A Meeting Place For The Wise

Pirkey Avoth is divided into six chapters. The first five deal with different dimensions of existence, including the transmission of Jewish values, the direction of one's "life-path," the means of keeping sanctity in one's life, the values that become part of one's personality, and how Torah is and should be expressed in life.

18,000 quotations consisting of aphorisms, maxims, proverbs, and comments of Jewish authorship or on Jewish themes.

The Ethics of the Sages: An Interfaith Commentary on Pirkei Avot examines the profound teachings of one of the most well-known and beloved texts of Jewish life from the standpoints of other religious and philosopical systems. Each of the teachings contained within Pirkei Avot are analyzed in relation to similar or parallel teachings from Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and other spiritual traditions.

"Essential Spirituality beautifully articulates the benefits of spiritual living in the material world."-Dan Millman, author, Everyday Enlightenment and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior "Deceptively simple. Its power is rooted not only in Dr. Walsh's formidable intellectual capacity to deal effectively with a vast body of religious literature but in his own deep spiritual practices in a multitude of disciplines over many years. An important contribution."-Ram Dass, author, Be Here Now "An absolute masterpiece . . . Essential Spirituality is helpful to both the unseasoned and seasoned seeker. The writing is deep, simple, and clear yet at the same time poetic and musical. A must read."-GERALD G. JAMPOLSKY, M.D. author, Love Is Letting Go of Fear "Energetic, engaged, and occasionally electrifying. . . . The field of spiritual books has been looking for its own Lewis Thomas or Carl Sagan, and I believe Roger Walsh may be that one."-KEN WILBER, author, One Taste and A Brief History of Everything Based on over twenty years of research and spiritual practice, this is a groundbreaking and life-changing book. In his decades of study, Dr. Roger Walsh has discovered that each of the great spiritual traditions has both a common goal and seven common practices to reach that goal: recognizing the sacred and divine that exist both within and around us. Filled with stories, exercises, meditations, myths, prayers, and practical advice, Essential Spirituality shows how you can integrate these seven principles into one truly rewarding way of life in which kindness, love, joy, peace, vision, wisdom, and generosity become an ever-growing part of everything you do.

Few, if any, thinkers and writers today would have the imagination, the breadth of knowledge, the literary skill, and-yes-the audacity to conceive of a powerful, secular alternative to the Bible. But that is exactly what A.C. Grayling has done by creating a non-religious Bible, drawn from the wealth of secular literature and philosophy in both Western and Eastern traditions, using the same techniques of editing, redaction, and adaptation that produced the holy books of the Judaeo-Christian and Islamic religions. The Good Book consciously takes its design and presentation from the Bible, in its beauty of language and arrangement into short chapters and verses for ease of reading and quotability, offering to the non-religious seeker all the wisdom, insight, solace, inspiration, and perspective of secular humanist traditions that are older, far richer and more various than Christianity. Organized in 12 main sections----Genesis, Histories, Widsom, The Sages, Parables, Consolations, Lamentations, Proverbs, Songs, Epistles, Acts, and the Good----The Good Book opens with meditations on the origin and progress of the world and human life in it, then devotes attention to the question of how life should be lived, how we relate to one another, and how vicissitudes are to be faced and joys appreciated. Incorporating the writing of Herodotus and Lucretius, Confucius and Mencius, Seneca and Cicero, Montaigne, Bacon, and so many others, The Good Book will fulfill its audacious purpose in every way.

Controversy is the main instrument by which Judaism develops and shapes its philosophy, theology and law. The rabbinical literature speaks with many voices, debating virtually every subject, and failing to reach a consensus on many. However, this willingness to condone controversy is accompanied by much deliberation. Controversy, and its legal, philosophical and social ramifications, was and remains of unparalleled concern to the rabbis. Today, we are also witness to a burgeoning academic interest in controversy and pluralism in Jewish law. This book is an anthology of passages from the rabbinical literature that address the phenomenon of controversy in Jewish law, affording the English-speaking reader the opportunity for a first-hand encounter with this fascinating material. An extensive analytical introduction contextualizes the material from a philosophical perspective. For more information, please visit www.controversy-dialogue.org.

The purpose of this dictionary is to give an account of everything that relates to Christ - His Person, Life, Work, and Teaching. It is in a sense complementary to the Dictionary of the Bible, in which, of course, Christ has a great place. But a dictionary of the Bible, being occupied mainly with things biographical, historical, geographical, or antiquarian, does not give attention to the things of Christ sufficient for the needs of the preacher, to whom Christ is everything. This is, first of all, a preacher's dictionary. The authors of the articles have been carefully chosen from among those scholars who are, or have been, themselves preachers. And even when the articles have the same titles as articles in the Dictionary of the Bible, they are written by new men, and from a new standpoint. It is thus a work which is quite distinct from, and altogether independent of, the Dictionary of the Bible. It is called a Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, because it includes everything that the Gospels contain, whether directly related to Christ or not. Its range, however, is far greater than that of the Gospels. It seeks to cover all that relates to Christ throughout the Bible and in the life and literature of the world. There will be articles on the Patristic estimate of Jesus, the Medieval estimate, the Reformation and Modern estimates. There will be articles on Christ in the Jewish writings and in the Muslim literature. Much attention has been given to modern thought, whether Christian or anti-Christian. Every aspect of modern life, in so far as it touches or is touched by Christ, is described under its proper title. James Hastings (1852-1922) was a distinguished scholar and pastor. He was founder and editor of the Expository Times and is also well known for editing the five-volume Dictionary of the Bible, as well as the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, the Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, and the Dictionary of the Apostolic Church.