Download or read book Spinning in Place A Secular Humanist Embraces the Neo Pagan Wheel of the Year written by Bart Everson and published by Frowning Cat Books. This book was released on 2016-04-10 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draw a circle to represent the year: one complete revolution around the sun. Make a mark at the top and the bottom, the left and the right, dividing the circle into four equal quarters. Let these represent the solstices and the equinoxes. Now rotate the whole thing about 45º and make the marks again. These marks fall midway between the others, dividing the circle into eighths. Call these the cross-quarter days. You’ve just sketched the Wheel of the Year, a cycle of eight observances spaced evenly throughout the calendar. Call them celebrations, commemorations, recurrences, festivals, feasts, holidays, holy days, sabbats, or whatever you like. What are they, what do they represent, and why do they matter?
Download or read book Spinning In Place written by Asa Duerksen and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-29 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Atheism: Atheist Organizations and Activism What are the main beliefs of atheism? Why secular humanism can do what atheism can't. what is the difference between an atheist and secular humanism? This study shows how their judiciary battles ensured the clarification and galvanization of the First Amendment's Establish Clause, how they challenged the Protestant domination of government institutions, and helped to reveal a schism within Protestant churches between progressive and conservative factions.
Download or read book Godless Paganism Voices of Non Theistic Pagans written by John Halstead and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2016-03-18 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even in pagan antiquity, there were those who, while participating in the community's religious life, did not believe in literal gods. In the centuries that followed the Christian domination of the West, the epithet "godless pagan" was leveled at a wide variety of people. In the 1960s, there emerged a community of people who sought to reclaim the name "pagan" from its history of opprobrium. These Neo-Pagans were interested in nature spirituality and polytheism, and identified with the misunderstood and persecuted pagans of antiquity. While many Pagans today believe in literal gods, there are a growing number of Pagans who are "godless." Today, the diverse assemblage of spiritual paths known as Paganism includes atheist Pagans or Atheopagans, Humanistic and Naturalistic Pagans, Buddho-Pagans, animists, pantheists, Gaians, and other non-theistic Pagans. Here, their voices are gathered together to share what it means to be Pagan and godless.
Download or read book The Life of Christy written by Bart Everson and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Quran and the Secular Mind written by Shabbir Akhtar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-10-31 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is concerned with the rationality and plausibility of the Muslim faith and the Qur'an, and in particular how they can be interrogated and understood through Western analytical philosophy. It also explores how Islam can successfully engage with the challenges posed by secular thinking. The Quran and the Secular Mind will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Middle East studies, and political Islam.
Download or read book Organized Secularism in the United States written by Ryan T. Cragun and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of the US population that is not religious. However, there is, to date, very little research on the social movement that is organizing to serve the needs of and advocate for the nonreligious in the US. This is a book about the rise and structure of organized secularism in the United States. By organized secularism we mean the efforts of nonreligious individuals to build institutions, networks, and ultimately a movement that serves their interests in a predominantly religious society. Researchers from various fields address questions such as: What secularist organizations exist? Who are the members of these organizations? What kinds of organizations do they create? What functions do these organizations provide for their members? How do the secularist organizations of today compare to those of the past? And what is their likely impact on the future of secularism? For anyone trying to understand the rise of the nonreligious in the US, this book will provide valuable insights into organized efforts to normalize their worldview and advocate for their equal treatment in society.
Download or read book Singing to the Lyre in Renaissance Italy written by Blake Wilson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-21 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive study of the dominant form of solo singing in Renaissance Italy prior to the mid-sixteenth century.
Download or read book The Posthuman written by Rosi Braidotti and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-07-11 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Posthuman offers both an introduction and major contribution to contemporary debates on the posthuman. Digital 'second life', genetically modified food, advanced prosthetics, robotics and reproductive technologies are familiar facets of our globally linked and technologically mediated societies. This has blurred the traditional distinction between the human and its others, exposing the non-naturalistic structure of the human. The Posthuman starts by exploring the extent to which a post-humanist move displaces the traditional humanistic unity of the subject. Rather than perceiving this situation as a loss of cognitive and moral self-mastery, Braidotti argues that the posthuman helps us make sense of our flexible and multiple identities. Braidotti then analyzes the escalating effects of post-anthropocentric thought, which encompass not only other species, but also the sustainability of our planet as a whole. Because contemporary market economies profit from the control and commodification of all that lives, they result in hybridization, erasing categorical distinctions between the human and other species, seeds, plants, animals and bacteria. These dislocations induced by globalized cultures and economies enable a critique of anthropocentrism, but how reliable are they as indicators of a sustainable future? The Posthuman concludes by considering the implications of these shifts for the institutional practice of the humanities. Braidotti outlines new forms of cosmopolitan neo-humanism that emerge from the spectrum of post-colonial and race studies, as well as gender analysis and environmentalism. The challenge of the posthuman condition consists in seizing the opportunities for new social bonding and community building, while pursuing sustainability and empowerment.
Download or read book Jamming the Media written by Gareth Branwyn and published by Chronicle Books (CA). This book was released on 1997 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In one of the most complete handbooks to mass communication ever, cyber-culture expert Gareth Branwyn guides the wired and soon-to-be wired through the use of public access television, film, video, the Internet, and more. This groundbreaking, comprehensive guide is full of easy-to-follow instructions, hands-on information, practical hints, and case studies. 2-color throughout.
