Unlock the powerful truths that shattered ancient beliefs and paved the way for the new and revolutionary religion that became Judaism. This is a unique look at the Torah--the foundation of Jewish existence--and the revolutionary teachings of Moses embedded within it that gave birth to Judaism and influenced the world. Dr. Reuven Hammer presents fourteen radical ideas found in Torah, explains their original intentions, and shows how understanding these "truths" can help you better understand the narrative and laws of Judaism. He shows how when taken together, these value concepts present a picture of human life that is surprisingly modern and relevant to our goals for repairing the world today: * Humanity is one as God is one * Human beings are responsible for their actions and have the choice to do good or evil * Poverty, deprivation, slavery and hatred are evils that must be eradicated * The earth is not ours to destroy * The love of others is a divine command * And much more ...

These two essays by Raïssa Maritain-"Sense and Non-Sense in Poetry" and "Magic, Poetry, and Mysticism"-comprise an often forgotten but significant contribution to Catholic letters. Maritain considers the way true poetry always transcends its "logical sense" in order to convey a "poetic sense." Poetry is a human thing, but it stirs the human beyond mere "logic" in the direction of the divine. In his introduction, James Matthew Wilson explains that, "Poetry is the fruit of a contact of the spirit with reality, which is in itself ineffable, and with the source of reality, which we believe to be God himself in that movement of love which causes him to create images of his beauty." While the poet might be prayerful and the mystic might wax poetic, there is a "fundamental difference which separates the poetic experience from the mystical experience: while the poet progresses toward the Word, the mystic tends toward Silence." As Raïssa Maritain expounds, mystics may be moved to describe their heightened experiences, but for them this "expression is not a means of completing the experience." For the furnishing of her interior castle, a mystic like St. Teresa of Avila needs no speech; her talk, the record she left us of the "prayer of quiet," is "only a result of superabundance, a generous attempt at communication." The poet, on the contrary, cannot do without words. They are the vital stuff of his service to the world. Albert Béguin corroborates Maritain's conclusion, contending that "whatever value one attributes to the poetic act, it remains an act submitted to the necessity of form. It ends at the word." On the other hand, the poetic word points beyond language, ever striving for a fuller communion with reality and its Maker. Inhabiting the tensions between sense and nonsense, poetry and mysticism, articulation and its absence, Maritain manifests the hidden mysteries at the heart of all poetry worthy of the name.

Soul Prints speaks to all listeners, regardless of religious beliefs or practices. Using the power of myth--Biblical and folk--and drawing on his own personal highs and lows, Gafni offers advice on how to form bonds based in truth and love.

Most American young people, like their ancestors, harbor desires for a worthy life: a life of meaning, a life that makes sense. But they are increasingly confused about what such a life might look like, and how they might, in the present age, be able to live one. With a once confident culture no longer offering authoritative guidance, the young are now at sea--regarding work, family, religion, and civic identity. The true, the good, and the beautiful have few defenders, and the higher cynicism mocks any innocent love of wisdom or love of country. We are supercompetent regarding efficiency and convenience; we are at a loss regarding what it's all for. Yet because the old orthodoxies have crumbled, our "interesting time" paradoxically offers genuine opportunities for renewal and growth. The old Socratic question "How to live?" suddenly commands serious attention. Young Americans, if liberated from the prevailing cynicism, will readily embrace weighty questions and undertake serious quests for a flourishing life. All they (and we) need is encouragement. This book provides that necessary encouragement by illuminating crucial--and still available--aspects of a worthy life, and by defending them against their enemies. With chapters on love, family, and friendship; human excellence and human dignity; teaching, learning, and truth; and the great human aspirations of Western civilization, it offers help to both secular and religious readers, to people who are looking on their own for meaning and to people who are looking to deepen what they have been taught or to square it with the spirit of our times.

