Where does religion end?

Where does religion end?
Author: Marcelo da Luz
Publisher: Associação Internacional Editares
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2017-08-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 8584770909

Download Where does religion end? Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The author's decision to leave religion, after experiencing a profound growth crisis, founded itself in the free action of one, who after walking tenaciously, has extinguished an existential possibility and reached a new realm of understanding about the realities of the consciousness and the universe. The inner freedom encountered to make this kind of decision was the result of a gradual self-confrontation. This author perceived the necessity to dispel the fear associated with questioning his habitual suppositions and to look beyond the limits of the indoctrination he had received. For a long time, while still religious, he named this fearlessness "a quest for wisdom" or "the spirituality of an unsettled heart". Nowadays, in light of the experiences had, he prefers to emphasize the courage to evolve, which requires, five years after the abjuration, the assumption of speaking publicly about the dissidence that was effected. When dissidents of ideologies or institutions start talking or writing about their experiences, it is necessary to observe the kind of motivation and intention implicit in the decision made. The former militant, the former integrant, the former partisan, the former something, in spite of the effort to affirm that they are no longer part of the institution to which they once belonged, may continue to define themselves based on the institution. In this case the person is still a "former" in relation to what they intend to deny. Perhaps, in their eagerness to critically speak out about the reasons underlying their abandonment of a certain idea or organization, they still flaunt the previous condition as a trophy, unfurling the pride of being a "former". The ambiguity in question lies in the fact that the person's point of reference continues to be in the no longer desired way of living or thinking.

The End of Religion

The End of Religion
Author: Bruxy Cavey
Publisher: Tyndale House
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2014-02-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1615215026

Download The End of Religion Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

In The End of Religion, Bruxy 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.

The End of White Christian America

The End of White Christian America
Author: Robert P. Jones
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2016-07-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1501122290

Download The End of White Christian America Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

"The founder and CEO of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and columnist for the Atlantic describes how white Protestant Christians have declined in influence and power since the 1990s and explores the effect this has had on America, "--NoveList.

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2005-09-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 039306672X

Download The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

"The End of Faith articulates the dangers and absurdities of organized religion so fiercely and so fearlessly that I felt relieved as I read it, vindicated....Harris writes what a sizable number of us think, but few are willing to say."—Natalie Angier, New York Times In The End of Faith, Sam Harris delivers a startling analysis of the clash between reason and religion in the modern world. He offers a vivid, historical tour of our willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs—even when these beliefs inspire the worst human atrocities. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris draws on insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern mysticism to deliver a call for a truly modern foundation for ethics and spirituality that is both secular and humanistic. Winner of the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Nonfiction.

God Is Not Great

God Is Not Great
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2008-11-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1551991764

Download God Is Not Great Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

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.

Pagans

Pagans
Author: James J. O'Donnell
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2015-03-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0062370715

Download Pagans Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

“Trenchantly interprets how an oddball religious cult became the official faith of Rome. . . . It makes for a thoughtful tour of Rome.” —New York Times Book Review Pagans explores the rise of Christianity from a surprising and unique viewpoint: that of the people who witnessed their ways of life destroyed by what seemed then a powerful religious cult. These “pagans” were actually pious Greeks, Romans, Syrians, and Gauls who observed the traditions of their ancestors. Religious scholar James J. O’Donnell takes us on a lively tour of the Ancient Roman world through the fourth century CE, when Romans of every nationality, social class, and religious preference found their world suddenly constrained by rulers who preferred a strange new god. Some joined this new cult, while others denied its power, erroneously believing it was little more than a passing fad. In Pagans, O’Donnell brings to life Roman religion and life, offers fresh portraits of iconic historical figures, including Constantine, Julian, and Augustine, and explores important themes—Rome versus the east, civilization versus barbarism, plurality versus unity, rich versus poor, and tradition versus innovation—in this startling account. “Mr. O’Donnell tells the familiar story of Christianity’s heroic age of expansion, from Constantine to Theodosius, with verve and wit.” —Wall Street Journal “Multilayered, erudite and dense.” —Cleveland Plain-Dealer “An engaging view of antiquity few of us have seen. —Booklist “O'Donnell offers an iconoclastic history of religion that tells an exciting new story that is deeply relevant to the way we think about religion in our own time.” —Washington Book Review

