Everything the engaged couple needs to know about the Jewish marriage ceremony. Welcome new couples into Jewish life and your congregation. Selecting a date and location for the wedding What is a ketubah? A huppah? A step-by-step guide to a Jewish wedding Life as Jewish newlyweds The perfect gift for the soon-to-be-wed couple.

Newly updated Episcopal liturgies for every season. The Book of Occasional Services 2022 contains authorized liturgies for numerous occasions, including seasonal blessings, lessons and carols for Christmas and Advent, tenebrae, blessing of animals, preparation for baptism, planting of churches, setting apart for a religious vocation, and more. This new edition features additional liturgical materials authorized by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2022, such as a liturgy for quinceaneras and revised liturgies for the founding of a church and reaffirmation of ordination vows.

Sarah Shawa (TM)s lively introduction to Buddhist meditation offers students and practitioners alike a deeper understanding of what meditation is, and its purpose and place in the context of different Buddhist schools. She describes the historical background to the geographical spread of Buddhism, and examines the way in which some meditative practices developed as this process occurred. Other chapters cover basic meditative practice, types of meditation, meditation in different regions, meditation and doctrine, and the role of chanting within meditation.

Although not a practical guide, An Introduction to Buddhist Meditation outlines the procedures associated with Buddhist practices and suggests appropriate activities, useful both for students and interested Buddhists. Vivid quotations from Buddhist texts and carefully selected photographs and diagrams help the reader engage fully with this fascinating subject.

"Personalist Bioethics" calls us to reflect on the intimate meaning of human existence and the social environment, going beyond any specific religious perspective and invoking human reason. It advances a metaphysics that is rationally grounded in philosophical anthropology and has a broad range of ethical applications for professors of bioethics, members of ethics committees, bioethics students, and those interested in the field in general, whether in medicine, law, or philosophy. Readers will find a presentation and discussion of the basic contours of personalist bioethics, comparisons of personalism with other philosophical positions, and ethical investigations of particular topics, ranging from genetic engineering to euthanasia. Translated by John A. Di Camillo and Michael J. Miller.

With its five thematic sections covering genres from cantorial to classical to klezmer, this pioneering multi-disciplinary volume presents rich coverage of the work of musicians of Jewish origin in the Polish lands. It opens with the musical consequences of developments in Jewish religious practice: the spread of hasidism in the eighteenth century meant that popular melodies replaced traditional cantorial music, while the greater acculturation of Jews in the nineteenth century brought with it synagogue choirs. Jewish involvement in popular culture included performances for the wider public, Yiddish songs and the Yiddish theatre, and contributions of many different sorts---technical and commercial as well as creative---in the interwar years. Chapters on the classical music scene cover Jewish musical institutions, organizations, and education; individual composers and musicians; and a consideration of music and Jewish national identity. One section is devoted to the Holocaust as reflected in Jewish music, and the final section deals with the afterlife of Jewish musical creativity in Poland, particularly the resurgence of interest in klezmer music. The essays in this collection do not attempt to to define what may well be undefinable---what 'Jewish music' is. Rather, they provide an original and much-needed exploration of the activities and creativity of 'musicians of the Jewish faith'. CONTRIBUTORS: Eliyana R. Adler, Michael Aylward, Slawomir Dobrzanski, Paula Eisenstein-Baker, Beth Holmgren, Sylwia Jakubczyk-Sleczka, Daniel Katz, James Loeffler, Michael Lukin, Filip Mazurczak, Bozena Muszkalska, Julia Riegel, Ronald Robboy, Robert Rothstein, Joel E. Rubin, Adam J. Sacks, Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel, Eleanor Shapiro, Carla Shapreau, Tamara Sztyma, Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota, Joseph Toltz, Maja Trochimczyk, Magdalena Waligorska, Bret Werb, Akiva Zimmerman

Sumit K. Mandal uncovers the hybridity and transregional connections underlying modern Asian identities. By considering Arabs in the Malay world under European rule, Becoming Arab explores how a long history of inter-Asian interaction was altered by nineteenth-century racial categorisation and control. Mandal traces the transformation of Arabs from familiar and multi-faceted creole personages of Malay courts into alienated figures defined by economic and political function. The racialisation constrained but did not eliminate the fluid character of Arabness. Creole Arabs responded to the constraints by initiating transregional links with the Ottoman Empire and establishing modern social organisations, schools, and a press. Contentions emerged between organisations respectively based on Prophetic descent and egalitarianism, advancing empowering but conflicting representations of a modern Arab and Islamic identity. Mandal unsettles finite understandings of race and identity by demonstrating not only the incremental development of a modern identity, but the contested state of its birth.

