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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Worship
Good News of Great Joy by John Piper invites Christians to make
Jesus the center of the Advent season through 25 devotional
readings.
Michael Wolfe's "exemplary" (Library Journal) collection of
historical writings on the Hajj, now updated with a new
introduction by Reza Aslan. Since its inception in the seventh
century, the pilgrimage to Mecca, or the Hajj, has been the central
theme in a large body of Islamic travel literature. Beginning with
the European Renaissance, it has also been the subject for a
handful of adventurous writers from the West who, through
conversion or connivance, managed to slip inside the walls of a
city forbidden to non-Muslims. One Thousand Roads to Mecca collects
significant works by observant travel writers from the East and
West over the last ten centuries. The two very different literary
traditions form distinct sides of a spirited conversation in which
Mecca is the common destination and Islam the common subject of
inquiry. Excerpted works include travel narratives by Ibn Jubayr,
Ibn Battuta, J. L. Burckhardt, Richard Burton, the Begum of Bhopal,
John Keene, Winifred Stegar, Muhammad Asad, Harry St. John Philby,
Lady Evelyn Cobbald, Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Malcolm X, and Michael
Wolfe.
It has been nearly three decades since Shirley MacLaine commenced her brave and public commitment to chronicling her personal quest for spiritual understanding. In testament to the endurance and vitality of her message, each of her eight legendary bestsellers -- from Don't Fall Off the Mountain to My Lucky Stars -- continues today to attract, dazzle, and transform countless new readers. Now Shirley is back -- with her most breathtakingly powerful and unique book yet. This is the story of a journey. It is the eagerly anticipated and altogether startling culmination of Shirley MacLaine's extraordinary -- and ultimately rewarding -- road through life. The riveting odyssey began with a pair of anonymous handwritten letters imploring Shirley to make a difficult pilgrimage along the Santiago de Compostela Camino in Spain. Throughout history, countless illustrious pilgrims from all over Europe have taken up the trail. It is an ancient -- and allegedly enchanted -- pilgrimage. People from St. Francis of Assisi and Charlemagne to Ferdinand and Isabella to Dante and Chaucer have taken the journey, which comprises a nearly 500-mile trek across highways, mountains and valleys, cities and towns, and fields. Now it would be Shirley's turn. For Shirley, the Camino was both an intense spiritual and physical challenge. A woman in her sixth decade completing such a grueling trip on foot in thirty days at twenty miles per day was nothing short of remarkable. But even more astounding was the route she took spiritually: back thousands of years, through past lives to the very origin of the universe. Immensely gifted with intelligence, curiosity, warmth, and a profound openness to people and places outside her own experience, Shirley MacLaine is truly an American treasure. And once again, she brings her inimitable qualities of mind and heart to her writing. Balancing and negotiating the revelations inspired by the mysterious energy of the Camino, she endured her exhausting journey to Compostela until it gradually gave way to a far more universal voyage: that of the soul. Through a range of astonishing and liberating visions and revelations, Shirley saw into the meaning of the cosmos, including the secrets of the ancient civilizations of Atlantis and Lemuria, insights into human genesis, the essence of gender and sexuality, and the true path to higher love. With rich insight, humility, and her trademark grace, Shirley MacLaine gently leads us on a sacred adventure toward an inexpressibly transcendent climax. The Camino promises readers the journey of a thousand lifetimes.
Does your prayer time consist of an ever-lengthening list of
requests for yourself and other people? Perhaps you spend a lot of
time praying for the health of family or church members, guidance
for a child or grandchild, or that God would intervene in global
crises. But did you know that you can pray about more than just the
things in life that seem to be going wrong? In fact, you can pray
that God will transform your anxious and tired heart into a joyful
one! It's time to set aside the trials of life for a while and make
joy a priority. Not sure how? Let this collection of
Scripture-powered prayers from beloved author Linda Evans Shepherd
be your guide. Packed with prayers of gratitude, praise, and hope,
this inspiring collection will change your perspective, your life,
and your heart as you press into pure, God-given joy. The perfect
gift for yourself or someone else, Make Time for Joy will help you
transform sadness into gladness as you rest on the love, joy, and
provision that comes from God.
This book highlights the history of Islamic popular devotional art
and visual culture in 20th-century India, weaving the personal
narrative of the author's journey through his understanding of the
faith. It begins with an introductory exploration of how the basic
and universal image of Mecca and Medina may have been imported into
Indian popular print culture and what variants it resulted in here.
