Religion Social

When Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Thuan met at an academic conference in the summer of 1997, they began discussing the many remarkable connections between the teachings of Buddhism and the findings of recent science. That conversation grew into an astonishing correspondence exploring a series of fascinating questions. Did the universe have a beginning? Might our perception of time in fact be an illusion, a phenomenon created in our brains that has no ultimate reality? What is consciousness and how did it evolve?

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.

Built at the end of the last ice age, the mysterious stone temple complex of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is one of the greatest challenges to 21st century archaeology. As much as 7,000 years older than the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge, its strange buildings and rings of T-shaped monoliths - built with stones weighing from 10 to 15 tons - show a level of sophistication and artistic achievement unmatched until the rise of the great civilizations of the ancient world, Sumer, Egypt, and Babylon.

Lords of Chaos focuses on the scene surrounding the extreme heavy metal subgenre black metal in Norway in the early 1990s, with a focus on the string of church burnings and murders that occurred in the country around 1993.

Who was the 20th-century Indian sage known as Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi? How did he attain enlightenment and become one of the most celebrated spiritual masters of his time? Why is his spiritual teaching presently revered by Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Taoists, and followers of other spiritual paths, transcending all religious differences? What is the essence of his revolutionary technique, popularly known as self-inquiry meditation? The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi offers you the answers to these profound questions.

The question-and-answer format makes this introduction to Zen especially easy to understand - and also to use as a reference, as you can easily look up just the question you had in mind. The esteemed Zen teacher Norman Fischer and his old friend and teaching colleague Susan Moon (both of them in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind) give this collaborative effort a playful tone: Susan asks a question on our behalf, Norman answers it, and then Sue challenges him.

Picking up where he left off in his electrifying Letter to the American Church, Eric Metaxas renews and deepens his call to believers not to “practice” their faith but to live it—heroically and with joy. Invoking famous but misunderstood words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he shows that God’s answer to evil is “religionless Christianity”—the rejection of religiosity and the embrace of a living and active faith, one that consumes the whole person and affects every aspect of his life. The awakening of this faith will bring revival, a “new birth of freedom,” and a renaissance of Christian culture.

In Love Thy Body, best-selling and award-winning author Nancy Pearcey takes on the hard questions about life and sexuality. She offers a respectful but riveting exposé of the secular worldview that lies behind trendy slogans and political talking points. A former agnostic, Pearcey is a sensitive guide to the secular ideas that shape current debates. She empowers listeners to intelligently and compassionately engage today's most controversial moral and social challenges.

Dr. Christopher Yuan explores the concept of holy sexuality - chastity in singleness or faithfulness in marriage - in a practical and relevant manner, equipping listeners with an accessible yet robust theology of sexuality. Whether you want to share Christ with a loved one who identifies as gay or you're wrestling with questions of identity yourself, this book will help you better understand sexuality in light of God's grand story and realize that holy sexuality is actually good news for all.

What is human consciousness, and how is it possible? This question fascinates thinking people from poets and painters to physicists, psychologists, and philosophers. From Bacteria to Bach and Back is Daniel C. Dennett's brilliant answer, extending perspectives from his earlier work in surprising directions, exploring the deep interactions of evolution, brains, and human culture.

In this landmark modern-day rendition of the ancient Taoist classic, Ursula K. Le Guin presents Lao Tzu’s time-honored and astonishingly powerful philosophy like never before. Drawing on a lifetime of contemplation, she offers an unparalleled window into the text’s awe-inspiring, immediately relatable teachings and their inestimable value for our troubled world.

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.

Do "In God We Trust", the Declaration of Independence, and other historical "evidence" prove that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles? Are the Ten Commandments the basis for American law? A constitutional attorney dives into the debate about religion's role in America's founding.

Inside this brilliant three-in-one book collection, you’ll uncover a wealth of philosophical insights about truth, faith, and the universe around us. Drawing on the arguments and musings of the famed philosopher, David Hume, this book reveals his ideas on the questions that define our very existence. Brought to life in this collection for a modern audience David Hume’s work has stood the test of time to resonate with people across the ages.

Turning the other cheek does not mean standing by while the enemies of God dismantle Christian civilization and brainwash our children. Decrying the cowardice that masquerades as meekness, Eric Metaxas summons the Church to battle. An attenuated and unbiblical “faith” based on what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” has sapped the spiritual vitality of millions of Americans. Paying lip service to an insipid “evangelism,” they shrink from combating the evils of our time. Metaxas refutes the pernicious lie that fighting evil politicizes Christianity.

In this heart-centered book, a student in conversation with his teacher, Kamlesh D. Patel - affectionately known as Daajii, the current spiritual guide of the century-old Heartfulness tradition - present a unique method of meditation with the power to facilitate an immediate, tangible spiritual experience, irrespective of a person's faith. Based on Daaji's own combination of approaches and practices for the modern seeker, Heartfulness is a contemporized version of the ancient Indian practice of Raja Yoga, a tradition that enables the practitioner to realize the higher self within.

Imagine what it would be like if you could maintain the honeymoon effect throughout your whole life. Dr. Bruce H. Lipton describes how the honeymoon effect was not a chance event or a coincidence but a personal creation. Here, Dr. Lipton reveals how we manifest the honeymoon effect and the reasons why we lose it. This knowledge empowers listeners to create the honeymoon experience again, this time in a way that ensures a happily ever after relationship that even a Hollywood producer would love.

This is a collection of 14 essays on a variety of occult-themed topics, covering the full spectrum of classic occultism and related subjects, but with a focus on the western mystery tradition within esotericism. The topics include Hermeticism, Ceremonial Magic, the Kabbalah, Ancient Wisdom and Philosophy, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry and Mysticism, by some of the most notable and prominent names in the history of those subjects.

Compiled after his death in 1662, Pascal's "pensées" (thoughts) are his ideas for a book in defense of faith in a rational world. These fragments give evidence of a profoundly original thinker who had resolved the conflict between his scientific mind and heart-felt faith. This audiobook begins with an analysis of the difference between mathematical and intuitive thinking and goes on to consider the value of skepticism, contradictions, feeling, memory, and imagination.

Discussions of the Bible and human sexuality often focus on a scattered handful of specific passages. But arguments about this same set of verses have reached an impasse, two leading biblical scholars believe; these debates are missing the forest for the trees. In this learned and beautifully written book, Richard and Christopher Hays explore a more expansive way of listening to the overarching story that scripture tells. They remind us of a dynamic and gracious God who is willing to change his mind, consistently broadening his grace to include more and more people.