Thérèse of Lisieux.

    The growing realization that he was gay coupled with his parents' use of religion to justify abuse and neglect led Dennis to have a very complicated relationship with love, God, and organized religion. After suffering a violent hate crime, forced institutionalization, and heartbreak after heartbreak, Dennis was desperate for love and acceptance--he just didn't know where to find it. Walk a mile in Dennis's shoes and see from his eyes how the only love that can truly make you whole is that of the Savior.

    To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Ashkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family fled Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next thirty-five years in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Based on extensive research, and springing from his enormously resonant documentary that aired on NPR’s Fresh Air in 1998, Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, suggesting that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and reconciliation.

    He has left behind nearly a million words of text, but his life is still a mystery. This book is an engaging introduction to a subject that students will certainly encounter many times throughout their education—and their lives. Lucid language and dramatic illustrations re-create the Bard's world of kings and queens, fairies and potions, and bloody beheadings. It imparts an amazing amount of vivid, interesting material about place, period and background of Shakespeare. This sweeping account is a biography, a history, and a retelling of some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays—all in one approachable volume. Salient Features: • Shakespeare's Early Life • Life as Playwright and Actor • Theatre Companies • Style of Presentation • Last Years of Life • England of Shakespeare's Days • Drama in Shakespeare's Days • Shakespeare's Greatness as a Poet • Shakespeare's Influence • Works of Shakespeare in detail • Principal Facts of Shakespeare's Life

    He has been hailed as a pioneer in helping ordinary Christians find God in their daily lives. Moved as a teenager by footprints of a barefoot Carmelite priest in the snow, Josemara felt called to greater generosity in the priesthood and in his struggles to build up Opus Dei during the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. This latest biography is the most extensively researched work on his family history, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. The reader benefits from an enormous wealth of details in extensive notes and appendices. Accompanying them are excerpts from his correspondence, spiritual writings and testimonials from dozens of friends and acquaintances. The remarkable story continues in volumes II and III.

    Stein was born as the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews. But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. She suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers wherever she could find them, from forbidden religious texts to smuggled secular examinations of faith. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity-a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life. Powerful in the truths it reveals about biology, culture, faith, and identity, Becoming Eve poses the enduring question: How far will you go to become the person you were meant to be?

    Contained within these pages are some of the greatest spiritual teachings from the ancient mystery schools, plus instruction on how to apply these teachings to our everyday lives. Some of the information revealed here has not been made available before now. All of the information, if applied to our everyday lives, has the power to revolutionize the world.In the past, only adept, saints, apostles, mystics, and high priests and priestesses were allowed access to this instruction. With this knowledge, these individuals ruled and empowered themselves and civilizations, using the power that came with this knowledge to create and heal. Common folk leaned heavily on these spiritual elite for solutions to their problems, for the masses had acquired neither the discipline nor the strength of will it took to master the teachings on their own. Learning and applying these truths require lifetimes of discipline and dedication. More importantly, mastering the knowledge demanded that one be accountable for his or her own actions – a responsibility the masses were not ready to accept.The Ascended masters, however, decree that the time has come for everyone to learn these teachings and share in the responsibility for transforming life and the world. Admittance into the Fifth Dimension demands this of all. Therefore, all who read this book must be forewarned that access to this knowledge automatically holds the soul accountable for its part of creation and each will be judged accordingly! The portal now stands open for all to pass through to collectively build the Seventh Golden Age on Earth.

    This accessible guide explains the Torah in clear language, even to those who were not raised in the Jewish religious tradition. Christians who want to know more about the Jewish roots of Christianity need to understand the Torah, as do followers of Islamic tradition and those interested in the roots of Abrahamic faiths. The Torah For Dummies explains the history of the Torah, its structure and major principles, and how the Torah affects the daily lives of people who follow the Jewish way of life.

    In The Committed Marriage, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, esteemed teacher, counselor, and matchmaker, helps even the most pressured modern couples find harmony and unity, guided by the timeless wisdom of the Torah. Starting with the first stagesof finding a soul mate, and continuing through the challenge of learning to communicate with compassion and understanding, whether debating parenting issues or how to grow old in harmony, these real-life success stories reflect the practicality and endurance of traditional values. The anecdotes and true-life stories will speak to your heart and mind, while the Rebbetzin's faith and depth of understanding will inspire you and strengthen your marriage.

