Falsidade e composto por cartas - ou capitulos - supostamente enviadas a um amigo. Diversos temas sao abordados a cada capitulo, desde alguns dos pecados capitais ate uma critica a crenca em Deus. Descrenca total sobre a vida e a humanidade permeia Falsidade, um livro sobrio. E nao ha sequer uma sentenca que enalteca o ser humano. A cada paragrafo, ser canalha e vil e o conselho dado aos leitores. Com sentencas fortes e palavras morbidamente bem escolhidas, RSCalvino aventura-se a falar sobre verdades profundas e sombrias da alma humana. Talvez verdades ja ditas por cada leitor, mas sorrateiramente encobertas por uma hipocrisia social ou, pior, por uma inconsciencia do proprio existir. Este livro sera dito como um dos mais odiados livros escritos pela humanidade, justamente por espelhar de forma crua e clara, com todas as palavras, as deformidades do espirito humano. Alguns poucos de seus amigos por vezes temem em dizer que o trabalho e fruto da influencia da Sociedade a qual tivera contato atraves de um amigo. Sem duvidas o livro mais odioso de todos os tempos

Estos escritos, hallados en Nag Hammadi, Egipto, en 1945, ademas de contar la verdadera historia del Grial, hablan del ministerio de Cristo en terminos muy humanos. De acuerdo con estos textos, Jesus vino al mundo a senalar la senda para encontrar el camino del conocimiento (de ahi la palabra gnosis). Esta serie de evangelios nos muestra que las raices del gnosticismo se caracterizan por ser una mezcla de las creencias estrictamente cristianas con creencias judaicas y orientales, cuya pretension es alcanzar el conocimiento de lo divino por medio de la intuicion.

For the early Christians, "pagan" referred to a multitude of unbelievers: Greek and Roman devotees of the Olympian gods, and "barbarians" such as Arabs and Germans with their own array of deities. But while these groups were clearly outsiders or idolaters, who and what was pagan depended on the outlook of the observer, as Christopher Jones shows in this fresh and penetrating analysis. Treating paganism as a historical construct rather than a fixed entity, Between Pagan and Christian" uncovers the ideas, rituals, and beliefs that Christians and pagans shared in Late Antiquity.

While the emperor Constantine's conversion in 312 was a momentous event in the history of Christianity, the new religion had been gradually forming in the Roman Empire for centuries, as it moved away from its Jewish origins and adapted to the dominant pagan culture. Early Christians drew on pagan practices and claimed important pagans as their harbingers--asserting that Plato, Virgil, and others had glimpsed Christian truths. At the same time, Greeks and Romans had encountered in Judaism observances and beliefs shared by Christians such as the Sabbath and the idea of a single, creator God. Polytheism was the most obvious feature separating paganism and Christianity, but pagans could be monotheists, and Christians could be accused of polytheism and branded as pagans. In the diverse religious communities of the Roman Empire, as Jones makes clear, concepts of divinity, conversion, sacrifice, and prayer were much more fluid than traditional accounts of early Christianity have led us to believe.

One of the first attempts ever to present in a systematic way a non-western semiotic system. This book looks at Japanese esoteric Buddhism and is based around original texts, informed by explicit and rigorous semiotic categories. It is a unique introduction to important aspects of the thought and rituals of the Japanese Shingon tradition. Semiotic concerns are deeply ingrained in the Buddhist intellectual and religious discourse, beginning with the idea that the world is not what it appears to be, which calls for a more accurate understanding of the self and reality. This in turn results in sustained discussions on the status of language and representations, and on the possibility and methods to know reality beyond delusion; such peculiar knowledge is explicitly defined as enlightenment. Thus, for Buddhism, semiotics is directly relevant to salvation; this is a key point that is often ignored even by Buddhologists. This book discusses in depth the main elements of Buddhist semiotics as based primarily on original Japanese pre-modern sources. It is a crucial publication in the fields of semiotics and religious studies.