The End of Reason

The End of Reason
Author: Ravi Zacharias
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2008-09-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310295378

Download The End of Reason Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

When you pray, are you talking to a God who exists? Or is God nothing more than your "imaginary friend," like a playmate contrived by a lonely and imaginative child? When author Sam Harris attacked Christianity in Letter to a Christian Nation, reviewers called the book "marvelous" and a generation of readers--hundreds of thousands of them--were drawn to his message. Deeply troubled, Dr. Ravi Zacharias knew that he had to respond. In The End of Reason, Zacharias underscores the dependability of the Bible along with his belief in the power and goodness of God. He confidently refutes Harris's claims that God is nothing more than a figment of one's imagination and that Christians regularly practice intolerance and hatred around the globe. If you found Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation compelling, the book you are holding is exactly what you need. Dr. Zacharias exposes "the utter bankruptcy of this worldview." And if you haven't read Harris's book, Ravi's response remains a powerful, passionate, irrefutably sound set of arguments for Christian thought. The clarity and hope in these pages reach out to readers who know and follow God as well as to those who reject God.

Why We Need Religion

Why We Need Religion
Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2018-05-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190469692

Download Why We Need Religion Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

How we feel is as vital to our survival as how we think. This claim, based on the premise that emotions are largely adaptive, serves as the organizing theme of Why We Need Religion. This book is a novel pathway in a well-trodden field of religious studies and philosophy of religion. Stephen Asma argues that, like art, religion has direct access to our emotional lives in ways that science does not. Yes, science can give us emotional feelings of wonder and the sublime--we can feel the sacred depths of nature--but there are many forms of human suffering and vulnerability that are beyond the reach of help from science. Different emotional stresses require different kinds of rescue. Unlike secular authors who praise religion's ethical and civilizing function, Asma argues that its core value lies in its emotionally therapeutic power. No theorist of religion has failed to notice the importance of emotions in spiritual and ritual life, but truly systematic research has only recently delivered concrete data on the neurology, psychology, and anthropology of the emotional systems. This very recent "affective turn" has begun to map out a powerful territory of embodied cognition. Why We Need Religion incorporates new data from these affective sciences into the philosophy of religion. It goes on to describe the way in which religion manages those systems--rage, play, lust, care, grief, and so on. Finally, it argues that religion is still the best cultural apparatus for doing this adaptive work. In short, the book is a Darwinian defense of religious emotions and the cultural systems that manage them.

The Beginning and the End of 'Religion'

The Beginning and the End of 'Religion'
Author: Nicholas Lash
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 1996-06-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780521566353

Download The Beginning and the End of 'Religion' Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The common view that 'religion' is something quite separate from politics, art, science, law and economics is one that is peculiar to modern Western culture. In this book Professor Lash argues that we should begin to question seriously that viewpoint: the modern world is ending and we are now in a position to discover new forms of ancient wisdom, which have been obscured from view. These essays explore this idea in a number of directions, examining the dialogue between theology and science, the secularity of Western culture and questions of Christian hope. Part One examines the dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism, while Part Two considers the relations between theology and science, the secularity of Western culture, and questions of Christian hope, or eschatology.

Christianity After Religion

Christianity After Religion
Author: Diana Butler Bass
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2012-03-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0062098284

Download Christianity After Religion Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Diana Butler Bass, one of contemporary Christianity’s leading trend-spotters, exposes how the failings of the church today are giving rise to a new “spiritual but not religious” movement. Using evidence from the latest national polls and from her own cutting-edge research, Bass, the visionary author of A People’s History of Christianity, continues the conversation began in books like Brian D. McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity and Harvey Cox’s The Future of Faith, examining the connections—and the divisions—between theology, practice, and community that Christians experience today. Bass’s clearly worded, powerful, and probing Christianity After Religion is required reading for anyone invested in the future of Christianity.