Showing results by publisher "Learn25" in Politics & Social Sciences

Groundbreaking new scientific research illuminates surprising ways in which you can live a more healthy, happy, and flourishing life. Until now, psychology has focused on resolving people’s problems. But the relatively new field of positive psychology instead examines the things that make your life worth living. Positive Psychology: How to Sustain Happiness in Your Life gives you practical steps for leading a flourishing life. Your guide is Professor Catherine A. Sanderson of Amherst College, named one of America’s Best 300 Professors by the Princeton Review.

Axial Age refers to the era (800-200 BCE) when five Eurasian civilizations experienced an unprecedented period of development in philosophy, religion, and art. In this compelling audio course, Professor Matthew Dillon argues that the schools of thought that emerged in this period are integral to how we think about the big questions of existence today.

This series explores the Bible through the fascinating lens of feminism. How can feminist methods help you better understand Scripture? What do these methods entail, and why are they important to both men and women? You will answer these questions with a variety of examples from both the Old and New Testaments. Along the way, award-winning professor Sr. Barbara Reid will teach you different ways to approach the Scriptures from a feminist perspective.

Revered as a consummate statesman who cemented America’s place on the global stage, Franklin Delano Roosevelt affected tremendous change in the United States in course of his career. To understand his life is to understand how the nation claimed world leadership in what many call the American Century.

This concise, three-segment audio series by award-winning Catholic historian Christopher Bellitto is designed to thoughtfully answer your questions. In Picking Popes, Dr. Bellitto reviews the colorful history of picking popes, conclaves, and cardinals. You'll find plenty of anecdotes and analyses from a history professor who works with the media during papal transitions.

In this must-have course, you will encounter Christian anthropology: the branch of theology that articulates the meaning of human existence in light of Christ's revelation. With expert presenter Sr. Sara Fairbanks as your guide, you will examine the multifaceted Christian perspective on humanity's place in the evolving universe. As you ask the deep questions of ultimate meaning, you will explore our origin, purpose, goal, and future destiny.

Is there other intelligent life in the universe, or are we all alone? Now you can explore this question through 17 compelling conversations with leading experts on extraterrestrial life. The prospect of alien intelligences has long captivated cosmologists, perplexed theologians, and provided rich fodder for science fiction writers. While we may doubt that the large-eyed, green-skinned figures of sci-fi films will one day descend to Earth in UFOs, it is far harder to reject wholesale the possibility that intelligent life - in some form yet unknown - exists.

More than ever, Americans are reclaiming our national identity based on the fundamental principles of America's founding. In this enlightening course, you will explore what defines us as Americans by looking at our founding documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. This is the course you always wish you had taken when you were an undergrad. An engaging and gifted teacher, Professor Jeffrey Sikkenga passionately explores the founding principles that make America a great nation.

As with any great work of the literary imagination, the Confessions of Saint Augustine defies categorization. It is part spiritual autobiography, part theological meditation - but above all, it is one of the most superb masterpieces ever written. In St. Augustine's Confessions: The Arc of Conversion, you will join leading Augustine expert and award-winning professor James Wetzel in exploring this timeless work anew.

At the end our lives, we look forward to eternal life. Now you can take a fascinating journey through eschatology, the theology of the Last Things. In these 12 lectures, you will join renowned theologian Dr. Peter Phan in encountering De Novissimis - the "Last Things". You will explore the realities that occur at the end of life (i.e., death and dying) as well as those that occur in the afterlife (i.e., judgment, purgatory, hell, heaven, the resurrection, and the consummation of the world).

St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430) is unquestionably one of the most influential figures in Western civilization. This audio course will bring you to the heart of St. Augustine’s works, revealing how his words speak to us across the centuries. According to his rival and contemporary St. Jerome, Augustine “established anew the ancient faith”.

In this fascinating audio course on the Roman monarchy, republic, and empire, you will explore the essentials of Roman civilization: the creation of a city at the center of world history, its political legacy, its architectural and cultural achievements, its treatment of women and slaves, and its tragic flaws. You will begin by placing ancient Rome in world history by looking at its origins and contexts in terms of geography and chronology.

Alexander the Great (ca. 356-323 BCE) was a Macedonian general who brought Greek civilization to the edge of modern-day India. After studying the Iliad, he believed himself to be Achilles reincarnated, imitating the hero of the epic poem in his own military campaigns. Even before he died barely into his 30s, the legends surrounding him were larger than life. In this compelling new audio course, you’ll explore the history and lore surrounding this real man and mythic figure, often by consulting the ancient sources themselves.

What is the function of the contemplative in the modern world? This question lies at the root of Thomas Merton’s extended contemplation of Franz Kafka’s dystopian novel, The Castle. Now, you have the rare opportunity to hear Merton - the English professor-turned-monk and a literary genius in his own right - discuss The Castle as a metaphor for the monastic life. Originally recorded in 1967 and newly remastered to enhance your listening experience, this audio set collects four talks on Kafka that Merton delivered during the month of June.

Explore some of the most powerful theological ideas, economic tensions, and political struggles that shaped Western civilization. This series traces western European civilization - with detours to the East - from the transformation of the Roman Empire to a thousand-year medieval period that started slowly before 1000, flowered for 300 years, and then declined sharply with the Black Death and social revolts until Constantinople fell in 1453 and Columbus sailed in 1492.

In the near future, developments in bio-enhancement technologies will not only alter how we make a living, communicate, and interact with each other, but will offer direct and precise control over our own physical and mental states. People will be able to sculpt their own selfhood over time, reshaping their bodies, augmenting their cognition, micromanaging their emotions and moods, and reconfiguring their character and personality. In this captivating audio series from Michael Bess, you’ll explore the promise and peril of tinkering with human bodies and identities.

This unforgettable course by modern spiritual master Fr. Howard Gray will change the way you see the Bible. For as long as humans have been around, we have found comfort in stories. In Great Biblical Stories: A Narrative Journey with Howard Gray, you will discover newfound theological and spiritual meaning in the Bible's great stories. By looking at the stories God uses in the Bible and developing an informed approach to the literature of faith, you will come to know him more personally.

If you or someone you love is facing death, this deeply compassionate series offers hope and comfort. While conversations about dying and death have become more popular in recent years, a decidedly Catholic perspective is often missing. Now, this course offers a unique approach to these conversations grounded in the Franciscan tradition. Combining historical analysis and meditations for reflection, these lectures provide you with new insights into the spiritual dimensions of dying and death.

Beginning with the seemingly simple question "what is human?" Fr. FitzGerald investigates the implications of modern science. Several lectures are devoted to stem cells. What are they, where do they come from, and how are they used? Does it matter if a stem cell comes from an embryo versus bone marrow, the placenta, or skin? Examine the promise and dangers of stem cell research. The world marveled at Dolly, the first cloned sheep, and now cloning is widespread. What is cloning, how is it done, and are humans being cloned now?

The framers of the Constitution were in uncharted territory when they created the office of the presidency. No one at that time had a clear vision of what the president of a national republic would do, and only the vaguest notion existed when George Washington took the oath in 1789. For nearly 250 years, our elected Presidents have played a role in shaping what the office has become. Thomas Jefferson described the presidency as a “splendid misery,” John Quincy Adams felt it was “harassing,” and Warren Harding said simply, “It’s hell!"