Download or read book Moving Beyond the Christian Myth written by John W. Sloat and published by CCB Publishing. This book was released on 2011-12-05 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moving Beyond The Christian Myth takes the next step beyond Sloat's first book on spirituality, A Handbook For Heretics. He explores the roots of the Christian faith, tracing them back to their pagan origins in ancient religions. Then, one by one, he analyzes the essential beliefs of Christianity, showing how they cannot literally be true. The various chapters contend that: Christianity is a religious myth We don't need a savior The Bible is not the Word of God Jesus is not God The church is more political than spiritual The remainder of the book is filled with stories of mystical experiences which demonstrate how the spirit world is an integral part of our daily lives. These topics include: Out-of-Body Experiences, Visions, Past Life Recalls, After Death Communication, Angel Communication, Pre-Birth Experiences and Coincidence. Sloat argues that these stories reveal spiritual truths which are not part of the traditional teachings of religion. He asks the church to admit that its story is based on myth rather than literal truth, he urges the church to incorporate these experiences into its belief system, and he concludes by presenting a vision of a future in which people can worship God as the creator, not of a religion based on the fear of hell, but of a spiritual kingdom founded on love, light and hope. This book will be an inspiration to all those who are seeking something beyond the mythological teaching of the past. About the Author John W. Sloat, a former Presbyterian minister, served churches in Pennsylvania and Ohio for over 40 years. He holds a B.A. from Denison University, 1954; an M.Div. from Princeton Seminary, 1957; and a Th.M. from Pittsburgh Seminary, 1977. Previous books include Lord, Make Us One (non-fiction, 1986); The Other Half (fiction, 2001); Memories of My Misadventures (fiction, 2008); and A Handbook For Heretics (non-fiction, second edition, 2009). Several of his sermons have been included in Pulpit Digest, a national preaching journal. He has been married to Helen Burdick Sloat, a psychiatric nurse, for 56 years, and they have three children, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. A pianist and organist, Sloat also plays the French horn, is a scratch model builder, and leads spirituality groups.
Download or read book From Mythology to Reality Moving Beyond Rastafari written by Seon M. Lewis and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2013-10-19 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main thesis of this book is based on the Rastafarian Movement. This book presents information about this movement, in one place, that is largely not know by the many adherents of the faith. Moreover, this book presents a unique view of the Movement; a view embedded in a Grenadian Caribbean experience. This view, however, is not narrowly placed, but is argued within a wider world context, and, thus, explains whether the Rastafarian movement can be a force for good, both within the black community and the world at large. Editor and author Norm R. Allen Jr. said that "This well-researched book expertly demolishes the ridiculous notion among Rastafarians that Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is God. Moreover, Lewis offers many excellent critiques of theism, the Bible, Rastafarianism, Afrocentric thought and religion in general." This book is informative to everyone.
Download or read book Moving Beyond the Myths written by Jan Silvious and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2001 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "...Silvious uses a systematic, practical, and creative method in helping readers dissect dozens of myths in the light of the truth. As you search the Scriptures along with Jan, you'll notice the myths growing dimmer in your mind as they are overcome by the light of God's Word." [from back cover summary].
Download or read book Progressive Religious written by Robert Patrick Jones and published by Robert P. Jones. This book was released on 2008 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In recent years, Americans have become frustrated with the troubled relationship between religion and politics: an exclusive claim on faith and values from the right and a radical divorce of faith from politics on the left. Now a new group of religious leaders is re-envisioning religion in public life and blazing a trail that goes beyond partisan politics to work for a more just and inclusive society. Progressive & Religious draws on nearly one hundred in-depth interviews with Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist leaders to tell the story of this dynamic, emerging movement." "Robert P. Jones explains how progressive religious leaders are tapping the deep connections between religion and social justice to work on issues like poverty and workers' rights, the environment, health care, pluralism, and human rights."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book The Bible Ancient Science written by Denis O Lamoureux and published by . This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Is God to Blame written by Gregory A. Boyd and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2003-09-09 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wrestling with the question, Is God to blame?, Gregory A. Boyd offers a hopeful picture of a sovereign God who is relentlessly opposed to evil, who knows our sufferings and who can be trusted to bring us through them to renewed life.
