Download or read book Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith written by Michael L. Brown and published by Charisma Media. This book was released on 2023-03-07 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FROM THE BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF JEZEBEL'S WAR WITH AMERICA, HYPER-GRACE, AND THE REAL KOSHER JESUS At a time when the Bible and Christianity are considered untrustworthy, will we choose faith or follow the culture? This book will provide you with the facts and understanding you need to respond to difficult questions biblically and stay rooted in your faith even when others seem to be abandoning theirs. We are living in unprecedented times when Christian leaders are renouncing their faith and large numbers of believers are falling away. Is this the final apostasy prophesied by Jesus and Paul? And can we do anything to help those struggling with their faith? In Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith, Dr. Michael L. Brown confronts the problem of “Christian deconstruction” with solid, faith-building answers and honest responses to difficult questions. He addresses: What the Bible says about an end-time falling away and whether that is what we are seeing in our day; How solidarity with and sympathy for the LGBT movement has brought with it a rejection of biblical values; The effect of leadership scandals on the credibility of the gospel; How the me-centered gospel is contributing to the current faith crisis by putting God on trial; The contemporary objections to the Bible’s moral standards; The problem of pluralism; and What the Bible does and doesn’t say about future punishment in hell, while also examining the scriptural statement that “God is love.” Looking at the stories of those who fell away as well as the larger cultural factors, this book offers solid answers to the major attacks against the Bible and helps readers build an unshakable faith.

Download or read book Decadence and Catholicism written by Ellis Hanson and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Romantic writers had found in Christianity a poetic cult of the imagination, an assertion of the spiritual quality of beauty in an age of vulgar materialism. The decadents, a diverse movement of writers, were the climax and exhaustion of this romantic tradition. In their art, they enacted the romance of faith as a protest against the dreariness of modern life. Ellis Hanson teases out two strands--eroticism and aestheticism--that rendered the decadent interest in Catholicism extraordinary. More than any other literary movement, the decadents explored the powerful historical relationship between homoeroticism and Roman Catholicism. Why, throughout history, have so many homosexuals been attracted to Catholic institutions that vociferously condemn homosexuality? This perplexing question is pursued in this elegant and innovative book. Late-nineteenth-century aesthetes found in the Church a peculiar language that gave them a means of artistic and sexual expression. The brilliant cast of characters that parades through this book includes Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, J.-K. Huysmans, Walter Pater, and Paul Verlaine. Art for these writers was a mystical and erotic experience. In decadent Catholicism we can glimpse the beginnings of a postmodern valorization of perversity and performativity. Catholicism offered both the hysterical symptom and the last hope for paganism amid the dullness of Victorian puritanism and bourgeois materialism.

Download or read book Shakti written by Vanamali and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-07-21 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents the mystery of the Divine Mother in all her manifold aspects • Explores more than 30 different goddess aspects of the Shakti force, both beneficial and malefic • Includes Sanskrit hymns and classic verses by Sri Auribindo for each of the goddesses Shakti is synonymous with the Devi, the Divine Mother or divine power that manifests, sustains, and transforms the universe. She is the womb of all creatures, and it is through her that the One becomes the many. Our first and primary relationship to the world is through the mother, the source of love, security, and nourishment. Extending this relationship to worship of a cosmic being as mother was a natural step found not only in the Shakti cult of Hinduism but also in ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian cultures. Shakti presents more than 30 goddess incarnations of the Divine Mother that represent both the beneficial and malefic aspects of the Shakti force. From Lakshmi, Parvati, and Saraswati to Durga, Chandika, and Kali--each of the different functions of the female goddesses in the Hindu pantheon is revealed, accompanied by traditional Sanskrit hymns, classic verses by Sri Auribindo, and discussions of tantric philosophy. The author draws from the Devi Bhagavatham, which describes all the stories of Shakti, and the Devi Mahatmyam, the most powerful scriptural text that glorifies Shakti in her form as Durga. Using these texts she shows that through the power and grace of the Divine Mother we may be released from the darkness of ignorance and taken to the abode of knowledge, immortality, and bliss--the source from which we have come.

Download or read book The Secrets of Brahma written by Henry Romano and published by DTTV PUBLICATIONS. This book was released on with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ANCIENT INDIA'S HINDU ORIGIN The reprimand of Lord Shiva by Brahma for harboring sexual feelings for his own daughter, Sandhya, led him to consult Daksha and his other sons about what to do. Due to his high status as a yogi and his lack of knowledge of women and passion, Shiva had little understanding of sexual feelings. Trying to make Shiva suffer from love's pangs, Brahma enlisted the help of Kama and Rati, his wife. The creation will continue to be mediocre unless Shiva indulges in sexual activity. Only Kama's power can triumph over Shiva, who is highly detached." Thus saying, Brahma requested the Kama to try his wiles on Lord Shiva. Vasanta was also created for the Kama to be his constant companion so that he could succeed in his adventures. "Kama, please try to enchant Shiva on behalf of the world. Shoot your arrows at Shiva wherever he goes to entice him to take a wife. Follow him wherever he goes, whether over mountains, through forests, or on peaks. You are the only person who can make this happen. He dislikes women and is in complete control of his own actions." With these words of the Creator in his ears, Kama, accompanied by Vasanta and the gentle breeze of Maharashtra, departed for the harsh mountains, caves, and dales in which Shiva roamed. As the seasons changed, Kama's journey continued. There was no longer a cold wind blowing against the icy peaks of the Himalayas. Instead, it was swept by a gentle Malaya breeze, fragrant with the scent of a thousand flowers. Amid all the blossoming trees, Shiva was immersed in atomic bliss, not beguiled by the beauty. Kama's sugarcane bow sent arrow after arrow flying. Rati and he both tried every trick in the book. Shiva was immune to their charm, but all living things succumbed to theirs. All living things except him were affected. Brahma returned dejectedly to the Kama after his ego had been crushed.

