Kosher USA follows the fascinating journey of kosher food through the modern industrial food system. It recounts how iconic products such as Coca-Cola and Jell-O tried to become kosher; the contentious debates among rabbis over the incorporation of modern science into Jewish law; how Manischewitz wine became the first kosher product to win over non-Jewish consumers (principally African Americans); the techniques used by Orthodox rabbinical organizations to embed kosher requirements into food manufacturing; and the difficulties encountered by kosher meat and other kosher foods that fell outside the American culinary consensus. Kosher USA is filled with big personalities, rare archival finds, and surprising influences: the Atlanta rabbi Tobias Geffen, who made Coke kosher; the lay chemist and kosher-certification pioneer Abraham Goldstein; the kosher-meat magnate Harry Kassel; and the animal-rights advocate Temple Grandin, a strong supporter of shechita, or Jewish slaughtering practice. By exploring the complex encounter between ancient religious principles and modern industrial methods, Kosher USA adds a significant chapter to the story of Judaism's interaction with non-Jewish cultures and the history of modern Jewish American life as well as American foodways.

In South India there is a society where priests and lay people claim supernatural powers. Where a sophisticated medical system underlies a quest for physical longevity and psychic immortality and where arcane and sexual rituals take place that are far removed from the Brahmanic tradition of the rest of India. That society is the Tamil Siddhas. Here expert Kamil Zvelebil offers a vivid picture of these people: religious beliefs, magical rites, alchemical practices, complex system of medicine, and inspired tradition of poetry. Topics covered include: On Siddhas medicine; The ideological basis of Siddhas quest of immortality; Basic tenets of Siddhas medicine; Diseases and their cure; Yoga in Siddhas tradition; Daily regime; Siddhas alchemy; Rejuvenation, longevity, and 'immortality'; Doctrines and traditions of the Siddhas; Tantrik Siddhas and Siddhas attitudes to sex; Siddhas poetry and other texts.

Yantra Yoga, the Buddhist parallel to the Hathayoga of the Hindu tradition, is a system of practice entailing bodily movements, breathing exercises, and visualizations. Originally transmitted by the mahasiddhas of India and Oddiyana, its practice is nowadays found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism in relation to the Anuttaratantras, more generally known under the Tibetan term "trulkhor," whose Sanskrit equivalent is "yantra." The Union of the Sun and Moon Yantra (Phrul 'khor nyi zla kha sbyor), orally transmitted in Tibet in the eighth century by the great master Padmasambhava to the Tibetan translator and Dzogchen master Vairochana, can be considered the most ancient of all the systems of Yantra, and its peculiarity is that it contains also numerous positions which are also found in the classic Yoga tradition.
Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, one of the great living masters of Dzogchen and Tantra, started transmitting this profound Yoga in the seventies and at that time wrote this commentary, which is based on the oral explanations of some Tibetan yogins and siddhas of the twentieth century. All Western practitioners will benefit from the extraordinary instructions contained in this volume.

This concise (just 40 pages) and beautiful haggadah contains all the elements for a complete and authentic seder. Its small size (just 6 x 8") and straightforward text, and bright collage art will capture the attention of seder participants and spark lively conversation about social justice, freedom, and history.Ideal for the host or seder leader who wants to run a short and meaningful seder, bring a modern sensibility and fresh language tot he observance, and add beauty to the seder table. Includes blessings and the Four Questions in both Hebrew and transliterated Hebrew, with English translations.

How, in this age of belief, can we make sense of the act of Christian worship? Convinced that people shape their meanings from those available to them, Graham Hughes inquires into liturgical constructions of meaning, within the larger context of late twentieth-century meaning theory. Drawing particularly upon the work of Charles Peirce, Hughes employs semiotic theory to analyze the construction, transmission and apprehension of meaning within an actual worship service. This book will appeal to teachers and students of theology, clergy and informed lay Christians.

How, in this age of belief, can we make sense of the act of Christian worship? Convinced that people shape their meanings from those available to them, Graham Hughes inquires into liturgical constructions of meaning, within the larger context of late twentieth-century meaning theory. Drawing particularly upon the work of Charles Peirce, Hughes employs semiotic theory to analyze the construction, transmission and apprehension of meaning within an actual worship service. This book will appeal to teachers and students of theology, clergy and informed lay Christians.

Since the formation of the Republic in 1923, Friday sermons (hutbe) have been an important platform that allows the state to engage and communicate with the Turkish people. Sermon topics vary from religious and ethical issues to matters concerning family, women, health, education, business and the environment. Even if politics, in the name of secularism, has been banned from mosques and sermons, questions of how to be a good citizen and honour the Turkish nation have been of utmost importance. With an all-pervading sermon theme of social, national and political unity, Elisabeth Ozdalga explores how long-standing religious rituals are utilised and mobilised in the formation of modern political loyalties and national identities.

This study explores the psychological foundations of religious ritual systems. In practice, participants recall rituals to ensure a sense of continuity across performances, and those rituals motivate them to transmit and re-perform them. Most religious rituals exploit either high performance frequency or extraordinary emotional stimulation to enhance their recollection. Robert N. McCauley and E. Thomas Lawson assert that participants' cognitive representations of ritual form explain much about the systems. Reviewing a wide range of evidence, they explain religions' evolution.

Children can explore the world of yoga and the stories of the Bible and find meaning in both.

