Archive for the 'Religion and Spirituality' Category

The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion To A More Authenthic Contemporary Faith

The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion To A More Authenthic Contemporary Faith

Answering the many “spiritual” questions left unaddressed by such popular historical bestsellers as A History of God and God: A Biography, renowned author Marcus Borg reveals how to embrace an authentic contemporary faith that reconciles God with science, critical thinking and religious pluralism.

Institutes of the Christian Religion (2 Volume Set)

Institutes of the Christian Religion (2 Volume Set) Customer Review: The best available English translation of a classic
Lots of scholarly foodnotes, good introduction, and reliable translation. Truely recommend this book for serious studies.
Customer Review: Concerning This Edition
Calvin is insightful and indispensable for anyone who wants to study modern theology. I don’t, however, mean to review this book on Calvin’s merits, but only to lend 5 stars to the editors and commentators who made this edition. The notes are extensive, the indices are well compiled, the page-paper is smooth and of good quality, the typeface is pleasant, and the book itself is well constructed. This takes all the revisions Calvin made (from the Latin and French versions) and includes information concerning which revision is used or omitted in certain areas. The reason why this comes in two volumes whereas others can be condensed into one is because of the wealth of footnotes. If you’re not interested in commentaries and other references, then they can easily be skipped; but for those who like to read other studies pertaining to Calvin’s doctrines and gain a bit of insight into the earlier texts Calvin was drawing from, then these are very useful and well arranged.
And I also need to note the clarity of the translation. While at times it may seem a bit archaic, in select areas it needs must be. If you look at other translations of the text, sometimes they’re impossible for the modern English-speaker to interpret while hearing Calvin’s voice. The translator and editors made an effort to use modern vernacular and avoid Latinate terms as much as is appropriate, in my opinion.

The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Religions: Internet-Linked (World Cultures)

The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Religions: Internet-Linked (World Cultures) Customer Review: Great, Fun Resource
I bought this book so my children could learn about other religions. I recently took a college Religions of the World class and I used this book throughout my class. It simplified complex religions and made them easier for me to understand. The internet links are great. There were many wonderful sites that make it fun to learn. I will definately buy more books from this series for my children.
Customer Review: Great educational book!
I’m a high school social studies teacher and encountered USBorne books at a teacher workshop. They are very informative and vibrant texts. The internet-linked versions are wonderful. They include numerous links that accessed through the USBorne website, not the book. This allows for dead links to be eliminated and new links to be added (even more than are mentioned in the book). The pictures are wonderful, colorful, and some illustrations can even be downloaded for classroom use. I’m very happy with this book and use it in the classroom.

The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion

The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion Two of the worlds great contemporary thinkers–theologian and churchman Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and Jurgen Habermas, philosopher and Neo-Marxist social critic–discuss and debate aspects of secularization, and the role of reason and religion in a free society. These insightful essays are the result of a remarkable dialogue between the two men, sponsored by the Catholic Academy of Bavaria, a little over a year before Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope.