- Table View
- List View
Beyond Orange County: A Housewives Guide to Faith and Happiness
by Lydia MclaughlinReal Housewives of Orange County fan-favorite, McLaughlin inspires readers to a life of purpose-not fame.
Beyond Our Control: Let Go of Unmet Expectations, Overcome Anxiety, and Discover Intimacy with God
by Michael McAfee Lauren Green McAfeeRealizing how little control we have over our lives can make us fearful and anxious--or it can lead to greater intimacy with God, a richer prayer life, and a joyful eternal perspective. Seasons of grief, pain, and loss of control are inevitable. Despite our best efforts and steadfast faith, reality rarely matches our expectations. In an unpredictable and broken world, how do we cling to a foundation that provides purpose for today and hope for the future? In their new book, Beyond Our Control, Michael and Lauren McAfee show us how trusting God brings greater contentment than the illusion of control. With deep and abiding faith, the McAfees draw on their experiences with adoption, infertility, illness, and loss to help readers navigate unexpected circumstances. Offering biblical insights and their powerful story of pain and providence, Michael and Lauren know that no matter what happens--to their family, work, or ministry--everything is as it should be because God is in control, and he is good. The McAfees help us:recognize the illusion of control and how it leads to greater anxiety;understand why glorifying God is the richest expectation we can have for our lives;realize that Jesus' pain on the cross brings hope and healing to the pain we experience now;practice the profoundly comforting spiritual discipline of lament, which makes room for us to process grief; anduse times of loss to make more room for God's work of growing and sanctifying us. If you struggle to embrace the life you have rather than the life you wanted, this book invites you to find a deeper peace in God than you could have imagined.
Beyond Piety and Politics: Religion, Social Relations, and Public Preferences in the Middle East and North Africa
by Sabri Ciftci F. Michael Wuthrich Ammar ShamailehHow do ordinary men and women in Muslim-majority societies create religion-informed views of political topics such as democracy and economics?Beyond Piety and Politics provides a groundbreaking approach to understanding the depth and variety of political attitudes held by people who consider themselves to be pious Muslims. Using survey data on religious preferences and behavior, the authors argue for the relevance and importance of four outlook categories—religious individualist, social communitarian, religious communitarian, and post-Islamist—and use these to explore complex and nuanced attitudes of devout Muslims toward issues like democracy and economic distribution. They also reveal how intrafaith variation in political attitudes is not due simply to doctrinal differences but is also a product of the social aspects of religious association operating within political contexts.By highlighting the dynamic societal and political implications of religious devotion, Beyond Piety and Politics offers a fascinating new theoretical perspective on Islam and politics.
Beyond Priceless: Who God is When I Feel...
by Jen BarrickDiscover Your Worth in the Worthiness of GodIn Beyond Priceless: Who God Is When I Feel… you can experience the peace of God's presence when you exchange your messy reality for the immeasurable worth of knowing God intimately. As God begins to capture your heart, you will have the power to change your negative thoughts and feelings into a positive, hopeful attitude. This 30-day devotional content is brand new from the beloved authors of Priceless: Who I Am When I Feel.... While their first devotional focused on helping young women explore the important role feelings play in our spirituality, Beyond Priceless unwraps the beauty of Almighty God in the midst of our fears and uncertainties. Each devotional invites both teens and young adults (and women of all ages!) to exchange their unreliable feelings for the unshakeable truth of Who God is. You will be guided to invite God into your vulnerabilities through Scripture, prayer, and interactive questions.While our emotions can sometimes seem unpredictable and confusing, our hope is in a God who is forever constant and unchanging—we are priceless because He is beyond priceless.
