She does this by sharing seven meditative phrases — the wisdom gained from listening to her own inner spirit. Each chapter is built around one of these core phrases, and examples include "Maintain peace of mind," "Surrender to surprises," and "Ask for what I need and offer what I can." After years of bringing spirituality to others through circle meetings, seminars, and journal writing, Baldwin offers her insight to a wider audience with this compelling and accessible book.

    Winner chose to become an Orthodox Jew. But even as she was observing Sabbath rituals and studying Jewish law, Lauren was increasingly drawn to Christianity. Courageously leaving what she loved, she eventually converted. In Girl Meets God, this appealing woman takes us through a year in her Christian life as she attempts to reconcile both sides of her religious identity.Here readers will find a new literary voice: a spiritual seeker who is both an unconventional thinker and a devoted Christian. The twists and turns of Winner’s journey make her the perfect guide to exploring true faith in today’s complicated world.

    Challenging the commonly held assumption that the “moral majority” backed Donald Trump for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Donald Trump in fact represents the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals’ most deeply held values.Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping account of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, showing how American evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism, or in the words of one modern chaplain, with “a spiritual badass.” As Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the role of culture in modern American evangelicalism. Many of today’s evangelicals may not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, they’ve read John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sex—and they have a silver ring to prove it. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. And evangelical popular culture is teeming with muscular heroes—mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of “Christian America.” Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done.Trump, in other words, is hardly the first flashy celebrity to capture evangelicals’ hearts and minds, nor is he the first strongman to promise evangelicals protection and power. Indeed, the values and viewpoints at the heart of white evangelicalism today—patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community—are likely to persist long after Trump leaves office.A much-needed reexamination, Jesus and John Wayne explains why evangelicals have rallied behind the least-Christian president in American history and how they have transformed their faith in the process, with enduring consequences for all of us.

    As we consider our inadequacies or grieve our shattered dreams, we find it difficult to believe that God cares for us personally.  In this life-giving book, Joanna Weaver shows you how to embrace the truth that Jesus loves you apart from anything you accomplish, apart from anything you bring. Just as He called Lazarus forth to new life, Jesus wants to free you to live fully in the light of His love, unbound from the graveclothes of fear, regret, and self-condemnation.  Love is calling your name.  Combining unforgettable real-life illustrations with unexpected biblical insights, Joanna Weaver invites you to experience a spiritual resurrection that will forever change your understanding of what it means to be the one Jesus loves.  Includes 10-week Bible study (adaptable for 8 weeks) for both individual reflection and group discussion.

    She suggests readers recognize themselves as part of the divine plan of creation and teaches them to simply believe that the "angels for hire" can help them solve problems, both small ("jewel sleuth" to find missing pearls or "spiritual connoisseur" to find a great restaurant) and large ("romance committee" or "spiritual employment counselor"). While written in a light-hearted style, the book is based on the serious concept that everyone is part of "God" and that, like parents, God expects everyone at some point to grow up spiritually and take charge, and that the heavens will support the process if called upon. Using personal stories and real-world examples, Slatter shows how she transformed her life by "hiring the heavens" -- and how the reader can, too.

    A staunch atheist and rationalist, she is profoundly shaken by the implications of her life-long search. Part memoir, part philosophical and spiritual inquiry, Living with a Wild God brings an older woman's wry and erudite perspective to a young girl's uninhibited musings on the questions that, at one point or another, torment us all. Ehrenreich's most personal book ever will spark a lively and heated conversation about religion and spirituality, science and morality, and the "meaning of life." Certain to be a classic, Living with a Wild God combines intellectual rigor with a frank account of the inexplicable, in Ehrenreich's singular voice, to produce a true literary achievement.

    And while nothing in Heretic! is completely unique—that is, much of the theology contained herein goes as far back as Christianity itself—Distefano creatively puts his unique perspective and humor onto the pages with care. Refreshing and liberating, this is a must read for any who dare question their inherited doctrines.

    Although Riess begins with great plans for success (“Really, how hard could that be?” she asks blithely at the start of her saint-making year), she finds to her growing humiliation that she is failing—not just at some of the practices, but at every single one. What emerges is a funny yet vulnerable story of the quest for spiritual perfection and the reality of spiritual failure, which turns out to be a valuable practice in and of itself.

    I was surprised and, in fact, a little terrified when I found myself in the middle of a feminist spiritual reawakening.Sue Monk was a "conventionally religious, churchgoing woman, a traditional wife and mother" with a thriving career as a Christian writer until she began to question her role as a woman in her culture, her family, and her church. From a jarring encounter with sexism in a suburban drugstore to monastery retreats and rituals in the caves of Crete, Kidd takes readers through the fear, anger, healing, and transformation of her awakening. Retaining a meaningful connection "with the deep song of Christianity," she opens the door for traditional Christian women to discover a spirituality that speaks directly to them and provides inspiring wisdom for all who struggle to embrace their full humanity.

