Art Religion

Throughout history, Christians have pictured the relationships between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through analogies. Such illustrations—some from the West but also from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and other places—come laden with theological ramifications that the church has rejected (heresies) or embraced (doctrines). In Three in One, William David Spencer shares a lifetime of insights from teaching within the global church, bringing fresh images and analogies of the Trinity to deepen our theological vocabulary.

Aleister Crowley was born 12 October 1875. He was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life.

C. S. Lewis is the 20th century's most widely read Christian writer and J. R. R. Tolkien its most beloved mythmaker. For three decades they and their closest associates formed a literary club known as the Inklings, which met weekly in Lewis' Oxford rooms and a nearby pub. They read aloud from works in progress, argued about anything that caught their fancy, and gave one another invaluable companionship, inspiration, and criticism.

Have Christians settled for artistic bankruptcy? To understand Jesus and the Bible, you have to understand art. The art God creates and commissions comforts and encourages, and it disturbs and offends. What is art? Does it ever go too far? How should Christians understand, receive, and create it?

Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus examines wretched excess, self-absorption and miraculous redemption; the book is a raw, sensitive, and unforgettable journey of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and sweet salvation. Author Greg Laurie traces the lives of rock stars and entertainment figures and legends who wallowed in the decadence of both the high life and low life, as they alternately experienced Heaven and Hell on Earth. He travels with them into their demonic abysses and joyfully chronicles their ultimate ascension to their prodigal moments.

Maya Angelou, one of the best-loved authors of our time, shares the wisdom of a remarkable life in this best-selling spiritual classic. This is Maya Angelou talking from the heart, down to earth and real, but also inspiring. This is a book to be treasured, a book about being in all ways a woman, about living well, about the power of the word, and about the power of spirituality to move and shape your life. Passionate, lively, and lyrical, Maya Angelou’s latest unforgettable work offers a gem of truth in every minute.

With the trademark wisdom, humor, and honesty that made Anne Lamott's book on faith, Traveling Mercies, a runaway best seller, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith is a spiritual antidote to anxiety and despair in increasingly fraught times.

Seven years ago, Christian Wiman, a well-known poet and the editor of Poetry magazine, wrote a now-famous essay about having faith in the face of death. My Bright Abyss, composed in the difficult years since and completed in the wake of a bone marrow transplant, is a moving meditation on what a viable contemporary faith - responsive not only to modern thought and science but also to religious tradition - might look like.

As an orphan in the slums of Tsu City, Japan, Kodo Sawaki had to fight his way to adulthood, and became one of the most respected Zen masters of the twentieth century. Though he remained poor by choice, he was rich in spirit. A student of Kosho Uchiyama, Arthur Braverman has compiled an anthology of Sawaki's writings and a garland of sayings gathered from throughout his lifetime. One of a few collections of Sawaki's teachings published in English, his life and work bracket the most intriguing and influential period of modern Zen practice in Japan and America.

Widely considered the greatest self-help book of all-time, As a Man Thinketh reveals how our thoughts shape our character and influence our circumstances, health, and achievements. The choice is yours: either master your mind to create the life you want, or remain mired in frustration and failure. In this 21st Century Edition, bestselling author Sam Torode entirely rephrases Allen's ideas in contemporary English, making his wisdom available to today's audiences.

Quit defending Christianity. Author Carl Medearis is not interested in keeping Christianity alive. Not one bit. Carl believes it has grown into something that is rarely attractive, frequently divisive, and all too often embarrassing. He believes you may feel this way too. In his new audiobook, Speaking of Jesus, Carl gives us a wink and a grin and the permission to stop feeding this thing called Christianity. His offer is that doing so allows us the freedom to relax and feast on Jesus.

This important survey of alchemical symbols and doctrines sets forth the mysterious worldview and teachings of the practitioners of the "royal art." One of the leading exponents of the Hermetic tradition, Julius Evola demonstrates the singularity of subject matter that lies behind the words of all adepts in all ages, showing how alchemy—often misunderstood as primitive chemistry or a mere template for the Jungian process of "individuation"—is nothing less than a universal secret science of human and natural transformation.

Do you watch movies with your eyes open? You buy your tickets and concessions, and you walk into the theater. Celluloid images flash at 24 frames per second, and the hypnotic sequence of moving pictures coaxes you to suspend disbelief and be entertained by the implausible. Unfortunately, many often suspend their beliefs as well, succumbing to subtle lessons in how to behave, think, and even perceive reality.

Learn to make every moment a once-in-a-lifetime experience with this definitive guide to the Japanese art of ichigo ichie, from the best-selling authors of Ikigai. Every moment in our life happens only once, and if we let it slip away, we lose it forever - an idea captured by the Japanese phrase ichigo ichie. Often spoken in Japan when greeting someone or saying goodbye, to convey that the encounter is unique and special, it is a tenet of Zen Buddhism and is attributed to a 16th-century master of the Japanese tea ceremony.

Since the beginning of time, humans have fought with one another in the quest to endure and emerge victorious. Whether with sword, mace, staff, knife, or gun the human has tried to annihilate their own species in order to claim the spoils. Modern times are no different. We are still symbolically cutting off each others head except we do so with a pen, paper or with our words and voice. The attacks are just as real and the effects, just as devastating.

That, which is usually presented as the first 36 chapters of The Book of Enoch was originally known as the Book of the Watchers and dates to around 200 BC. This translation of the Book of the Watchers comes to us from notable scholar of apocryphal literature, R. H. Charles, who published it in 1917. The narrative of the Book of the Watchers is told from the point of view of Enoch and not surprisingly focuses on a class of angels known as the Watchers.

Award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson explains that learning to hear the call of holiness requires cultivating a new imagination-one rooted in the act of reading. Learning to read with eyes attuned to the saints who populate great works of literature moves us toward holiness, where God opens up a way of living that extends far beyond what we can conjure for ourselves. Literature has the power to show us what a holy life looks like, and these depictions often scandalize even as they shape our imagination.

Looking at Mindfulness collects classic and esoteric paintings, from Rembrandt to Hopper to Magritte, and offers a lucid commentary on the inner workings of each. André describes the dynamic on the canvas and turns to the viewer's own reactions, exploring the connection between what we see and what we feel. Moving beyond the art, André teaches us what it means to consider our surroundings, our daily interactions and obligations, and their effects on our inner well-being.

Forgive and forget. It should be easy to do—so why don’t we do it? The father who wasn’t always there for us. The mother who punished us. The spouse who betrayed us. The children who will leave us behind. Whoever and whatever the source of hurt, there is always a path to forgiveness. But too often, instead of forgiving, too many of us live with resentments and grudges that keep us stuck, robbing us of joy, peace, and purpose.

The Art of Gregorian Music has been selected as a suitable beginning because it deals on broad lines with the principles underlying the restoration of the liturgical chant of the Catholic Church. The paper was originally read before the Catholic University of Paris in 1896 and thus antedated, by nearly a decade, the official action of the Holy See.