Best religious worship & devotion books according to redditors
We found 110 Reddit comments discussing the best religious worship & devotion books. We ranked the 65 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 110 Reddit comments discussing the best religious worship & devotion books. We ranked the 65 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Currently:
Always Ready by Greg Bahnsen
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Reasons for Faith: Philosophy in the Service of Theology by Scott Oliphint
The Defense of the Faith by Cornelius Van Til
Contending with Christianities Critics by Paul Copan, William Lane Craig et al.
Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture's Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ by Darell Bock and David Wallace
Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith - Greg Bahnsen
Apologetics to the Glory of God - John Frame
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.
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.
I'll vote for the Third Edition.
I'm reading The Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge. My only complaint is that it has to end. That's not a strobe-light in my house; those lightbulbs are going off over my head. It's the most amazing exposition of Maimonides' Book of Knowledge. The experience is not entirely pleasant. I've never been so acutely aware of how much room there is for improvement.
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I thank you for your sacrifice.
On a related note, I'm trying to read Why Evolution is Not True specifically to address an acquaintance's statements regarding it - he thought it raised "good questions" and brought up things that showed that evolution is false. It's a $4 Kindle book, so I figured "Why not?"
I've only made it through rather lengthy introduction, so far, and the Amazon reviews were spot on: it's going to be a summary of every "creation science" book written in the last 20 years. The thing even has extensive references...all to "creation science" books. (The writing style, however, is very decent.)
Nice! I'm going to be reading Lent with the Desert Fathers this year. I'm really looking forward to it.
I did a 6 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course last year which covered a number of different relaxation and meditation practices and I find it helpful to mix them up; they include body scans, yoga and sitting meditation.
Here as some of the recommended books from the course
Being Zen
Wherever You There Are
There is a whole series of talks and practices available for free @
Audio Dharma
BTW, this is my first post to stopdrinking - sober for 12 days
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 :)
Im having one of those "never pick up another book" moments with The Most Rapid and Direct Means to Eternal Bliss. Awareness of awareness, 12 hours a day, for as long as it takes, with the intensity of a drowning man. Cant really argue with that!
Resources hmm, well books i enjoyed The Transparency of Things by Rupert Spira, and Francis Lucille's pay per view videos can be a good resource on his website. Papaji is one of my favourites, student of Ramana Maharshi, i enjoyed the book Wake Up and Roar very much. Sri Sadhu Om is another student and his famous book is available online in PDF: [The Path of Sri Ramana: Part One] (http://www.happinessofbeing.com/The_Path_of_Sri_Ramana_Part_One.pdf). Mooji is a student of Papaji, he has a large selection of videos free to watch on his [YouTube Channel] (http://www.youtube.com/user/Moojiji?feature=CAQQwRs%3D). [Gangaji] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwwjQuUJvJQ) is another Papaji student, her talks can also be found on YouTube.
[Robert Adams] (http://www.amazon.com/Silence-Of-The-Heart-Dialogues/dp/B002AUGI9K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347415434&sr=8-1&keywords=silence+of+the+heart) book, and Nisargadatta Maharaj's [I Am That] (http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-That-Nisargadatt-Maharaj/dp/8185300453/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347415482&sr=1-2&keywords=i+am+that) as xoxoyoyo recommended.
I really recommend the last chapter of Ken Wilbers The Eye of Spirit entitled ["Always Already"] (http://integral-options.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/ken-wilber-always-already-brilliant.html). I found a recommendation for it once online, not the book just that chapter, and i reread it every now and again, i really like it.
Not self-enquiry, but i really take to the Avatamsaka Sutra/The Flower Ornament Scripture. I have the Thomas Cleary translation - cost a bomb, but its one of my desert island books. [Hannya Shingyo] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UGln73LzoM) i listen to a few times a day - again may not be to all tastes. Sanskrit one. They get stuck in my head and replace thought after a while. If you have to think of something, why not lol. They feel good. Way off topic but ive listened to/watched these a gazillion times: [Great Bell Chant: The End of Suffering] (http://vimeo.com/6518109), [Om meditation] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaWGFlJAmH8). That Great Bell Chant one has scenes from Baraka, i love that movie. Think the sequel Samsara has been released now too, should be good!
