reclaim the church's mission: to be the transformative force that Jesus envisioned. Kelly Stickel addresses the global church's response to contemporary crises—COVID-19, political polarization, racial injustice, and more—emphasizing that now, more than ever, the church must step up, take responsibility for its shortcomings, rediscover its true identity, and become the solution to the world's problems.