A critical and challenging look at reinventing the synagogue, as the centerpiece of a refashioned Jewish community. "America is undergoing a spiritual revolution: only the fourth religious awakening in its history. I plead, therefore, for an equally spiritual synagogue, knowing that any North American Jewish community that hopes to be around in a hundred years must have religion at its center, with the synagogue, the religious institution that best fits North American culture, at its very core." —from Chapter 1 Synagogues are under attack, and for good reasons. But they remain the religious backbone of Jewish continuity, especially in America, the sole Western industrial or post-industrial nation where religion and spirituality continue to grow in importance. To fulfill their mandate for the American future, synagogues need to replace old and tired conversation with a new way of talking about their goals, their challenges and their vision for the future. In this provocative clarion call for synagogue transformation, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman summarizes a decade of research with Synagogue 2/3000—a pioneering experiment that reconceptualized synagogue life—providing fresh ways for synagogues to think as they undertake the exciting task of global change.

Muhammad b. 'Umar al-Waqidi was a Muslim scholar, born in Medina in the 1st Century. Of his several writings the most significant is the Kitab al-Maghazi, one of the earliest standard histories of the life of the Prophet. Translated into English for the first time, Rizwi Faizer makes available this key text to a new, English-speaking audience. It includes an "Introduction" authored jointly by Rizwi Faizer and Andrew Rippin and a carefully prepared index. The book deals with the events of the Prophet's life from the time of his emigration from Mecca to his death, and is generally considered to be biographical. Bringing together events in the Prophet's life with appropriate passages of Qur'an in a considered sequence, the author presents an interpretation of Islam that existed in his times. It includes citations from the Qur'an, as well as poetry that appears to have been inspired by activities during his life. This English translation of a seminal text on the life of Muhammad is an invaluable addition to the existing literature, and will be of great significance to students and scholars in the field of Islamic studies, Islamic history, Medieval history and Arabic literature.

Ron Geaves demonstrates how the convergence of Prem Rawat, formerly known as Guru Maharaj Ji, and Glastonbury Fayre in 1971 was a key event in understanding the jigsaw that came to be known as 'New Age' spirituality. The book charts the discovery of Prem Rawat in India in 1969 by a small number of British and North American 'hippies', and explores how his arrival in Britain in June 1971, as well as his speech from the pyramid stage at the Fayre at just 13 years old, escalated his activities to make him one of the key influencers of 1970s counterculture spirituality. Both Glastonbury and Prem Rawat have gone on to re-emerge in significantly different identities to the ones presented in 1971. The meeting between the two demonstrates how alternative spiritualities were being formed in the 1960s and how some strands went on to develop into the 'New Age' counterculture that eventually permeated mainstream cultures in Britain and the USA.

The future of America, in many ways, depends upon an understanding of the proper role of religion in our shared life as a republic. Discussions and debates on the topic have too often generated noise, platitudes, stereotypes, name-calling, and the distortion of vitally important issues, instead of constructive conversation among citizens--until now.

Of all the voices commenting about American religion today, none is more credible or better known than that of historian Martin E. Marty. A respected scholar, author, editor, and media commentator, he has-perhaps better than anyone else in the field-a deep grasp on the complex issues surrounding public religion.

This is Volume XII of sixteen of the Oriental series looking at Buddhism. It was written in 1926, and looks at the Life of Gotama the Buddha, a religious teacher and reformer. This work is complied from the Pali Canon of the three Pitakas.

