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The Spirit of Zen (The Spirit of ...)
by Sam Van SchaikAn engaging introduction to Zen Buddhism, featuring a new English translation of one of the earliest Zen texts Leading Buddhist scholar Sam van Schaik explores the history and essence of Zen, based on a new translation of one of the earliest surviving collections of teachings by Zen masters. These teachings, titled The Masters and Students of the Lanka, were discovered in a sealed cave on the old Silk Road, in modern Gansu, China, in the early twentieth century. All more than a thousand years old, the manuscripts have sometimes been called the Buddhist Dead Sea Scrolls, and their translation has opened a new window onto the history of Buddhism. Both accessible and illuminating, this book explores the continuities between the ways in which Zen was practiced in ancient times, and how it is practiced today in East Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in the emerging Western Zen tradition.
The Spirit of Zen: The Classic Teaching Stories on The Way to Enlightenment
by Solala TowlerZen is probably the most well known yet misunderstood version of Buddhism in the West. The Spirit of Zen presents the most basic principles and practices of Zen in a simple yet authentic fashion. The Spirit of Zen guides you down the path to enlightenment with stories, history and practical guidance from the masters of Zen. Often the stories contained in these teachings are an attempt to shake the student out of his or her complacent accepting of 'things as they are.' By bypassing the ordinary mindset, the often puzzling actions of the Zen master to his students awaken something in them they didn't know they had. This is all part of the attempt of the master to awaken the student to the reality of his or her own being and place in the great scheme of things. By using these radical forms of teaching, the master is jolting the student out of any preconceptions they may have about spiritual attainment. Thus the famous dictum 'If you see the Buddha in the road, kill him.' The stories are arranged according to theme: Gradual Enlightenment, Sudden Enlightenment, Teaching Stories, Paradoxical Teaching, Eccentric Masters etc. Most of them are from traditional sources with some original additions from Taoist expert Solala Towler. The simple yet profound truths of spiritual practice and awakening are often best learned from stories, rather than ponderous dissertation. These stories are profound and illuminating while also being entertaining, contain the kernel or true flavor of Zen.
Spirit on the Move: Black Women and Pentecostalism in Africa and the Diaspora (Religious Cultures of African and African Diaspora People)
by Judith Casselberry Elizabeth A. PritchardPentecostalism is currently the fastest-growing Christian movement, with hundreds of millions of followers. This growth overwhelmingly takes place outside of the West, and women make up 75 percent of the membership. The contributors to Spirit on the Move examine Pentecostalism's appeal to black women worldwide and the ways it provides them with a source of community and access to power. Exploring a range of topics, from Neo-Pentecostal churches in Ghana that help women challenge gender norms to evangelical gospel musicians in Brazil, the contributors show how Pentecostalism helps black women draw attention to and seek remediation from the violence and injustices brought on by civil war, capitalist exploitation, racism, and the failures of the state. In fleshing out the experiences, theologies, and innovations of black women Pentecostals, the contributors show how Pentecostal belief and its various practices reflect the movement's complexity, reach, and adaptability to specific cultural and political formations. Contributors. Paula Aymer, John Burdick, Judith Casselberry, Deidre Helen Crumbley, Elizabeth McAlister, Laura Premack, Elizabeth A. Pritchard, Jane Soothill, Linda van de Kamp
Spirit Outside the Gate: Decolonial Pneumatologies of the American Global South (Missiological Engagements)
by Oscar García-JohnsonThroughout the history of the Christian church, two narratives have constantly clashed: the imperial logic of Babel that builds towers and borders to seize control, versus the logic of Pentecost that empowers "glocal" missionaries of the kingdom life. To what extent are Westernized Christians today ready for the church of the Pentecost narrative? Are they equipped to do ministry in different cultural modes and to handle disruption and perplexity? What are Christians to make of the Holy Spirit's occasional encounters with cultures and religions of the Americas before the European conquest? Oscar García-Johnson explores a new grammar for the study of theology and mission in global Christianity, especially in Latin America and the Latinx "third spaces" in North America. With an interdisciplinary, "transoccidental," and narrative approach, Spirit Outside the Gate offers a constructive theology of mission for the church in global contexts. Building on the familiar missiological metaphor of "outside the gate" established by Orlando Costas, García-Johnson moves to recover important elements in ancestral traditions of the Americas, with an eye to discerning pneumatological continuity between the pre-Columbian and post-Columbian communities. He calls for a "rerouting of theology"—a realization that theology cannot make its home in Christendom but is a global creation that must come home to a church without borders. In this volume García-Johnson considers pneumatological insights into de/postcolonial studies traces independent epistemic contributions of the American Global South shows how American indigenous, Afro-Latinx, and immigrant communities provide resources for a decolonial pneumatology describes four transformations the American church must undergo to break free from colonial, modernist, and monocultural structures Spirit Outside the Gate opens a path for a pneumatological missiology that can help the church act as a witness to the gospel message in a postmodern, postcolonial, and post-Christendom world.
