International Religions

Genuine understanding of Islam, the religion, will reveal ... that Islam is a later moment of that very consciousness which produced Judaism and Christianity; that Islam, the culture, is as much a source of the Western civilization of the present millennium as classical Greece and Rome ... that Islam’s anti-clericalism made it the first “Protestant” revolution, that its rationalismmade it the first “Enlightenment,” that its pragmatism made it the first “technocracy,” and that its law of war and peace made it the first “United Nations.

Religion and the Decline of Magic examines popular belief in 16th and 17th century England, a key period during which leaders of the Protestant Reformation tried to disentangle magic from religion itself. Thomas argues that magic was popular because it offered practical solutions to everyday problems. Few social historians had examined the popular religious beliefs of the 1500s at the time Thomas wrote Religion.

When a theoretical physicist is found dead on the steps of the eastern triple arched Huldah Gates of the Temple Mount hours before a technological summit in Tel Aviv is set to begin, Professor of Biblical Studies Aiden Leonardo is sought for questioning in connection to the murder. But what begins as a simple inquiry about Aiden's meeting with the victim on the previous night erupts into a race against the clock to prevent the unthinkable from occurring in Jerusalem.

Step 13 is the true story of how one man struggled with alcohol addiction and how God used this life to bring glory to himself. Jim Brissey opens his heart and honestly portrays his day-to-day struggle to give up his "[G]ood friend, Buzz". As he shares his own struggles to overcome alcohol and worship God to the fullest, Jim testifies that God can indeed use anyone to bring others to him.

David Hume's book tackling the subject of belief in God is among the most influential in Western philosophy. Published in 1779, three years after Hume's death, without featuring the author's name, the book was deeply controversial in its day. It is now considered a masterpiece and Hume is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers writing in English.

Peter made all the classical, Christian mistakes. He spoke before thinking, lacked faith, and even denied the Lord Jesus Christ. But Peter had a moldable, open heart, and the Lord knew it. All the mistakes Peter made helped him understand what other Christians face, and his writings both warn and encourage readers today. Too many of today’s religious entities and Christian individuals are functioning on spiritual autopilot, rarely pausing to pray in earnest and seek the Lord’s will for their lives.

Do we need the rules of religion in order to be good people? The German philosopher Immanuel Kant tackles this question in his 1793 text Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. More than 200 years later, it is still a key text in the shaping of Western religious thought, as well as Kant's most direct discussion of religious themes. Kant tries to look at religious practices in relation to the Enlightenment movement and its firmly held beliefs in the power of reason and personal liberty.