Fascinated by the myth of Cupid and Psyche throughout his life, C. S. Lewis reimagines their story from the perspective of Psyche''s sister, Orual. ''I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer . . . Why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?'' Till We Have Facesis a brilliant examination of envy, betrayal, loss, blame, grief, guilt, and conversion. In this, his final - and most mature and masterful - novel, Lewis reminds us of our own fallibility and the role of a higher power in our lives.

John Barton was the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1991 to 2014 and since 1973 has been a serving priest in the Church of England. He is the author of numerous books on the Bible, co-editor of The Oxford Bible Commentary and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation . He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2007 and is a Corresponding Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

A milestone in the history of popular theology, ''The Screwtape Letters'' is an iconic classic on spiritual warfare and the power of the devil.
This profound and striking narrative takes the form of a series of letters from Screwtape, a devil high in the Infernal Civil Service, to his nephew Wormwood, a junior colleague engaged in his first mission on earth trying to secure the damnation of a young man who has just become a Christian. Although the young man initially looks to be a willing victim, he changes his ways and is ''lost'' to the young devil.
Dedicated to Lewis''s friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien, ''The Screwtape Letters'' is a timeless classic on spiritual conflict and the invisible realities which are part of our religious experience.
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B>b>Beloved Buddhist nun Ayya Khema expertly guides the reader through ten meditations on generating loving-kindness and cultivating the fifteen wholesome qualities necessary for igniting compassion and boundless love./b>br>;/b>br>br>Having escaped Nazi Germany in 1938,;Ayya;Khema;has singularly profound perspective on creating peace, unconditional love, and compassion. She gently teaches that inner peace is not necessarily natural or innate. Instead, peace should be considered a skill that needs intentional practice--every day. Peace is the sum of many parts, namely the fifteen wholesome qualities the Buddha himself noted in the Metta Sutta,;including usefulness, mildness, humility, contentment,;receptivity, and;others.;Ayya;Khema;expertly guides us through each individual condition, using her trademark humor and personal narrative, to;help;each reader;shape;their own;path to self-transformation.;br>;br>The second part of the book includes an eye-opening discussion of;metta;(loving-kindness);as both a morality practice and a concentration practice as well as;ten;meditation practices that;use;visualizations rather than more traditional mantra repetition.;Edited by her student and retreat leader, Leigh Brasington, this book is a complete course in practical ways to calm and brighten our minds.;;
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'An amazing compilation: this book is more than a typical poetry anthology ... Offers a balm, a consolation, a tune, in our desolate world.' - Ilya Kaminsky.

'An amazing collection of spiritual verse from many cultures and periods ... There cannot be any other anthology that ranges so widely, and anyone concerned with either poetry or spirituality will want to own a copy.' - John Barton.

An inspiring new selection of poems exploring faith and the divine, featuring poets from across the world, from antiquity to the present.

In the fourth century AD, a new faith exploded out of Palestine. Overwhelming the paganism of Rome, and converting the Emperor Constantine in the process, it resoundingly defeated a host of other rivals. Almost a thousand years later, all of Europe was controlled by Christian rulers, and the religion, ingrained within culture and society, exercised a monolithic hold over its population. But, as Peter Heather shows in this compelling new history, there was nothing inevitable about Christendom''s rise to Europe-wide dominance.br>br>In exploring how the Christian religion became such a defining feature of the European landscape, and how a small sect of isolated and intensely committed congregations was transformed into a mass movement centrally directed from Rome, Peter Heather shows how Christendom constantly battled against both so-called ''heresies'' and other forms of belief. From the crisis that followed the collapse of the Roman empire, which left the religion teetering on the edge of extinction, to the astonishing revolution of the eleventh century and beyond in which the Papacy emerged as the head of a vast international corporation, Heather traces Christendom''s chameleon-like capacity for self-reinvention and astounding willingness to mobilize well-directed force.br>br>Christendom''s achievement was not, or not only, to define official Christianity, but - from its scholars and its lawyers, to its provincial officials and missionaries in far-flung corners of the continent - to transform it into an institution that wielded effective religious authority across nearly all of the disparate peoples of medieval Europe. This is its extraordinary story.> Lire la suite Fermer

The Bible is the most important book in the history of Western civilization, and also the most difficult to interpret. It has been the vehicle of continual conflict, with every interpretation reflecting passionately-held views that have affected not merely religion, but politics, art, and even science. This unique edition offers an exciting new approach to the most influential of all English biblical texts - the Authorized King James Version, complete with the Apocrypha. Its wide-ranging Introduction and the substantial notes to each book of the Bible guide the reader through the labyrinth of literary, textual, and

The Dalai Lama is the most influential person in the world' Time How To Practise is a major inspirational work, by one of the world's greatest spiritual teachers.

In his characteristic mix of humour, wisdom and compassion the Dalai Lama shares his basic steps to enlightenment from how to meditate to how to practise wisdom. Combining spiritual teachings and practical advice, His Holiness shows us how to overcome our everyday obstacles, from feelings of anger and mistrust to jealously, insecurity and counterproductive thinking.

