Through a series of 144 short texts on twelve key subjects, this text introduces the reader to some of the central perplexities of human life. Along with those texts written by the author himself are selections from such sources as Genesis and Lao Tzu, Plato and the Upanishads, Hume and Wittgenstein, Augustine and Ecclesiastes, to name but a few. Topics range from the nature of language to pleasure and pain to life after death. Most of the classical questions of the philosophy of religion are introduced. Contents: The Sphinx; Words; Good and Evil; Time; The Self; Pleasure and Pain; That None Greater Than Which can be Conceived; Knowing and Not Knowing; Prescription; Transformation; The Good Life; and Life After Death.

Very few books from Asia have been translated more frequently than Lao Zi's "Dao De Jing." His philosophy seems to be a perennial favorite with Americans. Nevertheless, readers often find translations wildly at variance with one another and sometimes difficult to understand. "The Path and Its Power" does not pretend to be yet one more translation. Rather it is a total restatement of the "Dao De Jing," as though Lao Zi had been reborn to speak anew to the 21st Century. The author uses 81 short readable poems to restate his message for the present day.

What is the point of life, after all? Is there any point? Is life just spending and consuming or are there spiritual secrets that need to be discovered. The poetry in this book arises out of the quest for meaning in a world that appears on the surface quite meaningless.

The Secret Sayings of Ye Su: A Silk Road Gospel provides a translation of, introduction to, and commentary upon an extraordinary, previously unknown manuscript. This Christian gospel, though written in koine Greek, was obviously influenced by both Buddhist and Daoist ideas and probably derives from Tang dynasty China (8th or 9th century). translated by Dr. Jay G. Williams is, in itself, quite fascinating. The author also describes the nature of the text and why he thinks it should be placed in the Tang dynasty period. He provides a concise introduction not only to the history of Buddhism and the indigenous religions of China during this period but also to the Religion of Light, a form of Christianity that entered China in 638 A. D. The work ends with a line-by-line commentary on each of the seventy-two verses of this gospel. ideas, offering a unique and quite radical vision of Ye Su (Jesus) and his teachings. Neither orthodox nor gnostic, The Secret Sayings comments about such topics as the place of women and gays within the community, the nature of the kingdom, and the source of Christian hope in the Source. Although faith is emphasized, doctrines and dogmas are not. A place is found for both the Heavenly Father and the Earthly Mother but alone neither is regarded as ultimate. The fellowship of believers is emphasized, but value of the Church as an institution is seriously questioned.