Deepest Differences
Deepest Differences

Author: James W. Sire

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2009-09-20

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 0830877916

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

If you're looking for clear-cut answers to difficult questions about God--or for your guy to score a quick knock-out of a toughened sparring partner--then this book is not for you. But if you're open to an authentic, no-holds barred, respectful dialogue about one of life's most important issues, then take up and read. There are no straw men here. Sparked by a chance meeting between two book-club acquaintances and their discussion of Kurt Vonnegut's obituary, this dialogue between long-time Christian Jim Sire and forthright atheist Carl Peraino developed through extended email exchanges exploring minds and brains, science and morality, faith and reason, God and violence, doubt and rhetoric. You'll find much to ponder, weigh and explore in this lively, down-to-earth book. A study guide is included if you wish to delve deeper into any of the issues raised.

Religion in American Public Life
Religion in American Public Life

Author: Azizah al-Hibri

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9780393322064

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A thought-provoking discussion of the public and political expression of America's diverse religious beliefs.

The Global Public Square
The Global Public Square

Author: Os Guinness

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2013-05-20

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0830895655

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Recognizing that tyranny takes on secular as well as traditional guises, Os Guinness seeks a return to the first principles of religious and political freedom. Hearkening back to the "soul liberty" of English Puritan Roger Williams, Guinness argues that a society's greatest bulwark against abuse lies in its people's freedom of conscience.

Deeper Learning with Psychedelics
Deeper Learning with Psychedelics

Author: David J. Blacker

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2024-06-01

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1438498144

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In both clinical and informal settings, psychedelics users often report they have undergone something profound and even life-altering. Yet there persists a confounding inability to articulate just what has been imparted. Informed by multidisciplinary emerging research, this book provides an account of the specifically educational aspects of psychedelics and how they can render us ready to learn. Drawing from indigenous peoples worldwide who typically revere these substances as "plant teachers" and from canonical thinkers in the western tradition such as Plato, Spinoza, Kant, and Heidegger, the author proposes an original set of categories through which to understand the educational capabilities of "entheogens" (psychedelics with visionary qualities). It emerges that entheogens' real power lies not in destabilizing and decentering—"turning on and dropping out"—but as powerful aids in restoring and reenchanting our shared worlds.

The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue
The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue

Author: Paul O. Ingram

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1498270212

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

While process philosophers and theologians have written numerous essays on Buddhist-Christian dialogue, few have sought to expand the current Buddhist-Christian dialogue into a "trilogue" by bringing the natural sciences into the discussion as a third partner. This was the topic of Paul O. Ingram's previous book, Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in an Age of Science. The thesis of the present work is that Buddhist-Christian dialogue in all three of its forms--conceptual, social engagement, and interior--are interdependent processes of creative transformation. Ingram appropriates the categories of Whitehead's process metaphysics as a means of clarifying how dialogue is now mutually and creatively transforming both Buddhism and Christianity.

Now Concerning Spiritual Things
Now Concerning Spiritual Things

Author: Fitzroy John Willis

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2019-11-13

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1532680465

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In a pluralistic world of competing truth claims, how can one discern what is truly representative of God? How can we live and communicate what is authentically "spiritual?" How do we bridge the religious impasse between believers and a post-Christendom and pluralistic context where individuals may consider themselves to be spiritual, yet are offended by the person of Jesus? Can relativism be an effective means of evaluating truth from falsehood? What role should race, gender, and socioeconomic background play in society and the church? These are just a few of the questions this study addresses in presenting a more balanced, dialogical, and biblical criterion for authentic spirituality. The insights on how to discern, live, and communicate what is authentically spiritual are significant for interreligious and ecumenical dialogue across denominations. These insights contribute a way to more effectively communicate divine truths to all, for it is conversant with various sources of knowledge about God and is accountable to feedback from these sources of truth. For example, tacit knowledge such as that derived from faith, and spiritual gifts, as well as rational, or philosophical claims to truth, along with Western, Eastern, and Southern modes of thinking, are all incorporated.