Best christian devotional books according to redditors

• Worshipping Aphrodite: Art and Cult in Classical Literature by Rachel Rosenzweig
  
• Theoi.com's entry on Aphrodite
  
• Crown of Violets, a devotional anthology
  
• Cult of Aphrodite: Rites and Festivals of the Golden One by Laurelei Black
  
  Beyond that, consider looking on JSTOR and Google Books for older texts on archaeological finds and anthropological considerations of ancient Greek cult, as well as reading up on the astrological and qabbalistic associations of the planet Venus (with whom Aphrodite is intricately tied into).
  
  You might also consider going to /r/HellenicPolytheism and /r/RomanPaganism and asking there.

The Making of Christianity is focused on the biblical materials and only touches on the second century. Of the three volumes (Gospels, the book of Acts and the rest of the NT) the second may have some liturgical comments in passing, but I do not think it is what you are looking for.

You might consult Larry Hurtado, At the Origins of Christian Worship: The Context and Character of Earliest Christian Devotion or his One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism.

There is a daily devotion of Spurgeon called Morning and Evening.

I have used Day by Day with Calvin in the past.

A pastor I respect greatly did a yearly devotional on The Prayers of the Bible. That could be a good resource to increase your prayer life.

Nice! I'm going to be reading Lent with the Desert Fathers this year. I'm really looking forward to it.

I've heard good things about this book, which has the added benefit of being formatted for reading with the Daily Office.

Some resources:

Eleusis by Karl Kerenyi - focusing on the Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone

Queen of the Sacred Way devotional anthology - essays, poetry, etc by modern worshippers (I have a poem in there)

Bakcheion page on Persephone with several poems, links, resources, essays - this is a Dionysian group but they also include many other deities

This is one of my favorites. This) has a lot of variety.

This site transchristians.org seems to list common Bible verses and methods of interpretting them to get around their common use as objections to trans people, the sites also got some general stuff on it from a quick flick through (biblical analysis - not my strong point) on various things linking Christianity and trans topics. Have a look through and make sure theres no disasters lurking on the site that will trip you up later.

Reading material may or may not be useful at the time, and may or may not be more useful later while they're digesting the information, or coming to terms with it.

If you want to explore the eunuch/trans angle more you could look into stuff like the Galli (theres more over here The Gallae: Transgender Priests of Ancient Greece, Rome and the Near East - By K. A. Lucker and in Kaldera's Hermaphrodeities) although if you and/or your parents are religious and Christian they may not really mesh well with that information or approach but it indicates that people have been managing to cope with the existence of religious trans people for a hell of a long time.

If you're concerned about rejection from them and are currently dependant on them for housing or finances it may be best to have a trusted friend on speed dial in case you need a sofa to crash on for the night. If you foresee this being a heavy duty and emotional event you may want to make sure you've got a friend on hand for afterwards who can give you a hug, something to eat and generally distract you with company.

Good luck with it, hope it goes smooth and they accept you :)

Yours as well as ChiefPrinceOfNigeria's comments are not grounded in current scholarship.

See for example:

• The Gospel of the Memra: Jewish Binitarianism and the Prologue to John
  
• Alan F. Segal, Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism (reprint, Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2012)
  
• One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism

This is probably the best book to start with.

After reading that one, read this one

And once you have read both of those I suggest reading this one. Finally after that I recommend reading this one which actually isn't about Inanna its about her sister, Ereshkigal - but to many people seeking to understnand Inanna, understanding both of them is important.

A pic you might appreciate:

http://odishareporter.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ardhanareswer.png

You might also find Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook to be interesting, along with Transgender Spirituality: Man into Goddess: Sakhi Bhava.

That would probably be in the Three Cranes Devotional, as crafted by the ADF Druids of the Three Cranes Grove in Columbus, OH.

https://smile.amazon.com/Fire-Our-Hearth-Devotional-Cranes/dp/0615879799/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483989739&sr=8-1&keywords=three+cranes+devotional

(note; not a member of the Cranes, but friends with many).

His writings are timeless, almost prophetic I'd say. I can recommended a book or two from him, since I've read some of his works. They're insightful, thought-provoking and he's very orthodox. They're easy to read for the faithful.

Life is Worth Living,
Lift Up Your Heart,
The World's First Love

Yes, insofar as you're referring to only some of the more extreme dualistic Gnostics, a term given to them not by themselves, but as a sarcastic put down by their opponents - like a "know it all". I forget the ancient greek word that they used to call themselves, but it meant "those who are aimed", their aim being the escape from the material world, as fashioned and governed by the demiurge and his archons, of birth and death, much like the karmic wheel of Buddhism and Hinduism. There's an interesting book The Wisdom of the Knowing Ones: Gnosticism: The Key to Esoteric Christianity, by Manly P. Hall where he writes that much of the ancient Gnostic influence is on account of the inflow of ideas from the east, including Buddhism and Hinduism, as there was a trade rout open to China by 200B.C..

I'm no expert, but I have studied these matters to some degree and they are a fascination of mine, what I can say is that it looks as though there was much diversity in how the Gnostics considered the demiurge's relationship to the cosmos. Some said he is evil as is his material world, others that he's as benevolent as possible and the cosmos as good as possible, only he's ignorant of his higher, divine origins and our cosmos is fallen due to this ignorance and divine mishap.

Yes, Yeshuwa is a manifestation of the Gnostic godhead, to save the lost divine sparks from human souls and even, according to some Gnostics, the demiurge himself.

This is where it gets tricky, Satan, say as the serpent in the garden, is seen to be as the redeemer, but they saw the serpent as Christ - even Moses lifted the bronze serpent to heal the wondering Israelites in the desert, as foreshadowing of Christ on the cross.

Two books:

Darrel Johnson's Discipleship on the Edge

and

Eugene Peterson's Reversed Thunder.

Both superb, accurate, studies. Well worth your time whether or not you teach it!

Here is the mobile version of your link

http://www.jacketflap.com/honor-books-publisher-3109 <- check this out, nothing listed about "Devotional Book For Moms" its only "for teens" weird...

u/sailorjava


edit: there is one listed on amazon with the correct year but a different cover ->http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Little-Devotional-Book-Books/dp/1562920979?ie=UTF8&keywords=gods%20little%20devotion%20book%20for%20moms&qid=1464348228&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

This