Download or read book Inner Christianity written by Richard Smoley and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2002-10-08 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eye-opening introduction to the complex world of esoteric Christianity—perfect for the general reader This guide to mystical and esoteric Christianity speaks from a nonsectarian point of view, unearthing insights from the whole of the Christian tradition, orthodox and heretical, famous and obscure. The esoteric tradition has traditionally searched for meanings that would yield a deeper inner knowledge of the divine. While traditional Christianity draws a timeline from Adam's Fall to the Day of Judgment, the esoteric often sees time as folding in on itself, bringing every point to the here and now. While the Church fought bitterly over dogma, the esoteric borrowed freely from other traditions—Kabbalah, astrology, and alchemy—in their search for metaphors of inner truth. Rather than basing his book around exponents of esoteric doctrine, scholar Richard Smoley concentrates on the questions that are of interest to every searching Christian. How can one attain direct spiritual experience? What does "the Fall" really tell us about coming to terms with the world we live in? Can we find salvation in everyday life? How can we ascend, spiritually, through the various levels of existence? What was Christ's true message to humankind? From the Gospel of Thomas to A Course in Miracles, from the Jesus Prayer to alchemy and Tarot, from Origen to Dante to Jung, Richard Smoley sheds the light of an alternative Christianity on these issues and more.

Download or read book Inner Christianity written by Richard Smoley and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2002-10-08 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eye-opening introduction to the complex world of esoteric Christianity—perfect for the general reader This guide to mystical and esoteric Christianity speaks from a nonsectarian point of view, unearthing insights from the whole of the Christian tradition, orthodox and heretical, famous and obscure. The esoteric tradition has traditionally searched for meanings that would yield a deeper inner knowledge of the divine. While traditional Christianity draws a timeline from Adam's Fall to the Day of Judgment, the esoteric often sees time as folding in on itself, bringing every point to the here and now. While the Church fought bitterly over dogma, the esoteric borrowed freely from other traditions—Kabbalah, astrology, and alchemy—in their search for metaphors of inner truth. Rather than basing his book around exponents of esoteric doctrine, scholar Richard Smoley concentrates on the questions that are of interest to every searching Christian. How can one attain direct spiritual experience? What does "the Fall" really tell us about coming to terms with the world we live in? Can we find salvation in everyday life? How can we ascend, spiritually, through the various levels of existence? What was Christ's true message to humankind? From the Gospel of Thomas to A Course in Miracles, from the Jesus Prayer to alchemy and Tarot, from Origen to Dante to Jung, Richard Smoley sheds the light of an alternative Christianity on these issues and more.

Download or read book Second Simplicity written by Bruno Barnhart and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Bruno Barnhart's new book uncovers the contours of a Christian wisdom and explores the ways that a Christian faith often bound by rule, structure, and order can open itself to the unitive vision at its root." "This book proposes an opening of consciousness beyond thought, of theological vision beyond rational knowledge, and of Christianity beyond the perimeter of church. Bruno Barnhart invites us to move into a fuller experience of Christianity, an experience of wisdom that brings all created reality into unity with God. Therein lies the "second simplicity.""--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Download or read book Inner River written by Kyriacos C. Markides and published by Image. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “With his engaging blend of travelogue, conversations with a wise and charismatic spiritual father, and musings on the big questions of life and death, Professor Markides takes us as companions on his journey of discovery. The insights that he communicates with such enthusiasm are timely ones: here at last is a writer who challenges the seeker after mystical understanding and Eastern spirituality to discover Christianity.” —Dr. Elizabeth Theokritoff, independent scholar and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology In Inner River, Kyriacos Markides—scholar, researcher, author, and pilgrim—takes us on a thrilling quest into the heart of Christian spirituality and mankind’s desire for a transcendent experience of God. From Maine’s rugged shores to a Cypriot monastery to Greece’s remote Mt. Athos and, ultimately, to an Egyptian desert, Markides encounters a diverse cast of characters that allows him to explore the worlds of the natural and the supernatural, of religion and spirit, and of the seen and the unseen. Inner River will appeal to a wide range of readers, from Christians seeking insights into their religion and its various expressions to scholars interested in learning more about the mystical way of life and wisdom that have been preserved in the heart of Orthodox spirituality. Perhaps most important, however, is the bridge it offers contemporary readers to a Christian life that is balanced between the worldly and the spiritual.

