A history of dust, discussing dust's role as a condition of life and as a measure of the small until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Pastor Jamin Goggin and theology professor Kyle Strobel provide a path to abiding with God. We were formed from the dust, but we were made for life with God. We often accept less. We make promises and set goals to try and grow, but holiness seems impossible. But the Christian life is not about looking or feeling like a Christian. It’s about abiding in God. If communion with God is your goal, self-help strategies and personal resolutions will fail you. But Jesus Christ will not. Drawing deeply from Scripture and narrating their own experiences, Pastor Jamin Goggin and theology professor Kyle Strobel wrote this book to be a companion for your journey with Jesus in the truth of yourself – as his beloved dust. This is not weighing tasks and rewards, but is a process of patience, prayer, and openheartedness. Prayerfully read this book. Prepare your heart for the gifts God has for you. Beloved Dust invites readers to discover the fundamental simplicity and radical transformation of being with God. "Beloved Dust is an intelligent vision for life with God through prayer, and many of its rich images have stayed with me long after I put down the pages." - Shauna Niequist, author of Bread & Wine “In BELOVED DUST, Kyle and Jamin tell us the truth about who we are and why we're here in a way that will draw you closer to God. Here is great wisdom on spiritual growth and friendship with God; written by two people whose friendship for each is evident—and who will become your friends before the end of the book.” - John Ortberg, author of Soul Keeping "This is a important look at the most important aspect of life—what a genuine relationship with God really looks like. Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel address our expectations and frustrations about spiritual growth in a hopeful, empowering way. Beloved Dust strikes the rare balance of being rich and deep while remaining practical and engaging. This book delivers on what it means, and doesn’t mean, to grow in a relationship with God.” - Jud Wilhite, author of Pursued, sr. pastor of Central Christian Church In a culture of pop Christianity that serves a fast food gospel for consumers wanting drive-by spirituality, Goggin and Strobel defy expectations. Their book leads the reader on a slow, inward journey to discover the deeper hunger in their souls--a hunger for God himself. It is a beautiful and gracious exploration of prayer that everyone seeking a truer, deeper, and more authentic life with Christ should read. This book will draw you into a richer communion with God as it did for me, and that is the highest compliment I can possibly offer. -Skye Jethani, author of WITH and FUTUREVILLE. "This book in your hands will remind you to stop, to revel in God’s fatherly presence, and to just be. That God is God and you are you, and that you are his, and that our dustiness is a beautiful thing. I am thankful for Jamin and Kyle’s gift to us within these pages." -Tsh Oxenreider, author of Notes From a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World

From the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright to the rock gardens of Zen Buddhism, Coleman explores applied, fine, and folk arts in order to uncover points of coalescence between art and religion. Drawing from six living faiths (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism), this book philosophically analyzes relations between art and religion in order to explain how the concepts "art," "beauty," "creativity," and "aesthetic experience" find their place or counterparts in religious discourse and experience. Coleman repeatedly shows that aesthetic ideas can serve as bridges to spiritual categories, as when he relates aesthetic bliss to "the peace that passes all understanding." The author follows a three-fold approach; first, he examines ideas and motifs from religious classics in world literature, such as Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and The Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila, in order to relate them to aesthetic phenomena. Second, he turns to the statements of artists, such as Leo Tolstoy, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Shih-t'ao, and Wassily Kandinsky, for themes and practices that have religious significance. Third, he analyzes and evaluates the writings of various theoreticians—philosophers, theologians, art critics, sociologists, and psychologists—on the relations between art and religion. Coleman demonstrates, for example, that Martin Buber's I-Thou relationship captures much that is central to art, creativity, and aesthetic experience as well as to religious life. Among the themes that receive sustained treatment are: the varieties of union in art and religion, the child as a paradigm for artists and saints, and creativity as essential to religion. Finally, the author critically weighs proposed distinctions between art and religion and between the broader categories of the aesthetic and the spiritual, rejecting some and showing how others are compatible with his proposal that the aesthetic and the spiritual are cognate categories.

The latest mind-blowing novel from award-winning author Christopher Edge, Escape Room is a thrilling adventure that challenges readers to think about what they've done to save the world today. When twelve-year-old Ami arrives at The Escape, she thinks it's just a game - the ultimate escape room with puzzles and challenges to beat before time runs out. Meeting her teammates, Adjoa, Ibrahim, Oscar and Min, Ami learns from the Host that they have been chosen to save the world and they must work together to find the Answer. But as he locks them inside the first room, they quickly realise this is no ordinary game. From a cavernous library of dust to an ancient Mayan tomb, a deserted shopping mall stalked by extinct animals to the command module of a spaceship heading to Mars, the perils of The Escape seem endless. Can Ami and her friends find the Answer before it's too late? With cover illustration by David Dean. "A writer of genuine originality" - Guardian Check out these other brilliant books from Christopher Edge: - The Many Worlds of Albie Bright - The Jamie Drake Equation - The Infinite Lives of Maisy Day - - The Longest Night of Charlie Noon -

A provocative view of economic growth in the Third World argues that the countries that have achieved steady economic growth—including future economic superpowers India and China—have done so because they have resisted the American ideology of free markets. The American government has been both miracle worker and villain in the developing world. From the end of World War II until the 1980s poor countries, including many in Africa and the Middle East, enjoyed a modicum of economic growth. New industries mushroomed and skilled jobs multiplied, thanks in part to flexible American policies that showed an awareness of the diversity of Third World countries and an appreciation for their long-standing knowledge about how their own economies worked. Then during the Reagan era, American policy changed. The definition of laissez-faire shifted from "Do it your way," to an imperial "Do it our way." Growth in the developing world slowed, income inequalities skyrocketed, and financial crises raged. Only East Asian economies resisted the strict prescriptions of Washington and continued to boom. Why? In Escape from Empire, Alice Amsden argues provocatively that the more freedom a developing country has to determine its own policies, the faster its economy will grow. America's recent inflexibility—as it has single-mindedly imposed the same rules, laws, and institutions on all developing economies under its influence—has been the backdrop to the rise of two new giants, China and India, who have built economic power in their own way. Amsden describes the two eras in America's relationship with the developing world as "Heaven" and "Hell"—a beneficent and politically savvy empire followed by a dictatorial, ideology-driven one. What will the next American empire learn from the failure of the last? Amsden argues convincingly that the world—and the United States—will be infinitely better off if new centers of power are met with sensible policies rather than hard-knuckled ideologies. But, she asks, can it be done?

Albert Hoffstädt, a classicist by training and polylingual humanist by disposition, has for 25 years been the editor chiefly responsible for the development and acquisition of manuscripts in Asian Studies for Brill. During that time he has shepherded over 700 books into print and has distinguished himself as a figure of exceptional discernment and insight in academic publishing. He has also become a personal friend to many of his authors. A subset of these authors here offers to him in tribute and gratitude 22 essays on various topics in Asian Studies. These include studies on premodern Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Korean literature, history, and religion, extending also into the modern and contemporary periods. They display the broad range of Mr. Hoffstädt's interests while presenting some of the most outstanding scholarship in Asian Studies today.

A Sot Zen priest and Dharma successor of Kosho Uchiyama Roshi explores eight of Zen's most essential and universal liturgical texts and explains how the chants in these works support meditation and promote a life of freedom and compassion.

This work is a chronological anthology of Zen poetry spanning the 6th through the 20th centuries. In his introduction the translator distinguishes Zen from other forms of Buddhism, and places it in its historical context. These intuitive poems chronicle the spiritual search as well as the awakening of each Zen master.