Download or read book A Magic Still Dwells written by Kimberley C. Patton and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first thorough assessment of the field of comparative religion in forty years, this groundbreaking volume surmounts the seemingly intractable division between postmodern scholars who reject the comparative endeavor and those who affirm it. The contributors demonstrate that a broader vision of religion, involving different scales of comparison for different purposes, is both justifiable and necessary. A Magic Still Dwells brings together leading historians of religions from a wide range of backgrounds and vantage points, and draws from traditions as diverse as Indo-European mythology, ancient Greek religion, Judaism, Buddhism, Ndembu ritual, and the spectrum of religions practiced in America. The contributors take seriously the postmodern critique, explain its impact on their work, uphold or reject various premises, and in several cases demonstrate new comparative approaches. Together, the essays represent a state-of-the-art assessment of current issues in the comparative study of religion.
Download or read book Imagining Religion written by Jonathan Z. Smith and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1982 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With this influential book of essays, Jonathan Z. Smith has pointed the academic study of religion in a new theoretical direction, one neither theological nor willfully ideological. Making use of examples as apparently diverse and exotic as the Maori cults in nineteenth-century New Zealand and the events of Jonestown, Smith shows that religion must be construed as conventional, anthropological, historical, and as an exercise of imagination. In his analyses, religion emerges as the product of historically and geographically situated human ingenuity, cognition, and curiosity—simply put, as the result of human labor, one of the decisive but wholly ordinary ways human beings create the worlds in which they live and make sense of them. "These seven essays . . . display the critical intelligence, creativity, and sheer common sense that make Smith one of the most methodologically sophisticated and suggestive historians of religion writing today. . . . Smith scrutinizes the fundamental problems of taxonomy and comparison in religious studies, suggestively redescribes such basic categories as canon and ritual, and shows how frequently studied myths may more likely reflect situational incongruities than vaunted mimetic congruities. His final essay, on Jonestown, demonstrates the interpretive power of the historian of religion to render intelligible that in our own day which seems most bizarre."—Richard S. Sarason, Religious Studies Review
Download or read book Where Magic Dwells written by Rexanne Becnel and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVDeep in Radnor Forest, the magic of a captivating seeress is no match for unbridled, blazing desireDIV /divHer heart belongs to the five children she has raised, all of them orphans from the Welsh-English war. Her beauty as enchanting as her magic, the proud Wynne ab Gruffydd, Seeress of Radnor, would wage war to protect her children, regardless of the cost to herself. When Sir Cleve FitzWarin is dispatched to Wales to reclaim his liege lord’s orphaned offspring—and secure the handsome riches that come with his success—he meets Wynne head-on and quickly finds himself ensnared in her magical trap. But Cleve has ungodly powers of his own—powers that lay siege to Wynne’s heart and threaten her resolve. Girded for battle, they vow to vanquish each other, but will raw, consuming passion defeat them both?DIV /div /div
Download or read book Poems written by Hermann Hesse and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2013-06-18 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few American readers seem to be aware that Hermann Hesse, author of the epic novels Steppenwolf and Siddhartha, among many others, also wrote poetry, the best of which the poet James Wright has translated and included in this book. This is a special volume—filled with short, direct poems about love, death, loneliness, the seasons—that is imbued with some of the imagery and feeling of Hesse's novels but that has a clarity and resonance all its own, a sense of longing for love and for home that is both deceptively simple and deeply moving.
Download or read book The Dark That Dwells written by Matt Digman and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-10 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An immersive new space opera featuring an unforgettable ensemble cast, set in a sci-fi world with a fantasy twist. In this evocative science fiction series, four strangers are swept up in a gripping adventure of thrilling battles, ravenous creatures, and the return of forbidden magic. Ranger. Warrior. Tyrant. Arcanist. As their paths interweave in love and hate, redemption and revenge, one threat will eclipse their greatest fears: a being of utter darkness and its imminent return. THE DARK THAT DWELLS: essential for readers craving robust, character-driven adventures on fantastic alien worlds, bullet-ridden spaceships barely held together, and the expansive infinity of space-time itself.
Download or read book The Magicians written by Lev Grossman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-05-25 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lev Grossman’s new novel THE BRIGHT SWORD will be on sale July 2024 The New York Times bestselling novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world, now an original series on SYFY “The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea. . . . Hogwarts was never like this.” —George R.R. Martin “Sad, hilarious, beautiful, and essential to anyone who cares about modern fantasy.” —Joe Hill “A very knowing and wonderful take on the wizard school genre.” —John Green “The Magicians may just be the most subversive, gripping and enchanting fantasy novel I’ve read this century.” —Cory Doctorow “This gripping novel draws on the conventions of contemporary and classic fantasy novels in order to upend them . . . an unexpectedly moving coming-of-age story.” —The New Yorker “The best urban fantasy in years.” —A.V. Club Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he’s secretly fascinated with a series of children’s fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. . . . The prequel to the New York Times bestselling book The Magician King and the #1 bestseller The Magician's Land, The Magicians is one of the most daring and inventive works of literary fantasy in years. No one who has escaped into the worlds of Narnia and Harry Potter should miss this breathtaking return to the landscape of the imagination.
