An in-depth study of selected refugees from Ethiopia, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan, this book examines the relationship between the refugees' religious and spiritual beliefs and the refugee experience. Susan P. Ennis takes a close look at the circumstances of refugees' flight, their asylum, and their initial period of settlement in Melbourne, Australia during the period between the 1990s and the early twenty-first century. Ennis finds that a sense of religiosity seemed to aid the refugees, in some way, during all stages of their journey. Furthermore, nearly half of the refugees she studied reported a shift in their religiosity over the course of their emigration. Based on her research, Ennis puts forward a framework of religiosity and the refugee experience based on shifting typologies at each stage of the refugee journey.

In Myriad Intimacies postcolonial theorist, spiritual practitioner, and filmmaker Lata Mani oscillates between text and video, poetry and prose, genre and form, register and voice, and secular and sacred to offer a transmedia exploration of the interrelatedness of lives, concepts, frameworks, and aspects of self. She draws on concepts from tantra-a philosophy that celebrates matter as alive, embodiment as sacred, and the senses as a form of intelligence-alongside feminist, critical race, and cultural theory to meditate on the ways in which everyone and everything exists in mutually constitutive interrelations. Addressing issues ranging from desire, the body, nature, and love, to otherness, identity politics, social justice, #MeToo, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Mani foregrounds the power and necessity of recognizing relationality as foundational. Throughout, she offers a way of reframing what we think we know and how we come to know it, demonstrating that it is only by acknowledging and embracing the indivisible and interdependent nature of existence that we restore our true intimacy with each other and the world.

Unseen presences. Apparitions. Hearing voices. Although some people would find such experiences to be distressing and seek clinical help, others perceive them as transformative. Occasionally, these unusual phenomena give rise to new spiritual paths or religious movements. Revelatory Events provides fresh insights into what is perhaps the bedrock of all religious belief--the claim that otherworldly powers are active in human affairs. Ann Taves looks at Mormonism, Alcoholics Anonymous, and A Course in Miracles--three cases in which insiders claimed that a spiritual presence guided the emergence of a new spiritual path. In the 1820s, Joseph Smith, Jr., reportedly translated the Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates unearthed with the help of an angel. Bill Wilson cofounded AA after having an ecstatic experience while hospitalized for alcoholism in 1934. Helen Schucman scribed the words of an inner voice that she attributed to Jesus, which formed the basis of her 1976 best-selling self-study course. In each case, Taves argues, the sense of a guiding presence emerged through a complex, creative interaction between a founding figure with unusual mental abilities and an initial set of collaborators who were drawn into the process by diverse motives of their own. A major work of scholarship, this compelling and accessible book traces the very human processes behind such events.

From the bestselling author of "Stitches "and "Help, Thanks, Wow "comes her long-awaited collection of new and selected essays on hope, joy, and grace.
Anne Lamott writes about faith, family, and community in essays that are both wise and irreverent. It's an approach that has become her trademark. Now in "Small Victories," Lamott offers a new message of hope that celebrates the triumph of light over the darkness in our lives. Our victories over hardship and pain may seem small, she writes, but they change us--our perceptions, our perspectives, and our lives. Lamott writes of forgiveness, restoration, and transformation, how we can turn toward love even in the most hopeless situations, how we find the joy in getting lost and our amazement in finally being found.
Profound and hilarious, honest and unexpected, the stories in "Small Victories "are proof that the human spirit is irrepressible.

SPANISH EDITION. In this classic testimonial, the author presents God's attributes with words that touch our hearts. This masterpiece helps readers strengthen and deepen their spiritual lives.

Now in paperback, revised and redesigned: This is Thomas Merton's last book, in which he draws on both Eastern and Western traditions to explore the hot topic of contemplation/meditation in depth and to show how we can practice true contemplation in everyday life.

Never before published except as a series of articles (one per chapter) in an academic journal, this book on contemplation was revised by Merton shortly before his untimely death. The material bridges Merton's early work on Catholic monasticism, mysticism, and contemplation with his later writing on Eastern, especially Buddhist, traditions of meditation and spirituality. This book thus provides a comprehensive understanding of contemplation that draws on the best of Western and Eastern traditions.