Beyond Priceless: Who God is When I Feel...
by Jen BarrickDiscover Your Worth in the Worthiness of GodIn Beyond Priceless: Who God Is When I Feel… you can experience the peace of God's presence when you exchange your messy reality for the immeasurable worth of knowing God intimately. As God begins to capture your heart, you will have the power to change your negative thoughts and feelings into a positive, hopeful attitude. This 30-day devotional content is brand new from the beloved authors of Priceless: Who I Am When I Feel.... While their first devotional focused on helping young women explore the important role feelings play in our spirituality, Beyond Priceless unwraps the beauty of Almighty God in the midst of our fears and uncertainties. Each devotional invites both teens and young adults (and women of all ages!) to exchange their unreliable feelings for the unshakeable truth of Who God is. You will be guided to invite God into your vulnerabilities through Scripture, prayer, and interactive questions.While our emotions can sometimes seem unpredictable and confusing, our hope is in a God who is forever constant and unchanging—we are priceless because He is beyond priceless.
Beyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity
by Jacob K. OluponaWhat role do indigenous religions play in today's world? Beyond Primitivism is a complete appraisal of indigenous religions - faiths integrally connected to the cultures in which they originate, as distinct from global religions of conversion - as practised across America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific today. At a time when local traditions across the world are colliding with global culture, it explores the future of indigenous faiths as they encounter modernity and globalization. Beyond Primitivism argues that indigenous religions are not irrelevant in modern society, but are dynamic, progressive forces of continuing vitality and influence. Including essays on Haitian vodou, Korean shamanism and the Sri Lankan 'Wild Man', the contributors reveal the relevance of native religions to millions of believers worldwide, challenging the perception that indigenous faiths are vanishing from the face of the globe.
Beyond Profession: The Next Future of Theological Education (Theological Education between the Times)
by Daniel O. AleshireWhat should theological education become? Theological education has long been successful in the United States because of its ability to engage with contemporary cultural realities. Likewise, despite the existential threats facing it today, theological education can continue to thrive if it is reinvented to fit with the needs of current times. Daniel Aleshire, the longtime executive director of the Association of Theological Schools, offers a brief account of how theological education has transformed in the past and how it might change going forward. He begins by reflecting on his own extensive experience with theological education and reviewing its history, dating back to colonial times. He then describes what he believes should become the next dominant model of the field—what he calls formational theological education—and explores educational practices that this model would require. The future of theological education described here by Aleshire would make seminaries more than places of professional preparation and would instead foster the development of a &“deep, abiding, resilient, generative identity as Christian human beings&” within emerging Christian leaders. But it is a vision that, while not a linear continuation of the past, retains the essence of what theological education has always been about.
Beyond Punjab: Sikhs in East and Northeast India
by Himadri BanerjeeThis book focuses on Sikh communities in east and northeast India. It studies settlements in Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, and Manipur to understand the Indian Sikhs through the lens of their dispersal to the plains and hills far from Punjab. Drawing on robust historical and ethnographic sources such as official documents, media accounts, memoirs, and reports produced by local Sikh institutions, the author studies the social composition of the immigrants and surveys the extent of their success in retaining their community identity and recreating their memories of home at their new locations. He uses a nuanced notion of the internal diaspora to look at the complex relationships between home, host, and community. As an important addition to the study of Sikhism, this book fills a significant gap and widens the frontiers of Sikh studies. It will be indispensable for students and researchers of sociology and social anthropology, history, migration and diaspora studies, religion, especially Sikh studies, cultural studies, as well as the Sikh diaspora worldwide.
Beyond Racial Division: A Unifying Alternative to Colorblindness and Antiracism
by George A. YanceyEfforts at colorblindness and antiracism have not been very effective in addressing racial tensions in the United States.
Beyond Racial Gridlock: Embracing Mutual Responsibility
by George YanceyChristians have struggled with racial issues for centuries, and often inadvertently contribute to the problem. Many proposed solutions have been helpful, but these only take us so far. Adding to this complex situation is the reality that Christians of different races see the issues differently. Sociologist George Yancey surveys a range of approaches to racial healing that Christians have used and offers a new model for moving forward. The first part of the book analyzes four secular models regarding race used by Christians (colorblindness, Anglo-conformity, multiculturalism and white responsibility) and shows how each has its own advantages and limitations. Part two offers a new "mutual responsibility" model, which acknowledges that both majority and minority cultures have their own challenges, tendencies, and sins to repent of, and that people of different races approach racial reconciliation and justice in differing but complementary ways. Yancey's vision offers hope that people of all races can walk together on a shared path--not as adversaries, but as partners.