Spirit Possession and Communication in Religious and Cultural Contexts (Routledge Studies in Religion)
by Caroline BlythSpirit Possession and Communication in Religious and Cultural Contexts explores the phenomenon of spirit possession, focusing on the religious and cultural functions it serves as a means of communication. Drawing on the multidisciplinary expertise of philosophers, anthropologists, historians, linguists, and scholars of religion and the Bible, the volume investigates the ways that spirit possession narratives, events, and rituals are often interwoven around communicative acts, both between spiritual and earthly realms and between members of a community. This book offers fresh insight into the enduring cultural and religious significance of spirit possession. It will be an important resource for scholars from a diverse range of disciplines, including religion, anthropology, history, linguistics, and philosophy.
Spirit Possession and Spirit Mediumship in Africa and Afro-America: An Annotated Bibliography (Routledge Library Editions: Spiritualism #3)
by Irving I. Zaretsky Cynthia ShambaughOriginally published in 1978 Spirit Possession and Spirit Mediumship in Africa and Afro-America is an incredibly diverse and comprehensive bibliography on published works containing ethnographic data on, and analysis of, spirit possession and spirit mediumship in North and Sub-Saharan Africa and in some Afro-American communities in the Western Hemisphere. The sources on Western Afro-American communities were chosen to shed light on the African continent and the Americas. The bibliography, while not exhaustive, provides extensive research on the area of research in spiritualism in Africa and Afro-America. The bibliography also provides unique sources on spirit cults, ritual or ethnic groups and will be of especial interest to researchers. Although published in the late 70s, this book will still provide an incredibly useful research tool for academics in the area of religion, with a focus on spiritualism and non-western religions.
The Spirit Poured Out On All Flesh: Pentecostalism And The Possibility Of Global Theology
by Amos YongThe Pentecostal movement has had an incredible impact on the shape of worldwide Christianity in the past century. Estimates are that Pentecostals and charismatics make up approximately one-fourth of Christians worldwide, and the numbers are only expected to grow. With these developments comes the need for thoughtful Christians of all persuasions to better understand Pentecostal theology. In fact, Amos Yong believes that Pentecostal theology can be a great gift to the church at large. Yong presents a thoroughly Pentecostal theology of salvation, the church, the nature of God, and creation. He also provides a fascinating survey of the state of worldwide Pentecostalism, examining how Pentecostal theology is influencing Christian churches in other countries.
Spirit Power: Politics and Religion in Korea's American Century (Thinking from Elsewhere)
by Heonik Kwon Jun Hwan ParkSpirit Power explores the manifestation of the American Century in Korean history with a focus on religious culture. It looks back on the encounter with American missionary power from the late nineteenth century, and the long political struggles against the country’s indigenous popular religious heritage during the colonial and postcolonial eras. The book brings an anthropology of religion into the field of Cold War history. In particular, it investigates how Korea’s shamanism has assimilated symbolic properties of American power into its realm of ritual efficacy in the form of the spirit of General Douglas MacArthur. The book considers this process in dialog with the work of Yim Suk-jay, a prominent Korean anthropologist who saw that a radically cosmopolitan and democratic world vision is embedded in Korea’s enduring shamanism tradition.
