San Antonio College Library

Religion, Public Life, and the American Polity brings together ten essays exploring the continuing vitality of religion in American public life. Featuring contributions by leading political scientists and legal scholars, the volume locates current debates within the broader contexts of history, society, and constitutional theory. The book opens with an investigation of the contending positions on church-state relations in current American thought....

"Reveals how Genghis Khan harnessed the power of religion to rule the largest empire the world has ever known. By the New York Times best-selling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, "--NoveList. "Throughout history the world's greatest conquerors have made their mark not just on the battlefield, but in the societies they have transformed. Genghis Khan conquered by arms and bravery, but he ruled by commerce and religion. He...

Religious progressives Buehrens and Parker discuss the political and personal relevance of the progressive theological movement in the early twenty-first century, covering challenges such as the teachings of fundamentalists, with anecdotes about themes such as eschatology, salvation, sin, and the history of ecumenical and universalist movements.

"Greek religion is a subject of absorbing interest, essential for the understanding of history and culture, but often puzzling and elusive. This collection of essays ranges over many aspects of Greek civil life, looking at the ways in which religion manifested itself in institutions, art and literature, and tracing the attitudes that lay behind the manifold cults and customs. It is not meant as an exhaustive introduction to the subject, but as a series...

America, it is often noted, is the most religious nation in the Western world. At the same time, many political leaders and opinionmakers have come to view any religious element in public discourse as a tool of the radical right for reshaping American society. In our sensible zeal to keep religion from dominating our politics, Stephen L. Carter argues, we have constructed political and legal cultures that force the religiously devout to act as if...

Contributed articles.

This is a fresh and innovative exploration of traditional Indian religion and culture - an area that has fascinated and puzzled the West for centuries. Making use of his own original research, conducted over twenty-five years, Friedhelm Hardy aims at presenting the widest possible range of themes that have preoccupied Indian culture. He draws on a variety of sources, in various languages, and listens not only to what the philosopher or theologian...

A look now at the ancient Hindu practice of "kirtan," a call-and-response chanting of Sankrit mantras that started in India as a path to enlightenment. Practitioners believe the chanting awakens the love of God, which is present in everyone's heart. This form of meditation is gaining popularity here in the U.S.; Krishna Das, an internationally known spiritual teacher, led a kirtan workshop in New York.