Land Religion

Until now, the standard narrative of American religious history has begun with English settlers in Jamestown or Plymouth and remained predominantly Protestant and Atlantic. Driven by his strong sense of the historical and moral shortcomings of the usual story, Thomas A. Tweed offers a very different narrative in this ambitious new history.

Bob Lazar was a brilliant young physicist that found himself employed at a top-secret facility in the middle of the desert outside Las Vegas. Under the watchful eye of the government elite, he is tasked with understanding an exotic propulsion system being used by an advanced aerospace vehicle he is told came from outer space. The stressful work and long, odd hours start to wear on Bob and he becomes concerned for his safety. He tells his wife and a couple close friends about what he's doing in the desert, and his employers find out and are furious.

This accessibly written textbook has been a popular introduction to the Pentateuch for over twenty-five years. It identifies the major themes of the first five books of the Bible and offers an overview of their contents. Unlike some academic studies, it focuses on how the books from Genesis to Deuteronomy form a continuous story that provides an important foundation for understanding the whole Bible. This new edition has been substantially updated throughout to reflect the author's refined judgments and to address the future of pentateuchal studies.

: "Echoes of the Sacred Land" is a captivating exploration of the intricate tapestry of Native American tribal religions and rituals. Immerse yourself in the worldviews, beliefs, and practices that have bound indigenous communities to their environments, ancestors, and the spiritual realm for generations. This illuminating journey takes readers beyond the surface, delving into the heart of Native American spirituality, where the rhythms of the earth and the whispers of ancient spirits intertwine. From the Lakota Sioux's Sun Dance to the Hopi's reverence for Katsinam, this book offers a ...

The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.

Sitting in stillness, the practice of meditation, and the cultivation of awareness are commonly thought to be the preserves of Hindus and Buddhists. Martin Laird shows that the Christian tradition of contemplation has its own refined teachings on using a prayer word to focus the mind, working with the breath to cultivate stillness, and the practice of inner vigilance or awareness.

On the morning of November 4, 2019, a caravan of women and children was ambushed by masked gunmen on a desolate stretch of road in northern Mexico controlled by the Sinaloa drug cartel. Firing semi-automatic weapons, the attackers killed nine people and gravely injured five more. The victims were members of the LeBaron and La Mora communities-fundamentalist Mormons whose forebears broke from the LDS Church and settled in Mexico when their religion outlawed polygamy in the late nineteenth century.

For more than 1,000 years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending on who you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era.

This unabridged audio edition of The Land Between provides fresh biblical insight for people traveling through undesired transitions - foreclosure, unemployment, parents in declining health, post-graduate uncertainty, business failure - who are looking for hope, guidance, and encouragement. What if life's transitions are there to remind us that God is present before, during, and after these periods.

Immersive and engaging, this profound book will provide you with a unique outlook on the deeper side of life, exposing our true nature, interior powers, and ultimate destiny. It explains grand, spiritual ideas more thoroughly and swiftly than any book you’ll ever listen to.

Theravada, Tibetan and Zen may be the most well-known forms of Buddhism in the West, but in many parts of the East it is the Pure Land schools which dominate. Though their roots are clearly embedded in the initial teachings of the historical figure of Shakyamuni, the richly devotional nature of Pure Land Buddhism lends a unique character to its approach and practice.

The Israel Decree meticulously traces the historical, political, legal, and scriptural foundations of Israel's God-promised right to the land. Writing with clarity and commitment to biblical truth, bestselling author and native Israeli Amir Tsarfati helps you: understand how today’s Israel is a continuation of the ancient biblical nation, fulfilling a divine promise made millennia ago; live with greater expectancy and hope in light of what Bible prophecy says about the rapture and tribulation; and be encouraged by God’s wonderful character as you see it on display.

The story of the Jews is high drama with a divine component, but much of the plot has been veiled. In retrospect, one can see their powerful influence throughout eastern and western history, swaying world events, building up and bringing down kingdoms and dominions. Fortunately, Jewish historians have preserved a vast literature on their people's tumultuous history, and the bitter details are indispensable if we are to rightly understand the explosive tensions in the Middle East today.

In the late fall of 1095, Pope Urban II gave a speech in Clermont, France, and set all of Europe into motion. As many as 150,000 people eventually responded to the call, leaving everything they knew behind to undertake what appeared to be a fool's mission: marching several thousand miles into enemy territory to reconquer Jerusalem for Christendom.

In The Infinity Within: Break Through Fear, Trust Your Inner Power, and Create a Life That Reflects Who You Truly Are, journey alongside Gabe as he tumbles from one impossible event to the next, each revelation exposing the thin veil between everyday life and a universe brimming with miracles. From unsettling childhood visions to a near-fatal car crash that defies logic, Gabe discovers that doubt alone keeps us from seeing our infinite potential.

For more than five thousand years, the land of Palestine has stood at the crossroads of civilizations. Empires have risen and fallen upon its soil, prophets have walked its hills, and generations of ordinary people have lived, loved, farmed, fought, and dreamed in this contested corner of the world. Today, the story of Palestine is often reduced to headlines about conflict—but its history is far richer, deeper, and more complex. In Palestine: A History Through Empires, Faith, and Struggle, Layla Al-Rami takes readers on a sweeping journey from the Bronze Age to the twenty-first century, ...

In Earth Witch: Finding Magic in the Land, animist, witch, and herbalist Britton Boyd invites you to seek out the deep and mysterious connections with the earth that lie at the ancestral roots of witchcraft. She describes the path of the earth witch not as a linear journey of upward growth, but rather as a cyclical one that ebbs and flows with the forces of nature that reflect the world around us-a path utterly different from the spiritual materialism that has crept into the witchcraft often found in today's capitalist culture.

Many people today desire a simple life that is closely connected to land, whether it be gardening, farming, or ranching. There is a spiritual draw to a non-consumeristic lifestyle that places God, the family, and the home at the center of all activity. This agrarian conversion has led many families to seek out rural communities and leave behind the suburban life.

In the United States today, there is no faith more dominant than Christianity. In Chosen Land, historian Matthew Avery Sutton chronicles Christians’ five-hundred-year endeavor to turn North America into their version of the kingdom of God, revealing the fruitful and dynamic entanglement between the history of America and the history of American Christianity.

The Egyptians in Exodus 1 were intent on enslaving the Israelites, wearing them down so that God's chosen people would become disillusioned and not live up to their destiny. Of the original two million Israelites who received God's invitation to enter the Promised Land, only two actually entered it! Similarly, modern day Christians often hear and understand the promises of God each Sunday morning at church but then rarely choose to experience them in everyday life. In One in a Million, Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer invites us to change that pattern for good.