Bestselling author John Kirvan understands the spiritual hunger of people forced to survive on scraps of childhood religion and greeting-card wisdom.... He understands because he was hungry. His friends were hungry. Instead of starving to death, however, Kirvan created a spiritual feast in God Hunger, sharing what the great mystics sought and found -- a direct, love-driven way of knowing God. Kirvan explores the lives and writings of ten great spiritual teachers from the 4th century to today, going far beyond the ephemeral religious fashions that flit in and out of modern popular culture, explaining the techniques they used to hear the movements of God within. With 50 meditations and prayers, God Hunger builds on the words and wisdom of the mystics -- from Gregory of Nyssa to Thomas Merton, and Kabbalah to C.S. Lewis -- sending us on our own personal quest toward God. Prepare to be shocked. Prepare for spiritual risks. Even the most seasoned spiritual traveler will be surprised when and where they discover God. Kirvan emphasizes, however, that the journey has no bargain rates or shortcuts. Faith is a lifelong commitment, not a passing fad, an emotional pilgrimage that requires inspired devotion in an era when we have been offered so much and often settle for so little. Combining the best of Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions, God Hunger keeps us honest, humble, focused on the search and joyful in the discovery of a nourishing spiritual life.

Learn seven clinical approaches to working with the God image in psychotherapy Each person has two ideas of God—the God concept and the God image. The... God concept is intellectual in nature, while the God image is the subjective emotional experience of God that is shaped by a person’s family history. Those who struggle with mental health issues often have a God image that is distant, critical, and judgmental because they had parents who behaved that way. God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Research, Theory, and Practice provides therapists with the tools to effectively treat clients who harbor God image issues. This unique manual builds upon strong philosophical and research foundations to offer seven practical clinical approaches to working with the God image in psychotherapy. Leading clinicians and researchers from various disciplines offer expert insight and analysis to provide therapists with in-depth understanding of the God image. God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Research, Theory, and Practice comprehensively discusses the psychodynamic foundation and research that contribute to the understanding of the God image, and then presents seven different theoretical and technical approaches to help those who have personal and religious problems. Case examples illustrate how the God image changes through the therapy process. The guidebook also explores future developments and the implications of race, culture, gender orientation, and economic conditions that impact the God image. Each approach and theory in God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Research, Theory, and Practice examine: background and philosophical assumptions God image development God image difficulties God image change strengths and weaknesses Case examples discuss: client history presenting problem case conceptualization treatment plan interventions duration of treatment termination therapeutic outcomes God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Research, Theory, and Practice is an interdisciplinary guide that provides a holistic understanding of psychological issues and the God image, and is a valuable practical addition to the libraries of psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, addiction professionals, clergy, spiritual directors, and pastoral counselors.

Abraham Joshua Heschel was one of the most revered religious leaders of the 20th century, and God in Search of Man and its companion volume, Man Is Not... Alone, two of his most important books, are classics of modern Jewish theology. God in Search of Man combines scholarship with lucidity, reverence, and compassion as Dr. Heschel discusses not man's search for God but God's for man--the notion of a Chosen People, an idea which, he writes, "signifies not a quality inherent in the people but a relationship between the people and God." It is an extraordinary description of the nature of Biblical thought, and how that thought becomes faith.

The role of Christian faith in contemporary culture has changed dramatically. Both detraditionalization (the interruption of the handing on of faith... from one generation to the next) and pluralization (Christianity is no longer the dominant player on the religious field) have caused a rupture between faith and its social context. Because of this, modern correlationist theologies, which presume a fundamental continuity between faith and its context, no longer succeed in explaining the relation between Christian faith and contemporary society. But theologies of discontinuity eventually fail as well, because they risk forgetting the intrinsic link between faith and history, society and culture. Christianity today demands a theology beyond theories of continuity and discontinuity. This book develops a theology of interruption. Boeve emphasizes the specificity of the Christian narrative about God, humanity, and their history together, and argues that this specificity urges Christians to be engaged in their context. Because God interrupts history. After an analysis of the contextual changes, the author sketches the fundamental aspects of a theology of interruption. This forms the basis for his further analysis of religious experience, rituals and sacraments, negative theology, religious plurality and incarnation, and apocalypticism.

Exploring the blurred boundary between religion and pop culture, God in the Details offers a provocative look at the breadth and persistence of... religious themes in the American consciousness. This new edition reflects the explosion of online activity since the first edition, including chapters on the spiritual implications of social networking sites, and the hazy line between real and virtual religious life in the online community Second Life. Also new to this edition are chapters on the migration of black male expression from churches to athletic stadiums, new configurations of the sacred and the commercial, and post 9/11 spirituality and religious redemption through an analysis of vampire drama, True Blood. Popular chapters on media, sports, and other pop culture experiences have been revised and updated, making this an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike.

Lewis struck me as the most thoroughly converted man I ever met, observes Walter Hooper in the preface to this collection of essays by C. S. Lewis. "His... whole vision of life was such that the natural and the supernatural seemed inseparably combined." It is precisely this pervasive Christianity which is demonstrated in the 48 essays comprising God in the Dock. Here Lewis addresses himself both to theological questions and to those which Hooper terms "semi-theological," or ethical. But whether he is discussing "Evil and God," "Miracles," "The Decline of Religion," or "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," his insight and observations are thoroughly and profoundly Christian. Drawn from a variety of sources, the essays were designed to meet a variety of needs, and among other accomplishments they serve to illustrate the many different angles from which we are able to view the Christian religion. They range from relatively popular pieces written for newspapers to more learned defenses of the faith which first appeared in The Socratic Digest. Characterized by Lewis's honesty and realism, his insight and conviction, and above all his thoroughgoing commitments to Christianity, these essays make God in the Dock very much a book for our time.

