Philosophy & Religion

Real marriage : the truth about sex, friendship, and life together

2012-01-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

by Mark Driscoll. High-profile pastor Driscoll and his wife, Grace, have not only pulled back the curtain on the condition of marriage but have opened wide the door to their own home, taking readers into arguments, dating life, mistakes, and healing in their own marriage. While written from a theological point of view, they also did their homework in a wide range of therapeutic marriage books and have done thousands of hours of counseling and teaching marriage seminars along with their regular teaching in their Seattle church, Mars Hill. This is a book about married friendship, sexuality, healing broken marriages, and "reverse engineering" a marriage that will last-beginning with a vision of the end result and working back toward that. It includes no-holds-barred chapters on sex-how Mark held sex as "god" and Grace as "gross" and how they together discovered sex as a "gift" from God. The Driscolls' Neo-Reformed views come shining through, with much emphasis on sin's role in wrecking marriages today and Christ's role in redeeming them. Taken to heart and put into practice, this boldly refreshing approach can change couples across America by letting God do the changing. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

Through the year with Jimmy Carter : 366 daily meditations from the 39th president

2012-01-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

by Jimmy Carter. In Through the Year with Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth President of the United States takes you on a unique journey into the heart of the Christian faith. Based on more than three decades of practical Bible teaching, these readings draw from the riches of God's Word and the compelling experiences of Mr. Carter's own life. Whether through fascinating glimpses into behind-the-scenes activity at the White House, or insightful remembrances of his career in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Carter never ceases to connect the wisdom of Scripture with your own crucial place on the stage of life. Frank, honest, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always relevant, Through the Year with Jimmy Carter challenges readers to be more Christ-like every day of their lives. --Summary (Check Catalog)

Aging as a spiritual practice : a contemplative guide to growing older and wiser

2012-01-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

by Lewis Richmond. Although this is a user's guide to aging well written from the perspective of a Buddhist priest and meditation teacher, you don't have to be a Buddhist or, for that matter, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or even a believer to appreciate its very helpful reflections. The crux of the book is the simple declarative sentence, Everything changes. The first truth of Buddhist teaching and the first truth of aging are the same. As Richmond poignantly observes, Everything we love and care about . . . will change, transform, and eventually pass away. Richmond believes this potent idea need not be depressing. On the contrary, it can be positive and transformative. Each chapter explores a specific facet of the aging process, from a discussion of the stages of aging to the science of healthy aging, and concludes with a series of contemplative reflections. Included are stories of ordinary people, some of whom like growing old and others who do not. In addition, Richmond offers examples of contemplative Buddhist practices. An effective primer. - --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The body politic : the battle over science in America

2012-01-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

by Jonathan D. Moreno. According to Moreno (David & Lyn Silfen University Professor, Univ. of Pennsylvania; Senior Fellow, Ctr. for American Progress; Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense), the American dream is founded on a belief in a future of scientifically driven progress. That is why the new biology (his term for recent developments in the life sciences) strikes at the heart of America's political consciousness, challenges established alliances, and has the potential either to bring people together or to drive them apart. Moreno shows how biological discoveries aggravate cultural tensions, challenge our political system and values, and stimulate debate about the place of science and scientists in America. Although his progressive leanings are clear, he gives balanced treatment to a variety of views and arguments, equally discussing the promise of the new biology and the cultural, political, and social uncertainties it brings. VERDICT This is a sophisticated, useful, and well-written guide to the history and complex political issues surrounding the new biology. Recommended for anyone, general and scholarly readers alike, interested in a deeper understanding of the new biology, bioethics, and the political debates they engender. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Nearing home : life, faith, and finishing well

2011-12-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

by Billy Graham. "I never thought I would live to be this old." In this moving narrative, Billy Graham once again takes up the pen not only to share his personal experience of growing older but also teach us some important lessons on how to view our time here on Earth. He says that the Bible makes it clear that God has a specific reason for keeping us here. So what is His purpose for these years, and how can we align our lives with it? How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but actually grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties? In what may be his most powerful message of the last decade, Billy Graham speaks to all on this side of Heaven as he covers the importance of four key areas: Building strong foundations and understanding the gift of years *Facing life's transitions, including the passing of years, retirement, and when loved ones die *Making wise decisions *Understanding our glorious hope. "In this book I invite you to explore with me not only the realities of life as we grow older but the hope and fulfillment and even joy that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God's point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day. I pray that you and I may learn what it means not only to grow older, but, with God's help, to grow older with grace." --Summary (Check catalog)

Justice : what's the right thing to do?

2011-12-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

Look for out upcoming programming using ths book!
by Michael J. Sandel. Sandel, a Harvard law professor, effortlessly integrates common concerns of individuals with topics as varied as abortion, affirmative action, and family loyalties within the modern theories and perspectives on freedom. He reviews philosophical thought from the ancient to more modern political philosophers, including Immanuel Kant and John Rawls. Sandel critiques three ways of thinking about justice: a utilitarian perspective that seeks the greatest happiness for the greatest number; the connection of justice to freedom with contrast between what he calls the laissez-faire camp that tends to be market libertarians and the fairness camp with an egalitarian slant that acknowledges the need for market regulation; and justice tied to virtue and pursuit of the good life. Although the last is generally associated with the cultural and political Right, he exposes connections across political lines. Sandel reveals how perspectives on justice are connected to a deeper and reasoned analysis, a moral engagement in politics, and a counterintuitive conclusion in modern politics. Whether or not readers agree with Sandel's conclusions, they will appreciate the encouragement to self-examination on the most mundane topics. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The color of rain : how two families found faith, hope & love in the midst of tragedy

2011-12-16T07:17:00.000-08:00

by Michael Spehn. There are easier circumstances under which to build a blended family. Michael Spehn and Gina Kell both lost their young spouses to cancer. Both couples were attractive, young, vital, giving, loving, with loving families and adorable young children. These assets alone might be enough to bring widower and widow together to build new lives of happiness and bliss, but not necessarily. What this book makes so apparent is the importance of appreciating the significance of every moment while managing life's toughest parts with compassion sometimes only afforded by faith. In simultaneous journals kept before and after both family tragedies, the Spehns convey the preciousness of human connection and the gifts of grace offered by family, friends, and a strong faith community. Healing their wounds, the Michael and Gina married and created New Day Foundation for Families, a nonprofit that helps families of young children who have lost a parent to cancer. This is a well-written tale of sheer goodness turning the tables on tragedy. --Booklist (Check catalog)

Beyond religion : ethics for a whole world

2011-12-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

by the Dalai Lama, XIV. In this kind of sequel to his Ethics for the New Millennium, the Dalai Lama delineates some of our global challenges and suggests a nonreligious yet ethical mode of thinking that might help us. Although the note of exhaustion has been sounded-the Dalai Lama has spoken of retirement and begins this book by saying "I am an old man now"-his nonreligious ethics still have a strong and perhaps welcome Buddhist flavor. VERDICT The Dalai Lama's gentle and sensible messages of focus, peace, and mindfulness may not be heeded in a divided world but will be very welcome to seekers of all faiths. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

The Screwtape letters ; with, Screwtape proposes a toast

2011-12-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

by C.S. Lewis. Lewis's satire is a Christian classic. Screwtape is a veteran demon in the service of "Our Father Below" whose letters to his nephew and prot‚g‚, Wormwood, instruct the demon-in-training in the fine points of leading a new Christian astray. Lewis's take on human nature is as on-target as it was when the letters were first published in 1941. John Cleese's narration is perfect as he takes Screwtape from emotional height to valley, from tight control to near apoplexy. This will be a popular in most libraries. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

Religion in human evolution : from the Paleolithic to the Axial Age

2011-11-25T06:47:00.000-08:00

by Robert Neelly Bellah. Bellah (sociology, emeritus, Univ. of California, Berkeley) examines the genesis of religion in human culture, artfully demonstrating how play, myth, and ritual developed during the Paleolithic era into the essential components that are still recognizable in religion today. He then examines the Axial Age (c. 800-c. 200 B.C.E.), with which we are more familiar: great philosophers in Greece, Israel, China, and India put forth ideas that were based on both the natural world and the spiritual plane; they effectively married the two. Bellah's book is an interesting departure from the traditional separation of science and religion. He maintains that the evolving worldviews sought to unify rather than to divide people. Poignantly, it is upon these principles that both Western and Eastern modern societies are now based. What strikes the reader most powerfully is how the author connects cultural development and religion in an evolutionary context. He suggests that cultural evolution can be seen in mimetic, mythical, and theoretical contexts. Ultimately, Bellah contends that our society is especially informed by our lengthy biological past. VERDICT This is an academic work recommended for specialists in the field of religion and sociology. Most lay readers, even if compelled by the subject, will find it heavy going, but the intrepid ones may well want to take it on and will marvel at Bellah's approach. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Peace be with you : monastic wisdom for a terror-filled world

2011-11-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

by David Carlson. Carlson (religious studies, Franklin Coll.), a scholar of monasticism, Orthodox-Catholic relations, and adult faith development, here offers an idiosyncratic mixture of spiritual autobiography and interfaith study. After 9/11, Carlson embarked on a long journey, interviewing more than 30 abbots, nuns, monks, and other religious leaders in an attempt to articulate new ways that Christianity and Islam, despite their apparent differences, might find a rapprochement. Carlson embraces, with some pain, the idea that Christ is found in the "woundedness" of the world, and that the only way forward is for all faiths to live more fully in their own faith, with compassion. VERDICT Carlson's moving personal journey reaches far beyond his own identities as a male, Christian, and academic, to address the questions many have asked over the past ten years; both individuals and church groups should benefit. --Library Journal. (Check catalog)

Where the hell is God?

2011-11-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

by Richard Leonard. Leonard, an Australian-born Jesuit who writes on Catholic approaches to film (Movies That Matter), has authored a brief, acute, and touching book on theodicy. For Leonard, guided in part by his own experience with a sister left disabled after an auto accident, and in part by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, God does not directly will or send pain, suffering, natural disasters, or punishments. We can approach God through these experiences and learn from them, but God is not their "author" in the simplistic sense many espouse. While Leonard's God may feel more remote than the personal deity many have embraced, his liberation of God from personal evil is a breakthrough. VERDICT An explosive and progressive message in a small wrapper, Leonard's book may frustrate Catholic and non-Catholic conservatives, but it will be a tonic for liberal Christians and seekers of all faiths. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

Sanctuary of the soul : journey into meditative prayer /

2011-11-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

by Richard J Foster. This plainspoken book by bestselling author Foster (Celebration of Discipline) addresses the problem of listening for God (Jesus) in a world of noisy distractions. Dividing his work into three parts, Foster describes how God longs to communicate with each of us, how we can become present and surrendered to God, and how we can cope with common obstacles in our quest for communion with the divine. After each section, Foster recounts a story from his own life to demonstrate how one might practice meditative prayer in a real-world situation. At the end of the book, he answers typical questions about prayer. Foster leans heavily for guidance not only on his Quaker heritage but also on classic Christian mystics, including Brother Lawrence, Teresa of Avila, and Julian of Norwich, and he is not afraid to mention Satanic opposition. His quiet writing style models the listening stillness he wishes to impart. Amid many books on meditative prayer, Foster's stands out for its clarity, simplicity, and focus. --Publishers Weekly. (Check catalog)