Uno de los filosofos mas influyentes durante el periodo de la Ilustracion y un fundador de ateismo moderno. Edicion, prologo, epilogo y notas del celebre critico literario Juan Bautista Bergua. Paul Henri Thiry, nacido como Paul Heinrich Dietrich von Holbach (1723-1789), Baron de Holbach, fue un filosofo frances de origen aleman que abogo por el ateismo y el materialismo. Apasionado de la libertad, creia que la religion es una consecuencia de la ignorancia explotada por el despotismo y que las doctrinas religiosas son instrumentos del absolutismo. Fue colaborador de la Encyclopedie, lo cual le puso en condiciones de poder juzgar las teorias expuestas en los sagrados libros. Su Christianisme Devoile (1767) es una de las mas violentas requisitorias que jamas se han hecho contra la religion cristiana y la religion en general. Publico, pero de forma anonima y bajo seudonimo por temor a represalias, Esprit du Clerge, La Contagion Sacree, Bon Sens y Le Systeme de la Nature, incluida en el indice de libros prohibidos. Vio las instituciones del cristianismo como un obstaculo para la mejora de la sociedad. El fundamento de la moral no deberia ser buscado en las Escrituras, sino en la felicidad. Moises, Jesus y Mahoma son "tres impostores" segun Holbach, declaraciones arriesgadas durante este periodo de la Ilustracion anterior a la Revolucion francesa.

Un estudio de ateismo tolerante por el Conde de Volney. Edicion, prologo y notas por el celebre critico literario Juan Bautista Bergua. Constantin-Francois Chasseb uf de La Giraudais (1757-1820), conde de Volney, conocido simplemente como Volney, fue un filosofo, politico frances y uno de los mas ilustres sabios y escritores franceses del siglo XVIII. Es autor de Viaje por Egipto y Siria (1788) y Meditaciones Sobre Las Revoluciones de los Imperios (1791), tambien conocido como Las Ruinas de Palmira, su obra mas famosa y notoria de su tiempo en la que proclama un ateismo tolerante, la libertad y la igualdad. Las Ruinas de Palmira fue traducido a numerosos idiomas tanto que el Vaticano la incluyo en el Indice de Libros prohibidos en 1846. La obra ponia en un mismo plano a la religion catolica y a las demas religiones, sirviendo de escenario las ruinas del poderoso imperio de Palmira, cuyos dioses tuvieron tanto poder...pero cayeron. Un oasis de palmeras en el desierto sirio, Palmira fue un simbolo de la fugacidad del poder y la riqueza de la reina Zenobia, hasta su destruccion por el emperador romano Aureliano en el ano 272. En las palabras de Volney: " Ah Como esta eclipsada tanta gloria ... Como perecen las obras de los hombres ... Asi los imperios y las naciones desaparecen ."

Popular music artists are intentionally unoriginal. Pop producers find their inspiration by sampling across traditions and genres; remix artists compose a pastiche of the latest hits. These "mashup" artists stretch the boundaries of creativity by freely intermingling old sounds and melodies with the newest technologies. Using this phenomenon in contemporary music-making as a metaphor, John McClure encourages the invention of new theological ideas by creating a mashup of the traditional and the novel. What emerges are engaging ways of communicating that thrive at the intersection of religion and popular culture yet keep alive the deepest of theological truths.

"When you work toward global peace, global love, and global harmony, which is the absolute destiny of this planet, you are doing God's will. Your 'payoff' will be the harmony and expansion that you will feel as your body, mind and emotions move into alignment. That which you are working, hoping and praying for, for the world, is what you will begin to receive for yourself. The gifts of God are right here in this kind of action. As you hold this planet in your heart with love, the experience of humankind comes into alignment with the energy of this planet, and you will become that which you are giving. It is the law." -- Bartholemew In Planetary Brother, you will learn how to work toward global peace, global love, and global harmony, which is the absolute destiny of this planet.

This particular volume in the Conozca series includes photos and maps that help illuminate the history of how the Spanish Bible came to be.

De Gnesis a Deuteronomio is a captivating commentary that seeks to avoid unnecessary technical terms and useless information, while using scripture from both the Reina-Valera Revisada (NRSV) and the Versin Popular (Good News). The author meshes valuable research detailing the Pentateuch with the initial meaning of the text itself. This is a must read for all believers, from teachers and preachers of the Bible to students and lay persons.

Dr. Awilda Gonzlez-Tejera presents a fascinating commentary about five New Testament books, including Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon. In the text, all walks on the Christian journey will find rich and valuable information detailing these four books written by Paul. Readers will also find a commentary that avoids unnecessary technical terms as well as scripture from both the Reina-Valera Revisada (NRSV) and the Versin Popular (Good News).

Conozca su Biblia, developed in partnership with the Asociacion para la Educacion Teologica Hispana and the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission unit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church n America, is a unique new Bible commentary series written in Spanish by leading Hispanic theologians and Bible educators.

