Behind God's Back

Behind God's Back

Author: Harri Nykanen

Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press

Published: 2014-12-22

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 190852443X

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The murder of a fellow Jew throws Helsinki detective Ariel Kafka into a maelstrom of international intrigue and high-level corruption.


Behind God's Back

Behind God's Back

Author: Terry Miller

Publisher:

Published: 2021-08-26

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9781737654216

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In gripping, vivid prose crafted over 15 years of healing from trauma, Behind God's Back: Finding Hope in Hardship, is an unforgettable story of both suffering and redemption, dramatizing the protagonist's experiences of poverty, food insecurity, abuse, addiction, recovery, and, eventually, a commitment to sustained community service. While exploring childhood and early adult hardships endured in the Arlington Heights projects of Pittsburgh, Miller moves forward to model a path of sober living and transformational leadership that includes the creation of a regional recovery center for women suffering from substance abuse - a former convent turned sanctuary that prioritizes trauma-informed care and women's health. Miller's award-winning memoir is relayed with realism and humor, featuring a diverse cast of wise and "imperfect" mentors who make her transformation possible. In an artistically distinct, compelling, and direct voice, she invites readers to identify their sameness within the work: their own capacity for resilience, healing, and sober recovery. Her book also demonstrates a path of recovery that hinges on outward contributions to family, friends, community, and society, rather than solely documenting personal trauma. This dramatized progression from individual recovery to a commitment to social welfare, community outreach, and servant leadership, distinguishes the book among traditional memoirs exploring trauma, promoting participation rather than isolation. Behind God's Back illuminates the beauty and healing that can come out of adversity and pain. While offering a story about trauma in childhood, dysfunctional family circumstances, and recovery from addiction, the memoir highlights the importance of forming meaningful human relationships to heal personally, while cultivating the resources to be of service to others, when we are ready, and sometimes, even when we are still healing. Ultimately, Behind God's Back shows us all how we can all participate in the creation of a more humane society, embark on a deep healing process for ourselves and our loved ones, and embrace a leadership role in our own families, our own communities, and our own society.


Behind God's Back

Behind God's Back

Author: Harri Nykanen

Publisher:

Published: 2014-11-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781908524423

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There are two Jewish cops in all of Helsinki. One of them, Ariel Kafka, a lieutenant in the Violent Crime Unit, identifies himself as a policeman first, then a Finn, and lastly a Jew. Murky circumstances surround his investigation of a Jewish businessman's murder. Neo-Nazi violence, intergenerational intrigue, shady loans - predictable lines of investigation lead to unpredictable culprits. But a second killing strikes closer to home, and the Finnish Security Police soon come knocking.


The Parish Behind God's Back

The Parish Behind God's Back

Author: Sharon Bohn Gmelch

Publisher: Waveland Press

Published: 2012-04-06

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1478608838

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For this latest edition, the authors returned to Barbados to update the changing face of life in St. Lucy, the parish behind Gods backthe islands most rural district. After discussing Barbadoss colonial history as a plantation society based on slavery and the economys recent conversion from sugar to tourism, they turn to everyday life in St. Lucy: patterns of work, gender relations, religion, and the meaning of community. The book concludes by examining the global forces and mediatelevision, tourism, travel, and the Internetthat connect villagers to the outside and most directly affect their lives. Written with students in mind, this highly readable, illustrated, and thought-provoking account is ideal for courses in cultural anthropology and Caribbean studies. An appendix describes the changes North American students experienced as a result of participating in the anthropology field schools the authors ran in Barbados over a twenty-year period.


Nights of Awe

Nights of Awe

Author: Harri Nykänen

Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1904738923

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Eccentric Jewish policeman Ariel Kafka investigates four Arabs' murders in this fresh take on the Nordic crime novel.


The Illusion of God's Presence

The Illusion of God's Presence

Author: John C. Wathey

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 1633880745

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An essential feature of religious experience across many cultures is the intuitive feeling of God's presence. More than any rituals or doctrines, it is this experience that anchors religious faith, yet it has been largely ignored in the scientific literature on religion.Starting with a vivid narrative account of the life-threatening hike that triggered his own mystical experience, biologist John Wathey takes the reader on a scientific journey to find the sources of religious feeling and the illusion of God's presence. His book delves into the biological origins of this compelling feeling, attributing it to innate neural circuitry that evolved to promote the mother-child bond. Dr. Wathey argues that evolution has programmed the infant brain to expect the presence of a loving being who responds to the child's needs. As the infant grows into adulthood, this innate feeling is eventually transferred to the realm of religion, where it is reactivated through the symbols, imagery, and rituals of worship. The author interprets our various conceptions of God in biological terms as illusory supernormal stimuli that fill an emotional and cognitive vacuum left over from infancy. These insights shed new light on some of the most vexing puzzles of religion, like the popular belief in a god who is judgmental and punishing, yet also unconditionally loving; the extraordinary tenacity of faith; the greater religiosity of women relative to men; religious obsessions with sex; the mysterious compulsion to pray; the seemingly irrepressible feminine attributes of God, even in traditionally patriarchal religions; and the strange allure of cults. Finally, Dr. Wathey considers the hypothesis that religion evolved to foster reproductive success, arguing that, in an age of potentially ruinous overpopulation, magical thinking has become a luxury we can no longer afford, one that distracts us from urgent threats to our planet.Deeply researched yet elegantly written in a jargon-free and accessible style, this book presents a compelling interpretation of the evolutionary origins of spirituality and religion.


Finding Your Way Back to God

Finding Your Way Back to God

Author: Dave Ferguson

Publisher: Multnomah

Published: 2015-02-24

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1601426100

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“God, if you’re real, make yourself real to me.” Each of us spends our lives on a journey toward God. Yet often our most deeply felt longings—for meaning, for love, for significance—end up leading us away from, instead of toward, our Creator and the person he made us to be. Finding Your Way Back to God shows you how to understand and listen to your longings in a whole new way. It’s about waking up to who you really are, and daring to believe that God wants to be found even more than you want to find him. It’s about making the biggest wager of your life as you ask God to make himself known to you. And it’s about watching what happens next.