Because Crack is Illegal takes a unique and witty approach to daily devotionals for mothers in every stage of life. For 30 days mothers are encouraged through personal, transparent and comical stories of trial; some bargaining and victory. Each day the reader is challenged to learn, grow, and laugh through reflection and daily application of scripture.

Storied Selves focuses on feminist Witches and their constructions of identities through the use of opposition and speculation as technologies of identity, particularly (post)colonial, maternal, and holistic identities. Through these identity formations, feminist Witches are invested in changing consciousness to create a just and sustainable world-an act which is fundamental to their practices of magic. Looking at three novels-Barbara Walker's Amazon, Cynthia Lamb's Brigid's Charge, and Starhawk's The Fifth Sacred Thing-Klassen asks three questions: how are technologies of identity deployed; where are feminist Witches most successful in promoting and/or creating models for a just and sustainable world; where and how can feminist Witches push these technologies of identity even further to create continuing oppositional and speculative identities which could lead to a just and sustainable world?

God's Word is food for the hungry spirit that invigorates a believer with God's abundant life! That's why Proverbs 4:21 instructs us to keep God's words in the midst of our heart, and to give Him first place every day of our lives.

Faith Food will help you satisfy your hunger for God's bread of life. This bite-size devotional is Kenneth E. Hagin's own delectable blend of inspiring morsels that will empower your life daily as you dine on God's Word.

Power-packed studies for daily living include:
-- Covenant Blessing
-- Led by the Spirit
-- Zoe
-- Giving Thanks Well
-- The Prodigal
-- Heart vs. Head
-- Taking Your Place
-- Fruit of the Mouth

So start feeding your faith with this nourishing collection from one of the Church's most seasoned leaders -- every day of the year!

Techniques explained by the masters—for today's spiritual seeker Meditation is designed to give you direct access to the spiritual. Whether it’s through deep breathing during a busy day, listening to the quiet after turning off the car radio, chanting in prayer or ten minutes of visualization exercises each morning, meditation takes many forms. But it is always a personal method of centering our spiritual self. Meditation has long been practiced in the Jewish community as a powerful tool to transcend words, personality and ego and to directly experience the divine. Inspiring yet practical, this introduction to meditation from a Jewish perspective approaches it in a new and illuminating way: As it is personally practiced by today’s most experienced Jewish meditators from around the world. A "how to" guide for both beginning and experienced meditators, Meditation from the Heart of Judaism will help you start meditating or help you enhance your practice. Meditation is a Jewish spiritual resource for today that can benefit people of all faiths and backgrounds—and help us add spiritual energy to our lives. Contributors include: Sylvia Boorstein • Alan Brill • Andrea Cohen-Keiner • David Cooper • Avram Davis • Nan Fink • Steve Fisdel • Shefa Gold • Lynn Gottleib • Edward Hoffman • Lawrence Kushner • Alan Lew • Shaul Magid • Daniel C. Matt • Jonathan Omer-Man • Mindy Ribner • Susie Schneider • Rami M. Shapiro • Shohama Wiener • Sheila Peltz Weinberg • Laibl Wolf • David Zeller

Bringing together texts from a variety of sectarian traditions, this reader provides the broadest selection of primary source Hindu literature available to date. The volume is divided into two major parts. The first section presents selections that explore major themes in classical Sanskrit traditions, including those in the Vedic, Upanisadic, and Dharma literatures, as well as the classical philosophical-religious schools. The second part includes selections that highlight the sectarian and devotional movements related to major deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, Rama, Sant, Tantra, and the goddess figures. In addition to a general introductory chapter on Indian literature, each major section is introduced by an essay that places the selections within the context of Hindu history. This comprehensive reader stands on its own as an indispensable anthology of original textual sources for courses in Hinduism, while also serving as a companion volume to the text The Many Colors of Hinduism: A Thematic-Historical Introduction.

Abigail Dodds invites readers to ponder and celebrate God's spiritual and physical provision in Christ through the hands-on art of bread making.

Missy Buchanan candidly shares both the heartaches elderly adults face and the hope they can find as they navigate the process of aging.

A classic title now republished, this reference work is devoted to matters of worship. It does not limit itself to any specific period, but covers all the Christian centuries. Nor is it devoted to one Church only, but attempts to be truly ecumenical. This lexicon contains over 800 entries, ranging from simple definitions to full-length articles tracing the history of the object or practice described. The entries selected are those that the student of liturgy is likely to encounter most frequently. Bibliographical references are given for the main items and a special feature where a liturgical document is concerned, is the listing of original texts and, when available, of translations together with critical studies if there are any directly bearing upon the subject. Cross-references are indicated by an asterisk. This book is an indispensable tool for all students of worship and indeed anyone interested in the history and practice of Christian liturgy.

Reincarnation in America: An Esoteric History surveys the complex history of reincarnation theories across multiple fields of discourse in a pre-American context, ranging from early Greek traditions to Medieval Christian theories, Renaissance esotericism, and European Kabbalah, all of which had adherents that brought those theories to America. Rebirth theories are shown in all these groups to be highly complex and often disjunctive with mainstream religions even though members of conventional religions frequently affirm the possibility of rebirth. As a history of an idea, reincarnation theory is a current, vital belief pattern that cuts across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, and scientific domains in a long, complex history not reducible to any specific religious or theoretical explanation. This book is cross-disciplinary and multicultural, linking religious studies perspectives with science based research; it draws upon many distinct disciplines and avoids reduction of reincarnation to any specific theory. The underlying thesis is to demonstrate the complexity of reincarnation theories; what is unique is the historical overview and the gradual shift away from religious theories of rebirth to new theories that are therapeutic and trans-traditional.

