The Spiritual Virtuoso

The Spiritual Virtuoso
Author: Marion Goldman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2017-12-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1474292429

Marion Goldman and Steven Pfaff define a spiritual virtuoso as someone who works toward personal purification and a sense of holiness with the same perseverance and intensity that virtuosi strive to excel in the arts or athletics. Since the Protestant Reformation, activist virtuosi have come together in large and small social movements to redefine the meanings of spiritual practice, support religious equality, and transform a wide range of social institutions. Tracing the impact of spiritual virtuosi from the sixteenth century Reformation through the nineteenth-century Anti-Slavery Movement to the twentieth-century Human Potential Movement and beyond, Marion Goldman and Steven Pfaff explore how personal virtuosity can become a social force. Martin Luther began to expand spiritual possibilities in the West when he charted paths that did not require the Church's intercession between the individual and God. He believed that everyone could and should reach toward sacred truths and transcendent moments. Over the centuries, millions of people have built on his innovations and embarked on spiritual quests that offer new possibilities for sacred relationships and social change.

The Spiritual Virtuoso

The Spiritual Virtuoso
Author: Marion Goldman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2017-12-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1474292402

Marion Goldman and Steven Pfaff define a spiritual virtuoso as someone who works toward personal purification and a sense of holiness with the same perseverance and intensity that virtuosi strive to excel in the arts or athletics. Since the Protestant Reformation, activist virtuosi have come together in large and small social movements to redefine the meanings of spiritual practice, support religious equality, and transform a wide range of social institutions. Tracing the impact of spiritual virtuosi from the sixteenth century Reformation through the nineteenth-century Anti-Slavery Movement to the twentieth-century Human Potential Movement and beyond, Marion Goldman and Steven Pfaff explore how personal virtuosity can become a social force. Martin Luther began to expand spiritual possibilities in the West when he charted paths that did not require the Church's intercession between the individual and God. He believed that everyone could and should reach toward sacred truths and transcendent moments. Over the centuries, millions of people have built on his innovations and embarked on spiritual quests that offer new possibilities for sacred relationships and social change.

Mrs. Hunter's Happy Death

Mrs. Hunter's Happy Death
Author: John Fanestil
Publisher: Doubleday
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0307423735

What is the secret of people who die contented and fulfilled? What makes it possible for them to attain such spiritual heights as they approach their physical demise? What enables them to make death a completion of life, rather than a tragic end? And what can they teach us about life and death, love and loss, grief and spiritual growth? The way we die, like the way we live, makes a difference—in our lives and the lives of others. From time to time during his work as a pastor, John Fanestil has witnessed someone dying with remarkable and uplifting grace. Fanestil was moved yet puzzled by the spirit of happiness and holiness he observed. Contemporary literature on dying, filled with talk of anger, acceptance, and forgiveness, provided little to explain it. But the chance discovery of articles about the ritual of the “happy death” in religious magazines from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought Fanestil the answers he sought. Mrs. Hunter’s Happy Death blends the captivating historical accounts Fanestil uncovered with his own pastoral experiences to reveal the secrets that enable people to transcend pain and suffering and embrace death as a completion of life, not as a tragic end. A fascinating introduction to a historic approach to death and its contemporary incarnations, Mrs. Hunter’s Happy Death also offers specific lessons on living and dying, from the “exercise of prayer” to the “labor of love” to “bearing testimony.” With the spread of in-home medical and hospice care, death is once again being embraced as a natural part of life, infused with profound emotional and spiritual dimensions. The inspiring stories in Mrs. Hunter’s Happy Death beautifully demonstrate that the way we die, like the way we live, makes a supreme difference—in our lives and in the lives of others.

The Music Teaching Artist's Bible

The Music Teaching Artist's Bible
Author: Eric Booth
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2009-02-23
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0199709548

When the artist moves into the classroom or community to educate and inspire students and audience members, this is Teaching Artistry. It is a proven means for practicing professional musicians to create a successful career in music, providing not only necessary income but deep and lasting satisfaction through engaging people in learning experiences about the arts. Filled with practical advice on the most critical issues facing the music teaching artist today--from economic and time-management issues of being a musician and teacher to communicating effectively with students--The Music Teaching Artist's Bible uncovers the essentials that every musician needs in order to thrive in this role. Author Eric Booth offers both inspiration and how-to, step-by-step guidance in this truly comprehensive manual that music teaching artists will turn to again and again. The book also includes critical information on becoming a mentor, succeeding in school environments, partnering with other teaching artists, advocating for music and arts education, and teaching private lessons. The Music Teaching Artist's Bible helps practicing and aspiring teaching artists gain the skills they need to build new audiences, improve the presence of music in schools, expand the possibilities of traditional and educational performances, and ultimately make their lives as an artists even more satisfying and fulfilling.

