Essayist and biographer Alan Jacobs introduces us to the world of original sin, which he describes as not only a profound idea but a necessary one. As G. K. Chesterton explains, "Only with original sin can we at once pity the beggar and distrust the king."

Do we arrive in this world predisposed to evil? St. Augustine passionately argued that we do; his opponents thought the notion was an insult to a good God. Ever since Augustine, the church has taught the doctrine of original sin, which is the idea that we are not born innocent, but as babes we are corrupt, guilty, and worthy of condemnation. Thus started a debate that has raged for centuries and done much to shape Western civilization.

Perhaps no Christian doctrine is more controversial; perhaps none is more consequential. Blaise Pascal claimed that "but for this mystery, the most incomprehensible of all, we remain incomprehensible to ourselves." Chesterton affirmed it as the only provable Christian doctrine. Modern scholars assail the idea as baleful and pernicious. But whether or not we believe in original sin, the idea has shaped our most fundamental institutions--our political structures, how we teach and raise our young, and, perhaps most pervasively of all, how we understand ourselves. In Original Sin, Alan Jacobs takes readers on a sweeping tour of the idea of original sin, its origins, its history, and its proponents and opponents. And he leaves us better prepared to answer one of the most important questions of all: Are we really, all of us, bad to the bone?

The "Upanishads" are the sacred writings of Hinduism. They are perhaps the greatest of all the books in the history of world religions. Their origins predate recorded history, being revealed to the Rishis of the Vedic civilization some 5000 to 10,000 years ago. Many see them as the kernel of the mystical, philosophical truths that are the basis of the Higher World religion of Hinduism, their cradle, of which Buddhism is a successor and Judaism is an offshoot. With Islam and Christianity being offshoots of Judaism, this makes them the foundational documents for understanding and practising religion today. Much of the original text of the "Upanishads" is archaic and occasionally corrupted, but it does convey a moral and ethical thrust that is abundantly clear. Alan Jacobs uses modern free verse to convey the essential meaning and part of the original text. He omits Sanskrit words as far as possible and the commentary provided is contemporary rather than ancient.

If the whole of the Christian life is to be governed by the ?law of love??the twofold love of God and one's neighbor?what might it mean to read lovingly? That is the question that drives this unique book. Jacobs pursues this challenging task by alternating largely theoretical, theological chapters?drawing above all on Augustine and Mikhail Bakhtin?

The "Bhagavad Gita" is a sacred scripture of epic dimensions and is the key sacred text of Hinduism. It means the "song of God" and is often called the "Song Celestial". Alan Jacobs uses contemporary free verse based on innovative metaphors to provide a clear meaning for today's readers. It is mandala poetry - each verse being a mandala for meditation.

How to Think is a contrarian treatise on why we're not as good at thinking as we assume - but how recovering this lost art can rescue our inner lives from the chaos of modern life.

Most of us don't want to think, writes the American essayist Alan Jacobs. Thinking is trouble. It can force us out of familiar, comforting habits, and it can complicate our relationships with like-minded friends. Finally, thinking is slow, and that's a problem when our habits of consuming information (mostly online) leave us lost in the echo chamber of social media, where speed and factionalism trump accuracy and nuance.

In this clever, witty book, Jacobs diagnoses the many forces that prevent thought - forces that have only worsened in the age of Twitter, such as "alternative facts," and information overload. He also dispels the many myths we hold about what it means to think well. (For example: it's impossible to "think for yourself.")

Drawing on sources as far-flung as the novelist Marilynne Robinson, the basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain, the British philosopher John Stuart Mill and the Christian theologian C.S. Lewis, Jacobs digs into the nuts and bolts of the cognitive process, offering hope that each of us can reclaim our mental lives from the whirlpool of what now passes for public debate.

After all, if we can learn to think together, perhaps we can learn to live together.

How The Book of Common Prayer became one of the most influential works in the English language While many of us are familiar with such famous words as "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here. . ." or "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," we may not know that they originated in The Book of Common Prayer, which first appeared in 1549. Like the words of the King James Bible and Shakespeare, the language of this prayer book has saturated English culture and letters. Here Alan Jacobs tells its story. He shows how The Book of Common Prayer-from its beginnings as a means of social and political control in the England of Henry VIII to its worldwide presence today-became a venerable work whose cadences express the heart of religious life for millions.

