Download or read book Power Faith and Fantasy America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present written by Michael B. Oren and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2008-02-17 with total page 1178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Will shape our thinking about America and the Middle East for years.”—Christopher Dickey, Newsweek Power, Faith, and Fantasytells the remarkable story of America's 230-year relationship with the Middle East. Drawing on a vast range of government documents, personal correspondence, and the memoirs of merchants, missionaries, and travelers, Michael B. Oren narrates the unknown story of how the United States has interacted with this vibrant and turbulent region.
Download or read book THE FANTASY OF FAITH written by Rogene A. Buchholz and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2023-08-16 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a nutshell, Christianity is one of the greatest if not the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on people in the history of the universe. It is practically all fantasy of one sort of another that millions of people believe in all over the world and have done so for many centuries since Christianity began. It all could have been made up out of whole cloth. The Old Testament cannot be taken at face value as the creation story was most likely borrowed from other sources and adapted to fit with the author’s purpose of explaining how the world began. The Exodus may be entirely fiction and most certainly did not happen the way it is described in the Bible. As far as the New Testament is concerned, it was written decades after the crucifixion of Jesus by people who were not eyewitnesses to the events they described. There may have been a prophet whose teachings drew many followers, but there was certainly no virgin birth, no miracles, and no resurrection. The purpose of all the apocalyptic writing and second coming of Christ may have been motivated by the oppression of the Roman Empire where the Jewish people felt powerless and needed to believe in something that would provide them with a feeling that in the final analysis justice would be done and they would get their revenge. Thus, Christianity needs to be exposed for the fraud that it is which is what this book attempts to do by looking at the history of Christianity, Biblical scholarship, and other aspects of Christianity along with its alternatives.
Download or read book Fashion Faith and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe written by Roger Penrose and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2024-10-22 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nobel Prize–winning physicist Roger Penrose questions some of the most fashionable ideas in physics today, including string theory What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely, theoretical physicists are immune to mere trends, dogmatic beliefs, or flights of fancy? In fact, acclaimed physicist and bestselling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are just as susceptible to these forces as anyone else. In this provocative book, he argues that fashion, faith, and fantasy, while sometimes productive and even essential in physics, may be leading today's researchers astray in three of the field's most important areas—string theory, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. Arguing that string theory has veered away from physical reality by positing six extra hidden dimensions, Penrose cautions that the fashionable nature of a theory can cloud our judgment of its plausibility. In the case of quantum mechanics, its stunning success in explaining the atomic universe has led to an uncritical faith that it must also apply to reasonably massive objects, and Penrose responds by suggesting possible changes in quantum theory. Turning to cosmology, he argues that most of the current fantastical ideas about the origins of the universe cannot be true, but that an even wilder reality may lie behind them. Finally, Penrose describes how fashion, faith, and fantasy have ironically also shaped his own work, from twistor theory, a possible alternative to string theory that is beginning to acquire a fashionable status, to "conformal cyclic cosmology," an idea so fantastic that it could be called "conformal crazy cosmology." The result is an important critique of some of the most significant developments in physics today from one of its most eminent figures.
Download or read book Faith Journey Through Fantasy Lands written by Russell W. Dalton and published by Augsburg Books. This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faith Journey through Fantasy Lands engages popular culture in the hugely successful stories of Harry Potter, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings. Russell W. Dalton guides the reader through these contemporary fantasy stories, illuminating them with light from the Christian faith journey. The book opens doors to faith-sharing, particularly with young people, while also taking on the issues within the stories that have led some Christians to reject them.
Download or read book eGods written by William Sims Bainbridge and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the relationship between religion and multi-player online roleplaying games? Are such games simply a secular distraction from traditional religious practices, or do they in fact offer a different route to the sacred? In eGods, a leading scholar in the study of virtual gameworlds takes an in-depth look at the fantasy religions of 41 games and arrives at some surprising conclusions. William Sims Bainbridge investigates all aspects of the gameworlds' religious dimensions: the focus on sacred spaces; the prevalence of magic; the fostering of a tribal morality by both religion and rules programmed into the game; the rise of cults and belief systems within the gameworlds (and how this relates to cults in the real world); the predominance of polytheism; and, of course, how gameworld religions depict death. As avatars are multiple and immortal, death is merely a minor setback in most games. Nevertheless, much of the action in some gameworlds centers on the issue of mortality and the problematic nature of resurrection. Examining EverQuest II, Lord of the Rings Online, Rift, World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and many others, Bainbridge contends that gameworlds offer a new perspective on the human quest, one that combines the arts, simulates many aspects of real life, and provides meaningful narratives about achieving goals by overcoming obstacles. Indeed, Bainbridge suggests that such games take us back to those ancient nights around the fire, when shadows flickered and it was easy to imagine the monsters conjured by the storyteller lurking in the forest. Arguing that gameworlds reintroduce a curvilinear model of early religion, where today as in ancient times faith is inseparable from fantasy, eGods shows how the newest secular technology returns us to the very origins of religion so that we might "arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
Download or read book Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature written by Taylor Driggers and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-01-13 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fantasy literature inhabits the realms of the orthodox and heterodox, the divine and demonic simultaneously, making it uniquely positioned to imaginatively re-envision Christian theology from a position of difference. Having an affinity for the monstrous and the 'other', and a preoccupation with desires and forms of embodiment that subvert dominant understandings of reality, fantasy texts hold hitherto unexplored potential for articulating queer and feminist religious perspectives. Focusing primarily on fantastic literature of the mid- to late twentieth century, this book examines how Christian theology in the genre is dismantled, re-imagined and transformed from the margins of gender and sexuality. Aligning fantasy with Derrida's theories of deconstruction, Taylor Driggers explores how the genre can re-figure God as the 'other' excluded and erased from theology. Through careful readings of C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve, and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea novels, Driggers contends that fantasy can challenge cis-normative, heterosexual, and patriarchal theology. Also engaging with the theories of Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, Marcella Althaus-Reid, and Linn Marie Tonstad, this book demonstrates that whilst fantasy cannot save Christianity from itself, nor rehabilitate it for marginalised subjects, it confronts theology with its silenced others in a way that bypasses institutional debates on inclusion and leadership, asking how theology might be imagined otherwise.
