Legendary Harvard religion scholar Cox offers up a new interpretation of the history and future of religion. He explains why Christian beliefs and dogma are giving way to new grassroots movements rooted in social justice and spiritual experience.

Concern about the relationship between government and the people is often popularly expressed in calls for greater public participation in decision making. However, although the press is clearly central to this relationship, the debate on the role and influence of the local press on city government and politics has often been seriously hindered by a lack of detailed information. Mr Cox and Dr Morgan improved this situation in their detailed 1973 study of the role of the provincial daily and weekly press in the life of a community. The central part of their book examines the ways in which six daily and weekly papers reported the affairs of the English conurbation of Merseyside during the 1960s. They begin by examining the general, social, political and economic setting of these newspapers and then turn to the particular situation of each individual paper. There follows a quantitative analysis both of their coverage of local politics and the ways in which various political topics were treated.

Selected as one of the Books of the Century by the New York Public Library "The Courage to Be changed my life. It also profoundly impacted the lives of many others from my generation. Now Harvey Cox's fresh introduction helps to open up this powerful reading experience to the current generation."-Robert N. Bellah, University of California, Berkeley Originally published more than fifty years ago, The Courage to Be has become a classic of twentieth-century religious and philosophical thought. The great Christian existentialist thinker Paul Tillich describes the dilemma of modern man and points a way to the conquest of the problem of anxiety. This edition includes a new introduction by Harvey Cox that situates the book within the theological conversation into which it first appeared and conveys its continued relevance in the current century. "The brilliance, the wealth of illustration, and the aptness of personal application . . . make the reading of these chapters an exciting experience."-W. Norman Pittenger, New York Times Book Review "A lucid and arresting book."-Frances Witherspoon, New York Herald Tribune "Clear, uncluttered thinking and lucid writing mark Mr. Tillich's study as a distinguished and readable one."-American Scholar

The latest edition of this annual, assembled by the acclaimed writer and editor Philip Zaleski, not only showcases some of the finest writing of the year but offers astute perceptions on subjects that are universal, timeless, and yet deeply personal. Culled from an impressive variety of sources and ranging over topics as disparate as Shaker furniture, perfume, and the monastic life, the essays and poems collected here share a search for purpose beyond the mundane -- and find answers in the likeliest and unlikeliest of sources.
Here you will find George Packer's "The Moderate Martyr," a profile of the peaceful Islamic visionary Mahmoud Muhammad Taha, alongside Sridhar Pappu's report on "the Preacher," Bishop T. D. Jakes, the entrepreneurially inclined leader of one of the largest churches in the country. Garry Wills questions whether it is possible (or even desirable) to live according to the maxim "What would Jesus do?" In response to the recent spate of atheist attacks on organized religion, Marilynne Robinson offers an insightful critique of "Hysterical Scientism." Adam Gopnik explores the link between Shaker beliefs and the austere beauty of Shaker creations, and Joseph Epstein muses on the reasons for broken friendships. Some of the essays are deeply personal: Mary Gordon examines her complex relationship with her mother, and Pico Iyer reveals the place where he goes to be himself.
Including powerful poetry from notable contributors such as Deborah Digges, Galway Kinnell, and John Updike, and an introduction by Harvey Cox, The Best American Spiritual Writing 2007 is one of those transformative "magical books" that Zaleski describes in his foreword, a volume that gracefully probes the role of faith in modern life while offering both spiritual insight and literary excellence.

It was born a scant ninety-five years ago in a rundown warehouse on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. For days the religious-revival service there went on and on-and within a week the "Los Angeles Times" was reporting on a "weird babble" coming from the building. Believers were "speaking in tongues," the way they did at the first Pentecost recorded in the Bible?and a pentecostal movement was created that would, by the start of the twenty-first century, attract over 400 million followers worldwide. Harvey Cox has traveled the globe to visit and worship with pentecostal congregations on four continents, and he has written a dynamic, provocative history of this explosion of spirituality?a movement that represents no less than a tidal change in what religion is and what it means to people.

The Harvard Divinity School professor recounts meetings with Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, and Marxist men and women, and what they have taught him about the relationship between Christianity and other great religious traditions of the world.

In this urgently relevant, wholly enlightening discussion of modern moral decisions, the Harvard theology professor Harvey Cox considers the significance of Jesus and his teachings today. As he did in his undergraduate class Jesus and the Moral Life--a course that grew so popular that the lectures were held in a theater often used for rock concerts--Cox examines contemporary dilemmas in the light of lessons gleaned from the Gospels. Invigorating and incisive, this book encourages an intellectual approach to faith and inspires a clear way of thinking about moral choices for all of us.

There is no consensus about what someone who has violated society's rules must do in order to be fully restored to the community. Although repentance is a prominent idea in religions ranging from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to Buddhism and Hinduism, its use in civic culture is vague and inconsistent. For example, is remorse the same as repentance? Drawing from a variety of religious and civic perspectives, the renowned contributors to this book_from the fields of theology, philosophy, and the social sciences_offer a broad understanding of repentance and its many applications. The essays question the legitimacy of repentance as a religious concept for the civic culture, exploring the way in which the religious origins of repentance might both illuminate and facilitate our civic usage of the idea. Excellent for theologians, philosophers, moral ethicists, and anyone asking, ' Who deserves a second chance?'