Das gro e Tier 666," Aleister Crowley, ist heute, wie zu seinen Lebzeiten, immer noch die schillerndste Figur innerhalb des Okkultismus. Seine exzentrische Pers nlichkeit, bizarre Rituale und starker Drogenkonsum bilden die Grundlage f r eine abenteuerliche Legendenbildung um einen der kreativsten und intelligentesten Protagonisten der okkultistischen Subkultur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Allerdings hat diese Entwicklung dazu gef hrt, da Crowley au erhalb von esoterischen Zirkeln kaum bekannt ist oder aber durch Unkenntnis seiner tats chlichen Lehre einer oftmals sehr verzerrten Darstellung unterliegt. Die vorliegende religionswissenschaftliche Studie liefert erstmals eine grundlegende Systematik sowohl der Doktrin als auch der Methodik des letzten gro en Magiers" und versucht dem Leser die oftmals komplexe spirituelle Lehre des selbsternannten Antichristen" zu erl utern. Gest tzt auf ausgiebige Zitate aus dem umfangreichen literarischen Werk Crowleys, werden die Kernelemente seines wissenschaftlichen Erleuchtungsweges" sorgf ltig herausgearbeitet und jenseits konfessioneller Stigmatisierung einer objektiven Beurteilung zug nglich gemacht.

What is New Age? Crystals, meditation and astrology. T'ai Chi, Reiki and Feng Shui. Reflexology, aromatherapy and past-life regression. Esalen, the Findhorn Community and Damanhur. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra and David Spangler. But many such examples of alternative spiritualities are explicitly not New Age -- and few practitioners now describe themselves as New Age. Scholars cannot agree on a definition of New Age, or even whether it exists at all! Daren Kemp surveys the whole range of descriptions of New Age, from a wide variety of angles. New Agers themselves are consulted, as well as their critics in the Churches, the media and other interest groups including rationalists, feminists and Native American Indians. Key Features: *Illustrated throughout with concrete examples from contemporary spirituality, extensive fieldwork research with New Age groups and communities, and statistical surveys *New Age is examined from a variety of perspectives with chapters on New Age history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology and psychology *Approaches are applied in practical examples such as on New Religious Movements, postmodernism and mental health *Includes an extended survey of academic New Age studies, both published and unpublished, with an emphasis on previously inaccessible doctoral research In a look at the future of New Age studies, it is asked whether the term New Age remains useful, or whether we should heed calls for substitute terms to describe contemporary alternative spiritualities.

"McGrath is a cool-eyed chronicler of a dispossessed generation – philosophical, astute and ultimately unforgiving. This is no pseudo rock'n'roll road trip, but an accessible and insightful study of the modern condition. The final autobiographical chapter is breathtaking."
DEBORAH BOSLEY, 'Literary Review'

"McGrath meets the nation's lost souls of the New Age. A 267-year-old princess from the tribe of Atlantis, a technoshaman, an alien who talks to Barbie dolls, an overweight angel and a prince who will never die all impress her with their certainties as much as they depress her with their chronic self-awareness. It's an ambitious debut: McGrath has a keen sense for deadpan descriptions of off-kilter encounters, and an acute knack for deflating the Myth."
EMER BRIZZOLARA, 'Ikon'

"Fortifying herself with booze, cigarettes and a useful amount of asperity and common sense, McGrath painstakingly trawls the aisles of the spiritual supermarket. She writes beautifully about the terrain, offers deliciously dyspeptic observations…and is very funny on the sense of spiralling dislocation which arises from being confronted not just with unfamiliar behaviour but with 'an entirely inner architecture'."
MICK BROWN, 'Daily Telegraph'

McGrath has a fine, questing mind, a splendid eye for detail and a healthily cynical attitude. Confronted at every turn – in her deliciously sardonic picaresque travelogue through America's south-western desert states – by the strange, the sinister and the just plain barmy…she maintains a fine, dense and colourful narrative that brings the desert landscape and the loony-tune New Agers vividly to life."
NICK CURTIS, 'Financial Times'

How did an African-American man born in a ghetto in 1879 rise to such religious prominence that his followers addressed letters to him simply "God, Harlem U.S.A."?
Using hitherto unknown materials, Jill Watts portrays the life and career of one of the twentieth century's most intriguing religious leaders, Father Divine. Starting as an itinerant preacher, Father Divine built an unprecedented movement that by the 1930s had attracted followers across the nation and around the world. As his ministry grew, so did the controversy surrounding his enormous wealth, flamboyant style, and committed "angels"--black and white, rich and poor alike.
Here for the first time a full account of Father Divine's childhood and early years challenges previous contentions that he was born into a sharecropping family in the deep South. While earlier biographers have concentrated on Father Divine's social and economic programs, Watts focuses on his theology, which gives new meaning to secular activities that often appeared contradictory. Although much has been written about Father Divine, "God, Harlem U.S.A." finally provides a balanced and intimate account of his life's work.