National Network for Equitable Library Service

A sparklingly strange odyssey through the kaleidoscope of America's new spirituality: the cults, practices, high priests and prophets of our supposedly post-religion age.55 years have passed since the cover of Time Magazine proclaimed the death of God and while participation in mainstream religion has indeed plummeted, Americans have never been more spiritually busy.

The only book to examine the origins of Scientology's current leader, Ruthless tells the revealing story of David Miscavige's childhood and his path to the head seat of the Church of Scientology told through the eyes of his father. Ron Miscavige's personal, heartfelt story is a riveting insider's look at life within the world of Scientology.

What do you think of when you hear the word Zen? Many Westerners may associate Zen with the counterculture of the 1960s and '70s, while others may associate it with today’s hipster culture. Many use the word to simply mean laid-back and relaxed. But what does Zen really mean? Zen is a school of Buddhism and a rigorous spiritual discipline. To understand what Zen is really about, it is vital not only to study its profound philosophical teachings, but also to engage in the practice of Zen. The word Zen means meditation, and Zen meditation is a practice of “clearing the heart-mind”.

As a Christian woman in today's world, you face pressure on all sides from clashing cultural expectations. How can you stay true to who God has uniquely created you to be in the face of the script you've been given? The secret, Cameron-Bure has learned, is kindness. It's classy, unexpected, even counter-cultural, and ultimately wins the day. Whether you're navigating major life choices, questions of calling and career, relationships, or personal goals, she shows you how to step into a new way to flourish as a woman today.

This ambitious and critically-acclaimed presentation of the Bible is set to an original musical underscore performed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra and a Hollywood-style sound design created by Technicolor Studios. Listen as the voices of Idris Elba, Blair Underwood, Taraji P. Henson, Tyler Perry, Tyrese Gibson, Terry Crews, Eartha Kitt (Serpent), Common, Tia and Tamera Mowry, Vanessa Williams, Keke Palmer, and featuring Samuel L. Jackson as God in the New Testament, bring the stories and lessons of the Bible to life.

Religious ceremonies were an inseparable part of Aboriginal traditional life, reinforcing social, economic and political values. However, missionaries and government officials with ethnocentric attitudes of cultural superiority decreed that Native dances and ceremonies were immoral or un-Christian and an impediment to the integration of the Native population into Canadian society.

The dramatic first-person account of life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, and one woman's courageous flight to freedom with her eight children.

In the African context, shrines are cultural signposts that help one understand and read the ethnic, territorial, and social lay of the land. The contributions gathered here by Allan Charles Dawson demonstrate how African shrines help to define ethnic boundaries, shape group identity, and symbolically articulate a society's connection with the land it occupies.

Limbaugh looks deep into the scriptures and discovers that Jesus Christ's very being reveals itself in a close reading of the sacred texts.

Modern pastors and their flocks have long considered N. T. Wright and his books a role model for being a thoughtful Christian in today's world. Now, Christians can rely on his wisdom to guide them through each day of their lives with this thoughtful book of short selections from his classic works. With reflections on themes such as faith, mission, character, and God's work in the world, these daily meditations will invigorate Christians in their search to live their faith authentically and biblically in today's world.