Download or read book The Rise of Eurocentrism written by Vassilis Lambropoulos and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-08 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the controversy over political correctness, the canon, and the curriculum, the role of Western tradition in a post-modern world is often debated. To clarify what is at stake, Vassilis Lambropoulos traces the ideology of European culture from the Reformation, focusing on a key element of Western tradition: the act of interpretation as a distinct practice of understanding and a civil right. Championed by Protestants insisting on independent interpretation of scripture, this ideal of autonomy ushered in the era of modernity with its essentialist philosophy of universal man and his aesthetic understanding of the world. After explaining the dominance of European culture through the combined archetypes of Hebraism (reason and morality) and Hellenism (spirit and art), Lambropoulos shows how the rule of autonomy has been transformed into the aesthetic, disinterested contemplation of things in themselves. Arguing that it is time to restore the socio-political dimension to the movement of autonomy, he proposes that a genealogy of the Hebraic-Hellenic archetypes can help us evaluate more recent models--like the Afrocentric one--and redefine the controversy surrounding education, Eurocentrism, and cultural politics.
Download or read book With Or Without God written by Gretta Vosper and published by HarperCollins Canada. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Envisioning a future in which the Christian church plays a viable and transformative role in shaping society, Gretta Vosper argues that if the church is to survive at all, the heart of faith must undergo a radical change. Vosper, founder of the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity and a minister in Toronto, believes that what will save the church is an emphasis on just and compassionate living -- a new and wholly humanistic approach to religion. Without this reform, the church as we know it faces extinction. Vosper addresses the issues of spiritual fulfillment, comfort and connection in the modern world through a thoughtful and passionate discourse. She urges a renewal of old doctrines but does so with dignity and respect. Offering difficult but penetrating insights into a new generation of spiritually aware -- and spiritually open -- people, With or Without God offers a startling model for a renewed church as a leader in ethics, fostering relationships, meaning and values that are solidly rooted in our own selves.
Download or read book Chinese Religiosities written by Mayfair Mei-hui Yang and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-11-04 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Extraordinarily timely and useful. As China emerges as an economic and political world power that seems to have done away with religion, in fact it is witnessing a religious revival. The thoughtful essays in this book show both the historical conflicts between state authorities and religious movements and the contemporary encounters that are shaping China's future. I am aware of no other book that covers so much ground and can be used so well as an introduction to this important field." —Peter van der Veer, University of Utrecht
Download or read book Engaging Our Theological Diversity written by Unitarian Universalist Commission on Appraisal and published by Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. This book was released on 2005 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Pagan Paths written by Pete Jennings and published by Random House. This book was released on 2002 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work, providing an introduction to alternative religions, discusses the main issues involved in setting out on the pagan path. It outlines the beliefs and practices of such traditions as wicca, druidry, shamanism, asatru and eclectic paganism.
Download or read book The Venice Variations written by Sophia Psarra and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2018-04-30 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the myth of Arcadia through to the twenty-first century, ideas about sustainability – how we imagine better urban environments – remain persistently relevant, and raise recurring questions. How do cities evolve as complex spaces nurturing both urban creativity and the fortuitous art of discovery, and by which mechanisms do they foster imagination and innovation? While past utopias were conceived in terms of an ideal geometry, contemporary exemplary models of urban design seek technological solutions of optimal organisation. The Venice Variations explores Venice as a prototypical city that may hold unique answers to the ancient narrative of utopia. Venice was not the result of a preconceived ideal but the pragmatic outcome of social and economic networks of communication. Its urban creativity, though, came to represent the quintessential combination of place and institutions of its time. Through a discussion of Venice and two other works owing their inspiration to this city – Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and Le Corbusier’s Venice Hospital – Sophia Psarra describes Venice as a system that starts to resemble a highly probabilistic ‘algorithm’, that is, a structure with a small number of rules capable of producing a large number of variations. The rapidly escalating processes of urban development around our big cities share many of the motivations for survival, shelter and trade that brought Venice into existence. Rather than seeing these places as problems to be solved, we need to understand how urban complexity can evolve, as happened from its unprepossessing origins in the marshes of the Venetian lagoon to the ‘model city’ that endured a thousand years. This book frees Venice from stereotypical representations, revealing its generative capacity to inform potential other ‘Venices’ for the future.
Download or read book Green Witchcraft written by Ann Moura and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2014-01-08 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn the basics of Witchcraft from a third-generation Witch raised in a family tradition. Positive, practical, and easy to use, Green Witchcraft brings together the best of both modern Wicca and the author's family heritage of herb craft and folk magic. Green Witchcraft explores the fundamentals of the Wiccan religion, providing magical training for the independent thinker. Step-by-step instructions on a wide variety of magical techniques as well as basic rules of conduct make this the ideal book to get you started. Green rituals for self-initiation, rites of passage, seasonal celebrations and activities provide an excellent foundation for your own magical tradition. Discover the fine art of spellcasting, the magical uses of herbs, divination with the tarot and more. Explore the Sabbats, Esbats, and other rituals attuned to the cycles of nature and the universal powers. Find out for yourself what this organic approach to Witchcraft is all about.
Download or read book On Their Own Terms written by Benjamin A. Elman and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In On Their Own Terms, Benjamin A. Elman offers a much-needed synthesis of early Chinese science during the Jesuit period (1600-1800) and the modern sciences as they evolved in China under Protestant influence (1840s-1900). By 1600 Europe was ahead of Asia in producing basic machines, such as clocks, levers, and pulleys, that would be necessary for the mechanization of agriculture and industry. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Elman shows, Europeans still sought from the Chinese their secrets of producing silk, fine textiles, and porcelain, as well as large-scale tea cultivation. Chinese literati borrowed in turn new algebraic notations of Hindu-Arabic origin, Tychonic cosmology, Euclidian geometry, and various computational advances. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, imperial reformers, early Republicans, Guomindang party cadres, and Chinese Communists have all prioritized science and technology. In this book, Elman gives a nuanced account of the ways in which native Chinese science evolved over four centuries, under the influence of both Jesuit and Protestant missionaries. In the end, he argues, the Chinese produced modern science on their own terms.
