A groundbreaking and accessible history of heaven--from the earliest biblical conceptions of the afterlife to the theologians who frame our understandings, to the convictions and perceptions of everyday people. Drawing on history and popular culture, biblical research and everyday beliefs, religion journalist Lisa Miller offers a new understanding of one of the most cherished ideals of spiritual life. She discusses not just our visions of the afterlife,...

"A short, provocative book on religion from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. In his new book, acclaimed scholar Jack Miles poses a question: How did our forebears begin to think about religion as a distinct domain, separate from other activities that were once inseparable from it? Starting at the birth of Christianity-a religion inextricably bound to Western thought-Miles reveals how we in the West have come to isolate religion as an object of study,...

A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the now-classic study of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack, The Looming Tower. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative skills to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church...

"The Varieties of Religious Experience is William James's classic survey of religious belief. With psychological insight and philosophical rigor, James wrote a truly foundational text for modern belief. Matthew Bradley's wide-ranging new edition--the most critically up-to-date and inclusive edition of James's masterpiece available in paperback--showcases ideas that continue to fuel modern debates on atheism and faith. His introduction stresses the...

A preeminent scientist-and the world's most prominent atheist-asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and...

This seminal work provides a revelatory reframing of the history of philosophy, with significant cultural implications. In this bold and uncompromising book, George G. M. James argues that the "Greek philosophy" which forms the basis of Western culture actually originated in ancient Egypt. Drawing on careful historical research and a radical rethinking of Greek historical narratives, James asserts that our celebration of the ancient Greeks as the...

"With hundreds of illustrations and specially commissioned drawings, this is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the deities that lay at the heart of Egyptian religion and society."--Jacket.

Explores life in ancient Greece through a discussion of sixteen major gods and goddesses, showing how they were portrayed in art, their family relationships, and their places in Greek society.

"Janet Kellogg Ray explores the tensions between evangelical Christianity and science and explains how to reconcile the two"--

Presents an introduction to Greek mythology, discussing the history of ancient Greece, its gods and goddesses, the myths associated with the natural world, and the legacy of Greek culture on the modern world.