This book puts together grounded research on the discourses that counter Islamophobic tropes in North America. Dealing with an important and urgent issue of human rights, it explores how public policies, new conceptualizations, and social movements can transform Islamophobia into a positive and healthy discourse. Surprisingly, and apart from selected media studies, empirical investigations about countering xenophobia and hate are rare. The book proposes effective means and mechanisms to help generate debate, dialogue, and discussion concerning policy issues to mitigate Islamophobia. Written in uncomplicated language, this topical book will attract specialist and non-specialist readers interested in the topic of Islamophobia, understanding the roots of Islamophobic hate rhetoric, and how to counter it.

Chinese traditional culture cannot be understood without some familiarity with the I Ching, yet it is one of the most difficult of the worlds ancient classics. Assembled from fragments with many obscure allusions, it was the subject of ingenious, but often conflicting, interpretations over nearly three thousand years. Teaching the II Ching (Book of Changes) offers a comprehensive study at a time when interest in Asian philosophy and the culture of China is on the rise. Still widely read in China, it has become a countercultural classic in the West. Recent scholarship has radically altered our understanding of this foundational work. Geoffrey Redmond and Tze-Ki Hon present an up-to-date survey of recent studies including reconstruction of the early meanings, excavated manuscripts, the New Culture Movement, and the Cultural Revolution. To facilitate introducing the classic to students, the necessary background is provided for university teachers and students, even non-China specialists. The teaching approaches described will foreground the otherness of the classic, yet engage the interests of twenty-first-century students. Rather than dismissing the texts popular association with divination, they explain why this mode of human thought has persisted for millennia. Thus, Redmond and Hon mediate between the two extreme views of the classic: a source of timeless ancient wisdom on the one hand, and a historical curiosity on the other. Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes) makes this important classic accessible to a broad readership, thus providing a crucial service for those interested in China, early civilization, and world religion. Now anyone with a serious interest can understand a text that continues to have a decisive influence on Chinese and world culture three thousand years after its original composition.

An ancient conversation for a modern audience - anyone who has ever asked 'what is the purpose of life? or 'who am I?' will find something in this book. The Bhagavad Gita has been around a long time, but remains little known outside India. This edition sets out to change that. The ancient Gita is a world text dealing with the mysteries of life. At its heart is a conversation between the soul and God. Ranchor Prime's version adopts a non-sectarian approach, making the Gita relevant to those of all religions or none, and emphasising the link between religion and self-development. It is distinguished by its easy accessibility. His section-by-section commentary opens the text to the spiritual seeker. He never loses sight of the audience for his book, and that he wants his readers to understand the Gita in a personal way.

For centuries, Jews have been known as the "people of the book." It is commonly thought that Judaism in the first several centuries CE found meaning exclusively in textual sources. But there is another approach to meaning to be found in ancient Judaism, one that sees it in the natural world and derives it from visual clues rather than textual ones. According to this conception, God embedded hidden signs in the world that could be read by human beings and interpreted according to complex systems. In exploring the diverse functions of signs outside of the realm of the written word, Swartz introduces unfamiliar sources and motifs from the formative age of Judaism, including magical and divination texts and new interpretations of legends and midrashim from classical rabbinic literature. He shows us how ancient Jews perceived these signs and read them, elaborating on their use of divination, symbolic interpretation of physical features and dress, and interpretations of historical events. As we learn how these ancient people read the world, we begin to see how ancient people found meaning in unexpected ways.

This is an insightful guide to the history, development and beliefs of this ancient religion, and its continuation as a lived religion today. The history of the development of Zoroastrianism spans over 3000 years, beginning in prehistory as an oral tradition, with roots in a common Indo-Iranian mythology. It then became established as part of an imperial Iranian ideology within an Ancient Near Eastern setting, and eventually emerged in variant forms in Iran, Central Asia and India in late antiquity. Zoroastrianism continues as a living faith for an estimated 150,000 adherents in the world today. Most Zoroastrians, if asked the question, 'In a nutshell, what do Zoroastrians believe?' would begin their answer with 'Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds'. "Zoroastrianism: A Guide for the Perplexed" takes this foundational trifold ethic to form the framework for discussing the ideological complexities and ethical underpinning of the religion; the current discussion concerning text and 'author'; and, the practical outworking and historical impact of the religion. "Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed" are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging - or indeed downright bewildering. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material.

The Statue of Liberty holds a special place in the hearts of Americans, the people of France, and freedom lovers throughout the world. But up until now, the full story behind its origins has not been told.

Author Richard N. Rhoades peels back the mystery surrounding the icon, explaining how French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi looked to a Roman goddess to serve as the model for the statue. On Oct. 28, 1886, at the unveiling ceremony, President Grover Cleveland praised Bartholdi's goddess statue as "greater than all that have been celebrated in ancient song."

But Rhoades goes beyond the historical data and examines the statue's pagan origins by analyzing Scripture. He establishes that the most revealing chroniclers of the Statue of Liberty were the Hebrew prophets who predicted the building and setting of an image of the Great Goddess of the ancient world on her own pedestal in a latter day country codenamed "the land of Shinar."

Discover the real origins of the Statue of Liberty, its adoption by the American people as a national icon and its historical and biblical signifi cance in "Lady Liberty: The Ancient Goddess of America."

This book is the first of two volumes that aim to produce something not previously attempted: a synthetic history of Muslim responses to the Bible, stretching from the rise of Islam to the present day. It combines scholarship with a genuine narrative, so as to tell the story of Muslim engagement with the Bible. Covering Sunni, Imami Shi'i and Isma'ili perspectives, this study will offer a scholarly overview of three areas of Muslim response, namely ideas of corruption, use of the Biblical text, and abrogation of the text. For each period of history, the important figures and dominant trends, along with exceptions, are identified. The interplay between using and criticising the Bible is explored, as well as how the respective emphasis on these two approaches rises and falls in different periods and locations. The study critically engages with existing scholarship, scrutinizing received views on the subject, and shedding light on an important area of interfaith concern.