The forgotten story of the nineteenth-century freethinkers and twentieth-century humanists who tried to build their own secular religionIn The Church of Saint Thomas Paine, Leigh Eric Schmidt tells the surprising story of how freethinking liberals in nineteenth-century America promoted a secular religion of humanity centered on the deistic revolutionary Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and how their descendants eventually became embroiled in the culture wars of the late twentieth century.
This collection of articles by distinguished scholars and experts in their particular fields of research is introduced by a chapter dealing with general matters of the current hermeneutics of magic: what is the nature of magic and what is the understanding of magic in the Western world-view and what - for instance - in the African world?
The oldest roots of the European concepts of witchcraft and magic lie in the Hebrew and other cultures of the ancient Near East and in the Celtic, Nordic and Germanic Societies of the North and West.
Zorba the Buddha is the first comprehensive study of the life, teachings, and following of the controversial Indian guru known in his youth as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and in his later years as Osho (19311990).
These early works by Alfred Russel Wallace were originally published in the late 19th century and we are now republishing them with a brand new introductory biography.
This book focuses on the question of how different contexts are relevant in the shaping and expression of individual spirituality spanning from early childhood to young adulthood.
Original and comprehensive, Magic in the Ancient Greek World takes the reader inside both the social imagination and the ritual reality that made magic possible in ancient Greece.
The author discusses some of the lies, evasions and faulty reasoning that can be found in the published works of Sam Harris, the famous militant atheist.
This book demonstrates that the beliefs about writing reflect extensive contact with birth certificates, baptism records, and other church and state documents.
Although the Great Anti-Cult Crusade links new religious movements to dangerous cults, brainwashing, and the need for deprogramming, Karla Poewe and Irving Hexham argue that many cults are the product of a dynamic interaction between folk religions and the teachings of traditional world religions.
Providing a historical context, this book examines the challenges that pluralism presents to denominationalism and civil religion and considers the contributions secularism and the New Age movement have made to the culture of religious pluralism.
This book demonstrates that the beliefs about writing reflect extensive contact with birth certificates, baptism records, and other church and state documents.
Although the Great Anti-Cult Crusade links new religious movements to dangerous cults, brainwashing, and the need for deprogramming, Karla Poewe and Irving Hexham argue that many cults are the product of a dynamic interaction between folk religions and the teachings of traditional world religions.
Providing a historical context, this book examines the challenges that pluralism presents to denominationalism and civil religion and considers the contributions secularism and the New Age movement have made to the culture of religious pluralism.
As Freud predicted, there has always been great anxiety about the place of psychoanalysis in contemporary life, particularly in relation to its ambiguous and complicated relationship to the realm of science.
This rewarding work is the product of sustained observation of and reflection on phenomena arising out of three broad topics in the field of analytical psychology.
As Freud predicted, there has always been great anxiety about the place of psychoanalysis in contemporary life, particularly in relation to its ambiguous and complicated relationship to the realm of science.
This rewarding work is the product of sustained observation of and reflection on phenomena arising out of three broad topics in the field of analytical psychology.
Motherhood, Spirituality and Culture explores spiritual skills that may assist women in changes, challenges and transformations undergone through the transition to motherhood.
Motherhood, Spirituality and Culture explores spiritual skills that may assist women in changes, challenges and transformations undergone through the transition to motherhood.
Best known as the Saducismus triumphatus (1681), Joseph Glanvill's book on witchcraft is among the most frequently published from the seventeenth century, and its arguments for the reality of diabolic witchcraft elicited passionate responses from critics and supporters alike.
Best known as the Saducismus triumphatus (1681), Joseph Glanvill's book on witchcraft is among the most frequently published from the seventeenth century, and its arguments for the reality of diabolic witchcraft elicited passionate responses from critics and supporters alike.
Frist published in 1999, this book provides an overview of various non-conventional notions of what is sacred, currently held among European young people.
Frist published in 1999, this book provides an overview of various non-conventional notions of what is sacred, currently held among European young people.
Originally published in 1987, this title was compiled in response to the concern, in some segments of society, about the presence of new religious movements in the West in the second half of the twentieth century.