When it comes to people you can have a chat with, Jeff Foster has an active [Facebook page] (http://www.facebook.com/LifeWithoutACentre). He replies to your questions and updates most days with some inspiring posts (though he doesn't actively suggest self-enquiry). His [balloon post] (http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/read/essays-transcripts/the-balloon-nonduality-in-a-nutshell/) is cool on his site. Really nice chap, and occasionally offers one-on-one Skype sessions. I had a session with him about 12 months ago and found it really helpful, we spoke specifically about the fear of death barrier. I also like chatting with Pamela Wilson on Skype, i read her interview included in the book "Conversations on Non Duality" and got in touch through [her site] (http://www.pamelasatsang.com/). I have no idea how, but each time ive spoken to her ive had profound experiences. To my recollection we weren't even talking about anything much, they just came on. She's really nice too.
In the end i always seem to come back to the Be As You Are book, as you posted.
Thats me out, though im hoping that i will stop looking now with the "The Most Rapid and Direct Means to Eternal Bliss" techniques.
Yours as well as ChiefPrinceOfNigeria's comments are not grounded in current scholarship.
See for example:
Neville lecture transcripts are also available via Amazon, if you prefer either printed paper or Kindle format, and don't mind paying (links thanks to /u/Andalusian_Dawn):
The Awakening: 1963 Lectures
Imagining and the Transformation of Man: 1964 Lectures
The Wonder Working Power of the Imagination: 1965 Lectures
I Am Is the Way: 1966 Lectures
Imagining Creates Reality: 1967 Lectures
The Fall and Restoration: 1968 Lectures
Yeah, the counterpoints series is a GREAT introduction on each of the five major apologetic approaches.
Five Points
Return to Reason by Kelly James Clark is a fantastic book on the virtues and methodology of Reformed Epistomological apologetics
Return to Reason
If you've noticed my username, you'll see I'm a proponent of Presuppositional apologetics. For a great introduction to it, I recommend Matrix of the Atheist by James D. Lashley
Matrix of the Atheist
and for a more in depth review and understanding of both the negative (deconstruction of a non trinitarian worldview) and positive (construction of the trinitarian worldview) argumentation I reccomend Greg Bahnsen's book Always Ready
Always Ready
If you or anyone else who happens upon this and doesn't have the means to purchase either one of the presuppositional books, PM me with your address and I'll gladly have one or both shipped to you (though they may be used).
Hope you enjoy!
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.
God is Not Great. Getting it out there, I think it's probably one of the more inevitable ones.
Losing Faith in Faith and Godless each by Dan Barker.
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett.
First ones that come to mind. I think a few theologians may be worth reading as well. Not sure what ones though. If Kent Hovind wrote a book, we could keep a facepalm count.
I know it's trendy, but I enjoyed Praying Backwards by Chapell.
Everyday Zen by Joko Beck, and Being Zen by Ezra Bayda are two of my favorites. There's a free version of Mindfulness in Plain English that you might also like.
The following works are pretty nerdy, I would say. They were assigned throughout the course of my undergraduate studies in theology and think that they serve as excellent primers to the intellectual side of Catholicism.
Joseph Ratzinger, The God of Jesus Christ. Highly recommended as a beautiful exposition of the Catholic concept of God.
Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity.
Ratzinger, In the Beginning...: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall.
Ratzinger, God and the World. A fantastic survey of essential Catholic doctrines and beliefs.
Gustavo Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation. A genius work that reminds us that God is on the side of the poor, that he casts down the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the lowly.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Life Out of Death. A short but beautiful meditation on what it means to die and rise with Christ.
And then, of course, there are the classics. Augustine's Confessions, Aqunas' Summa, Athanasius' On the Incarnation, Benedict's Rule, Anselm's Proslogion, Bonaventure's Mind's Road to God, etc.
I am sorry for your loss. I had a good friend of mine die last October and the most random things make me cry occasionally. Harold Ivan Smith has written a couple of very good books on the subject, which I found very helpful. The books do have some religious stuff in them which I just skipped over and I don't feel that it detracted from the advice.
Interesting! I hadn't noticed thar the text lectures on the Neville & Carl website were abridged. From what I have, Neville rambles a little, like any older man and isn't quite as succinct.
I don't listen to Neville in his own voice much due to hearing problems, which is why transcriptions are so important to me. I guess I will have to compare the original audio to the transcriptions I bought.
I bought these on Amazon Kindle. The books are supposedly exact transcriptions and go from year to year and appear to be from 1963 - 1968. I have 1963 -1967 and they are amazing and massive. I am a prolific reader and I've only finished one book completely. I learn something new with each one. If you get the kindle editions, they're only about $4 each, which is well worth the price. Yeah, they're not free, but for me personally, they're worth the price.
Here are the links:
The Awakening: 1963 Lectures
Imagining and the Transformation of Man: 1964 Lectures
The Wonder Working Power of the Imagination: 1965 Lectures
I Am Is the Way: 1966 Lectures
Imagining Creates Reality: 1967 Lectures
The Fall and Restoration: 1968 Lectures
I don't know if this will help or not, but Ralph Martin has been at the forefront of the Charismatic Renewal since the very beginning. And not long ago, he wrote the book The Fulfillment of All Desire which actually is a synopsis of seven doctors of the Church, incl St. Teresa of Avila, and creating a cohesive theology from all these sources. And being that he is charismatic, he may have incorporated this worldview into this framework.
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.
Alright guys, let me finally get to questions one and six.
>How do you rationalize the concept that "god is love" (your words) with the suffering which exists in the world?
I have two answers for this, one philosophical, one theological.
Philosophical (disclaimer: the following is not Catholic doctrine, but neither does it contradict Catholic doctrine):
I assume that you are familiar with the theodicy with which Alvin Plantinga essentially solved the logical problem of evil; therefore I will consider this issue settled.
Next, I'd like to make the claim that suffering is inherently undesirable, but not inherently evil. We can all think of examples in which suffering is imposed upon a person in a manner that is not evil: chemotherapy, for instance, is painful. Many types of burn therapy cause much suffering for the patient. Even working out involves suffering and pain (e.g. "no pain, no gain"). Therefore, having found examples of instances in which suffering imposed upon someone is not evil, I therefore make the claim that to impose suffering upon a person is not necessarily evil (it oftentimes is, but evil is not an essential property of suffering).
This in mind, I turn to Eleonore Stump's theodical individualism, which, in its most basic form, goes like this: the best way for human beings to conform their will to God's, and to thereby enter heaven, is to suffer, and therefore God allows suffering for the purposes of enabling people to conform their will to his.
There is much more to be said about this particular argument, but suffice to say the gist is that the undesirability of the enabling of or even imposition of suffering is outweighed by the good that suffering produces for individual human beings, and that good is (perhaps) the attainment of union with God in heaven.
Theological:
This answer is mostly taken from The God of Jesus Christ, a highly enlightening book by Joseph Ratzinger, and from a class that I recently took. Since it's been a couple of months I'm not presenting this as coherently as I once did, but I'll give it a shot.
As Pope Francis writes in Lumen Fidei, Christianity is an attempt to illumine all aspects of reality, which must therefore necessarily involve penetrating "to the shadow of death." Faith must open this horizon; it must illumine all aspects of the human experience, of which suffering is one of the most important parts. Thus, for Christianity to legitimately claim to being the light that illumines all reality, it must be able to give a coherent and persuasive answer to the question of why people suffer, for if it cannot it is not what it claims to be.
God, in Ratzinger's view, has not given a "conclusive answer" to the question of why people suffer (i.e. this is why the previous response, as I mentioned, was not formal Catholic doctrine but rather was merely compatible with Catholic belief), but the former pope emphasizes forcefully that neither has God been silent; God has provided a substantial answer in the form of his Son, in whose suffering there has been a transformation of suffering itself. God suffered, which means that God "dwells in the innermost sphere" of suffering, of what it means to be human.
If God has entered into suffering then suffering must therefore be sanctified; it cannot be what it once was, because God's very participation in it has transfigured it. What this means is that because God suffered, suffering is no longer meaningless nor in vain, but rather means something; because God died, death is not what it once was. They point to a new reality now, they point to something more.
The Christian story, after all, makes no sense without the Resurrection: because God entered into suffering, at the end of it all there is now also necessarily a final hope. As such, God is particularly with those who suffer, and those who suffer unjustly are assured that their suffering is of value and that there will be an ultimate justice. Because God sanctified suffering, unwarranted suffering now brings us closer to a completed form of life—there is, to put it one way, a life out of death.
>Why does the catholic church teach that masturbation is a sin when the one scripture they use is not about masturbation, but about a man's unwillingness to let his brother's wife have a child through him for his brother?
