Showing titles in Religious Studies

More than half of American adults and more than 75 percent of young Americans believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life. This level of belief rivals that of belief in God. American Cosmic examines the mechanisms at work behind the thriving belief system in extraterrestrial life, a system that is changing and even supplanting traditional religions.

In Why I Am a Hindu, one of India’s finest public intellectuals gives us a profound book about one of the world’s oldest and greatest religions. Starting with a close examination of his own belief in Hinduism, he ranges far and wide in his study of the faith.

As a boy, Jesus was a refugee, an outsider, an immigrant in Galilee in which he grew up, and affected by horrific atrocities by the occupying Roman overlords. All this and more is explored in this scholarly but highly accessible investigation into the world of Jesus, ranging from his birth to his coming of age and beyond. Joan Taylor, a world authority on the history and literature of the first century CE, draws both on the latest archaeological findings and on the historical clues to be found within ancient texts of the period.

Are you an Orthodox Christian who wonders how to explain to your Baptist grandmother, your Buddhist neighbor, or the Jehovah’s Witness at your door how your faith differs from theirs? Or are you a member of another faith who is curious what Orthodoxy is all about? Look no further. In Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick covers the gamut of ancient heresies, modern Christian denominations, fringe groups, and major world religions, highlighting the main points of each faith.

In this groundbreaking new biography of Justinian, Peter Sarris gives us an intimate insight into both the Emperor and the man. We meet a man who from the humblest beginnings, rose to become ruler of much of the known world achieving an almost god-like status. An emperor who infused even the most mundane tasks with spiritual and religious significance. A gifted administrator obsessed with detail. A middle aged lover who fell for a dancing girl and changed the law so he could marry her, ruling with Empress Theodora by his side for over twenty years.

In this landmark book of interfaith dialogue, the Dalai Lama provides an extraordinary Buddhist perspective on the teachings of Jesus, commenting on well-known passages from the four Christian Gospels including the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the mustard seed, the Resurrection, and others. Drawing parallels between Jesus and the Buddha - and the rich traditions from which they hail - His Holiness delivers a profound affirmation of the sacred in all religions.

Marc Headley provides an insider's view of life as a member of Scientology's "Sea Organization". Marc worked at Scientology's secret desert compound, which houses all Scientology management, for 15 years. The 500-acre property is located deep in the California desert. The local townspeople were told lectures and films were made there. But is that all that was happening? It is the location of a multi-million-dollar home for L. Ron Hubbard, built two decades after his death. It is the home of Scientology's current leader, David Miscavige.

Tom DeLonge and Peter Levenda continue their revelatory work in a thoroughly-researched exposé that seeks to solve the scientific mysteries of the unidentified aerial phenomenon, the UFO experiencers whose lives were changed forever, and what it means for all mankind. To this end, they have divided their study into three fields of inquiry: genetics and the ET hypothesis, consciousness, and human-machine symbiosis.

In this unabridged audiobook of Walking in Wonder, John O’Donohue’s friend and frequent collaborator John Quinn collects a series of talks and essays from the poet-philosopher on humanity’s relationship with the land, the ache of absence, our place in an often mysterious universe, and the great adventure of death itself.

Determined to Believe is written for those who are interested in or even troubled by questions about God's sovereignty and human freedom and responsibility. John Lennox writes in the spirit of helping people to get to grips with the biblical treatment of this issue for themselves.

From the preaching of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095 to the loss of the last crusader outpost in the Levant in 1302-03, and from the taking of Jerusalem from the Fatimids in 1099 to the fall of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291, Crusaders tells a tale soaked in Islamic, Christian and Jewish blood, peopled by extraordinary characters, and characterised by both low ambition and high principle.

The Bible predicts that in the last days a charismatic leader will establish a global following in the name of peace. The Qur’an also predicts that a man will rise up to lead the nations, pledging to usher in an era of peace. The man in the Qur’an is called the Mahdi, or Islam’s savior. However, the man in the Bible is the Antichrist. Joel Richardson’s stunning research and analysis suggest that the Mahdi and the Antichrist are actually one and the same.

Many scientists and doctors believe that there is no such thing as the soul. That there is no part of us that persists beyond death. We are not spiritual in any respect. We are made up of cells and tissue, and completely controlled by a material organ in our heads: the brain. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Michael Egnor makes the case—based on 40 years of practice and over 7,000 brain surgeries—that science has gotten it all wrong.

From Aristotle to Wittgenstein and Zizek, 50 Philosophy Classics provides a lively entry point to the field of philosophy. Analyses of key works by Descartes, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Heidegger, and Nietzsche also show how philosophy helped shape the thinking and events of the last 150 years.

In the early 1980s on a remote part of the Sudanese coast, a new luxury holiday resort opened for business. Catering for divers, it attracted guests from around the world. Little did the holidaymakers know that the staff were undercover spies, working for the Mossad - the Israeli secret service. Providing a front for covert night-time activities, the holiday village allowed the agents to carry out an operation unlike any seen before. What began with one cryptic message pleading for help, turned into the secret evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian Jews....

The most widely-used text of the last 25 years in its discipline, Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem has been thoroughly revised and expanded for the first time while retaining the features that have made it the standard in its field: Clear explanations, an emphasis on each doctrine’s scriptural basis, and practical applications to daily life. Volume 1 of 2.

Discover the beguiling history of witchcraft, magic and superstition through the centuries and across the world in this stunningly audiobook. A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult charts the extraordinary narrative of one of the most interesting and often controversial subjects in the world - from ancient animal worship and shamanism, through alchemy and divination to modern Wicca and the resurgence of the occult in 21st-century literature, cinema and television.

For the first time ever, Jonathan Cahn opens up end-time prophecy to reveal the ancient forces at work transforming our world, the mysteries of the future, and the ancient secrets given to overcome and prevail in view of what lies ahead!

Homicide detective J. Warner Wallace applies ten common rules of evidence to make the case for Christianity in this completely updated and expanded edition of the apologetic classic. A devout atheist, J. Warner Wallace couldn’t imagine believing in the Christian faith—until he applied the same step-by-step investigative process he utilized in his work as a homicide detective to the case for Christianity. In light of the ten common rules of evidence that he’d used to solve crimes throughout his career, Wallace realized he could no longer deny the truth of Jesus Christ.

In this personal account, Lilia Tarawa exposes the shocking secrets of the cult, with its rigid rules and oppressive control of women. She describes her fear when her family questioned Gloriavale's beliefs and practices. When her parents fled with their children, Lilia was forced to make a desperate choice: to stay or to leave. No matter what she chose, she would lose people she loved.