The Mystical Theology of the Catholic Reformation is a conspectus of the intellectual achievement of the Age of the Baroque, the period between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The Baroque was one of the most fertile periods for art, science, theology, and mysticism in Catholic history. Despite extensive scholarship on specific achievements and pivotal thinkers of this age, there is no single work that views these events and thinkers in the context of the whole Baroque period. The Mystical Theology of the Catholic Reformation offers a comprehensive overview and panorama of the Baroque achievement in Scholastic philosophy, systematics, positive theology, scriptural exegesis, and sacred oratory. The principal theme focuses on the spirituality of the religious orders (with special attention on their Baroque representatives), in particular to the major orders of the Baroque age the Jesuits, Oratorians, and Carmelites."

In fast-food society we long for quick fixes and easy answers. But no worthwhile goal is easily reached, and a deep spiritual life is not created in a week or two. It takes perseverance over the long haul to finish well. "The Finishing Touch" encourages you to keep on keeping on to reach your goals and reap the harvest of a life worth living.

Charles Swindoll challenges today's I'm-getting-tired-so-let's-just-quit mentality. He says, "Dieting is a discipline, so we stay fat. Finishing school is a hassle, so we bail out. Cultivating a close relationship is painful, so we back off. Working through conflicts in a marriage is a tiring struggle, so we walk away. Sticking with an occupation is tough, so we change jobs. . . . what we don't hear about is finishing well. About sticking with something until it is done."

God wants to touch us and be our strength in the struggle. He wants us to finish what we started and complete the course. "The Finishing Touch "takes you through every day of a year, introducing you to God's touches of grace, joy, and love. As a sculptor applies himself to the marble, and keeps chipping and cutting away to reveal the masterpiece within, so the Master Artist wants to use our trials, hard times, and day-to-day struggles to chip away at our faults and to help us discover the potential treasures within us.

Daily devotionals for fifty-two weeks help you discover gut-level authenticity, hope in the midst of despair, courage in the face of fear, the light of faith in the shadows of doubt, and peace in the midst of stress. Learn how God's touch on your life enables you to run the race to the finish―to the honor and glory of the Master who has called you to be more than you think you can be.

Catholic Social Thought presents detailed commentary and response to the Vatican's 2005 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, with contributions from outstanding American scholars. Addressing theology, social theory, the family, economy, government, labor, global society, gender, peace, and the environment, the various authors explore the core theology, explain the Compendium's themes and arguments, and apply their own intellectual powers to applications of its teachings. Some of the essays are largely expository, some more critical (in both positive and negative senses). Some operate from a standard of magisterial assent in conformity with Ad Tuendam Fidam, others do not. Together, the essays represent the range of Catholic thinking on social issues in the American Church today.

Faith Negotiating Loyalties draws readers into the world of Christian faith in South Africa and the question of loyalties in the new post-apartheid state. It carries out its investigation in two parts. Part one examines Christian faith and loyalty during the first nation-building exercise following the South African War, positioning the creation and contestation of three Christianities corresponding to three nationalisms, each of which imagined South Africa in a particular way, shaping faith accordingly. The idea of an undifferentiated South African Christianity gives way to contesting and contested Christianities, nationalism gives way to nationalisms, and faith emerges in tension with and in criticism of these loyalties. Part two discusses the American theologian H. Richard Niebuhr in South Africa. Three kinds of faith in his wittings are set forth: social faith, radial faith, and reconstructing faith. Contextualized within the South African story, Niebuhr's ideas suggest self and society as constituted by hybridities and suspended in a web of loyalties. Faith Negotiating Loyalties suggests the message for faith in a post-apartheid South Africa is the importance of negotiating covenants which allow for crossings, hybridities, and contestations.

Estas a punto de embarcarte en un viaje de descubrimiento. A lo largo de estas seis nuevas sesiones, basadas en estudios impartidos por Rick Warren, vas a descubrir la respuesta a la pregunta fundamental de la vida: ' Para que estoy aqui en la tierra?'. Y esta es una pista de la respuesta: 'No se trata de ti... Fuiste creado por Dios y para Dios, y hasta que lo entiendas, tu vida no tendra ningun sentido. Solo en el encontramos nuestro origen, nuestra identidad, nuestro sentido, nuestro proposito, nuestro significado y nuestro destino. Cualquier otra ruta termina en un callejon sin salida'."

In third-century CE Palestine, the leading member of the rabbinic movement put together a highly popular wisdom treatise entitled Tractate Avot. Though Avot has inspired hundreds of commentaries, this book marks the first comprehensive effort to situate Avot within the context of the Graeco-Roman Near East. Following his novel interpretation of Avot, Amram Tropper relates the text to ancient Jewish literary paradigms as well as to relevant socio-political, literary, and intellectual streams of the contemporary Near East. Through comparisons to ancient wisdom literature, the Second Sophistic, Greek and Christian historiography, contemporary collections of sayings, and classical Roman jurisprudence, Tropper interprets Avot in light of the local Jewish context as well as the ambient cultural atmosphere of the contemporary Near East.