Let's again draw it back to the Catholic conception of God: Catholicism insists that ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν, that God is love. However the word used for love in this statement is ἀγάπη, "agape," which refers to self-giving, self-sacrificial love, love that cares not so much about the good of the self but rather concerns itself with the good of the other.
Catholics believe that ἀγάπη is the nature of God and the foundation of all that there is, and, since we are created by God, Catholicism also holds ἀγάπη is also our telos and our end as human beings (i.e. we ought to be Godlike, which means being ἀγάπη). Human beings are created for self-giving love, and thus our moral systems must be founded upon the expression of self-giving love: Our lives are to become self-giving love, and a key point is that this type of love is virtually always relational.
Erotic love (in the Greek, eros) is a particular type of love that is seen in Christianity as being extremely good if it leads to the bodily and spiritual union of two persons, if it enables two people to draw so near to each other and to be so completely overtaken by love that their very selves become subsumed into one, so to speak. Indeed, this type of expression of eros is seen as a conduit to and a participation in the life of God. This, then, is the relational end of the sexual faculty; eros, erotic love, is itself ordered toward ἀγάπη, which is the type of self-giving love explained earlier. Therefore we would say that the purpose of sex itself is to express self-giving love such that two people become one entity, and that therefore our sexual faculties are ordered toward the expression of self-giving love; our sexual faculties are ordered necessarily outward.
The Church, then, logically concludes that masturbation is necessarily an inversion of the purpose of sex because it takes the sexual faculty, which is meant to express love outward toward another human being, and instead redirects it inward toward the self, toward the ego. Instead of being relational, sex becomes self-contained; instead of being primarily love-giving, it becomes primarily pleasure-giving and becomes concerned first and foremost with the attainment of higher and higher levels of physical pleasure (though to clarify, Catholicism views physical pleasure as extremely good, but nevertheless insists that it must always be subordinated to self-giving love; it must never become the first priority).
Seen in this light, masturbation is an inversion of what authentic love could be. However I'm not saying that this is the most important aspect of Catholic sexual ethics. Nor am I saying that it is not "normal" to masturbate, nor that one is evil for masturbating, nor that God would condemn a teenager (or anyone, really) whose passions are too strong to be contained. I am simply saying that there is an ideal, that Catholicism strives for that ideal, and that masturbation falls short of that ideal. That is all.
By the way I hope you see that this is why I initially refused to answer your questions. I answer in very lengthy answers, and if I'd attempted to answer them all, I'd have no time for the other questions on the AMA.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EGX21IG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
A different approach would be to bring your practice into the mystical side of Christianity. Here is a link to a book by a Baptist pastor , just a hundred pages or so, where the non-duality of the Christian teachings are highlighted. It's right there in plain sight in the Bible, the same insights that Buddhist practice is supposed to lead to. I had similar reactions from my family and in 25 years I never really made any progress in getting them to respect any alternatives to their beliefs. They just see me as confused at best or at worst, lost. If you use the language they are familiar with to describe your practice, then you sidestep a lot of drama, and also retain the possibility of helping them go deeper into their own faith. The Zen practice of "just sitting" comes to mind, call it "devotions" and they won't give it a second thought.
Here is the mobile version of your link
Essentially I was deconverted by an ex-preacher.
Specifically, Dan Barker, ex-evangelical preacher turned atheist. Reading his book "Losing faith in faith'" helped me to see through a lot of the subjectivity of my beliefs. https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Faith-Preacher-Atheist/dp/187773313X
Yes it is passive aggressive to pretend you both know me and know I seek 'truth' from some apologetic websight pretending to translate better than scholars because it fits their interpretations better.
Yes I have sought truth and no longer feel any need to question the stories in the bible or apologetic explanations of them. I am neither your friend nor your foe, just some dude on the internet. I would strongly suggest you research more than the bible or those who seek to support it with presuppositional logic.
Read about the origins of christianity how the bible has been altered before and after the ecumenical councils. Take some classes offered by people who do not believe, study the actual history.
I suggest reading this
>http://www.amazon.com/Losing-Faith-From-Preacher-Atheist/dp/187773313X
>Let me know if I am wrong.
Well, you asked.
From Tibetan Buddhism: Here is a nice prayer composed by the Dalai Lama, in praise of some scientific masters.