Beyond Reach (The Secret Life of Samantha Mcgregor, Book #2)
by Melody CarlsonIf You Thought You Needed Vision, Would You Ask God For It? Exhausted by her role in the dramatic rescue of Kayla Henderson, Samantha McGregor is ready for a vacation from her God-given visions. But when Sam gets her wish and the visions actually go on hiatus, she's beginning to wonder if she's lost her spiritual gift forever. To make matters worse, her police friend Ebony needs her help! Peter Clark has been dead for several years, an open-and-shut case of suicide, but Ebony's not convinced. Why would he do it? And why does Ebony suspect foul play? Sam has been no help in the investigation, and just when she's lost all hope, God gives her a vision of a guy jumping from a railroad bridge. Suddenly the floodgates open and all of Sam's visions involve suicide. Who is this guy? And what does this have to do with Peter's death? It's a race against the clock as Sam worries about every brown-haired guy she meets: her lab partner, Olivia's rocker friend, Peter's little brother-they all fit the description! Whoever the guy in her vision is, his identity is just beyond Sam's reach, and he's definitely losing his grip fast...Trusting God will lead her, Sam's determined to send a message of hope and find him before he gives up.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The case for supernatural phenomena in the modern world, with a foreword by Maria Ahern, a leading barrister
by Gordon SmithGordon Smith is the medium's medium who outstanding gifts are recognised by prominent sceptics and which have been tested in laboratory conditions at Glasgow University, with astonishing results.But usually when we try to assess the claims of psychics and mediums or evidence of supernatural phenomena we are examining events taking place outside the controlled conditions of the scientific laboratory. In this new book Gordon Smith argues that most suitable standards we can apply when trying to decide whether or not it is reasonable to believe such claims are the same standards we usually use to assess disputes in human affairs - the standards of the law court.As a leading medium Gordon Smith is part of an 'apostolic succession' of mediums that goes back through famous mediums like Albert Best, Helen Duncan and DD Hume to the start of Spiritualism modern times in American in the mid nineteenth century. In this book he examines the historical evidence, admitting fraud where he finds it, but showing that great weight of testimony proves the reality of these supernatural and spiritual phenomena 'beyond reasonable doubt'.As leading barrister Maria Ahern writes in her foreword: 'I have assessed the evidence in this book. Just as I would in a trial. There is credible evidence from various unconnected sources all giving evidence that points the same way. The evidence has been collated by a credible source; Gordon Smith is widely acknowledged as a gifted medium and has provided many with evidence of one of life's great unanswered questions'. She advises the reader: 'Look at the evidence, assess it fairly, allow for any sensible and appropriate doubt and reach your verdict'.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The case for supernatural phenomena in the modern world, with a foreword by Maria Ahern, a leading barrister
by Gordon SmithGordon Smith is the medium's medium who outstanding gifts are recognised by prominent sceptics and which have been tested in laboratory conditions at Glasgow University, with astonishing results.But usually when we try to assess the claims of psychics and mediums or evidence of supernatural phenomena we are examining events taking place outside the controlled conditions of the scientific laboratory. In this new book Gordon Smith argues that most suitable standards we can apply when trying to decide whether or not it is reasonable to believe such claims are the same standards we usually use to assess disputes in human affairs - the standards of the law court.As a leading medium Gordon Smith is part of an 'apostolic succession' of mediums that goes back through famous mediums like Albert Best, Helen Duncan and DD Hume to the start of Spiritualism modern times in American in the mid nineteenth century. In this book he examines the historical evidence, admitting fraud where he finds it, but showing that great weight of testimony proves the reality of these supernatural and spiritual phenomena 'beyond reasonable doubt'.As leading barrister Maria Ahern writes in her foreword: 'I have assessed the evidence in this book. Just as I would in a trial. There is credible evidence from various unconnected sources all giving evidence that points the same way. The evidence has been collated by a credible source; Gordon Smith is widely acknowledged as a gifted medium and has provided many with evidence of one of life's great unanswered questions'. She advises the reader: 'Look at the evidence, assess it fairly, allow for any sensible and appropriate doubt and reach your verdict'.
