Full of vision, hope, and inspiration, this profound and passionate manifesto provides a fascinating overview of the incredibly rich and diverse spiritual landscapes of the world?feeding a deep longing for a life of wholeness and meaning and a society of greater peace and justice. Drawing from a wide variety of faiths and secular traditions, this book looks at cultural diversity and religious pluralism; clarifies the meaning of spirituality in different languages, faiths, and societies; and shows how numerous new approaches to spirituality have emerged. Also explored are the spiritual dimensio.

Robert Torrance's wide-ranging, innovative study argues that the spiritual quest is rooted in our biological, psychological, linguistic, and social nature. The quest is not, as most have believed, a rare mystical experience, but a frequent expression of our most basic human impulses. Shaman and scientist, medium and poet, prophet and philosopher, all venture forth in quest of visionary truths to transform and renew the world. Yet Torrance is not trying to reduce the quest to an "archetype" or "monomyth." Instead, he presents the full diversity of the quest in the myths and religious practices of tribal peoples throughout the world, from Oceania to India, Africa, Siberia, and especially the Americas. In theorizing about the quest, Torrance draws on thinkers as diverse as Bergson and Piaget, van Gennep and Turner, Pierce and Popper, Freud, Darwin, and Chomsky. This is a book that will expand our knowledge—and awareness—of a fundamental human activity in all its fascinating complexity.

The New York Times bestseller that explores the startling discoveries that science is making about faith. Barbara Bradley Hagerty's new book, Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife, is out now from Riverhead Books Is spiritual experience real? Or is it a delusion? When we pray, what happens? Can science explain God? In Fingerprints of God, National Public Radio religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty attempts to answer these and other vexing questions about the science of spiritual experience. Along the way she tells the story of her own intriguing spiritual evolution, delves into the discoveries science is making about how faith affects our brains and explores what near-death experiences reveal about the afterlife. The result is a rich and insightful examination of what science is learning about how and why we believe.

After Laura Everett's car died on the highway one rainy night, she made the utterly practical decision to start riding her bicycle to work through the streets of Boston. Seven years later, she's never looked back. Holy Spokes tells the story of Everett's unlikely conversion to urban cycling. As she pedaled her way into a new way of life, Everett discovered that her year-round bicycle commuting wasn't just benefiting her body, her wallet, and her environment. It was enriching her soul. Ride along with Everett through Holy Spokes as she explores the history of cycling, makes friends with a diverse and joyful community of fellow cyclists, gets up close and personal with the city she loves--and begins to develop a deep, robust, and distinctly urban spirituality.

In innumerable discussions and activities dedicated to better understanding and helping teenagers, one aspect of teenage life is curiously overlooked. Very few such efforts pay serious attention to the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents. But many teenagers are very involved in religion. Surveys reveal that 35% attend religious services weekly and another 15% attend at least monthly. 60% say that religious faith is important in their lives. 40% report that they pray daily. 25% say that they have been "born again." Teenagers feel good about the congregations they belong to. Some say that faith provides them with guidance and resources for knowing how to live well. What is going on in the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers? What do they actually believe? What religious practices do they engage in? Do they expect to remain loyal to the faith of their parents? Or are they abandoning traditional religious institutions in search of a new, more authentic "spirituality"? This book attempts to answer these and related questions as definitively as possible. It reports the findings of The National Study of Youth and Religion, the largest and most detailed such study ever undertaken. The NYSR conducted a nationwide telephone survey of teens and significant caregivers, as well as nearly 300 in-depth face-to-face interviews with a sample of the population that was surveyed. The results show that religion and spirituality are indeed very significant in the lives of many American teenagers. Among many other discoveries, they find that teenagers are far more influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of their parents and caregivers than commonly thought. They refute the conventional wisdom that teens are "spiritual but not religious." And they confirm that greater religiosity is significantly associated with more positive adolescent life outcomes. This eagerly-awaited volume not only provides an unprecedented understanding of adolescent religion and spirituality but, because teenagers serve as bellwethers for possible future trends, it affords an important and distinctive window through which to observe and assess the current state and future direction of American religion as a whole.

To the thicket of questions surrounding spirituality, this book brings a clear vision and a thoughtful approach that will help us find our way to the very heart of it. Much is made of spirituality these days-in recovery and in the culture at large-but what, exactly, does spirituality mean? Is it something different to different people? How is it discovered, nurtured, expressed? And, perhaps most important, why does it matter? To the thicket of questions surrounding the subject, this book brings a clear vision and a thoughtful approach that will help us find our way to the very heart of spirituality. Writing simply and directly, Abraham Twerski shows how spirituality-independent of religion-is central to emotional and mental health, and is a key to being truly and profoundly human. Founder and medical director of the Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Abraham J. Twerski is a rabbi, psychiatrist, chemical dependency counselor, and the author of many books, including Addictive Thinking: Understanding Self-Deception.

Full of vision, hope, and inspiration, this profound and passionate manifesto provides a fascinating overview of the incredibly rich and diverse spiritual landscapes of the world--feeding a deep longing for a life of wholeness and meaning and a society of greater peace and justice.

An examination of the spirituality of imperfection ; draws on the wisdom stories of the ages from the Hebrew, Greek, Buddhist and Christian traditions to provide a wellspring of hope and inspiration to anyone who thirsts for spiritual growth and guidance.

Channeling the deep, mysterious desires of our hearts, Ronald Rolheiser leads readers from restlessness to peace, showing a contemporary path to authentic and healthy spiritual life—now featuring a new reader’s guide! In The Holy Longing, Ronald Rolheiser probes the question “What is spirituality?”, cutting through the misunderstanding and confusion that can often surround this subject with his trademark clarity. Using examples and stories relevant for today, and with great sensitivity to modern challenges to religious faith, he explains the essentials of spiritual life, including the importance of community worship, the imperatives surrounding social action, and the centrality of the Incarnation, to outline a Christian spirituality that reflects the yearning and search for meaning at the core of the human experience. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand what Christian spirituality means and how to apply it to their own lives, The Holy Longing translates the universal struggle for love and integration of spirit into a language accessible to all, explaining God and the Church for a world that more often than not doubts the credibility of both.

Examining the work and writings of such figures as Leslie Marmon Silko, Paula Gunn Allen, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Starhawk, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Sonial Johnson and Mary Daly, the author illustrates how these writers and activists outline a journey toward wholeness.