Download or read book Putting on the Mind of Christ written by Jim Marion and published by Hampton Roads Publishing. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Jim Marion’s book returns us to the central challenge Christianity ought to be handing us. Indeed, how do we put on the mind of Christ? How do we see through his eyes? How do we feel through his heart? How do we learn to respond to the world with that same wholeness and healing love? That’s what Christian orthodoxy really is all about. It’s not about right belief; it’s about right practice.” —Cynthia Bourgeault, author of The Wisdom Jesus What does it mean to follow the path of Christ today? Putting on the Mind of Christ is the first book to offer an integral understanding of the Christian spiritual path--one that examines the basic stages of spiritual development described by the great saints and sages, along with the psychological stages of development used by modern psychology. American mystic Jim Marion draws upon his own rich spiritual experience and deep understanding of scriptural models, to show readers how to emulate the developmental stages of the Christ: how to put on the mind of Christ to achieve spiritual illumination and communion with the Christ. He examines the seven levels of consciousness of the human personality mapped by the work of Jean Piaget, Carol Milligan, and Lawrence Kohlberg, and leads readers to the consciousness that Jesus called the Kingdom of Heaven--the highest level of spiritual development. Marion shows how inner spiritual growth has always been the true essence of Christian practice and shares his own spiritual experiences within a "Christ-focused" framework. Pioneering, transcendent, and grounded, Putting on the Mind of Christ will permanently alter the landscape of 21st-century Christianity.

Download or read book Making Sense of God written by Timothy Keller and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

Download or read book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening written by Cynthia Bourgeault and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening is a complete guidebook for all who wish to know the practice of Centering Prayer.

Download or read book A Theology of Love written by Richard Smoley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A spirituality based on love, not fear • Shares key, inspiring teachings from A Course in Miracles as well as Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text • Cites philosophical wisdom from Kant, Blake, Jung, and Gurdjieff, alongside cognitive science, to reveal how the world is not difficult and flawed, but our fear-based mind-sets lead us to see it that way • Offers a path to help you regenerate from the “fallen” state and experience God as infinite love and light In the West, theology has almost always meant Christian theology--a hodgepodge of beliefs that are hard to make sense of. Why, for example, should an all-loving, merciful God have gotten mad at the human race because someone ate a piece of fruit six thousand years ago? And why would he send part of himself down to earth to be tortured to death? These beliefs, stated baldly, are nonsensical. Millions of people are realizing this and losing their faith. The time has come to reenvision Christian theology without contradictory teachings laced with fear. It is time for a theology of love and miracles. Richard Smoley reframes Christian theology using logical, consistent, and easy-to-understand teachings of unconditional love and forgiveness. He draws inspiration not only from the Bible, but also from Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and from esoteric and mystical teachings, such as A Course in Miracles and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text. He explains how the “fallen” state of the human condition, not one of sin but of oblivion, leads us to experience the world as flawed and problematic--not wholly evil, but not wholly good. Citing philosophical wisdom from Kant, Blake, Jung, and Gurdjieff, alongside cognitive science, Smoley reveals how it is not the world that is flawed, but the way we see the world. Sharing key teachings from A Course in Miracles, he shows that our fear-based mind-sets--often filled with anxiety, suffering, and shame--lead us to feel separated from God when, in fact, we are all extensions of a God of infinite love and light. Offering a path to help you regenerate from the “fallen” state and see the real spiritual world and loving God that lies behind it, the author provides ways for each of us to craft our own self-consistent theology. He also lays out a vision for the future of spirituality, a path for present-day religion to transform into something higher and more universal.

Download or read book Christianity and Mental Health written by Kam-Shing Yip and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spirituality, Christianity and mental health have long been a concern in our society. This concern is increasingly pressing in recent decades as mental problems soar because of tension, anxiety, failure and frustration in our societies. In terms of Christian belief, spirituality is interpreted as the encounter with The Almighty God and the total recognition and surrender to the salvation of Jesus Christ. Thus, mental health, in terms of Christianity, should consist of two major different types. The first type is secular mental health. The second type should be a sacred and spiritual model of mental health. This book focuses on a combination of secular discussions as well as a biblical interpretation of Christianity and mental health, hardship and resilience, rejoice and sadness, freedom and inner conflict, sins and spiritual transcendence. Chapter one starts with a comprehensive review on the concept of secular mental health. The writer describes an initial conceptualization of sacred mental health within Christian belief and biblical articulation. Chapter Two is a full articulation of secular and Christian concepts of suffering described in the Book of Job. Chapter Three is a refined comparison among secular concepts about positive psychology and happiness, existential articulation on the meaning of life, as well as the full articulation of rejoice from imitation of Christ humility in Book of Philippians written by Paul in Holy Bible. Chapter Four is a comprehensive discussion on secular and sacred conflicts in Christians as well as freedom from a connection with the Holy Spirit and immersion with Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.