Sumit K. Mandal uncovers the hybridity and transregional connections underlying modern Asian identities. By considering Arabs in the Malay world under European rule, Becoming Arab explores how a long history of inter-Asian interaction was altered by nineteenth-century racial categorisation and control. Mandal traces the transformation of Arabs from familiar and multi-faceted creole personages of Malay courts into alienated figures defined by economic and political function. The racialisation constrained but did not eliminate the fluid character of Arabness. Creole Arabs responded to the constraints by initiating transregional links with the Ottoman Empire and establishing modern social organisations, schools, and a press. Contentions emerged between organisations respectively based on Prophetic descent and egalitarianism, advancing empowering but conflicting representations of a modern Arab and Islamic identity. Mandal unsettles finite understandings of race and identity by demonstrating not only the incremental development of a modern identity, but the contested state of its birth.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame contains one of the largest collections of late nineteenth-century French stained glass outside of France. The French Gothic-inspired church has forty-four large stained glass windows containing two hundred and twenty scenes. Today, more than 100,000 visitors tour the basilica each year to admire its architecture. This informative guidebook tells the unique story of the windows: the improbable creation of a glassworks by cloistered Carmelite nuns in LeMans, France, and their stained glass that so perfectly illuminated the late-nineteenth-century French Catholic spirituality of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Stories in Light describes the windows according to their location in the building, from the narthex at the entrance to the Lady Chapel behind the altar. Full-color photographs, accompanied by commentary on the historical and theological importance of the glass and the iconography of the saints, provide a detailed view of the scenes found in each window. Stories in Light is an easy-to-read book written for all who visit the basilica and for readers everywhere who want to know more about the rich history and heritage of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart's stained glass.

New features of the revised LifeGuides include special options for group activities, additional questions for personal reflection, a "Now or Later" section with practical follow-up activities for use after the study or between sessions, expanded and improved leaders' notes and an attractive, redesigned format for easier reading.

Beginning with the new guides Miracles and Pleasing God (released in February 1999), all new LifeGuides will be presented in the new format. In addition more existing volumes will be revised every year to ensure that all our LifeGuides continue to be effective Bible study resources for the twenty-first century.

A permissive society, a power-hungry people, a nation without God. Daniel's situation in Babylon sounds quite a bit like our own. In the midst of such forces, how can we remain loyal to biblical values? How can we have a positive impact on those around us? Daniel gives us very practical and personal help.

Human sexuality is a very important subject, especially in a cultural context such as ours, in which social and work transformations offer behavioral models that are characterized by a remarkable sexual indeterminacy. In Transcending Gender Ideology, Antonio Malo tries to rethink sexuality with equilibrium and intellectual rigor, using a philosophical approach, since sexuality does not only affect biological aspects or social conditioning, but above all the same essence of the relationship between man and woman. Malo's reflections begin with the historical evolution of the concept of sexuality: the naturalistic conception, which sees the difference between man and woman as something biological and absolute, and the postmodern conception, which criticizes it by judging human sexuality as a socio-cultural construction or gender. According to Malo, the limitation of the gender approach is to deny the relationship of human sexuality to the body and to the differences between man and woman. In fact, by rejecting these aspects, they end up sustaining a limitless creativity of freedom, which transforms the body into something that is used at will, and relationships as something fluid. Faced with these extremes, Malo proposes a vision of sexuality as a personal condition or sexed condition, received at the time of birth, but which develops, grows and matures through family models, experiences and relationships. Even if based on an original sexual difference, sexed condition covers many other aspects: physical, psychological, social and cultural, as well as behavioral patterns and, above all, the personal integration of sexuality through the gift of oneself in marriage or in celibacy.

A New York Times bestseller! From the author of The Traveler's Gift comes a story of common wisdom based on the remarkable true story of "Jones," a mysterious old man who has a knack for showing up in people's lives at just the right time, providing priceless lessons about love, life, and the importance of perspective. Orange Beach, Alabama, is a simple town filled with simple people. But like all humans on the planet, the good folks of Orange Beach have their share of problems-marriages teetering on the brink of divorce, young adults giving up on life, businesspeople on the verge of bankruptcy, as well as the many other obstacles that life seems to dish out to the masses. These situations can seem like dead ends, but to an old drifter named Jones with a gift for seeing what others miss, there is no such thing as a dead end. It only takes a little "perspective," he says, to recognize the miracles in our moments, the seeds of greatness tucked into our struggles. Appearing when things look darkest, the mysterious, elderly man with white hair carrying a battered old suitcase shows up when he's needed most. "Your time on this earth is a gift to be used wisely," he says. "Don't squander your words or your thoughts. Consider even the simplest action you take, for your lives matter beyond measure...and they matter forever." The Noticer will provide you with: A better understanding of life's challenges and proper perspective for tackling them Practical yet powerful methods of motivation, encouragement, and resolve for those struggling A fresh and insightful perspective on how people can change their view of the world, find strength, and move beyond their problems Based on a remarkable true story, The Noticer beautifully blends fiction and allegory in an entertaining and inspiring instruction manual for better living. The story of Jones continues in The Noticer Returns and Just Jones.

