Showing results by publisher "Learn25" in Religion & Spirituality

Take solace in the Franciscans’ powerful faith with one of the world’s leading experts on St. Francis of Assisi. Throughout seven engaging lectures originally produced for Franciscan ministries, you’ll learn what defines the Franciscan view: a focus on the individual, a championing of interdependence, and a dedication to living with open hands.

Explore the transformative power of Buddhist philosophy with Dr. Douglas Gentile, renowned psychologist, celebrated professor, and Zen Buddhist monk.

This 21-lecture course uses the shared heritage of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a springboard for interfaith dialogue. As you progress through the course, you’ll explore the ways in which this conceptual framework promotes peace and understanding while recognizing difference. Reframing an old idea, the concept of “Abrahamic religions” endeavors to improve Christian--Muslim relations by patterning them after 20th-century Jewish--Christian dialogues.

Are you curious about meditation but feel like you don’t have time to practice it? Have you tried meditating once or twice but worried that you weren’t “doing it right”? The good news is that anyone can reap the rewards of meditation in as little as five minutes per day, and there’s no wrong way to do it. In this audio course, award-winning psychology professor and Zen monk Douglas Cheolsoeng Gentile helps you “learn by doing,” guiding you in meditation practices designed to make you happier and wiser.

America’s first settlements, founding documents, and most important traditions are replete with religious sentiment. Today, religion continues to play an important role in the lives of American people - nearly 80 percent are religiously affiliated - and institutions. These audio lectures bring you face to face with the fascinating people, movements, groups, beliefs, and practices that have made the US one of the most religiously diverse nations in the history of the world.

Everett Worthington, PhD is a world-leading expert on relationship research and forgiveness research, as well as a seasoned clinical psychologist and husband of almost 50 years. He is the ideal guide for this comprehensive 15-lecture series that shows you how to strengthen your relationship.

Until recently, the world’s religious traditions existed in different spheres, separated by barriers of culture and geography. Now, Wisdom from the World’s Religions folds the teachings of the great faith traditions into one easy and illuminating educational experience. Grounded in a comparative religionist approach, this audio series introduces you to the principles and practices of 11 major religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Taoism, and Bahá'í.

Why has science - religion dialogue gotten so heated? What do the world’s leading experts see as the path forward? For some, science and religion occupy separate, irreconcilable spheres. For others, they share a common goal: to explore big questions and synthesize knowledge. Now, in this series of 17 one-on-one interviews, you have the privilege of hearing from leading voices in the debate. Most of the featured experts are professional scientists. While some consider religion irrelevant to science, many more find fulfillment in harmonizing their work with their beliefs.

Have you ever wondered what’s “new” about New Atheism? Coined in 2006, the term New Atheism has been used to describe the shared sentiments of prominent 21st-century atheists - perhaps most notably the “Four Horsemen” and talk-show host Bill Maher. In popular perception, the term has also garnered a negative connotation - implying hostility towards religion at large. Now, in this series of 14 one-on-one interviews, you have the rare opportunity to listen in on conversations with some of the leading actors in New Atheism.

Whether you’re a believer or nonbeliever, you’ve undoubtedly struggled to understand the existence of evil in our world. Now, in light of huge strides in psychology and neuroscience, this compelling series invites you to reconsider the problem of evil with today’s leading minds. In simplest terms, the “problem of evil” questions whether an almighty, all-knowing, and benevolent God can coexist with the evil we witness in the world.

Does God exist? How do you justify your belief or unbelief to others? This special series invites you to join some of the world’s leading thinkers in the serious civil conversation you crave. Daring to ask the big questions, your host, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, holds 18 riveting one-on-one interviews with the leading figures of our day. A gifted moderator, Dr. Kuhn creates equilibrium through his even-handed questions and eagerness to give everyone a seat at the table. You’ll hear from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers as well as prominent atheists.

Is extrasensory perception or “ESP” real? The possibility of ESP fascinates us, providing the plot for countless films and television shows. Think of The Shining or The Twilight Zone. No one denies how much ESP has captured the popular imagination, but is there any factual basis for it? Some say yes - even leading scientists. Recently, researchers have begun giving serious attention to what was once thought a pseudo-science. As human concepts of reality keep expanding, the existence of ESP appears ever more plausible.

Taught in an accessible and thoughtful manner, this audio course gives you a deeper understanding of the history of antisemitism as well as a lesson in the strength of the human spirit. In The History of the Holocaust, you’ll reflect on the political, cultural, social, economic, religious, military, and broad historical context in which the extermination of more than five million Jews and other minorities occurred.

Few Christian thinkers have brought such an array of intellectual, scientific, spiritual, and religious resources to bear on faith and society as Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984). A Jesuit philosopher and theologian, Lonergan worked to integrate faith with the promotion of justice. Taught by one of the world’s leading experts on Lonergan, this 12-lecture course introduces you to the breadth of Lonergan’s thought. You will focus on his method of better knowing yourself through your web of natural, social, and religious “ecologies”.

Every true period of renewal in the Church has been marked by a rediscovery of the person of Jesus Christ. The Second Vatican Council inaugurated such a rediscovery. It asked Christians to “return to the sources” - especially the New Testament and those early theologian-bishops known as “the fathers of the Church” - as a way of envisioning anew their faith in Jesus. A half-century later, Father Robert Imbelli pilots you through this mental safari into the unmapped regions of your imagination.

Two leading scientists from the Vatican Observatory explore profound questions of faith and science through the lives of contributions of great Catholic scientists. Tracing back across 1,000 years of history, you'll reflect on the role of faith in science with Dr. Guy Consolmagno, SJ, nicknamed the "Pope's Astronomer", and his friend and colleague Dr. Michelle Francl-Donnay, an award-winning professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College.

Finally! A clear, concise, and informative overview of the beliefs and practices of the world’s great world religions. As both a wellspring of hope and an author of tragedy, religion has profoundly shaped the great civilizations of human history. An unequivocal force in the ancient world, religion continues to fire the imagination of millions in our own time and remains a fascinating index of human aspiration and creativity.

With roots in Greco-Roman antiquity, natural law - the idea that human nature is guided by certain universal principles - has been a cornerstone of Western moral and political thought for centuries. Over the course of 12 lectures, award-winning professor Cary J. Nederman (PhD, York University in Toronto) traces the development of natural law theory from Aristotle (384-322 BCE) into the post-World War II era. Throughout, you will get a flavor for the highly consequential ways in which natural law has both shaped our social institutions and been shaped by Christian thought.

Taught by one of Catholicism’s most influential biblical scholars, this series explores the reform efforts undertaken by three great Councils of the Church: Trent, Vatican I, and Vatican II. Stimulating theological discussions, amusing anecdotes, personal recollections, and touches of British humor are never in short supply with Fr. Henry Wansbrough, OSB - a member of the University of Oxford’s theology faculty, general editor of The New Jerusalem Bible, Benedictine monk of Ampleforth Abbey, and onetime member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission (1997-2007).

How does John’s portrait of Jesus differ from those by the authors of the Synoptic Gospels? What windows does he provide us - in the 21st century - onto Jesus and his disciples? Is having faith the same as believing? Experience the full power of John’s Gospel with one of America’s leading Bible teachers, Felix Just, SJ (PhD, Yale University). This short talk is part of a larger audio series, Fr. Felix Just’s acclaimed Introduction to the New Testament.