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Spirituality and Religion January 2021
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| Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal to the World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Franz AltWhat it is: a concise, issue-oriented plea to politicians and other powerful decision-makers to rise to the challenge of fighting climate change.
Why you might like it: A hopeful, conversational tone make a sometimes overwhelming topic feel more approachable.
Don't miss: the discussion of the work being done by a new generation of climate activists like Elsa Mengistu, Xiye Bastida, Greta Thunberg, and Jamie Margolin. |
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Everything is spiritual : who we are and what we're doing here
by Rob Bell
"In his profound and deeply personal new book, New York times bestselling author Rob Bell explores the endless dynamic questions and connections that have shaped his life to provide powerful insight into understanding your purpose and place in the world.Our home is a universe of endless dynamic connections that never stop inviting us to participate in the great mysterious love at the heart of it all. Everything is Spiritual is a brief history of how these ideas about creation, love, and connection shaped the author--and can shape every one of us. In this book, Rob Bell explores the concept that what people really want, more than anything, is to understand their purpose here--so much so that it gives them an abiding sense of awe and wonder. And when you embrace where and who you come from and your wounds and pains and regrets, you will discover that there's an invitation lurking there in the mess of life: an invitation to expand just like the universe has been doing for 13 billions years. There is a space beyond all the parts and divisions and differences and polarization where you see that it's all one connected whole and it's all rigged in favor of your growth, expansion, and joy"
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The lost art of Scripture : rescuing the sacred texts
by Karen Armstrong
The award-winning author of The Case for God examines how fundamental misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the sacred texts of the world’s primary religions may be at the heart of many of today’s controversies.
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Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity
by James J. O'Donnell
Religion in the Roman Empire during the first four centuries A.D. assumed that there were many gods. People were devoted to their deities but also tolerant of different beliefs. The early followers of Jesus asserted a strange, novel idea when they claimed that their God was the only one. In Pagans, Georgetown University scholar James O'Donnell offers an easy to follow tour of ancient Roman religions preceding Christianity. He also explains how Christian doctrine began to drive out polytheism and eventually dominated Western religion. Though it's packed with historical scholarship, this book "employs the classical texts with irony and irreverence" (Kirkus Reviews).
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| Toil & Trouble by Augusten BurroughsWhat it is: the candid and darkly humorous account of the author's experiences with ritual and his family's relationship with witchcraft and the supernatural.
Who it's for: Burroughs fans; anyone interested in the informal ways that beliefs from the past can find their way into the present.
About the author: Writer Augusten Burroughs has published essays, fiction, and nonfiction, and is best known for his memoirs Running With Scissors and Dry. |
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| After Life: My Journey from Incarceration to Freedom by Alice Marie Johnson with Nancy FrenchWhat it's about: the pre-and-post-imprisonment life of Alice Marie Johnson and the role her faith played in supporting her through it all.
Don't miss: Johnson's experiences in early life with Jim Crow and other forms of systemic injustice and the legacy in the legal system to this day.
You might also like: The Buddhist on Death Row by David Sheff, which tells the story of Buddhist teacher Jarvis Masters and how his practice sustains him through his efforts to appeal his death sentence. |
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| American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland by Marie Mutsuki MockettWhat it is: an engaging and descriptive memoir of life in the "flyover states" that also raises timely issues about religious and political identity and the problematic underpinnings of the American farming industry.
Read it for: the nuanced view author Marie Mutsuki Mockett brings to polarizing conversations and her humane portraits of people who are often stereotyped.
Reviewers say: "A revealing, richly textured portrait of the lives of those who put food on our tables" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others
by Barbara Brown Taylor
What it is: a thoughtful account of the author's experiences teaching an introductory religion class over the years and what she's learned from watching her students as they go through the course.
About the author: Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest, professor at Piedmont College in Georgia, and author of other religious memoirs including Learning to Walk in the Dark and An Altar in the World.
Reviewers say: "Taylor effectively reminds us that religion...involves our deepest selves and is the fabric of our shared lives" (Library Journal).
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| The Opposite of Certainty: Fear, Faith, and Life in Between by Janine Urbaniak ReidWhat it is: a moving and inspiring story of relying on faith through difficult and uncertain circumstances, in this case the author's ordeal with her son's brain tumor.
Reviewers say: "Reid's saga will appeal to readers seeking a faith-filled approach to confronting the worst that life throws at them" (Library Journal).
You might also like: Everything Happens for a Reason, in which religion scholar Kate Bowler confronts a cancer diagnosis and examines the existential questions it raises through the lens of her primary academic interest, the prosperity gospel. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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