From Chinese Buddhism: Here is a collection of prayers from a Mahāyāna Sūtra
From Theravāda Buddhism: Here are some evening prayers recited daily at a Thai temple.
From Zen: Here is a book of prayers by Thich Nhat Hanh, and here are morning prayers being chanted at a Zen temple in Japan.
Prayers are not at all uncommon in Buddhism. In fact, forms of Buddhism that don't involve prayer are quite rare.
A tough view. The use of pop, and children's, culture icon cartoon figures, the distracting background noise, and the really slow presentation of actual information/argument make the first vid hard to watch and really dilutes any message. Though I did like the cameo from the Little Caesars Pizza-Pizza guy. From watching the first vid, there is no topic argument/position statement explicitly made/presented, though if I had to guess as to the final topic position/argument, based upon the way the very sparse information is presented, that an argument will be made that supports the listed or attributed authors of the various books of the NT - this is just a guess, the presentation of introductory material was really incoherent.
> "One of the things I have noticed about critics who say that this or that book in the NT is bogus is that they seldom seem to explain in any detail how we decide who wrote a document."
Say what? I smell a strawman argument.
The above quote was made whilst a slide show of books that discuss the New Testament was shown. Some of these books are recognizable as titles containing literary criticism of the New Testament, many are not. I could not get a good look at the "examples" presented as the screen time was very short (compared to the relatively long time given to worthless animations of smurfs or topic transition special effects), too short to get a good look at the sources that I assume supports the above statement was quoted; I had to do a frame by frame advance to see/read the titles presented.
Let's look at the first few "references" presented:
Just between the book title and lack of authorship identification, without even reading the book description, is enough for anyone discussing NT literary criticism to reject the book as a credible source.Does not seem to be a reference to literary criticism and authorship of the New Testament books. Nope.
A book containing the personal journey of one man losing Religious Faith. Does not seem to be a reference to literary criticism and authorship of the New Testament books.
Examines the documentary hypothesis and other possible sources of much of the narrative of the Bible. Does not seem to be a reference to literary criticism and authorship of the New Testament books.
Look, another Dan Baker book already. A book against the reasonableness and rationality of Christian belief. Does not seem to be a reference to literary criticism and authorship of the New Testament books.
Finally, a book that appears to have sections that may address the authorship of selected New Testament writings (I say appears as I have not read it and am relying upon the publisher description, the TOC, and reviews) - though the book appears to be more directed towards the content of the NT rather than attributed source critism.
Bummer. Out of the first 5 potential references which one would reasonably consider as being presented on the authorship of the NT (you know, the topic/vid title), none (0 for 5) of them seem to be a reference to literary criticism of the authorship of the New Testament books. And I wanted to use the very references presented above to refute the strawman argument presented in the above quote that books/references that perform a literary criticism of the NT authorship (or the Bible in general) "seldom seem to explain in any detail how we decide who wrote a document."
Let's look at a popular writer on the New Testament, Bart D. Ehrman. An example, Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. And look at that, Ehrman does indeed present extensive detail, on the how's of literary criticism and attributed authorship. Granted one example does not a strawman break, however, I have found that references literary criticism, Biblical or other, almost always include a review of the methods used.
> Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana
Unironically, developing some (non-corporate BS) mindfulness practices can help you stay sane when surrounded by chuds, and also practice self reflection and criticism when necessary.
I'd recommend something much more introductory though, like Ezra Bayda's Being Zen
Leaving the Fold
Leaving the Fold: Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists
Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
Why I Am Not a Muslim
Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships
In Search of the Light: The Adventures of a Parapsychologist
Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back
Just got into it myself, I am reading Always Ready: Directions fo Defending the Faith: Greg Bahnsen
you can see a lecture from Brahnsen here this all comes from Cornelius Van Til but they expand on it. There is also a full class worth of lectures here, I will give a full outline and references page once I fully wrap my head around it.
But this is quite a different school of thought than the evidential kind and I think Plantinga is trying to meld the two.
surreptitiously adding Taiwan Tibet and is that Japan to their geographic outline is wishful thinking. Don't panic until they add Russia and environs.
May I also recommend The Dark Side of Christian History, Losing Faith in Faith and Ken's Guide to the Bible. It doesn't hurt to get some more objective sources of information on your religion's history.