When was the last time you heard a Muslim woman speak for herself without a filter? It's Not About the Burqa started life when Mariam Khan read about the conversation in which David Cameron linked the radicalization of Muslim men to the `traditional submissiveness' of Muslim women. Mariam felt pretty sure she didn't know a single Muslim woman who would describe herself that way. Why was she hearing about Muslim women from people who were demonstrably neither Muslim nor female? Taking one of the most politicized and misused words associated with Muslim women and Islamophobia, It's Not About the Burqa has something to say: twenty Muslim women speaking up for themselves. Here are essays about the hijab and wavering faith, about love and divorce, about queer identity, about sex, about the twin threats of a disapproving community and a racist country, and about how Islam and feminism go hand in hand. Funny, warm, sometimes sad, and often angry, each of these essays is a passionate declaration, and each essay is calling time on the oppression, the lazy stereotyping, the misogyny and the Islamophobia. It's Not About the Burqa doesn't claim to speak for a faith or a group of people, because it's time the world realized that Muslim women are not a monolith. It's time the world listened to them.

How do we identify and judge beauty? Does it distract us from more pressing questions and issues? Is beauty the handmaiden of privilege? Or can it be found in everyday, ordinary things? Whatever happened to beauty in contemporary Islam? Do Muslims have a inkling of what beauty is and why is it significant? This issue of Critical Muslim looks at beauty from a number of perspectives -- from beauty in the Qur'an and the Beautiful Divine Names to racism and the beauty industry, politics of fashion, calligraphy, plastic surgery, female wrestling, Muslim beauty contests and the male and female gaze.

After the best-seller The End is My Beginning, co-authored with his father Tixiano Terzani, the long-awaited Folco Terzani's comeback with a spiritual fable of nature, men and God. This spiritual fable intends to make us reflect on our own life, the things we put our security in, the values we live by, the dreams we have set aside as wishful thinking. It makes us look at the community around us, the connections we have. Through the life of a dog who's left on the side of the road, abandoned by his owner. He then comes across a wolf, that tells him to go on a journey to find his true identity and who his creator really is. He then meets a pack of wolves, where he learns about their ways, there values through the individual characters, who are also on a journey to discover their creator. This is a parable that encourages mindfulness, purpose and spiritual searching and spiritual formation.

With over a quarter of a million copies sold, "Mindfulness in Plain English" is one of the most influential books in the burgeoning field of mindfulness and a timeless classic introduction to meditation. This is a book that people read, love, and share - a book that people talk about, write about, reflect on, and return to over and over again.
Bhante Gunaratana is also the author of "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness," "Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English," "The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English," and his memoir "Journey to Mindfulness."

For more than a century Christian theologians have attempted to construct "theologies of religion" that would be recognized as authentically Christian and authentic in relation to the historical and social reality of many religions. This attempt usually ends in an impasse in which either only one religion is portrayed as holding the true path to salvation, or that many do. Neither the exclusivist nor the pluralist position is completely satisfactory in integrating the two goals of an authentically Christian and historically viable theology of religions. In calling this book Salvations author S. Mark Heim moves the theology of religions project beyond taking sides on exclusivist and pluralist views. The crux of his argument is this: that it makes more sense to speak of salvation in the plural, to maintain that the ends of various religions are indeed varied and significantly constituted by the paths taken to reach them. At the same time, all paths - Christianity included - can and must make or require exclusive commitments on the part of those that hold them. One of the most intriguing features of Salvations is its careful critique of the pluralist assumption of a single religious end to the many religions. Heim's careful analysis of the writings of John Hick, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, and Paul Knitter points out a central weakness in the pluralist argument: by insisting that different religions point to the same "ultimate, " pluralism fails its own test of plurality. Heim points out that exclusivists should note that in hypothesizing the many ends of different religions, Salvations contradicts neither the finality of Christ, nor the authentic, independent validity of other religions.

Almost 300,000 people `officially' complete the journey to Santiago each year - hundreds of thousands more travel at least part of the way. In this book, Richard Frazer discovers on his pilgrimage to the shrine of St James the Great how a journey - wherever it is made - undertaken with an open and hospitable heart can provide spiritual renewal and transformation, filling what many people see as the spiritual void in 21st century life. This absorbing account reveals how the pilgrim journey can be nourishment for the human heart. It connects us to landscape and brings us to the mystery of what it is to be human and vulnerable and open to the kindness of strangers and the gift of the new and the unexpected.