    In The Lightning Should Have Fallen on Ghalib: Selected Poems of Ghalib, poet Robert Bly and Urdu scholar Sunil Dutta collaborate to bring the delicacy and intensity of Ghalib's poetry to readers of English. This collection of thirty ghazals by Ghalib also serves as an introduction to the ghazal, the elegant and amazing poetic form revered for centuries in the Muslim world.

    The phrase “Seven African Powers” is found in various religions, including, Hoodoo, Santeria, Candomble, and Arara. Often depicted with their images linked together in a chain circling an image of the crucified Jesus, these deities represent all that is sacred and powerful in Santeria. But within Santeria but there is a common misconception around who they are and how they function. Anyone can call upon the Seven African Powers, as they are spirit guides and everyone has access to these Orishas for their guidance.

    Regardless of who you are, where you come from or what you are doing, this book contains Universal principles that will redefine your spiritual life. Every single Chapter introduces and explores a powerful spiritual concept. The book is filled with Enlightening meditations, Ancient wisdom and uplifting stories of ethereal encounters with the other side. Whether you are a beginner in this field or an old soul wiser than the day, World of Archangels will help you achieve the next level of your spiritual journey.Throughout history we have been led to believe that there were only 7 primary Chakras within the human body. There are in fact 12 Chakras that act as representatives for the 12 Dimensions that make up our Universal learning environment. World of Archangels delves quite heavily into each of the Dimensions that collectively became known as Creator School. We are each of us developing souls that will one day achieve the 12th Dimension and leave Creation as powerful Creators ourselves. The fundamentals of achieving such a feat revolves around Unconditional Love and expressing ourselves within the extremely heightened existence of Enlightenment. The Archangels are the Beings who convey these teachings down in order to complete the cycle of learning. World of Archangels was written to simply orchestrate such a Divine meeting; the rest is entirely up to Destiny.The book follows a self-realization process that Archangel Uriel hand-crafted for the sole purpose of awakening souls. Each chapter continues this powerful journey, where by the end of the book, descriptive meditations upon activating and cleansing the Chakras, raising the vibration of the human body, communing with ethereal Beings, psychic self defense, healing and the ability to understand Life beyond normal human perception becomes available. With self-realization in mind, World of Archangels aims to excel the spiritual aspirant onto a pathway of Enlightenment with dedicated meditations to empower the human energetic body beyond the normal limitations.Here on Earth we may sometimes become bogged down with all manner of disharmonies that cause us to be shackled into a physical life that was effectively set up for us to fail at some point in time. Sometimes we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel and many times we may even feel burnt by Life itself for no other reason than for the justification of karmic debt. It may be one of the greatest answers to know the meaning of your life and to understand why you are even alive. To genuinely approach an Archangel; these answers may very well be given to you. To live a fulfilling Life, to be free of limitations, to recognize the nature of who you are and where you have come from; this is the result of becoming an awakened soul.

    A spirited, compelling read."-Azadeh Moaveni, author of Lipstick JihadIf the Oceans Were Ink is Carla Power's eye-opening story of how she and her longtime friend Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi found a way to confront ugly stereotypes and persistent misperceptions that were cleaving their communities. Their friendship-between a secular American and a madrasa-trained sheikh-had always seemed unlikely, but now they were frustrated and bewildered by the battles being fought in their names. Both knew that a close look at the Quran would reveal a faith that preached peace and not mass murder; respect for women and not oppression. And so they embarked on a yearlong journey through the controversial text.A journalist who grew up in the Midwest and the Middle East, Power offers her unique vantage point on the Quran's most provocative verses as she debates with Akram at cafes, family gatherings, and packed lecture halls, conversations filled with both good humor and powerful insights. Their story takes them to madrasas in India and pilgrimage sites in Mecca, as they encounter politicians and jihadis, feminist activists and conservative scholars. Armed with a new understanding of each other's worldviews, Power and Akram offer eye-opening perspectives, destroy long-held myths, and reveal startling connections between worlds that have seemed hopelessly divided for far too long.

    Anita Renfroe pulls no punches as she gives women an ultimatum: hilarity or insanity? Take a look at the sorts of things that could drive a person crazy if they just weren't so funny!

    Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls came with a dangerous message: girls are potential sexual “stumbling blocks” for boys and men, and any expression of a girl’s sexuality could reflect the corruption of her character. This message traumatized many girls—resulting in anxiety, fear, and experiences that mimicked the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—and trapped them in a cycle of shame. This is the sex education Linda Kay Klein grew up with. Fearing being marked a Jezebel, Klein broke up with her high school boyfriend because she thought God told her to, and took pregnancy tests though she was a virgin, terrified that any sexual activity would be punished with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. When the youth pastor of her church was convicted of sexual enticement of a twelve-year-old girl, Klein began to question the purity-based sexual ethic. She contacted young women she knew, asking if they were coping with the same shame-induced issues she was. These intimate conversations developed into a twelve-year quest that took her across the country and into the lives of women raised in similar religious communities—a journey that facilitated her own healing and led her to churches that are seeking a new way to reconcile sexuality and spirituality. Sexual shame is by no means confined to evangelical culture; Pure is a powerful wake-up call about our society’s subjugation of women.