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Spirituality and Religion January 2018
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| The Dharma of The Princess Bride: What the Coolest Fairy Tale of Our Time Can Teach Us by Ethan NichternWhat it is: Buddhist teachings about life (dharma) get a popular culture boost from the cult classic film The Princess Bride. Focusing on friendships, romantic relationships, and family, Buddhist teacher Ethan Nichtern makes the dharma fun and accessible.
Is it for you? You don't need to be a film geek or a Buddhist. Even if you haven't seen the movie dozens of times (like Nichtern), you'll find insights you can apply to your own relationships. Those who haven't seen it might want to view it before reading this book. |
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The Burning Time: Henry VIII, Bloody Mary, and the Protestant Martyrs of London
by Virginia Rounding
Brings to life an era that was an orthodoxy one year and a heresy the next by concentrating on two very different characters—Richard Rich, Thomas Cromwell’s protégé, who remained in a position of power under three Tudor monarchs, and John Deane, Rector of St. Bartholomew’s, who was able to navigate the treacherous waters of dogma and help others to survive.
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Crucible of Faith: The Ancient Revolution that Made Our Modern Religious World
by Philip Jenkins
In The Crucible of Faith, Philip Jenkins argues that much of the Judeo-Christian tradition we know today was born between 250-50 BCE, during a turbulent "Crucible Era." It was during these years that Judaism grappled with Hellenizing forces and produced new religious ideas that reflected and responded to their changing world. By the time of the fall of the Temple in 70 CE, concepts that might once have seemed bizarre became normalized-and thus passed on to Christianity and later Islam. Drawing widely on contemporary sources from outside the canonical Old and New Testaments, Jenkins reveals an era of political violence and social upheaval that ultimately gave birth to entirely new ideas about religion, the afterlife, Creation and the Fall, and the nature of God and Satan.
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Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely
by Holley Gerth
With strength and vulnerability, bestselling author and speaker helps women understand that they're stronger than they know, braver than they sometimes feel, and can dare to be true to who God made them to be.
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Leopard Warrior: A Journey into the African Teachings of Ancestry, Instinct, and Dreams
by John Lockley
Leopard Warrior shares the remarkable story of how John Lockley became one of the first modern white men in recent history to become a fully initiated sangoma—traditional priest and healer—in the Xhosa lineage of South Africa, the tribe of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. In this teaching memoir, John explores Xhosa wisdom on dreams, ceremony, spirit guides, ancestors, and our intrinsic humanity (Ubuntu).
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Greatest Love
by Zhi Gang Sha
The greatest love is love that truly lasts and has no conditions. It is the love of a mother for her child. It is the love we read about in poems. It is the love we long to have. We all have challenges that keep us from experiencing this greatest love. These challenges may present themselves in your health, relationships, or finances. With this book, learn how to unblock your life in 30 minutes a day with the power of unconditional love, the greatest love, which surpasses the human and enters the love of all creation. A book the aims to heal one's life defines the "Greatest Love" and its power and significance and discusses how the process of Tao Source Calligraphy can heal the wounded soul. By a #1 New York Times best-selling author.
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What the Qur'an Meant and Why it Matters
by Garry Wills
A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and religious scholar redirects his lifelong focus on Christianity and takes open-minded look at the Qur’an, finding the original meaning of the sacred text and showing numerous parallels between it and the Old and New Testaments.
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The New Cosmic Story: Inside Our Awakening Universe
by John F. Haught
In this thought-provoking book, John F. Haught considers the deeper implications of this discovery. He contends that many others who have written books on life and the universe—including Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, and Richard Dawkins—have overlooked a crucial aspect of cosmic history: the drama of life’s awakening to interiority and religious awareness. Science may illuminate the outside story of the universe, but a full telling of the cosmic story cannot ignore the inside development that interiority represents.
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Shakti Rising: Embracing Shadow and Light on the Goddess Path to Wholeness
by Kavitha M. Chinnaiyan
The wisdom of the Mahavidyas, the ten wisdom goddesses who represent the interconnected darkness and light within all of us, has been steeped in esoteric and mystical descriptions that made them seem irrelevant to ordinary life. But with this book, written by a respected cardiologist who found herself on a spiritual search for the highest truth, you're invited to explore this ancient knowledge and learn how it can be applied to daily struggles and triumphs--and how it can help you find unreserved self-love and acceptance.
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| The Dude and the Zen Master by Jeff Bridges and Bernie GlassmanWhat it is: a dialogue about many aspects of Zen between film star Jeff Bridges and his Buddhist teacher, Bernie Glassman. Using accessible examples from American popular culture, they lightheartedly consider how to deal with change, promote peace, end hunger, and other serious issues.
Follow up: Watch The Big Lebowski (or see it again). For a more traditional introduction to practical Zen Buddhism, try Jack Kornfeld's The Art of Forgiveness. |
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| A Force for Good by Daniel GolemanWhat it's about: Psychologist Daniel Goleman applies his research on emotional intelligence to the Dalai Lama's philosophy of compassion and action. Starring: the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, who is the leader of Tibetan Buddhists and exiled head of the Tibetan people. He discusses how his monastic training guides his views of the world and the choices he makes. What you might like: The Dalai Lama's sense of humor shines, along with his wisdom, in this practical interpretation of Buddhist precepts. |
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| Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Thich Nhat HanhWhat it is: an inspirational discussion of the importance of silence as an antidote to psychological and environmental noise.
Key insight: Buddhist meditation promotes mindfulness and deep listening, helping you follow the Bodhisattva path to enlightenment.
About the author: The internationally acclaimed Vietnamese Buddhist monk writes straightforward and accessible books on meditation practice and its benefits. |
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Siddhārtha's Brain: Unlocking the Ancient Science of Enlightenment
by James Kingsland
Modern neuroscience meets the Buddha's discovery of enlightenment in this "compelling treatise on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness" (Kirkus Reviews). James Kingsland, the Guardian's science editor, presents a brief spiritual biography of Siddhārtha Gautama, who made mindfulness meditation the foundation of Buddhism. With the Buddha's experiences as a framework, he provides an extensive and accessible review of clinical studies of meditation's neurological effects and mindfulness-based therapies. Siddhārtha's Brain includes references to meditation practice in other religious traditions and adds guided exercises to illustrate its effects for readers.
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| Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye: A Journey by Marie Mutsuki MockettWhat it's about: Author Marie Mutsuki Mockett vividly and movingly relates her visit to Japan after the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant explosion followed by a tsunami. In this spiritual memoir, Mockett, who was already mourning her Japanese grandfather's death, portrays the widespread grief in Japan for those lost to the sequential disasters.
Read it for: Mockett's account of her own gradual healing draws readers into Japanese Buddhist culture, which connects deeply with a common human desire to maintain contact with the dead. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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