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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Worship
Cuba's patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, also called
Cachita, is a potent symbol of Cuban national identity. Jalane D.
Schmidt shows how groups as diverse as Indians and African slaves,
Spanish colonial officials, Cuban independence soldiers, Catholic
authorities and laypeople, intellectuals, journalists and artists,
practitioners of spiritism and Santeria, activists, politicians,
and revolutionaries each have constructed and disputed the meanings
of the Virgin. Schmidt examines the occasions from 1936 to 2012
when the Virgin's beloved, original brown-skinned effigy was
removed from her national shrine in the majority black- and
mixed-race mountaintop village of El Cobre and brought into Cuba's
cities. There, devotees venerated and followed Cachita's image
through urban streets, amassing at large-scale public ceremonies in
her honor that promoted competing claims about Cuban religion,
race, and political ideology. Schmidt compares these religious
rituals to other contemporaneous Cuban street events, including
carnival, protests, and revolutionary rallies, where organizers
stage performances of contested definitions of Cubanness. Schmidt
provides a comprehensive treatment of Cuban religions, history, and
culture, interpreted through the prism of Cachita.
Religious faith is a powerful source of comfort and support for
individuals and families facing dementia. Many faith leaders need
help in adapting their ministries to address the worship/spiritual
needs of this group. A product of Faith United Against Alzheimer's,
this handbook by 45 different authors represents diverse faith
traditions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism,
Buddhism and Native American. It provides practical help in
developing services and creating dementia friendly faith
communities. It gives an understanding of the cognitive,
communicative and physical abilities of people with dementia and
shows what chaplains, clergy and lay persons can do to engage them
through worship. Included are several articles by persons living
with dementia.
Santideva's eighth-century work, the Guide to Bodhisattva Practice
(Bodhicaryavatara), is known for its eminently practical
instructions and its psychologically vivid articulations of the
Mahayana path. It is a powerful, succinct poem into which are woven
diverse Buddhist traditions of moral transformation, meditative
cultivation, and philosophical insight. Since its composition, it
has seen continuous use as a ritual, contemplative, and
philosophical manual, making it one of the crucial texts of the
Buddhist ethical and philosophical tradition. This book serves as a
companion to this Indian Buddhist classic. The fifteen essays
contained here illuminate the Guide's many philosophical, literary,
ritual, and ethical dimensions. Distinguished scholars discuss the
historical significance of the text as an innovative piece of
Indian literature, illuminate the important roles it played in
shaping Buddhism in Tibet, and bring to light its contemporary
significance for philosophy and psychology. Whether experienced or
first-time students of Buddhist literature, readers will find
compelling new approaches to this resonant masterpiece.
Today's challenges and pressures can make a fulfilling marriage
seem like an impossible dream. Stormie Omartian shares how God has
strengthened her own marriage since she began to pray for her
husband concerning key areas of his life.
Discusses major Jewish life cycle events, including their historical background and meaning, as well as a description of the steps involved.
A collection of children's stories by international bestselling
author Lorna Byrne. Lorna Byrne says we all see angels when we are
young children, but are gradually conditioned to screen them out.
Here, for the first time, she has written stories, inspired by real
life, of seven children whose lives were transformed and made
better by their interaction with their guardian angels. Among
these, there is a story of a little girl called Suzy, paralysed
from birth and unable to play with other children. Angels play with
her and bring her great happiness. In another story a little girl
called Emma is mean to her classmates and gets her little brothers
into trouble at home. Her guardian angel gradually prompts her
towards a more harmonious and happy life. Tommy feels he is an
outsider because he is no good at football. Then with his guardian
angel's loving help and attention, Tommy scores a brilliant goal!
Lorna began telling stories to her daughter Aideen at an age when,
like all children, she was beginning to focus far more on the
material world and less on spiritual influences. These stories are
written to show children the ways in which they can ask for help
from their guardian angels and perhaps even to catch a glimpse of
them.
A unique situation exists in the Nordic countries where there is a
Lutheran majority living in ecumenical cooperation with other
churches and ecclesiastical communities. This book attempts to shed
light on what the churches have discovered they hold in common and
on areas where they recognise that there are divergencies between
them, both in relation to ordination and ministry, and in
particular to the theology and terminology of ordination. The book
brings together the research and insights of 23 researchers from
all the Nordic countries studying more than 200 different kinds of
'ordination' rites from the Orthodox and Roman Catholic as well as
Lutheran and non-Lutheran protestant traditions. After an
introduction to the churches in the Nordic countries, the book
presents 19 case studies from the Nordic countries. The last part
includes some general ecumenical and liturgical perspectives on
ordination and rites presented by international researchers.
