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Spirituality and ReligionJuly 2014
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"Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion." ~ from Jack Kornfield's Buddha's Little Instruction Book
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New and Recently Released!
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| American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon... by Alex BeamJournalist Alex Beam, a Boston Globe columnist and contributor to The Atlantic, examines the life of Latter Day Saints' founder Prophet Joseph Smith as well as the events that led to his group's move to Utah in the mid-1840s. While still in Illinois, Smith's ambitions grew, and he prepared to run for the U.S. presidency -- but having led the Mormons to settle there after fleeing Missouri, he provoked violent backlash against his doctrines and was arrested and ultimately killed by gunfire while awaiting trial for perjury and polygamy. Beam's thoroughly researched and balanced narration of Smith's rise and fall will captivate anyone interested in American history, especially the history of religion. |
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| A History of Religion in 5 1/2 Objects: Bringing the Spiritual to Its Senses by S. Brent PlateIn A History of Religion in 5 1/2 Objects, author Brent Plate, who teaches religious studies at Hamilton College, considers the significance of five specific objects in a variety of religious and spiritual experiences throughout history. First delving into the concept of "half," which represents humans' sense of incompleteness, he then describes how the five (stones, incense, drums, crosses, and bread) have enhanced religious experience through the senses and through their use in organized rituals and individual devotions. This compact and accessible volume illuminates the appreciation of religious practices and offers inspiration to those looking for insight into spiritual matters. |
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Radiant truths : essential dispatches, reports, confessions, & other essays on American belief
by Jeff Sharlet
"Beginning with Walt Whitman singing hymns at a wounded soldier's bedside during the Civil War, this surprising and vivid anthology ranges straight through to the twenty-first century to end with Francine Prose crying tears of complicated joy at the sight of Whitman's words in Zuccotti Park during the brief days of the Occupy movement. The first anthology of its kind, Radiant Truths gathers an exquisite selection of writings by both well-known and forgotten American authors and thinkers, each engaged in the challenges of writing about religion, of documenting "things unseen." Their contributions to the genre of literary journalism-the telling of factual stories using the techniques of fiction and poetry-make this volume one of the most exciting anthologies of creative nonfiction to have emerged in years. Jeff Sharlet presents an evocative selection of writings that illuminate the evolution of the American genre of documentary prose. Each entry may be savored separately, but together the works enrich oneanother, engaging in an implicit and continuing conversation that reaches across time and generations. Including works by: Walt Whitman - Henry David Thoreau - Mark Twain - Meridel Le Sueur - Zora Neale Hurston - Mary McCarthy - James Baldwin - Norman Mailer - Ellen Willis Anne Fadiman - John Jeremiah Sullivan - Francine Prose - Garry Wills - "and many others"
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| The Broken and the Whole: Discovering Joy after Heartbreak: Lessons from a Life ... by Charles S. ShermanThree decades ago, Rabbi Charles Sherman's four-year-old son Eyal suffered a stroke as a complication of brain cancer surgery; his resulting quadriplegia then became the focal point for his whole family, including Mrs. Sherman and their five children, to pull together and support each other. Sherman's account of their experience is inspiring; moreover, in addition to detailing the family's learning and self-discovery, he explains how his own faith was changed and shaped during the years following Eyal's stroke. Like Rabbi Harold Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People, The Broken and the Whole offers insight and inspiration to people of all faiths who have encountered devastating challenges and losses. |
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| The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World by Desmond Tutu and Mpho TutuIn The Book of Forgiving, Desmond Tutu collaborates with his daughter Mpho to explain why forgiveness is essential in everyone's life, including those who have not experienced the levels of trauma that were seen in Apartheid-era South Africa (as discussed in Tutu's No Future Without Forgiveness). Providing examples of small and large psychological and physical injuries and tracing the process that leads to forgiveness, The Book of Forgiving teaches what forgiveness is and how to achieve it, concluding with "All Can Be Forgiven." Individuals and discussion groups will find insight and hope in this volume. |
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Healing in Mind, Body, and Spirit
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The year of magical thinking
by Joan Didion
An autobiographical portrait of marriage and motherhood details the critical illness of her daughter, Quintana Roo, followed by the fatal coronary of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and her daughter's second bout with a life-threatening ailment, and her struggle to come to terms with life and death, illness, sanity, personal upheaval, and grief. Winner of the National Book Award. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 250,000 first printing.
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| The Possibility of Everything: A Memoir by Hope EdelmanWhen author Hope Edelman's three-year-old daughter Maya exhibited violent behavior after the appearance of an imaginary friend she called Dodo, standard parenting advice failed to offer a solution. Soon, Maya began saying that she was under Dodo's control, and Edelman wondered about mental illness or even spirit possession. In this combination travelogue and spiritual memoir, she relates how she and her husband visited Belize with Maya and eventually (despite some skepticism) allowed traditional shamans to treat their daughter. Publishers Weekly describes The Possibility of Everything as "a highly readable, insight-laden narrative." |
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| Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them? A Scientific Dialogue... by Daniel GolemanDestructive Emotions presents a narrative account of a five-day symposium on approaches to defusing harmful emotions. The speakers included the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist scholars as well as experimental psychologists. Though author Daniel Goleman presents the methodology in terms of Western science, all the discussions are also informed by Buddhist meditation practices. Making spiritual approaches to emotional health accessible to non-Buddhists while explaining the science behind the techniques, Destructive Emotions both entertains and informs those who are seeking a healthier, happier life through either psychological therapy or spiritual discipline. |
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| The Horse Boy: A Memoir of Healing by Rupert IsaacsonAuthor Rupert Isaacson would have done anything for Rowan, his profoundly autistic five-year-old son -- but all the treatments he and his wife pursued only seemed to make the boy's tantrums worse. Noticing that Rowan had a strong connection to horses and that his behavior and verbal skills improved when he spent time with them, the Isaacsons decided to try something radically different: they took Rowan to Mongolia, famed for its horses, where they went on long horseback rides with the Mongolians and consulted their shamans. The unusual approach described in The Horse Boy offers hope to those dealing with difficult psychological conditions and considering alternative treatments. |
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| In the Valley of the Shadow: On the Foundations of Religious Belief... by James L. KugelIn this moving and thought-provoking memoir of illness and treatment, Jewish literary and biblical scholar James Kugel examines his first reaction to being diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, describing how his perceptions of the world around him changed immediately after he left his doctor's office. As he endures the effects of his cancer and chemotherapy, he finds new meaning in familiar works -- secular poems, the Psalms, and other parts of the Bible. He also considers contemporary opinions on religion, both from skeptics and from those who explore scientific explanations for religious impulses. In The Valley of the Shadow offers a "wide-ranging, well-informed, deeply ponderable apology for religion" (Booklist). |
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| Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian CheungAccording to Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh and nutritionist Dr. Lilian Cheung, our wellness depends on wholesome food and healthy attitudes towards its consumption. In Savor, the authors offer a mindfulness approach to weight loss, explaining how spiritual transformation leads to improved eating habits in addition to general good health. The first four chapters of the book discuss the nature of suffering -- which includes being overweight -- and how to address it; the rest of the book provides nutritional advice in the form of "Mindful Action Plans." Savor uniquely combines a spiritual understanding of mindfulness with practical, scientifically based nutritional advice. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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