Drawing upon the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, a philosophical-spiritual world classic, this professional book highlights the spiritual and moral dimensions of management using an inside-out leadership development approach. It interprets the Bhagavad Gita's teachings on the personality types and psychological makeup of managers and employees; self-knowledge and self-mastery; and the leadership concepts of vision, motivation, and empowerment. This book covers topics such as training of the mind, ethical leadership, communication, stress management, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Collectively, the enclosed contributions provide managers with an enhanced outlook on management functions such as leading, planning, organizing, and controlling in today's organizations, particularly those run by knowledge workers. Management research in the 20th century has mainly focused on the industrial paradigm characterized by a hierarchical structure of authority and responsibility with an individualistic focus on the personality of the manager. However, this traditional paradigm cannot solve many of the problems that confront leaders and mangers today. Recent studies have shown that values traditionally associated with spirituality-such as integrity, honesty, trust, kindness, caring, fairness, and humility-have a demonstrable effect on managerial effectiveness and success. Although traditionally interpreted as a religious-spiritual text, the Bhagavad Gita teaches these values which can be extrapolated and applied to practical management lessons in today's corporate boardrooms. Applying the text of the Bhagavad Gita to the context of management, this book views the manager as an "enlightened sage" who operates from higher stance, guided by self-knowledge and self-mastery. It demonstrates how character is the key ingredient for effective management and leadership. This book is therefore applicable to all managers, from first-line to CEOs, in their management and leadership roles in organizations.

Samira Haj conceptualizes Islam through a close reading of two Muslim reformers--Muhammad ibn 'Abdul Wahhab (1703-1787) and Muhammad 'Abduh (1849-1905)--each representative of a distinct trend, chronological as well as philosophical, in modern Islam. Their works are examined primarily through the prism of two conceptual questions: the idea of the modern and the formation of a Muslim subject. Approaching Islam through the works of these two Muslims, she illuminates aspects of Islamic modernity that have been obscured and problematizes assumptions founded on the oppositional dichotomies of modern/traditional, secular/sacred, and liberal/fundamentalist. The book explores the notions of the community-society and the subject's location within it to demonstrate how Muslims in different historical contexts responded differently to theological and practical questions. This knowledge will help us better understand the conflicts currently unfolding in parts of the Arab world.

A spiritual companion for those grieving infertility, pregnancy loss, or stillbirth, bringing solace from Jewish tradition. "This book begins where the others leave off. While the doctors do what they must do, when it is time for us to wait, or hope, or cry, or sleep, or pray, it is time for this book. The passages found within are drawn from the rich pool of spiritual responses that Judaism possesses. They reach out to us and embolden us to join our voices to the ancient prayers designed to get us through the night." from the Introduction Enables those frustrated and pained in their attempts at parenthood to mourn the loss of a pregnancy or infertility through the prayers, rituals, and meditations of the Jewish tradition. This new edition updated and expanded includes guided questions and pages on which to add personal reflections of your own emotions and experiences along the path toward parenting."

In this classic work, Abdelwahab Bouhdiba asserts that Islam is a lyrical view of life in which sexuality enjoys a privileged status. Drawing on both Arabic and Western sources and seeking to integrate the religious and the sexual, Bouhdiba describes the place of sexuality in the traditional Islamic view of the world and examines whether a harmony of sexuality and religious faith is achieved in practice. Beginning with the Quran, Bouhdiba confronts the question of male supremacy in Islam and the strict separation of the masculine and the feminine. He considers purification practices; Islamic attitudes towards homosexuality, concubinage and legal marriage; and sexual taboos laid down by the Quran. Bouhdiba assesses contemporary sexual practice, including eroticism, misogyny and mysticism, and concludes that the ideal Islamic model of sexuality has been debased.

Baby You Are My Religion argues that American butch-femme bar culture of the mid-20th Century should be interpreted as a sacred space for its community. Before Stonewall when homosexuals were still deemed mentally ill, these bars were the only place where many could have any community at all. Baby You Are My Religion explores this community as a site of a lived corporeal theology and political space. It reveals that religious institutions such as the Metropolitan Community Church were founded in such bars, that traditional and non-traditional religious activities took place there, and that religious ceremonies such as marriage were often conducted within the bars by staff. Baby You Are My Religion examines how these bars became not only ecclesiastical sites but also provided the fertile ground for the birth of the struggle for gay and lesbian civil rights. Based on over 100 new primary interviews.