Download or read book The Myth of Persecution written by Candida Moss and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expert on early Christianity reveals how the early church invented stories of Christian martyrs—and how this persecution myth persists today. According to church tradition and popular belief, early Christians were systematically persecuted by a brutal Roman Empire intent on their destruction. As the story goes, vast numbers of believers were thrown to the lions, tortured, or burned alive because they refused to renounce Christ. But as Candida Moss reveals in The Myth of Persecution, the “Age of Martyrs” is a fiction. There was no sustained 300-year-long effort by the Romans to persecute Christians. Instead, these stories were pious exaggerations; highly stylized rewritings of Jewish, Greek, and Roman noble death traditions; and even forgeries designed to marginalize heretics, inspire the faithful, and fund churches. The traditional story of persecution is still invoked by church leaders, politicians, and media pundits who insist that Christians were—and always will be—persecuted by a hostile, secular world. While violence against Christians does occur in select parts of the world today, the rhetoric of persecution is both misleading and rooted in an inaccurate history of the early church. By shedding light on the historical record, Moss urges modern Christians to abandon the conspiratorial assumption that the world is out to get them.
Download or read book Christian Mythology written by Philippe Walter and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals how Christian mythology has more to do with long-standing pagan traditions than the Bible • Explains how the church fathers knowingly incorporated pagan elements into the Christian faith to ease the transition to the new religion • Identifies pagan deities that were incorporated into each of the saints • Shows how all the major holidays in the Christian calendar are modeled on pagan rituals and myths, including Easter and Christmas In this extensive study of the Christian mythology that animated Europe in the Middle Ages, author Philippe Walter reveals how these stories and the holiday traditions connected with them are based on long-standing pagan rituals and myths and have very little connection to the Bible. The author explains how the church fathers knowingly incorporated pagan elements into the Christian faith to ease the transition to the new religion. Rather than tear down the pagan temples in Britain, Pope Gregory the Great advised Saint Augustine of Canterbury to add the pagan rituals into the mix of Christian practices and transform the pagan temples into churches. Instead of religious conversion, it was simply a matter of convincing the populace to include Jesus in their current religious practices. Providing extensive documentation, Walter shows which major calendar days of the Christian year are founded on pagan rituals and myths, including the high holidays of Easter and Christmas. Examining hagiographic accounts of the saints, he reveals the origin of these symbolic figures in the deities worshipped in pagan Europe for centuries. He also explores how the identities of saints and pagan figures became so intermingled that some saints were transformed into pagan incarnations, such as Mary Magdalene’s conversion into one of the Celtic Ladies of the Lake. In revealing the pagan roots of many Christian figures, stories, and rituals, Walter provides a new understanding of the evolution of religious belief.
Download or read book Myth and Ritual In Christianity written by Alan Watts and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 1971-06-01 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Our main object will be to describe one of the most incomparably beautiful myths that has ever flowered from the mind of man, or from the unconscious processes which shape it and which are in some sense more than man.… This is, furthermore, to be a description and not a history of Christian Mythology.… After description, we shall attempt an interpretation of the myth along the general lines of the philosophia perennis, in order to bring out the truly catholic or universal character of the symbols, and to share the delight of discovering a fountain of wisdom in a realm where so many have long ceased to expect anything but a desert of platitudes.” —from the Prologue
Download or read book Myths America Lives By written by Richard T. Hughes and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Six myths lie at the heart of the American experience. Taken as aspirational, four of those myths remind us of our noblest ideals, challenging us to realize our nation's promise while galvanizing the sense of hope and unity we need to reach our goals. Misused, these myths allow for illusions of innocence that fly in the face of white supremacy, the primal American myth that stands at the heart of all the others.
Download or read book Church Without Walls written by Jim Petersen and published by . This book was released on 2018-07-18 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Church Without Walls, prominent author Jim Petersen offers an exciting definition of the church that pushes beyond the too-small boundaries we've inherited from the past. This book explores why some church forms impede the gospel in today's postmodern world.
Download or read book Exposing Myths About Christianity written by Jeffrey Burton Russell and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2012-05-15 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renowned historian, Jeffrey Burton Russell, famous for his studies of medieval history, sets the record straight against the New Atheists and other cultural critics who charge Christianity with being outdated, destructive, superstitious, unenlightened, racist, colonialist, based on fabrication, and other significant false accusations.
Download or read book The Myth of the Non Christian written by Luke Cawley and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2016-02-17 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evangelism is not one-size-fits-all. In this book Luke Cawley shows how we can contextualize the gospel in different ways to connect with three key demographics: the spiritual but not religious, committed atheists and nominal Christians. Filled with real-life stories of changed lives, this book is a practical and hopeful resource for helping people to encounter God.
