Early Religions

Many pastors feel isolated and helpless, especially those beginning pastoral ministry. Phil Newton and Rich Shadden know what this road is like, and they want to share what they have gained from pastoral mentoring—Rich, a young pastor receiving support and guidance from Phil, an older, more experienced shepherd.

Did you know that Christianity has gone through many changes since its origin? Over two thousand years ago, a Jewish man was born into a society in turmoil. It is impossible to tell the story of Christianity without understanding the man behind it. What were the lives of Jesus and his followers like? How were their words so impactful that they changed history and affected the lives of billions of people over the course of two thousand years?

A detailed look into ancient advanced technology, science, and medicine - some of which has yet to be reproduced today.

Perhaps no declaration incites more theological and moral outrage than a human's claim to be divine. Those who make this claim in ancient Jewish and Christian mythology are typically represented as the most hubristic and dangerous tyrants. Their horrible punishments are predictable and still serve as morality tales in religious communities today. But not all self-deifiers are saddled with pride and fated to fall.

Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes is the definitive study of the early Christian theologian Carpocrates, his son Epiphanes, and the leader of the Carpocratian movement in Rome, Marcellina. It contains the first full-length study of and commentary on the fragments of Epiphanes, the earliest reports on Carpocrates and Marcellina, as well as the Epistle to Theodore (containing the so-called Secret Gospel of Mark). Listeners also encounter an up-to-date history of research on the Carpocratian movement, and three full profiles of all we can know from the earliest Carpocratian leaders.

A man of God. Hopes for the future. He stood at the forefront of a religious revolution. Samuel Kader worked hard to forge a different world. A pastor and leader in the gay Christian community since 1975, he witnessed the spiritual movement of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and queer people grow into something amazing. And as one of the very few who realized that traditional faith needed to adapt, he envisioned empowering anyone to build a lasting relationship with the Creator, no matter their sexual identity. In a moving and heartfelt memoir, Rev. Samuel Kader reveals firsthand accounts of ...

In Jesus Taught It, Too!: The Early Roots of the Law of Attraction, Philip Harris examines over 70 quotes from the Master. He shows that, contrary to recent claims and "revelation" the Law of Attraction has not been a "Secret" at all. Instead, it has been there for all to see for over two thousand years.

The issue of diagnosing children with behavioral diseases that do not conform to a scientific definition of disease, and then medicating them is a scandal ready to erupt. In The Diseasing of America's Children, popular family psychologist, speaker, and best-selling author John Rosemond joins pediatrician Dr. Bose Ravenel to uncover the fiction and fallacy behind attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), early-onset bipolar disorder (EOBD), and the drugs prescribed to treat them.

Cyprus is known for its beautiful beaches, spectacular sunsets, and wonderful climate. Vacationers by the thousands come here each year to enjoy this island of adventure and frolic. Cyprus has always been recognized for its beauty and mild climate, as well as its strategic location. Through the centuries each competing culture has left its mark on the culture we have come to know as "Cypriot." Each invading ethnic group left archaeological monuments and a rich history, and an identity that has been linked together into a mosaic of sight, sound, language, religion, and culinary delights. In ...

For the hermits and communal monks of antiquity, the desert was a place to flee the cacophony of ordinary life in order to hear and contemplate the voice of God. But these monks discovered something surprising in their harsh desert surroundings: far from empty and silent, the desert is richly reverberant. Sonorous Desert shares the stories and sayings of these ancient spiritual seekers, tracing how the ambient sounds of wind, thunder, water, and animals shaped the emergence and development of early Christian monasticism.

Who was Mary Magdalene? A devoted disciple who witnessed the crucifixion? The first person to proclaim Christ's resurrection? A spiritual teacher with profound wisdom? Or the penitent prostitute of medieval imagination? This groundbreaking study peels away centuries of distortion to reveal the remarkable truth about the woman who stood at Christianity's founding moment yet whose voice was repeatedly silenced throughout history.

The five world religions are Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Each religion has a different history, a different prophet, and a different set of rituals and traditions, all coming to the same conclusion. That conclusion is this: To honor that which is divine is to honor one’s self and to honor one’s fellow man. A good, righteous, virtuous life looks the same in every religion: It is to live with truth, kindness, respect, and forgiveness, for one’s self and for others.

The Religions Book clearly explains the key concepts behind the earliest religious beliefs right up to the world's newest faiths, getting to the heart of what it means to believe with jargon-free descriptions that encapsulate every aspect of religious thinking. Examine major historical developments and ideas with a universal timeline, providing a global perspective on the origins and major events that have contributed to the growth and spread of religion and spirituality.

In Firstlight, best-selling author Sue Monk Kidd offers readers an intimate glimpse into the early years of her journey as both writer and spiritual seeker. Drawn from the author's early writings for Guideposts and, to a lesser extent, other publications, this selection of personal reflections and essays is organized around 13 spiritual motifs and interwoven to create a compelling narrative about the author's spiritual awakening.

In Speaking with the Dead in Early America, historian Erik R. Seeman undertakes a 300-year history of Protestant communication with the dead. Seeman chronicles the story of Protestants' relationships with the deceased from Elizabethan England to puritan New England and then on through the American Enlightenment into the middle of the nineteenth century with the explosion of interest in Spiritualism. He brings together a wide range of sources to uncover the beliefs and practices of both ordinary people, especially women, and religious leaders.

The Theragatha is one of the most striking texts in the Pali Canon. It is a collection of 264 poems or verses - some short, some long - by monks who, traditionally, lived at the time of the Buddha, and which expressed their experience of insight, the culmination of their spiritual path. In fact, it is generally recognised now that this collection was added to over the years, so that some of the verses date from a later time.

For more than three decades, Dr. Thomas Horn was a proficient Bible scholar and pioneer who addressed with perceptive wisdom and discernment serious and controversial questions most religious scholars wouldn’t touch. Now back in circulation for the first time since 1998, this book is a republication of two of Tom's earliest works. In Spiritual Warfare: The Invisible Invasion and Gods Who Walk Among Us, Horn brings insight to our troubling times and assurance of God's eventual victory over darkness.

The Foundations of Social Order was, and remains, the most unique book ever written in the history of Christendom. Nothing like it has been written before, and nothing like it has been written since.

This particular volume (Volume One) begins with the period in the early 1600s when two very different English societies were established in the New World, one in Virginia and one in New England. The Virginia society simply re-created the rigidly class-based feudal society of the times. The New England society was a most unusual democracy of social equals, covenanted to live under God's—not man's—personal rule. These two American social types would find themselves in rather constant struggle....

Three events transpired in 1492 in the Iberian Peninsula, which had tremendous ramifications for years to come. The first was the conquest of Granada, i.e., the last Muslim stronghold, by Castilian and Aragonese forces. The victory ended eight hundred years of Islam-ic rule. The conquest of Granada eventually also led to the conversions of many Muslims to Christianity, the phenomenon of Crypto-Islam, and the eventual expulsion of the descendants of these converts in 1609.