Besides providing a historical context of the pre-print culture of
popular Muslim visuality, the book also explores the impact the
1947 Partition of India may have made on the calendar art in South
Asia. A significant portion of the book focuses on the contemporary
prints of different localised images found in India and what role
these play in the users' lives, especially in the augmentation of
their popular faith and cultural practices. The volume also
compares the images published in India with some of those available
in Pakistan to reflect different socio-political trajectories.
Finally, it discusses why such a vibrant visual culture continues
to thrive among South Asian Muslims despite the questions raised by
the orthodoxy on its legitimacy in Islam, and why images and
popular visual cultures are inevitable for popular piety despite
the orthodox Muslims' increasing dissociation from them. This work
is one of the first books on Indian Muslim poster art, with rare
images and simple narratives, anecdotes about rituals, ceremonies
and cultural traditions running parallel to research findings. This
second edition contains a new Afterword that discusses challenges
to religious plurality arising on account of changing political
landscapes, economic liberalisation, technology and new media, and
socio-religious developments. It will appeal to the lay reader as
well as the specialist and will be especially useful to researchers
and scholars in popular culture, media and cultural studies, visual
art and performance studies, and sociology and social anthropology.
For nearly twenty years, the beloved Guide to Prayer books have
been sought after and used by thousands who hunger for God. Readers
appreciate the simple structure of daily worship, the rich
spiritual writings, the lectionary guidelines, and poignant prayers
have all contributed to the long-lasting need for these rich
resources. Now Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck offer a third
volume, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God. Like its
predecessors, this Guide offers a daily pattern for those seeking a
rhythm of devotion and personal worship. A Guide to Prayer for All
Who Seek God follows the Christian year and the lectionary
readings. Each day offers guidance for an opening affirmation, a
petition of prayer, and daily scripture selections. The Readings
for Reflection reach back to early Christian classics and include
voices from recently published works. Excerpts come from writers
such as Frederick Buechner, Joyce Rupp, Henri Nouwen, Mother
Teresa, Howard Thurman, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John
Wesley, and many others. These excerpts are arranged in weekly
themes. Job and Shawchuck also include spiritually grounded
explanations of the seasons of the church year to introduce each
section of the book. This deluxe edition includes Bible binding, a
ribbon bookmark, round corners, gold edges, and a leather-like
cover in emerald green.
Oraciones poderosamente honestas para cada desafio en su vida.
Sabemos que Dios esta ahi para nosotros. El nos llama y nos anima a
confiar nuestros problemas y preguntas a Su cuidado. Pero muchos de
nosotros luchamos por plasmar nuestro dolor, deseos y esperanzas en
palabras. En este libro de poderosas oraciones, el doctor Charles
Stanley, pastor respetado internacionalmente y autor de exitos de
ventas, lo ayuda a iniciar conversaciones con Dios de una manera
transparente, honesta y humilde que profundizara su relacion con
Cristo y sanara su corazon. Cuando las emociones nos abruman Cuando
la vida es dolorosamente dificil Cuando otros necesitan nuestra
intercesion en oracion Cuando Dios nos encomienda con llamamientos
especificos . . . y mas Llena de conocimiento sobre como escuchar y
caminar con Dios, cada oracion esta disenada para adaptarse a su
situacion unica. Pero mas que eso, estas oraciones fueron escritas
para llevarlo mas a la presencia de Dios, permitirle sentir las
impresiones del Espiritu Santo y ayudarlo a obedecer mientras el
Senor lo guia en el camino que debe seguir. Como escribe el Dr.
Stanley: "El proposito de este libro es que escuche a Jesus, que lo
conozca mejor y lo ame mas en el area precisa donde esta
resistiendo la tormenta". When You Don't Know What to Pray
Powerfully honest prayers for every challenge in your life. We know
God is there for us. He calls to us and encourages us to entrust
our troubles and questions to His care. But so many of us struggle
with translating our pain, desires, and hopes into words. In this
book of powerful prayers, internationally respected pastor and
bestselling author Dr. Charles Stanley helps you start
conversations with God in a transparent, honest, and humble way
that will deepen your relationship with Christ and heal your heart.