This study portrays a man and an age. Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller (1578-1654), author of the famous Mishnah commentary Tosafot yom tov, was a major talmudist, a disciple of the legendary Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague, and himself the distinguished chief rabbi of Prague and Cracow. The time in which he lived began as a 'golden age' for the Jews of Prague and the Jews of Poland, an age of prosperity and the rise of Jewish mysticism. During Heller's lifetime, however, the golden age changed to darkness, and prosperity gave way to war, persecution, plague, and massacres. It was the end of the Middle Ages, the last generation before Spinoza and Shabbetai Zevi. Scholar, preacher, religious and communal leader, Heller embodied a religious and cultural ideal; he was the very model of a seventeenth-century rabbi. Born in Germany, he moved from one end of the world of Ashkenazi Jewry to the other, first to Prague, and then to Poland and the Ukraine. His life was enmeshed in a web of family ties, and bounded by complex rules of class and religion. His writing reflects not only the full heritage of medieval Jewish thought and its crystallization in the seventeenth century, but also the time and place in which he lived. In many ways, he exemplified his age, its achievements, and its limitations. Carefully researched and well written, Joseph Davis's work is the definitive biography of Heller. He presents a richly detailed study of Heller's worldview, his conception of Judaism, of the world around him, and of himself within it: the seventeenth century seen through seventeenth-century eyes. Heller was eyewitness to momentous, epoch-making events: the beginning of the Thirty Years' War and the massacres of 1648. He lived through a time of tumultuous change. Texts such as the sermon in which Heller responded to the new astronomy of Brahe and Kepler, or a poem on the massacres of 1648 in which he enlarged the capacity of Hebrew poetry to express horror are significant in the larger context of Jewish and European history. Heller's world-view was not static or motionless. His world changed greatly during his lifetime, and his views of it likewise changed greatly over the fifty years from his first writings to his last, from youth to middle age to old age. His personal circumstances also contributed to this: the experience of betrayal, arrest, imprisonment, the death of his children, and other misfortunes led him to wrestle with such questions as the differences between Jews and non-Jews and the meaning of suffering. Davis weaves these developments succinctly into a fascinating narrative that does full justice both to Heller and the momentous events he experienced.

A volume in Advances in Workplace Spirituality: Theory, Research, and Application Series Editor Louis W. (Jody) Fry, Texas A&M University - Central Texas INNER PEACE-GLOBAL IMPACT describes underlying principles of Tibetan wisdom traditions relevant for successful leadership in the 21st century as well as Tibetan teachers whose entrepreneurial actions were critical to the development of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. With first-person narratives, personal stories, scholarly research, and commentaries by noted social scientists, this book is written for everyone who wants ideas to revitalize leadership. It is rich with vivid pictures of deep personal experience. Long-time Western Tibetan Buddhist practitioners describe how their practice has influenced them in fields as diverse as scientific research, social work, art, dance, and university teaching. The Dalai Lama is seen through the eyes of his long-time friend, eminent author Huston Smith, as well as through the experiences of Thupten Jinpa, his 25-year English translator. Sogyal Rinpoche shares his vision for transforming traditional ways of studying, while Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, a 10th generation Tibetan yogi, reflects on the challenges of teaching in a Western culture where perspectives differ so vastly from those of Tibet. With insights from Tibetan lamas and Western thought leaders including Peter Senge, Bill George, and Margaret Wheatley, this book creates new visions for leadership and the workplace.

Intended to be the perfect; companion piece to Stepping Forward, Byachad is a seventy-two page workbook that every synagogue board member should have. One of the signs of a vital congregation is its leadership. This workbook is an attempt to build board consensus about critical governance functions and to create a systematic plan to motivate and support leaders in developing new practices. By focusing on shared congregational goals, leaders will provide the right direction, make the right assessments, and provide the right feedback--building enduring relationships as they do important leadership work.

Muhammad b. OCyUmar al-Waqidi was a Muslim scholar, born in Medina in the 1st Century. Of his several writings the most significant is the Kitab al-Maghazi, one of the earliest standard histories of the life of the Prophet.

Translated into English for the first time, Rizwi Faizer makes available this key text to a new, English-speaking audience. It includes an Introduction authored jointly by Rizwi Faizer and Andrew Rippin and a carefully prepared index. The book deals with the events of the ProphetOCOs life from the time of his emigration from Mecca to his death, and is generally considered to be biographical. Bringing together events in the ProphetOCOs life with appropriate passages of QurOCOan in a considered sequence, the author presents an interpretation of Islam that existed in his times. It includes citations from the QurOCO?n, as well as poetry that appears to have been inspired by activities during his life.