A Stranger in the House of God

A Stranger in the House of God
Author: John Koessler
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2009-08-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310864216

Growing up the son of agnostics, John Koessler saw a Catholic church on one end of the street and a Baptist on the other. In the no-man’s land between the two, this curious outside wondered about the God they worshipped—and began a lifelong search to comprehend the grace and mystery of God. A Stranger in the House of God addresses fundamental questions and struggles faced by spiritual seekers and mature believers. Like a contemporary Pilgrim’s Progress, it traces the author’s journey and explores his experiences with both charismatic and evangelical Christianity. It also describes his transformation from religious outsider to ordained pastor. John Koessler provides a poignant and often humorous window into the interior of the soul as he describes his journey from doubt and struggle with the church to personal faith

Ambivalent Zen

Ambivalent Zen
Author: Lawrence Shainberg
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 337
Release: 1997-03-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 067977288X

Seeking help with his basketball game, Shainberg embraced Zen Buddhism in 1951 and was catapulted on a life-long spiritual journey. Alternately comic and reverential, Ambivalent Zen chronicles the rewards and dangers of spiritual ambition and presents a poignant reflection of the experiences faced by many Americans involved in the Zen movement.

Spirituality for the Skeptic

Spirituality for the Skeptic
Author: Robert C. Solomon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2006-12-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780195312133

By examining the ideas of great thinkers from Kafka to Socrates, this text arrives at an alternative vision of spirituality, one that is non-dogmatic and practical, that should appeal to many seekers looking to make sense of the human condition.

God Without Religion

God Without Religion
Author: Śaṇkara Śaranam
Publisher: The Pranayama Institute
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0972445013

Disillusioned with organized religion, some people escape into New Age movements and others retreat from their spiritual moorings altogether. A more satisfying and transformative option is to embark on a quest to discover God on your own. Using time-tested tools of spiritual investigation, it becomes possible to examine your present beliefs, explore the nature of God and sense of self, and ultimately expand your identity. This book is a classic and introduces readers to an age-old approach to spiritual inquiry. Included are seventeen universal techniques for developing a personal relationship with God and broadening your view of yourself, others, and all of life.

Trusted Leader

Trusted Leader
Author: David Horsager
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2021-03-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1523093013

Without trust, people and businesses fail. Trusted Leader provides a framework for building trust so that you and your organizations can perform at your best. “A lack of trust is your biggest expense,” says Wall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager. Without trust, transactions cannot occur. Without trust, influence is destroyed. Without trust, leaders lose their people. Trust can be either your most vulnerable weakness or your greatest asset. Horsager introduces readers to his Eight Pillars of Trust through the journey of a senior leader who thought success was certain. Follow CEO Ethan Parker as he discovers the power of trust and how to apply it amid the complexities of leadership, change, and culture transformation. The Eight Pillars of Trust (Clarity, Compassion, Character, Competency, Commitment, Connection, Contribution, and Consistency) are based on Horsager's original research and extensive experience working with Fortune 500 companies and top government agencies around the globe. In addition to the business parable, this book is rich in practical advice for implementing each of the Eight Pillars. You will learn strategies to increase alignment, overcome attrition, and get absolutely clear on executing your top priorities. Horsager offers a road map for how to become the most trusted expert in your industry.

God, Mystery, and Mystification

God, Mystery, and Mystification
Author: Denys Turner
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2019-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0268105995

In God, Mystery, and Mystification, Denys Turner presents eight essays covering the major issues of philosophical and practical theology that he has focused on over the fifty years of his academic career. While a somewhat heterogeneous collection, the chapters are loosely linked by a focus on the mystery of God and on distinguishing that mystery from merely idolatrous mystifications. The book covers three main fields: theological epistemology, medieval and early modern mystical theologies, and the relation of Christian belief to natural science and politics. Turner develops the implications of a moderate realist account of theological knowledge as distinct from a fashionable, postmodernist epistemology. This modern realist epistemology is embodied in connections between theoretical, speculative theologies and the practice of the Christian faith in a number of different ways, but mainly as bearing upon the practical, lived connections between faith and reason, between reason and the mystical, between faith and science, and among faith, prayer, and politics. Scholars and advanced students of theology, religious studies, the history of ideas, and medieval thought will be interested in this book.