Three short years transformed Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, from a conservative defender of the status quo into one of the church's most outspoken voices of the oppressed. Though silenced by an assassin's bullet, his spirit and the challenge of his life lives on.

    Such is a fair summary of the evidence offered in Hildegard of Bingen, a biography by Fiona Maddocks (the chief music critic for London's The Observer). Hildegard is today best known for her haunting musical compositions. She was also, in Maddocks's description, "a polymath: a visionary, a theologian, a preacher; an early scientist and physician; a prodigious letter writer who numbered emperors and popes among her correspondents ... Her boldness, courage, and tenacity made her at once enthralling and haughty, intrepid, and irksome." This is a straightforward, chronologically organized biography, beginning with Hildegard's girlhood (she entered a male monastery when she was 8 years old) and ending with the story of her canonization and a contemporary account of the procession that occurs annually on her feast day in Eibingen, the site of the second convent she founded. Throughout, Maddocks reminds readers of the rich historical background of Hildegard's life (the Crusades, the rise of monasticism, the beginnings of the Renaissance), offering not only an account of one extraordinary woman but of an era whose influence on our own is still being felt. --Michael Joseph Gross

    We’re experiencing a worldwide crisis of attention in which information overwhelms us, corrodes true communion with others, and leaves us anxious, unsettled, bored, isolated, and lonely. These pages provide the time-tested antidote that enables you to regain an ordered and peaceful mind in a technologically advanced world. Drawing on the wisdom of the world’s greatest thinkers, including Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas, these pages help you identify – and show you how to cultivate – the qualities of character you need to survive in our media-saturated environment. This book offers a calm, measured, yet forthright and effective approach to regaining interior peace. Here you’ll find no argument for retreat from the modern world; instead these pages provide you with a practical guide to recovering self-mastery and interior peace through wise choices and ordered activity in the midst of the world’s communication chaos. Are you increasingly frustrated and perplexed in this digital age? Do you yearn for a mind that is more focused and a soul able to put down that IPhone and simply rejoice in the good and the true? It’s not hard to do. The saints and the wise can show you how; this book makes their counsel available to you.

    Devastated and desperate, he sets out on a journey in search of redemption. But this is no ordinary journey: it is one that spans ages and countries, and which brings him face-to-face with a host of unforgettable, eccentric characters and legendary creatures from the strangest medieval bestiaries. Laurus’s travels take him from the Middle Ages to the Plague of 1771, where as a holy fool he displays miraculous healing powers, to the political upheavals of the late-twentieth century. At each transformative stage of his journey he becomes more revered by the church and the people, until he decides, one day, to return to his home village to lead the life of a monastic hermit – not realizing that it is here that he will face his most difficult trial yet.Laurus is a remarkably rich novel about the eternal themes of love, loss, self-sacrifice and faith, from one of Russia’s most exciting and critically acclaimed novelists.

    The light of the Christian faith is flickering out all over the West, and only the willfully blind refuse to see it. From the outside, American churches are beset by challenges to religious liberty in a rapidly secularizing culture. From the inside, they are being hollowed out by the departure of young people and a watered-down pseudo-spirituality. Political solutions have failed, as the triumph of gay marriage and the self-destruction of the Republican Party indicate, and the future of religious freedom has never been in greater doubt. The center is not holding. The West, cut off from its Christian roots, is falling into a new Dark Age. The bad news is that the roots of religious decline run deeper than most Americans realize. The good news is that the blueprint for a time-tested Christian response to this decline is older still. In The Benedict Option, Dreher calls on traditional Christians to learn from the example of St. Benedict of Nursia, a sixth-century monk who turned from the chaos and decadence of the collapsing Roman Empire, and found a new way to live out the faith in community. For five difficult centuries, Benedict's monks kept the faith alive through the Dark Ages, and prepared the way for the rebirth of civilization. What do ordinary 21st century Christians -- Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox -- have to learn from the teaching and example of this great spiritual father? That they must read the signs of the times, abandon hope for a political solution to our civilization's problems, and turn their attention to creating resilient spiritual centers that can survive the coming storm. Whatever their Christian tradition, they must draw on the secrets of Benedictine wisdom to build up the local church, create countercultural schools based on the classical tradition, rebuild family life, thicken communal bonds, and develop survival strategies for doctors, teachers, and others on the front lines of persecution. Now is a time of testing, when believers will learn the difference between shallow optimism and Christian hope. However dark the shadow falling over the West, the light of Christianity need not flicker out. It will not be easy, but Christians who are brave enough to face the religious decline, reject trendy solutions, and return to ancient traditions will find the strength not only to survive, but to thrive joyfully in the post-Christian West. The Benedict Option shows believers how to build the resistance and resilience to face a hostile modern world with the confidence and fervor of the early church. Christians face a time of choosing, with the fate of Christianity in Western civilization hanging in the balance. In this powerful challenge to the complacency of contemporary Christianity, Dreher shows why those in all churches who fail to take the Benedict Option aren't going to make it.

    How do we, like Mary, create "pauses" in our days to hear what the Savior has to say to us? How do we make time for the things that ultimately matter? Ken Gire unlocks the door to change by introducing us to a centuries-old tradition--reflective living.

    De Boer, the long-suppressed story of Mary's vital role in the life of Jesus and in the formative period after his crucifixionpresents as authentically as possible the real Mary Magdalene

    His life changes inexplicably after he meets a mysterious man who leaves him a series of profound writings. One of the writings is a firsthand account of Judas’s life with Jesus and the events leading up to his betrayal. The writings also contain extraordinary insights into the lives of Judas, Jesus, and the Disciples, which seem to correlate with the recently discovered Gospel of Judas. Could these be the teachings of Judas Iscariot and his account of his relationship with Jesus? Could this be Judas’s attempt to clear his name in an effort to change the world’s perceptions and help humanity in its spiritual quest?

