Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?

Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? PDF Author: Brian D. McLaren
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1455513946
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 459

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Book Description
When four religious leaders walk across the road, it's not the beginning of a joke. It's the start of one of the most important conversations in today's world. Can you be a committed Christian without having to condemn or convert people of other faiths? Is it possible to affirm other religious traditions without watering down your own? In his most important book yet, widely acclaimed author and speaker Brian McLaren proposes a new faith alternative, one built on "benevolence and solidarity rather than rivalry and hostility." This way of being Christian is strong but doesn't strong-arm anyone, going beyond mere tolerance to vigorous hospitality toward, interest in, and collaboration with the other. Blending history, narrative, and brilliant insight, McLaren shows readers step-by-step how to reclaim this strong-benevolent faith, challenging us to stop creating barriers in the name of God and learn how affirming other religions can strengthen our commitment to our own. And in doing so, he invites Christians to become more Christ-like than ever before.

Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?

Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? PDF Author: Brian D. McLaren
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1455513946
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 459

Get Book Here

Book Description
When four religious leaders walk across the road, it's not the beginning of a joke. It's the start of one of the most important conversations in today's world. Can you be a committed Christian without having to condemn or convert people of other faiths? Is it possible to affirm other religious traditions without watering down your own? In his most important book yet, widely acclaimed author and speaker Brian McLaren proposes a new faith alternative, one built on "benevolence and solidarity rather than rivalry and hostility." This way of being Christian is strong but doesn't strong-arm anyone, going beyond mere tolerance to vigorous hospitality toward, interest in, and collaboration with the other. Blending history, narrative, and brilliant insight, McLaren shows readers step-by-step how to reclaim this strong-benevolent faith, challenging us to stop creating barriers in the name of God and learn how affirming other religions can strengthen our commitment to our own. And in doing so, he invites Christians to become more Christ-like than ever before.

We Make the Road by Walking

We Make the Road by Walking PDF Author: Brian D. McLaren
Publisher: Jericho Books
ISBN: 1455513989
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
From critically acclaimed author Brian McLaren comes a brilliant retelling of the biblical story and a thrilling reintroduction to Christian faith. This book offers everything you need to explore what a difference an honest, living, growing faith can make in our world today. It also puts tools in your hands to create a life-changing learning community in any home, restaurant, or other welcoming space. The fifty-two (plus a few) weekly readings can each be read aloud in 10 to 12 minutes and offer a simple curriculum of insightful reflections and transformative practices. Organized around the traditional church year, these readings give an overview of the whole Bible and guide an individual or a group of friends through a year of rich study, interactive learning, and personal growth. Perfect for home churches, congregations, classes, or individual study, each reading invites you to Cultivate an honest, intelligent understanding of the Bible and of Christian faith in 21st century Engage with discussion questions designed to challenge, stimulate, and encourage Reimagine what it means to live joyfully and responsibly in today's world as agents of God's justice, creativity, and peace If you're seeking a fresh way to experience and practice your faith, if you're a long-term Christian seeking new vitality, or if you feel out of place in traditional church circles, this book will inspire and activate you in your spiritual journey.

The Last Christian

The Last Christian PDF Author: David S. Gullion
Publisher: Author House
ISBN: 143898930X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
What source material outside of the Bible was used by the authors of the Gospels? How does patch-stitching work? How might religious terminology commonly used in ancient Israel be filtered and given a different meaning by a Gentile, pagan audience? What implications did this hold for the rise of Christianity? How were the crucifixion scenarios constructed? Were all of the sources used in their construction Biblical? Did the writings of Josephus influence the written Word? How did Jesus evade arrest? How did he operate a supply and intelligence network which reached into the palace of Herod the tetrarch and into the temple ? Details of its operation such as departmentalization and recognition signals are noted. How did Jesus send a message to Herod along this grapevine? What were the circumstances of his arrest? What was Judas role? The evidence holds out the intriguing possibility that his role as traitor may not be accurate. What were the charges? Based upon the Gospels, was Jesus sentenced to death for blaspheming? According to the Gospels, was a terrorists a member of Jesus inner circle? If a criminal profile was put together for Jesus, using the Gospels as our source, what would it look like? What would it tell the law enforcement personnel of his day about him? What was his mission from God? How did he fulfill his role? Why did he have to die? How has his message and its implications changed the world in positive ways and ways not so positive? How did he radically redefine western culture? How does the world still grapple with the implications of what he said and what he was about?

God's Covenant with Israel

God's Covenant with Israel PDF Author: Binyamin Elon
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780892216277
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Like a ghost returning, the modern state of Israel is a thoroughly astonishing reality. Built on the ruins of ancient cities and villages, Israel today is a thriving democracy, in spite of the relentless terror war waged against it by radical Islamic groups. Knesset member Binyamin Benny Elon is a moral voice in Israel's government, and this new book is certain to find a wide audience among his country's advocates, like America's evangelicals.

Miracles and Extraordinary Experience in Northern Kenya

Miracles and Extraordinary Experience in Northern Kenya PDF Author: Bilinda Straight
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812209370
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
The Samburu of northern Kenya struggle to maintain their pastoral way of life as drought and the side effects of globalization threaten both their livestock and their livelihood. Mirroring this divide between survival and ruin are the lines between the self and the other, the living and the dead, "this side" and inia bata, "that side." Cultural anthropologist Bilinda Straight, who has lived with the Samburu for extended periods since the 1990s, bears witness to Samburu life and death in Miracles and Extraordinary Experience in Northern Kenya. Written mostly in the field, Miracles and Extraordinary Experience in Northern Kenya is the first book-length ethnography completely devoted to Samburu divinity and belief. Here, child prophets recount their travels to heaven and back. Others report transformations between persons and inanimate objects. Spirit turns into action and back again. The miraculous is interwoven with the mundane as the Samburu continue their day-to-day twenty-first-century existence. Straight describes these fantastic movements inside the cultural logic that makes them possible; thus she calls into question how we experience, how we feel, and how anthropologists and their readers can best engage with the improbable. In her detailed and precise accounts, Straight writes beyond traditional ethnography, exploring the limits of science and her own limits as a human being, to convey the significance of her time with the Samburu as they recount their fantastic yet authentic experiences in the physical and metaphysical spaces of their culture.

Naked Spirituality

Naked Spirituality PDF Author: Brian D. McLaren
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062074644
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
“A rich, brilliant and important book: wonderfully readable and personal, filled with insight and wisdom, it invites us into practices that can transform our lives.” —Marcus J. Borg, author of Speaking Christian “Brian McLaren is a bridge builder. In these simple yet profound spiritual practices he perfectly marries his evangelical heart and contemplative soul, and we are all richer for the union.” —Cynthia Bourgeault, author of Centering Prayer and The Wisdom Jesus In the same way he revitalized our faith in A New Kind of Christianity, church leader Brian McLaren reinvigorates our approach to spiritual fulfillment in Naked Spirituality—by tearing down the old dogmatic practices that hamper our spiritual growth, and leading us toward the meaningful spiritual practices that can help transform our lives.

Dating Jesus

Dating Jesus PDF Author: Susan Campbell
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 9780807010662
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Growing up fundamentalist and female-and maturing into a feminist By the age of twelve, Susan Campbell had been flirting with Jesus for some time, and in her mind, Jesus had been flirting back. Why wouldn't he? She went to his house three times a week, sat in his living room, listened to his stories, loudly and lustily sang songs to him. So, one Sunday morning, she walked to the front of her fundamentalist Christian church to profess her love for Jesus and to be baptized. But from the moment her robe floated to the surface of the baptistery water, she began to question her fundamentalist Christian faith. If baptism requires complete immersion underwater, what does it mean, she wondered, if a piece of fabric attached to a would-be Christian floats to the top? Does the baptism still count? In this lovingly told tale, Susan Campbell takes us into the world of fundamentalism-a world where the details really, really matter. And she shows us what happened when she finally came to admit that in her faith, women would never be allowed a seat at the throne.

Torn

Torn PDF Author: Justin Lee
Publisher: Jericho Books
ISBN: 1455514322
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
An evangelical Christian examines the impact of sexuality, the LGBTQ+ movement, and the future of the church in this thoughtful, deeply researched guide to navigating and mending the social and political division in our families and churches. As a teenager and young man, Justin Lee felt deeply torn. Nicknamed "God Boy" by his peers, he knew that he was called to a life in the evangelical Christian ministry. But Lee harbored a secret: He also knew that he was gay. In this groundbreaking book, Lee recalls the events--his coming out to his parents, his experiences with the "ex-gay" movement, and his in-depth study of the Bible--that led him, eventually, to self-acceptance. But more than just a memoir, TORN provides insightful, practical guidance for all committed Christians who wonder how to relate to gay friends or family members--or who struggle with their own sexuality. Convinced that "in a culture that sees gays and Christians as enemies, gay Christians are in a unique position to bring peace," Lee demonstrates that people of faith on both sides of the debate can respect, learn from, and love one another.

The Other Christs

The Other Christs PDF Author: Candida R. Moss
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199772932
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
Moss begins by tracing the theme of imitating Jesus through suffering in the literature of the Jesus movement and early church and its application in martyrdom literature. She demonstrates the importance of imitating the sufferings of Christ as a practice and ethos in the Jesus movement. She then proceeds to the interpretations of the martyr's death and afterlife, arguing against the dominant theory that the martyr's death was viewed as a sacrifice, and finding that in their post-mortem existence martyrs continue to be assimilated to Christ, closely resembling the exalted Christ as intercessors, judges, enthroned monarchs and banqueters.

The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three

The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three PDF Author: Cynthia Bourgeault
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834828944
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this formula that Christians recite as though on autopilot lie the secrets for healing our world, rekindling our visionary imagination, and manifesting the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It’s an astonishing claim, but one that is supported by Cynthia Bourgeault’s exploration of Trinitarian theology—and by her bold work in further articulating the deep truth it contains. She looks to the ancient concept in light of the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff and Jacob Boehme to reveal the Trinity as the "hidden driveshaft" within Christianity: the compassionate expression of the Uncreated Reality in creation.