For most of its history, contemporary Paganism has been a religion of converts. Yet as it enters its fifth decade, it is incorporating growing numbers of second-generation Pagans for whom Paganism is a family tradition, not a religious worldview arrived at via a spiritual quest. In Pagan Family Values, S. Zohreh Kermani explores the ways in which North American Pagan families pass on their beliefs to their children, and how the effort to socialize children influences this new religious movement. The first ethnographic study of the everyday lives of contemporary Pagan families, this volume brings their experiences into conversation with contemporary issues in American religion. Through formal interviews with Pagan families, participant observation at various pagan events, and data collected via online surveys, Kermani traces the ways in which Pagan parents transmit their religious values to their children. Rather than seeking to pass along specific religious beliefs, Pagan parents tend to seek to instill values, such as religious tolerance and spiritual independence, that will remain with their children throughout their lives, regardless of these children's ultimate religious identifications. Pagan parents tend to construct an idealized, magical childhood for their children that mirrors their ideal childhoods. The socialization of children thus becomes a means by which adults construct and make meaningful their own identities as Pagans. Kermani's meticulous fieldwork and clear, engaging writing provide an illuminating look at parenting and religious expression in Pagan households and at how new religions pass on their beliefs to a new generation.

In This Hour offers the first English translations of selected German writings by Abraham Joshua Heschel from his tumultuous years in Nazi-ruled Germany and months in London exile, before he found refuge in the United States. Moreover, several of the works have never been published in any language. Composed during a time of intense crisis for European Jewry, these writings both argue for and exemplify a powerful vision of spiritually rich Jewish learning and its redemptive role in the past and the future of the Jewish people. The collection opens with the text of a speech in which Heschel laid out with passion his vision for Jewish education. Then it goes on to present his teachings: a set of essays about the rabbis of the Mishnaic period, whose struggles paralleled those of his own time; the biography of the medieval Jewish scholar and leader Don Yitzhak Abravanel; reflections on the power and meaning of repentance, written for the High Holidays in 1936; and a short story on Jewish exile, written for Hanukkah 1937. The collection closes with a set of four recently discovered meditations-on suffering, prayer, spirituality, and God-in which Heschel grapples with the horrors unfolding around him. Taken together, these essays and story fill a significant void in Heschel's bibliography: his Nazi Germany and London exile years. These translations convey the spare elegance of Heschel's prose, and the introduction and detailed notes make the volume accessible to readers of all knowledge levels. As Heschel teaches history, his voice is more than that of a historian: the old becomes new, and the struggles of one era shed light on another. Even as Heschel quotes ancient sources, his words address the issues of his own time and speak urgently to ours.

Build a Love that Lasts

At a time when more people are delaying marriage or writing it off altogether, those ready to walk the aisle will appreciate a frank and trusted resource to help them start marriage on the right foot.

This practical guide will help you explore your relationship in depth and will

- provide new insight into your partner and how the two of you relate to one another

- establish your wants and needs as individuals and a couple before your marriage begins

- lay the groundwork for open and honest conversation for a stronger, healthier marriage

- reveal how life events and family background can influence decision making in finances, family, education, faith, and career

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Engaging and easy-to-use, Before You Say "I Do" is full of tried and true wisdom to help you plan for your future and build a lasting relationship with the one you love.

Encouragement and inspiration from across faith traditions for walking with sorrow and honoring loss.

"As an expression of the soul, grief has its own purposes and timing.... You can let grief work for you by responding to it imaginatively.... Grief may feel overwhelming, but that is only because it is time for you to expand your heart and make it capable of far more love and connection. In this way, grief is a pathway to a more soul-centered life.“
―from the Introduction by Thomas Moore

This soulful companion for grief offers wisdom and creative spiritual practices for expressing and experiencing sorrow while keeping a life-giving connection to the past. Whether you need to grieve in words or silence, in solitude or in company with others, this compassionate guidance from across spiritual traditions will meet you where you are, helping you find wholeness and a renewed vision of yourself and the world.

This authorised yet heretical Haggadah from the infamous Jewdas collective propagates a multitude of dangerous ideas such as anarcho-socialism, the dismantling of nation-states and free pickles for all. Moreover it promotes Rabbi Geoffrey Cohen's ideology of diasporism: that the promised land is not an overpriced piece of real estate in the Middle East but wherever people gather to ferment noisy and joyful revolution. Fully ready for use at your next Passover seder, this Haggadah also contains an authorised guide to Jewish practice in the late capitalist era, riotous songs, diasporic recipes, and assorted tips for surviving establishment Judaism. Kosher for Jews and infidels alike, the Haggadah has been authorised and approved by Jeremy, Rabbi Krustofsky, Emma Goldman, Buddha, Hashem, John the Baptist and the guy from the apprentice who didn't know what a kosher chicken was.

