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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious institutions & organizations > Religious & spiritual leaders
Never before published in Kerouac's lifetime, Jack Kerouac's Wake
Up is a clear and powerful study of the life and works of Siddartha
Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, from the author of On the Road.
This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by
Robert Thurman. Wake Up recounts the story of Prince Siddhartha's
royal upbringing and his father's wish to protect him from all
human suffering, despite a prediction that he would become a great
holy man in later life. Departing from his father's palace,
Siddhartha adopts a homeless life, struggles with his meditations,
and eventually finds Enlightenment. Written at the end of Kerouac's
career, when he became increasingly interested in Buddhist
teachings, and collected for the first time in one book, this fresh
and accessible biography is both an important addition to Kerouac's
work and a valuable introduction to the world of Buddhism itself.
Jack Kerouac (1922-69) was an American novelist, poet, artist and
part of the Beat Generation. His first published novel, The Town
and the City, appeared in 1950, but it was On the Road, published
in 1957, that made Kerouac famous. Publication of his many other
books followed, among them The Subterraneans, Big Sur, and The
Dharma Bums. Kerouac died in Florida at the age of forty-seven. If
you enjoyed Wake Up, you might like Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, also
available in Penguin Modern Classics. '[Kerouac] defines the
attitudes of an entire generation' Guardian
Coach. Entrepreneur. Mentor. Executive. Servant. Visionary.
Everyone has a different idea of what a leader should be. How can
any one person be everything? Scott Rodin brings unity and clarity
to this confusing, demanding picture of leadership. He offers a
comprehensive model that brings together a biblical understanding
of holistic stewardship with the best in leadership studies.
Whether in churches, not-for-profit ministries or in business the
need for sound leadership is readily apparent. Drawing on his years
of experience in development and fundraising and his extensive
theological training, Scott Rodin offers a new paradigm--a
transformational approach to leadership that is biblically sound,
theologically rich and practically compelling.
From the cleric-led Iranian revolution to the rise of the
Taliban in Afghanistan, many people have been surprised by what
they see as the modern reemergence of an antimodern phenomenon.
This book helps account for the increasingly visible public role of
traditionally educated Muslim religious scholars (the ulama) across
contemporary Muslim societies. Muhammad Qasim Zaman describes the
transformations the centuries-old culture and tradition of the
ulama have undergone in the modern era--transformations that
underlie the new religious and political activism of these
scholars. In doing so, it provides a new foundation for the
comparative study of Islam, politics, and religious change in the
contemporary world.
While focusing primarily on Pakistan, Zaman takes a broad
approach that considers the Taliban and the ulama of Iran, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, India, and the southern Philippines. He shows how
their religious and political discourses have evolved in often
unexpected but mutually reinforcing ways to redefine and enlarge
the roles the ulama play in society. Their discourses are informed
by a longstanding religious tradition, of which they see themselves
as the custodians. But these discourses are equally shaped by--and
contribute in significant ways to--contemporary debates in the
Muslim public sphere.
This book offers the first sustained comparative perspective on
the ulama and their increasingly crucial religious and political
activism. It shows how issues of religious authority are debated in
contemporary Islam, how Islamic law and tradition are continuously
negotiated in a rapidly changing world, and how the ulama both
react to and shape larger Islamic social trends. Introducing
previously unexamined facets of religious and political thought in
modern Islam, it clarifies the complex processes of religious
change unfolding in the contemporary Muslim world and goes a long
way toward explaining their vast social and political
ramifications.
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