The journey : walking the road to Bethlehem

2011-10-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

by Adam Hamilton. It is undoubtedly a challenge to bring a fresh perspective to biblical texts that many Christians have heard in church and read countless times. But Hamilton (24 Hours That Changed the World), founding pastor of the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kans., brings careful research, the perspective of an experienced minister, and an eye for detail to his work that will appeal to many. Beginning with the Gospel reading appropriate to his meditation, he draws on historical information as well as his own travels to take the reader on a spiritual walk, beginning with the angel Gabriel's annunciation to Mary that she will bear God's son and ending with the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem. Threaded with the stories of people he met along his way, and of others who have represented God's purposes in his own life, Hamilton also attempts to separate biblical facts, from a Protestant point of view, from traditions he appears to consider more speculative. While the writer doesn't break much new ground, the book serves as an inviting window into familiar texts that many Christians may be at risk for taking for granted-always a helpful exercise. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

Catholicism : a journey to the heart of the faith

2011-10-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

by Robert E. Barron. The Catholic Church has certainly faced some difficult challenges in recent years. Sex scandals, bishops who looked the other way, and a shortage of priests are seared into the consciousness of many within and outside this faith tradition. Barron, a Catholic priest and professor of theology at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago, draws attention back to the beautiful and rich tradition of this two-millennia-old religion. The author is able to set politics aside and examine the true heart of the Catholic faith-God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the numerous devotional practices and dogmas that have developed over the centuries. He casts a spotlight on some of the holy people who have helped build up the church, such as Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Katharine Drexel, and Mother Teresa. Barron's engaging stories help to dissect and explain complex theological tenets. One comes to understand that Catholicism transcends religious practice; it is a lifestyle. Those who would like a concise but substantive introduction to the Catholic faith need look no further. --Publishers Weekly (Check catalog)

Living beyond your feelings : controlling emotions so they don't control you

2011-10-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

by Joyce Meyer. Evangelical Christian author and speaker Meyer explains in her typical straightforward style how controlling emotions can be when they take over an individual's life. Meyer is known for her bold delivery and in this work maintains that standard, offering readers plain truth on taking back a life that has been ruled by emotions for too long. The author recounts generously from her own life episodes of comical (or otherwise) moments when she allowed her emotions to overrule her better judgment, with disastrous repercussions. Readers will resonate with Meyer's ability to relate biblical principles to daily life as she tackles the gamut of emotions: anger and resentment; sadness, loss, and grief; fear; guilt, and regret. Meyer focuses on learning to think biblically, speak biblically, and then see lives and emotions transformed. Her many fans will not feel disappointed in her latest work. --Publishers Weekly. (Check Catalog)

Surprised by Oxford : a memoir

2011-10-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

by Carolyn Weber. Weber's transformation from agnostic to Christian occurs in the intellectually rigorous setting of Oxford University, where brainy students and brilliant professors both lead her to salvation and threaten to draw her away from it. Conveying the effects of unbridled inquiry and open-mindedness, this memoir of obtaining a degree in literature, and much more, also offers a peek inside of what many consider the world's most prestigious university, which Weber portrays as a place both steeped in great traditions yet tolerant of youthful exuberance. One of the best parts of the book is the author's self-deprecating sense of humor, which she uses to transcend challenging moments. Brimming with inspiring quotes from literary giants and great artists, this is a truly endearing work that offers great comfort and delight as it celebrates the Christian faith. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Practical wisdom : the right way to do the right thing

2011-09-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

by Barry Schwartz. In this thoughtful consideration of an Aristotelian ideal, Schwartz and Sharpe delve deeply into what it means to practice wisdom. What makes this an engrossing (and socially significant) read is not the nod to the ancient Greeks but, rather, the numerous examples of people in all facets of American life who seek wisdom in their professional and personal choices. The authors consider how mandatory sentencing has removed the element of judgment from a judge's position, citing a heartbreaking example. As they further make the case for empathy and patience, they delve into health care, education, and the groundbreaking work being conducted in the extraordinarily successful Veterans Court in Buffalo. Repeatedly, by example, they stress the necessity of a human approach, without politics, to the issues of how we live and interact with each other. And through all of this, Schwartz and Sharpe demonstrate how relevant Aristotle is today. As surprising as it is convincing, this thoughtful work will long stay with readers, as will the many people who are profiled on its pages. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

A faith of their own : stability and change in the religiosity of America's adolescents

2011-09-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

by Lisa D. Pearce. Pearce (sociology, North Carolina-Chapel Hill) and Denton (sociology, Clemson) present the second book using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion. Denton wrote the first, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, with Christian Smith (CH, Dec'05, 43-2154). This newer analysis focuses on changes in religious identity, if any, as teens move into late adolescence. Pearce and Denton classify subjects as Abiders, Adapters, Assenters, Avoiders, or Atheists, based on content (belief), conduct (practice), and centrality (importance) of religiosity. The greatest stability emerged among Abiders and Atheists, those most confident and secure in their religious identity. Among others, the authors discerned small but significant change, usually a decrease in religious practice such as church attendance. At the same time, most respondents reported little change in belief. Many reported faith deepening, as it became more personalized than institutionalized. Pearce and Denton show how proper "scaffolding" (a support network allowing for increasing autonomy as adolescents mature) promotes positive reinforcement for religiosity. Most importantly, they argue that any unidimensional approach obscures the richness of adolescent spirituality. Primarily for social scientists, this work is important for readers at all levels who are attempting to understand the religious life of American adolescents. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The new sciences of religion : exploring spirituality from the outside in and bottom up

2011-09-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

by William Grassie. Based to a large extent on his own previously published articles, Grassie (founder, Metanexus Institute) presents an ambitious overview of contemporary work in the scientific study of religion, and attempts to show how current scientific understanding of the world can be compatible with--and even form the basis for--religious belief in what he calls "God-by-whatever-name," thereby closing the gap between science and religion. The early chapters focus on the function of the phenomenon of religion and its development as viewed from the perspectives of economics, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and medicine. The conclusion of the later chapters, that "religions are all partly right," will probably persuade neither the militant atheist nor fundamentalist apologist, but may establish a useful starting place for further dialogue among those whose minds are open. Ranging from Auguste Comte and Adam Smith to Clifford Geertz and Paul Ricouer, the book may attempt to cover too much (the index alone comprises 24 pages of three columns of reduced print). But the writing is clear, and the presentation balanced. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The wealth cure : putting money in its place

2011-09-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

by Hill Harper. We are programmed to believe that money and acquisition are our keys to happiness, success, and well-being. But the national debt crisis has exposed how the detrimental effects of materialism and the pursuit of money have caused us to have unbalanced relationships with ourselves and others. Harper, an NAACP Award-winner, bestselling author, and star of CSI: NY, was forced to reevaluate his ideas about wealth after the shock of being diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Through a series of stories about family, friends, and his experience in coming to terms with his diagnosis, he takes the reader on a journey to examine the sources of true happiness while giving practical advice for getting one's financial house in order and achieving greater peace of mind and a commitment to higher goals. While most books on finance treat the subject as simply a set of rules to follow, Harper looks more deeply into how to build a healthy financial foundation while maintaining greater perspective on the values and relationships that are really important in life. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The cure for the chronic life : overcoming the hopelessness that holds you back

2011-08-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

by Deanna Favre. There's one important message here: emotional pain and suffering can be greatly reduced by forgetting oneself and showing compassion toward others. After receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer, Favre, wife of NFL star quarterback Brett Favre, established a foundation to help women fight the disease and wrote Don't Bet Against Me! (2008), a hopeful book for breast cancer survivors. Stanford is an HIV-positive Methodist minister and author of When God Disappears (2008). In this title, their combined stories about themselves, their families, and people they've encountered provide inspiration for opting to live according to Christ's example instead of living in crisis. Beyond listing common mistakes that lead to crisis living and chronic unhappiness, the book serves as a 40-day, Bible-study guide and encourages discernment and application of God-centered truths for facing daily challenges. Full of helpful advice, but loaded with Biblespeak, so keep the King James handy. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Paradise lust : searching for the Garden of Eden

2011-08-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

by Brook Wilensky-Lanford. William Fairfield Warren, esteemed theology professor and first president of Boston University, was convinced that Adam and Eve were giant people, 7- to 12-feet tall, who lived in Eden among prehistoric sequoia trees at what is now called the North Pole. Hong Kong businessman Tse Tsan Tai's 1914 research placed the garden somewhere in Mongolia. Maybe the fabled confluence of Eden's four rivers lies in southern Ohio. Examining the perennial quest to locate the Garden of Eden on earth, Wilensky-Lanford introduces a diverse cast of believers who sought to create a new world by finding the biblical garden somewhere amidst the imperfect geography we know. Given the unalloyed weirdness of some of their theories, expect a certain degree of authorial snark. But while Wilensky-Lanford's tone is indeed light and entertaining, she portrays her obsessed subjects with respect and even a little sympathy. In the end, the book is less about Eden-finding or myth-busting than it is a study of the undying human need for meaning, symbolism, and unity in a fractured and profane world. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Twelve steps to a compassionate life

2011-08-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

by Karen Armstrong. *Starred Review* It takes courage for a religious historian and writer of Armstrong's stature to step out from behind the scrim of scholarship and analysis to offer guidelines for a spiritual practice designed to make humanity a kinder and saner species. With the boon of the prestigious TED Prize, Armstrong (The Case for God, 2009) worked with leading thinkers from a variety of major faiths to compose a Charter for Compassion, which calls for the restoration of compassion to the heart of religious and moral life in a dangerously polarized world. Not content with merely stating lofty goals, however, Armstrong, a revered genius of elucidation and synthesis, now tells the full and profound story of altruism throughout human history. She turns to neuroscience and tracks the evolution of our brains and our natural capacity for empathy, and performs her signature mode of beautifully clarifying interpretation in a mind-expanding discussion of the history of the Golden Rule ( Always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself ), the essence of compassion and the kernel of every religious tradition. Exquisite and affecting explications of Buddhist, Confucian, Judaic, Christian, and Islamic commentary prepare the ground for meditation exercises meant to engender open-mindedness and the cultivation of compassion, making for the most sagacious and far-reaching 12-step program ever. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A hefty print run is planned for renowned religious thinker Armstrong's bold approach to teaching the compassionate ethos. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The solution : conquer your fear, control your future

2011-08-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

by Lucinda Bassett. Bassett (From Panic to Power; Life Without Limits) offers a 21-day emotional makeover for taking control of one's life. Her prescription for inner self-confidence and strength is first to understand one's core story (upbringing and life experience) and use it as motivation for success, rather than an excuse for self-sabotage and lack of good fortune. Bassett spends much time dissecting worry and depression and gives exercises for overcoming harmful thoughts. The exercises seem well thought out and helpful and can be undertaken at one's own pace. She offers a variety of quizzes, sidebars, and celebrity stories, which will leave readers feeling empowered and positive about life. Well done. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Seeking the sacred : transforming our view of ourselves and one another

2011-08-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

by Stephanie Dowrick. At age eight, New Zealand-born Dowrick lost her mother to cancer. Her father, wh. regarded religion as irrational. promptly became a Roman Catholic, which sent the little girl reeling into the mysteries and miseries of devout faith. The rituals and rapture of nuns and priests fascinated and comforted her. Yet adults who insisted Jesus Christ was forced to suffer for her sins caused her to experience levels of guilt she had never before known. Decades later, the author of Choosing Happiness (2005) and other best-sellers still experiences nostalgia and dismay about her father's chosen faith, but it is her questioning of what all religions attempt to bring followers that has produced a wonderfully inspirational book. This is not just about connecting with God or even fully understanding what God may be. It's about witnessing the sublime in the ordinary, seeking what is sacred in everyday experiences, and accepting life's challenges as important lessons. First steps in the journey involve achieving self-acceptance, self-love, and forgiveness. This is a genuine road-to-happiness read. --Booklist (Check catalog)