This daily devotional invites the reader to create reflections beyond words through the use of mandalas. Optional creative arts of icon gazing, lectio visio, meditative movement and audio lectio bring a fresh perspective, transforming the interior posture of prayer and retreat into daily life.

A panoramic view of the evolution of the Passover Haggadah, from the beginnings of Hebrew printing into modern times Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize when it was first published in 1975, Haggadah & History is much more than a history of the Passover story. It is also a mirror of the last five centuries in Jewish history?as reflected in the haggadah itself. In an updated preface to the book, Yerushalmi recounts the story of the discovery of the Sarajevo Haggadah, which he says is ?arguably the most renowned illuminated haggadah manuscript from the Middle Ages to have survived.? Two hundred facsimile plates reproduce representative pages from rare printed haggadot in two of the world's outstanding Judaica collections: the libraries of Harvard University and The Jewish Theological Seminary. This visual history is complemented by Professor Yerushalmi's fascinating historical introduction and richly detailed place descriptions. The result is a rare blend of scholarship and art.

Heretic and impostor or reformer and statesman? The contradictory Western visions of Muhammad In European culture, Muhammad has been vilified as a heretic, an impostor, and a pagan idol. But these aren (TM)t the only images of the Prophet of Islam that emerge from Western history. Commentators have also portrayed Muhammad as a visionary reformer and an inspirational leader, statesman, and lawgiver. In Faces of Muhammad, John Tolan provides a comprehensive history of these changing, complex, and contradictory visions. Starting from the earliest calls to the faithful to join the Crusades against the oeSaracens, he traces the evolution of Western conceptions of Muhammad through the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and up to the present day. Faces of Muhammad reveals a lengthy tradition of positive portrayals of Muhammad that many will find surprising. To Reformation polemicists, the spread of Islam attested to the corruption of the established Church, and prompted them to depict Muhammad as a champion of reform. In revolutionary England, writers on both sides of the conflict drew parallels between Muhammad and Oliver Cromwell, asking whether the prophet was a rebel against legitimate authority or the bringer of a new and just order. Voltaire first saw Muhammad as an archetypal religious fanatic but later claimed him as an enemy of superstition. To Napoleon, he was simply a role model: a brilliant general, orator, and leader. The book shows that Muhammad wears so many faces in the West because he has always acted as a mirror for its writers, their portrayals revealing more about their own concerns than the historical realities of the founder of Islam.

Michael Richard Laffin demonstrates the promise of Martin Luther's thought for contemporary political theology by showing how Luther has been over-determined in standard genealogies of modernity which frequently deafen us to his unique contribution. Laffin argues that contemporary theologians have typically followed a narrative derived from the work of a previous generation of political historians and philosophers, which tend to screen out or distort the Reformers' contribution to political theory. Common to these narratives are charges against Luther for his perceived univocal and nominal ontology resulting in a privatized and spiritualized Christianity, thus falsely dividing the world into autonomous spheres. Additionally, the narratives claim that Luther follows in the wake of voluntarism, leading to an insistence on human passivity that leaves no room for pagan virtue. Thus, politics is reduced to an authoritarian imposition of order. In contrast to the dominant narratives of political modernity, Laffin re-examines these narratives by focusing on the political significance of areas in Luther's corpus often neglected in contemporary accounts of his political thought, especially his commentaries on Scripture and writings on the sacraments. Attention to these writings brings forth the crucial themes of the two ecclesiae and the three institutions. Constructively, these themes are deployed in critical engagement with contemporary political theology, particularly as represented in Radical Orthodoxy and the new-Augustinianism.

In volume 2 of this monumental work, Mircea Eliade continues his magisterial progress through the history of religious ideas. The religions of ancient China, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Buddha and his contemporaries, Roman religion, Celtic and German religions, Judaism, the Hellenistic period, the Iranian syntheses, and the birth of Christianity--all are encompassed in this volume.

No Future Without Forgiveness is a quintessentially humane account of an extraordinary life. Desmond Tutu describes his childhood and coming of age in the apartheid era in South Africa. He examines his reactions on being able to vote for the first time at the age of 62 - and on Nelson Mandela's election, also his feelings on being Archbishop of Cape Town and his award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. No Future Without Forgiveness is also his fascinating experience as head of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The latter was a pioneering international experiment to expose many of the worst atrocities committed under apartheid, and to rehabilitate the dignity of its victims. Tutu draws important parallels between the Commissioners' approach to the situation in South Africa with other areas of conflict such as Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Rwanda and the Balkans.