San Antonio College Library

Yoga classes and Zen meditation, New Age seminars and holistic workshops, the Oprah Winfrey Show, and books by Deepak Chopra -- all are part of the religious experimentation that has surprisingly deep roots in American history. Since the 1960s, our expanded and enhanced spiritual explorations have changed us from a nation of church goers into a culture of seekers. But the American fascination with mystical experience and churchless spirituality goes...

This book is a introduction to the early hermits. The author breaks through our preconceived ideas of the Desert Fathers to reveal them in a new light: as true and worthy role models for us in our modern lives, who have much to teach us about dealing with the anxieties, uncertainties, and sense of isolation that have become hallmarks of modern life. They especially embody valuable insights about community, about how to live together in an intimate...

The author confronts the growing cynicism of the twentieth century with "the Buddha's message that everyone has the opportunity to become fully, completely happy."--Jacket.

"This path-breaking book tells the story of American metaphysical religion more fully than it has ever been told before, along the way significantly revising the panorama of American religious history. Catherine L. Albanese follows metaphysical traditions from Renaissance Europe to England and then America, where they have flourished from colonial days to the twenty-first century, blending often with African, Native American, and other cultural elements."--Jacket....

"In Lily Dale, New York, the dead don't die. Instead, spirits flit among the elms and stroll along the streets, sometimes dressed in garb more common 120 years ago, when Lily Dale was founded and suffragette Susan B. Anthony was a frequent guest. According to Spiritualists who have ruled this Victorian hamlet for five generations, the dead don't go away and they stay anything but quiet. Every summer twenty thousand guests come to consult the town's...

Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has long been admired throughout the world for the heroism and grace he exhibited while encouraging countless South Africans in their struggle for human rights. In God Has a Dream, his most soul-searching book, he shares the spiritual message that guided him through those troubled times. Drawing on personal and historical examples, Archbishop Tutu reaches out to readers of all religious backgrounds, showing how individual...

People are drawn to religion or spiritual practice out of family tradition, curiousity, desire for fulfillment, or just the hope that it will make them feel better. Remarkably, they often get what they seek. Empirical research proves that such engagement brings with it numerous physical and psychological benefits, reflected in better marriages, sunnier outlooks, and longer lives. In recent years, scholars from an array of disciplines applied cutting-edge...