"Today's search for spirituality and authenticity leads ultimately to the question, and the experience, of God. In this profound meditation from one of today's most renowned religious voices, theologian Raimon Panikkar offers a way to reflect on the perennial quest for God, its significance in many religious traditions, and its connection to our own deepest purpose and meaning. .... " [from back cover]
From the innocence of his early childhood, to adolescent drug experimentation and sexual discovery, through adulthood and the challenges of marriage, parenting and aging, Perry shares his own spiritual awakening and subsequent teachings based on his personal life experiences and relationship with God. Written with the seeker in mind, this short but succinct book details the nature of God, what a working relationship with God can provide and practical techniques on how to find and experience God for one's self. An excellent guide for the young person looking for answers, or for anyone who might be looking to find God for themselves.
From the innocence of his early childhood to adolescent drug experimentation and sexual discovery and through adulthood and the challenges of marriage, parenting, and aging, Perry shares his own spiritual awakening and subsequent teachings based on his personal life experiences and relationship with God. Written with the seeker in mind, this short but succinct book details the nature of God, what a working relationship with God can provide, and practical techniques on how to find and experience God for one’s self. It is an excellent guide for a young person looking for answers or for anyone who might be looking to find God for themselves.
Departing from human experience the book deals with the theological underpinnings of religious experience, then draws practical conclusions or implications for the spiritual life.
Discover a faith that goes beyond doubt and reveals how God continues to fulfill his promises today just as he did in biblical times, unlocking true purpose and fulfillment in our busy, modern lives. Where is the life God promised us? In the midst of our fast-paced schedules and endless distractions, we often push God to the background, struggling to believe that his promises are still relevant. He seems distant, and the abundant life Jesus spoke about doesn't seem possible. When we hear that God wants to give, say, and show us more, we assume it's just a rumor. But what if God really is calling us to something more--a life of deeper purpose, fulfillment, and peace today and right now? In Rumors of God, Jon Tyson and Darren Whitehead challenge us to reimagine what it means to live a life shaped by faith. They invite us to close the gap between the promises we've heard and the reality we experience, helping us see how God's presence and power are at work even in our modern, everyday lives. This book is more than a reminder--it's a call to rediscover a God who is active, present, and moving among us. For those feeling weary, jaded, or uncertain about how faith fits into today's world, Rumors of God offers a fresh perspective on God's timeless promises.
For many Christians, personal experiences of God provide an important ground or justification for accepting the truth of the gospel. But we are sometimes mistaken about our experiences, and followers of other religions also provide impressive testimonies to support their religious beliefs. This book explores from a philosophical and theological perspective the viability of divine encounters as support for belief in God, arguing that some religious experiences can be accepted as genuine experiences of God and can provide evidence for Christian beliefs.
Why does God feel so far away? The reason--and the solution--is in your attachment style. We all experience moments when God's love and presence are tangible. But we also experience feeling utterly abandoned by God. Why? The answer is found when you take a deep look at the other important relationships in your life and understand your attachment style. Through his years working in trauma recovery programs, extensive research into attachment science, and personal experiences with spiritual striving and abuse, licensed therapist Krispin Mayfield has learned to answer the question: Why do I feel so far from God? When you understand your attachment style you gain a whole new paradigm for a secure and loving relationship with God. You'll gain insights about: How you relate to others--both your strengths and weaknesses The practical exercises you can use to grow a secure spiritual attachment to God How to move forward on the spirituality spectrum and experience the Divine connection we all were created for You'll learn to identify and remove mixed messages about closeness with God that you may have heard in church or from well-meaning Christians. With freedom from the past, you can then chart a new path toward intimate connection with the God of the universe.
First published in 1959, Our Experience of God examines the relationship between philosophy and religion. The author argues that, we cannot construct a religion for ourselves out of merely philosophical elements, and that the attempt to provide some philosophical or similar substitute for religion, as it normally presents itself, is misconceived. It brings themes like religion and belief; belief and mystery; religion and transcendence; history and dogma; material factors in religion; symbolism and tradition; art and religion; religion and morality; and encounter and immediacy, to show that the place of philosophy in religion is not to provide proofs for beliefs but to make more explicit for us what is the nature and status of the beliefs we do hold and commend to others. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of religion, philosophy, and theology.
In Perceiving God, William P. Alston offers a clear and provocative account of the epistemology of religious experience. He argues that the "perception of God"—his term for direct experiential awareness of God—makes a major contribution to the grounds of religious belief. Surveying the variety of reported direct experiences of God among laypersons and famous mystics, Alston demonstrates that a person can be justified in holding certain beliefs about God on the basis of mystical experience. Through the perception that God is sustaining one in being, for example, one can justifiably believe that God is indeed sustaining one in being. Alston offers a detailed discussion of our grounds for taking sense perception and other sources of belief—including introspection, memory, and mystical experience—to be reliable and to confer justification. He then uses this epistemic framework to explain how our perceptual beliefs about God can be justified. Alston carefully addresses objections to his chief claims, including problems posed by non-Christian religious traditions. He also examines the way in which mystical perception fits into the larger picture of grounds for religious belief. Suggesting that religious experience, rather than being a purely subjective phenomenon, has real cognitive value, Perceiving God will spark intense debate and will be indispensable reading for those interested in philosophy of religion, epistemology, and philosophy of mind, as well as for theologians.