Beginning in the fifth century A.D., various Indian mystics began
to innovate a body of techniques with which to render themselves
immortal. These people called themselves Siddhas, a term formerly
reserved for a class of demigods, revered by Hindus and Buddhists
alike, who were known to inhabit mountaintops or the atmospheric
regions. Over the following five to eight hundred years, three
types of Hindu Siddha orders emerged, each with its own specialized
body of practice. These were the Siddha Kaula, whose adherents
sought bodily immortality through erotico-mystical practices; the
Rasa Siddhas, medieval India's alchemists, who sought to transmute
their flesh-and-blood bodies into immortal bodies through the
ingestion of the mineral equivalents of the sexual fluids of the
god Siva and his consort, the Goddess; and the Nath Siddhas, whose
practice of hatha yoga projected the sexual and laboratory
practices of the Siddha Kaula and Rasa Siddhas upon the internal
grid of the subtle body. For India's medieval Siddhas, these three
conjoined types of practice led directly to bodily immortality,
supernatural powers, and self-divinization; in a word, to the
exalted status of the semidivine Siddhas of the older popular
cults. In The Alchemical Body, David Gordon White excavates and
centers within its broader Indian context this lost tradition of
the medieval Siddhas. Working from a body of previously unexplored
alchemical sources, he demonstrates for the first time that the
medieval disciplines of Hindu alchemy and hatha yoga were practiced
by one and the same people, and that they can only be understood
when viewed together. Human sexual fluids and the structures of the
subtle body aremicrocosmic equivalents of the substances and
apparatus manipulated by the alchemist in his laboratory. With
these insights, White opens the way to a new and more comprehensive
understanding of the entire sweep of medieval Indian mysticism,
within the broader context of south Asian Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism, and Islam. This book is an essential reference for anyone
interested in Indian yoga, alchemy, and the medieval beginnings of
science.
A guide to key writings from Buddhism's meditative tradition and
what they reveal about the history and practice of meditation Is it
possible to capture the spirit of Buddhist meditation, which
depends so much upon silence and unspoken wisdom? Can this spirit
be found after two millennia? This wise and reassuring book reminds
us that the Buddhist meditative tradition, geared to such concerns
from its inception, has always been transmitted through texts. A
great variety of early writings-poems, stories, extended practical
guides, commentaries, and chants-were purposely designed to pass
teachings on from one generation to the next. Sarah Shaw, a
longtime practitioner and teacher of Buddhism, investigates a wide
and varied range of ancient and later Buddhist writings on
meditation. Many of these texts are barely known in the West but,
as the author shows, they can be helpful, moving, and often very
funny. She begins with early texts of the Pali canon-those that
describe and involve the Buddha and his followers teaching
meditations-and moves on to "commentaries," with their copious
range of practical tips, anecdotes, and accounts of early
meditators. The author then considers other early texts that were
inspirational as Buddhist traditions spread through India and on to
China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet. Centuries after being written,
early Buddhist texts have lost none of their relevance, this
authoritative book shows. In a tradition characterized by
flexibility and mobility, these writings offer wisdom unchanged by
time.
Though ancient rabbinic texts are fundamental to analyzing the
history of Judaism, they are also daunting for the novice to read.
Rabbinic literature presumes tremendous prior knowledge, and its
fascinating twists and turns in logic can be disorienting. Rabbinic
Drinking helps learners at every level navigate this brilliant but
mystifying terrain by focusing on rabbinic conversations about
beverages, such as beer and wine, water, and even breast milk. By
studying the contents of a drinking vessel-including the contexts
and practices in which they are imbibed-Rabbinic Drinking surveys
key themes in rabbinic literature to introduce readers to the main
contours of this extensive body of historical documents. Features
and Benefits: Contains a broad array of rabbinic passages,
accompanied by didactic and rich explanations and contextual
discussions, both literary and historical Thematic chapters are
organized into sections that include significant and original
translations of rabbinic texts Each chapter includes in-text
references and concludes with a list of both referenced works and
suggested additional readings
Jonathan Safran Foer's and Nathan Englander's spectacular
Haggadah-now in paperback.
Upon hardcover publication, NEW AMERICAN HAGGADAH was praised as a
momentous re-envisioning through prayer, song, and ritual of one of
our oldest, most timeless, and sacred stories-Moses leading the
ancient Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to wander the desert for
40 years before reaching the Promised Land. Featuring a new
translation of the traditional text by Nathan Englander and
provocative essays by a collection of major Jewish writers and
thinkers, it was received not only as a religious document but a
magnificent literary and artistic achievement. Now, after two years
of patience, those readers who asked for a paperback edition have
gotten their wish.
In this re-release of a Gold Medallion award-winner, Dr. David
Jeremiah addresses the challenges to prayer that we all face and
the answers to prayer we often miss. He gently encourages us to
take the first steps toward fostering a rewarding relationship with
God. Drawing from his insightful prayer journals, Dr. Jeremiah
shares his personal experiences - both blessings and struggles -
teaching us how to embark on the most satisfying of trips, the
great adventure of prayer.
After a close encounter with death, Tom Morton realised he needed a
change of pace and perspective. He decided to become the only
independent funeral celebrant on the remote Shetland Islands, an
unusual new profession that would lead him on an extraordinary
journey into the world of the dead. In a vivid narrative that
reveals the fascinating realm of the unspoken - from extraordinary
undertakers and death cafes, to pilgrimages and taboos - Tom
quickly learns that death and speaking for the dead requires you to
think on your feet and often take a magpie approach to faith and
philosophy. From Humanism to hymns, Theravada Buddhism to Star Wars
theology, he discovers the importance of ritual, humour, and the
empowering act of trying to find words for something beyond
language itself. This is an accessible and thought-provoking guide
to celebrating mortality. When grief must be an inevitable part of
life, Tom shows how we can mourn together in a way that feels
appropriate to the life of the one who has passed on, and
ultimately cultivate a healthy attitude to our own eventual demise.
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