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Let Dons Delight: Being Variations on a Theme in an Oxford Common Room by Ronald Knox
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God's Debris: A Thought Experiment
Scott Adams - 2001
Adams describes God's Debris as a thought experiment wrapped in a story. It's designed to make your brain spin around inside your skull. Imagine that you meet a very old man who you eventually realize knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life: quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light psychic phenomenon, and probability in a way so simple, so novel, and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense. What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? You may not find the final answer to the big question, but God's Debris might provide the most compelling vision of reality you will ever read. The thought experiment is this: Try to figure out what's wrong with the old man's explanation of reality. Share the book with your smart friends, then discuss it later while enjoying a beverage.
The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell - 1996
While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".
Bodhisattva Blues
Edward Canfor-Dumas - 2014
Funny, moving and inspirational, it is just as delightful as Canfor-Dumas’ first novel, ‘The Buddha, Geoff and Me’. When we catch up with our hero Ed, he’s abandoned his Buddhist practice and is stuck in a rut – no career, no love life and no cash.Plunged unwittingly into a world of street crime and dodgy property deals, Ed finds himself dusting down his beads and reluctantly picking up his Nichiren Buddhist practice to guide him through a series of dramas, dilemmas and big decisions. Spiritual insights then emerge from the grit, grime and SNAFUs of Ed’s everyday life. By turns unsettling and uplifting, this is a book that will also get you thinking about complex issues of our time such as depression, racism, bereavement, suicide and youth crime.And it gives possibly the best ever explanation of the wisdom that comes from chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo: “Like sending a truffle hound to root around in the leaf-litter of my subconscious and dig up what’s bothering me.” The description by the publisher is spot on – this absolutely is a book “for everyone who's ever wondered whether enlightenment really is compatible with the daily commute.” Welcome back Ed, lovin' yer truffles…
The Story of My Disappearance: A Novel
Paul Watkins - 1997
As a patriotic young man, he enlisted in the East German Stasi and was sent to Afghanistan, where he and a friend were taken prisoner by the Mujahadin. Years later Paul is sent to America as a contact for the KGB, where his life is changed forever by one woman. Together, these two exiles must find the strength to resist demands of the men who claim to own them.
Dangerous Parking
Stuart Browne - 2000
A filmmaker and now a dry alcoholic, he's lived life to the full - sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Here, struggling to survive cancer, Noah evaluates his chequered past life, and as a picture builds of a brave and foolish man, gradually it becomes clear that he's a modern-day hero.
The Classic Works of A. W. Tozer
A.W. Tozer - 2012
W. Tozer include two of Tozer most loved books; The Pursuit of God and Man, the Dwelling Place of God. Each has a linked table of contents.
Return To Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic
Francis J. Beckwith - 2008
He was baptized a Catholic, but his faith journey led him to Protestant evangelicalism. He became a philosophy professor at Baylor University and president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). And then, in 2007, after much prayer, counsel, and consideration, Beckwith decided to return to the Catholic church and step down as ETS president.This provocative book details Beckwith's journey, focusing on his internal dialogue between the Protestant theology he embraced for most of his adult life and Catholicism. He seeks to explain what prompted his decision and offers theological reflection on whether one can be evangelical and Catholic, affirming his belief that one can be both. EXCERPTIt's difficult to explain why one moves from one Christian tradition to another. It is like trying to give an account to your friends why you chose to pursue for marriage this woman rather than that one, though both may have a variety of qualities that you found attractive. It seems to me then that any account of my return to the Catholic church, however authentic and compelling it is to me, will appear inadequate to anyone who is absolutely convinced that I was wrong. Conversely, my story will confirm in the minds of many devout Catholics that the supernatural power of the grace I received at baptism and confirmation as a youngster were instrumental in drawing me back to the Mother Church. Given these considerations, I confess that there is an awkwardness in sharing my journey as a published book, knowing that many fellow Christians will scrutinize and examine my reasons in ways that appear to some uncharitable and to others too charitable.
Mother Teresa's Secret Fire: The Encounter That Changed Her Life, and How It Can Transform Your Own
Joseph Langford - 2007
Published at Mother Teresa's personal request to share her message with the world, it contains personal stories, revealing insights and never-before-seen letters from Mother Teresa.
Kabbalistic Astrology: And the Meaning of Our Lives
Philip S. Berg - 2004
Kabbalah, in fact, offers arguably the oldest and wisest application of astronomy and astrology known to humankind. Kabbalistic Astrology is a tool for understanding one's individual nature at its deepest level and putting that knowledge to immediate use in the real world. A natural addition to Berg’s many writings on spirituality, the book explains why destiny is not the same as predestination and shows that we have many possible futures and can become masters of our fate. Written in Berg’s trademark clear, intelligible style, the book teaches how to discover challenges faced in previous incarnations and how to overcome them, as well as the secrets to finding the love, success, and spiritual fulfillment.
The Barn Dance
James F. Twyman - 2010
Three and a half years later, guided by a series of visions and dreams, James Twyman was mystically drawn to a barn deep in the Nevada wilderness where Heaven and Earth collide and magic changes lives.If you’ve ever wondered if we really can communicate with our loved ones who have passed to the other side, this book is your answer. If you’ve ever thought that Heaven and Earth never meet, then this story will reveal a world you never imagined . . . a world where love never ends and life goes on forever. Once you pick up this amazing book, you won’t want to put it down, and your life will never be the same.
The Abolition of Sanity: C.S. Lewis on the Consequences of Modernism
Steve Turley - 2019
The Silent Stones
Diana Cooper - 2002
Handed a sacred scroll from Atlantis by a dying Tibetan monk, Marcus, Joanna and Helen are propelled into adventure as they race to get it translated and follow its instructions.
Why the Church?
Luigi Giussani - 2000
He then describes the Church's developing self-awareness of its dual elements of the human and divine. Concerned with verifying the Church's claim to embody Christ, Giussani situates the locus of verification in human experience, arguing that a different type of life is born in those who try to live the life of the Church. Why the Church? is a seminal study that will engage both the scholar and the general reader.
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
David Eagleman - 2009
In one afterlife, you may find that God is the size of a microbe and unaware of your existence. In another version, you work as a background character in other people’s dreams. Or you may find that God is a married couple, or that the universe is running backward, or that you are forced to live out your afterlife with annoying versions of who you could have been. With a probing imagination and deep understanding of the human condition, acclaimed neuroscientist David Eagleman offers wonderfully imagined tales that shine a brilliant light on the here and now.
The Watershed Years
Russell Rowland - 2007
"The Watershed Years" takes place immediately after World War II following the lives of the Arbuckles, a ranching family on the vast plains of eastern Montana.