Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/11/2013
ISBN-13: 9781250016799
ISBN-10: 1250016797

Sudanese-born Malaysian author Amir Ahmad Nasr writes in a conversational style about his expatriate upbringing and the evolution of his Muslim faith. Nasr discovered some Egyptian bloggers in 2006 and realized there were other Muslims whose religious and political beliefs differed from the fundamentalism he learned in his youth. He joined international discussions of Islam and religious politics through his blog, The Sudanese Thinker. Through the metaphor of a love affair, My Isl@m relates how his faith has changed through the years. This "candid, cosmopolitan" (Kirkus Reviews) memoir is accessible both to people who know little about Islam and to liberal Muslims who are interested in discussing the issues he raises.

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Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/21/2013
ISBN-13: 9780307592989
ISBN-10: 0307592987

Author Nora Gallagher, known for both novels and spiritual memoirs, learned during a routine eye exam that she had an inflamed optic nerve -- a serious condition that could lead to blindness. This discovery launched her on a search for healing that brought considerable uncertainty and frustration. In Moonlight Sonata at the Mayo Clinic, Gallagher examines the interaction between personal spirituality, an individual health crisis, and the medical system. Frankly discussing the anxiety arising from conflicting medical advice and the fear of losing her sight, she explains how these challenges to her equanimity affected her religious outlook, leading her to live more attentively in the present.

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Publisher: Worthy Publishing
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/07/2013
ISBN-13: 9781617951879
ISBN-10: 1617951870

Christians and many others know the story of Jesus' death in the first century A.D. as described in the Gospels and other historical accounts. In Killing Jesus, author Stephen Mansfield draws on the New Testament and many other primary sources to present a detailed account of each step of the momentous journey that ended on Calvary. In vivid, novelistic writing style, he depicts the gritty background of Palestine under Roman rule, the political and religious controversies that swirled through the times, the conspiracy that led to Jesus' execution, and the brutal details of torture and crucifixion (which are not for squeamish readers). Both authoritative and enthralling, Killing Jesus offers a new way to read about the old story.

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Publisher: Wisdom Publications
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/21/2013
ISBN-13: 9781614290254
ISBN-10: 1614290253

The Tao Te Ching provides the foundation of Taoist philosophy, but it also profoundly influenced the branch of Chinese Buddhism known as "Chan" or "Zen." In Walking the Way, author Robert Rosenbaum explores the Tao Te Ching's teachings and explains how they inform Zen practices. He provides a modern, accessible translation of the book's precepts along with personal illustrations that invite readers to apply these teachings to their own lives. Though this ancient Chinese classic exists in many modern English translations, Rosenbaum provides a different approach to the book by expanding on its various topics, encouraging a spiritual balance to counteract excessive effort some may exert in Buddhist meditation practice.

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Publisher: Indiana University Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/04/2013
ISBN-13: 9780253008534
ISBN-10: 0253008530

Père Marie-Benoît, a French Franciscan priest, helped to rescue thousands of Jews during World War II, providing many refugees with shelter through a Marseilles-based network and later assisting Italian Jews after his transfer to Rome. In this thorough biography, historian Susan Zuccotti explores his early life and religious studies, his service in World War I, and his remarkable work during the Nazi occupation and Second World War. Unlike many Catholics of the time, Père Marie-Benoît vehemently opposed anti-Semitism and championed the cause of protecting the Jews against the Final Solution. This compelling biography illuminates both his individual efforts and the work of many who opposed the Holocaust. For an account of a different effort to protect Jews in Marseilles, read Carla Killough McClafferty's In Defiance of Hitler.

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Members of several religious groups are known as "plain people;" here are books about Quakers, Hutterites, and Amish.

Publisher: Columbia University Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/01/2003
ISBN-13: 9780231123624
ISBN-10: 0231123620

There are only about 100,000 members of the Society of Friends, known as Quakers, in America, but the group's practices and teachings are notably diverse. In The Quakers in America, historian Thomas Hamm reviews the movement's origins and examines the development of such differences as congregations with no pastors that practice silent, unstructured worship, and those that are led by pastors and have structured services with preaching and hymn-singing. He also explains the common features that unite all Quakers and describes their engagement with the communities around them and with national and world political issues. This thorough, informative, and very accessible work offers an overview for anyone interested in American religious history.

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Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/04/2010
ISBN-13: 9780849948107
ISBN-10: 084994810X

Mary-Ann Kirkby's family left their sheltered Hutterite community when she was ten, and she found herself in contemporary Canadian society -- where prejudices against Hutterites still existed. In recounting the poignant and fascinating story of a way of life that is invisible to mainstream culture, Kirkby goes back through several generations of her family and shares not only her own coming of age but her reclamation of her Hutterite heritage as an adult. She explains Hutterite traditions such as pacifism and close community life, illuminating the contrasts between Hutterite and modern "English" culture. I Am Hutterite is "as riveting and well-paced as a novel" (Publishers Weekly).

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Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/28/2010
ISBN-13: 9780470520697
ISBN-10: 0470520698

In The Amish Way, scholars Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt, and David Weaver-Zercher explore the religious doctrines and practices that unite a variety of groups under the term "Amish." Using anecdotes and historical accounts, they bring to life Amish beliefs and practices and explain how Amish faith relates to other Americans'. A historical overview appears in the appendix, along with sections describing the Amish lectionary and their "Rules of a Godly Life." Anyone who has wished for more detail about these religious groups will find this an engaging introduction. The authors' Amish Grace offers additional insight, as it examines the Amish practice of forgiveness in the wake of the West Nickel Mines school shooting in 2006.

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Publisher: Beacon Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/15/2008
ISBN-13: 9780807010655
ISBN-10: 0807010650

The Amish are not one homogenous group -- rather, the label "Amish" applies to many different orders. In Plain Secrets, non-Amish author Joe Mackall relates his relationship with his neighbors, the Shetler family, who are members of the Swartzentruber Amish community in Ohio, and describes their way of life. It's a lifestyle that Mackall knows well, having lived near the members of this conservative order for more than 16 years. By the end of the book, you'll see the Shetlers as individuals, know more about this one particular group of Amish, and have a better understanding of the Amish in general. "A loving portrait, warts and all, of an often-misunderstood people," says Booklist.

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Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/01/2011
ISBN-13: 9781414339368
ISBN-10: 1414339364

To outsiders, the Amish way of life appears narrow and confining, and some Amish do find it so. In his positive, engaging memoir, author Ira Wagler relates his strong curiosity as a youth about what it would be like to live in the wider non-Amish culture. Beginning as a teenager, he left the community several times to try other ways of life, always returning after a few months. Finally he found "reassurance that Christianity is a religion, not an institution" (Booklist), and was able to leave the Amish without abandoning his faith. For an outsider's sympathetic view of the Amish way of life, read Almost Amish by Natalie Sleeth.

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