Angels Sing in Me is an outstanding collection of the best poems, essays, and stories Unity's poet laureate ever wrote. You will find poems and prose about love and loss, about finding God and finding yourself, about freedom and the search for Truth, about life and death, and about growth. there are stories about Christmas, Jim's favorite topic, and there are personal and archival hotographs that bring the past to life. Here is James Dillet Freeman at his lyrical, passionate best. Here is the poet well loved by millions, whose poems are on the Moon, whose dedication to the art of writing is as inspiring as what he chose to write about. Here is a tribute to the man who came to stand for the best the movement called Unity has produced.

We read of the Messiah in Isaiah 42-"He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law." If what these verses describe is the orientation of Jesus, it should be ours as well. If justice is to be established on the earth, His followers must be a community of love and justice. Since the first publication of this book in the early 1990s, we still have not seen a shift in the Body on the issues of character standards, congregational discipline, due process, and discipleship. Dallas Willard and others have written passionately about discipleship and its foundation in obeying the commandments of Jesus. Yet discipleship is rare, and the definition of love as indulgence is increasing. Love itself is wrongly defined, along with forgiveness, leading the indulging people into sin. May God use this book to make some contribution toward the path of righteousness.

This book sets forth a new area in the study of extraordinary individuals in religious traditions. It develops the category of “Religious Genius” as an alternative to existing categories, primarily “saint.” It constructs a model by which to appreciate these individuals, suggesting key characteristics such as love, humility, and self-surrender. Religious geniuses transform their traditions and their legacies endure through these very transformations. They also inspire changes across religious boundaries and traditions. The study of religious geniuses in various faith traditions therefore advances interfaith engagement today. The book complements existing, primarily historical, studies of saints by offering a phenomenological approach that seeks to touch the subjectivity of these individuals, and how they have affected the unfolding of their religious traditions.

All the spells you'll ever need for any occasion. There is always an occasion, a reason, or an event that calls for magic. Easy Enchantments will give you the tools and the power to make things go your way. Whether you're looking for a spell to guarantee your lover's fidelity, banish negativity, make a job interview go well, find an apartment, or pick lucky lotto numbers, Lexa Roséan tells you what you need to do. Each spell calls for common items easily found in a supermarket, and has simple instructions as well as intriguing lore about the spell's origin. Simple, easy, and effective, Easy Enchantments can help you get what you want, meet who you want, and make any occasion magical.

The ancient wisdom of the great Hebrew mystics makes one essential promise: "There is a better way to live." In his follow-up to the national bestseller "Soul Prints," renowned spiritual leader Marc Gafni addresses the ever-important issue of our erotic connection to the universe. "The Mystery of Love"takes us on an extraordinary journey that illuminates the path toward all-encompassing and enduring love -- one that enables us to experience the full eros of living. With clarity and compassion, Rabbi Gafni teaches us how to live with passion and love in all facets of our lives. "The Mystery of Love" begins with a radical new understanding of loving, drawn from the ancient wisdom texts of the Kabbalist tradition, and explains how ten unique qualities of sexuality (The Hebrew Tantra) can serve as our spiritual guides in the creation of a loving, passionate existence in every dimension of our lives.

Lisa leads us through the spiritual journey of her life with poignant reflections on family, love, fears, hopes and dreams. Audrey Copeland, Professor UAF Lisa Miller forges a lean and sinewy poetry that is at once reflective and raw, invoking both the head and the heart. Millers free-verse wends its way along peaks and valleys of the human journey, and the author is as steadfast before lifes inevitable pains and she is sanguine amid its myriad delights. This is a collection of sincere and insightful glimpses from a fellow sojourner. Paul Korchin, Ph.D. Professor of Religion, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