God is not a Christian : and other provocations

2011-07-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

by Desmond Tutu. Drawing mostly from public utterances by Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, his biographer (Rabble-Rouser for Peace, 2006) creates an ideal calling card for this magnificent apostle of peace and fellowship. The selections span four decades of Tutu's advocacy for tolerance, justice, and forgiveness, and Allen presents them in sections concerned with, respectively, inclusiveness in religion and society, freedom from political oppression, economic and racial injustice, and the exercise of power. Specific topics include interfaith respect, gay and lesbian religious and social equality, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the necessity of black theology, Christian involvement in politics, and the successes and failures of South Africa after apartheid. No matter the topic, Tutu speaks throughout in the voice of the Christian prophet, decrying cruelty and meanness, defending the poor and the powerless, delighting in the beauty of creation, assuring us that each and every person has God's love, as we hope, pray, and work for the kingdom of God. A little book that perfectly answers the question, who is Desmond Tutu? Ed: cap not in the title. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Max on life : answers and insights to your most important questions

2011-07-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

by Max Lucado. Sure to be another bestseller for renowned pastor Lucado, Max on Life brings together 25 years of answers to questions posed by readers, all in the reassuring voice fans have come to value as uniquely his. Lucado divides the sometimes tough-to-tackle subjects into palatable sections on hope, hurt, home, him and her, and the hereafter. Presented in a topical, Q&A format, this book is a departure from his usual narrative mode of operation, making it more accessible for some readers in comparison to his other books that could be touted as superior in literary merit. The union of practical advice and scriptural reference elevates Max on Life from just another self-help book to the status of a Christian quick-reference addressing a host of hot topics, from the trials of everyday life to major, life-altering decisions. Recommended where there is an established following for Lucado and demand for quick, Scripture-based answers to life questions. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

2012 and the end of the world : the Western roots of the Maya apocalypse

2011-07-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

by Matthew Restall and Amara Solari. Well, here's a much-needed breath of fresh, rational air. A welcome counterpoint to the seemingly endless end-of-the-world tomes, this well-documented, well-presented book (written by a pair of history professors) explores the origins of the alleged Mayan prediction that the world will end on December 21, 2012. For conspiracy buffs, the authors' conclusions will prove decidedly disheartening. For example: they show that there is no hard evidence that the Mayan calendar has any predictive function; the Long Count calendar (which is key to the 2012 date) has a purely arbitrary start date, rendering the 2012 date meaningless; and (despite common misperception) the Mayans were not especially apocalyptic in outlook. The authors have a simple mission, to explain what the 2012 fuss is all about, and they do it admirably. They don't go as far as saying the world won't end in December 2012, but they do say this: there is no evidence, either historical or textual, that the Mayans were predicting the end of the world in 2012 or any other year. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

From Bible belt to sunbelt : plain-folk religion, grassroots politics, and the rise of evangelical conservatism

2011-07-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

by Darren Dochuk. This well-written intellectual and political history traces the emergence of the evangelical wing of the Republican Party from the early 1930s to the national ascent of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Dochuk (Purdue) follows migration patterns from the southern and southwestern edges of the Dust Bowl in search of opportunity in southern California, where migrants prospered under the New Deal and wartime economy. But their religious fundamentalism prompted a suspicion of the very government that enabled their successes; their faith consoled "the heart without troubling the mind." Billy Graham, Ronald Reagan, and Pepperdine College (now University) embodied the shift from the New Deal to the Cold War and from regional to national prominence. Together, these three reinforced the vision of evangelical claims that the New Deal/Great Society represented an assault on American values and Christian liberty through incipient socialism. Learning from the debacle of Goldwater's defeat in 1964, the religious and political Right of Southern California strengthened ties to the South; these played out successfully in Nixon's 1968 victory via his "southern strategy." Dochuk reminds readers that the rise of evangelical-based politics accompanied the rise of Southern California after the Great Depression and, as California's influence grew, so did the clout of evangelicals. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Seeking the sacred : transforming our view of ourselves and one another

2011-07-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

by Stephanie Dowrick. At age eight, New Zealand-born Dowrick lost her mother to cancer. Her father, wh. regarded religion as irrational. promptly became a Roman Catholic, which sent the little girl reeling into the mysteries and miseries of devout faith. The rituals and rapture of nuns and priests fascinated and comforted her. Yet adults who insisted Jesus Christ was forced to suffer for her sins caused her to experience levels of guilt she had never before known. Decades later, the author of Choosing Happiness (2005) and other best-sellers still experiences nostalgia and dismay about her father's chosen faith, but it is her questioning of what all religions attempt to bring followers that has produced a wonderfully inspirational book. This is not just about connecting with God or even fully understanding what God may be. It's about witnessing the sublime in the ordinary, seeking what is sacred in everyday experiences, and accepting life's challenges as important lessons. First steps in the journey involve achieving self-acceptance, self-love, and forgiveness. This is a genuine road-to-happiness read. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The Hindus : an alternative history

2011-06-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

by Wendy Doneger. Note that Doniger is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of Religions at the University of Chicago and the author of many books. Note that alternative neatly defines her. Learned, fluent, and entertaining in spite of the complexity of this ambitious undertaking, Doniger is also controversial, a role she embraces, confident that fresh viewpoints are essential to understanding the worlds that shaped the Hindu tradition, and the ways Hindus shaped society. While Doniger delves deeply into the Vedas and the two great poems, Ramayana and Mahabharata, she searches other spheres for clues to the lives of women and the lower castes. She also analyzes depictions of animals, which are central to Hindu tales and the cultural ideal of nonviolence. As she energetically parses the relationships between gods and humans, karma and renunciation, asceticism and sensuality, priests and kings, men and women, she is also seeking glimpses into everyday Hindu life during each of India's empires. Lavishly detailed, dynamic, and encompassing, Doniger's multidimensional history celebrates Hindu wisdom, diversity, and pluralism with knowledge, insight, and passion. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Unconditional?

2011-06-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

by Broan Zahnd. In this insightful critique of contemporary Christianity, Zahnd (What to Do on the Worst Day of Your Life), pastor and founder of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Mo., challenges Christians to make Jesus' call to forgiveness central to their faith. He bases his argument that Christians are not merely forgiven-a belief he considers "cheap grace"- but also called to "extend the grace of forgiveness to others" on his compelling analysis of the Sermon on the Mount, as well as Jesus' teaching and life, particularly Jesus' own plea on behalf of his executioners. In addition to drawing examples of radical forgiveness from scripture and literature, Zahnd provides powerful role models from recent history: Nelson Mandela's seeking reconciliation in postapartheid South Africa; the astonishing response of the Amish community to the murder of Amish schoolchildren in 2006; Pope John Paul II's befriending of his would-be assassin; and numerous others who chose to "end the cycle of revenge." Zahnd's evident preaching skills enliven this thought-provoking book; for example, he asks: "Who has fired the gun of hate at your heart?" The author may shake up his presumed readership of fellow evangelical Christians with his challenges to red-state America, and his demanding yet hopeful arguments deserve attention from Christians of all persuasions. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

The path : creating your mission statement for work and for life

2011-06-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

by Laurie Beth Jones. The author of Jesus, CEO combines powerful spiritual insight and inspirational, practical advice on how to achieve one's highest goals and potential in business and in life, discussing the three key elements of a successful mission statement and explaining how to fulfill a mission. Reprint. 75,000 first printing." --publisher (Check catalog)

The essential Santayana : selected writings

2011-06-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

by George Santayana. Although he was born in Spain, George Santayana (1863--1952) became a uniquely American philosopher, critic, poet, and best-selling novelist. Along with his Harvard colleagues William James and Josiah Royce, he is best known as one of the founders of American pragmatism and recognized for his insights into the theory of knowledge, metaphysics, and moral philosophy. The Essential Santayana presents a selection of Santayana's most important and influential literary and philosophical work. Martin A. Coleman's critical introduction sets Santayana into the American philosophical tradition and provides context for contemporary readers, many of whom may be approaching Santayana's writings for the first time. This landmark collection reveals the intellectual and literary diversity of one of American philosophy's most lively minds. --Summary (Check catalog)

The Rorty Reader

2011-06-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

by Richard Rorty. "The Rorty Reader" represents the first comprehensive collection of the writings of Richard Rorty, one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers, best known for the controversial "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" (1979). Gathering together key essays from over four decades of writings, the volume offers an in-depth introduction to the philosopher's life and prolific body of work. Topics addressed include the continuities and transformations that span Rorty's early training in the history of philosophy, his engagement with the analytic tradition, and the 1979 publication that brought him international renown. Particular attention is devoted to his later political writings, including his turn to literature as the vehicle of moral reflection most suitable to democratic life, and his embrace of philosophy as cultural politics.
With selections from "The Linguistic Turn" (1967)," Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" (1979)," Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity" (1989)," " "Achieving Our Country" (1998)," " and his four volumes of philosophical papers, including "Philosophy as Cultural Politics" (2007), as well as in-depth interviews and revealing autobiographical pieces, "The Rorty Reader" offers a compelling and representative view of Rorty's relationship with American pragmatism and the overall intellectual trajectory of his philosophical and political thought. --Summary (Check Catalog)

The most human human : what talking with computers teaches us about what it means to be alive

2011-05-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

by Brian Christian. Each year humans and computers square off for the Turing test, which Christian describes as a kind of speed dating via instant messaging, with five minutes to prove which is human. In 2009, Christian traveled to Brighton, England, to compete in a contest matching four humans and four computers. Christian chronicles his preparation and time spent devising strategies to trump the chatbot computers that can imitate humans. Along the way, he draws on philosophy, neurology, linguistics, and computer science, recalling chess master Garry Kasparov losing a match to IBM's Deep Blue computer and more recent developments in artificial intelligence. He explores how computers have challenged our bias toward the left hemisphere of the brain (logic) versus the right hemisphere (emotions) and how he and others have come to a deeper appreciation of emotional intelligence. He laments how so many jobs have trained employees with limited scripts that render them human chatbots. Christian intersperses interviews and musings on poetry and literature, observations on computer science, and excerpts from post-Turing test conversations for a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human. This book will surely change the way readers think about their conversations. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The wisdom books : Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes : a translation with commentary

2011-05-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

by Robert Alter. The prolific Alter (Hebrew & comparative literature, Univ. of California, Berkeley; The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary) has provided a magnificent work of translation and commentary on the Old Testament books known as wisdom literature. In the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, we find evocative poetic statements on the value of life, the role of suffering, and God's place in a moral order that often seems neither just nor ordered. This translation is superb. Alter's literary training gives this rendition a poetic edge over more prosaic translations. In some cases, he keeps previously loved images even when those are perhaps not quite right (the whirlwind in Job 38, for example, more properly translated as "storm"). In other places, he supplies gems, such as translating the names of Job's daughters (Dove, Cinnamon, and Horn of Eyeshade). Of equal importance is the commentary, which is rich in linguistic, historical, and literary insights that immeasurably enrich the reading of these texts. VERDICT Highly recommended for religion and seminary collections. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Hegel's practical philosophy : rational agency as ethical life

2011-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

by Robert B. Pippin In their groundbreaking studies of Hegel's ethical thought, Charles Taylor and Allen Wood largely extracted that thought from Hegel's larger (and supposedly less plausible) speculative metaphysics. In this, the first book-length discussion of Hegel's practical philosophy to appear in the wake of renewed interest in Hegelian metaphysics generated by the work of Robert Brandom and John McDowell, Pippin (Univ. of Chicago) instead takes Hegel's theory of rational agency as an entry point for understanding the larger project. Pippin details the rationale behind Hegel's unconventional approaches to nature and mind, rational agency, and freedom of the will. In conceiving the mind as the awakening of slumbering nature rather than as material or immaterial substance, or rationality as a retrospective "game of giving and asking for reasons" rather than an individual capacity for deliberation, Hegel sought to overcome dualisms that have continued to influence ethics and political philosophy. Pippin is adept in his use of sources (his turn to the Jena Phenomenology in exploring rationality is particularly noteworthy), and remarkably clear in his explanations of difficult texts. This book is crucial for serious students of Hegel's ethical theory. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Christianity and world religions : disputed questions in the theology of religions