Download or read book Shiva written by Vanamali and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-10-04 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The traditional understanding of Shiva told through stories and teachings from the Shiva Mahapurana • Explains Shiva’s contradictory forms, such as destroyer or benefactor, and how his form depends on the needs of the devotee • Reveals how Shiva’s teachings allow one to see through the illusions at the root of all grief and alienation in human life • Explores Shiva’s relationships with Durga, Shakti, Sati, and Parvati and with his sons Ganesha and Kartikeya Shiva, the most ancient and complex deity of the Hindu pantheon, has been portrayed in many contrasting lights: destroyer and benefactor, ascetic and householder, wild demon slayer and calm yogi atop Mount Kailash. Drawing from the Hindu sacred text the Shiva Mahapurana--said to be written by Shiva himself--Vanamali selects the essential stories of Shiva, both those from his dark wild side and those from his benevolent peaceful side. Vanamali discusses Shiva’s many avatars such as Shambunatha and Bhola, as well as Dakshinamurti who taught the shastras and tantras to the rishis. She explores Shiva’s relationships with Durga, Shakti, Sati, and Parvati and with his sons Ganesha and Kartikeya. Examining Shiva’s acceptance of outsiders, Vanamali explains why ghosts and ghouls are his attendants and why his greatest devotees are demon kings, like Ravana. She includes famous Shiva stories such as the Descent of the River Ganga and Churning the Milky Ocean as well as those that reveal the origin of the festival of lights, Diwali; his creation of the cosmic couple, or hierogamos; and how Shiva and Parvati taught the world the secrets of Kundalini Shakti. The author also draws upon Shaivite teachings to illustrate the differences between Western science and Vedic science and their explanations for the origins of consciousness. Integrating Shiva’s two sides, the fierce and the peaceful, Vanamali reveals that Shiva’s form depends on the needs of the devotee. Understanding his teachings allows one to see through the illusions at the root of all grief and alienation in human life, for Shiva is the wielder of maya who does not fall under its spell. While Ganesha is known as the remover of obstacles, Shiva is the remover of tears.

Download or read book Paradigms of pilgrimage from devotional journey to religious tourism Paradigmes du p lerinage du voyage d votionnel au tourisme religieux written by Monica RUSET OANCĂ and published by Editura Universității din București - Bucharest University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-01 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume Paradigms of Pilgrimage: FromDevotional Journey to (Religious)Tourism endeavours to present someinsights into the multi-layered significance of pilgrimage, starting from a theoretical approach and then addressing specific situations. The first two parts deal chronologically with instances of traditional images of pilgrimage and the last two parts move towards analysing modern and post-modern examples of journeys with a spiritual purpose. Each chapter is independent and provides an original rendering of the concept of pilgrimage. The authors use various approaches to discuss the notion of pilgrimage and the images interconnect creating an irregular, but harmonious mosaic. Le volume Paradigmes du pèlerinage : du voyage dévotionnel au tourisme (religieux) vise à présenter les différentes facettes du pèlerinage, en partant d'une approche théorique et en proposant ensuite des situations spéciiques. Les deux premières parti esexaminent, chronologiquement, les exemples d'images traditionnelles de pèlerinage tandis que les deux dernières parties s'orientent vers l'analyse d'exemples modernes et postmodernes des voyages à travers la spiritualité. Chaque chapitre est indépendant et montre une interprétation originale de la notion de pèlerinage. Les auteurs utilisent diverses approches pour discuter de la notion de pèlerinage et les images s'interconnectent en créant une mosaı̈que irrégulière, mais harmonieuse.

Download or read book The Atlantic Monthly written by and published by . This book was released on 1899 with total page 872 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Same Sex Desire in Victorian Religious Culture written by F. Roden and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-10-23 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Same-Sex Desire in Victorian Religious Culture examines the role of Christian history in nineteenth-century definitions of homosexual identity. Roden charts the emergence of the modern homosexual in relation to religious, not exclusively sociological discourses. Positing Catholicism as complementary to classical Greece, he challenges the separatism of sexuality and religion in critical practice. Moving from Newman and Rossetti, to Hopkins, Wilde, and Michael Field amongst others, Same-Sex Desire claims a new literary history, bringing together gay studies and theology in Victorian literature.

