Author: Roger Housden Publisher: Sounds True ISBN: 9781622030927 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 184
Book Description
Considers the topics of faith, spirituality, and religion, and advances a spiritual approach to life and faith that doesn't resort to dogmatism or the need for certainty.
Author: Phil Zuckerman Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 019024884X Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 233
Book Description
During his 2009 inaugural speech, President Obama described the United States as a nation of "Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and nonbelievers." It was the first time an American president had acknowledged the existence of this rapidly growing segment of the population in such a public forum. And yet the reasons why more and more people are turning away from religion are still poorly understood. In Faith No More, Phil Zuckerman draws on in-depth interviews with people who have left religion to find out what's really behind the process of losing one's faith. According to a 2008 study, so many Americans claim no religion (15%, up from 8% in 1990) that this category now outranks every other religious group except Catholics and Baptists. Exploring the deeper stories within such survey data, Zuckerman shows that leaving one's faith is a highly personal, complex, and drawn-out process. And he finds that, rather than the cliché of the angry, nihilistic atheist, apostates are life-affirming, courageous, highly intelligent and inquisitive, and deeply moral. Zuckerman predicts that this trend toward nonbelief will likely continue and argues that the sooner we recognize that religion is frequently and freely rejected by all sorts of men and women, the sooner our understanding of the human condition will improve. The first book of its kind, Faith No More will appeal to anyone interested in the "New Atheism" and indeed to anyone wishing to more fully understand our changing relationship to religious faith.
Author: Christopher Hitchens Publisher: McClelland & Stewart ISBN: 1551991764 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
Christopher Hitchens, described in the London Observer as “one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time” takes on his biggest subject yet–the increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris’s recent bestseller, The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.
Author: Jefferson Bethke Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM ISBN: 1400205409 Category : Self-Help Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
Abandon dead, dry, religious rule-keeping and embrace the promise of being truly known and deeply loved. Jefferson Bethke burst into the cultural conversation with a passionate, provocative poem titled "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus." The 4-minute video became an overnight sensation, with 7 million YouTube views in its first 48 hours (and 23+ million in a year). Bethke's message clearly struck a chord with believers and nonbelievers alike, triggering an avalanche of responses running the gamut from encouraged to enraged. In his New York Times bestseller Jesus > Religion, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew in the poem--highlighting the difference between teeth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair, and hope. With refreshing candor, he delves into the motivation behind his message, beginning with the unvarnished tale of his own plunge from the pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile existence that sapped his strength and led him down a path of destructive behavior. Along the way, Bethke gives you the tools you need to: Humbly and prayerfully open your mind Understand Jesus for all that he is View the church from a brand-new perspective Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he's not a pastor or theologian, but simply an ordinary, twenty-something who cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. On this journey, Bethke discovered the real Jesus, who beckoned him with love beyond the props of false religion. Praise for Jesus > Religion: "Jeff's book will make you stop and listen to a voice in your heart that may have been drowned out by the noise of religion. Listen to that voice, then follow it--right to the feet of Jesus." --Bob Goff, author of New York Times bestsellers Love Does and Everybody, Always "The book you hold in your hands is Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz meets C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity meets Augustine's Confessions. This book is going to awaken an entire generation to Jesus and His grace." --Derwin L. Gray, lead pastor of Transformation Church, author of Limitless Life: Breaking Free from the Labels That Hold You Back
Author: William Lobdell Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0061877336 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 313
Book Description
William Lobdell's journey of faith—and doubt—may be the most compelling spiritual memoir of our time. Lobdell became a born-again Christian in his late 20s when personal problems—including a failed marriage—drove him to his knees in prayer. As a newly minted evangelical, Lobdell—a veteran journalist—noticed that religion wasn't covered well in the mainstream media, and he prayed for the Lord to put him on the religion beat at a major newspaper. In 1998, his prayers were answered when the Los Angeles Times asked him to write about faith. Yet what happened over the next eight years was a roller-coaster of inspiration, confusion, doubt, and soul-searching as his reporting and experiences slowly chipped away at his faith. While reporting on hundreds of stories, he witnessed a disturbing gap between the tenets of various religions and the behaviors of the faithful and their leaders. He investigated religious institutions that acted less ethically than corrupt Wall St. firms. He found few differences between the morals of Christians and atheists. As this evidence piled up, he started to fear that God didn't exist. He explored every doubt, every question—until, finally, his faith collapsed. After the paper agreed to reassign him, he wrote a personal essay in the summer of 2007 that became an international sensation for its honest exploration of doubt. Losing My Religion is a book about life's deepest questions that speaks to everyone: Lobdell understands the longings and satisfactions of the faithful, as well as the unrelenting power of doubt. How he faced that power, and wrestled with it, is must reading for people of faith and nonbelievers alike.
Author: Alister McGrath Publisher: InterVarsity Press ISBN: 0830868739 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 120
Book Description
Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath present a reliable assessment of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, famed atheist and scientist, and the many questions this book raises--including, above all, the relevance of faith and the quest for meaning.
Author: Victor J. Stenger Publisher: Prometheus Books ISBN: 1616145994 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 412
Book Description
Looking at both historical and contemporary contexts, the author argues that religion has played a major role in suppressing scientific pursuit.
Author: John Schmalzbauer Publisher: Cornell University Press ISBN: 1501718355 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
Over the past two decades, a host of critics have accused American journalism and higher education of being indifferent, even openly hostile, to religious concerns. These professions, more than any others, are said to drive a wedge between facts and values, faith and knowledge, the sacred and the secular. However, a growing number of observers are calling attention to a religious resurgence—journalists are covering religion more frequently and religious scholars in academia are increasingly visible.John Schmalzbauer provides a compelling investigation of the role of Catholic and evangelical Protestant beliefs in the newsroom and the classroom. His interviews with forty prominent journalists and academics reveal how some people of faith seek to preserve their religious identities in purportedly secular professions. What impact, he asks, does their Christianity have on their jobs? What is the place of personal religious conviction in professional life? Individuals featured include the journalists Fred Barnes, Cokie Roberts, Peter Steinfels, Cal Thomas, and Kenneth Woodward, and the scholars John DiIulio, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Andrew Greeley, George Marsden, and Mark Noll.Some of the journalists and academics with whom Schmalzbauer spoke qualified displays of personal religious belief with reminders of their own professional credibility, drawing a line between advocacy and objectivity. Schmalzbauer highlights the persistent tensions between the worlds of public endeavor and private belief, yet he maintains there is room for faith even in professional environments that have tended to prize empiricism and detachment over expressions of personal conviction.
Author: Roger Housden
Author: Phil Zuckerman
Author: Scotty McLennan
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Author: Jefferson Bethke
Author: William Lobdell
Author: Alister McGrath
Author: Victor J. Stenger
Author: John Schmalzbauer
Author: Alvin J. Schmidt