In The Jewish Dietary Laws in the Ancient World Jordan D. Rosenblum explores how cultures critique and defend their religious food practices. In particular he focuses on how ancient Jews defended the kosher laws, or kashrut, and how ancient Greeks, Romans, and early Christians critiqued these practices. As the kosher laws are first encountered in the Hebrew Bible, this study is rooted in ancient biblical interpretation. It explores how commentators in antiquity understood, applied, altered, innovated upon, and contemporized biblical dietary regulations. He shows that these differing interpretations do not exist within a vacuum; rather, they are informed by a variety of motives, including theological, moral, political, social, and financial considerations. In analyzing these ancient conversations about culture and cuisine, he dissects three rhetorical strategies deployed when justifying various interpretations of ancient Jewish dietary regulations: reason, revelation, and allegory. Finally, Rosenblum reflects upon wider, contemporary debates about food ethics.

Now with 250K copies in print! Revised and Updated Edition. Anne affirms that Heaven truly is the home of your dreams: a home of lasting value that's fully paid for and filled with family, where you will be wanted and welcomed. Best of all, Heaven is a home you are invited to claim as your own. With over 40 percent new and revised content, Anne Graham Lotz has updated her classic book on Heaven for a whole new generation of readers, and also for herself. With her father, mother, and husband now gone, Lotz beautifully adds her own vulnerability and stories to the journey contained in Heaven: My Father's House. Jesus promised us, "In My Father's house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you." Amid the turbulence of today's world, we cling to the hope of a heavenly home where we will be welcomed into eternal peace and safety. Anne affirms that Heaven truly is the home of your dreams: a home of lasting value that's fully paid for and filled with family, where you will be wanted and welcomed. Best of all, Heaven is a home you are invited to claim as your own.

In the wide range of Buddhist meditation and spirituality a very special place is held by the practice of calling on the name of Amitabha, or in Japanese Amida Buddha, using the simplest of formulas, the nenbutsu. Japanese masters such as Honen, Shinran and others made this the core of a profound spiritual experience which has fascinated numberless followers ever since. The deeper meaning of the nenbutsu has therefore become a major topic in Buddhist thought which has been reflected on by various thinkers and teachers to this day, especially in the context of Shin Buddhism. In this book, which draws on classic articles first published in The Eastern Buddhist, major historic proponents and masters of the nenbutsu are introduced, in particular Shinran, Shoku, Ippen and Rennyo. Further contributions, which set the work of these masters into the wider context of Buddhist tradition, are in fact some of the earliest Buddhist voicesA" to emerge from modern Japan into global view. Yet the presentations of writers such as Sasaki Gessho, Yamabe Shugaku and Sugihira Shizutoshi have a freshness and an immediacy which speaks to us today.

There are many misconceptions and concerns regarding Islamic societies and how Muslim countries have failed to come up with their own localised solutions to socio-economic problems in dealing with poverty alleviation and societal development. This book explores why there is so much disconnect between spirituality and enterprise development in the world today, and how a part of the Islamic world, in fact located in Pakistan, can be part of the solution rather than being central to the problem. This book builds upon Ronnie Lessem and Alexander Schieffer's theory of 'integral dynamics' which works through a fourfold rhythm of the GENE. Set against a mono-cultural perspective, the authors highlight the ever-increasing and deepening divide between Western and Islamic cultures. Through the course of the book, the authors use the transformational GENE (Grounding, Emergence, Navigation, Effect) rhythm developed by Lessem and Schieffer to take readers through the 4C (Call, Context, Co-creation and Contribution) process, articulated to CAREing-4-Society. They ground their call in Akhuwat's community of Akhuwateers (donors, beneficiaries, borrowers, volunteers and replicators), to explore alternative models of spiritually based finance through an emerging SOUL-idarity paradigm. Furthermore, through these models and Akhuwat's CARE (Community, Awareness, Research, Embodiment) process, they put forward that encouraging community activism, raising awareness around Islamic practices of Qard-e-Hasan, institutionalising their innovative research, and finally transforming and educating the community, will provide an alternative to microfinance for poverty alleviation. Showcasing an unconventional spiritual-financial solution, deeply immersed in spirituality and infused with local moral values and traditions, this book demonstrates how poverty can be alleviated in countries around the world, specifically, in developing Muslim countries.

This book discusses outcomes of a study by the National Institute of Mental Health, Czech Republic, examining moral integrity in the post-communist Czech-speaking environment. Chapters map the history of the Euro-Atlantic ethical disciplines from moral philosophy and psychology to evolutionary neuroscience and socio-biology. The authors emphasize the biological and social conditionality of ethics and call for greater differentiation of both research and applied psychological standards in today's globalised world. Using a non-European ethical system - Theravada Buddhism - as a case study, the authors explore the differences in English and Czech interpretations of the religion. They analyse cognitive styles and language as central variables in formatting and interpreting moral values, with important consequences for cultural transferability of psychological instruments. This book will appeal to academics and other specialists in psychology, psychiatry, sociology and related fields, as well as to readers interested in the psychology of ethics.