This English translation of a seminal text on the life of Muhammad is an invaluable addition to the existing literature, and will be of great significance to students and scholars in the field of Islamic studies, Islamic history, Medieval history and Arabic literature. "

In a post-Christian culture, parish clergy can find themselves at a loss, ill-equipped to deal with a reality for which seminary did not prepare them. As a result, the Church and its clergy can seem to flounder from one "program" to the next or get enamored with secular self-help strategies. To learn to lead well in this new context, the Church needs to help clergy refocus on what both works and is true to their tradition and theology. Enter Scott Benhase, whose Done and Left Undone proposes an ascetical theology of leadership based in St. Benedict's Promise of Stability, Obedience, and Conversion of Life. The Promise helps clergy move forward from their inward identity to their outward askesis (discipline), their inner life experience of resting in the mercy of God's grace in harmony with their outward role in the church. Benhase believes parish clergy can lead faithfully and well without following a program or leadership style that does not fit them. Leading from ascetical grace does not require parish clergy to be something they are not. It invites them, rather, to a way of being and an askesis that will help them be both faithful and effective in parish leadership.

Nearly 1 in 4 pastors will experience a forced exit from ministry within their vocational tenure. Pastors-At-Risk will alert you to what attitudes and actions have put thousands of pastors at-risk of losing their position in the church. It includes testimonials, success stories and practical solutions for dealing with these issues. It offers a solution for restoration to those who have gone from a place of risk in the church to a transition in ministry.

Studies of key biblical passages on women's roles in the church fill entire bookshelves, if not libraries. But in Women in the Church, Stanley Grenz and Denise Muir Kjesbo offer the first in-depth theological study of this issue--one of the most bitterly contested issues of our day. Carefully considering the biblical, historical and practical concerns surrounding women and the ordained ministry, this book will enlighten people on all sides of the issue. But Grenz and Kjesbo make no secret of their bold conclusion: 'Historical, biblical and theological considerations converge not only in allowing, but also in insisting, that women serve as full partners with men.' Thorough and irenic, Women in the Church bids to take an intense discussion to a new plane.

Are You On Your Way Out?
Each month over fifteen hundred pastors are forced to resign their positions. Most never realized they were at-risk of losing their positions in the days before it happened. "Pastors At-Risk "addresses this phenomenon thereby alerting its readers to the attitudes and actions that take so many entirely out of ministry.
Through This Easy to Read Book, You Will Discover:
* What at-risk means, where it leads
* What it is that takes you from at-risk to at-ease
* Affirmations you make even when it's still tough
* Real life stories of pastors in their own words
"Pastors At-Risk" is a must-read for pastors, seminarians and for lay people who want to keep the pastor they love. Buy it for yourself, an officer of your church or as a gift to your pastor.
Dr. Charles A. Wickman served over forty years as a pastor. Twenty years ago he founded the Pastor-in-Residence program, a church-based ministry to exited and at-risk pastors, and for the last twelve years was its national president. He and his colleagues have worked with dozens of pastors without call and have taken scores of surveys to come to the conclusions he presets in "Pastors At-Risk."

Acclaimed church leader, blogger, founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan unpacks the lifecycle of a typical church, identifies characteristics of each phase, and provides practical next steps a church can take to move towards sustained health. Think about your church for a moment. Is it growing? Is it diminishing? Is it somewhere in between? Acclaimed church leader, blogger, and founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan has identified the seven stages of a church's lifecycle that range from the hopeful and optimistic days of launch, to the stagnating last stages of life support. Regardless of the stage in which you find your church, it carries with it the world's greatest mission-to "go and make disciples of all the nations . . ." With eternity at stake the Church should be doing most everything within its power to see lives changed forever. The Church should strive for the pinnacle of the lifecycle, where they are continually making new disciples and experiencing what Morgan refers to as "sustained health." In The Unstuck Church, Morgan unpacks each phase of the church lifecycle, and offers specific and strategic next steps the church leader can take to find it's way to sustained health . . . and finally become unstuck. The Unstuck Church is a call for honest an assessment of where your church sits on the lifecycle, and a challenge to move beyond it.