    He draws on a wide spectrum of ancient wisdom teachers such as Jesus the Christ and Gautama the Buddha; contemporary spiritual luminaries Thich Nhat Hanh, Sri Aurobindo, and the Dalai Lama; and Western contributors to the New Thought tradition of spirituality such as Emanuel Swedenborg, Walter Russell, and Dr. Howard Thurman to create a profound new belief synthesis.Either read silently or aloud, Spiritual Liberation can be included during meditation or prayer. Each chapter includes an affirmation that distills its core concepts into a sentence or two for the reader to easily practice throughout the day. Beckwith's personal and touching accounts guide the practitioner to integrate and activate the intrinsic gifts of divinity into everyday life.The core concepts of Beckwith's teachings are cohesively conceived and convincingly stated in the provocative chapters of "Spiritual Liberation." Topics covering "Evolved People," "Transportation to Trans-formation," "Transcending the Tyranny of Trends," and "Inner Ecology" are some of his foundational teachings that bring together insights from a range of spiritual paths to form a coherent practice that is neither Eastern nor Western but truly spiritually global.Regardless of their belief system, readers will find it impossible to finish this book without at least a few "Aha!" moments.

    Scot McKnight answers these questions and more in this comprehensive examination of what the Bible says about this divinely important, but often confusing member of the Trinity. This is the third work in a three-part series examining some of the supernatural components of the Christian faith. Scot's The Heaven Promise examines the afterlife. The Hum of Angels elucidates the Bible's teaching on God's supernatural messengers and protectors. Now, The Holy Spirit examines the most mysterious member of the Trinity. Scot blogs at Patheos, a large multi-perspective blog format. It serves many influential voices from many faith and non-faith traditions. Scot's blog draws primarily a Christian readership; one that is looking for intellectual engagement and thoughtful analysis of Scripture, Theology, and Culture.

    The Transformed Mind is a collection of talks he gave at a Tibetan Buddhist centre in Delhi during the 1990s. The history of Tibetan Buddhism is covered in a useful Introduction by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche; in the transcribed talks the Dalai Lama explores many of its teachings. "The essence of Buddhist conduct and philosophy is non-violence and the theory of interdependence respectively." Non-violence has two directives: "If you can, help and serve other sentient beings; if you cannot, then at least do not harm others." Spiritual development, he says, comes from having "a good and compassionate heart [which] automatically brings inner strength and allows for less fear and less doubt." This isn't restricted to Buddhism; he has a great respect for believers in other religious traditions, and longs for greater harmony between religions. A refreshing honesty runs throughout this book, and also a delightful humour. When asked, "What is the best method to stop the population growth?" his response is "More monks and more nuns, of course! I call it non-violent birth control." One of the simplest and most useful pieces of advice in the book is that every morning we should create positive feelings by thinking, "I must have a meaningful day." Unlike his earlier book Ancient Wisdom, Modern World, this one is clearly primarily for followers of Buddhism. However, the warmth of the Dalai Lama's approach means that, though his style is sometimes discursive, his teachings are quite accessible by non-Buddhists. --David V Barrett

    Explores twelve major themes, each one followed by prayer suggestions, guided meditations, ideas for reflection, and journal keeping.

    This book deals with the inspired and relentless search for the True Religion, telling the story of Joseph-bar-Joseph, a Messiah, crucified in 57 B.C., and showing the methods and techniques of developing the inner initiate Godself.

    Finally everyone who wants to learn how to meditate, or to deepen their meditation practice, can turn to one comprehensive guidebook that leads readers gently yet surely into experiencing the seven universal dimensions of daily meditation practice.Seven Masters, One Path guarantees access to deep meditative experience for people seeking relief from emotional and mental stress, and especially for anyone who longs to experience a deeper sense of connection with our spiritual core. No matter how divergent all the theologies, philosophies, rituals, and dogmas of the world’s great meditative traditions might appear, John Selby reveals that the underlying intent of the original masters was remarkably similar—to help people to point their attention toward regular contact with the divine, through opening hearts and souls to direct communion with God by whatever name.Offering one meditation each from the seven teachers, Seven Masters, One Path emphasizes the commonalities in the diverse traditions, ultimately providing a unique and accessible meditation program that anyone can master.

    Benedict are a tool for everyday life 'for those who are religious and for those simply searching for spiritual guidance.The Monastery involved five non-monks living the monastic life for forty days while TV cameras tracked their progress. The sight of monks responding thoughtfully and helpfully to ordinary people's struggles was a surprise to millions of viewers who had presumed that monks were out of touch.St. Benedict wrote his Rule for monastic living 1,500 years ago when he was abbot of Monte Cassino, the monastery that sits atop an inspiring mountain to the East of Rome. The name, The Rule of St. Benedict, often misleads people into thinking that Benedict wrote a book of rules. In fact, he wrote insights for Christian living, with practical suggestions for daily practice. The insights still guide people today and many of the rules have been adapted to local conditions as Benedict requested.In every generation monastics integrate modern realities and the wisdom of the Rule in a new fusion. That fusion is the spiritual energy enabling monasteries to be places of sanctuary today as they have been for centuries. And that sanctuary can be recreated in the hearts of people of good will. This book explains how St. Benedict's wisdom can be applied to busy modern lives, and how sanctuary, peace, and insight can be achieved by people living inside and outside of monasteries.Visit the Finding Sanctuary website, which offers further steps for finding sanctuary in your life.