religion & spirituality

Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses

Today's college students are fascinated by religion but they are also more sexually active than previous generations. How do these young people reconcile their spiritual longings with sexual freedom on campus?
Based on dozens of face-to-face interviews, Sex and the Soul explores the sexual and spiritual lives of today's college students. Donna Freitas crisscrossed the country, visiting a range of America's colleges and universities--from public to private, Catholic to evangelical--to find out what
students had to say about these highly personal subjects. Their stories will not only engage readers, but, in many cases, move them with the painful struggles these candid young women and men face. Indeed, the book uncovers aspects of college life that may unsettle some readers, especially parents.
Many campuses, for instance, are dominated by the hook-up culture of casual sex. Moreover, a surprising number of students see little connection between sex and religion. Indeed, these observations hold true even at Catholic schools. Only at evangelical colleges is religion an important factor when
deciding whether or not to engage in sex. But Freitas's research also reveals that, even at secular schools, students are not comfortable with the prevalence of casual sex, and that they do want religion to speak about what they should do and who they should try to be--not just what they should
avoid doing.
Sex and the Soul will offer readers the chance to hear college students speaking honestly about extremely sensitive topics, in a book that will be of great interest to students, parents, clergy, teachers, and anyone who wants to know what's happening on today's college campuses.

Buddhism For Dummies (For Dummies (Religion & Spirituality))

From the outside, Buddhism seems like a bundle of contradictions wrapped inside a paradox. It is a religion without a god, a belief system without rules, and a faith that encourages its adherents to question everything, including its own teachings. You could spend a lifetime studying Buddhist texts and following its observances and still feel like you’ve only just barely scratched the surface. Yet, over the past 2500 years, this lovely religion that preaches compassion, generosity, tolerance, selflessness and self-awareness has commanded the fervent devotion of hundreds of millions of people around the world who believe it to be the true path to enlightenment.

If you’re curious about Buddhism but feel intimidated by all the exotic jargon and strange trappings, this book is for you. Written by two leading American Buddhist teachers and scholars, it offers you a uniquely friendly way to explore the fascinating history of Buddhism and discover:

• Who Buddha was and his significance in world history and spirituality
• How the practice of Buddhism can enrich your everyday life
• How Buddha’s teachings combine to create a path to enlightenment
• Daily observances and meditation practices
• How to fulfill your highest potential through Buddhism

In plain English, experts Jonathan Landaw and Stephan Bodian define the important terms, explain the key concepts and explore, in-depth a wide range of topics, including:

• Buddha’s life and teachings and the evolution of the major Buddhist traditions
• How Buddhism works as a religion, philosophy of life and a practical approach to dealing with life’s problems, all rolled into one
• The idea that the mind is the source of all happiness and suffering
• How the practices of wisdom and compassion can connect you with your inner spiritual resources
• Meditation and other core Buddhist practices and how they can affect your everyday life
• How to apply Buddhist teachings at each stage along the spiritual path

Whether you’re a searcher of truth, a student of religions, or just curious about what’s got Richard Gere and all the rest of those celebrity Buddhists so excited, Buddhism For Dummies is your intro to Buddhism basics.

Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World

Integral Spirituality is being widely called the most important book on spirituality in our time.

Applying his highly acclaimed integral approach, Ken Wilber formulates a theory of spirituality that honors the truths of modernity and postmodernity—including the revolutions in science and culture—while incorporating the essential insights of the great religions. He shows how spirituality today combines the enlightenment of the East, which excels at cultivating higher states of consciousness, with the enlightenment of the West, which offers developmental and psychodynamic psychology. Each contributes key components to a more integral spirituality.

On the basis of this integral framework, a radically new role for the world’s religions is proposed. Because these religions have such a tremendous influence on the worldview of the majority of the earth’s population, they are in a privileged position to address some of the biggest conflicts we face. By adopting a more integral view, the great religions can act as facilitators of human development: from magic to mythic to rational to pluralistic to integral—and to a global society that honors and includes all the stations of life along the way.

