In response to the demand for further light on the Stanzas of Dzyan which form the basis of "The Secret Doctrine", H P Blavatsky answered a variety of questions at weekly meetings of the Blavatsky Lodge of The Theosophical Society in London. Her replies illumine many important facets of the teachings that are often difficult for students and inquirers. The discussions cover the first four stanzas of Volume I and treat such topics as cosmic genesis, universal mind, man's inner nature, the relation between consciousness and substance, religious symbolism, and the evolution of worlds and men. Of particular interest is a section on dreams.

This anthology consists of fourteen topically arranged essays that, according to recent polls, more and more Americans find themselves uncomfortable maintaining traditional religious beliefs and moral commitments—a trend driven in large part by Millennials and one likely to continue with subsequent generations. As a professor who has regular interactions with students of this generation, the author has discovered that those who neither wish to affiliate with one particular religious tradition or community nor drop religion altogether fear that there are few if any truly attractive alternatives—alternatives that would help them find meaning, offer sound moral guidance, and navigate life’s most challenging times. In the fourteen essays in this book, James A. Metzger shows that both meaning and resources for crafting a philosophically sound moral compass can be found outside the sacred canopy. Arranged topically, these essays explore a form of humanism characterized by epistemic humility, a progressive ethical orientation, as well as a respect for the positive features of religion. The author’s own journey from mainline Protestant Christianity to secular humanism followed the onset of a serious autoimmune illness, which forced him to confront various issues in philosophy of religion, particularly the problem of suffering and evil. The author weaves his own experiences into several chapters in order to show that in a postmodern milieu we can no longer attribute major worldview shifts to solitary, dispassionate rational inquiry. Although the essays have been composed in such a way that each may stand alone, a feature that allows readers to approach chapters in any order they choose, they nevertheless have been arranged into four sections that reflect the author’s personal journey: Chronic Illness and the Death of God, Epistemic Limitations and Respect for Persons, A Humanist Approach to Reading the Bible, and Advantages of Ethical Reasoning without God.

What is the relationship between those who have died and those who remain alive on earth? Can we help those now in the spiritual world? Can they help us? In these talks, Rudolf Steiner deals with the spiritual relationships that the living can have with those who have crossed over the threshold between life and death. In a realistic, practical way, he shows how an understanding of our spiritual nature reveals ways of knowing a world undreamed of by materialists. The tone of these talks is warm and moving, clearly drawn from Steiner's own experience and the lives of those who had died and who were personally known to him -- Robert Hamerling, Christian Morgenstern, and others. This is an important work for those who are coming to terms with the death of a love one. 7 lectures, various cities, April 17 - May 26, 1914.

Whether the recently settled religious minorities, Muslims, in particular, can be accommodated as religious groups in European countries has become a central political question and threatens to create long-term fault lines. In this collection of essays, Tariq Modood argues that to grasp the nature of the problem we have to see how Muslims have become a target of a cultural racism, Islamophobia. Yet, the problem is not just one of anti-racism but of an understanding of multicultural citizenship, of how minority identities, including those formed by race, ethnicity and religion, can be incorporated into national identities so all can have a sense of belonging together. This means that the tendency amongst some to exclude religious identities from public institutions and the re-making of national identities has to be challenged. Modood suggests that this can be done in a principled yet pragmatic way by drawing on Western Europe's moderate political secularism and eschewing forms of secularism that offer religious groups a second-class citizenship.

From the 1910s to the mid-1930s, the flamboyant and gifted spiritualist Deguchi Onisaburo (1871-1948) transformed his mother-in-law's small, rural religious following into a massive movement, eclectic in content and international in scope. Through a potent blend of traditional folk beliefs and practices like divination, exorcism, and millenarianism, an ambitious political agenda, and skillful use of new forms of visual and mass media, he attracted millions to Oomoto, his Shintoist new religion. Despite its condemnation as a heterodox sect by state authorities and the mainstream media, Oomoto quickly became the fastest-growing religion in Japan of the time. In telling the story of Onisaburo and Oomoto, Nancy Stalker not only gives us the first full account in English of the rise of a heterodox movement in imperial Japan, but also provides new perspectives on the importance of "charismatic entrepreneurship" in the success of new religions around the world. She makes the case that these religions often respond to global developments and tensions (imperialism, urbanization, consumerism, the diffusion of mass media) in similar ways. They require entrepreneurial marketing and management skills alongside their spiritual authority if their groups are to survive encroachments by the state and achieve national/international stature. Their drive to realize and extend their religious view of the world ideally stems from a "prophet" rather than "profit" motive, but their activity nevertheless relies on success in the modern capitalist, commercial world. Unlike many studies of Japanese religion during this period, "Prophet Motive" works to dispel the notion that prewar Shinto was monolithically supportive of state initiatives and ideology.