Showing titles in Religious Studies

Bostrom’s previous book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (OUP, 2014) sparked a global conversation on AI that continues to this day. That book, which became a surprise New York Times bestseller, focused on what might happen if AI development goes wrong. But what if things go right? Suppose we develop superintelligence safely and ethically, and that we make good use of the almost magical powers this technology would unlock.

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York whose impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. He trudged around the United States and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than 50 women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. While previous accounts of his life have been distorted by hagiography or polemical exposé, John Turner provides a fully realized portrait of a colossal figure in American religion, politics, and westward expansion.

In our increasingly secular world, holy texts are at best seen as irrelevant, and at worst as an excuse to incite violence, hatred and division. So what value, if any, can Scripture hold for us today? And if our world no longer seems compatible with Scripture, is it perhaps because its original purpose has become lost? Today we see the Quran being used by some to justify war and terrorism, the Torah to deny Palestinians the right to live in the Land of Israel, and the Bible to condemn homosexuality and contraception.

What if everything you think you know about Jesus is wrong? In The Jesus Papers, Michael Baigent probes into the truth about Jesus's life and crucifixion. As a religious historian, Baigent explores the religious and political climate in which Jesus was born and raised, and the strife within the...

Step into the armour-clad world of one of history’s most iconic and misunderstood brotherhoods—the Knights Templar. In this compelling and richly detailed exploration, Korey Blathewick unpacks the rise, structure, and ultimate fall of an order that straddled the divine and the deadly. From humble origins guarding pilgrims on the treacherous roads to Jerusalem, the Templars swiftly rose to become elite warriors, international bankers, and spiritual exemplars—answerable only to the Pope and feared by kings.

Through ancient art, evocative myth, exciting archaeological revelations and philosophical explorations Bettany Hughes shows why this immortal goddess endures through to the twenty-first century, and what her journey through time reveals about what matters to us as humans. Charting Venus's...

An inspiring account from one of history’s darkest moments. Marione Ingram grew up in Hamburg, Germany, in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She was German. She was Jewish. She was a survivor. This is her story. As a young girl, Marione was aware that people of the Jewish faith were regarded as outsiders, the supposed root of Germany’s many problems. She grew up in an apartment building where neighbors were more than happy to report Jews to the Gestapo.

The Kebra Nagast stands as one of the most revered and spiritually potent works in the Christian world—a foundational text of Ethiopian identity and a testament to a lineage believed to descend from the union of King Solomon of Israel and Makeda, the Queen of Sheba. More than a historical chronicle, it is a sacred epic, preserved through centuries by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, weaving together divine providence, royal authority, and the unfolding destiny of a nation chosen to safeguard one of the holiest treasures of antiquity.

"Have You Forgotten? I Am Your Mother. You Are Under My Protection." "There is a promise Holy Mother makes to us," explains Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, "that any soul needing comfort, vision, guidance, or strength can cry out to her, flee to her protection, and Blessed Mother will immediately...

This fascinating audiobook is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time.

Discover the ultimate essence of Kabbalah, and uncover the secrets in Zohar! Have you ever thought Kabbalah and its contents are beyond your level of comprehension? Have you ever wondered if you could get an audiobook that explains the deep topics of Kabbalah in simple language? If yes, then you have come to the right place.

In July 1950, Avi Shlaim, only five, and his family were forced into exile, fleeing their beloved Iraq to the new state of Israel. Today the once flourishing Jewish community of Iraq, at one time numbering over 130,000 and tracing its history back 2,600 years, has all but vanished.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world - a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas.

A FORGOTTEN MANUSCRIPT. A FAMILY SECRET. AND THE URGENT NEED TO TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THE CHILDREN HITLER WANTED DEAD. THE TRUE STORY OF THE MISCHLINGE. Mischling (plural: Mischlinge): a cruel, derogatory term created by the Nazi regime to brand those of 'mixed blood'; children born to both...

Tie-in to his Radio 4 series, thought leader Jonathan Sacks on how we can build a strong collective morality for the modern era. In today's world of cultural climate change, argues Jonathan Sacks, we have outsourced morality to the markets on the one hand, and to government on the other. If the...

Bloomsbury presents Going Dark by Julia Ebner, read by Hera Reed. A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Engaging and visceral ... Reads like a thriller' Financial Times 'Riveting and often deeply disturbing ... A punch to the stomach' Sunday Times 'Ebner has done some gutsy, thought-provoking research'...

A wonderful insight into the faith of C. S. Lewis – the leading writer on Christianity and author of the Narnia books – offering encouragement for everyone struggling with intellectual questions, personal conflicts, or ethical dilemmas. C. S. Lewis shared his thinking on his faith through...

Despite predictions of continuing secularisation, the 21st century has witnessed a surge of religious extremism and violence in the name of God. In this powerful and timely book, Jonathan Sacks explores the roots of violence and its relationship to religion, focusing on the historic tensions between the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The breathtaking memoir by a member of "Nicky's family", a group of 669 Czechoslovakian children who escaped the Holocaust through Sir Nicholas Winton's Kindertransport project. My Train to Freedom relates the trials and achievements of award-winning humanitarian and former Episcopal priest Ivan Backer.

Have we been taught to discount the veracity and deeper meaning of our emotional resonance with the world around us? In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis looks at the curriculum of the English "prep school" and begins to wonder if this subliminal teaching has indeed produced a generation who discount such a nature.