This is the first English translation of Miftah al-falah, a thirteenth century Sufi text, written by Ibn Ata Allah, one of the great masters of the Shadhili Sufi order. It is considered to be one of his most important works because it sets out the principles of actual Sufi mystical practices, shedding light on the sacred invocations, and associated practices, such as the spiritual retreat. Written in a clear, lucid style, it offers a glimpse into the Sufi world of the 7th Islamic century and allows us to see almost at first hand how the novice was guided by the Sufi Shaykh and, above all, the purpose and preparation involved in engaging in the invocation, dhikhru'llah. Ibn Ata' Allah sets out to define it, to explain its nature and power, to show its results and to prove that it is part of the Prophet's Sunna, or practice. The author goes to great lengths to point out many Qur'anic verses where dhikru'llah is mentioned and cites many noted authorities.

Death and immortality played a central role in Greek and Roman thought, from Homer and early Greek philosophy to Marcus Aurelius. In this book A. G. Long explains the significance of death and immortality in ancient ethics, particularly Plato's dialogues, Stoicism and Epicureanism; he also shows how philosophical cosmology and theology caused immortality to be re-imagined. Ancient arguments and theories are related both to the original literary and theological contexts and to contemporary debates on the philosophy of death. The book will be of major interest to scholars and students working on Greek and Roman philosophy, and to those wishing to explore ancient precursors of contemporary debates about death and its outcomes.

Martin Prechtel's experiences growing up on a Pueblo Indian reservation, his years of apprenticing to a Guatemalan shaman, and his flight from Guatemala's brutal civil war inform this lyrical blend of memoir, cultural mythology, and spiritual call to arms. "The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic "is both an epic story and a cry to the heart of humanity based on the author's realization that human survival depends on keeping alive the seeds of our "original forgotten spiritual excellence."
Prechtel relates the current eco-crisis to the rapid disappearance of biodiversity, indigenous cultures, and shared human values. He demonstrates how real human culture is exterminated when real (not genetically modified) seeds are lost. Like plants that become extinct once their required conditions are no longer met, authentic, unmonetized human cultures can no longer survive in the modern world. To "keep the seeds alive"--both literally and metaphorically--they must be planted, harvested, and replanted, just as human culture must become truly engaging and meaningful to the soul, as necessary as food is to the body. The viable seeds of spirituality and culture that lie dormant within us need to "sprout" into broad daylight to create real sets of cultures welcome on Earth.

This book argues that religion can and must be reconciled with science. Combining adaptive and cognitive approaches, it is a comprehensive analysis of religion's evolutionary significance, and its inextricable interdependence with language. It is also a detailed study of religion's main component, ritual, which constructs the conceptions that we take to be religious and therefore central in the making of humanity's adaptation. The text amounts to a manual for effective ritual, illustrated by examples drawn from a range of disciplines.

Jews spend endless hours of their lives in prayer, yet many Jews view prayer as an obligation to strike off the schedule rather than enjoy and be uplifted by. Since we generally don t learn about prayer past grade school, we often find ourselves praying with the intellectual awareness of fifth graders and we therefore find prayers to be meaningless and empty. This book bridges that very gap connecting the mind to the heart by allowing the laws of prayer, which people know so well, to influence the experience of praying in ways that have not yet been explored.

Tatari presents a unique understanding of Islam, rooted in the rich tradition of Islamic history and scholarship, as well as contemporary exegeses of the Quran. The word Muslim is commonly used like a brand name: One is either a Muslim or not. In this book, Tatari expounds on the literal meaning of being a Muslim, which is the verbal noun submitter. She explains that one is a submitter (aka. Muslim) if and when she is surrendering her mind, heart, and actions to Gods will. The book engages all intellectuals who seek a deeper knowledge of Islam. It offers insights into the worldview presented by Islam to common theological, spiritual, and social issues and existential questions.

In Sri Lanka galt uber Jahrhunderte das in buddhistischen Chroniken festgelegte Verhaltnis zwischen Koenig und Moenchsorden. Mit dem Wegfall des Koenigs im 19. Jh. wird die Verbindung von Buddhismus und Politik neu verhandelt. Einfuhrend in die Diskussion zur Konstruktion von Tradition illustriert die Autorin, wie vor dem Hintergrund kolonialer Einflusse und postkolonialer Umbruche vorkoloniale Ordnungen, wie etwa die Verbindung von Koenig - Moenchsorden - Volk, neuen Aushandlungsprozessen unterliegen. Im Fokus stehen religionspolitische Debatten, die seit der Unabhangigkeit 1948 bis zu den Prasidentschaftswahlen 2015 zwischen politisch aktiven Moenchen und den jeweiligen Regierungen oder Prasidenten gefuhrt wurden. Die Autorin zeigt auf, wie Fragen nach den Aufgabenbereichen und Verantwortungen des Staates gegenuber dem Buddha Sasana sowie den Zustandigkeiten und Pflichten der Moenche debattiert werden.

Every year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world converge on Mecca and its precincts to perform the rituals associated with the Hajj and have been doing so since the seventh century. In this volume, scholars from a range of fields - including history, religion, anthropology, and literature - together tell the story of the Hajj and explain its significance as one of the key events in the Muslim religious calendar. By outlining the parameters of the Hajj from its beginnings to the present day, the contributors have produced a global study that takes in the vast geographies of belief in the world of Islam. This volume pays attention to the diverse aspects of the Hajj, as lived every year by hundreds of millions of Muslims, touching on its rituals, its regional forms, the role of gender, its representation in art, and its organization on a global scale.