It is a meditation on the infinite love of God and the infinite value of the human individual. Not only are we in God's hands, says Desmond Tutu, our names are engraved on the palms of God's hands. Throughout an often turbulent life, Archbishop Tutu has fought for justice and against oppression and prejudice. As we learn in this book, what has driven him forward is an unshakeable belief that human beings are created in the image of God and are infinitely valuable. Each one of us is a God-carrier, a tabernacle, a sanctuary of the Divine Trinity. God loves us not because we are loveable but because he first loved us. And this turns our values upside down. In this sense, the Gospel is the most radical thing imaginable.It is extremely moving that in this book Archbishop Tutu returns to something so simple and so profound after a life in which he has been involved in political, social, and ethical issues that have seemed to be so very complex.

    The Diversity of Early Christianity 2. Christians Who Would Be Jews 3. Christians Who Refuse To Be Jews 4. Early Gnostic ChristianityOur Sources 5. Early Christian GnosticismAn Overview 6. The Gnostic Gospel of Truth 7. Gnostics Explain Themselves 8. The Coptic Gospel of Thomas 9. Thomas' Gnostic Teachings 10. Infancy Gospels 11. The Gospel of Peter 12. The Secret Gospel of Mark 13. The Acts of John 14. The Acts of Thomas 15. The Acts of Paul and Thecla 16. Forgeries in the Name of Paul 17. The Epistle of Barnabas 18. The Apocalypse of Peter 19. The Rise of Early Christian Orthodoxy 20. Beginnings of the Canon 21. Formation of the New Testament Canon 22. Interpretation of Scripture 23. Orthodox Corruption of Scripture 24. Early Christian Creeds

    It is specially designed to make it easy for you to find the information you want and need. Amazing features in this fact-packed book include:More than 900 quotations from the writings of the early Church Fathers, as well as from rare and important documents dating back to the dawn of Christian history.Mini-biographies of nearly 100 Fathers, as well as descriptions of dozens of key early councils and writings.A concise history of the dramatic spread of Christianity after Jesus told his disciples to evangelize all nations.Special maps showing you where the Fathers lived, including many little-known and long-vanished locations.A guide to nearly 30 ancient heresies, many of which have returned to haunt the modern world.The Fathers' teaching on nearly 50 topics, including modern hot-button issues like abortion, homosexuality, and divorce.This groundbreaking work presents the teachings of the early Christians in a way unlike any other book. It flings open the doors of the crucial but little-known age covering the birth of Christianity and the triumphant march of the gospel throughout the ancient world.

    Borg & John Dominic Crossan reveal a radical & little-known Jesus. As both authors reacted to & responded to questions about Mel Gibson's blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, they discovered that many Christians are unclear on the details of events during the week leading up to Jesus' crucifixion. Using Mark's gospel as a guide, they present a day-by-day account of Jesus' final week of life. They begin their story on Palm Sunday with two triumphal entries into Jerusalem. The 1st entry, that of Roman governor Pontius Pilate leading Roman soldiers into the city, symbolized military strength. The 2nd heralded a new kind of moral hero who was praised by the people as he rode in on a humble donkey. The Jesus introduced herein is this new moral hero, a more dangerous Jesus than the one enshrined in the church's traditional teachings. The Last Week depicts Jesus giving up his life to protest power without justice & to condemn the rich who lack concern for the poor. In this vein, at the end of the week Jesus marches up Calvary, offering himself as a model for others to do the same when confronted by similar issues. Informed, challenged & inspired, we not only meet the historical Jesus, but meet a new Jesus who engages & invites us to follow him.

    Folktales about and exploration of the mystical meanings of the Hebrew Alphabet. Open the old prayerbook-like pages of The Book of Letters and you will enter a special world of sacred tradition and religious feeling. More than just symbols, all twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet overow with meanings and personalities of their own.

    By helping them understand the Bible as Jesus and his first-century listeners would have, she bridges the gaps of time and culture in order to open the Bible to readers today.Combining careful research with engaging prose, Tverberg leads us on a journey back in time to shed light on how this Middle Eastern people approached life, God, and each other. She explains age-old imagery that we often misinterpret, allowing us to approach God and the stories and teachings of Scripture with new eyes. By helping readers grasp the perspective of its original audience, she equips them to read the Bible in ways that will enrich their lives and deepen their understanding.

    Margot Adler attended ritual gatherings and interviewed a diverse, colorful gallery of people across the United States, people who find inspiration in ancient deities, nature, myth, even science fiction. In this new edition featuring an updated resource guide of newsletters, journals, books, groups, and festivals, Margot Adler takes a fascinating and honest look at the religious experiences, beliefs, and lifestyles of modern America's Pagan groups.

    One of the most inspirational and influential spiritual leaders of the 20th century, minister and bestselling author Norman Vincent Peale transformed the lives of millions worldwide with his groundbreaking book, The Power of Positive Thinking. In The Positive Power of Jesus Christ, the revered pastor of the world-famous Marble Collegiate Church proclaims his unshakable faith in Christ the Savior with inspiring stories of healing and hope, of the ways in which his life and the lives of others were profoundly touched by the holy hand of God’s Son.   In this beautiful, everlasting work, Dr. Peale contends that, “positive thinking really means a faith attitude . . . [and] only faith can turn the life around.” In sharing these thrilling true accounts of people from all walks of life who have experienced the positive saving power of Christ—including his own powerful witnessing of the Savior’s work—Peale offers a humble tribute to our blessed Lord, demonstrating the many ways in which His love can truly change the world.