If the whole of the Christian life is to be governed by the "law of love"--the twofold love of God and one's neighbor--what might it mean to "read" lovingly? That is the question that drives this unique book. Jacobs pursues this challenging task by alternating largely theoretical, theological chapters--drawing above all on Augustine and Mikhail Bakhtin--with interludes that investigate particular readers (some real, some fictional) in the act of reading. Among the authors considered are Shakespeare, Cervantes, Nabakov, Nicholson Baker, George Eliot, W.H. Auden, and Dickens. The theoretical framework is elaborated in the main chapters, while various counterfeits of or substitutes for genuinely charitable interpretation are considered in the interludes, which progressively close in on that rare creature, the loving reader. Through this doubled method of investigation, Jacobs tries to show how difficult it is to read charitably--even should one wish to, which, of course, few of us do. And precisely because the prospect of reading in such a manner is so offputting, one of the covert goals of the book is to make it seem both more plausible and more attractive.

"For the Time Being" is a pivotal book in the career of one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. W. H. Auden had recently moved to America, fallen in love with a young man to whom he considered himself married, rethought his entire poetic and intellectual equipment, and reclaimed the Christian faith of his childhood. Then, in short order, his relationship fell apart and his mother, to whom he was very close, died. In the midst of this period of personal crisis and intellectual remaking, he decided to write a poem about Christmas and to have it set to music by his friend Benjamin Britten. Applying for a Guggenheim grant, Auden explained that he understood the difficulty of writing something vivid and distinctive about that most cliched of subjects, but welcomed the challenge. In the end, the poem proved too long and complex to be set by Britten, but in it we have a remarkably ambitious and poetically rich attempt to see Christmas in double focus: as a moment in the history of the Roman Empire and of Judaism, and as an ever-new and always contemporary event for the believer. "For the Time Being" is Auden's only explicitly religious long poem, a technical tour de force, and a revelatory window into the poet's personal and intellectual development. This edition provides the most accurate text of the poem, a detailed introduction by Alan Jacobs that explains its themes and sets the poem in its proper contexts, and thorough annotations of its references and allusions."

When it was first published in 1947, "The Age of Anxiety"--W. H. Auden's last, longest, and most ambitious book-length poem--immediately struck a powerful chord, capturing the imagination of the cultural moment that it diagnosed and named. Beginning as a conversation among four strangers in a barroom on New York's Third Avenue, Auden's analysis of Western culture during the Second World War won the Pulitzer Prize and inspired a symphony by Leonard Bernstein as well as a ballet by Jerome Robbins. Yet reviews of the poem were sharply divided, and today, despite its continuing fame, it is unjustly neglected by readers.

This volume--the first annotated, critical edition of the poem--introduces this important work to a new generation of readers by putting it in historical and biographical context and elucidating its difficulties. Alan Jacobs's introduction and thorough annotations help today's readers understand and appreciate the full richness of a poem that contains some of Auden's most powerful and beautiful verse, and that still deserves a central place in the canon of twentieth-century poetry.

ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover Award Our written words carry weight. Unfortunately, in today's cultural climate, our writing is too often laced with harsh judgments and vitriol rather than careful consideration and generosity. But might the Christian faith transform how we approach the task of writing? How might we love God and our neighbors through our writing? This book is not a style guide that teaches you where to place the comma and how to cite your sources (as important as those things are). Rather, it offers a vision for expressing one's faith through writing and for understanding writing itself as a spiritual practice that cultivates virtue. Under the guidance of two experienced Christian writers who draw on authors and artists throughout the church's history, we learn how we might embrace writing as an act of discipleship for today-and how we might faithfully bear the weight of our written words.

The Gnostic Gospels, discovered at Nag Hammadi, are a collection of ancient texts dating from the 2nd to the 4th century AD. Of the 54 texts discovered, 14 have been chosen for this collection for their relevance today. The selected gospels reveal sayings of Christ not included in the New Testament and throw light on the intimate relationship between Jesus and his disciples.

The White Witch, Aslan, fauns and talking beasts, centaurs and epic battles between good and evil -- all these have become a part of our collective imagination through the classic volumes of "The Chronicles of Narnia," Over the past half century, children everywhere have escaped into this world and delighted in its wonders and enchantments. Yet what we do know of the man who created Narnia? This biography sheds new light on the making of the original Narnian, C. S. Lewis himself.

Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably the most influential religious writer of his day. An Oxford don and scholar of medieval literature, he loved to debate philosophy at his local pub, and his wartime broadcasts on the basics of Christian belief made him a celebrity in his native Britain. Yet one of the most intriguing aspects of Clive Staples Lewis remains a mystery. How did this middle-aged Irish bachelor turn to the writing of stories for children -- stories that would become among the most popular and beloved ever written?