Spirit, Qi, and the Multitude: A Comparative Theology for the Democracy of Creation (Comparative Theology: Thinking Across Traditions)
by Hyo-Dong LeeWe live in an increasingly global, interconnected, and interdependent world, in which various forms of systemic imbalance in power have given birth to a growing demand for genuine pluralism and democracy. As befits a world so interconnected, this book presents a comparative theological and philosophical attempt to construct new underpinnings for the idea of democracy by bringing the Western concept of spirit into dialogue with the East Asian nondualistic and nonhierarchical notion of qi. The book follows the historical adventures of the idea of qi through some of its Confucian and Daoist textual histories in East Asia, mainly Laozi, Zhu Xi, Toegye, Nongmun, and Su-un, and compares them with analogous conceptualizations of the ultimate creative and spiritual power found in the intellectual constellations of Western and/or Christian thought—namely, Whitehead’s Creativity, Hegel’s Geist, Deleuze’s chaosmos, and Catherine Keller’s Tehom.The book adds to the growing body of pneumatocentric (Spirit-centered), panentheistic Christian theologies that emphasize God’s liberating, equalizing, and pluralizing immanence in the cosmos. Furthermore, it injects into the theological and philosophical dialogue between the West and Confucian and Daoist East Asia, which has heretofore been dominated by the American pragmatist and process traditions, a fresh voice shaped by Hegelian, postmodern, and postcolonial thought. This enriches the ways in which the pluralistic and democratic implications of the notion of qi may be articulated. In addition, by offering a valuable introduction to some representative Korean thinkers who are largely unknown to Western scholars, the book advances the study of East Asia and Neo-Confucianism in particular. Last but not least, the book provides a model of Asian contextual theology that draws on the religious and philosophical resources of East Asia to offer a vision of pluralism and democracy. A reader interested in the conversation between the East and West in light of the global reality of political oppression, economic exploitation, and cultural marginalization will find this book informative, engaging, and enlightening.
Spirit Recovery Medicine Bag: A Transformational Guide for Living Happy, Joyous, and Free
by Mary Faulkner Lee McCormickFeeling limited by circumstances, substances, or behaviors often leads to the simple, yet profound question, "Is this all there is?" This question is an opportunity to rediscover one's truth and live life more fully and authentically. Spirit Recovery Medicine Bag offers readers a path to finding their personal answer to this question in an engaging two-part format. In Part One, readers will join Lee McCormick as he reflects on his personal journey of recovery and transformation—a journey that initiated him into a life of helping others recover their own sense of self and purpose. Part Two is a medicine bag of healing practices designed to guide readers in developing self-awareness and awakening their sense of power-specifically the power of choice rooted in personal values and commitment to living those values. Covering a variety of topics addressing spirituality, awareness, and consciousness, the authors pose questions for reflection and self-investigation along the way. Spirit Recovery Medicine Bag is not a negation of Twelve-Step recovery, but a tool for expanding awareness and increasing involvement regardless of the path one is walking. In Twelve-Step language, it builds on Step 12's direction to practice these principles in all one's affairs. The authors believe that the inner journey to one's truth and the creative expression of that truth make for a good definition of spirituality, and they offer readers a very real message of the possibility of living "happy, joyous, and free" through spirit recovery.
Spirit Rescue: Clear Negative Energy and Free Earthbound Souls
by Kerrie ErwinDiscover Your Power to Save Lost SpiritsWhen souls don't cross to the other side after death, they wander the astral plane aimlessly, causing havoc around the living. But you can help them cross over, no matter your skill level. Spirit Rescue teaches you how to identify different types of spirits, clear negative energy, and invite angels and guides to your own spirit rescue team.Through personal stories and detailed advice, Kerrie Erwin teaches you everything about safely helping spirits. Discover how to use white light for protection, meditation for clearing the aura, and smoke cleansing for removing a spirit. You will also explore methods for viewing and healing remotely. With this book, you can confidently clear a space of an unwanted presence and help the dead successfully transition to the afterlife.