The essays collected here, prepared by a think tank of the Elijah Interfaith Academy, explore the challenges associated with sharing wisdom—learning, teachings, messages for good living. How should religions go about sharing their wisdom? These chapters, representing six faith tradition (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist), explore what wisdom means in each of these traditions; why and how it should be shared, internally and externally; and the role of love and forgiveness in sharing. This book offers a theory that can enrich ongoing encounters between members of faith traditions by suggesting a tradition-based practice of sharing wisdom, while preserving the integrity of the teaching and respecting the identity of anyone with whom wisdom is shared. Contributors: Pal Ahluwalia, Timothy Gianotti, Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Sallie B. King, Anantanand Rambachan, Meir Sendor, Miroslav Volf

Adele Reinhartz has been studying and teaching the Gospel of John for many years. Earlier, she chose to ignore the love/hate relationship that the book provokes in her, a Jew, and took refuge in an "objective" historical-critical approach. At this stage her relationship to the Gospel was not so much a friendship as a business relationship. No longer willing to ignore the negative portrayal of Jews and Judaism in the text, nor the insight that her own Jewish identity inevitably does play a role in her work as an exegete, Reinhartz here explores the Fourth Gospel through the approach known as "ethical criticism," which is based on the metaphorical notion of the book as "friend"--not "an easy, unquestioning companionship," but the kind of honest relationship in which ethical considerations are addressed, not avoided. In a book as multilayered as the Gospel itself, Reinhartz engages in 4 different "readings" of the Fourth Gospel: compliant, resistant, sympathetic, and engaged. Each approach views the Beloved Disciple differently: as mentor, opponent, colleague, and as "other." In the course of each of these readings, she elucidates the three narrative levels that interpenetrate the Gospel: the historical, the cosmological, and the ecclesiological. In the latter, Reinhartz deals at length with the so-called expulsion theory, the dominant scholarly notion that the Johannine community, which included believers of Jewish, Gentile, and Samaritan origins, engaged in a prolonged and violent controversy with the local Jewish community, culminating in a "traumatic expulsion from the synagogue."

My Life And Loves In Greenwich Village is a memoir written by Maxwell Bodenheim, an American poet and novelist who lived in the bohemian neighborhood of Greenwich Village in New York City during the early 20th century. The book is a candid account of Bodenheim's personal and professional life, detailing his struggles as a struggling writer, his relationships with women, and his experiences with drugs and alcohol. Bodenheim describes the colorful characters and events that defined the Greenwich Village scene during his time there, including the rise of modernist art and literature, the emergence of jazz music, and the social and political movements of the era. The book also provides insights into the author's own creative process, as he discusses his writing techniques and the inspiration behind his work.Overall, My Life And Loves In Greenwich Village is a fascinating glimpse into the bohemian lifestyle of early 20th century New York City, as seen through the eyes of one of its most talented and troubled writers.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Underlying the vision behind democracy is the recognition that every individual has dignity, adequacy and worth. This democratic understanding of the worth and standing of the individual lies at the core of what the West calls enlightenment. The Western idea of enlightenment, rooted in the great vision of the Biblical prophets, is generally understood to have entered mainstream consciousness through the political democratic movements of the mid 18th century. Western enlightenment is primarily concerned with the democratization of political power. Classical enlightenment, sometimes called Eastern enlightenment because it was greatly emphasized in the East, is about the individual merging into the greater one. The appearance of separate self is an illusion, which must be overcome as the individual realizes that are really not separate at all but part of the one.The goal of Eastern enlightenment is moving beyond the grasping ego and desperately seeking separate self by attaining a state of consciousness in which the illusion of separateness was dissolved in the greater one. This path of classical enlightenment is seen as the path beyond suffering. Unique Self enlightenment brings the Eastern and Western understandings about enlightenment together, into a higher Integral World Spirituality embrace.Unique Self enlightenment is based on your commitment to transcend separate self into the one, even as you realize that essence sees through your unique perspective.Unique Self opens the door to the potential democratization of enlightenment. To awaken to your Unique Self is to be lived as God, which, in truth, means to be lived as love.