2011-05-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

by Gavin D'Costa. D'Costa (Bristol Univ., UK) offers a Roman Catholic analysis of how Christianity relates to other religions. He describes his existential engagement with the subject: namely, as an African-born theologian of Indian Catholic descent, the brother of a Buddhist, and a teacher in a modern secular setting. He offers what he believes to be a nuanced and therefore useful typology of theological positions, critically evaluating leading proponents of each in turn. He also gives attention to what one means by "religion," and seeks to include secular modernity rather than to allow it to maintain a privileged objectivity. D'Costa proposes alliances and deeper conversation among Christians and Muslims in Europe, to meet the challenge of the comparatively young religion of secularism that idolizes the sovereign state and seeks to exclude other religious options from the public forum. Finally, he takes a position within what he calls Christian universal-access exclusivism, which assumes that one must explicitly hear and trust the gospel for salvation, but that this may happen after death. He finds convincing substantiation for his position in biblical, patristic, and medieval Christian doctrine. Summing Up: Recommended. --Choice (Check Catalog)

A history of philosophy in America, 1720-2000

2011-04-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

by Bruce Kuklick. Offering a thoughtful, inclusive overview of American philosophical activity from colonial divines to present-day academics, Kuklick, a historian at the University of Pennsylvania, defines philosophy expansively as "more or less systematic writing about the point of our existence, and our ability to understand the world of which we are a part." This broad definition allows him to include the philosophical aspects of writers often neglected in philosophy surveys, including Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Dense but clear, the book grounds its panoply of thinkers in their social context, particularly that of an evolving academic establishment for which Kuklick has some choice words ("constipated arrogance," in one case). The history is broken into three overlapping periods: a religiously inspired era (1720-1868), in which ministers, theologians and other amateurs shared equal status with professional philosophers; the "Age of Pragmatism" (1859-1934), dominated by Peirce, James and Dewey; and the contemporary "professional" period (1912-2000), in which American philosophy became more refined and internationally prestigious, but also more fragmented and remote from the public. Admittedly selective, the book becomes too much so at the end: the last 40 years are largely reduced to Kuhn and Rorty, skimming over almost everything else. Yet the book generally succeeds in identifying broad trends while spotlighting curious and significant points. Readers looking for a grounded narrative of American thought's development and contexts will find this book an accurate and compelling guide. --Publishers Weekly (Check catalog)

Love wins : a book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived

2011-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

by Rob Bell. Outspoken pastor and best-selling author Bell dares to question conventional Christian wisdom, such as the popular belief that states a select number of Christians will spend eternity in heaven while the rest of humanitynon-Christians and those who have not been savedwill suffer pain and punishment in hell. How does a person end up being one of the few? Chance? Luck? Random selection? he wonders. By asking these and other similarly pointed questions, Bell raises issues some may find disturbing or, at the very least, unsettling, not only about religion but about what it means to be a believer. He contends that some images of Jesus and God should be rejected outrightimages contrary to what he considers authentic Christian behavior. Through the use of anecdotes and Bible stories, Bell suggests alternative ways of understanding heaven and hell as well as such deeply Christian concepts as salvation and repentance. Further, he maintains that the cruel rather than loving God so many Christians believe in is a distortion of the Christian spirit. Thought-provoking. --Booklist (Check catalog)

The path : creating your mission statement for work and for life

2011-04-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

by Laurie Beth Jones. Laurie Beth Jones's first business bestseller, Jesus, CEO, made her the writer of choice for the large group of readers interested in bringing a spiritual dimension into their lives and business practices. In The Path, she again -- to great success -- combines powerful spiritual inspirations with sound, practical advice for helping individuals and the enterprises they lead to achieve their highest purposes and potentials. The Path is a complete guide to finding and fulfilling one's mission in life and business through the formulation of a succinct and focused plan. --Publisher (Check Catalog)

The experience of samādhi : an in-depth exploration of Buddhist meditation

2011-04-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

by Richard Shankman. Shankman (Sati Center for Buddhist Studies), one of the leading meditation teachers in the English-speaking world, provides an in-depth analysis of Buddhist meditation, especially drawing from the traditions rooted in the P~li Canon and the Visuddhimagga, an important treatise in Therav~da. This work does not address the meditation traditions found in the Mah~y~na or Vajray~na traditions. The primary intended audience is those who have a meditation practice or are interested in developing one. This is not an academic analysis of the topic, but rather an important primary source. Two related concepts thread through this work, namely sam~dhi (right concentration) and the stages of jh~na (profound meditative states of stillness that are the attainments of concentration and that lead to Enlightenment). Shankman provides excellent summaries of the related content in the major texts of the P~li Suttas and the Visuddhimagga, and also summarizes the controversies concerning sam~dhi and jh~na. The clarity of these discussions alone is enough to make the book a useful purchase. The other significant contribution that this work makes to the field is a collection of interviews with influential, English-speaking Buddhist meditation instructors; the content of the interviews focuses on samdhi. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Redeeming the Enlightenment : Christianity and the liberal virtues

2011-03-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

by Bruce K. Ward. This rich, nuanced book by Ward (Laurentian Univ., Ontario, Canada) draws on his previous work on Russian novelist Dostoyevsky, combining that literary analysis with probing explorations of philosophers such as Kant, Rousseau, Nietzsche, and Taylor. Ward argues that liberal modernity's ethics and philosophy are distorted reflections of richer Christian notions of the self and ethical existence. In contrast to the growing proliferation of specialized studies, this book offers an expansive tour looking for connections and differences among a host of thinkers--not to argue for a wholesale rejection of the Enlightenment but to show that Christian humanism is a richer philosophy upon which to base human fulfillment. In that project, humanity finds fulfillment in the giving of the self in love, not an endless quest for self-authored authenticity. This volume finds a way into a beyond-current debate about religion's role in a liberal society to show how religion and theology can point the way to a deeper meaning of the liberal project. Philosophically and theologically sophisticated, the book delineates the rich ways in which philosophy and theology can powerfully engage literature. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The hemlock cup : Socrates, Athens, and the search for the good life

2011-03-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

by Bettany Hughes. There are certain historical figures whose lives merit perpetual reexamination because their impact continues to reverberate century after century. According to historian Hughes, author of Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore (2005), Socrates is one of these seminal social and cultural architects. Beginning at the end of Socrates' long life, she reaches back in time, analyzing the historical context responsible, in part, for spawning such an exceedingly influential thinker. If, as she purports, we think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did, it is important for us to understand why and how he posited the relentless questions about what it means to be human that drew attention to his famous philosophical method of inquiry and debate. This, then, is not only a lively and eminently readable biography of Socrates the man but also a vivid evocation of Athens, the city-state on the cusp of originating many of the greatest precepts of modern Western civilization. --Booklist (Check catalog)

The truth (and untruth) of language : Heidegger, Ricoeur, and Derrida on disclosure and displacement

2011-03-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

by Gerrit Jan Van Der Heiden. This book investigates the relationship between language and truth/untruth through analysis of contemporary hermeneutic theory in the thought of Heidegger, Ricoeur, and Derrida. Van der Heiden (Radboud Univ. Nijmegen, the Netherlands) suggests that much of the history of philosophy attempts to eliminate ambiguity by reducing language to a universal and transparent system. Hermeneutics, on the other hand, stresses the importance of metaphor, poetics, and translation. The author focuses on points of agreement between hermeneutic and deconstructive theories to argue for the roles of disclosure and displacement in the function of language. Disclosure is the relationship between language and being and truth as most clearly seen in Heidegger; displacement involves linguistic phenomena such as metaphor, translation, and mimesis that displace "a word or a group of words from one (con)text to another." Chapter 1 sets the stage through a discussion of Heidegger's notions of truth, untruth, understanding, and language. The following three chapters address the themes of writing, metaphor, and mimesis and their relationship to disclosure and displacement. The final chapter provides a more direct investigation of these two thematic terms. Summing Up: Recommended. --Choice (Check catalog)

The truth about grief : the myth of its five stages and the new science of loss

2011-03-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

by Ruth Davis Konigsberg. Veteran journalist Konigsberg offers a spot-on critique of Elisabeth K bler-Ross's seminal theory-the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This "staged" approach, Konigsberg argues convincingly, is unscientific, tends to assume more prolonged mourning, and "completely omits positive emotions that are also integral to the experience of grief." Konigsberg also looks at various scientific studies on how people cope with grief, noting, "On average, those who got help experienced no less distress nor recovered more quickly than those who didn't." She maintains that people cope with grief thanks largely to the human capacity for resilience, relying heavily on the work of psychologist George Bonanno, though Konigsberg acknowledges that this isn't the case for those who experience the intractable grief that Freud called "melancholia." Konigsberg makes few distinctions among different mourning situations and among various therapeutic approaches (e.g., individual versus group treatment; long- versus short-term counseling; cognitive-behavioral versus psychodynamic treatment). In general, she has researched her subject, writes clearly and engagingly, and uncovers a host of interesting facts. Despite a few conceptual flaws, this book is well worth reading. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

The death of the animal : a dialogue

2011-02-28T12:50:00.000-08:00

by Apola Cavalieri. This small book is full of large issues: philosophical reflection on the moral status of animals, the ethics-metaphysics relationship, the is/ought distinction, the relationship between analytic and Continental philosophy, the role of reason and argument in ethics, and more. Not that the book provides complete analyses of all these important issues; rather, it aptly raises the other issues while discussing the status of animals, demonstrating thereby the intricate relationships among them. Cavalieri (editor, Etica & Animali) begins with a Platonic-type dialogue that argues cogently that one's concept of "the animal" relies on perfectionism, the unjustifiable view that entities possessing certain desirable traits are morally superior to entities without those traits. In a series of short essays that follow, several other prominent thinkers join Cavalieri for a provocative discussion of "the animal" and the many other questions that swirl around that issue. They include analytic and Continental philosophers (Harlan Miller and Matthew Calarco, respectively), the novelist John M. Coetzee, and the literary thinker Cary Wolfe. Readers will find much to agree and disagree with throughout. This stimulating, unique book could have many uses in academic contexts. Summing Up: Recommended. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Real happiness : learn the power of meditation : a 28-day program

2011-02-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

by Sharon Salzberg. In an inviting, easy-to-follow format, Salzberg (Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness), cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society, provides a 28-day program for incorporating meditation into one's life. Written for beginners, the book explains breathing and sitting techniques, the science behind the practice, and 12 guided meditations. Interspersed throughout are FAQs from Salzberg's students regarding their difficulties with the practice. The accompanying CD includes nine meditations to guide readers through breathing, walking, emotional, and loving-kindness exercises. This is one of the best guides for anyone interested in exploring meditation or mindfulness. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

100 years of pragmatism : William James's revolutionary philosophy

2011-02-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

by John J. Stuhr. This collection of essays uses the recent centenary of William James's Pragmatism (1907) as the occasion for a series of reflections on the continued relevance of James's elaboration of pragmatism. The essays range from considerations of the historical and cultural significance of James's work in the context of American culture in the 100 years since its publication (James T. Kloppenberg, "James's Pragmatism and American Culture, 1907-2007" and Mark Bauerlein, "The Enemies of Pragmatism") to assessments of James's philosophical significance in the context of the broader history of philosophy (Richard M. Gale's "The Deconstruction of Traditional Philosophy in William James's Pragmatism" and Ross Posnock's "The Earth Must Resume Its Rights: A Jamesian Genealogy of Immaturity") to essays considering more systematic concerns in epistemology, political philosophy, and ethics. The final two essays consider possible futures for James's version of pragmatism. Overall, this volume consists of well-written essays that ought to prompt a thoughtful reconsideration of William James's thought and its place in American culture. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The masque of Africa : glimpses of African belief