Download or read book Faith and Fantasy in the Renaissance written by Olga Zorzi Pugliese and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Crazy Faith written by Michael Todd and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Relationship Goals . . . Will you be remembered as a person who claimed to follow God but liked to play it safe? Or as a person who lived your life out on the limb and trusted God enough to live in crazy faith? Noah looked crazy when he started building the ark . . . until it started raining. It was crazy for Moses to lead a nation of people into the desert away from Egypt . . . until the Red Sea parted. It was crazy to believe that a fourteen-year-old virgin would give birth to the Son of God . . . until Mary held Jesus in her arms. There are many things that seem normal or average today that at one point in time seemed absolutely crazy. Smartphones, Wi-Fi, and even the electric light bulb were all groundbreaking, history-making inventions that started out as crazy ideas. Our see-it-to-believe-it generation tends to have a hard time exercising true faith—one that steps out, takes action, and sees mountain-moving results. Many of us would rather play it safe and stand on the sidelines, but it’s crazy faith that helps us see God move and reveals His promises. In Crazy Faith, Pastor Michael Todd shows us how to step out in faith and dive into the purposeful life of trusting God for the impossible. Even if you have to start with baby faith or maybe faith, you can become empowered to let go of your lazy faith, trust God through your hazy faith, and learn to live a lifestyle of crazy faith. With powerful stories of modern-day faith warriors who take their cues from biblical heroes, Michael Todd equips you to • believe for the impossible • choose hope over fear • be alert to the voice of God • cope with loss and doubt • develop a deeper level of trust in God • speak faith-filled declarations • inspire crazy faith in others God’s not looking for somebody to give Him all the reasons why His plans can’t happen. He’s looking for somebody to believe they will happen. In fact, He has so much He wants to do through you. The question is, Are you crazy enough to believe it?
Download or read book The Price of Faith written by Rob J. Hayes and published by Rob J. Hayes. This book was released on 2018-11-12 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not everyone has a destiny. Separated and miserable, Thanquil Darkheart and Jezzet Vel’urn both have their reasons for wanting to leave the Dragon Empire. Jezzet flees from the wrathful fury of an Empress scorned while accompanied by the ever insidious Drake Morrass and Thanquil sets out to find and judge his one heretical loose end.
Download or read book Faith written by Julie Murphy and published by Thorndike Striving Reader. This book was released on 2021 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Thorndike Press Striving Reader Collection."
Download or read book The Righteous Articles of Faith Book 2 written by David Wragg and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2021-06-10 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rejoin fantasy’s most deadly and dysfunctional mercenaries in the sequel to debut sensation THE BLACK HAWKS.
Download or read book The Black Hawks Articles of Faith Book 1 written by David Wragg and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2019-10-03 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dark, thrilling, and hilarious, The Black Hawks is an epic adventure perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch.
Download or read book Fear Faith Fact Fantasy written by John A. Henderson and published by Parkway Pub. This book was released on 2004-02 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Henderson dares readers to think and reason logically on the existence of God. He stresses the harm caused by religions and makes a plea to people to speak up when religion is used to express intolerance, hatred, and bigotry.
Download or read book Abomination written by Gary Whitta and published by Inkshares. This book was released on 2015-07-29 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abomination—a combination of historical fiction and fantasy—tells the tale of two very different, but equally tragic, heroes, each on their own path to damnation, but who ultimately find salvation in each other.
Download or read book Past Watchful Dragons written by Amy H. Sturgis and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religion written by Ian Guthridge and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion divides people: believers from non-believers; Christians from Jews and Muslims; and Westerners from the people of India and the Fast East. Moreover, it is an active ingredient in many of the tensions and conflicts of our time - not least, in our new multi-religious societies. And it is now being vigorously challenged by professor Dawkins and others as a "delusion" disproval by science- a relic of an "age of faith" long since past its use-by date.
Download or read book The Fantasy Passport Sailing on Faith written by Robert J. Green and published by AbsolutelyAmazingebooks.com. This book was released on 2022-03-23 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After serving more than twenty years as an organist in his church, the author took to the pulpit as a volunteer lay preacher. As a man of faith and reason, unbound by the usual constraints upon professional clergymen, he speaks his mind freely and openly as he addresses many of the perplexing issues confronting contemporary religion. In the process he proposes some unconventional answers, and makes some surprising revelations. He is not your typical clergyman, and this is not your typical book of sermons. It is a voyage of faith upon uncertain seas with the bright sun of hope lighting the way.