Download or read book Victorian Christianity at the Fin de Si cle written by Frances Knight and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-23 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The period known as the fin de siecle - defined in this groundbreaking book as chiefly the period between1885 and 1901 - was a fluid and unsettling epoch of optimism and pessimism, endings and beginnings, aswell as of new forms of creativity and anxiety. The end of the century has attracted much interest from scholars of literary and cultural studies, who regard it as a critical moment in the history of their disciplines; but it has been relatively ignored by religious historians. Frances Knight here sets right that neglect. She shows how late Victorian society (often said to be one of the most intensely Christian cultures the world has ever seen) reacted to the bold agendas being set by the thinkers of the fin de siecle; and how prominent Church figures during the era first identified many of the concerns that have preoccupied Christians latterly. These include an active interest in social justice and the creation of new types of communities; increasingly open discussion of the sexual exploitation of children; debates about society's 'decadence'; new ideas about the role of women; and the belief in the redemptive powers of art, pioneered by figures as diverse as P.T. Forsyth, Percy Dearmer and Samuel and Henrietta Barnett.Examining in particular the Christian world of fin de siecle London, the author offers penetrating insights intoa society in which the ritual and culture of Christianity sometimes permeated the aesthetic movement andwhere devotees of the aesthetic movement - like Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde and their disciples - often revealed a fascination with Christianity. She argues that the 'long 1890s' was a decisive decade in which various sections of Christian opinion, both on the progressive and the more conservative wings of the faith, began to express views which set the tone for attitudes which would become commonplace in the twentieth century. Victorian Christianity at the Fin de Siecle is the focussed treatment of religion and culture at the end of the nineteenth century that the field has long needed. It will be welcomed by scholars of church history, social and cultural history and the history of ideas.

Download or read book Haitian Creole written by Robert Anderson Hall and published by . This book was released on 1953 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Decadent Catholicism and the Making of Modernism written by Martin Lockerd and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-25 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the movement of literary decadence from the writers of the fin de siècle - Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Ernest Dowson, and Lionel Johnson - to the modernist writers of the following generation, this book charts the legacy of decadent Catholicism in the fiction and poetry of British and Irish modernists. Linking the later writers with their literary predecessors, Martin Lockerd examines the shifts in representation of Catholic decadence in the works of W. B. Yeats through Ezra Pound to T.S. Eliot; the adoption and transformation of anti-Catholicism in Irish writers George Moore and James Joyce; the Catholic literary revival as portrayed in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited; and the attraction to decadent Catholicism still felt by postmodernist writers D.B.C. Pierre and Alan Hollinghurst. Drawing on new archival research, this study revisits some of the central works of modernist literature and undermines existing myths of modernist newness and secularism to supplant them with a record of spiritual turmoil, metaphysical uncertainty, and a project of cultural subversion that paradoxically relied upon the institutional bulwark of European Christianity. Lockerd explores the aesthetic, sexual, and political implications of the relationship between decadent art and Catholicism as it found a new voice in the works of iconoclastic modernist writers.

Download or read book Then Sings My Soul written by Robert J. Morgan and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A year of journaling inspiration through the most beloved hymns, based the bestselling Then Sings My Soul series. Pastor Rob Morgan's inimitable style will help people reacquaint themselves with the hymns of the faithful. His goal is to keep these traditional hymns vital and meaningful to all generations. Hymns speak to our soul and add depth and meaning as we worship God through song. This year-long devotional journal shares the emotion behind the hymns of faith that have changed many lives throughout history — not only the people whose faith led them to write these wonderful hymns but also the people whose faith has been transformed by reading, hearing, and singing the songs. Designed to be personally reflective and inspire prayer, each week-long experience allows readers to experience the hymn through: reflection questions prayer prompts journaling space historic quotes the actual hymn with music and lyrics its historical background Draw near to God and deepen your prayer life as you make your way through these 52 hymns that center around the theme of joyous prayer in the Then Sings My Soul Prayer Journal.

Download or read book Religious Thought and Heresy in the Middle Ages written by Frederick William Bussell and published by . This book was released on 1918 with total page 914 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Decadent and Occult Works by Arthur Machen written by Dennis Denisoff and published by MHRA. This book was released on 2018-07-11 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arthur Machen has finally been recognized as a key contributor to the glittering age of British Decadence. Best known for the novella The Great God Pan and for his formative influence on weird fiction, in fact much of Machen’s writing profoundly challenges literary and cultural convention. From the demonic horror of “The Recluse of Bayswater” to the plush occultism of The Hill of Dreams and the prose poems of Ornaments in Jade, this selection of works from throughout Machen’s career brings to life his unique symbolist aesthetics and spiritual philosophy. This is the first edition of Machen’s work to foreground his Decadent and occult writing. It includes a scholarly introduction, extensive annotations, and revealing contextual materials. Engaging with the gems of Machen’s oeuvre, the collection invites readers to open their minds to a reality beyond the veil, the reality – in Machen’s view – that matters most.

Download or read book History of the Church of Scotland to the Reformation written by John Alexander Duke and published by . This book was released on 1937 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Catholic Encyclopedia written by Charles Herbermann and published by . This book was released on 1910 with total page 896 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Catholic Encyclopedia written by Charles George Herbermann and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 872 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: