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Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion—an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus—was to be worshipped as a god.

Why do Hindus feed their dead ancestors? And why do they prefer burning the dead to building tombs? Does Hinduism have no concept of Judgement Day? What is the impact of death on its notions of womanhood and caste? Is the Vedic approach to death different from the Tantric one? The idea of death and rebirth is embedded in the Hindu mind through ritual and story. Death is not just tragic, but ambiguous too. For instance, it is the end of one journey, but it is also the beginning of another.

The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity—or rather, of early Christianities—through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople.

THE RAMAYANAM, an itihasa of the highest order, is considered adi kavya, the first poem to have been composed. Written by Valm ki during Rama’s time, and ratified by him, this timeless epic has been treated with utmost care by all acaryas in their famed commentaries. Since the advent of human civilization, it has inspired many poets and dramatists across the subcontinent and has been transcreated in almost all Bharat ya languages. Multiple layers of philosophy and theology are an embellishment to this classic. Its influence on Bharat ya music, dance, sculpture and textiles is unfathomable.

The Heathen Handbook is a combination of the most important elements of the ancestral folkways of Northern Europe. Regardless of whether it is called Asatru, Odinism, Troth, Forn Sed, or simply Heathenry, the ancient faith of the northlands is based on heritage, kinship, honor, love of the earth, and the belief that we forge our own destiny. Because Heathenry is holistic and touches every aspect of our lives, there is a need for single book that addresses the wide range of subjects that a Heathen needs to know. The Heathen Handbook covers our basic beliefs, history, worldview, ethics, ...

Three thousand years ago, in the Southwest Asian lands we now call Israel and Palestine, a group of people worshipped a complex pantheon of deities, led by a father god called El. El had 70 children, who were gods in their own right. One of them was a minor storm deity, known as Yahweh. Yahweh had a body, a wife, offspring and colleagues. He fought monsters and mortals. He gorged on food and wine, wrote books and took walks and naps. But he would become something far larger and far more abstract: the God of the great monotheistic religions.

Whenever we worry about what to eat, how to love, or simply how to be happy, we are worrying about how to lead a good life. No goal is more elusive. In How to Be a Stoic, philosopher Massimo Pigliucci offers Stoicism, the ancient philosophy that inspired the great emperor Marcus Aurelius, as the best way to attain it. Stoicism is a pragmatic philosophy that teaches us to act depending on what is within our control and separate things worth getting upset about from those that are not.

In The Reluctant Family Man, Nilima Chitgopekar uses the life and personality of Shiva - his self-awareness, his marriage, his balance, his detachment, his contentment - to derive lessons that listeners can practically apply to their own lives.

Through ancient art, evocative myth, exciting archaeological revelations and philosophical explorations Bettany Hughes shows why this immortal goddess endures through to the 21st century and what her journey through time reveals about what matters to us as humans. Charting Venus' origins in powerful ancient deities, Bettany demonstrates that Venus is far more complex than first meets the eye.

Tom DeLonge and Peter Levenda continue their revelatory work in a thoroughly-researched exposé that seeks to solve the scientific mysteries of the unidentified aerial phenomenon, the UFO experiencers whose lives were changed forever, and what it means for all mankind. To this end, they have divided their study into three fields of inquiry: genetics and the ET hypothesis, consciousness, and human-machine symbiosis.

The Book of Jubilees, also known as The Little Genesis and The Apocalypse of Moses, opens with an extraordinary claim of authorship. It is attributed to the very hand of Moses; penned while he was on Mount Sinai, as an angel of God dictated to him regarding those events that transpired from the beginning of the world. The story is written from the viewpoint of the angel. The angelic monologue takes place after the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt. The setting is atop Mount Sinai, where Moses was summoned by God. The text then unfolds as the angel reveals heaven's viewpoint of history.

What form did Christianity take in the first 30 years? Before the Jewish Christians were slaughtered by Rome and before the emergence of the Pauline sect, while the faith was still under the guiding hand of James, the brother of Jesus, what did the pure and unaltered church look like? By examining the Didache, the "Q" document, and the book of James we will look back into the first years of the faith.

Madame Jeanne Guyon was one of the most important figures of the 1600s-1700s, not only in France, but throughout Europe. The Reformation had ended nearly 100 years prior, but much of the world continued to believe that the common people could only approach God through priests. Mystics like Madame Guyon, Brother Lawrence, and Miguel de Molinos taught that each individual could come to God through the intimacy of personal prayer. This teaching branded them as heretics.

Who are the Goddess and the God, and where did they come from? Why do they have different names in different Wiccan traditions, and how do you begin to work with them in your personal practice? Magical Deities, by best-selling author Lisa Chamberlain, answers these questions and more. Going beyond the brief introduction to the God and Goddess found in many beginner guides to Wicca, Lisa covers the origins of the Wiccan deities as well as the difference between traditional duotheism and more eclectic polytheistic practices, both of which are found in some forms of modern Wicca.

The findings here—in this strange volume—bring the listener into a large inland sea, cut off from the traffic and the tempest that have sprung up in the West, and untouched by the crosscurrents of dogmas and presumptions that have cluttered historic centuries. Here is the virgin water that gushes, troubled by abysmal forces only, out of the very Earth itself.

The value of The Book of Jasher is seen in the large quantity of additional detail revealed from the period between divine creation and the time of Joshua's leadership over Israel when the Israelites enter into the land of Canaan. The Book of Jasher includes details about the antediluvian patriarchs, angels, watchers, the flood, the tower of Babel, and many other events mentioned in the Bible. The tales are expanded and infused with detail not previously available. This means we receive insight into the lives of Abraham, Noah, Enoch, Joseph, and many others.

The mystical energy of mantras is as intact today as it was thousands of years ago. All you need to know is how to invoke a mantra. This book tells you how.

In Everywhere Present, popular blogger and podcaster Fr. Stephen Freeman makes a compelling case for becoming aware of God's living and active presence in every moment of our lives here and now. Learning to practice your Christian faith in a one-storey universe will change your life and make possible the living, intimate relationship with God you've always dreamed of.

The Essential Talmud is a masterful introduction by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz to the great repository of Jewish wisdom, the Talmud. A book of profound scholarship and concise pedagogy, The Essential Talmud succinctly describes the Talmud's history, structure, and methodology. It summarizes the Talmud's main principles, demonstrates its contemporary relevance, and captures the spirit of this unique and paradoxical sacred text as a human expression of divine law.

In 1968 Carlos Castaneda burst onto the scene with his blockbuster story about his apprenticeship with an awesome, authentic Mexican sorcerer, don Juan. Roaming the deserts of Mexico, he participated in the cultivation and use of "power plants", psychedelic drugs he felt were making him lose his mind. As an apprentice of sorcery practiced for thousands of years, he survived a leap from a cliff and watched a sorcerer dance across a waterfall. Along the way, he shared with us long-lost secrets about death, dreaming, our other self, and the vast and inexplicable forces of the universe.