This book of poems has intent, design, and purpose. They are written to touch something hidden deep within you, something latent, undiscovered, and mysterious. I hope that you may wish to discover more about that of which I speak.For there are answers to your questions if you but seek. That hidden something is true of everyone, almost without exception, but most of us have fallen asleep to the yearning and the searching that it can give rise to. If you are not in the category of the walking dead--and you are truly searching-- perhaps this book will be for you. If you loved fairy tales as a child, would rather travel to ancient sites than take cruises or hang out on a beach, appreciate the mythology from other cultures, enjoy classical art, perhaps read philosophy and great literature, are enthralled by the wonder of the natural world--and the list goes on and on--this book may be of interest to you. Even if your yearning takes other forms, you may love what I've written as well. But the book is not an answer to your yearnings. It can, though, be a window into a world where those same yearnings are addressed, satisfied, and shown a further and meaningful path to take. I wrote it in the language of today (including a small amount of crude language), with some references to literary or artistic works of the past. Despite the simplicity of many of the poems, there is great depth of meaning, if you are open to it. My suggestion would be to read only a few poems at a time, trying to ponder what I am talking about, letting them sink in emotionally, rather than dissecting them intellectually. And certainly don't continue to read until your eyes glaze over, as that will not profit you in the least. Enjoy!

A tale of lost love found years later, imbued with self-reflection, Jerusalem, the Cry! narrates the life journey of Alan from Portugal to Israel. A long-lost family rekindles as Alan visits Galilee to meet his cousin, having been separated through war. Where, on the bidding of an old professor, Alan decides to apply to the Hebrew University and perhaps settle in Israel indefinitely. But, in doing so, Alan, a Jew, is separated from his love, Dana, a Catholic. For a while, the distance is bearable as Alan settles into his new life and Dana completes her studies, but an unexpected event leaves her too broken to reach out to Alan anymore. Devastated, the two lose what little connection had remained, and Alan journeys alone. This book is a love letter to Alan's Dana, where unable to share a life with her through many years, he pens his childhood stories he might have told her and the conversations they may have had in person. This story has various themes, giving rise to talks on topics such as fascism, socialism, Judaism, and antisemitism.

In 1852, the British H.M. troopship Birkenhead foundered. More than 400 men chose to drown or be eaten alive by sharks rather than allow one woman or child to suffer. This is the story of the bravery and heroism that has come to be known as the Birkenhead drill. - Cover. The British H.M. Troopship Birkenhead was the crowning glory of her generation. The first iron-hulled vessel of war, she was believed to be unusually resilient and seaworthy. On the night of February 26, 1852, she was sailing for the coast of South Africa with about 638 men, women, and children aboard, including a large contingent of military reinforcements for the troops engaged in the Kaffir Wars. At about 2:00 a.m., the vessel struck a ledge off Cape Danger. Twenty minutes later, she was submerged. Before she sank, an important decision was made. The men would sacrifice their lives for the women and children. They would willingly die rather than even possibly capsize the overloaded boats on which the women and children sought refuge. Over the next few hours, wives and children watched as their loved ones drowned or were consumed by man-eating sharks engaged in a wild feeding frenzy. The heroism of these men not only established the maritime principle of "women and children first," but served to inspire generations of men and women to stand by the ancient Christian principles of heroic manhood

Inspirational essays consider the many manifestations of love within a Christian context

The most beautiful and life-changing stories are not found in the pages of newspapers, but in the everyday events in the life of the Christian family. They are the stories of boys who long for their fathers, of husbands who become better men because of the love of faithful brides, and of little girls who learn to dream great dreams for God. These are moments that really matter -- the ones that count for eternity. ''The Little Boy Down the Road'' is a collection of humorous and thought-provoking short stories and essays on family and fatherhood that reveal the beauty of the Christian household. It is a book about the nobility of the commonplace events in life and the special epiphanies of parenthood -- the moments of supreme clarity where parents realize, as if coming out of a slumber-- the inexpressible preciousness of the Christian family and the unbounding love of Christ to shower sinful men with such earthly joys.