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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Worship > General
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.
"The Work of Day and Night" (Amal al-yawm wa'l-layla) was written
by Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti as a guide to correct conduct and
worship in accordance with the example of the Prophet and the Pious
Predecessors. Translated into English by Rashad Jameer, "The Work
of Day and Night" contains some of the most beautiful prayers in
Islamic devotional literature, and Suyuti has provided guidance for
nearly every situation that one is likely to encounter day-to-day.
In it the reader will find: the prayers said upon awakening, before
eating and when dressing; the acts carried out at various times of
the day and between prayers; and much else. A special section is
dedicated to prayers that are recommended for reading at times of
need due to their widely recognised protective qualities. "The Work
of Day and Night" is invaluable for learning the Sunna of the
Prophet and integrating it into one's life, as Suyuti took great
care to explain precisely how to perform each of the daily
practices in accordance with the example of the Prophet
Muhammad.---It is hoped that this bilingual volume of "The Work of
Day and Night" will enable a wider English-speaking audience to
access one of the treasures of traditional Islamic knowledge and
practice, and that it will provide Muslim readers with a source of
inspiration in everyday life. A selection of the most beautiful and
useful prayers has been transliterated and included in an appendix
so that all worshippers may benefit by reciting them-regardless of
Arabic ability. There is also a glossary of the most important
religious terms.
The Mexica (Aztecs) used a solar calendar made up of eighteen
months, with each month dedicated to a specific god in their
pantheon and celebrated with a different set of rituals.
Panquetzaliztli, the fifteenth month, dedicated to the national god
Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird on the Left), was significant for its
proximity to the winter solstice, and for the fact that it marked
the beginning of the season of warfare. In The Fifteenth Month,
John F. Schwaller offers a detailed look at how the celebrations of
Panquetzaliztli changed over time and what these changes reveal
about the history of the Aztecs. Drawing on a variety of sources,
Schwaller deduces that prior to the rise of the Mexica in 1427, an
earlier version of the month was dedicated to the god Tezcatlipoca
(Smoking Mirror), a war and trickster god. The Mexica shifted the
dedication to their god, developed a series of ceremonies -
including long-distance running and human sacrifice - that would
associate him with the sun, and changed the emphasis of the
celebration from warfare alone to a combination of trade and
warfare, since merchants played a significant role in Mexica
statecraft. Further investigation shows how the resulting festival
commemorated several important moments in Mexica history, how it
came to include ceremonies associated with the winter solstice, and
how it reflected a calendar reform implemented shortly before the
arrival of the Spanish. Focused on one of the most important months
in the Mexica year, Schwaller's work marks a new methodology in
which traditional sources for Mexica culture, rather than being
interrogated for their specific content, are read for their
insights into the historical development of the people. Just as
Christmas re-creates the historic act of the birth of Jesus for
Christians, so, The Fifteenth Month suggests, Panquetzaliztli was a
symbolic re-creation of events from Mexica myths and history.
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Avo Beitekha
(Hardcover)
David Stav, Avraham Stav
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R739
R667
Discovery Miles 6 670
Save R72 (10%)
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• Fresh, accessible, and thought-provoking look at the life and
ministry of Jesus • Each day’s entry includes a Scripture text,
meditation, and questions for journaling and spiritual growth Lent
is a journey of the mind, heart, and spirit from the ashes of
humanity to the cross and beyond—to the empty tomb. The central
figure in that journey is Jesus. But who was he really? Why did he
come and minister among us? How can his teachings enhance our
lives? Why did he die? What does his resurrection really mean?
These are questions that spur believers of all ages to seek a
deeper understanding and appreciation of the Son of Man in their
lives. In this collection of fifty-two meditations and additional
resources for spiritual growth, Peter Wallace guides readers
through the life and ministry, the words and works of Jesus, with
the goal of getting to know him in fresh new ways that encourage a
stronger faith and a spirited engagement with the world around us.
Central to both biblical narrative and rabbinic commentary,
circumcision has remained a defining rite of Jewish identity, a
symbol so powerful that challenges to it have always been
considered taboo. Lawrence Hoffman seeks to find out why
circumcision holds such an important place in the Jewish psyche. He
traces the symbolism of circumcision through Jewish history,
examining its evolution as a symbol of the covenant in the
post-exilic period of the Bible and its subsequent meaning in the
formative era of Mishnah and Talmud. In the rabbinic system,
Hoffman argues, circumcision was neither a birth ritual nor the
beginning of the human life cycle, but a rite of covenantal
initiation into a male "life line." Although the evolution of the
rite was shaped by rabbinic debates with early Christianity, the
Rabbis shared with the church a view of blood as providing
salvation. Hoffman examines the particular significance of
circumcision blood, which, in addition to its salvific role,
contrasted with menstrual blood to symbolize the gender dichotomy
within the rabbinic system. His analysis of the Rabbis' views of
circumcision and menstrual blood sheds light on the marginalization
of women in rabbinic law. Differentiating official mores about
gender from actual practice, Hoffman surveys women's spirituality
within rabbinic society and examines the roles mothers played in
their sons' circumcisions until the medieval period, when they were
finally excluded.
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On Repentance
(Hardcover)
Joseph B. Soloveitchik
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R585
R524
Discovery Miles 5 240
Save R61 (10%)
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Each year, in a solemn Sunni Muslim feast, the Ait Mazine of
northern Morocco reenact the story of Abraham as a ritual
sacrifice, a symbolic observance of submission to the divine. After
comes a bacchanalian masquerade which seems to violate every
principle the sacrifice affirmed. Costumed men sing and dance and
torment villagers, their wild activities centering around a mute
figure sewn into the skins of sacrificed animals. This character is
attended by several others who keep up a constant patter that mocks
the social order, especially marriage, women, older men, and the
Qu'ran. Because of the apparent contradiction between sacrifice and
masquerade, observers have described the two as entirely separate
events. Abdellah Hammoudi's study reunites them as a single ritual
process within Islamic tradition. Working with metaphors of stage
and play, Hammoudi details the festival from the rituals of makeup
and costume through the final spectacle. Each part of the ceremony
denies and at the same time conjures up the other. The
contradictions inherent in social and religious life are vividly
enacted; sacrifice and masquerade appear.
The endless wars of the seventeenth century took their toll in the
lives of millions of soldiers and crushing taxes. To legitimise
war, Europe s rulers turned to the Church: O God, we praise you ,
Te Deum Laudamus, was sung in the churches of France and Sweden to
celebrate victory in battle. It was a way of thanking God, but also
an opportunity for congregations to learn what had happened -- and
an occasion for festivities. In this book, the historian Anna Maria
Forssberg applies a narrative and ritual perspective to the Te
Deum, looking at specific wars such as the Thirty Years War and at
themes such as peace and enmity. This is a unique, comparative
study of war propaganda in early modern times, and how it defined
the roles of ruler and ruled alike. There were national
differences, but ultimately all war stories were highly selective.
Bloody defeat and uneventful everyday life were glossed over; what
mattered were spectacular victories and royal glory. Yet in the
end, the war stories peddled in both Sweden and France were
profoundly challenged by the crisis of 1709.
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