2011-02-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

by V. S. Naipal. In his engrossing new work of nonfiction, Nobel Prize winner Naipaul (A Writer's People: Ways of Looking and Feeling) recounts his travels through six African countries and the religious and spiritual beliefs he encountered in each. The journey begins in 2008 with Naipaul's return to Uganda, where he had been a visiting professor in the 1960s. From there he takes us to Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Gabon, and, finally, South Africa. In each country, Naipaul visits sacred places and talks with people-from cab drivers to witch doctors and diviners-about their beliefs and spiritual practices. Naipaul narrates the journey with finely wrought detail, transporting the reader to the landscapes and city scenes he describes. Naipaul is witty, and his writing can be quite charming and delicate. He is also disarmingly frank in his assessments, a quality often not found in discussions of belief. Verdict A sharply written and engrossing exploration of the effects of religious and spiritual belief on societies. Effective both as a vivid piece of travel writing and for its glimpses of belief in Africa. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Hope will find you : my search for the wisdom to stop waiting and start living

2011-01-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

by Naomi Levy. Levy, one of the first women to be ordained as a Conservative rabbi, often counseled her congregants when they faced problems. But when her daughter, Noa, was diagnosed with a potentially fatal degenerative disease, she found herself unprepared for the crisis. Putting her life on hold, Levy focused on finding a way to heal her daughter. As she moved through her journey of pain, she eventually realized that she needed to restart her own life and learn to live well despite her family circumstances. Ironically, Noa supplied the necessary inspiration, accepting her physical and learning disabilities while persevering and maintaining an optimistic attitude. An honest account of a family struggle as well as a tribute to a very strong mother-daughter bond, this will appeal to those who gravitate toward self-help books based on Jewish wisdom. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Twelve steps to a compassionate life

2011-01-18T07:08:00.000-08:00

by Karen Armstrong, It takes courage for a religious historian and writer of Armstrong's stature to step out from behind the scrim of scholarship and analysis to offer guidelines for a spiritual practice designed to make humanity a kinder and saner species. With the boon of the prestigious TED Prize, Armstrong (The Case for God, 2009) worked with leading thinkers from a variety of major faiths to compose a Charter for Compassion, which calls for the restoration of compassion to the heart of religious and moral life in a dangerously polarized world. Not content with merely stating lofty goals, however, Armstrong, a revered genius of elucidation and synthesis, now tells the full and profound story of altruism throughout human history. She turns to neuroscience and tracks the evolution of our brains and our natural capacity for empathy, and performs her signature mode of beautifully clarifying interpretation in a mind-expanding discussion of the history of the Golden Rule ( Always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself ), the essence of compassion and the kernel of every religious tradition. Exquisite and affecting explications of Buddhist, Confucian, Judaic, Christian, and Islamic commentary prepare the ground for meditation exercises meant to engender open-mindedness and the cultivation of compassion, making for the most sagacious and far-reaching 12-step program ever. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A hefty print run is planned for renowned religious thinker Armstrong's bold approach to teaching the compassionate ethos. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The form of practical knowledge : a study of the categorical imperative

2011-01-11T08:27:00.000-08:00

by Stephen Engstrom. This important, densely argued book by Engstrom (Univ. of Pittsburgh) repays careful reading. The first half derives Kant's categorical imperative from the conditions of practical knowledge, whereby Kant's concepts of desire, intention, wish, choice, and practical judgment are rigorously distinguished. These foundational concepts are rarely explained so thoroughly, and are essential to understanding Kant's philosophy and his ethics in particular. On this foundation, the second half argues for the full equivalence of Kant's many formulations of the categorical imperative. In particular, it argues that Kant's "formulation of universal law" can derive not only "perfect" but also "imperfect duties," and not only duties to others but also duties to oneself. This is an important rejoinder to much recent scholarship (e.g., Allen Wood's Kantian Ethics, CH, Aug'08, 45-6705) that denies the equivalence of Kant's formulations. This book will be very difficult for undergraduates, but is necessary reading for graduate students and faculty who study Kant's ethics or teach Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Summing Up: Highly recommended. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The abacus and the cross : the story of the Pope who brought the light of science to the Dark Ages

2011-01-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

by Nancy Marie Brown. The story of Gerbert of Aurillac, later Pope Sylvester II, not only is a rags-to-riches saga but also captures how the direction of history can be influenced by one person. Gerbert entered the monastery early and thrived on learning and reading. Mastering grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music, he also possessed a sophisticated command of Latin and later taught at major cathedral schools and tutored the sons of kings. In Cordoba, the crossroads for the exchange of knowledge between the Arabic world and Europe, he learned the abacus and higher mathematics and astronomy. Brown (Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman) captures the court and church intrigues, disputes, politics, wars, marriages, and backroom maneuvering that drove events before and after 1000 C.E. Had Gerbert lived longer and been more politically savvy, Brown's portrait makes one believe his ability to teach might have jump-started science before the Dark Ages enveloped Europe. VERDICT Enjoyable to read, informative, and highly recommended for all history and history of science buffs. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Pragmatism : a reader

2010-12-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Pragmatism, which editor Menand says "is an account of the way people think," is the most American contribution to philosophy, albeit, as he explains, one that many think is nearly an antiphilosophy. The foremost pragmatists were and are Americans. The great progenitors were C. S. Peirce and William James. Their immediate followers include the father of progressive education, John Dewey; the jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes; social worker Jane Addams; and the father of social psychology, George Herbert Mead. Contemporary avatars of what can seem a pragmatic revival include critic of philosophy Richard Rorty, philosopher of religion Cornel West, and legal scholar Richard A. Posner. The most important papers by all those and several less generally known figures are the contents of this reader. They aren't easy reading, but Menand's introduction is considerably more accessible; he is to be thanked for it as well as for bringing the most influential pragmatist writings together for those who feel up to their challenges. --Booklist (Check catalog)

Striking a balance : a primer in traditional Asian values

2010-12-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

by Michael Brannigan. Brannigan (College of Saint Rose) draws on various narratives in a discussion of Hindu, Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian ethics, with an emphasis on bridging Western and Eastern understanding of Asian religions and balancing opposites. Hinduism's core teaching is that the true self is one with Brahman; morality consists in the ability to view others as one views oneself. The common ground of Buddhist schools is found in the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Path--also expressed in the ubiquity of suffering and the impermanence of all things, even the permanent self. Buddhist ethics' Eightfold Path is its centerpiece. Zen Buddhism emphasizes the direct experience of satori, or enlightenment, as essential. Taoists hold that breaches in the natural harmony with the Tao, the Way, mean that people must reconnect with their original nature to live in balance with all. Ren, the inner attitude of humaneness or benevolence, is the cornerstone of Confucian values; it is a balance of individual and communal values. Both Huston Smith in The World's Religions (rev. and updated, 1991) and Brannigan affirm the wisdom traditions; Smith explores both Western and Eastern religious thought. Brannigan's style is clear and engaging. Included are questions and philosophical excerpts. --Choice. (Check Catalog)

Amish peace : simple wisdom for a complicated world

2010-12-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

by Suzanne Woods Fisher Suzanne Woods Fisher's interest in the Anabaptist culture can be directly traced to her grandfather, W.D. Benedict, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin county, Pennsylvania. Suzanne has contributed to several nonfiction books, is the author of three novels, and lives in California. (Check Catalog)

Pragmatism's advantage : American and European philosophy at the end of the twentieth century

2010-12-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

by Joseph Margolis. This is the third book from Margolis (Temple) providing his assessment of philosophy's problems and prospects, following Reinventing Pragmatism (CH, Oct'03, 41-0859) and The Unraveling of Scientism (CH, May'04, 41-5226). A leading voice for 40 years, Margolis explains how pragmatism works as well as anyone, and he expertly exposes core philosophical issues at the intersections of pragmatism, analytic philosophy, and Continental philosophy. This book describes pragmatism's capacity for translating and bridging intellectual divides, its assistance with naturalism's maturity, its inheritance of moderate Kantian and Hegelian contributions, and its prospects for sustaining cross-tradition conversations. Because Margolis uses a wider backdrop of lingering post-Kantian controversies, he can interpret seemingly unrelated philosophical arguments from different traditions as variations on fundamental themes. All along, Margolis has his own rich and complex pragmatism, and he ably defends its merits, which consist chiefly of avoiding metaphysical dead-ends, synthesizing points that other traditions get right, and supplying leadership on ways to work out some remaining tough problems. Pragmatism, in Margolis's hands, proves to be surprisingly adaptable. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Academic libraries; lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers.

Frithjof Schuon and the perennial philosophy

2010-12-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

by Harry Oldmeadow. Schuon was one of the leading thinkers connected with the philosophia perennis, which holds that a common teaching and wisdom is at the core of all the world's most well-known religions and mystical traditions. This truth, as Schuon described it, does not belong to any particular system but is shared by all metaphysical systems insofar as they are true. During his long life, Schuon argued for this claim and taught it in a long series of highly influential publications. In the process, he became, along with Rene Guenon, its best-known advocate, attracting students and disciples from around the world. In the present study, Oldmeadow (La Trobe Univ., Australia), after providing a helpful biographical sketch and a discussion of other 20th-century perennialists, offers a comprehensive description and explication of Schuon's basic metaphysical assumptions and the large claims he built on them. Oldmeadow's familiarity with the wide range of Schuon's work and his clear expository style make this a valuable introduction to Schuon's thought. The serious problem he does not address adequately is whether Schuon's position is true or was built on a series of very suspect assumptions. Readers of Schuon will have to make this judgment for themselves. --Choice (Check Catalog)

God of liberty : a religious history of the American Revolution

2010-11-27T07:30:00.000-08:00

by Thomas S. Kidd. Kidd directs his magnifying glass on a rare slice of the American Revolution: its religious aspects. The organization of the work is more topical than chronological, giving a chapter's worth of attention to matters of racial equality, slavery, revivalism, chaplains, the Constitution, and the 1800 election of Jefferson as president. If there are common threads running throughout, they are the questions: How was the Revolution influenced by religion, and how was religion affected by the Revolution? Kidd is quite adept at providing answers while explaining the complicated connections between religion, politics, freedom, and patriotism that make up the Revolutionary period. After reading this, some may wonder why religion is so shortchanged in other Revolutionary treatments. In his epilogue, the author also has something to say about the notion of a Christian America, a topic that is particularly relevant today. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Ideas That Matter

2010-11-16T11:37:00.000-08:00

by A.C. Grayling. Grayling (philosophy, Birkbeck College, Univ. of London) writes technical philosophy but also contributes to wider public debates on contemporary political and moral issues through his numerous published books and commentary in magazines. His latest book reflects both of these interests and can be described as a personal dictionary of ideas: it is an A to Z listing of concepts drawn from philosophy, politics, society, religion, and science that do not hide Grayling's subjective views. Although the title of the work suggests a futuristic orientation, it is better understood as an attempt to explain the broad intellectual background of the 21st century by offering mini-discourses on very large concepts such as history, religion, truth, and war, among other subjects. That Grayling is able to offer pleasantly readable accounts of these immense topics in one or two pages is a testament to his skill as a writer for wide audiences. The personal views that Grayling most often interjects usually have to do with his secularism or atheism, which is apparent in any of the entries having to do with religion. As such the book is somewhat reminiscent of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, but not as funny. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Giving voice to values : how to speak your mind when you know what's right