Beyond Religion
by David N ElkinsLet David Elkins, psychologist and former minister, show you how to find authentic, soul-nurturing spirituality outside church or temple walls. Discover your personal path to the sacred and explore new ways to bring nonreligious spirituality into your life.
Beyond Religion
by Ph.D. David N. ElkinsIs it possible to be spiritual without being religious?This book is aimed at the millions who find that traditional religion fails to meet their spiritual needs. Authentic, soul-nurturing spirituality, Elkins shows, can be found in unlikely places, well outside church or temple walls---a therapist's office, a mountain park, an art studio---even your own bedroom.For un-churched Americans hungry for spiritual sustenance, Elkins offers validation of eight nontraditional paths, including counseling and psychotherapy; friendship and community; creative expression; and sacred sexuality.Readers searching for an alternative spirituality that is right for them will find exercises to help them discover a personal path to the sacred and a wealth of innovative practices to make nonreligious spiritual practice a part of daily life.
Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World
by The Dalai LamaA guide to leading an ethical, happy, and spiritual life beyond religion and cultivating key human values, from a beloved world religious leader.Ten years ago, in the best-selling Ethics for a New Millennium, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first proposed an approach to ethics based on universal rather than religious principles. With Beyond Religion, he returns to the conversation at his most outspoken, elaborating and deepening his vision for the nonreligious way—a path to lead an ethical, happy, and spiritual life. Transcending the religion wars, he outlines a system of ethics for our shared world, one that makes a stirring appeal for a deep appreciation of our common humanity, offering us all a road map for improving human life on individual, community, and global levels. &“Best Religious Books of 2011&”Huffington Post&“A book that brings people together on the firm grounds of shared values, reminding us why the Dalai Lama is still one of the most important religious figures in the world.&”—&“Cogent and fresh…This ethical vision is needed as we face the global challenges of technological progress, peace, environmental destruction, greed, science, and educating future generations.&”—Spirituality & Practice
Beyond Religious Freedom
by Elizabeth Shakman HurdIn recent years, North American and European nations have sought to legally remake religion in other countries through an unprecedented array of international initiatives. Policymakers have rallied around the notion that the fostering of religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and protections for religious minorities are the keys to combating persecution and discrimination. Beyond Religious Freedom persuasively argues that these initiatives create the very social tensions and divisions they are meant to overcome.Elizabeth Shakman Hurd looks at three critical channels of state-sponsored intervention: international religious freedom advocacy, development assistance and nation building, and international law. She shows how these initiatives make religious difference a matter of law, resulting in a divide that favors forms of religion authorized by those in power and excludes other ways of being and belonging. In exploring the dizzying power dynamics and blurred boundaries that characterize relations between "expert religion," "governed religion," and "lived religion," Hurd charts new territory in the study of religion in global politics.A forceful and timely critique of the politics of promoting religious freedom, Beyond Religious Freedom provides new insights into today's most pressing dilemmas of power, difference, and governance.
Beyond Religious Right and Secular Left Rhetoric: The Road to Compromise
by Karin FryThis book covers arguments made by various sides of the political-religious divide from the past 30 years, showing what the actual differences are between these groups. By stressing the typically ignored similarities, the book better informs partisans and the public to move debate forward.
Beyond Resistance: The Institutional Church Meets The Postmodern World
by John DorhauerBeyond Resistance is a template for those devoted to the the idea that faith should be just, generous and inspire commitment to the common good. The rise of postmodernity and its influence on the expression of faith are not the cause of religion's perceived diminishment in capacity, relevance, and impact. To the contrary, both the Institutional Church and those who hold faith in a postmodern key can--and should--be allies in a common cause. What is unfolding is nothing short of a second Reformation, and this Reformation (unlike the previous one) can unite both the change agents and the changing institution as partners on the same playing field. This book addresses the realities faced by what too many have called a dying institution. It is a call to move the institutional church out of a modality of denial and into a perspective of hope; out of a paradigm of scarcity and into a world of possibility with a growing multiplicity of options and allies; out of a time of end-game scenarios where only the fit will survive, and into what James Carse calls an "Infinite Game," where those who play ensure that the game continues long after they have left the field.