Download or read book A Common Word written by Miroslav Volf and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A letter printed in the pages of The New York times in 2007 acknowledged differences between Christianity and Islam but contended that "righteousness and good works" should be the only areas in which the two compete. That letter and a collaborative Christian response appear in this volume, which includes subsequent dialogue between Muslim and Christian scholars.
Download or read book Where the Evil Dwells written by Clifford D. Simak and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2022-11-29 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The renowned Science Fiction Grand Master makes a foray into fantasy, with this tale of perilous adventure in a land of trolls, wizards, and terrifying malevolence. In an alternate Europe where the Roman Empire never fell, the expansive Empty Lands are inhabited by forces known collectively as the Evil. Yet Charles Harcourt is honor-bound to venture into that dangerous area to find his long-lost fianceé. He is joined on his trek by an abbot who hopes to locate a crystal prism that hold the soul of a saint; the non-human Knurly Man, who craves release from his pitiful existence; and the beautiful Yolanda, who seeks the answer to a secret mystery. But their arrival and their purpose had been foretold. The denizens of the Empty Lands are girding for war. And beyond the Evil lurk ancient dark powers waiting patiently for the humans whose souls will set them free.
Download or read book The Magic Three of Solatia written by Jane Yolen and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVDIVDIVAll magic has consequences/divDIV Long ago, the seawitch Dread Mary fell in love with a hard-hearted prince and gave him the Magic Three of Solatia: three silver buttons that could fulfill any wish—but at a price. Centuries later, the buttons belong to Sianna of the Song, a button maker’s daughter and heir to all of Dread Mary’s magic secrets. But the cruel King Blaggard of Solatia seeks to wed the lovely Sianna and steal her power. Sianna will need her wits, her magic, and the silver buttons to save herself and Solatia from the evil Blaggard . . . but what will it cost her?/divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features a personal history by Jane Yolen including rare images from the author’s personal collection, as well as a note from the author about the making of the book./div/div/div
Download or read book What Dwells Within written by Jayne Harris and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book discussing the work of leading paranormal investigator Jayne Harris and her studies into haunted objects.
Download or read book Religion is Not about God written by Loyal D. Rue and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation If religion is not about God, then what on earth is it about? Loyal Rue contends that religion is a series of strategies that aims to influence human nature so that we might think, feel, and act in ways that are good for us, both individually and collectively.
Download or read book Religion of the Gods written by Kimberley Christine Patton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-09 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In many of the world's religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, a seemingly enigmatic and paradoxical image is found--that of the god who worships. Various interpretations of this seeming paradox have been advanced. Some suggest that it represents sacrifice to a higher deity. Proponents of anthropomorphic projection say that the gods are just "big people" and that images of human religious action are simply projected onto the deities. However, such explanations do not do justice to the complexity and diversity of this phenomenon. In Religion of the Gods, Kimberley C. Patton uses a comparative approach to take up anew a longstanding challenge in ancient Greek religious iconography: why are the Olympian gods depicted on classical pottery making libations? The sacrificing gods in ancient Greece are compared to gods who perform rituals in six other religious traditions: the Vedic gods, the heterodox god Zurvan of early Zoroastrianism, the Old Norse god Odin, the Christian God and Christ, the God of Judaism, and Islam's Allah. Patton examines the comparative evidence from a cultural and historical perspective, uncovering deep structural resonances while also revealing crucial differences. Instead of looking for invisible recipients or lost myths, Patton proposes the new category of "divine reflexivity." Divinely performed ritual is a self-reflexive, self-expressive action that signals the origin of ritual in the divine and not the human realm. Above all, divine ritual is generative, both instigating and inspiring human religious activity. The religion practiced by the gods is both like and unlike human religious action. Seen from within the religious tradition, gods are not "big people," but other than human. Human ritual is directed outward to a divine being, but the gods practice ritual on their own behalf. "Cultic time," the symbiotic performance of ritual both in heaven and on earth, collapses the distinction between cult and theology each time ritual is performed. Offering the first comprehensive study and a new theory of this fascinating phenomenon, Religion of the Gods is a significant contribution to the fields of classics and comparative religion. Patton shows that the god who performs religious action is not an anomaly, but holds a meaningful place in the category of ritual and points to a phenomenologically universal structure within religion itself.
