Zen and the art of tea--the classic book about the Japanese tea ceremony that is as much a guide to lifeFor a generation adjusting painfully to the demands of a modern industrial and commercial society, Asia came to represent an alternative vision of the...

Among the duties God imposes upon every Muslim capable of doing so is a pilgrimage to the holy places in and around Mecca in Arabia. Not only is it a religious ritual filled with blessings for the millions who make the journey annually, but it is also a...

This authoritative volume presents the history of Christianity from the eve of the Protestant Reformation to the height of Catholic Reform. It thoroughly examines the impact of the permanent schism on Latin Christendom, the Catholic responses to it, and...

Christian Political Ethics brings together leading Christian scholars of diverse theological and ethical perspectives--Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anabaptist--to address fundamental questions of state and civil society, international law and...

Covenantal Rights is a groundbreaking work of political theory: a comprehensive, philosophically sophisticated attempt to bring insights from the Jewish political tradition into current political and legal debates about rights and to bring rights...

The religious and political winds are changing. Tens of millions of religious Americans are reclaiming faith from those who would abuse it for narrow, partisan, and ideological purposes. And more and more secular Americans are discovering common ground...

The Constitution may guarantee it. But religious freedom in America is, in fact, impossible. So argues this timely and iconoclastic work by law and religion scholar Winnifred Sullivan. Sullivan uses as the backdrop for the book the trial of Warner vs...

In this extraordinary book, the controversial and profoundly influential Hans Küng chronicles the Roman Catholic Church’s role as a world power throughout history. Along the way, he examines the great schisms—between East and West, and Catholic and...

I Am Not Perfect is a simple statement of profound truth, the first step toward understanding the human condition, for to deny your essential imperfection is to deny yourself and your own humanity. The spirituality of imperfection, steeped in the rich...

This comprehensive, compact, lucid, and faithful account of the Buddha's teachings persistently enjoys great popularity in colleges, universities, and theological schools both here and abroad. "An exposition of Buddhism conceived in a resolutely modern...

This book provides a comprehensive survey of Hindu development from the Indus civilization to the present.

Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe examines how gender identities were reconfigured in a Bulgarian Muslim community following the demise of Communism and an influx of international aid from the Islamic world. Kristen Ghodsee conducted extensive ethnographic...

In this book Pema Chödrön shows us how to break free of destructive patterns in our lives and experience a new sense of freedom and happiness. Drawing on the Buddhist concept of shenpa, she helps us to see how certain habits of mind tend to "hook" us and...

Cut through the busyness and anxieties of daily life to discover the simple happiness of living in the present moment, as taught by a world-renowned Zen monkIn this book, Thich Nhat Hanh—Zen monk, author, and meditation master—distills the essence of...

Why Muslim women should not wear the veilAcross much of the world today, Muslim women of all ages are increasingly choosing to wear the veil. Is this trend a sign of rising piety or a way of asserting Muslim pride? And does the veil really provide women...

Manhattan's Lower East Side stands for Jewish experience in America. With the possible exception of African-Americans and Harlem, no ethnic group has been so thoroughly understood and imagined through a particular chunk of space. Despite the fact that...

He was called "the greatest of all mystical theologians" by spiritual teacher Thomas Merton. And when St. John of the Cross was proclaimed to be a Doctor of the Church, Pope Pius XI praised his work as "a guide and handbook for the man of...

Yet Alexander Cruden is remembered today not so much for his mighty work as for the widespread belief that he was mad. Born in Scotland in 1699, Cruden spent much of his life in and out of asylums. In fact, just weeks after completing his Conc

Lucy Tatman identifies the events and ideas that influenced the formation of a North american feminist paradigm. She explores the components of this paradigm, particularly the way in which they affect the understanding of knowledge. She then examines the...

Derived by the author from interviews and oral histories, these eighty-nine original Hasidic tales about the Holocaust provide unprecedented witness, in a traditional idiom, to the victims' inner experience of "unspeakable" suffering. This volume...