How to Practise is an essential guide to achieving inner calm and compassion, refraining from harm and focusing the mind. It is a wonderful, heartfelt gift for anyone seeking a richer, more fulfilled life.

One of the most popular and beloved introductions to the concept of faith ever written, ''Mere Christianity'' has sold millions of copies worldwide.
The book brings together C.S. Lewis''s legendary radio broadcasts during the war years, in which he set out simply to ''explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times''.
Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity''s many denominations, ''Mere Christianity'' provides an unequalled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to absorb a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.

Named one of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century, Paramahansa Yogananda's remarkable life story takes you on an unforgettable exploration of the world of saints and yogis, science and miracles, death and resurrection.

With soul-satisfying wisdom and endearing wit, he illuminates the deepest secrets of life and the universe - opening our hearts and minds to the joy, beauty, and unlimited spiritual potentials that exist in the lives of every human being.

This complete edition - available exclusively from Self-Realization Fellowship, the organization founded by the author - is the only one that incorporates all of his wishes for the final text including extensive material he added after the original 1946 edition and a final chapter on the closing years of his life.
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Should we believe in God? In this new book, written for a new generation, the brilliant science writer and author of The God Delusion, explains why we shouldn't.

Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to explain the existence of the universe? Do we need God in order to be good? In twelve chapters that address some of the most profound questions human beings confront, Dawkins marshals science, philosophy and comparative religion to interrogate the hypocrisies of all the religious systems and explain to readers of all ages how life emerged without a Creator, how evolution works and how our world came into being.

For anyone hoping to grapple with the meaning of life and what to believe, Outgrowing God is a challenging, thrilling and revelatory read.
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On 28 February 2013, a 600-year-old tradition was shattered: the conservative Pope Benedict XVI made a startling announcement. He would resign. Reeling from the news, the College of Cardinals rushed to Rome to congregate in the Sistine Chapel to pick his successor. Their unlikely choice? Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,200 years, a one time tango club bouncer, a passionate football fan, a man with the common touch. From the prize-winning screenwriter of The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour , The Pope is a fascinating, revealing and often funny tale of two very different men whose destinies converge with each other - they both live in the Vatican - and the wider world. How did these two men become two of the most powerful people on Earth? What's it like to be the Pope? What does the future hold for the Catholic Church and its 1 billion followers? The Pope is a dual biography that masterfully combines these two popes' lives into one gripping narrative. From Benedict and Francis' experiences of war in their homelands - when they were still Joseph and Jorge - and the sexual abuse scandal that continues to rock the Church to its foundations, to the intrigue and the occasional comedy of life in the Vatican, The Pope glitters with the darker and the lighter details of life inside one of the world's most opaque but significant institutions.
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From one of the most soulful and perceptive writers of our time (

For centuries people have been tormented by one question above all - 'If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?' And what of the suffering of animals, who neither deserve pain nor can be improved by it? The greatest Christian thinker of our time sets out to disentangle this knotty issue. With his signature wealth of compassion and insight, C.S. Lewis offers answers to these crucial questions and shares his hope and wisdom to help heal a world hungry for a true understanding of human nature.

In this uplifting and practical book, written in collaboration with his biographer, Austen Ivereigh , the preeminent spiritual leader explains why we must--and how we can--make the world safer, fairer, and healthier for all people now. In the COVID crisis, the beloved shepherd of over one billion Catholics saw the cruelty and inequity of our society exposed more vividly than ever before. He also saw, in the resilience, generosity, and creativity of so many people, the means to rescue our society, our economy, and our planet. In direct, powerful prose, Pope Francis urges us not to let the pain be in vain. He begins Let Us Dream by exploring what this crisis can teach us about how to handle upheaval of any kind in our own lives and the world at large. With unprecedented candor, he reveals how three crises in his own life changed him dramatically for the better. By its very nature, he shows, crisis presents us with a choice: we make a grievous error if we try to return to some pre-crisis state. But if we have the courage to change, we can emerge from the crisis better than before. Francis then offers a brilliant, scathing critique of the systems and ideologies that conspired to produce the current crisis, from a global economy obsessed with profit and heedless of the people and environment it harms, to politicians who foment their peoples fear and use it to increase their own power at their peoples expense. He reminds us that Christians first duty is to serve others, especially the poor and the marginalized, just as Jesus did. Finally, the Pope offers an inspiring and actionable blueprint for building a better world for all humanity by putting the poor and the planet at the heart of new thinking. For this plan, he draws not only on sacred sources, but on the latest findings from renowned scientists, economists, activists, and other thinkers. Yet rather than simply offer prescriptions, he shows how ordinary people acting together despite their differences can discover unforeseen possibilities. Along the way, he offers dozens of wise and surprising observations on the value of unconventional thinking, on why we must dramatically increase womens leadership in the Church and throughout society, on what he learned while scouring the streets of Buenos Aires with garbage-pickers, and much more. Let Us Dream is an epiphany, a call to arms, and a pleasure to read. It is Pope Francis at his most personal, profound and passionate. With this book and with open hearts, we can change the world. Lire la suite Fermer