Alan Jacobs masterfully tells the story of the original Narnian. From Lewis's childhood days in Ireland playing with his brother, Warnie, to his horrific experiences in the trenches during World War I, to his friendship with J. R. R. Tolkien (and other members of the "Inklings"), and his remarkable late-life marriage to Joy Davidman, Jacobs traces the events and people that shaped Lewis's philosophy, theology, and fiction. The result is much more than a conventional biography of Lewis: Jacobs tells the story of a profound and extraordinary imagination. For those who grew up with Narnia, or for those just discovering it, "The Narnian"tells a remarkable tale of a man who knew great loss and great delight, but who knew above all that the world holds far more richness and meaning than the average eye can see.

By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear that the Allies would win the Second World War. Around the same time, it also became increasingly clear to many Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic that the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. A war won by technological superiority merely laid the groundwork for a post-war society governed by technocrats. These Christian intellectuals- Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others-sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world. In this book, Alan Jacobs explores the poems, novels, essays, reviews, and lectures of these five central figures, in which they presented, with great imaginative energy and force, pictures of the very different paths now set before the Western democracies. Working mostly separately and in ignorance of one another's ideas, the five developed a strikingly consistent argument that the only means by which democratic societies could be prepared for their world-wide economic and political dominance was through a renewal of education that was grounded in a Christian understanding of the power and limitations of human beings. The Year of Our Lord 1943 is the first book to weave together the ideas of these five intellectuals and shows why, in a time of unprecedented total war, they all thought it vital to restore Christianity to a leading role in the renewal of the Western democracies.

A beautifully designed collection of mystical poems to soothe, inspire and rejuvenate the soul. With a body of work spanning the centuries, from the Vedas to St Teresa of Avila, Rumi and Rilke, and arranged by transcendent themes, this book will connect readers with nature, with the stillness within themselves and with the Divine. When your soul hungers for peace, knowledge or comfort there is no answer as profound as poetry. In a world that is increasingly noisy and disconnected from the Divine, this wonderfully inspiring collection of poems for the soul from mystics of all traditions encourages readers to listen to their own hearts, marvel at the wonder of nature and explore profound truths of life, death, eternity and God. With its elegant design and comprehensive selection of poets, the volume is ideal for gifting. Themed chapters allow readers to choose topics to explore, including: DIVINITY - what is the nature of God or the One? TRANSCENDENCE - what deep truths can we find in our spiritual quest? LOVE - how can we give and cherish most profoundly? DEVOTION - how should we explore and affirm our faith? PEACE - how can we find stillness amidst turmoil and loss? NATURE - what lessons can we learn from creation? SPIRIT - what is sacred about the individual self? From the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas and the Song of Solomon to the Divine Comedy and the Rubaiyat of Mar Khayyam, readers will find all the great mystical writers, including Attar, Ansari, St Francis of Assisi, Lao Tzu, John Donne, John Bunyan, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Barratt Browning, Christine Rossetti and Walt Whitman, as well as many fine but lesser-known spiritual writers. A book to give as a thoughtful gift, and also one to treasure.

Although there are major differences in the lifestyles of the numerous Native American nations, they share fundamental beliefs. The spiritual wisdom of these people is based on a love and reverence for Nature, a belief in a Supreme Being and a spirit world that interacts with human activity. Organized in alphabetical order and grouped around the main Native American Nations from Apache to Zuni, including the Sioux, Eskimo, Cherokee and many more, the evocative words that Alan Jacobs has selected from all the major tribes express the love and respect they feel for their environment and our place within it.

This second book in the trilogy picks up right where H.I. TECH left off. Something is alive inside Object Alpha Bell Tower. Dr. Kay Waterstone senses its presence in the unexplained terrors stalking the remote complex. In her nightmares, she feels the unworldly force seeking her. But Dr. Kay can do nothing as long as she remains the prisoner and unwilling accomplice of the hideous Victor Rykoff. And Rykoff is not heeding her warnings. He thinks events are firmly in his hands, and he's dealing the cards with cruel precision. His own scientific team is preparing to enter Object Alpha Bell Tower to harvest the ultimate terror weapon. And his mole, planted among Dr. Tech's CIA escorts, is oiling the jaws of a perfect trap. On their own, H.I. and April must begin to confront their own past and journey toward a horror far worse than Rykoff. Object Bell Tower's mysterious core may not be the control center of an alien spacecraft, and its crew may not be missing. The life inside Bell Tower is more powerful and more indestructible than any force on the planet. Like Dr. Kay, H.I. senses it. And he too suffers recurring nightmares roamed by a powerful presence that is a harbinger to the end of all life on Earth. Even as H.I., Dr. Kay, and April try to grapple with the mystery, the loud alarms at Crash Site Alpha Bell Tower begin to scream containment failure. Doc's Rules continues the action started in H.I. Tech. It too is an electrifying thriller with the scientific know-how of Michael Crichton, the military technology of Tom Clancy, and the spy stuff of Ian Fleming, Doc's Rules tripled the action and heart-pounding suspense as it escalates to new levels everything that is careening toward a global catastrophe. The first book in the trilogy, H.I. Tech, is also available on Amazon.

LIFEFORM is the final installment in the H.I. Tech series and picks up where DOC'S RULES left off. It takes the readers into a face to face confrontation with the unknown alien force inside Object Alpha Bell Tower. Dr. Waterstone thinks she's found the horrible truth behind the destructive presence that Victor Rykoff has forced her to free. How can it be a mere virus? Microbes don't think, and a mere virus could not have manipulated the electronic defenses at the scientific site or probed its computers or invaded H.I.'s and Dr. Waterstone's nightmares. Dr. Kay believes that something even more threatening is emerging. Bell Tower's alien crew is not dead or missing. The supposed virus is the alien crew. Or is it? Perhaps it's a collective intelligence born from bacteria in a far away nebulae and capable of building a spaceship. Perhaps it is a perpetual wanderer. Maybe it has a purpose, because in its grasp is the genetic code for all life forms in the universe. Including all life on Earth But to the hideous fiend, Victor Rykoff, the alien lifeform is the basis for the ultimate terror weapon. And with the help of Russian renegade pilot, Vasili Putin, Rykoff is prepared to unleash the alien's terrible power upon the world. It seems there is no one who can stop him, because too much of the outcome rides on CIA agent, Alex Malone. She has a history no one could have known. Maybe Dr. Tech isn't coming to the rescue either. He and Dr. Waterstone have their own surprising history. So the survival of the world may depend on one unlikely hero or the other. Maybe a sixteen year old outcast named H.I. Tech or a street smart rebel named April Waterstone. All of them rush toward their destinies and a confrontation with a powerful alien presence, even as an American nuclear strike closes in. But it is the alien presence that is far beyond anything Dr. Waterstone has imagined. It is very much alive and nearing a frightening mission of its own. "Readers expecting the usual bug-eyed alien creatures that can either be cleverly destroyed or turned away by logic won't find them here," Jacobs says. He hopes his readers are instead totally caught by surprise. The entire "H.I. Tech" series weaves elements of mysteries and thrillers with the scientific know-how of Michael Critchton, the military technology of Tom Clancy, and the espionage intrigue of Ian Flemming. He hopes that the unique combination of an adolescent narrator, real technology, advanced science and evil villains makes his works a favorite among his readers.

We have a new star on the literary horizon. M. Alan Jacobs' first book is a world-changing meteor of a story; fast, furious and brilliant. Unraveling Jacob's fantastic and highly dangerous mysteries is H.I. Tech, a 16-year old genius plucked from surburbia and dropped into one of the most frightening scenarios mankind may one day face... This is as good as it gets and Jacobs is just getting started. -Terry Moore (Strangers In Paradise, Echo) It's July 1999. Yale astronomer Raymond Marsden's discovery, RM 1999, is closing on earth, and Marsden thinks its impact will spell the end of the world. But instead of destroying the earth, RM 1999 survives its impact deep in the Amazon basin. All life around it dies, and RM 199 lies waiting in a massive crater of its own making, hidden from sight by conditions that seem to defy the laws of physics. Reclassified Object Alpha Bell Tower, RM 1999 is quarantined by special forces and probed by the best minds. But soon contact with their remote site is lost, Raymond Marsden vanishes, and events snowball toward Hippocrates Isaac Tech, a 16 year old outcast and reluctant prodigy. H.I. Tech may be an outcast, but he is not alone. If he were, he might have a shot at the ordinary life he desperately wants. He might even have a chance with April Waterston, who hates his guts. But this life is not to be. H.I.'s father is Dr. Jules Verne Tech, "Doc" to H.I. and "scientifi c trouble-shooter" to his bosses in the Pentagon. Doc never says no and never goes on a job without H.I. But before Doc's mission to the Amazon can begin, kidnappers target April. It seems she and H.I. share more in common that she can stand. Her mother, Dr. Kay Watersone, was in charge at the Bell Tower site. So now H.I.'s mission is personal. Save April. But it's not so easy, because she still hates his guts, and Doc's CIA escorts may be playing a double game. What awaits them all is a human horror beyond their worst fears and a powerful presence that is not of this world. H.I. TECH is the first book in a trilogy. It's an electrifying thriller with the scientific know-how of Michael Crichton, the military technology of Tom Clancy, and the spy stuff of Ian Fleming. H.I. TECH pushes the action and attitude to eleven, careening toward global catastrophe with pulse-pounding glee. The second book in this trilogy, Doc's Rules, is now available on Amazon.