Is contemporary art a friend or foe of Christianity? Art historian, critic, and curator Daniel Siedell, addresses this question and presents a framework... for interpreting art from a Christian worldview in God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art. As such, it is an excellent companion to Francis Schaeffer's classic Art and the Bible. Divided into three parts--"Theology," "History," and "Practice"--God in the Gallery demonstrates that art is in conversation with and not opposed to the Christian faith. In addition, this book is beautifully enhanced with images from such artists as Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Enrique Martínez Celaya, and others. Readers of this book will include professors, students, artists, and anyone interested in Christianity and culture.

How did we go from John F. Kennedy declaring that religion should play no role in the elections to Bush saying, "I believe that God wants me to be... president"? Historian Randall Balmer takes us on a tour of presidential religiosity in the last half of the twentieth century—from Kennedy's 1960 speech that proposed an almost absolute wall between American political and religious life to the soft religiosity of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society; from Richard Nixon's manipulation of religion to fit his own needs to Gerald Ford's quiet stoicism; from Jimmy Carter's introduction of evangelicalism into the mainstream to Ronald Reagan's co-option of the same group; from Bill Clinton's covert way of turning religion into a non-issue to George W. Bush's overt Christian messages, Balmer reveals the role religion has played in the personal and political lives of these American presidents. Americans were once content to disregard religion as a criterion for voting, as in most of the modern presidential elections before Jimmy Carter.But today's voters have come to expect candidates to fully disclose their religious views and to deeply illustrate their personal relationship to the Almighty. God in the White House explores the paradox of Americans' expectation that presidents should simultaneously trumpet their religious views and relationship to God while supporting the separation of church and state. Balmer tells the story of the politicization of religion in the last half of the twentieth century, as well as the "religionization" of our politics. He reflects on the implications of this shift, which have reverberated in both our religious and political worlds, and offers a new lens through which to see not only these extraordinary individuals, but also our current political situation.

Your body is the place where heaven and earth meet. The greatest spiritual achievement is not transcending the body but joining body and spirit... together. But to do this, you must break through assumptions that draw boundaries around the Infinite and wake up to the body as the site of holiness itself. This groundbreaking book is the first comprehensive treatment of the body in Jewish spiritual practice and an essential guide to the sacred. With meditation practices, physical exercises, visualizations, and sacred text, you will learn how to experience the presence of the Divine in, and through, your body. And by cultivating an embodied spiritual practice, you will transform everyday activities--eating, walking, breathing, washing--into moments of deep spiritual realization, uniting sacred and sensual, mystical and mundane.

A landmark examination of the resurgence of faith around the globe The Editor in Chief of The Economist and its Lexington columnist show how the global... rise of religion will dramatically impact our century in God Is Back. Contrary to the popular assumption that modernism would lead to the rejection of faith, American-style evangelism has sparked a global revival. On the street and in the corridors of power the authors shine a bright light on a vast yet until now hidden world of religion. Twenty-first-century faith is being fueled by a very American emphasis on competition and a customer-driven attitude toward salvation. Revealing how the religion boom is destabilizing politics and the global economy, God Is Back concludes by showing how the same American ideas that created our unique religious style can be applied to channel the rising tide of faith away from volatility and violence.

An electrifying debut from a provocative new voice in fiction that will remind readers of the best of Vonnegut Ron Currie’s gutsy, funny book is... instantly gripping: If God takes human form and dies, what would become of life as we know it? Effortlessly combining outlandish humor with big questions about mortality, ethics, and human weakness, Ron Currie, Jr., holds a funhouse mirror to our present-day world. God has inhabited the mortal body of a young Dinka woman in the Sudan. When she is killed in the Darfur desert, he dies along with her, and word of his death soon begins to spread. Faced with the hard proof that there is no supreme being in charge, the world is irrevocably transformed, yet remains oddly recognizable.

Deluxe Hardcover Collectors' Edition Everyone needs love. Everyone desires love. But not everyone understands love. In fact, love is probably the most... misunderstood subject in history. In his first Encyclical, Pope Benedict helps to clarify the meaning of love. He examines the nature of various kinds of love—human love and divine love, eros, friendship, and charity. He writes beautifully and inspirationally of how man was made for love by the God who is love, the God who became one of us out of love—Jesus Christ. In the second part of the Encyclical, Benedict addresses the Church's practice of love. He examines the relationship between justice and charity, as well as the call of every Catholic to serve others in love. The Pope's "love letter" to mankind is remarkably accessible and timely. Jewels from "God Is Love" ~ Deus Caritas Est "'God is love and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him' (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny." "We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, that gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction." "St. John's Gospel describes that event in these words: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should . . . have eternal life' (3:16). In acknowledging the centrality of love, Christian faith has retained the core of Israel's faith, while at the same time giving it new depth and breadth." "In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. For this reason, I wish in my first Encyclical, to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us, and which we in turn must share with others." "I wanted here—at the beginning of my Pontificate—to clarify some essential facts concerning the love which God mysteriously and gratuitously offers to man, together with the intrinsic link between that Love and the reality of human love." —Pope Benedict XVI

In today's high-tech, fast-paced world, love is often portrayed as being separate from Church teaching. With his first encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI... hopes to overturn that perception and describe the essential place of love in the life of the Church. The Holy Father explains the various dimensions of love, highlighting the distinctions between "eros" and "agape," Jesus as the incarnate love of God, and the scriptural law of love. In part two, he links the Church's charitable work with the love of God as Trinity, noting that the Church must express love through acts of justice and charity. This encyclical is an ideal reflection for religious and civic leaders, those preparing for marriage, and those engaged in justice and charitable work.