Download or read book Beyond the Promised Land written by David F. Noble and published by Between the Lines. This book was released on 2010-12-08 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iconoclast David F. Noble traces the evolution and eclipse of the biblical mythology of the Promised Land, the foundational story of Western Culture. Part impassioned manifesto, part masterful survey of opposed philosophical and economic schools, Beyond the Promised Land brings into focus the twisted template of the Western imagination and its faith-based market economy. From the first recorded versions of ‘the promise’ saga in ancient Babylon, to the Zapatistas’ rejection of promises never kept, Noble explores the connections between Judeo-Christian belief and corporate globalization. Inspiration for activists and students alike.
Download or read book Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson written by Ron Dart and published by Lexham Press. This book was released on 2020-03-25 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular philosopher Jordan Peterson has captured the imagination of Western world. For some, Peterson represents all that is wrong with patriarchal culture; for others, he is the Canadian academic prophet who has come to save civilization from dizzying confusion. Regardless of how one feels about him, his influence in North America--and beyond--is difficult to deny. While the "Peterson phenomenon" has motivated numerous articles and responses, much of what has been written is either excessively fawning or overly critical. Little has been produced that explores Peterson's thought--especially his immensely popular 12 Rules for Life--within the context of his overall context and scholarly output. How is one to understand the ascendency of Jordan Peterson and why he's become so popular? Does his earlier Maps of Meaning shed light on how one might understand his worldwide bestseller, 12 Rules for Life? In Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson, scholars across various disciplines explore various aspects of Jordan Peterson's thought from a Christian perspective. Both critical and charitable, sober-minded and generous, this collection of ten essays is a key resource for those looking to faithfully engage with Jordan Peterson's thought.
Download or read book The Myth of Christian Uniqueness written by John Hick and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2005-01-25 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new model of Christian theology, the 'pluralistic' model, is taking shape, moving beyond the traditional models of exclusivism (Christianity as the only true religion) and inclusivism (Christianity as the best religion) toward a view that recognizes the possibility of many valid religions. In this volume, a widely representative group of eminent Christian theologians - Protestant and Catholic, male and female, from East and West, First and Third Worlds - explores genuinely new attitudes toward other believers and traditions, expanding and refining the discussion and debate over pluralistic theology. Contributors are: Gordon D. Kaufman, John Hick, Langdon Gilkey, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Stanley J. Samartha, Raimundo Panikkar, Seiichi Yagi, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Marjorie Jewitt Suchocki, Aloysius Pieris, Tom F. Driver, and Paul F. Knitter.
Download or read book Beyond Gnosticism written by Ismo O. Dunderberg and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2008-04-16 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Valentinus was a popular, influential, and controversial early Christian teacher. His school flourished in the second and third centuries C.E. Yet because his followers ascribed the creation of the visible world not to a supreme God but to an inferior and ignorant Creator-God, they were from early on accused of heresy, and rumors were spread of their immorality and sorcery. Beyond Gnosticism suggests that scholars approach Valentinians as an early Christian group rather than as a representative of ancient "Gnosticism"-a term notoriously difficult to define. The study shows that Valentinian myths of origin are filled with references to lifestyle (such as the control of emotions), the Christian community, and society, providing students with ethical instruction and new insights into their position in the world. While scholars have mapped the religio-historical and philosophical backgrounds of Valentinian myth, they have yet to address the significance of these mythmaking practices or emphasize the practical consequences of Valentinians' theological views. In this groundbreaking study, Ismo Dunderberg provides a comprehensive portrait of a group hounded by other Christians after Christianity gained a privileged position in the Roman Empire. Valentinians displayed a keen interest in mythmaking and the interpretation of myths, spinning complex tales about the origin of humans and the world. As this book argues, however, Valentinian Christians did not teach "myth for myth's sake." Rather, myth and practice were closely intertwined. After a brief introduction to the members of the school of Valentinus and the texts they left behind, Dunderberg focuses on Valentinus's interpretation of the biblical creation myth, in which the theologian affirmed humankind's original immortality as a present, not lost quality and placed a special emphasis on the "frank speech" afforded to Adam by the supreme God. Much like ancient philosophers, Valentinus believed that the divine Spirit sustained the entire cosmic chain and saw evil as originating from conspicuous "matter." Dunderberg then turns to other instances of Valentinian mythmaking dominated by ethical concerns. For example, the analysis and therapy of emotions occupy a prominent place in different versions of the myth of Wisdom's fall, proving that Valentinians, like other educated early Christians, saw Christ as the healer of emotions. Dunderberg also discusses the Tripartite Tractate, the most extensive account to date of Valentinian theology, and shows how Valentinians used cosmic myth to symbolize the persecution of the church in the Roman Empire and to create a separate Christian identity in opposition to the Greeks and the Jews.