When emotions overwhelm us When life is painfully difficult When
others need our prayerful intercession When God tasks us with
specific callings . . . and more Full of insight on listening to
and walking with God, each prayer is designed to be customized to
your unique situation. But more than that, these prayers were
written to draw you further into the presence of God, allow you to
sense the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and help you obey as the
Lord guides you in the way you should go.
The issue of divinizing in South Asian traditions has not been
examined before as a process involving various methods to affect
the socio-cultural cognition of the community. It is therefore
essential to consider the context of "divinizing" and to analyse
what groups, institutions or individuals define the discourse, what
are the ideological positions that they represent, and who or what
is being divinized. This book deals with the issue of divinizing in
South Asian traditions. It aims at studying cultural questions
related to the representations and the mythologizing of the divine.
It also explores the human relations to the "divine other." It
studies the interpretations of the divine in religious texts and
the embodiment of the "divine other" in ritual practices. The focus
is on studying the phenomenon of divinizing in its religious,
cultural, and ideological implications. The book comprises eight
chapters that explore the question of divinizing from the 2nd
century CE up to present-day in North and South India. The chapters
discuss the issue both from insider and outsider perspectives,
within the framework of textual study as well as ideological and
anthropological analysis. All articles explore various aspects of
the cultural phenomenon of being in relation to the divine other,
of the process of interpreting and embodying the divine, and of the
representation of the divinizing process, as revealed in the
literatures and cultures of South Asia. Applying theoretical models
of religious and cultural studies to discuss texts written in South
Asian languages and engage in critical dialogue with current
scholarship, this book is an indispensable study of literary,
religious and cultural production in South Asia. It will be of
interest to academics in the fields of South Asian studies, Asian
Studies, religious and cultural studies as well as comparative
religion.
In this study of the Ndembu of Zambia, ritual is examined under two
aspects: as a regulator of social relations over time and as a
system of symbols. Social life is thereby given direction and
meaning. An extended case-study of a series of ritual performances
in the life of a single village community is analysed in order to
estimate the effects of participation in these symbolic events on
its component groups and personalities.
A Seer Shares Prophetic Insights on How to Claim Warfare Victory God is
raising up a company of believers who can wage victorious spiritual
warfare through communion with Holy Spirit and connectedness to the
heavenly realm. Will you join the ranks? Prepare to receive
supernatural battle plans from a seasoned prophet and seer. The
insights Ana Werner has gained in her prophetic encounters have given
her a supernatural advantage over the enemy. In The Warrior’s Dance,
she imparts these warfare strategies to you.
May2020
The good news: you don’t have to be a prophet or seer to use these
tactics! Discover how to…
• Partner with the Holy Spirit to demolish strongholds.
• Recognize telltale signs of demonic operation.
• Move in the 9 different dances of warfare victory.
When you can clearly discern demonic activity, you can partner with God
for deliverance and breakthrough. The Warrior’s Dance offers an
impartation of spiritual sight so that you can detect and destroy the
enemy’s schemes!
Mobile Lifeworlds illustrates how the imaginaries and ideals of
Western travellers, especially those of untouched nature and
spiritual enlightenment, are consistent with media representations
of the Himalayan region, romanticism and modernity at large.
Blending tourism and pilgrimage, travel across Nepal, Tibet,
Bhutan, and Northern India is often inspired and oriented by a
search for authenticity, adventure and Otherness. Such valued
ideals are shown, however, to be contested by the very forces and
configurations that enable global mobility. The role ubiquitous
media and mobile technologies now play in framing travel
experiences are explored, revealing a situation in which actors are
neither here nor there, but increasingly are 'inter-placed' across
planetary landscapes. Beyond institutionalised religious contexts
and the visiting of sacred sites, the author shows how a secular
religiosity manifests in practical, bodily encounters with foreign
environments. This book is unique in that it draws on a dynamic and
innovative set of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives,
especially phenomenology, the mobilities paradigm and philosophical
anthropology. The volume breaks fresh ground in pilgrimage, tourism
and travel studies by unfolding the complex relationships between
the virtual, imaginary and corporeal dynamics of contemporary
mobile lifeworlds.
