National Network for Equitable Library Service

This volume chronicles the history of Roman civilization and of Christianity. Listeners will learn about the Etruscan civilization, the rise of Christianity, and more.

Hecht claims doubt and questioning are one of the great and noble, if unheralded, intellectual traditions. From Confucius to Stephen Hawking, this is a history of humanity's greatest doubters who drove history forward.

Spencer offers a telling portrait of the founder of Islam, detailing Muhammad's development from a preacher of hellfire and damnation into a political and military leader who expanded his rule by force of arms and lurid promises. 

Edmonton's Al Rashid Mosque has played a key role in Islam's Canadian development. Founded by Muslims from Lebanon, it has grown into a vibrant community fully integrated into Canada's cultural mosaic. The mosque continues to be a concrete expression of social good, a symbol of a proud Muslim-Canadian identity. Al Rashid Mosque provides a welcome introduction to the ethics and values of homegrown Muslims. The book traces the mosque's role in education and community leadership, and celebrates the numerous contributions of Muslim Canadians in Edmonton and across Canada.

Reflections from a rabbi who has explored other faiths and spiritual paths

Jerry Steinberg’s spiritual quest started at a young age. Explorations of Christian and Hindu faiths led Steinberg to a specialization in psychotherapy (past–life regression, dreams, and psychogenic illness). He became a rabbi, while continuing to explore all aspects of faith with an emphasis on Kabbalah.

"Defining Métis" examines categories used in the latter half of the nineteenth century by Catholic missionaries to describe Indigenous people in what is now northwestern Saskatchewan. It argues that the construction and evolution of these categories reflected missionaries’changing interests and agendas. "Defining Métis" sheds light on the earliest phases of Catholic missionary work among Indigenous peoples in western and northern Canada.

The history of the twentieth century is one of modernization, a story of old ways being left behind. Many traditionalist Mennonites rejected these changes, especially the automobile, which they regarded as a symbol of pride and individualism. They became known as a “horse-and-buggy” people. Between 2009 and 2012, Royden Loewen and a team of researchers interviewed 250 Mennonites in thirty-five communities across the Americas about the impact of the modern world on their lives.

Mennonite Women in Canada traces the complex social history and multiple identities of Canadian Mennonite women over 200 years. Marlene Epp explores women’s roles, as prescribed and as lived, within the contexts of immigration and settlement, household and family, church and organizational life, work and education, and in response to social trends and events. The combined histories of Mennonite women offer a rich and fascinating study of how women actively participate in ordering their lives within ethno-religious communities.

The introduction by Brown and Brightman describes Nelson's career in the fur trade and explains the influences affecting his perception and understanding of Native religions. They also provide a comparative summary of Subarctic Algonquian religion, with emphasis on the beliefs and practices described by Nelson. Stan Cuthand, a Cree Anglican minister, author, and language instructor, who lived in Lac la Ronge in the 1940s, adds a commentary relating Nelson's writing to his own knowledge of Cree religion in Saskatchewan.

There can be little dispute that culture influences philosophy: we see this in the way that classical Greek culture influenced Greek philosophy, that Christianity influenced mediaeval western philosophy, that French culture influenced a range of philosophies in France from Cartesianism to post-modernism, and so on. Yet many philosophical texts and traditions have also been introduced into very different cultures and philosophical traditions than their cultures of origin – through war and colonialization, but also through religion and art, and through commercial relations and globalization.