2010-11-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

by Mary C. Gentile. Gentile, director of the Giving Voice to Values curriculum and senior research scholar at Babson College, offers a powerful action-oriented manifesto for living with integrity, fighting for one's convictions, and building a more ethical workplace. Arguing that if enough of us feel empowered to voice and act on our values then the business world will be transformed, she shows how to practice and perfect speaking up, thereby building skills and confidence. While Gentile's goal is unimpeachable, the vaunted outspokenness might be a harder sell to individuals in more vulnerable positions. Nevertheless, she provides sound guidance to making the workplace fairer by appealing to the sense of purpose in others, completing a self-assessment to determine risk and personal communication style, and anticipating reasons and rationalizations for questionable behaviors. For those motivated to hear her call, Gentile presents a strong-and sorely needed-case for improving corporate culture. --Publishers weekly (Check Catalog)

American grace : how religion divides and unites us

2010-11-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

by Robert D. Putnam. In recent controversy over the national motto, In God we trust, Putnam and Campbell see a symptom of profound change in the national character. Using data drawn from two large surveys, the authors plumb these changes. The data show that the tempestuous sixties shook faith in religion and that the seventies and eighties incubated a strong resurgence of devotion. But the two most recent decades add another twist, as young Americans have abandoned the pews in record numbers. Still, despite recent erosion of religious commitment, Americans remain a distinctively devout people. And devotion affects life far from the sanctuary: Putnam and Campbell parse numbers that identify religious Americans as more generous, more civically engaged, and more neighborly than their secularly minded peers. But the analysis most likely to stir debate illuminates how religion has increasingly separated Republicans from Democrats, conservatives from progressives. Readers may blame the Christian Right for this new cultural fissure, but survey statistics mark liberal congregations as the most politicized. But whether looking at politics or piety, the authors complement their statistical analysis with colorful vignettes, humanizing their numbers with episodes from the lives of individual Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Mormons. An essential resource for anyone trying to understand twenty-first-century America. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The great divorce : a nineteenth-century mother's extraordinary fight against her husband, the Shakers, and her times

2010-10-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

by Ilyon Woo. Seductive and willful, Eunice Chapman, a woman small only in stature, is the focal point of Woo's engaging debut historical study of one 19th-century upstate New York woman's fight for her children. Eunice married "old, disagreeable, and repulsive" James Chapman for economic survival and, through the legal doctrine of coverture, becomes civilly, and legally, dead. James, an alcoholic abuser, left Eunice in the fall of 1811 and found refuge among the Shakers, taking the children with him. Today, Shakers are remembered for their simple lifestyle and handiwork, but they were a radical, religious sect "that often swooped in on disconsolate spiritual seekers offering themselves up to hungry souls eager to rebound from their broken faiths." The life of a Shaker was about falling in line, and Eunice-when she sought out her family in the Shaker community-would have no part of any of it. Woo takes readers through Eunice's custody battle, which shook New York State, and the utopian Shaker world and larger society. Eunice obtained a divorce and regained legal custody of her three children in 1818. Verdict Neglected history comes alive in this meticulously researched and compelling story of one tenacious woman. Strongly recommended to all interested readers. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

APA ethics code commentary and case illustrations

2010-10-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Campbell (Univ. of Georgia) and her fellow authors are all deeply involved with the American Psychological Association and particularly interested in and involved with ethical concerns in the discipline. In a period of moral uncertainties, they address the APA's body of ethical codes and standards, which specifies guidelines to abide by in every domain of the field. To highlight the relevance of each standard to everyday concerns and interpersonal transactions, the authors provide case studies of specific scenarios. These enable readers to reason their way through a problematic issue to reach an ethically sound, beneficial, and equitable solution in line with the prevailing code, promulgated in 2002. This readable volume will be invaluable across all the subdisciplines of psychology. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Anarchy evolution : faith, science, and bad religion in a world without god

2010-10-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

by Greg Graffin. With the assistance of science journalist Olson (Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes, 2002, etc.), Bad Religion leader Graffin presents a memoir of a life lived "at the intersection of evolutionary biology and punk rock." In 1980, at age 15, Graffin co-founded the seminal punk band and also became fascinated with the writings and ideas of evolution. Bad Religion still plays and records, and the author is an evolutionary biologist with a doctorate in zoology from Cornell University. For Graffin, the appeal of both worlds was that, at their best, they challenged authority, dogma and given truths and opened up space for the anarchic process of creativity. As a naturalist, the author states that "the physical universe is the universe"—there is nothing more. But that is more than enough for him, as having a role in the unfolding adventure of life on earth—which includes both tragedy and death—sustains him. Life, he writes, is not simply an inexorable process of natural selection, in which the fittest survive and procreate, but an anarchic creative collision of biology and environment, chance and circumstance. Graffin and Olson explain this view of evolution in clear, accessible language. While avoiding easy analogies with evolution, a large part of the book is devoted to the evolution of Bad Religion, as its art and career careened in unpredictable directions. Along the way, Graffin provides a wonderful depiction of the early L.A. punk scene, a detailed account of his adventures doing field work in the remote Amazon region of Bolivia and an honest appraisal of his failure to successfully balance science, music and family. In the end, writes the author, it is the human trait of empathy—not religion or any other authority—that allows us to recognize our common humanity and to accept the uniqueness of each individual. Humble, challenging and inspiring. --Kirkus (Check Catalog)

Original sin and everyday Protestants : the theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, Billy Graham, and Paul Tillich in an age of anxiety

2010-09-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

by Andrew S. Finstuen. This unconventional study by Finstuen (Pacific Lutheran Univ.) presents "a curious trinity" of Reinhold Niebuhr, Billy Graham, and Paul Tillich, examined in relationship to one another through the prism of original sin. For each, the doctrine was the interpretive principle by which to reach a wide audience of "ordinary Protestants" in the post-WW II "age of anxiety." Keeping all these components together and focused is a delicate balancing act, but under Finstuen's skillful management of well-researched primary and secondary sources, the final product is an insightful and informative monograph. Finstuen perceptively describes the study's religious and cultural context, persuasively demonstrates that original sin was the underlying doctrinal cohesion among the three figures, and presents their individual and collective influence as diagnosticians of the human condition. Key to his analysis of the period and figures under study is the distinction between a "theological revival" that encouraged the independence of Christian faith from culture and a "captive revival" that encouraged the assimilation of faith into the culture. Niebuhr, Graham, and Tillich led the theological revival that set them against the prevailing ethos of optimism and conformity, and they, along with the "ordinary Protestants" of the era, emerge from this study in a new light. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty/researchers. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Inhabiting the cruciform God : kenosis, justification, and theosis in Paul's narrative soteriology

2010-09-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

by Michael J. Gorman. Gorman (St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore) devotes four chapters to the apostle Paul's understanding of human participation in God's cruciform character. Chapter 1 attends to Paul's view that Christ's self-emptying in the Crucifixion represents the character of God (and not just Christ) and is to be the model-character for humans called to be in Christ as God's representative. Chapter 2 contends that Paul understood the justification of humans by God as requiring human "participating in Christ's resurrection life that is effected by co-crucifixion with him." Chapter 3 argues that Paul regarded human holiness as human participation in the Cross of Christ by the power of God's spirit. Chapter 4 shows that a life of nonviolence and reconciliation is required for human participating in God's cruciform character. A nice summary of this approach to Paul's position is Gorman's statement: "To be truly human is to be Christlike, which is to be Godlike, which is to be kenotic and cruciform." Gorman defines "theosis" as "the process of transformation into the image of this God." The book is nontechnical but carefully attentive to relevant literature on its topic. --Choice (Check catalog)

Crazy love : overwhelmed by a relentless God

2010-09-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

by Francis Chan. Chan, senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, Calif., offers a radical call for evangelicals to consider and emulate in this debut guide to living "crazy" for God. Chan's own life compels him to live with urgency, and with good reason. His mother died giving birth to him, his stepmother died when he was nine, and his dad when he was 12. As a pastor, Chan says that conducting weekly funerals for people younger than himself has likewise sobered him to life's unexpectedness and frailty. Chan writes with infectious exuberance, challenging Christians to take the Bible seriously. He describes at length the sorry state of "lukewarm" Christians who strive for a life characterized by control, safety and an absence of suffering. In stark contrast, the book offers real-life accounts of believers who have given all--time, money, health, even their lives--in obedience to Christ's call. Chan also recounts his own attempts to live "crazy" by significantly downsizing his home and giving away his resources to the poor. Earnest Christians will find valuable take-home lessons from Chan's excellent book. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

Thinking of answers : questions in the philosophy of everyday l

2010-09-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

by A.C. Grayling. Unlike many other academic philosophers, Grayling cares too much about philosophy to leave it in the classroom. Indeed, as he applies the philosophic habit of mind to the issues arising in ordinary life, he opens remarkably expansive horizons. To be sure, only careful analysis can sound the depths of the larger questions engaged: Can humans ever reach objective truth, or does truth finally disappear in a welter of individual perspectives? What is the source and meaning of personal identity? But even casual reflection on relatively small matters such as smoking and tanning can yield surprising insights. Scornful of all forms of dogmatism, Grayling disavows any intention of definitively settling the controversies he visits in this array of diverse short pieces (first published in various popular journals): he simply aims to stimulate thought, inviting readers to revise or even reject his views. Because the author repeatedly echoes the antireligious diatribes of Dawkins and Hitchens, among others, devout readers will welcome the invitation to develop their own line of reasoning. A bracing miscellany. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)

New York Amish : life in the plain communities of the Empire State

2010-08-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

by Karen Johnson-Weiner. Amish settlements in New York have grown to some 25 since these German-speaking Anabaptist immigrants first came to the state in the early 19th century and are less well-known than Amish communities in other states, notes Johnson-Weiner (anthropology, State U. of New York, Potsdam). She traces their history, traditions, intragroup differences (e.g., between the Swartzentruber Amish and the Swiss Amish), and relations with non-Amish. The book includes maps and photos, even some of a people who regard such as forbidden graven images. Appendices list existing and extinct Old Order Amish settlements in New York. --Summary (Check catalog)

The global Luther : a theologian for modern times

2010-08-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Global Luther is one of those rare finds among edited volumes: a work that across 17 chapters shows remarkable coherence and thematic unity. Its editor, Helmer, guided with great acuity the like-titled conference held at Northwestern in 2008. Helmer has brought together an excellent collection of scholars to assess the continuing impact of Martin Luther on the 21st-century world. Though the roster includes a few long-established scholars, the contributors are largely of a new and emerging generation. Sharing their scholarship with the wider academic community makes this volume important on that point alone. The book begins by examining Luther's impact on Western civilization and the global community. The next two sections look at Luther's understanding of the human being coram deo (before God) and coram hominibus (before humanity). The fourth section places justification by faith into broader conversation with ethics and interreligious dialogue. Finally, the book examines, with appreciated nuance, Luther's approach to politics and the use of coercive power. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Every moment matters : savoring the stuff of life

2010-08-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

by John St. Augustine. In his latest, self-help author St. Augustine (Living an Uncommon Life: Essential Lessons from 12 Extraordinary People) examines the individual instances that have meant much to him, encouraging readers to do the same for themselves: "while the journey has been one of discipline and self-examination my life (and I suspect yours, too) is filled with moments that. taught me something, made me stop alive in my tracks, had me catch my breath." These moments are universal but predictable; one of St. Augustine's first examples is the death of his beloved dog Jake, a time of deep sadness that nevertheless made him realize the value of the companionship, unconditional love, fun, and adventure his pet provided. Another section finds him recalling a decades-old Colorado hiking trip with his friend David, on which he learned that "there is more than one way to reach the top, that it's good to have a buddy along for support, [and] that those who have gone before you often . make the climb a bit more manageable." Though his ruminations tend top be wordy (bordering on mundane self-absorption), St. Augustine makes an eager guide to the importance of reflection and mindfulness. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

Mencius

2010-08-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

by Mencius. This translation of the Mengzi (391-308 BCE), or as he is know to westerners, Mencius, is a tremendous accomplishment that crowns Bloom's exemplary career as a sinologist. Felicitous and insightful, accurate and challenging, the text is presented in a clearer light than ever before. Ivanhoe's sensitive introduction and editing add to the strength of the work. His introduction focuses on the political, religious, ethical, and cultural views of Mencius. Mencius is concerned primarily with the concept of ren or humaneness, the motivation of human actors of all stations and their mutual respect. This translation shows the depth of his arguments and highlights their impact on generations of Chinese beliefs. The Columbia translations of all Asian texts have been recognized for decades as the best in the field. William Theodore de Bary's assembled scholar/translators have provided generations of teachers, students, and researchers with solid English texts of the classics. This translation should be taken as a model to sinologists and translators throughout their studies. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The new shape of world Christianity : how American experience reflects global faith

2010-08-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

by Mark A. Knoll. Given the dramatic shift in world Christianity in the 20th century away from domination by Europe and North America, Noll (history, Univ. of Notre Dame) argues for a new historical perspective. Whereas in 1900 over 70 percent of Christians were white Europeans, the typical Christian today is African or Latin American. Noll, an evangelical Protestant, focuses on the relationships between American and global Christianity. With convincing interpretations of recent scholarship, he argues that the "template" of American Christianity rather than its direct influence has been the main American contribution to world Christianity, especially in its evangelical and Pentecostal forms. The American model of church growth includes voluntarism (rather than state churches), pragmatism, lay participation, and entrepreneurial initiatives. Voluntary societies, for example, successfully recruited and sent missionaries worldwide. Although scholars often have critiqued missions as serving American interests abroad, they usually have not asked why Christianity flourished. Noll answers that economic globalization has made large parts of the world look "more like America." Christianity has grown not from American imposition but because "parallel historical circumstances" have drawn converts to "the best means of explaining the world around them." --Choice. (Check Catalog)

Nine lives : in search of the sacred in modern India

2010-07-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

by William Dalrymple. For the last 20 years, Scotsman Dalrymple (The Last Mughals) has made the Indian subcontinent his bailiwick. In his introduction here, he describes Nine Lives as "a collection of non-fiction short stories," and he does portray the "pluralist religious and philosophic folk traditions" found in India in a way that is compelling and accessible to all readers. His subjects here are all people living on the margins: we meet a wandering Jain nun, a Tantric housewife whose abode is the cremation ground, a Sufi holy woman, a refugee from two countries, a blind Baul minstrel, and a Rajasthani bard who can recite from memory an epic of 626 pages, to name only a few. Dalrymple shows us the "lived experience" of the practitioners of these different religious paths and how their worlds have been impacted in a rapidly changing India. VERDICT More accessible but less scholarly than Wendy Doniger's The Hindus, Dalrymple's book is highly recommended for all collections. Readers will sense the power of faith underlying the divergent religious paths, with stories that are enthralling and will keep them up late reading. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

Thomas Hobbes

2010-07-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

by R.E.R. Bunce. As the inaugural volume in a new series from John Meadowcraft, "Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers," Bunce's Thomas Hobbes sets a high standard for future volumes. Bunce (Univ. of Cambridge) has provided a text useful for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty alike. The book includes a brief yet informative biographical sketch, an account of the development of Hobbes's civil philosophy, and a particularly valuable discussion of how Hobbes's thought was received in his own day, as well as the various avenues of interpretation subsequently developed. The discussion of Hobbes's reception and interpretation is particularly useful to students as it addresses the critiques of Hobbes made by Pufendorf, Locke, and Rousseau. The account of contemporary views of Hobbes discusses his place in the thought of important recent theorists such as Michael Oakeshott, Leo Strauss, and Francis Fukuyama as well as his continued relevance to contemporary political subjects. Bunce's volume has the particular virtue of paying due attention to Hobbes's physics as well as his politics, clarifying the frequently neglected link between his physics and his moral and political teachings. Summing Up: Recommended. All undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. --Choice. (Check Catalog)

The love response : your prescription to turn off fear, anger, and anxiety to achieve vibrant health and transform your life

2010-06-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

by Eva M. Selhub. Verdict: A compassionate and inspiring approach to managing stress, fear, and anxiety that underscores the connections between mental and physical health. Self-help enthusiasts will appreciate the author's nurturing tone and ability to synthesize Eastern and Western philosophies. Recommended for all libraries. Background: Selhub, an integrative health specialist and a senior staff physician at the Benson Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, offers practical and nurturing instructions, guided meditations, and imagery to invoke optimum mental states for total physical and spiritual well-being. Citing patient case studies, the author emphasizes the importance of spirituality and psychology in treating chronic health and medical concerns. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

A marginal Jew : rethinking the historical Jesus

2010-06-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

by John P. Meier. Meier (theology, Univ. of Notre Dame), a Roman Catholic priest and author of this work's previous three volumes, draws careful distinctions between Christology (theology) and the study of the historical Jesus (history) and between Christian ethics and Jesus's teachings about Halacha (Jewish law). Meier defines law both in intertestamental and in rabbinic Judaism while relating it to both Christian Testaments as a preliminary to a nuanced discussion of Jesus's teachings on law. Meier is forthright about the positives and negatives he uncovers that point to Jesus's provincialism and apparent lack of a system of moral values. Verdict Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars as well as educated laity may find the book interesting; it is essential reading for those focusing on its specific themes. Well indexed, this will also be useful for reference purposes. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)

Talking with Sartre : conversations and debates

2010-06-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

by John Gerassi. Across almost five years, Sartre's godson Gerassi (a former editor at Newsweek) met with the philosopher monthly to discuss family, politics, theory, identity, and other topics high in the minds of both men. As recorded in this aptly titled volume, the discussions remained personable, intellectual, and well guided. Stories about Sartre's nearly lifetime companion, Simone de Beauvoir, and Gerassi's father, artist and Spanish revolutionary Fernando Gerassi, are interwoven with memoirs of Sartre's earliest childhood as well as his then contemporary travels in the Middle East. In spite of the familiarity between the two discussants, the reader feels included rather than either excluded by lack of context or in the role of eavesdropper. Sartre's wit and warmth are nicely revealed without losing his still-active and engaged theorizing. VERDICT The whole makes for an eminently readable and compelling window on 20th-century intellectual social life, as well as philosophy and politics. Of wide interest not only to scholars but also to more casual readers. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Just Love; Transforming Civic Virtue

2010-06-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

by Ann Mongoven. By engaging John Rawls and other ethicists who prize impartial standpoints in ethics and politics, Mongoven (Michigan State) shows how the work of caring for particular others in activities such as parenting forms individuals to participate in civic life. Proposing a notion of "disciplined vulnerability," this volume argues for citizens who can recognize moral traditions, but employ and translate them as they navigate tensions between autonomy and relatedness and between smaller communities and the general polis. The work of Mothers against Drunk Driving, an organization founded on the passion of parental love, serves as an important exemplar. This book also presents an overlong tour of liberal theory that seems to detract from its carefully constructive case. The appendix contains case studies showing how the book's argument functions in real politics, allowing Mongoven to ground her case in a way that is too rare in contemporary political theory. This interesting but occasionally meandering book makes important contributions to the debates about the tensions between love and justice, particularity, and impartiality. It models engagement across the disciplines of theology, ethics, and political theory. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Maimonides in his world : portrait of a Mediterranean thinker

2010-05-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

by Sarah Stroumsa. This splendid study of Moses Maimonides expands readers' knowledge of the greatest Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages and his relationship to the cultural world in which he found himself. One is used to thinking of Maimonides as a talented Jewish thinker who was well acquainted with Islamic philosophy and who often drew heavily from it. However, Stroumsa (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) demonstrates that Maimonides' involvement with his own contemporary cultural world was even more extensive than in philosophy alone. Maimonides spent his entire life in the Mediterranean region, from Spain and North Africa in the west to Palestine and Egypt in the east. Stroumsa shows how widely read and deeply immersed in this diverse Mediterranean culture Maimonides was and how he interpreted his own Jewish tradition from what he learned from his participation in the broader culture, not only with regard to philosophy and religion but also in law, ethics, medicine, and science. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The philosophers' quarrel : Rousseau, Hume, and the limits of human understanding

2010-05-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

by Robert Zaretsky and John T. Scott. In a remarkable salvage operation, Zaretsky and Scott rescue from the wreckage of a famous friendship the remains of two contrasting Enlightenment perspectives. Improbable from the start, the friendship of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume united a Frenchman of passionate sentiment and a Scot of tough-minded skepticism. Even in these unlikely friends' early ardor, the authors discern incipient tensions that rapidly harden into a bitter antagonism involving partisans on both sides of the Channel. The result of more than conflicting personalities, the Rousseau-Hume breakup involves different critiques of the vaunted rationality governing the Age of Reason. Making sincerity of personal feeling his mainstay, Rousseau leveled histrionic accusations against Hume so vehemently that his erstwhile friend feared for his sanity. Relying for his part on communal solidarity, Hume deflected Rousseau's indictments by strengthening his network of social ties. Though the authors favor Hume in this notorious dispute, they highlight lapses in both men's reasoning and actions. An engaging narrative showing how divergent philosophical principles play out in real life. --Booklist. (Check catalog)

World religions and norms of war

2010-05-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

This collection of essays provides an overview of the history of thought concerning war in various religious traditions. With each chapter written by a different author, the book discusses the following traditions: Hinduism, Theravada Buddhism, Japanese religion, Judaism, Roman Catholic Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Shi'a Islam, and Sunni Islam. Additionally, the editors contribute introductory and concluding essays. The essays generally provide an evenhanded, detailed overview of the traditions. While there are some gaps and oversights (e.g., traditions of Buddhism other than Theravada are not discussed, the historical peace churches within Christianity receive little attention, the depth of critique of war in the thought of Pope John Paul II is not adequately presented), overall this book offers a very valuable look at the history of religious thought on war and peace. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; interested general readers and lower-level undergraduates. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The great oom : the improbable birth of yoga in America

2010-05-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

by Robert Love / Eastern spirituality and Western commercialism fuse in this flamboyant tale of an iconic American guru. Journalist Love tells the story of Pierre Bernard, a yoga adept from Iowa who made a splash at the turn of the 20th century by enduring bloody piercings and lacerations under trance. His Tantrik Order of disciples in San Francisco and New York soon gained notoriety; after police raided his schools, Bernard was accused of seducing girls and conducting sacred orgies. Delighted tabloids dubbed him "The Great Oom." Bernard rehabilitated himself in the 1920s with the Clarkstown Country Club, a yoga-themed resort and rehab center for the rich on the Hudson, financed by a parade of heiresses who fell under his sway. Love makes his hero a quintessentially American character who yoked his mystic bent to a brash entrepreneurialism; with the riches he made from his yoga initiatives, he started a chemical company, an airport, a semipro baseball team with a midget second baseman, and a trained elephant act. Love credits Bernard with changing public perception of yoga from dissolute exoticism to healthful normalcy, but this colorful, frenetic tale reminds us that money is America's true religion. --Publishers Weekly. (Check Catalog)

Bringing up girls : practical advice and encouragement for those shaping the next generation of women

2010-04-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

by James C. Dobson. Summary: Based on extensive research, and handled with Dr. Dobson's trademark down-to-earth approach, "Bringing Up Girls" equips parents to help their daughters to become healthy, happy, and successful women. (Check Catalog)

The principle of the path : how to get from where you are to where you want to be

2010-04-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

by Andy Stanley. Summary: Your Direction, not Your Intention, Determines Your Destination. There is often a tension between where we want to end up in life and the path we choose to get there. We fail to see that having good intentions is never good enough. Like Charlie Brown, we wrongly believe there's something to be said for trying hard. We need to understand why, in spite of our good intentions, we may have ended up at the wrong destination with our finances, our marriages, our careers, or a host of other dreams. So how do we get from where we are to where we truly want to be? The Principle of the Path is a road map to proper direction and discipline. Includes Extensive Study Guide. (Check catalog)

Savor : mindful eating, mindful life

2010-04-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

by Thích Nhát Hạnh, So essential to healthy eating is a healthy perspective that Zen Buddhist master and prolific author Nhat Hanh joins forces with nutritionist Cheung for a truly holistic approach. The duo pairs the latest nutritional information with the age-old Buddhist practice of mindfulness that is, of being fully aware of all that is going on within ourselves and all that is happening around us to draw attention to what and how we eat. Guidance is offered for recognizing what barriers physical, psychological, cultural, and environmental prevent us from controlling our weight, and readers are encouraged to savor food in order to fully nourish both the body and the mind. To that end, Nhat Hanh provides guided meditations on everything from eating an apple to coping with stressful situations, along with advice on selecting and preparing food, staying active, and avoiding self-criticism. Complete with a discussion of why healthy eating is also good for the environment, this is a uniquely insightful and positive program for wellness: a book of tested wisdom; practical action; and intellectual, emotional, and spiritual nutriments. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)

Cox (theology, Harvard Divinity Sch.; The Secular City) poses the question "What does the future hold for religion, and for Christianity in particular?" and answers by exploring how religious history has moved through three phases. The Age of Faith lasted from the time of Jesus until Constantine adopted Christianity as the state religion. During the Age of Belief, creeds and doctrinal divisions dominated, but Cox sees an Age of the Spirit underway that is marked by the decline of dogma and the rise of spirituality. In short chapters, he leads readers through the evolution of Christianity as we know it today and speculates on a future where less emphasis is placed on rigid belief systems and more on spiritual experience within the Christian framework. The author of many books that combine scholarship and personal narrative, Cox once again brings a wide range of current scholarship to examine "a profound change in the elemental nature of religiousness." Verdict Accessible and readable, this is highly recommended for all interested readers.-

2010-04-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

by Harvey Gallagher Cox. Cox (theology, Harvard Divinity Sch.; The Secular City) poses the question "What does the future hold for religion, and for Christianity in particular?" and answers by exploring how religious history has moved through three phases. The Age of Faith lasted from the time of Jesus until Constantine adopted Christianity as the state religion. During the Age of Belief, creeds and doctrinal divisions dominated, but Cox sees an Age of the Spirit underway that is marked by the decline of dogma and the rise of spirituality. In short chapters, he leads readers through the evolution of Christianity as we know it today and speculates on a future where less emphasis is placed on rigid belief systems and more on spiritual experience within the Christian framework. The author of many books that combine scholarship and personal narrative, Cox once again brings a wide range of current scholarship to examine "a profound change in the elemental nature of religiousness." Verdict Accessible and readable, this is highly recommended for all interested readers. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

Roman philosophy and the good life

2010-04-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

by Raymond A. Belliotti. This book combines discussions of Roman ethical philosophy with illustrations from lives of famous Romans. Following a discussion of academic skepticism are an account of Cicero's life, Stoicism by the life of Cato the Younger, and Epicureanism by the lives of Caesar and Cassius. For Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, their own lives serve to illustrate their theories. Belliotti (SUNY at Fredonia) also is concerned to show the contemporary relevance of Roman issues such as stoic indifference; whether death is an evil; and the place of pleasure, wealth, and public service in the good life. Belliotti's approach brings out the degree to which Roman philosophy is a practical guide to public and private life, rather than an abstract theoretical activity. The treatment of Roman philosophers and their Greek predecessors is reliable, and Belliotti judiciously engages enough of the vast secondary literature to help serious students find their way into it without getting bogged down. Clearly written in a lively, engaging style, this book is a useful guide for students getting oriented in Roman thought. It is a welcome resource for courses in Roman philosophy, politics, and history. Summing Up: Recommended, --Choice. (Check Catalog)

Made for goodness : and why this makes all the difference

2010-04-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

by Desmond Tutu. As head of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Tutu reached a world audience in his call for forgiveness for apartheid perpetrators who confessed to horrific evil and said they were sorry. Writing here with his daughter, also a minister, he insists that, with all the horror he has heard about and witnessed, We are fundamentally good. Racism has to be learned. It is not an instinct. Sin is real. But goodness is normative. Even readers not focused on the religious debate will be drawn to this account for the insider's view of the history and the personal struggle with forgiveness. Inspired by heroes of many faiths, including Father Trevor Huddleston; Afrikaaans cleric Beyers Naude; the kids in the 1976 Soweto riots; the parents of murdered Amy Biehl; and, of course, by Mandela, Gandhi, King, and Mother Teresa, Tutu is also haunted by his own failure to forgive his father before he died. The personal perspective will spark discussion about the bigger issues of morality, politics, and religion. If God is all-powerful, why do we suffer? --Booklist. (Check Catalog)

Prayers of the faithful : the shifting spiritual life of American Catholics

2010-03-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

by James P. McCartin. McCartin examines the shifting landscape of American Catholicism through the lens of prayer. According to the author, devotional rituals and communal prayer, once the backbone of the Catholic faith, no longer play pivotal roles in the lives of many modern Catholics. Over the course of th past several decades, many Catholics have rejected the strispiritual hierarchy that was, for centuries, the foundation of the organized church. This dramatic shift in the practice of the Catholic religion has resulted in the evolution of prayer itself into an independent-centered activity incorporated into daily routines rather than a publicly performed and formalized ritual. The author analyzes this spiritual transformation in terms of the American Catholic contribution to the culture and sociology of the American experience, placing his theory firmly into historical context. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)

Einstein's God : conversations about science and the human spirit

2010-03-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

by Krista Tippett. Tippett describes religion and science as pursuits of cohesive knowledge and underlying truths and seeks to dispel the erroneous assumption that these two realms of inquiry are in opposition. Tippett looks to Einstein's self-described cosmic religious sense' as a key example of how spiritual insights deepen the resonance of scientific discoveries and vice versa. As listeners to her Peabody Award-winning radio program, Speaking of Faith, know, Tippett is driven by a genuine hunger for understanding of how the revelations of religious traditions, spiritual practices, and cutting-edge findings in science and medicine can help us live more giving and fulfilling lives and create a less polarized society. Tippett sparks a mind-expanding synergy by gathering 13 far-reaching and often-moving discussions with luminaries working in an array of disciplines, including physicist Freeman Dyson, Darwin scholar James Moore, and surgeons and writers Sherwin Nuland and Mehmet Oz. Impressively well informed, thoughtful, intrepid, and articulate, Tippett steadfastly pilots her ardent conversations toward an elegant clarity, ensuring that complex concepts are comprehensible and relevant to everyone. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)

Heidegger and a hippo : walk through those pearly gates : using philosophy (and jokes!) to explain life, death, the afterlife, and everything in between

2010-03-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

by Thomas Cathcart. Did you know that Heidegger's notion of living in the shadow of death has its most profound articulation in a country and western song by Tim McGraw? Or what Law and Order has in common with theologian Paul Tillich's view of eternity? Such are the nuggets of wisdom found in this smart and lighthearted consideration of the philosophical dimensions of death. Cathcart and Klein (coauthors of Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar) take readers on a whirlwind tour of anthropological, philosophical and theological theories of why and how we avoid accepting our own mortality. The authors demonstrate how humor allows us to express our fears about death "while defusing anxiety." Succinct accounts of Kierkegaard's notion of embracing angst, Schopenhauer's notion of undying will and Descartes on mind-body dualism are thus all peppered by comic asides (Leibnitz "maintained that Mind and Matter don't actually get into each others knickers"). This little book is an entertaining and surprisingly informative survey of the "Big D" and its centrality in human life. --Publishers Weekly. (Check catalog)

The gods of war : is religion the primary cause of violent conflict?

2010-03-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

by Meic Pearse. To best-selling antireligionist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion, 2006), Pearse ripostes that the one thing that bears a heavier responsibility than religion as a principal cause of war . . . is, of course, irreligion. While proving his point in a review of twentieth-century wars and the antitheist ideologies that incited them, however, he grants that those wars' enormous lethality was a consequence of modern technology, not any kind of secularity. He is a historian, not a propagandist, and succeeding chapters weighing the intertwining of war and religion throughout history are full of similar distinctions. On the whole, he argues, religion tends to abet wars that are conceived and fought for political reasons, and this is true even when wars are launched, like the Crusades, at the behest of religious leaders. Before it became an imperial faith, Christianity was peaceable, though heavily persecuted, for three centuries and, since its post-Enlightenment removal from seats of state power, has significantly reembraced that legacy. Essential reading for those caught up in the new war about, not of, religion. --Booklist. (Check catalog)

A new kind of Christianity : ten questions that are transforming the faith

2010-03-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

by Brian D. McClaren. McLaren's fans and detractors have eagerly awaited this book, which promises to codify the beliefs he introduced in his bestselling A New Kind of Christian and other titles. McLaren, one of the most visible faces of the emergent movement, examines 10 questions the church must answer as it heads toward "a new way of believing." McLaren deconstructs the "Greco-Roman narrative" of the Bible and addresses how the Bible should be understood as an "inspired library," not a "constitution." He moves into questions regarding God, Jesus, and the Gospel, urging us to "trade up" our image of God and realize that Jesus came to "launch a new Genesis." The Church, sexuality, the future, and pluralism merit chapters, as does McLaren's final call for "a robust spiritual life." Followers will rejoice as McLaren articulates his thoughts with logic and eloquence; detractors will point out his artful avoidance of firm answers on salvation, hell, and a final judgment. All sides will flock to this with glee. --Publishers Weekly. (Check Catalog)

Hakuin's Precious mirror cave : a Zen miscellany

2010-03-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

by Hakuin. Hakuin, an early 18th-century patriarch of Japanese Zen Buddhism, is credited with reviving the Rinzai (koan) school of Zen Buddhism. To the benefit of generations of seekers, he was rare among Zen teachers in divulging in print the ups and downs encountered along his personal path. In this collection, respected translator Waddell (Zen Words for the Heart: Hakuin's Commentary on the Heart Sutra) presents very readable and accessible versions of five of the master's works, including the best known and most read, "Idle Talk on a Night Boat." Several focus on his personal journey to enlightenment and his central teaching that post-enlightenment work is crucial to development. In the sixth contribution, "The Chronological Biography of Zen Master Hakuin by Torei Enji," one of Hakuin's students covers the second half of the teacher's life, a career left largely untouched otherwise. Brief essays introduce each translation and place each within the context of Hakuin's opus. Hakuin's early life and his enlightenment experiences are also covered in another Waddell translation of Hakuin: Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin. Verdict Highly recommended along with Wild Ivy for seekers wishing to tap the original teachings of the greatest masters. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)

The legend of the Middle Ages : philosophical explorations of medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam

2010-02-22T07:28:00.000-08:00

by Remi Brague. Brague (philosophy, Universite Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne; The Law of God) challenges perceptions of the Middle Ages as a period lacking in intellectual sophistication or as a time of interfaith dialog that could serve as a model today. In an initial interview and 16 essays (only three of which have previously appeared in English), Brague focuses on the philosophers of three great religious civilizations, particularly their use of Aristotelian Greek philosophy in ways congruent with their own religions and especially with their differing ideas of revelation as centered in the person of Jesus Christ; as found in God's historical interactions with the Jewish people; or as derived from direct revelation of an infallible word/book, the Koran. Throughout, Brague focuses on comparisons or relationships among three great civilizations and on carefully nuanced but essential difference. Verdict Highly recommended to scholars of the Middle Ages as well as those in philosophy and religion more generally. They will all be enlightened by careful reading of this book. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)