    Buried by layers of ego, fear, shame, doubt, low self-esteem, and other limitations, love can only be activated by sharing and serving unconditionally. Only then will the layers fall away and the essence of love reveal itself. Berg makes the distinction between love and need — which is a selfish product of ego — and reminds readers that only after connecting with the love within, and learning to love themselves, can they truly love someone else. This charming book, published just in time for Valentine’s Day, is also a thoughtful gift for any day of the year.

    And don't join a cult." But within months, Lesley was part of a notorious American sect, married to a man she hardly knew and allowed only minimal contact with her family. Despite rape, home births and a forced abortion, her belief was unshakeable. Until she was faced with the terrifyingly real threat of losing her children… Harrowing at times, but also funny and wise, this is Lesley's miraculous true story.

    Love as you have never known it or imagined it to be. Love, the only true force in all creation, the Light out of which all things were made, the cohesive power which holds all things together. Love. Let your soul stand forth and LIVE. For of what profit is it if a man gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Come! Meet me just inside the Door of Everything, in my timeless realm of Being, where all the perfect qualities of your Grand Cosmic Self will intersect and blend into one precious jewel-the precious jewel of Love.

    That explains why what many of us long for is simplicity: a life that can be more pared down, peaceful, and focused on the essentials.But finding simplicity is not always easy; it isn’t just a case of emptying out our closets or trimming back commitments in our diaries. True simplicity requires that we understand the roots of our distractions – and develop a canny respect for the stubborn reasons why things can grow complex and overwhelming.This book is a guide to the simpler lives we crave and deserve. It considers how we might achieve simplicity across a range of areas. Along the way, we learn about Zen Buddhism, modernist architecture, monasteries, psychoanalysis, and why we probably don’t need more than three good friends or a few treasured belongings.It isn’t enough that our lives should look simple; they need to be simple from the inside. This book takes a psychological approach, guiding us towards less contorted hearts and minds. We have for too long been drowning in excess and clutter from a confusion about our aspirations; A Simpler Life helps us tune out the static and focus on what properly matters to us.

    Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher and miracle worker walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the “Kingdom of God.” The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was captured, tortured, and executed as a state criminal. Within decades after his shameful death, his followers would call him God. Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history’s most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic fervor. Scores of Jewish prophets, preachers, and would-be messiahs wandered through the Holy Land, bearing messages from God. This was the age of zealotry—a fervent nationalism that made resistance to the Roman occupation a sacred duty incumbent on all Jews. And few figures better exemplified this principle than the charismatic Galilean who defied both the imperial authorities and their allies in the Jewish religious hierarchy. Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction; a man of peace who exhorted his followers to arm themselves with swords; an exorcist and faith healer who urged his disciples to keep his identity a secret; and ultimately the seditious “King of the Jews” whose promise of liberation from Rome went unfulfilled in his brief lifetime. Aslan explores the reasons why the early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary. And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity. Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of Jesus of Nazareth’s life and mission. The result is a thought-provoking, elegantly written biography with the pulse of a fast-paced novel: a singularly brilliant portrait of a man, a time, and the birth of a religion.

    . . some. We pray to stay sober, centered, or solvent. When the lump is deemed malignant. When the money runs out. When the marriage is falling apart. But wouldn’t we like to pray . . . more? Better? Stronger? With more fire, faith, and fervency?In this four-session video-based study (DVD/digital video sold separately), bestselling author Max Lucado reveals his struggles with prayer and how he discovered that it is not a privilege for the pious or the art of a chosen few but a simple tool everyone has been given to have a conversation with God. He shows you how to let go of uncertainties about prayer, trust that God hears you, and embrace a prayer life that brings peace and rest.Join Max Lucado on a journey to the very heart of biblical prayer and the power unleashed with five simple sentences: “Father, you are good. I need help. They need help. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen.” This study guide includes leader helps, discussion questions, conversation starters, and between-session activities to enhance your understanding and application of Max’s teaching.Sessions include:Father, You Are GoodI Need HelpThey Need HelpThank YouDesigned for use with Before Amen Video Study 9780529123428 (sold separately).