Religious Life

At age 14, Wendy Gossard was drawn by the tranquil blue eyes and personal magnetism of a man known as Yahowah, leader of a spiritual group called the Source Family. Fleeing her own family and becoming a fugitive from justice in the state of California, Wendy followed the 1970s cult group across settlements in California and Hawaii on a quest for spiritual direction, communal harmony, and basic survival. Growing up, the teenager, called Mushroom by Yahowah, had questions about her pregnancy, relationships, and place in the universe.

As a student of Woodrow Wilson at Princeton, Howard Baskerville was aflame not only with the gospel of Jesus, but with the Wilsonian gospel that constitutional democracy is the birthright of all nations. Rather than become a small-town minister like his father in South Dakota, he volunteered for missionary service in Persia. Tabriz in 1907 was a hotbed of democratic revolution. Brilliant young firebrands were among Baskerville’s students at the Presbyterian school—and became his devoted friends. He lectured on freedom; they dedicated their lives to it.

In What It Means to Be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life, Phil Zuckerman argues that morality does not come from God. Rather, it comes from us: our brains, our evolutionary past, our ongoing cultural development, our social experiences, and our ability to reason, reflect, and be sensitive to the suffering of others.

This isn’t exactly what Dad had in mind when he took his son on a mission trip to the South American rain forest. But he should have known better. After all, we are talking about Wally-If-Anything-Can-Go-Wrong-It-Will McDoogle. My Life as Crocodile Junk Food keeps listeners laughing as Wally stumbles into a whole new set of impossible (and man-eating) predicaments...until he finally understands the need and joy of sharing Jesus Christ with others.

You're not crazy! The problems that make you feel like you’re broken and can’t be fixed, stem from “negative memory engrams.” You can’t see them or touch them, but you can feel them, and they're running you today! Negative memory engrams can aid your progress or limit it severely! They determine your fears, phobias, and cravings. They’re behind they ways you relate to other people, especially those closest to you. They can even determine how fast you learn and your level of success. When you heal negative memory engrams dysfunction can't hold you hostage any more!

Pioneering philosopher Tim Freke addresses the "soul crisis" in modern culture that has arisen from lack of meaning. He offers an intelligent "spiritual" perspective on life and death to help us make sense of a paradoxical world, which is sometimes bleak and banal, but also can be magical and full of significance. He presents a revolutionary paradigm shift in our understanding of reality that integrates the deepest insights of science and spirituality to create a new model of human identity, which makes the idea of the immortal soul intellectually credible.

Known as the father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther has had an enormous impact on Western Christianity and culture. In Luther on the Christian Life, historian Carl Trueman introduces listeners to the lively Reformer, taking them on a tour of his historical context, theological system, and approach to the Christian life. Whether exploring Luther’s theology of protest, ever-present sense of humor, or misunderstood view of sanctification, this book will help modern listeners go deeper in their spiritual walk by learning from one of the great teachers of the faith.

The Life of Saint Macrina is a significant work of early Christian literature written by Bishop Gregory of Nyssa. In the form of a letter to the monk Olympus, Gregory describes the life and influence of his sister Macrina. Macrina – also known as "Macrina the Younger" – had helped to establish a monastery and convent in Pontus (in modern-day Turkey) in the fourth century AD. The story centres on Gregory’s final visit to Macrina and is written as testimony to her piety, sanctity, and holy influence.

Renowned as a printer, scientist, and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin also published more works on religious topics than any other 18th-century American layperson. Born to Boston Puritans, by his teenage years Franklin had abandoned the exclusive Christian faith of his family and embraced deism. But Franklin, as a man of faith, was far more complex than the "thorough deist" who emerges in his autobiography.

When His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to New York City in 1999, he spoke simply and powerfully on the everyday Buddhist practice of compassion. An Open Heart lays out this course of meditation, from the simplest to the most challenging, describing the mental training techniques that will enable anyone of any faith to change their minds and open their hearts. Featuring an afterword by Richard Gere.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer died a martyr’s death at the age of 39 but remains one of the most influential and challenging theologians of our time. His writings teach us the value of cross-centered theology, and his courageous actions against the Nazi regime compel us to consider the cost of discipleship. From Bonhoeffer, we learn that the Christian life is lived both alone and together, and that there is a stark difference between cheap and costly grace.