Dancing the Dream: The Seven Sacred Paths Of Human Transformation (Religion and Spirituality)

The result of nearly twenty-five years of intensive study with two Native American dreaming societies, Dancing the Dream draws our attention to the four directions of the Medicine Wheel (East, South, West, and North) and the three unseen directions - Above, Below, and Within - and explains how each of these seven directions represents a specific path on the spiritual journey. In the East, we encounter the first stirrings of the spirit; in the South, the healing of relationships; in the West, we work to build self-esteem; in the North, we learn wisdom and the opening of the heart; Above represents the world of spirit; Below, the earth; Within, full awareness of the present moment.Most people will walk these paths in sequence. Some will never make it through all seven. Many will continue to move forward but continue to double back on earlier paths until they get things rights. But for those willing to walk all seven paths, there is the great reward of being able to see the world with the soaring vision of an eagle, fully aware and present to meet life's challenges with vision, wisdom and purpose.

Mother Earth Spirituality: Native American Paths to Healing Ourselves and Our World (Religion and Spirituality)

Kabbalah For Dummies (For Dummies (Religion & Spirituality))

Kabbalah For Dummies presents a balanced perspective of Kabbalah as an “umbrella” for a complex assemblage of mystical Jewish teachings and codification techniques. Kabbalah For Dummies also shows how Kabbalah simultaneously presents an approach to the study of text, the performance of ritual and the experience of worship, as well as how the reader can apply its teaching to everyday life.

365 Days of Walking the Red Road: The Native American Path to Leading a Spiritual Life Every Day (Religion and Spirituality)

According to Native American tradition, walking the Red Road is a metaphor for living within the Creator's rules—a life of truth, friendship, respect, spirituality, and humanitarianism. For centuries, Native American elders, parents, teachers, and spiritual leaders have handed down their wisdom and values from generation to generation, leading others down the path of self-discovery and enlightenment.

365 Days of Walking the Red Road captures this priceless ancient knowledge and shows you how you can live your life to the fullest through integrity, compassion, and brotherhood. By reading the daily messages in this compelling work, you will discover yourself inside and out and move positively down your personal road without fear or doubt.

Special highlights:

·Inspiring quotations from Native Americans, such as Tecumseh, Black Hawk, Geronimo, and Chief Joseph
·A monthly Red Road ethical principle
·A monthly Red Road spiritual lesson
·Instructions on what to do at a powwow
·The proper uses of dreamcatchers and other symbols and crafts
·The twelve moon names that tribes use to track the seasons
·Important dates in Native American history

This superb collection of Native American philosophy and culture helps you on your path along the Red Road in your quest for truth, light, and love.

The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus

Throughout the history of our world, religion has been a contentious concept. Battles have been launched, people killed, and judgments proclaimed all in the name of fervent beliefs. Even today, strife rages around the world as groups insist they represent God's true intentions. But what if God himself has no interest in religion?

Author Bruxy Cavey asserts that Christ came to earth not to create a new religion but to destroy the very idea. To permanently shatter every barrier that exists between God and people. To unite and not divide.

In The End of Religion, Cavey shares that relationship has no room for religion. Believers and seekers alike will discover anew the wondrous promise found in our savior. And Christ's eternal call to walk in love and freedom will resonate with readers of all ages and denominations.

Awakening Spirits (Religion and Spirituality)

Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back

"Jesus wants his religion back…so it can be for the world again"

So begins this expertly written book by Ken Wilson, a pastor, practitioner and pilgrim to engage those drawn to the fascinating figure buried in the messy field of religion. Jesus Brand Spirituality is for those disillusioned by the current swirl of cultural conflict, moralism, and religious meanness that amounts to a form of trademark infringement on the movement that bears his name.

Combining candor, curiosity and rare insight, the author explores four dimensions of the spirituality Jesus left in his wake--active, contemplative, biblical, and communal. Practical, engaging and compelling, this fresh illumination of an ancient path is both moving and thought provoking. Phyllis Tickle, founding editor of the Religion Department at Publisher's weekly calls Wilson "one of America's most gifted evangelicals, a thoughtful, unflinching pastor for thinking Christians; but he has outdone even his own reputation here. Candid, confessional, and full of stories, these conversational chapters from a man enthralled with Jesus are shot through with the passion and the realism of an eternally-vital romance."