WOF Past Selections
Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor. Taylor, a Christian Minister, shares her personal journey of teaching a college course on Religions of the World. As soon as she recovered from the shock of meeting God in many new hats, she fell for every religion she taught. We will share the “holy envy” we have discovered in our own lives.
Why Religion? A Personal Story by Elaine Pagels. Known for her scholarship through books such as The Gnostic Gospels, questions of the meaning of religion take on new urgency for Pagels as she comes to terms with the loss of her young son and then her husband.
The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh. In troubled times, there is an urgency to understand ourselves and our world. We have so many questions. Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, one the most revered spiritual leaders in the world, reveals an art of living in mindfulness that helps us answer life’s deepest questions.
The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran.The Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse Sanskrit scripture that is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The Gita is set in a narrative framework of a dialogue between Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Krishna. Wikipedia.
Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent by Rami Shapiro. The spiritual teachings of many faith traditions can help you step beyond the limits of any one tradition to the reality that can't be named.
Order of the Sacred Earth by Matthew Fox and Others. Provides a new vision, one deeply rooted in Western, Eastern, and Indigenous histories: a new spiritual Order that affirms all spiritual traditions and practices that sustain life.
The Sacred Art of Loving Kindness by Rabbi Rami Shapiro.
"The question at the heart of this book is this: Will you engage this moment with kindness or with cruelty, with love or with fear, with generosity or scarcity, with a joyous heart or an embittered one? This is your choice and no one can make it for you…. Heaven and hell are both inside of you. It is your choice that determines just where you reside.”WOF Book Selections for 2020
The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. Karen Armstrong writes a nuanced exploration of the role that religion plays in human life, drawing on insights of the past in order to build a faith that speaks to the needs of our dangerously polarized age. We will read Part II, The Modern God (1500 CE to the present).
The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr. Richard Rohr is a globally recognized ecumenical teacher whose work is grounded in Christian mysticism. In this book, Rohr explores the question of Who was Christ. Too often our understandings have been limited by culture, religious debate and the human tendency to put ourselves at the center. The Universal Christ is thought provoking, practical, and full of deep hope and vision.
The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel. Elegant, passionate, and filled with the love of God’s creation, Heschel’s The Sabbath has been hailed as a classic of Jewish spirituality ever since its original publication. In this brief yet profound meditation on the Seventh Day, Heschel introduced the idea of an “architecture of holiness” that appears not in space but in time.
On the Brink of Everything by Parker J. Palmer. Looking back on eight decades of life, he meditates on the meanings of life, past, present, and future. “The laws of nature that dictate sundown dictate our demise. But how we travel the arc toward the sunset of our lives is ours to choose: will it be denial, defiance, or collaboration?”