In 1971, at age 20, Visakha had just published her first book and was beginning her ascent to fame and fortune through a career in photojournalism. Then, at the invitation of her college boyfriend, Visakha traveled east, where she first learned about bhakti yoga - the yoga of devotion - from a simple Indian sage. The bhakti tradition seemed irrelevant to Visakha. Five Years, Eleven Months and a Lifetime of Unexpected Love is Visakha’s deeply personal account of the emotional upheaval caused by her doubting her own cherished convictions....

One of the most famous figures in Christian history, Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226) was revered as a miracle worker during his life and quickly canonized after his death. He has inspired generations of Christians and other spiritual seekers, from medieval ascetics to 1960s hippies and modern environmentalists. The "poverello" wrote poems praising the sun, moon, and stars, spoke to the birds, and—so the story goes—even tamed a wolf. But what do we know for sure about who he was, and what is simply legend?

When your life falls apart - through a death, a lost relationship, a diagnosis - you want more than anything to know that your pain has a purpose. And that beyond your pain, a new day awaits. Tricia Lott Williford discovered this in a few tragic hours when her 35-year-old husband died unexpectedly. In And Life Comes Back, she writes with soaring prose about her tender, brave journey as a widow with two young boys in the agonizing days and months that followed his death.

Hafiz's Little Book of Life is a lush collection of more than 250 selections from his lifework (his divan). Alongside a Quran, a copy of his divan can be found in average homes in Iran—where stars can be heard singing his poetry on the radio, and lines from his poems are quoted on the street. His poetry is sure to strike a chord in the hearts of readers everywhere. This vital collection of mystical poetry focuses on the issues we encounter in everyday life. Each brief poem may be savored as an oasis of clarity in the hurried literacy of our time, or the entire book enjoyed in one sitting.

For most of her life, Crystal McVea was a skeptic whose history of abuse and bad choices made her feel beyond the reach of God - who questioned if God was even real. She had all but given up hope. Then came December 10, 2009...and the moment that changed everything. Crystal doesn't remember the trauma or losing consciousness; she just remembers waking up in heaven, next to God....

In March 2015, millions worldwide were captivated by news reports of the dramatic rescue of an 18-month-old girl, Lily Groesbeck, who'd somehow survived 14 hours in an overturned car partially submerged in an icy-cold Utah river after her mother apparently lost control of the vehicle. A voice the four responding officers assumed was the child's mother still trapped inside spurred them on: "Help me, help me." Yet once the two victims were recovered, it was clear that the voice could not have come from Lily's mother: She'd been killed on impact.

> Down in the Chapel tells the story of one week at Graterford Prison. One part prison procedural, one part philosophical investigation, Down in the Chapel explores the many uses prisoners make of their religions and weighs the circumstances that make these uses possible. Gritty and visceral, meditative and searching, it is an essential study of American religion in the age of mass incarceration.

Do you believe human life is inherently valuable? Unfortunately, in the secularized age of state-sanctioned euthanasia and abortion-on-demand, many are losing faith in the simple value of human life. To the disillusioned, human beings are a cosmic accident whose intrinsic value is worth no more than other animals. The Death of Humanity explores our culture's declining respect for the sanctity of human life drawing on philosophy and history to reveal the dark road ahead for society if we lose our faith.

This is the story of a new kind of hero: a man who has achieved extraordinary victories in his life—not with weapons, but with moral and spiritual courage. “Where are the heroes of today?” ask those who feel a yearning for examples of inspiring men and women after which to model our lives. The life of Swami Kriyananda is the story of a modern-day hero—a man who has, to an amazing degree, demonstrated spiritual courage, determination in the face of great obstacles, and personal sacrifice for an ideal.