    A feast filled with timeless moral and spiritual lessons, these lively tales and

    A study on the nature and power of thoughts this is the most well-known book of the prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator.

    Again and again, Revelation has stirred some dangerous men and women to act out their own private apocalypses. Above all, the moral calculus of Revelation—the demonization of one's enemies, the sanctification of revenge taking, and the notion that history must end in catastrophe—can be detected in some of the worst atrocities and excesses of every age, including our own. For all of these reasons, the rest of us ignore the book of Revelation only at our impoverishment and, more to the point, at our own peril." The mysterious author of the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse, as the last book of the New Testament is also known) never considered that his sermon on the impending end times would last beyond his own life. In fact, he predicted that the destruction of the earth would be witnessed by his contemporaries. Yet Revelation not only outlived its creator; this vivid and violent revenge fantasy has played a significant role in the march of Western civilization.Ever since Revelation was first preached as the revealed word of Jesus Christ, it has haunted and inspired hearers and readers alike. The mark of the beast, the Antichrist, 666, the Whore of Babylon, Armageddon, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are just a few of the images, phrases, and codes that have burned their way into the fabric of our culture. The questions raised go straight to the heart of the human fear of death and obsession with the afterlife. Will we, individually or collectively, ride off to glory, or will we drown in hellfire for all eternity? As those who best manipulate this dark vision learned, which side we fall on is often a matter of life or death. Honed into a weapon in the ongoing culture wars between states, religions, and citizenry, Revelation has significantly altered the course of history.Kirsch, whom the Washington Post calls "a fine storyteller with a flair for rendering ancient tales relevant and appealing to modern audiences," delivers a far-ranging, entertaining, and shocking history of this scandalous book, which was nearly cut from the New Testament. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the Black Death, the Inquisition to the Protestant Reformation, the New World to the rise of the Religious Right, this chronicle of the use and abuse of the Book of Revelation tells the tale of the unfolding of history and the hopes, fears, dreams, and nightmares of all humanity.

    

    What they discovered sent shockwaves through Christianity concerning the Vatican s advanced telescope, which sits on top of Mt. Graham in Arizona (USA) where the Jesuits admit they are monitoring something approaching the earth. After the author s initial report was published in Exo-Vaticana, the pope s top astronomer took to the airwaves and on the Vatican Observatory website to try and explain the role that he and other church astronomers are playing with regards to emerging ET Friendly theology, their association with the LUCIFER device at Mt. Graham, and their developing doctrines concerning extraterrestrial life and the impact it may have on planet Earth s religions; Christianity in particular. Now, armed with fresh information from the native peoples (that failed before a federal appeals court to stop the construction of the Vatican s observatory on one of their four holiest mountains), the authors set out with cameras and field investigators to unearth their most astonishing discovery yet. The mountain is said to be a portal, a gateway to another dimension. And, as the Vatican knows and the authors uncovered, it is not the only one. NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME, ON THE PATH OF THE IMMORTALS REVEALS... *Unveiled! What Mt. Graham really is, and why NASA and the Vatican are there *Disclosed! What the Bible says about gateways and the beings that wait behind them *Discovered! Scientific evidence of, and signals from, life beneath the surface of the earth *Found! The ancient stargates and their association with vortex manifestations *Revealed! The role of CERN s Large Hadron Collider and its search for a portal *Uncovered! Gobekli tepe, Baalbek, and the secrets of the coming immortals *Deciphered! The worldwide grid that ties them all together *Exposed! The occult s countdown calendar for the return of their gods *Unearthed! Giants, cryptids, and their mysterious connection with gates In On the Path of the Immortals, internationally acclaimed, investigative authors Thomas Horn and Cris Putnam continue the greatest investigation of our time by exposing the facts kept hidden from the public by elitists and intellectuals who are planning mankind s assimilation under a coming savior, one whom the prophet Daniel foresaw as an alien god.

    The Paradigm will reveal secrets and mysteries taking place all around you and show you what you never could have imagined. Jonathan Cahn, who caused an international stir with his New York Times best-selling book The Harbinger, will take you from the ancient Middle East to the news of the modern world on a journey you will never forget. As you open up The Paradigm, his most explosive book yet, you may never see your world the same way again.

    In Grimoires: A History of Magic Books, Owen Davies illuminates the many fascinating forms these recondite books have taken and exactly what these books held. At their most benign, these repositories of forbidden knowledge revealed how to make powerful talismans and protective amulets, and provided charms and conjurations for healing illness, finding love, and warding off evil. But other books promised the power to control innocent victims, even to call up the devil. Davies traces the history of this remarkably resilient and adaptable genre, from the ancient Middle East to modern America, offering a new perspective on the fundamental developments of western civilization over the past two thousand years. Grimoires shows the influence magic and magical writing has had on the cultures of the world, richly demonstrating the role they have played in the spread of Christianity, the growth of literacy, and the influence of western traditions from colonial times to the present.