Showing titles in Religious Studies

In The Story of Christianity, acclaimed theologian David Bentley Hart provides a sweeping and informative portrait of a faith that has shaped the western world and beyond for over 2,000 years. From the persecutions of the early church to the papal-imperial conflicts of the Middle Ages, from the...

The basis of the celebrated Paramount Network miniseries starring Michael Shannon and Taylor Kitsch -- Waco is the critically-acclaimed, first person account of the siege by Branch Davidian survivor, David Thibodeau. Twenty-five years ago, the FBI staged a deadly raid on the Branch Davidian...

On October 14, 1943, 600 Jews imprisoned in Sobibor, a secret Nazi death camp in eastern Poland, revolted. They killed a dozen SS officers and guards, trampled the barbed wire fences, and raced across an open field filled with anti-tank mines. Against all odds, more than three hundred made it safely into the woods. Fifty of those men and women managed to survive the rest of the war. In this edition of Escape from Sobibor, fully updated in 2012, Richard Rashke tells their stories

When Misty was six years old, her family started to live and dress like the Amish. Misty and her sister were kept as slaves on a mountain ranch where they were subjected to almost complete isolation, sexual abuse, and extreme physical violence. When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared she and her sister would escape and took them to an Amish community where they were adopted and became baptized members. Misty was devastated to once again find herself in a world of fear, animal cruelty, and sexual abuse. 

Michael A. Singer, author of The Untethered Soul, tells the extraordinary story of what happened when, after a deep spiritual awakening, he decided to let go of his personal preferences and simply let life call the shots. As Singer takes you on this great experiment and journey into life's perfection, the events that transpire will both challenge your deepest assumptions about life and inspire you to look at your own life in a radically different way.

The earliest Christians believed Jesus was an ancient celestial being who put on a bodysuit of flesh, died at the hands of dark forces, and then rose from the dead and ascended back into the heavens. But the writing we have today from that first generation of Christians never says where they thought he landed, where he lived, or where he died. The idea that Jesus toured Galilee and visited Jerusalem arose only a lifetime later, in unsourced legends written in a foreign land and language. Many sources repeat those legends, but none corroborate them.

This book is a three-part journey into the rabbit hole we call the nature of reality. Its ultimate destination is a plausible, living validation of transcendence. Each of its three parts is like a turn of a spiral, exploring recurring ideas through the prisms of religious myth, truth, and belief, respectively. With each turn, the book seeks to convey a more nuanced and complete understanding of the many facets of transcendence. 

*With a foreword from Tim Keller* A bold vision for Christians who want to engage the world in a way that is biblically faithful and culturally sensitive. In Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin shows how the Bible and its unfolding story help us make sense of modern life and culture...

Over the course of twenty-five centuries, Buddhism spread from its place of origin in northern India to become a global tradition of remarkable breadth, depth, and richness. Donald S. Lopez Jr. draws on the latest scholarship to construct a detailed and innovative history of Buddhism—not just as a chronology through the centuries or as geographic movement, but as a dense matrix of interconnections.

"Something here really stinks to high heaven," writes Erich von Däniken. "In Twilight of the Gods," says von Däniken, "I document precisely what it was that left the first visitors breathless as they stood before the mighty stone blocks some 400 years ago. I will show you what archeologists discovered hundreds of years ago and demonstrate how much has been destroyed over the centuries. Intentionally.

This extraordinary document represents a new form of historical research and straightens out many open questions and misinterpretations. It takes the form of direct dialogues between a modern researcher and a member of the Qumran Essene community. Alive around the time of Christ, this community has become the focus of ideas about the connection of Jesus' teachings to earlier traditions.

In the face of upheaval, displacement, and war, the Schapiro family’s journey stands as a testament to resilience and steadfast devotion to Yiddishkeit. Drawing on richly detailed narratives and over 550 archival documents and photographs, this book chronicles not only the Schapiro family's extraordinary path, but also the broader saga of the Lubavitch community as it endured Soviet repression, crossed a devastated Europe, and helped rebuild Jewish life in postwar America.

In Canceled, historian Steve Weidenkopf (The Real Story of Catholic History) digs into some of the most controversial Catholics ever to capture the popular imagination. He looks at notorious figures like Christopher Columbus and Marie Antoinette, so associated with their presumed evils that the modern world has completely written them off—canceled them from any favorable mention or memory. And worse, the world now uses them as brushes to tar the whole Church.

في الواقع، وكما ذكرنا ذلك سابقًا، تقترن درجة الوعي بمدى حساسية الكينونة. فكلما ازداد وعينا بالواقع كنا أكثر حساسية ضمنه، وستزداد، بذلك، قابليتنا لاختبار الشعور الكثيف بالفرح والمعاناة على حد سواء. إن نزعتنا إلى السعادة أو إلى التعاسة تنبع لاحقًا من تصوّرنا لحياة سعيدة، لأننا إذا اعتقدنا أن تحقيق السعادة يشترط عدم معرفة المعاناة، فسنتموقع آليًا، وعلى نحو من المفارقة، ضمن منظورٍ يُعزّز المعاناة بما أنّ الحياة لن تستجيب أبدًا لمثل هذه الانتظارات اللاواقعية، وسنكون بذلك في صراع دائم ضدّها.

The Bishop Book offers a unique glimpse into the extraordinary experiences of serving as an LDS (Latter-day Saint) bishop. Through a tapestry of quotes and interviews gathered over 30 years, this book captures the challenges, joys, and profound impact of this sacred calling.

O livro da Mitologia, de Thomas Bulfinch, nos encanta com os mais belos mitos, em que se encontram os episódios de Prometeu e Pandora, Apolo e Dafne, Juno e suas rivais, Perseu e Medusa, Minerva e Níobe, entre tantas outras lendas greco-romanas, além dos mitos nórdicos e egípcios. Embora o...

Anyone familiar with H. P. Lovecraft's work knows of the Necronomicon, the black-magic grimoire he invented as a literary prop in his classic horror stories. There have been several attempts at creating this text, yet none stand up to Lovecraft's own descriptions of the Necronomicon...until now. Fans of Lovecraftian magic and occult fiction will delight in Donald Tyson's Necronomicon, based purely within Lovecraft's own fictional universe, the Cthulhu Mythos. 

Told by a former high-level member of the Peoples Temple and Jonestown survivor, Seductive Poison is the "truly unforgettable" (Kirkus Review) story of how one woman was seduced by one of the most notorious cults in recent memory and how she found her way back to sanity. From Waco to Heaven's...

The understandable, deeply authoritative and bestselling book on the Orthodox Church, in a fully updated and revised Third Edition.

Secrets of Divine Love is the #1 international bestselling book on Islam that draws upon spiritual secrets of the Qur’an, ancient mystical poetry, and stories from the world’s greatest prophets and spiritual masters to help you reignite your faith, overcome your doubts, and deepen your connection with God. Through the use of scientific evidence, practical exercises, and guided meditations, you will develop the tools and awareness needed to discern and overcome your negative inner critic that prevents you from experiencing God’s all-encompassing love.