My Dark Nights: Encounters with God was written from the author's notes taken during his experiences of encounter during two Dark Nights. St. John of the Cross wrote his famous work on "the dark night of the sense" and the "dark night of the spirit." Each person's experiences of the two Dark Nights are unique. This book, written by a layperson, presents his encounters of God's purifying and enlightening grace and transformation brought about in each...

Learning Interreligiously offers, a series of about one hundred short pieces, written online between 2008 and 2016. They are meant for a wide range of readers interested in interreligious dialogue, interreligious learning, and the realities of Hindu-Christian encounter today, and are rich in insights drawn from teaching, travels in America and India, and the author's research on sacred texts. The author, a Catholic priest who has spent more than forty...

Interfaith dialogue in a plural world. This volume is, based on the belief that both the ecumenical and interfaith movements are looking for new orientations for their future. The forces of globalization, communications revolution, and massive population movements challenge some of the theological assumptions and presuppositions on which they were, built. The entry of deep and divisive religious sentiments into the public space and the rise of militant...

The rift between Protestants and Roman Catholics continues to separate Christians from one another and to diminish our witness in the world. Words such as "heretic," "apostate," "idolater," and "papist" have characterized much of the discussion over the last several centuries since the reformation. While changes in both groups over the last few decades have improved the tone of the discussion, much remains to be accomplished. Author Bob LaRochelle,...

How can a spiritual practice from one spiritual tradition be used wisely, respectfully, and effectively in another? In this 46th volume in the Topical Line Drives series two authors, one ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and one a Christian Church/Disciples of Christ minister combine their talents, their passion, and their desire to serve by looking at one practice from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and how it might be practiced by Christians. They...

Christianity Exposed presents an overall picture of God's work, plan, and the marrow of Christianity, supported by the Bible without religion's interference. Perspectives of disharmony and love may touch a reader's emotions, and they can empathize with story situations, social problems, and world problems. Perceptions about how the world operates are enhanced. This book traces mankind's development and how God uses nature and evil for his purpose....

Wendy Cadge and Shelly Rambo demonstrate the urgent need, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, to position the long history and practice of chaplaincy within the rapidly changing landscape of American religion and spirituality. This book provides a much-needed road map for training and renewing chaplains across a professional continuum that spans major sectors of American society, including hospitals, prisons, universities, the military, and nursing...

Leaving Faith Behind gives voice to women and men who were born into Muslim families and communities, but who have made the decision to leave Islam or to dissent against some of the most significant aspects of Islamic doctrine. Aliyah, who realized as a young woman that she did not have to live by rigid rules and concepts that suffocated her true self. Hassan, who became a practicing Muslim in his teens, but for whom doubts led him to leave the...

African American religions constitute a diverse group of beliefs and practices that emerged from the African diaspora brought about by the Atlantic slave trade. Traditional religions that had informed the worldviews of Africans were, transported to the shores of the Americas and transformed to make sense of new contexts and conditions. This book explores the survival of traditional religions and how African American religions have influenced and been...

This book looks at how Christians can think about their own theology in a manner that will allow them to not only be more open to interfaith dialogue but also to see that conversation as essential to what it means to be a Christian. For much of history, Christian theology has been, used to undergird and justify imperial power. This has required a theological construction that advances a vision of belief that stands above and against the world and...