Meditation works : in the Daoist, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions

by NM Magdalena. Well-rounded scholar Kohn (Boston Univ.) undertakes a study focused on remedying gaps in existing literature that often neglects to see meditation within its cultural/historical context. Attempting a new typology of meditation forms, Kohn looks at meditation in diverse schools within Daoist/Buddhist/Hindu traditions. Choice Reviews 2008 November

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The Life and Death of Images: Ethics and Aesthetics

by Diarmuid Costello. The ancient question of whether art has a social, political or psychological purpose is explored here by philosophers and art historians. Editors Costello (philosophy, University of Warrick UK) and Willsdon, a curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, have chosen eight colleagues to present their opinions. The contributors are arranged in pairs so that each gives a commentary on the paper of the other, thus creating a mini-dialogue. (Check Catalog)

Love matters : remarkable love stories that touch the heart and nourish the soul

by Delilah. The nighttime radio host shares a vast array of emotional stories, both heartwarming and heartbreaking, from her listeners, including a woman reunited with her first love thirty-eight years after giving birth to their child.

The self-proclaimed "Queen of Sappy Love Songs" and popular nighttime radio host shares a vast array of emotional stories, both heartwarming and heartbreaking, from her listeners, including a woman reunited with her first love thirty-eight years after giving birth to their child. (Check catalog)

Love Your Life: Living Happy, Healthy, and Whole

by Victoria Osteen. The popular co-pastor of Lakewood Church and devoted wife of Pastor Joel Osteen offers today's busy modern women a simple and practical plan to help them embrace joy and live life to its fullest.

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Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration

by Charles L. Griswald, Jr. Griswold (philosophy, Boston Univ.; Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment ) notes that the concept of forgiveness has "religious overtones," so he wisely—because this is a philosophical inquiry—limits himself to "forgiveness as a secular virtue (that is, as not dependent on any notion of the divine)." In the interpersonal (person-to-person) realm of forgiveness, he examines such related concepts as revenge, resentment, self-respect, atonement, sympathy, mental illness, compassion, pity, the unforgivable and the unforgiven, and self-forgiveness. (Check Catalog)

The Authentic Confucius: A Life of Thought and Politics

by Annping Chin.

Documents the political life and intellectual development of the influential moral thinker, drawing on top-credited Chinese texts to separate historical from popularized facts to offer insight into Confucius's daily life, belief systems, and relationships with his contemporaries. 25,000 first printing.

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Of God and gods : Egypt, Israel, and the rise of monotheism

by Jan Assmann. This latest work by eminent Egyptologist Assmann (emer., Univ. of Heidelberg) represents a follow-up to several of his earlier publications, most notably Moses the Egyptian (CH, Nov'97, 35-1472). It serves as a handy elaboration of Assmann's thinking regarding the role of Egypt in biblical and Western intellectual history, the revolutionary nature of biblical monotheism, and his concept of "the Mosaic distinction." It is also an extremely relevant examination of the origins of religious violence.
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Flesh Made Word: Saints' Stories and the Western Imagination

by Aviod M. Kleinberg. In the fourth century a new narrative genre captured the imagination of the faithful--the moving accounts of the lives of Christian saints. Willing to die gruesome deaths or endure constant suffering, saints conveyed a powerful message: God was still present in the world. He continues to manifest His powers and communicate His messages through His special friends--the saints. (Check Availability)

This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Wome

"This second collection of This I Believe essays, based on the National Public Radio series of the same name, gathers seventy-five essayists. Contributors run the gamut from musicians Mary Chapin Carpenter and Yo-Yo Ma, to Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, to ordinary citizens like a diner waitress, a middle school student, and an Iraq War veteran. (Check Availability)

Evolution and the Big Questions: Sex, Race, Religion, and Other Matters

by David Stamos. "This text considers whether evolutionary explanations can be used to clarify some of life's biggest questions. It offers a lively, informative, and timely look at a wide variety of key issues facing all of us today - including questions of race, sex, gender, the nature of language, religion, ethics, knowledge, consciousness, and, ultimately, the meaning of life." (Check Availability)