Merton was still tinkering with this book when he died; it was the book he struggled with most during his career as a writer. But now the Merton Legacy Trust and experts have determined that the book makes such a valuable contribution as his major comprehensive presentation of contemplation that they have allowed its publication.

Pastor, preacher, and New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet Timothy Keller shares his wisdom on communicating the Christian faith from the pulpit as well as from the coffee shop. Most Christians-including pastors-struggle to talk about their faith in a way that applies the power of the Christian gospel to change people's lives. Timothy Keller is known for his insightful, down-to-earth sermons and talks that help people understand themselves, encounter Jesus, and apply the Bible to their lives. In this accessible guide for pastors and laypeople alike, Keller helps readers learn to present the Christian message of grace in a more engaging, passionate, and compassionate way.

In this warm and engaging book, Sri Daya Mata shares beautiful and penetrating insights garnered from over 70 years of seeking and loving God. This volume celebrates the wonder of God's love and tells readers how they can bring a rich and rewarding awareness of the Divine into their daily lives.

Fire blazes from heaven, and a stone altar erupts in flame. So begins a spiritual awakening, the kindling of a revival fire still burning today. Beginning with Elijah and God's tremendous one-day revival of Israel, Wesley Duewel tells stories of revivals spanning the globe from America to China to Africa, all brought by obedience and heartfelt prayer. He illustrates how God has used revival fire through the centuries to revive the church and reveal the glorious presence of the Holy Spirit.

Packed with over almost 100 images and countless stories, it brings to life the fascinating communities and the characters along the route in whose footsteps modern pilgrims are treading. Setting off with Celtic saints from Culross and North Queensferry, marching with miners through the West Fife coalfields, continuing on with Covenanters and Communists and ending among the martyrs, relics and ghosts of the haunted city of St Andrews, this gripping narrative presents a journey through Scottish history, ancient and modern, with spiritual reflections along the way.

This major work outlines the philosophy and methods of the new Science of Oneness. It takes a fresh look at the findings of modern science, including fringe fields such as parapsychology, and integrates them with insights from spiritual traditions. Weaving science together with experiential, spiritual and cultural knowledge, balancing openness to all sources with critical evaluation of their reliability, it presents a scientifically valid vision of reality that is conscious, creative, loving, and purposeful. It challenges us all to guide the evolution of humanity and the Earth in positive directions. Each chapter offers activities, thought-provoking questions and guided meditations to stimulate intuitive understanding. "The Science of Oneness" provides a coherent world view for cultural creatives, the holism movement, and everyone searching for meaning in our fragmented world.

This book comprehensively explores the changes in the Chinese spiritual world from the perspective of transition and transformation. Chinese feeling, a brand-new concept corresponding to Chinese experience, refers to the vicissitudes that 1.3 billion Chinese people have been through in their spiritual worlds. The book discusses this concept together with Chinese experience, two aspects of the transformation of the Chinese mentality that resulted from the unprecedented social changes since 1978, and which have given this unique era historical meaning and cultural values. At the same time they offer a dual perspective for understanding this great social transition. Further, the book considers what will happen if we only focus on the "Chinese Experience" while neglecting the "Chinese Feeling"; the changes the Chinese people undergo when their desires, wishes and personalities have changed China; and how their emotionally charged social mentality follow ebbs and flows of the changing society. Lastly it asks what embarrassment and frustration the population will be faced with next after the tribulations their spiritual world has already been through.

Bhakti Yoga explores one of the eight 'limbs' of yoga. In the simplest terms, bhakti yoga is the practice of devotion, which is the essential heart of yoga and of Hinduism in general. In recent times, the term has come to be used in a rather simplistic way to refer to the increasingly popular practice of kirtan, or chanting in a group or at large gatherings. But bhakti yoga is far more complex and ancient than today's growing kirtan audiences are aware, and embraces many strands and practices. Edwin F. Bryant focuses on one famous and important school of bhakti and explores it in depth to show what bhakti is and how it is expressed. And he supplies his own renderings of central texts from that tradition in the form of 'tales and teachings' from an important work called the Bhagavata Purana, or 'The Beautiful Legend of God.' This clarifying work establishes a baseline for understanding, and will be welcomed by all serious students of the spiritual heritage of India.