Animism is an important part of many religions - from Shinto,
Hinduism and Buddhism to Paganism and a range of indigenous
religions - which connects the spiritual and material and holds
that humans might not be unique in possessing souls or in being
intentional agents. Over recent decades, research into animism has
broadened its scope to consider, at one end, the vibrant roles of
objects in human lives and, at the other, the possible similarities
between humans and other species. "The Handbook of Contemporary
Animism" brings together an international team of scholars to
examine the full range of animist worldviews and practices. The
Handbook opens with an examination of recent approaches to animism.
This is followed by evaluations of ethnographic, cognitive,
literary, performative, and material culture approaches as well as
advances in activist and indigenous thinking about animism. "The
Handbook of Contemporary Animism" invites readers to think
creatively and critically about the world around us and will be
invaluable to students and scholars of Religion, Sociology and
Anthropology.
Drawing on insights from Indian intellectual tradition, this book
examines the conception of dharma by Jaimini in his Mimamsasutras,
assessing its contemporary relevance, particularly within ritual
scholarship. Presenting a hermeneutical re-reading of the text, it
investigates the theme of the relationship between subjectivity and
tradition in the discussion of dharma, bringing it into
conversation with contemporary discourses on ritual. The primary
argument offered is that Jaimini's conception of dharma can be read
as a philosophy of Vedic practice, centred on the enjoinment of the
subject, whose stages of transformation possess the structure of a
hermeneutic tradition. Offering both substantive and methodological
insights into the contentions within the contemporary study of
ritual, this book will be of interest to researchers in the fields
of Hindu studies, ritual studies, Asian religion, and South Asian
studies.
This book explores the interaction of rituals and ritualised
practices utilising a cross-cultural approach. It discusses whether
and why rituals are important today, and why they are possibly even
more relevant than before.
A step-by-step guide to calling on the Fourteen Holy Helpers for
healing, success, guidance, and love * Shares modern updated
versions of the medieval prayers of the Holy Helpers, one prayer
for each of the 14 saints and one prayer to call on all of them
together * Explains how, even though these 14 saints are connected
to Catholic belief, they are universal in their powers of
assistance and will come to the aid of anyone who calls on them *
Recommends a healing stone to enhance the effect of each prayer and
explains how to use the prayers to create protective amulets for
you and your home and write a letter of invocation for love and
success The art of invocation--calling on spirits and higher forces
for assistance--has been practiced in folk magic traditions for
centuries, with roots going back to early pagan and shamanic times.
Called on for more than 1,000 years, the Fourteen Holy Helpers are
a group of Catholic saints venerated together because their
intercession has been shown to be particularly effective in
difficult times. Although they are part of the Christian tradition,
these spiritual helpers are universal in their powers of assistance
and will come to the aid of anyone who calls on them. In this guide
to invoking the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Christiane Stamm presents
modern updated versions of the medieval prayers of the Holy
Helpers, which were transmitted to her directly from the spirit
world. She explains how, even though these 14 saints are connected
to Catholic belief, their invoked powers connect to the original
energies dwelling within humans and the Earth and calling on them
works as a form of natural magic. She shares short biographies of
each saint and details how to access their powers of healing and
protection through writing out and reciting their specific prayers
during the full moon. The author shares 15 prayers--one for each
Holy Helper, used to support healing for specific ailments or
issues, and one prayer that is especially powerful because it calls
on all 14 Helpers together. For each prayer she recommends a
healing stone that can be added to further enhance the effect. The
author also explains how to use the prayers to create protective
amulets for you and your home and write a letter of invocation for
love and success. Offering a step-by-step method to call for
spiritual assistance, this book helps us realize the profound power
of prayer and belief and reveals how magic still exists in our
modern world.
This expanded edition of the bestseller features updated content on
issues like technology and identity, and comes with new material
designed to invite children into the family prayer circle. There is
no need we will face in parenting--or that our kids will confront
in their lives--that God has not already thought of, and provided
for, in his Word. And there can be no greater privilege than
partnering with him, through our prayers, to accomplish his best
purposes in the lives of the people we love. But where to begin? In
this updated and expanded edition celebrating the twentieth
anniversary of a modern classic, you will discover how using the
Bible to shape your desires and requests opens the door to God's
provision--and frees us from things like worry and fear in our
parenting! It teaches you how and what to pray for your child(ren)
in the following areas: faith character safety relationships the
future Plus, all-new material includes sections on praying for a
child's sense of identity, praying for their use of technology, and
building a prayer legacy with specific strategies and a collection
of child-friendly Bible verses designed to help children anchor
their hope in God's Word.
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