Religious Life

The winners of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting tell the astonishing story of Mary Clarke. At the age of 50, Clarke left her comfortable life in suburban Los Angeles to follow a spiritual calling to care for the prisoners in one of Mexico's most notorious jails. She actually moved into a cell to live among drug kingpins and petty thieves. She has led many of them through profound spiritual transformations in which they turned away from their lives of crime, and she has deeply touched the lives of all who have witnessed the depth of her compassion.

First published in 1985, Habits of the Heart continues to be one of the most discussed interpretations of modern American society, a quest for a democratic community that draws on our diverse civic and religious traditions. In a new preface, the authors relate the arguments of the book both to the current realities of American society and to the growing debate about the country's future. With this new edition, one of the most influential books of recent times takes on a new immediacy.

Come to the movies with two celebrated spirituality writers—American poet and author Kathleen Norris and Irish storyteller and peace activist Gareth Higgins. In A Whole Life in Twelve Movies, Norris and Higgins invite listeners along as they discuss acclaimed movies that can help us better understand our lives—from before birth to death and beyond. Featuring twelve films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Malcolm X, and Babette's Feast, this book is perfect for individuals or groups to watch and discuss movies over the course of a year.

Bishop John Shelby Spong, author of Jesus for the Non-Religious, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, Sins of Scripture, and many other books, is known for his controversial ideas and fighting for minority rights. In Eternal Life: A New Vision, a remarkable spiritual journey about his lifelong struggle with the questions of God and death, he reveals how he came to a new conviction about eternal life.

A guidebook for living a life without religion, combining sociological insight and personal inspiration. Over the last 25 years, "no religion" has become the fastest growing religion in the United States. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have turned away from the traditional faiths of the past and embraced a secular - or nonreligious - life, generating societies vastly less religious than at any other time in human history.

Nadia and Nadir are a pair of young Muslim-American siblings living in Houston, Texas, with their mom and dad. Like all kids, they enjoy staying busy. Nadia and Nadir are quick to make learning fun in their day-to-day lives. And with grandparents coming to visit and trips to Pakistan in their schedules, the kids enjoy exploring their family culture and traditions. Nadia & Nadir will entertain and educate kids for hours!

The Unchained Life Manual examines 16 alternative healing modalities to recalibrate the body, mind, and spirit. The term "bio-hacking" means to alter our biology to achieve a greater level of performance. By incorporating techniques such as light therapy, sound therapy, aromatherapy, vitamin therapy, inversion, meditation, and others, It is possible to rebalance the body and to live in a state of ease, versus "dis-ease".

As director of the world's largest abortion clinic and the nation's most prominent abortionist, Dr. Bernard Nathanson presided over 60,000 abortions. As co-founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League, he helped make abortion legal. Then, in a conversion that made headkines and astonished both sides of the abortion debate, he renounced his profession to become a pro-life advocate. But Dr. Nathanson's journey was not over.

In 1957, at 27 years old, Father Aloysius Schwartz of Washington, D.C. asked to be sent to one of the saddest places in the world: South Korea in the wake of the Korean War. Just a few months into his priesthood, he stepped off the train in Seoul into a dystopian film. Squatters with blank stares picked through hills of garbage. Paper-fleshed orphans lay on the streets like leftover war shrapnel. These scenes pierced him.

Saxum - the Latin word means rock - is a term that St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, sometimes used in letters to Alvaro del Portillo to describe him. Don Alvaro, as he came to be known, was for many years the founder's closest associate as well as his successor and first Prelate of Opus Dei after it became a personal prelature-a foundational rock for this dynamic international Catholic group devoted to promoting sanctity in ordinary life.

When His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to New York City in 1999, he spoke simply and powerfully on the everyday Buddhist practice of compassion. An Open Heart lays out this course of meditation, from the simplest to the most challenging, describing the mental training techniques that will enable anyone of any faith to change their minds and open their hearts. Featuring an afterword by Richard Gere.

Scientists often challenge conventional wisdom and spark debates that last for generations. But no scientist has fuelled more debate than Charles Darwin. To some he is the revolutionary 'father' of evolution. To others he is the perverse 'originator' of modern eugenics. In The Darwin Myth: The Life and Lies of Charles Darwin, author Benjamin Wiker brings these conflicting identities to light.

If you are an LGBTQIA+ person who has experienced rejection, conversion therapy, or religious harm due to your sexual identity, you may be carrying around residual wounds that are sabotaging your happiness...and your relationships. It doesn’t have to be this way. In this powerful new audiobook queer interfaith minister Erika Allison shares the story of how she overcame the trauma of conversion therapy, inspiring others who have suffered from identity harm to find the love they long for and deserve.

In 1979, 24-year-old Maura O'Halloran moved to Japan and became the first woman ever admitted to Toshoji Temple. Soshin-san (O'Halloran's monastic name) labored through three intense years of work and study in preparation for becoming a dharma teacher. Her life ended abruptly during a trip to Thailand, and today Soshin-san is revered as a Buddhist saint. The material in this program is from her private and heartfelt journals and letters.

Six-year-old Angela looks at the naked baby Jesus in her local church in Limerick, Ireland, circa 1912, and thinks he looks cold. She wonders why his mother, or one of the shepherds, doesn't put a blanket over him. She decides to take him to her bedroom and wrap him in her own blanket. The journey home is a bit difficult and when the disappearance is discovered, the whole parish is very, very upset. But Angela does carry the baby back to church, and all turns out well.

In the face of ruthless totalitarian rule, it is only the rare few who stand up at risk of their own life to do what is right. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of those exceptional individuals. Even on pain of death, he would not bend, he would not budge - this German pastor fought the Nazi regime with every fiber of his being.

Ronald Reagan is hailed today for a presidency that restored optimism to America, engendered years of economic prosperity, and helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Union. Yet until now little attention has been paid to the role Reagan's personal spirituality played in his political career, shaping his ideas, bolstering his resolve, and ultimately compelling him to confront the brutal - and, not coincidentally, atheistic - Soviet empire.

After colliding with a semi-truck, Don Piper died and went to heaven. Ninety minutes later he returned to life on earth. After years of silence, he is now sharing his life-changing story.

The daughter of a Pentecostal evangelist and a race-car driver, Jessi Colter played piano and sang in church before leaving Arizona to tour with rock n' roll pioneer Duane Eddy, whom she married. Colter became a successful recording artist, appearing on American Bandstand and befriending stars such as the the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins while her songs were recorded by Nancy Sinatra, Dottie West, and others. Her marriage to Eddy didn't last, however, and in 1969 she married the electrifying Waylon Jennings.

The Life of Saint Macrina is a significant work of early Christian literature written by Bishop Gregory of Nyssa. In the form of a letter to the monk Olympus, Gregory describes the life and influence of his sister Macrina. Macrina – also known as "Macrina the Younger" – had helped to establish a monastery and convent in Pontus (in modern-day Turkey) in the fourth century AD. The story centres on Gregory’s final visit to Macrina and is written as testimony to her piety, sanctity, and holy influence.