Spirit Rising: Tapping into the Power of the Holy Spirit
by Jennifer Schuchmann Jim CymbalaFor some of us being a Christian is harder than it should be. Discouraged, anxious, worn down, we wonder what happened to the power and the joy that Jesus promised. Jim Cymbala believes that many of us are missing something vital. Christianity, he says, for even the best-intentioned person or church, is impossible without the Holy Spirit. You can have regular devotions, great preaching, a strong emphasis on the Bible, a great worship team, and a congregation that is trying, but if you aren’t vitally in touch with God’s Spirit, you are missing out on the life God has for you. The Holy Spirit, he points out, is God’s agent on earth. Yet he is the least understood, least preached about, and least discussed member of the Trinity. That is sad, because without him, our spiritual lives will always become dry, mechanical, and a struggle. Too often, the body of Christ is divided into two sides. One side stresses the Word of God, separating itself from what it views as the emotional fanaticism often linked to those emphasizing the Holy Spirit. The other side is sometimes known for drifting into unbiblical manifestations and unorthodox teaching while attributing it all to the Spirit of God. But the Christianity we see in Scripture is both grounded in the Word and full of the Spirit. With stunning stories of how God is working in the lives of people and churches today and biblical teaching about the Holy Spirit, Jim Cymbala invites you to experience God in a fresh and vital way. Nothing else will change our prayer life, our study of God’s word, and our worship more than opening our hearts to the Spirit. If we want power, confidence, joy, peace, and more love in our lives, then we need a better understanding of how and why the Spirit moves so we can join him there.
Spirit Service: Vodún and Vodou in the African Atlantic World
by Venise N. Adjibodou Jeffrey E. Anderson Nixon Cleophat Douglas J. Falen Natacha Giafferi-Dombre Alissa M. Jordan Elizabeth McAlister Karen Richman Terry ReyKnown in the Dominican Republic and Togo as Vodu, in Benin as Vodún, and in Haiti as Vodou, West African religion has, for hundreds of years, served as a repository of sacred knowledge while simultaneously evolving in response to human experience and globalization. Spirit Service: Vodún and Vodou in the African Atlantic World explores this dynamic religion, its mobility, and its place in the modern world. By examining the systems—ritual practices, community-based spirit veneration, and spiritual means of securing opportunity and well-being—alongside the individuals who worship, this rich collection offers the first comprehensive ethnographic study of West African spirit service on a broad scale. Contributors consider social encounters between African/Haitian practitioners and European / North American spiritual seekers, economies and histories, funerary rites and spirit possessions, and examinations of gender and materiality. Offering much-needed perspective on this historically disparaged religion, Spirit Service reminds us all that the gods are growing, assimilating, and demanding recognition and respect.
Spirit Sisters: Australian Women Reveal True Life Stories of the Paranormal
by Karina MachadoSPIRIT SISTERS illuminates the very personal ghost stories of ordinary Australian women. Journalist Karina Machado has listened to many of these stories and within these pages captures the sorrow, fear, comfort and hope that go along with them. Here she passes on their secrets and shares those incredible moments when someone leans in to whisper their tale and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Whether you believe in the afterlife or not, reading this book will lead you to question your reality and wonder . . . maybe?
