Kelly Besecke offers an examination of reflexive spirituality, a spirituality that draws equally on religions traditions and traditions of reason in the pursuit of transcendent meaning. People who practice reflexive spirituality prefer metaphor to literalism, spiritual experience to doctrinal belief, religious pluralism to religious exclusivism or inclusivism, and ongoing inquiry to ''final answers.'' Reflexive spirituality is aligned with liberal theologies in a variety of religious traditions and among the spiritual-but-not-religious. You Can't Put God in a Box draws on original qualitative data to describe how people practiced reflexive spirituality in an urban United Methodist church, an interfaith adult education center, and a variety of secular settings. The theoretical argument focuses on two kinds of rationality that are both part of the Enlightenment legacy. Technological rationality focuses our attention on finding the most efficient means to a particular end. Reflexive spiritualists reject forms of religiosity and secularity that rely on the biases of technological rationality-they see these as just so many versions of ''fundamentalism'' that are standing in the way of compelling spiritual meaning. Intellectual rationality, on the other hand, offers tools for analysis, interpretation, and synthesis of religious ideas. Reflexive spiritualists embrace intellectual rationality as a way of making religious traditions more meaningful for modern ears. Besecke provides a window into the progressive theological thinking of educated spiritual seekers and religious liberals. Grounded in participant observation, her book uses concrete examples of reflexive spirituality in practice to speak to the classical sociological problem of modern meaninglessness.

The Festival of Pirs is an ethnographic study of the religious life of the village of Gugudu in Andhra Pradesh. It focuses on the public event of Muharram, which is practiced by urban Shi'i communities across South Asia, but takes on a strikingly different color in Gugudu because of the central place of a local pir, or saint, called Kullayappa. The story of Kullayappa is pivotal in Gugudu's religious culture, effectively displacing the better-known story of Imam Hussain from Shi'a Islam, and each year 300,000 pilgrims from across South India visit this remote village to express their devotion to Kullayappa. As with many villages in South India, Gugudu is mostly populated by non-Muslims, yet Muslim rituals and practices play a crucial role in its devotion. In the words of one devotee, "There is no Hindu or Muslim. They all have one religion, which is called 'Kullayappa devotion (bhakti).'" Afsar Mohammad explores how the diverse religious life in the village of Gugudu expands our notions of devotion to the martyrs of Karbala, not only in this particular village but also in the wider world.

"Rediscovering the Beauty of Sabbath Rest"
Our bodies and souls were "created "to rest--regularly--and when they do, we experience heightened productivity, improved health, and more meaningful relationships.
In these pages you'll find wonderful stories of the senator's spiritual journey, as well as special Sabbath experiences with political colleagues such as Bill Clinton, Al and Tipper Gore, John McCain, Colin Powell, George W. Bush, Bob Dole, and others. Senator Joe Lieberman shows how his observance of the Sabbath has not only enriched his personal and spiritual life but enhanced his career and enabled him to serve his country to his greatest capacity.

In religious studies, theory and method research has long been embroiled in a polarized debate over scientific versus theological perspectives. Ronald L. Grimes shows that this debate has stagnated, due in part to a manner of theorizing too far removed from the study of actual religious practices. A worthwhile theory, according to Grimes, must be practice-oriented, and practices are most effectively studied by field research methods. The Craft of Ritual Studies melds together a systematic theory and method capable of underwriting the cross-cultural, interdisciplinary study of ritual enactments. Grimes first exposes the limitations that disable many theories of ritual-for example, defining ritual as essentially religious, assuming that ritual's only function is to generate group solidarity, or treating ritual as a mirror of the status quo. He proposes strategies and offers guidelines for conducting field research on the public performance of rites, providing a guide for fieldwork on complex ritual enactments, particularly those characterized by social conflict or cultural creativity. The volume also provides a section on case study, focusing on a single complex event: the Santa Fe Fiesta, a New Mexico celebration marked by protracted ethnic conflict and ongoing dramatic creativity. Grimes explains how rites interact creatively and critically with their social surroundings, developing such themes as the relation of ritual to media, theater, and film, the dynamics of ritual creativity, the negotiation of ritual criticism, and the impact of ritual on cultural and physical environments. This important and influential book will be the capstone work of Grimes's three decades of leadership in the field of ritual studies. It is accompanied by twenty online appendices illustrating key aspects of ritual study.

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion provides a comprehensive overview by period and region of the relevant archaeological material in relation to theory, methodology, definition, and practice. Although, as the title indicates, the focus is upon archaeological investigations of ritual and religion, by necessity ideas and evidence from other disciplines are also included, among them anthropology, ethnography, religious studies, and history. The Handbook covers a global span - Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and the Americas - and reaches from the earliest prehistory (the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic) to modern times. In addition, chapters focus upon relevant themes, ranging from landscape to death, from taboo to water, from gender to rites of passage, from ritual to fasting and feasting. Written by over sixty specialists, renowned in their respective fields, the Handbook presents the very best in current scholarship, and will serve both as a comprehensive introduction to its subject and as a stimulus to further research.

God, God Almighty, God the Creator of the heavens and the earth, God the Beginning and the End, God the Source of all that is, God the Creator of man—the same God, in all His power and all His majesty, stops and listens when you pray. God has given humanity the ability to bring heaven to earth.

Whether you know it or not, you have the authority to change the world through prayer. When God said, “Let mankind rule over all the earth,” He was arranging the dominion of the world so that the partnership of mankind was essential for the accomplishment of His purposes. Through his unique perspective on this often-misunderstood subject, best-selling author Dr. Myles Munroe takes the mystery out of prayer, providing practical answers for difficult questions about communicating with God.

All that God is—and all that God has—may be received through prayer. Everything you need to fulfill your purpose on earth is available to you through prayer. The biblically based, time-tested principles in this book will ignite and transform the way you pray. Be prepared to enter into a new dimension of faith, a deeper revelation of God’s love, and a renewed understanding that your prayers can truly move the hand of God.

This expanded edition includes study questions for individual or small group use.

[from Chief Rabbi Professor Jonathan Sacks] Rabbi Cohen writes within a great tradition, bringing together Torah and chokmah, Jewish wisdom and the broad panoply of human knowledge, and finding in their interplay a never-ending source of deepened understanding. He is both sage and man of faith, a lucid teacher and a source of inspiration, and no one will read this work without discovering that the festival they thought they knew so well has a depth and history that are enthralling. --- [from The Jewish Week] .encyclopedic in breadth, features queries that lead the reader through preparation for the holiday, its historical background, symbolism of the seder ritual, commentary on the Haggadah, special festival services in synagogue, and Pesach customs from around the world. As Rabbi Cohen, the author of several books who leads the largest Orthodox congregation in Great Britain believes , ""Questions are of the very essence of the spirit of this festival.

The purpose of this book is to guide you step by step through my plan for effective prayer. You will discover your unique, God-given level of prayer power and God will release the prayer anointing upon your life, says Dr. Larry Lea. You'll discover exciting new insights into Jesus' model prayer that will create a newfound joy in your prayer life. Dr. Lea can help you reach your full spiritual potential and to better fulfill your God-ordained purposes and destiny in life. A perfect selection for groups studying prayer.

This book is part of the Islamic Teachings series compiled from the works and lectures of Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri. The book Hajj and Zakah provides readers with both a general overview and where needed, some in depth information and guidance on basics of Islam. All of the primary subjects within the three branches of Shariah, Aqidah (doctrine), Fiqh (jurisprudence), Tasawwuf (spirituality and self purification) are covered and a general basic understanding of Islam in a modern context through an easy way to follow question and answer format. Some of the most common yet unanswered, day to day issues are replied to using juristic methods from sound sources of Qur'an and Hadith. These are not only of benefit for the purpose of self study, for anybody of any age and from every walk of life, it is also a very useful reference source which caters for the needs of academic institutions, libraries and study circles.

In Jews, Judaism, and Success, Robert Eisen attempts to solve a long-standing mystery that has fascinated many: How did Jews become such a remarkably successful minority in the modern western world? Eisen argues that Jews achieved such success because they were unusually well-prepared for it by their religion - in particular, Rabbinic Judaism, or the Judaism of the rabbis. Rooted in the Talmud, this form of Judaism instilled in Jews key values that paved the way for success in modern western society: autonomy, freedom of thought, worldliness, and education. The book carefully analyses the evolution of these four values over the past two thousand years in order to demonstrate that they had a longer and richer history in Jewish culture than in western culture. The book thus disputes the common assumption that Rabbinic Judaism was always an obstacle to Jews becoming modern. It demonstrates that while modern Jews rejected aspects of Rabbinic Judaism, they also retained some of its values, and these values in particular led to Jewish success. Written for a broad range of readers, Jews, Judaism, and Success provides unique insights on the meaning of success and how it is achieved in the modern world.

"Prayers to Move Your Mountains" is a new intercessory prayer handbook for Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians. Like classic books of prayer that have helped believers in their prayer lives over the years, this book emphasizes not only prayers for self, but others, too. Each prayer is woven together with scripture verses and with notes referring to specific biblical texts. Types of prayers include prayers that worship and glorify the Lord, praying to enter God's presence, praying for revival, praying for others, praying for forgiveness and power over sin, praying for personal needs, and praying for the coming of the Kingdom of God.