Download or read book Dark Green Religion written by Bron Raymond Taylor and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A love of green may be a human universal. Deepening the palette of green scholarship, Bron Taylor proves remarkably to be both an encyclopedist and a visionary."--Jonathan Benthall, author of Returning to Religion: Why a Secular Age is Haunted by Faith "This important book provides insight into how a profound sense of relation to nature offers many in the modern world a vehicle for attaining a spiritual wholeness akin to what has been historically associated with established religion. In this sense, Dark Green Religion offers both understanding and hope for a world struggling for meaning and purpose beyond the isolation of the material here and now."--Stephen Kellert, Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies "In this thought-provoking volume, Bron Taylor explores the seemingly boundless efforts by human beings to understand the nature of life and our place in the universe. Examining in depth the ways in which influential philosophers and naturalists have viewed this relationship, Taylor contributes to the further development of thought in this critically important area, where our depth of understanding will play a critical role in our survival."--Peter H. Raven, President, Missouri Botanical Garden "Carefully researched, strongly argued, originally conceived, and very well executed, this book is a vital contribution on a subject of immense religious, political, and environmental importance. It's also a great read."--Roger S. Gottlieb, author of A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and our Planet's Future "A fascinating analysis of our emotional and spiritual relationship to nature. Whether you call it dark green religion or something else, Bron Taylor takes us through our spiritual relationship with our planet, its ecosystems and evolution, in an enlightened and completely undogmatic manner."--Dr. Claude Martin, Former Director General, World Wildlife Fund "An excellent collection of guideposts for perplexed students and scholars about the relationships of nature religions, spirituality, animism, pantheism, deep ecology, Gaia, and land ethics--and for the environmentalist seeking to make the world a better place through green religion as a social force."--Fikret Berkes, author of Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management "Dark Green Religion shows conclusively how nature has inspired a growing religious movement on the planet, contesting the long reign of many older faiths. Taylor expertly guides us through an astonishing array of thinkers, past and present, who have embraced, in part or whole, the new religion. I was thoroughly convinced that this movement has indeed become a major force on Earth, with great potential consequences for our environmental ethics."--Donald Worster, University of Kansas "In this exceptionally interesting and informative book, Bron Taylor has harvested the fruits of years of pioneering research in what amounts to a new field in religious studies: the study of how religious/spiritual themes show up in the work of people concerned about nature in many diverse ways. Taylor persuasively argues that appreciation of nature's sacred or spiritual dimension both informs and motivates the work of individuals ranging from radical environmentalists and surfers, to eco-tourism leaders and museum curators. I highly recommend this book for everyone interested learning more about the surprising extent to which religious/spiritual influences many of those who work to protect, to exhibit, or to represent the natural world."--Michael E. Zimmerman, Director, Center for Humanities and the Arts, University of Colorado at Boulder
Download or read book Jack of Shadows written by Roger Zelazny and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2016-05-01 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world half of light, half of darkness, where science and magic strive for dominance, there dwells a magical being who is friendly with neither side. Jack, of the realm of shadows, is a thief who is unjustly punished. So he embarks on a vendetta. He wanders through strange realms, encountering witches, vampires, and, finally, his worst enemy: the Lord of Bats. He consults his friend Morningstar, a great dark angel. He is pursued by a monstrous creature called the Borshin. But to reveal any more would be to spoil some of the mindboggling surprises Jack of Shadows has in store. First published in 1971 and long out-of-print, Jack of Shadows is one of fantasy master Roger Zelazny's most profound and mysterious books.
Download or read book Giving Up the Ghost written by Eric Nuzum and published by Dial Press Trade Paperback. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At once hilarious and incredibly moving, Giving Up the Ghost is a memoir of lost love and second chances, and a ghost story like no other. Eric Nuzum is afraid of the supernatural, and for good reason: As a high school oddball in Canton, Ohio, during the early 1980s, he became convinced that he was being haunted by the ghost of a little girl in a blue dress who lived in his parents’ attic. It began as a weird premonition during his dreams, something that his quickly diminishing circle of friends chalked up as a way to get attention. It ended with Eric in a mental ward, having apparently destroyed his life before it truly began. The only thing that kept him from the brink: his friendship with a girl named Laura, a classmate who was equal parts devoted friend and enigmatic crush. With the kind of strange connection you can only forge when you’re young, Laura walked Eric back to “normal”—only to become a ghost herself in a tragic twist of fate. Years later, a fully functioning member of society with a great job and family, Eric still can’t stand to have any shut doors in his house for fear of what’s on the other side. In order to finally confront his phobia, he enlists some friends on a journey to America’s most haunted places. But deep down he knows it’s only when he digs up the ghosts of his past, especially Laura, that he’ll find the peace he’s looking for.
Download or read book The Little Book of the Holy Spirit written by Bede Jarrett and published by Sophia Institute Press. This book was released on 2006-09 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how to listen for the soft voice of the Spirit calling from within, inviting you to know, love, and cooperate with Him in all things great and small.
Download or read book Morgan Le Fay written by Jo-Anne Blanco and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2017-04-28 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE CHILD FATED TO SHAPE DESTINIES ... Young Morgan lives in Tintagel Castle by the sea, loved and sheltered by her noble parents. An extraordinarily clever child, extremely sharp-eyed, exceptionally curious. A little girl unlike other children. One stormy night a ship is wrecked off the coast, bringing with it new friends - Fleur the princess from a far-off land, Safir the stowaway with a secret, and the mysterious twins Merlin and Ganieda. Morgan's visions of another world awaken her to the realisation that she has abilities others do not possess. Not long afterwards, Morgan encounters Diana, the Moon Huntress, who charges her with a dangerous mission. Morgan must enter the secret realms of warring tribes of faeries who vie for the souls of lost children. There she must summon her magic to fight ancient and malevolent powers, to rescue young souls destined to be reborn ...