This book is a rhetorical analysis of the "Seybert Report," based on the findings of the Seybert Commission formed in the nineteenth century at the University of Pennsylvania and tasked with investigating the paranormal phenomena alleged to arise in Spiritualist seances. The findings of the report are significant because they provide a historical benchmark for how "paranormal" research--or psi--has been addressed by academics for well over a century. Elizabeth Schleber Lowry examines academic discourse with respect to psi from such approaches as the rhetoric of science and scholarship in the history and philosophy of science.

**A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR SELECTION** As heard on The Tim Ferriss Show! 'Captivating' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT 'The book Shukman was born to write' NATALIE GOLDBERG, author of WRITING DOWN THE BONES 'A wonderful and generous book' DAVID HINTON, author of THE WILDS OF POETRY *** One Blade of Grass is award-winning novelist and poet Henry Shukman's account of his journey through the world of Zen Buddhism. Raised in a rationalist household in Oxford during the spiritual heyday of the Sixties and Seventies, an unexpected spiritual awakening would prompt a lifelong quest to integrate the experience into his life, leading him eventually to Zen Buddhism. As Shukman gets to grips with meditative practice and struggles with anxiety, depression and the chronic eczema he had had since childhoods, he discovers in surprising ways the emotional, spiritual and even physical healing that he has been searching for all along. By turns humorous and moving, this beautifully written memoir demystifies Zen training, casting its profound insights in simple, lucid language, and takes the reader on a journey of their own, into the hidden treasures of life that contemplative practice can reveal to any of us.

'One of the greatest thinkers of the age' The Dalai Lama 'One of the five saints of the 20th century' - TIME magazine 'Krishnamurti influenced me profoundly' - Deepak Chopra Who are you? What are you? What do you want from life? One of the world's great philosophical teachers, Krishnamurti, offers his inspiring wisdom on many of life's hurdles from relationships and love, to anxiety and loneliness. He answers such questions as 'What is the significance of life?' and 'How do I live life to the full?' to reveal the best way of being true to yourself. Read by millions from all walks of life, Krishnamurti shows us there is no path, no higher authority, no guru to follow, and that ultimately it is our own responsibility as to how we live our lives.

This singular reference explores religion and spirituality as a vital, though often misconstrued, lens for building better understanding of and empathy with clients. A diverse palette of faiths and traditions is compared and contrasted (occasionally with secularism), focusing on areas of belief that may inspire, comfort, or trouble clients, including health and illness, mental illness, healing, coping, forgiveness, family, inclusion, and death. From assessment and intervention planning to conducting research, these chapters guide professionals in supporting and assisting clients without minimizing or overstating their beliefs. In addition, the book's progression of ideas takes readers beyond the well-known concept of cultural competence to model a larger and more meaningful cultural safety. Among the topics included in the Handbook: Integrating religion and spirituality into social work practice. Cultural humility, cultural safety, and beyond: new understandings and implications for social work. Healing traditions, religion/spirituality, and health. Diagnosis: religious/spiritual experience or mental illness? Understandings of dying, death, and mourning. (Re)building bridges in and with family and community. Ethical issues in conducting research on religion and spirituality. The Handbook of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice and Research is a richly-textured resource for social workers and mental health professionals engaged in clinical practice and/or research seeking to gain varied perspectives on how the religion and spirituality of their clients/research participants may inform their work.

The sweetness of music is something that has puzzled Christian theologians for centuries. In this study, Luther's theology of music is approached from the point of view of pleasure. It examines the significance of joy, beauty and pleasure in relationship with music and Luther's theology. The notion of music as the supreme gift of God requires also a discussion about the idea of 'gift'. Music opens up new perspectives into Luther's thinking. Luther has seldom been reckoned among aesthetic theologians. Nevertheless, Luther has a peculiar view on beauty, understanding faith as a kind of aesthetic contemplation.