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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious institutions & organizations
No Future Without Forgiveness is a quintessentially humane account
of an extraordinary life. Desmond Tutu describes his childhood and
coming of age in the apartheid era in South Africa. He examines his
reactions on being able to vote for the first time at the age of 62
- and on Nelson Mandela's election, also his feelings on being
Archbishop of Cape Town and his award of the Nobel Peace Prize in
1984. No Future Without Forgiveness is also his fascinating
experience as head of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation
Commission. The latter was a pioneering international experiment to
expose many of the worst atrocities committed under apartheid, and
to rehabilitate the dignity of its victims. Tutu draws important
parallels between the Commissioners' approach to the situation in
South Africa with other areas of conflict such as Northern Ireland,
the Middle East, Rwanda and the Balkans.
In life we have moments in time in which we have an opportunity
before us to make a change or to respond to a situation. According
to Michael Lindsay, president of Gordon College, what follows these
instances will depend intrinsically on the decisions we make and
the actions we take. These are what he calls "hinge
moments"-opportunities to open (or close) doors to various pathways
of our lives. Lindsay maintains that getting these moments right
can change our lives for the better, and getting them wrong can
pose problems for years to come: "Some transitions have a
disproportionate impact on our happiness, our contribution to
society, and our family's well-being." In these pages Lindsay
shares faith-based stories of success and failure from his ten-year
study of 550 PLATINUM leaders. He has charted seven phases of
transition, providing both practical and spiritual insights for
making the most of each stage. In uncertain and tumultuous times,
there is no better advantage than wisdom gained early.
Change is an essential part of life. How we meet that change is
where it can get interesting. When a person goes through a
conversion experience, there is an automatic assumption that they
have it all figured out immediately, and they know exactly what God
wants them to do. This is not the case. We only have to look at St.
Paul. While his conversion was dramatic, Paul tells us in his
letters that he had to spend considerable time in the wilderness
pondering what had happened to him, and figuring out what exactly
God wanted him to do. The same is true of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
St. Ignatius had a dramatic conversion which shattered not only his
leg but all his previous dreams and aspirations. Such a change was
not easy to get his head around, and he was forced to enter into
his own period in the wilderness. This time of reflection not only
brought him closer to God, but it also gave him a greater insight
into himself. In this booklet, you will be able to witness the
transformation which took place in the life of Ignatius from a
vainglorious young man obsessed with his own success, to one who
put the service of God and other people before anything else. This
transformation, while dramatic, was not immediate. It took time and
reflection and took him across various locations. In all of his
travels, Ignatius was focused on one thing, what was God calling
him to do? Ignatius conversion will allow the reader to get a
perspective on how Ignatius faced the challenges which transformed
his life, and hopefully, the reader may be able to make time in
their own life to explore things which brought about changes in
their life and see how God was operating within this change.
In Western popular imagination, the Caliphate often conjures up an
array of negative images, while rallies organised in support of
resurrecting the Caliphate are treated with a mixture of
apprehension and disdain, as if they were the first steps towards
usurping democracy. Yet these images and perceptions have little to
do with reality. While some Muslims may be nostalgic for the
Caliphate, only very few today seek to make that dream come true.
Yet the Caliphate can be evoked as a powerful rallying call and a
symbol that draws on an imagined past and longing for reproducing
or emulating it as an ideal Islamic polity. The Caliphate today is
a contested concept among many actors in the Muslim world, Europe
and beyond, the reinvention and imagining of which may appear
puzzling to most of us. Demystifying the Caliphate sheds light on
both the historical debates following the demise of the last
Ottoman Caliphate and controversies surrounding recent calls to
resurrect it, transcending alarmist agendas to answer fundamental
questions about why the memory of the Caliphate lingers on among
diverse Muslims. From London to the Caucasus, to Jakarta, Istanbul,
and Baghdad, the contributors explore the concept of the Caliphate
and the re-imagining of the Muslim ummah as a diverse multi-ethnic
community.
Much has changed for the priests at the Minakshi Temple, one of
the most famous Hindu temples in India. In "The Renewal of the
Priesthood," C. J. Fuller traces their improving fortunes over the
past 25 years. This fluidly written book is unique in showing that
traditionalism and modernity are actually reinforcing each other
among these priests, a process in which the state has played a
crucial role.
Since the mid-1980s, growing urban affluence has seen more
people spend more money on rituals in the Minakshi Temple, which is
in the southern city of Madurai. The priests have thus become
better-off, and some have also found new earnings opportunities in
temples as far away as America. During the same period, due partly
to growing Hindu nationalism in India, the Tamilnadu state
government's religious policies have become more favorable toward
Hinduism and Brahman temple priests. More priests' sons now study
in religious schools where they learn authoritative Sanskrit ritual
texts by heart, and overall educational standards have markedly
improved.
Fuller shows that the priests have become more "professional"
and modern-minded while also insisting on the legitimacy of
tradition. He concludes by critiquing the analysis of modernity and
tradition in social science. In showing how the priests are
authentic representatives of modern India, this book tells a story
whose significance extends far beyond the confines of the Minakshi
Temple itself.
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