Spirit Speaker: A Medium's Guide to Death and Dying
by SalicrowA compassionate and straightforward guide to the spiritual process of death and spirit communication• Answers the most common questions asked by the author&’s clients over her decades of work as a spirit speaker and psychic medium• Presents simple techniques for helping loved ones cross over and shares practices to honor our beloved dead and connect with ancestral spirits• Shares thought-provoking stories of spirit contact and synchronicities that occurred for those who had a loved one in the dying processWe are all curious about the mystery of death. Whether facing our own, assisting a loved one in their last days, or grieving the loss of someone dear to us, we all have questions about dying and what happens to our soul after we depart physical form. In this compassionate and straightforward guide to the spiritual process of dying and what happens after death, psychic medium Salicrow answers the most common questions asked by her clients over her decades of work as a spirit speaker. Seeking to normalize the spiritual aspects of end-of-life care, she explains how active dying exists outside of normal reality, in a state in which the dying person and their caregivers often experience a heightened state of consciousness. Describing how the spirit is separate from the body and continues to exist after death, she shares thought-provoking stories of spirit contact and synchronicities that occurred for those actively involved in the dying process. She reveals how these encounters are common and act as guideposts along the journey into death, helping to ease the transition. She offers simple techniques for helping loved ones who are stuck or struggling to cross over and shares practices designed to help honor our beloved dead and develop living relationships with our ancestral spirits. Presenting an outline of what may be experienced during the dying process and beyond, Salicrow explores the time when a soul is actively dying or recently departed. She explains the multiple ways spirits reach out to communicate with us and provides a deep understanding of the signs, symbols, and sensations that spirits use to contact us as well as ways to strengthen that connection. She also explores challenging situations such as suicide, murder, and healing unresolved issues with the dead. Crafted through years of spirit communication sessions, this guide details how the spirit world works while revealing the beauty, healing, and love that exist in death.
Spirit Speaks: Answers for the Soul
by Michael McAdams Wilma Jean JonesA renowned medium shares the words and wisdom of spiritual entities to guide you through your journey towards faith and understanding. Little did Wilma Jean Jones realize when she started dedicating her time to sessions receiving messages and teachings dictated directly from spirit teachers/angels that these sessions would continue for the next twenty-two years. This body of work and the deep teachings shared are given in first person by the spirit teachers themselves. &“We feel, we believe, we advise&” are used often in this material. &“Our view encompasses more than your view is allowed to comprehend&” illustrates the high level and perspective of the spirit teachers/angels presenting this information. Many of these teachings were given as personal messages for Wilma and her son Michael; however, many readers of this material have found a personal connection with these teachings. &“This sounds like they are talking to me; this sounds like what I&’m dealing with&” has been expressed by many who have read these messages. Allow these messages and teachings to open the door to communication with your own spirit teachers/angels as they ask for nothing more than to be acknowledged and recognized for the guidance and direction they are willing to share with our existence. Their joy is our recognition in their existence and our willingness to incorporate their teachings into our everyday lives as we walk our chosen path.
Spirit Speech: Lament and Celebration in Preaching
by Luke A. PoweryThat the Holy Spirit is present in preaching is something we take for granted. How the Spirit is present is a question we seldom ask. Luke Powery suggests that we fail to ask that question to the detriment of our preaching. Drawing on the tradition of African American preaching, he locates the Spirit's activity in the sermon in two primary places; First, in celebration, the joyous acceptance of God's gifts to the church and to the world. But equally as powerful is the expression of lament, the lifting up of our sorrow, grief, and suffering. In these two experiences the Spirit plays the decisive role, enabling the preacher to lay the congregation's joys and sorrows at the feet of the living God, and announcing God's presence in both our celebration and our lament.
Spirit Talk: A Book of Days
by Minisa CrumboNever forget, we are sacred beings. We all seek power. We all want happiness. There is no shame or blame in serving our own highest good first and in recognizing that the highest good functions best when it is in healthy and balanced relationship with the Creator. Spirit Talk speaks to us of the first gifts of life and breath bequeathed to us from the Creator. These gifts, life and breath, upon our beautiful Mother Earth and Father Sky-Sun, guide and inform the reader's life and breath through a twelve-month calendar cycle. Keen observation of the calendar and seasonal cycles guides the reader through the highest of creative intelligence cycles--those of the ancient, earth-based Medicine Wheel Teachings. These wisdom cycles inform, anchor, and empower core creative principles of connected love, balance, and harmony. A balanced and harmonious relationship with the Creator serves to put an end to painful perceptions of separation with the self and, most importantly, the Creator. The dedication of time and the making of seasonally focused spirit talks with the Medicine Wheel will inform and foster an environment of shared respect and connection with oneself and with all living things. We no longer sit alone but are alive and active in a living world. The old people say, "It's not whether you will do it, but whether you will remember to do it. " Spirit Talk helps us to remember and to do in a good way.
