A funny and feminine fairytale for the educated woman. --- "You're sexy when you're sassy," he tells Juliet, and, seriously? Juliet is like, so over it-except that he might just be the most beautiful man she's ever seen. "He's disgusting," she tells her friends. "Truly horrible. Reasonably gross. Definitely not attractive, usually." And then suddenly she's sleeping with her top client on the conference room table.

“A curious, often amusing travelogue of [Sardar’s] quest for understanding and the Muslims he has encountered along his journeys.”—Publishers Weekly Ziauddin Sardar, one of the foremost Muslim intellectuals in Britain, learned the Koran at his mother’s knee in Pakistan. As a young student in London he set out to grasp the meaning of his religion, and, hopefully, to find “paradise,” his quest leading him throughout the Muslim world, from Iran to China to Turkey. Along the way he accepts that he may never reach paradise—but it’s the journey that’s important. At a time when the view of Islam in the West is so often distorted and simplistic, Desperately Seeking Paradise—self-mocking, frank and passionate—is essential reading. “Intoxicating . . . upon finishing the book, I turned back and started reading it all over again.”—Kamila Shamise, New Statesman “At once and earnest and humorous, light-hearted and profound, this is a book that displays a sustained capacity for self-questioning of a kind that has few parallels in the liberal West.”—The Independent “This challenging book not only acts as a guide for Muslims but provides insight and clarification for those outside the Islamic faith.”—Financial Times “The only funny book I’ve read about Islam.”—Mail on Sunday

This book includes a collection of essays on the poetry of Thomas Merton (1915-1968), one of the most relevant spiritual masters of the twentieth century. These scholarly inquiries are all glimpses which accurately represent his poetics of dissolution-the dissolution of the old corrupt world in favour of an apocalyptic vision of a new world. Este libro incluye una colección de ensayos sobre la poesía de Thomas Merton (1915-1968), uno de los maestros espirituales más relevantes del siglo XX. Todas estas investigaciones académicas dejan entrever lo que representa exactamente su poética de desintegración: la descomposición del viejo mundo corrupto a favor de una visión apocalíptica de un nuevo mundo, categorizaciones abstractas de lo sobrenatural que dan paso a una experiencia íntima y más dinámica de lo sagrado en el hogar y en el mundo.

A biography of the famous monk, writer, and religious thinker Thomas Merton.

Theophilus of Antioch was a second-century Syrian bishop who sought to promote in three books, collectively known as Ad Autolycum, a moralistic form of Christianity. Given that this form of Christianity is generally considered by scholars as atypical within the early church, Theophilus has not received the same amount of attention as have other second-century theologians. Rick Rogers seeks to redress this gap, offering a fuller analysis of the rhetoric and focus of Theophilus's theological system as it is manifest in Ad Autolycum. Rogers concludes that Theophilus's thought may have been closer to the emphasis of Hellenistic Judaism than was any other form of New Testament or early Christianity. His book will hold strong appeal for scholars and students of early Christianity.

Nearly 2000 years ago, the Good News of the Kingdom began to be preached throughout the Mediterranean by a carpenters son, Jesus of Nazareth. His teachings restored dignity and religious freedom to all who heeded his message of hope. However, within 400 years, Christianity had lost its way and reverted back to the old ways of clergy/laity distinctions. Ecclesiastical authority brought divisions and sects, and pitted Christian against Christian. The individual disciple lost his spiritual autonomy and was relegated to a position of servitude to a church rather than as a dynamic free son of God. As a result, the Good News as Jesus conceived it has to a large extent been submerged under so much dogma. Christianity today languishes for lack of a new vision of Jesus life and the religion that he practiced. Modern man will refuse to accept a religion which is inconsistent with known facts and out of harmony with his highest conceptions of truth, beauty, and goodness. He will not acquiesce to a religion based on supers-titious bondage and religious fear. Therefore, what is needed is a new revelation of Jesus life illuminated with a new understanding of his Good News of eternal salvation. The purpose of this book is to reintroduce Jesus to mankind. The world needs new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. Until then, worldwide harmony will continue to be the illusive dream of a hopeful minority instead of the tangible reality of a God-knowing human race. And when this Good News is preached in all the inhabited earth, the end of wickedness, sorrow, distress, and anguish will come. (Matthew 24:14)

The title of this book, Forever Pursuing Genesis, derives from a statement that Vonnegut once made about the nature of the universe and humankind's place in it. This study applies that statement to the narrative themes that Vonnegut has treated in his career.

This American author has now spent four decades being involved in Costa Rica’s terrestrial and marine habitats, documenting the challenges and triumphs of his attempts to make an environmentally conscious and sustainable living in this paradise. Jon Marañón offers a unique first-person account of nature and persons in conflict and the difficulties of meshing human existence into the recently pristine coastal rainforests of Costa Rica. His work promotes reader awareness of the natural environment, wildlife, ecosystems, and socioculture of this remote area of Costa Rica. Ecology and spirituality intertwine as he describes his journey in a mix of naturalist and lyrical prose that, along with humor and introspection, mark the style of The Gringo’s Hawk. The Gringo’s Hawk represents the culmination of Mr. Marañón’s social struggles and the roles he has played in conservation, education, social well-being, and in establishing national parks and marine reserves in his area.

Hock, founder and CEO emeritus of VISA, provides a fascinating overview of the largest business organization in the world, which has a market value that is, conservatively speaking, more than double that of General Electric.