Download or read book Inner Way written by Joseph J. Allen and published by Eerdmans Publishing Company. This book was released on 1994 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A call for the rebirth of the discipline as a specific ministry in the life of today's church.

Download or read book A Secret History of Christianity written by Mark Vernon and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2019-08-30 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity is in crisis in the West. The Inkling friend of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, analysed why. He developed an account of our spiritual predicament that is radical and illuminating. Barfield realized that the human experience of life shifts fundamentally over periods of cultural time. Our perception of nature, the cosmos and the divine changes dramatically across history. Mark Vernon uses this startling insight to tell the inner story of 3000 years of Christianity, beginning from the earliest Biblical times. Drawing, too, on the latest scholarship and spiritual questions of our day, he presents a gripping account of how Christianity constellated a new perception of what it is to be human. For 1500 years, this sense of things informed many lives, though it fell into crisis with the Reformation, scientific revolution and Enlightenment. But the story does not stop there. Barfield realised that there is meaning in the disenchantment and alienation experienced by many people today. It is part of a process that is remaking our sense of participation in the life of nature, the cosmos and the divine. It's a new stage in the evolution of human consciousness.

Download or read book The Inner Church is the Hope of the World written by Nicholas Laccetti and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-08-09 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, Western esoteric movements have provided meaning and power for what the Rosicrucians of the early modern period called the quest for “Universal Reformation”—the utopian restructuring of religion, science, the arts, and human society. Yet Western esotericism has been roundly ignored as a source of reflection in mainstream Christian theology, including the radical theologies of liberation that might otherwise see in esotericism a kindred spirit to their commitment to radical social change. In The Inner Church is the Hope of the World, guided by his work in contemporary movements for social change, Nicholas Laccetti puts Western esotericism in dialogue with liberation theology, treating esotericism as a legitimate source of spiritual and theological insight. If, as Gustavo Gutiérrez writes, “God is revealed in history,” then we will also encounter God within the particular history of human religious expression that is Western esotericism. And from these theological reflections, the Inner Church of the esotericists, occultists, and mystics is revealed to be the true ekklesia of all who have conformed themselves to God’s vision of freedom and liberation, and who struggle to enact that vision in human society. The Inner Church is truly the hope of the world.

Download or read book Core Christianity written by Michael Horton and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What beliefs are core to the Christian faith? This book is here to help you understand the reason for your hope as a Christian so that you can see it with fresh sight and invite others into the conversation. A lot of Christians take their story—the narratives that give rise to their beliefs—for granted. They pray, go to church, perhaps even read their Bible. But they might be stuck if a stranger asked them to explain what they believe and why they believe it. Author, pastor, and theologian Mike Horton unpacks the essential and basic beliefs that all Christians share in a way that is easy to understand and applicable to our lives today. And in a way that will make you excited to be a Christian! Core Christianity covers topics like: Jesus as both fully God and fully man. The doctrine of the Trinity. The goodness of God despite a broken world. The ways God speaks. The meaning of salvation. What is the Christian calling? Includes discussion questions for individual or group use. This introduction to the basic doctrines of Christianity is perfect for those who are new to the faith, as well as those who have an interest in deepening their understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Download or read book Healing written by Francis MacNutt and published by Hodder Faith. This book was released on 1997 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The million-copy bestselling introduction to the healing ministry, re-issued with a beautiful new cover. Does healing happen today? Why is there prejudice against the healing ministry? Why are some people not healed? These topical and vital questions are just some of the issues addressed by Francis MacNutt in Healing. A wideranging and broad-based overview, it is essential reading for all involved in the healing ministry. 'Prayer for healing is so central to the gospel, ' writes MacNutt, 'that it should be an integral part of the life of every community of believers. My heart cries out to see it restored to the place it had in the early Christian church.

Download or read book Mystic Christianity written by Yogi Ramacharaka and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2019-09-25 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original: Mystic Christianity by Yogi Ramacharaka

Download or read book Michelangelo s Inner Anatomies written by Christian K. Kleinbub and published by Penn State University Press. This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The liver and desire -- The heart under siege -- The love of the heart -- Faith in the heart -- The brain, judgment, and movement.

Download or read book Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia written by Tjalling H. F. Halbertsma and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2008-08-31 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on recent discoveries, this study reconstructs the material culture of the Christian Öngüt in Inner Mongolia. As much of this material no longer survives in the field, it provides an insight into the rise and disappearance of a Christian culture in Asia.