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Buddhism's influence is growing in the West, as seen in the widespread use of «Buddhist mindfulness apps» in people's attempts to unwind, or the casual use of words like «nirvana» and «karma» that have crept into the English language. Whether we meet it in the East or West, what is Buddhism? What is at the heart of its teachings? How does Buddhism differ from Christianity, and are they compatible? Through a collection of true short stories and testimonies, Buddhism in the Light of Christ–a sequel and companion to Esther Baker's first book, I Once was a Buddhist Nun–takes an insightful look at some core Buddhist beliefs and practices, and then reflects on them from a Christian viewpoint and biblical understanding. Esther tackles important questions such as: «How does the Buddhist goal nirvana and God differ?» and «Is Buddhism a form of idolatry?» Her responses reveal a penetrating understanding that helps to unravel and demystify the true nature of Buddhism. Buddhism in the Light of Christ also includes helpful suggestions on how to share Jesus with Buddhist friends, as well as important considerations regarding discipleship once a Buddhist has come to know Christ.

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Religious Mourning is about a common experience among those who study religion: religious loss. When people of faith study religion critically, or when life experiences such as death and divorce trigger personal reflection on faith, religious intellectuals often become estranged from their own tradition. Sometimes this estrangement causes them to leave religion altogether. But for those who study religion from a psychological perspective, a certain kind of introspective and iconoclastic religiosity can be revived by means of academic writing. Religious Mourning explores this phenomenon by focusing on psychobiographical writings about religious leaders–including Donald Capps' portrait of Jesus of Nazareth, James Dittes' portrait of Saint Augustine, and William Bouwsma's portrait of John Calvin–to show how these authors' personal lives, and especially their experiences of loss, influence their scholarship. As Capps, Dittes, and Bouwsma subversively scavenge the lives of Jesus, Augustine, and Calvin to reverse and restore a religion that is rich with experience, including (and especially) their own, they invite us to do the same.

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Holding Hands with Pascal is about the story of one family's journey to follow Christ with a special-needs child. The chapters intertwine memoir, biblical study, and theological reflection to reveal that weakness is a gift from God that is indispensable for our discipleship. Ranging from creation through daily life to the return of Jesus, a father tells of how the unusual and challenging life of his son, Pascal, has affected their entire family and where they have found morsels of grace in scripture and community to help sustain them. For families with special-needs children, groups seeking to grow as disciples, and churches seeking a way of faith-in-weakness, Holding Hands with Pascal offers insights and an inspiration for the way.

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It's likely the most difficult problem in the Christian faith. It was a major reason that Bertrand Russell, John Stuart Mill, and countless others rejected Christianity. It was an ax that began to chip away at Charles Darwin's early faith. How could he accept that his closest relatives and loved ones would be spending an eternity in agonizing torment? Yet the Christian doctrine of an everlasting hell has turned out to be a completely unnecessary problem. A close examination of the Bible rejects any form of universalism that trivializes personal obligations to God or denies the possibility of permanent condemnation. Yet Christians can fully affirm the goodness, justice, and love of God. They have no reason to believe in a never-ending hell of excruciating suffering. This study reviews the biblical and philosophical evidence behind the various Christian views of the afterlife for those who reject their God: universalism, eternalism or traditionalism, and annihilationism. It concludes by taking a position between universalism and annihilationism: God will forever honor the final choices of those who reject God, and yet, in the end, all things will be reconciled to God.

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Seeking in Solitude examines select forms of contemporary Roman Catholic eremitic life and practice in the United States. Given the sustained presence of, and increased interest in, the eremitic life and practice, this book responds to the question of the place of the hermit in American Catholicism in a way that neither mystifies nor mythologizes it, but rather attempts to understand it.

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Symbolic interactionism is a social-scientific perspective that seeks to describe how human beings create meaning with one another in their daily lives. Since the world is populated by symbols that characterize all interactions among living beings, this book explores the importance of symbols and symbolic interaction while moving beyond the social sciences to theological studies. By examining the way symbolic interaction is portrayed among characters in the Gospel according to John in the «water narratives,» this book argues that the Bible is a symbol that is itself full of symbols whose meanings are worthy of our study. Hence, the interaction of characters in the Gospel of John and the whole Bible, along with the symbols they use in their interactions, demonstrates that symbolism is directly linked to human life because symbols are major means of communication, and without symbols, human beings are in chaos.

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Sometime around the age of fifty–or as early as forty and as late as sixty–most of us come to terms with our age. We recognize that we have lived out at least half of the time allotted to us, and that the second half may be shorter than the first! Coming to terms with our age is a process, one that usually involves denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. As we progresses through these stages, a spirituality of aging emerges. In this book, the reader is led on a quest to explore his or her own personal spirituality of aging. All the equipment–words of wisdom from the literature of the world's religions–has been gathered here. Each of the book's thirty-two exercises invites readers to reflect on a passage taken from the sacred literature of a world religion, then explore each passage for its meanings and applications through a meditative journaling question and a short prayer. While delving into the universal process of aging, the reader will be guided to discover his or her personal spirituality of aging.

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When we think about the lives of the saints, we can easily forget that they were people just like us–with all the same struggles, temptations, joys, and sorrows we experience in life. They were not born saints; they became saints. And in the course of their journeys through life, other people helped them become the people that God wanted them to be.
A Sheltering Tree offers stories of faith, fidelity, and friendship from both Christian and non-Christian writers that explore the importance of friendship to psychological and spiritual development. These stories show how friends became «special graces,» special gifts given to us by the Lord to help us grow in holiness. Contemporary stories of «ordinary people» illustrate fifteen lessons about friendship in our own time to help us understand the «grace of friendship» in our lives. These stories are a source of encouragement and inspiration for each of us on our personal journeys, leading us closer to each other and to the Lord who has called each of us his friend.

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Like a who-done-it of the spirit, Six Doors to the Seventh Dimension escorts travelers through the house of life, revealing at each threshold another critical aspect of the way to wholeness, harmony, and peace. Like a labyrinth of word and image, the pages of this metaphorical travelogue wind toward the mystical center that binds all things together. Those who make this pilgrimage will never again see themselves or the cosmos in the same light.

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Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel has said that there is a new commandment: «Thou shalt not stand idly by.» This book articulates a progressive faith that represents a true marriage of the academic work of the modern biblical critical movement and the historical Jesus work of the Jesus Seminar applied within the life of an active parish. Setting aside the magic and superstition found in much of traditional religious life and affirming an evidence-based approach to faith, author Roger Ray strives to apply Wiesel's injunction to actively respond to the injustice, violence, and discrimination in the world. In concrete terms, Ray describes what progressives can embrace intellectually and morally, and how those convictions can be lived out in a faith community.

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