Spirit Tech: The Brave New World of Consciousness Hacking and Enlightenment Engineering
by Wesley J. Wildman Kate J. StocklyFeaturing a Foreword by Mikey Siegel, founder of Consciousness Hacking. Technology can now control the spiritual experience. This is a journey through the high-tech aids for psychological growth that are changing our world, while exploring the safety, authenticity and ethics of this new world.We already rely on technology to manage our health, sleep, relationships, and finances, so it’s no surprise that we’re turning to technological aids for the spiritual journey. From apps that help us pray or meditate, to cybernauts seeking the fast track to nirvana through magnetic brain stimulation, we are on the brink of the most transformative revolution in the practice of religion: an era in which we harness the power of “spirit tech” to deepen our experience of the divine.Spirit tech products are rapidly improving in sophistication and power, and ordinary people need a trustworthy guide. Through their own research and insiders’ access to the top innovators and early adopters, Wesley J. Wildman and Kate J. Stockly take you deep inside an evolving world:- Find out how increasingly popular “wearables” work on your brain, promising a shortcut to transformative meditative states.- Meet the inventor of the “God Helmet” who developed a tool to increase psychic skills, and overcome fear, sadness, and anger.- Visit churches that use ayahuasca as their sacrament and explore the booming industry of psychedelic tourism.- Journey to a mansion in the heart of Silicon Valley where a group of scientists and entrepreneurs are working feverishly to bring brain-based spirit tech applications to the masses.- Discover a research team who achieved brain-to-brain communication between individuals thousands of miles apart, harnessing neurofeedback techniques to sync and share emotions among group members.Spirit Tech offers readers a compelling glimpse into the future and is the definitive guide to the fascinating world of new innovations for personal transformation, spiritual growth, and pushing the boundaries of human nature.
The Spirit, the Affections, and the Christian Tradition
by Dale M. Coulter and Amos YongThe essays in this volume explore the role of emotions and affections in the Christian tradition, focusing also on the importance of pneumatology in Christianity.
Spirit Warriors: Strategies for the Battles Christian Men and Women Face Every Day
by Stu WeberPastor and former Green Beret captain Stu Weber reveals the crucial spiritual battles that all Christians face constantly, whether or not they are aware of them. "Somehow we have come to mistakenly associate spiritual warfare with charismatic personalities strutting across brightly lit platforms ... whuppin' up on evil spirits," says Weber. "But spiritual warfare is so much more than a show." With warm and winning counsel, the bestselling author/speaker warns of the very real perils readers face, giving them what they need to survive and thrive.
Spirit Weaver: Wisdom Teachings from the Feminine Path of Magic
by Seren Bertrand• Explains how to awaken your spiritual Womb to find strength within and how to reclaim your softness and vulnerability as a feminine superpower • Explores Earth Magic, the Moon Mysteries, Flower of Life teachings, Dragon wisdom, the shamanic powers of grief, the feminine archetypes of the Witch and the Priestess, and powerful goddesses from around the world • Reveals sacred spaces in the world where the power of the Goddess lives on The Womb is the seat of our primal power and intuition--our &“wild knowing.&” Spirit weavers are those who have heard this wild voice from within and have followed that call--embarking on a grail quest to follow the feminine path of magic, awaken to the depths of their soul, and embody their true feminine essence.Inviting you onto the spiral path of the spirit weaver, Seren Bertrand shares wisdom teachings and rituals from the feminine path of magic and her own ancestral lineage of old European witches and faerie folk, spirit keepers and story weavers. She explores Flower of Life teachings, the moon mysteries, and dragon wisdom. She unveils the shamanic powers of grief and deeply examines the feminine archetypes of the witch and the priestess. Drawing on powerful feminine spiritual icons from around the world, such as Kali, Isis, Teresa of Ávila, and Mary Magdalene, she explains how to awaken your spiritual Womb to find strength within and how to reclaim your soft powers of heart-opening vulnerability. She explores the lost traditions of the Goddess lineage and reveals sacred spaces in the world where her memory lives on. She shares the Womb Mysteries of alchemical union, revealing how to awaken the wild feminine and wild masculine and become sacred lovers who balance their light and shadow. From working with the cycles of the moon and learning how to root your power into the earth to healing the ancestral wounds left by the generations before you, Seren&’s medicine teachings, like secret spells, cast an enchantment over your feminine soul, awakening its fertility and wild inner magic.