Beyond Ritual: Sacramental Theology after Habermas
by Siobhán GarriganIn Beyond Ritual, Siobhan Garrigan uses Habermas's theory of communicative action to suggest two things: first, a method by which theology can access the ritual symbols by which faith is formed; and secondly a metaphor of intersubjectivity with which theology can propose an interpretative, rather than an instrumental, understanding of sacramentality - and thus of God. Through fieldwork studies of both 'marginal' and 'mainstream' Christian Eucharists, Garrigan develops the conversation between Habermas's philosophy and Christian theology, showing how ritual interactions form, and challenge, our very idea of God.Â
Beyond Sacred and Secular: Politics of Religion in Israel and Turkey
by Sultan TepeThe global rise of political religion is one of the defining and most puzzling characteristics of current world politics. Since the early 1990s, religious parties have achieved stunning electoral victories around the world. Beyond Sacred and Secular investigates religious politics and its implications for contemporary democracy through a comparison of political parties in Israel and Turkey. While the politics of Judaism and Islam are typically seen as outgrowths of oppositionally different beliefs, Sultan Tepe's comparative inquiry shows how limiting this understanding of religious politics can be. Her cross-country and cross-religion analysis develops a unique approach to identify religious parties' idiosyncratic and shared characteristics without reducing them to simple categories of religious/secular, Judeo-Christian/Islamic, or democratic/antidemocratic. Tepe shows that religious parties in both Israel and Turkey attract broad coalitions of supporters and skillfully inhabit religious and secular worlds simultaneously. They imbue existing traditional ideas with new political messages, blur conventional political lines and allegiances, offer strategic political choices, and exhibit remarkably similar political views. This book's findings will be especially relevant to those who want to pass beyond rudimentary typologies to better assess religious parties' capacities to undermine and contribute to liberal democracy. The Israeli and Turkish cases open a window to better understand the complexities of religious parties. Ultimately, this book demonstrates that the characteristics of religious political parties—whether Jewish, Muslim, or yet another religion—can be as striking in their similarities as in their differences.
Beyond Sacred Violence: A Comparative Study of Sacrifice
by Kathryn McClymondWinner, 2009 Georgia Author of the Year Award for Creative NonfictionFor many Westerners, the term sacrifice is associated with ancient, often primitive ritual practices. It suggests the death—frequently violent, often bloody—of an animal victim, usually with the aim of atoning for human guilt. Sacrifice is a serious ritual, culminating in a dramatic event. The reality of religious sacrificial acts across the globe and throughout history is, however, more expansive and inclusive.In Beyond Sacred Violence, Kathryn McClymond argues that the modern Western world's reductive understanding of sacrifice simplifies an enormously broad and dynamic cluster of religious activities. Drawing on a comparative study of Vedic and Jewish sacrificial practices, she demonstrates not only that sacrifice has no single, essential, identifying characteristic but also that the elements most frequently attributed to such acts—death and violence—are not universal. McClymond reveals that the world of religious sacrifice varies greatly, including grain-based offerings, precious liquids, and complex interdependent activities. Engagingly argued and written, Beyond Sacred Violence significantly extends our understanding of religious sacrifice and serves as a timely reminder that the field of religious studies is largely framed by Christianity.