* Speaks to the bewilderment and helplessness many churches feel in the face of current events * Practical new interpretation of changes in the West Throughout its history, the church has faced crises of meaning and identity in all kinds of changing contexts. The crises facing the churches of the western hemisphere today are no different. At their best, churches have recognized that their challenge is not their own fixing or even "reformation" but a deep engagement with the ways the gospel transforms society. This book explores how this can happen again in a radically changing western world.

Sukhmani (The Pearl of Happiness) is a popular Sikh text by Guru Arjan, which inculcates the Sikh religious ethos and philosophical perspective on wellbeing and happiness. The book features a new translation of this celebrated Sikh text and provides the first in-depth analysis of it. The Sikh View on Happiness begins with an overview of the nature of suffering and the attainment of happiness in Indian religions. This provides the foundation for the examination of the historical, social, and religious context of the Sukhmani and its contribution to the development of the Sikh tradition. In addition to exploring the spiritual teachings of the Sukhmani, Nayar and Sandhu draw upon the Sikh understanding of the mind, illness, and wellbeing to both introduce key Sikh psychological concepts and illustrate the practical application of traditional healing practices in the contemporary context. In doing so, they highlight the overlap of the teachings in the Sukhmani with concepts and themes found in Western psychotherapy, such as mindfulness, meaningful living, and resilience.

Retells legends of remarkable Chasidic rabbis, including the Baal Shem Tov, the Mezhirecher Magid, and Reb Zusha of Annapoli.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson was the charismatic leader of the Chabad Hasidic movement and its designated Messiah. Yet when he died in 1994, the messianic fervor he inspired did not subside. Through traditional means and digital technologies, a group of radical Hasidim, the Meshichistim, still keep the Rebbe palpably close-engaging in ongoing dialogue, participating in specific rituals, and developing an ever-expanding visual culture of portraits and videos. With Us More Than Ever focuses on this group to explore how religious practice can sustain the belief that a messianic figure is both present and accessible. Yoram Bilu documents a unique religious experience that is distinctly modern. The rallying point of the Meshichistim-that the Rebbe is "with us more than ever"-is sustained through an elaborate system that creates the sense of his constant and pervasive presence in the lives of his followers. The virtual Rebbe that emerges is multiple, visible, accessible, and highly decentralized, the epicenter of a truly messianic movement in the twenty-first century. Combining ethnographic fieldwork and cognitive science with nuanced analysis, Bilu documents the birth and development of a new religious faith, describing the emergence of new spiritual horizons, a process common to various religious movements old and new.

The Life and Teachings of Hillel provides the most comprehensive treatment ever published of one of the greatest figures in Jewish tradition. Yitzhak Buxbaum weaves together the various stories about Hillel along with his teachings and sayings to develop this ground-breaking portrait, shedding new light on Hillel's illustrious career, fascinating life, and profound teachings. Hillel is one of the most important and popular of the talmudic sages, yet he is mostly known only in the context of two or three popular stories told about him. Such stories as teaching the "Golden Rule" of Torah "while standing on one foot," and his saying, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me, and if I am for myself alone, who am I," have eclipsed a more complete view of Hillel's influence and significance. In the rabbinic tradition, there is much debate between the teachings of the school of Hillel and that of his contemporary, Shammai. Hillel is often seen as the more tolerant, softer teacher, with his teachings representing what we consider "normative" Judaism. Often, the traditions passed down to modern times are a result of the rabbis' reconciliation of the two schools, so that Hillel's pure teachings have been lost. The Life and Teachings of Hillel separates out Hillel's teachings and looks at them independently of Shammai's. Studied on their own, it becomes evident that Hillel was actually much more radical and "hasidic" than is commonly thought. While he is known for representing the gentler, more loving side of Judaism, in this work his pious radicalism is also apparent. Readers will be charmed and fascinated by Hillel's fiery gentleness. The Life and Teachings of Hillel offers new information about a radiant religious figure, and it also recovers a side of Jewish tradition that has been lost to most people.

After Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt was the most influential figure in early Mormon history and culture. Missionary, pamphleteer, theologian, historian, and martyr, Pratt was perennially stalked by controversy--regarded, he said, "almost as an Angel by thousands and counted an Imposter by tens of thousands."
Tracing the life of this colorful figure from his hardscrabble origins in upstate New York to his murder in 1857, Terryl Givens and Matthew Grow explore the crucial role Pratt played in the formation and expansion of early Mormonism. One of countless ministers inspired by the antebellum revival movement known as the Second Great Awakening, Pratt joined the Mormons in 1830 at the age of twenty three and five years later became a member of the newly formed Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which vaulted him to the forefront of church leadership for the rest of his life. Pratt's missionary work--reaching from Canada to England, from Chile to California--won hundreds of followers, but even more important were his voluminous writings. Through books, newspaper articles, pamphlets, poetry, fiction, and autobiography, Pratt spread the Latter-day Saint message, battled the many who reviled it, and delineated its theology in ways that still shape Mormon thought.
Drawing on letters, journals, and other rich archival sources, Givens and Grow examine not only Pratt's writings but also his complex personal life. A polygamist who married a dozen times and fathered thirty children, Pratt took immense joy in his family circle even as his devotion to Mormonism led to long absences that put heavy strains on those he loved. It was during one such absence, a mission trip to the East, that the estranged husband of his twelfth wife shot and killed him--a shocking conclusion to a life that never lacked in drama.

Shamanism has been practised amongst communities all over the world for millennia, and continues to survive today in both modern and ancient forms. During its long evolution it has migrated from Siberia, Aboriginal Australia, Northern Europe and South America to become a core part of Western New Age and rave culture, as well as popular mythology. It's place within modernity is at once familiar and alien, exemplary and uneasy. So how does the fantastical image of the shaman influence debates on identity, experience, nature, rationality, the cosmos, transformation and change? This book unites perspectives from disciplines including anthropology, psychology, musicology and botany to provide an overview of modern writing on shamanism. From grassroots political writing to classical ethnographies, and imaginative narratives to detailed case studies, the 25 articles and short extracts presented here cover topics including gender, initiation, hallucinogenic consciousness and political protest. Juxtaposing the traditional practices of indigenous peoples with their new and often radically urban reinterpretations, experts including Michael Harner. Majorie M. Balzer and Piers Vitebsky raise qu

Pastors say goodbye to congregations. Sometimes their goodbyes are timely and sweet; sometimes they are jarring and painful. But as they leave, they face a unique journey of grief, one shaped by their role. They face both the outward grief of leaving people behind and the inward grief of leaving an identity behind. In The Graceful Exit, Lutheran pastor Mary Lindberg shares insights from her experience of ending her service to a congregation, as well as wisdom from other pastors who have changed their life work. Lindberg invites readers to pull apart the strands of self and role, individual and community; confront regrets, confusion, and dislocation; and figure out where and who God is at this juncture in their lives. She offers the book she wishes someone had handed her about finding a new church home, about getting a life, about relating to the colleagues who stayed. She reflects on how to be a pastor in a non-pastoral role, how to find community, and how to be graceful in the midst of the awkward unknown. Lindberg acknowledges that as pastors leave congregations, they have to discern how to wrap up their ministry and get out the door without regrets. She recognizes that most pastors will struggle with the spiritual themes of fulfillment, surrender, community, legacy, and separation. But she also believes pastors can face these challenges together. The Graceful Exit invites them into a community of healing and shows them that God walks with them to a new place, even as God keeps on loving the place they have left.

This study is a comprehensive history of the papacy, the oldest elective office in the world, and how it has managed over the centuries the most complex voluntary association of faith. The book argues that in fact through most of its existence, the papacy has adapted managerial models of the secular world and applied them to the Catholic Church. Since its emergence from the Jewish synagogues to a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire to becoming the established religion of the West, the Church and the papacy engaged the world on its own terms. It is only after the Council of Trent did the Church become somewhat more divorced and estranged from the environment around it. This book focused on those changes and on the great popes across the centuries who reformed and altered Catholicism. Special attention is directed to Gregory I, Innocent I, Innocent III, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXVII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. The conclusion is that the persistence of the Catholic Church for so many centuries was due to its ability to preserve the faith, but re-establish its forms and managerial class.