The Spirit Who Speaks
by Peter H. Lawrence"One aspect of life in the Spirit that was essential for Peter was hearing the Spirit speak. Is there such a thing as a word from the Lord today? Can anyone hear God speak? How do we know it is God who is speaking? This book answers these questions." -Carol Lawrence from her preface Peter Lawrence was a vicar in the Church of England for many years until his death in 2009. As he began to write this book about living fully in the Spirit's healing power, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Accepting God's will with grace, he has left behind this moving account of the spiritual reality that radiated from him and touched many lives. Blending anecdote, self-effacing humor, and biblical teaching, Peter describes how he discovered the gift of receiving a "word" from God, and the amazing healings of spirit, mind, and body that resulted. And he shows how God's Spirit can guide you--powerfully, personally, day by day.
The Spirit within Me: Self and Agency in Ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library)
by Carol A. NewsomThe first full-length study of the evolution of self and agency in ancient Israelite anthropology Conceptions of &“the self&” have received significant recent attention in philosophy, anthropology, and cultural history. Scholars argue that the introspective self of the modern West is a distinctive phenomenon that cannot be projected back onto the cultures of antiquity. While acknowledging such difference is vital, it can lead to an inaccurate flattening of the ancient self. In this study, Carol A. Newsom explores the assumptions that govern ancient Israelite views of the self and its moral agency before the fall of Judah, as well as striking developments during the Second Temple period. She demonstrates how the collective trauma of the destruction of the Temple catalyzed changes in the experience of the self in Israelite literature, including first‑person-singular prayers, notions of self‑alienation, and emerging understandings of a defective heart and will. Examining novel forms of spirituality as well as sectarian texts, Newsom chronicles the evolving inward gaze in ancient Israelite literature, unveiling how introspection in Second Temple Judaism both parallels and differs from forms of introspective selfhood in Greco‑Roman cultures.
Spirit, Word and World: Evangelical Christianity in Australia
by Stuart PigginEvangelical Christianity is one of the most formative and least acknowledged movements in Australian history. This book accords evangelicals their rightful place in the development of Australian identity and values. Evangelicalism focuses on the gospel, the God-given means not only of the salvation of individuals, but also of the renovation of society and culture. In this original and stimulating study, Stuart Piggin argues that evangelicalism is strongest when it synthesises biblical orthodoxy with spiritual passion and human compassion. When this synthesis was achieved, it resulted in spiritual vitality and the strengthening of Australian nationhood. Based on interviews with a large number of Christian leaders and on a variety of often rare sources, Piggin's account throws light on matters as disparate as the character and motivation of early chaplains, the Christian dimension to 'mateship' and trades unionism, the 'sinless perfection' movement, the Billy Graham crusades, and disputes over the ordination of women. Spirit, Word and World traces the development of biblical scholarship and the strengthening of Reformed Christianity, the surprisingly frequent incidence of genuine religious revival, including those among indigenous people, and the creative commitment of evangelicals to the shaping of national values. Piggin's history of Australian evangelicalism has been well-received by secular as well as religious historians. This third edition brings the story right up to the present, covering the world-wide expansion of Sydney Anglicanism and Hillsong Pentecostalism. While Australia has become increasingly 'secular,' evangelicals have become more engaged than ever in politics, education and social welfare.