Beyond Sacred Violence: A Comparative Study of Sacrifice
by Kathryn McClymondThis award-winning study presents “a thought-provoking examination of sacrifice” that significantly extends our understanding of the practice (James Getz, Journal of Religion).For many Westerners, the term sacrifice suggests ancient and primitive ritual practices. It conjures the notion of slaying an animal victim, usually with the aim of atoning for human guilt. In Beyond Sacred Violence, Kathryn McClymond argues that this reductive understanding of sacrifice overlooks an enormously broad and dynamic cluster of religious activities. Drawing on a comparative study of Vedic and Jewish sacrificial practices, McClymond demonstrates that sacrifice has no single, essential, identifying characteristic. She also shows that the elements most frequently attributed to such acts—death and violence—are not universal. In fact, the world of religious sacrifice varies greatly, including grain-based offerings, precious liquids, and complex interdependent activities.Winner, 2009 Georgia Author of the Year Award for Creative Nonfiction
Beyond Sectarianism: The Realignment of American Orthodox Judaism
by Adam S. FerzigerIn 1965 social scientist Charles S. Liebman published a study that boldly declared the vitality of American Jewish Orthodoxy and went on to guide scholarly investigations of the group for the next four decades. As American Orthodoxy continues to grow in geographical, institutional, and political strength, author Adam S. Ferziger argues in Beyond Sectarianism: The Realignment of American Orthodox Judaism that one of Liebman's principal definitions needs to be updated. While Liebman proposed that the "committed Orthodox" --observant rather than nominally affiliated--could be divided into two main streams: "church," or Modern Orthodoxy, and "sectarian," or Haredi Orthodoxy, Ferziger traces a narrowing of the gap between them and ultimately a realignment of American Orthodox Judaism. Ferziger shows that significant elements within Haredi Orthodoxy have abandoned certain strict and seemingly uncontested norms. He begins by offering fresh insight into the division between the American sectarian Orthodox and Modern Orthodox streams that developed in the early twentieth century and highlights New York's Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun as a pioneering Modern Orthodox synagogue. Ferziger also considers the nuances of American Orthodoxy as reflected in Soviet Jewish activism during the 1960s and early 1970s and educational trips to Poland taken by American Orthodox young adults studying in Israel, and explores the responses of prominent rabbinical authorities to Orthodox feminism and its call for expanded public religious roles for women. Considerable discussion is dedicated to the emergence of outreach to nonobservant Jews as a central priority for Haredi Orthodoxy and how this focus outside its core population reflects fundamental changes. In this context, Ferziger presents evidence for the growing influence of Chabad Hasidism - what he terms the "Chabadization of American Orthodoxy." Recent studies, including the 2013 Pew Survey of U.S. Jewry, demonstrate that an active and strongly connected American Orthodox Jewish population is poised to grow in the coming decades. Jewish studies scholars and readers interested in history, sociology, and religion will appreciate Ferziger's reappraisal of this important group.
Beyond Sectarianism: Ambiguity, Hermeneutics, and the Formations of Religious Identity in Islam
by Tehseen ThaverIn this groundbreaking book, Tehseen Thaver offers a fundamental reevaluation of how one should think about the relationship between the Qur’an, Shi‘ism, and religious identity. Beyond Sectarianism focuses on the literary Arabic Qur’an exegesis of the highly influential yet less studied poet, historian, and exegete al-Sharif al-Radi (d. 1015). Al-Radi’s fascinating interpretations sought to resolve Qur’anic ambiguities or mutashabihat. Through a philologically layered and historically attuned analysis, Thaver argues that al-Radi’s efforts at resolving Qur’anic ambiguities were interlocked with the project of the canonization of the Arabic language.Although he was marked as a Shi‘i scholar, the interpretive and political horizons that informed al-Radi’s scholarly endeavors could not be reduced to predetermined templates of sectarian identity. Rather, Thaver argues, al-Radi was an active participant and beneficiary of critical intellectual currents and debates that animated the wider Muslim humanities during his life, especially on questions of language, poetry, and theology. Thaver thus leads her readers to reconsider their assumptions about the interaction of sectarian identity and scriptural interpretation in the study of Islam and religion.Though centered on the context of late tenth- and eleventh-century Baghdad under the Buyid dynasty, Beyond Sectarianism raises and addresses crucial questions of religious thought and identity with major ramifications for how we imagine the narrative of Islam and the place of sectarianism in it today.