Ancient Spirituality

What if you could close the "joy gap," that distance between how you feel now and the way you wish you felt? In The Joy Challenge, pastor and bestselling author Randy Frazee shares the secret to experiencing real, lasting joy—and stepping into a life of contentment and purpose. If this sounds familiar, Frazee has good news for you. In The Joy Challenge, he shares the secret to experiencing genuine joyfulness, the kind of resilient happiness that doesn't evaporate in the face of challenges and setbacks.

This 2000-year-old scroll reveals the chronology from Creation through Cyrus' decree that freed the Jews in 536 BC. The Ancient Seder Olam uses Biblical prophecy to prove its calculations of the timeline. We have used this technique to continue the timeline all the way to the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in AD 1948.

How did human societies scale up from small, tight-knit groups of hunter-gatherers to the large, anonymous, cooperative societies of today - even though anonymity is the enemy of cooperation? How did organized religions with "Big Gods" - the great monotheistic and polytheistic faiths - spread to colonize most minds in the world? In Big Gods, Ara Norenzayan makes the surprising and provocative argument that these fundamental puzzles about the origins of civilization are one and the same, and answer each other.

In The Whole Counsel of God, popular writer and podcaster Fr. Stephen de Young gives an overview of what the Bible is and what is its place in the life of an Orthodox Christian, correcting many Protestant misconceptions along the way. Issues covered include inspiration, inerrancy, the formation of the biblical canon, the various texts and their provenance, the place of Scripture within Orthodox Tradition, and how an Orthodox Christian should read, study, and interpret the Bible.

Many Christians today divide ancient Jewish and Christian literature into two categories: what is in the Bible and what is not. The Christian East, however, has traditionally described a third category considered beneficial for Christians to listen to in the home: “apocrypha.” These texts, from the centuries before and after the Incarnation of Jesus Christ—beyond even the larger canons of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Old Testaments—reveal to us the religious world and theological framework of the apostles and early Church Fathers.

The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ are central events in our salvation. Yet few Christians have a good grasp of the first-century historical and religious context in which the crucifixion took place, nor of its true significance for the people of that time - and hence for our time as well. Biblical scholar and attorney Dr. Jeannie Constantinou puts modern listeners in the center of the events of Christ's Passion, bringing the best of modern scholarship to bear while keeping her interpretation faithful in every particular to the Orthodox tradition.

Classical Mythology A to Z is a comprehensive and engrossing guide to Greek and Roman mythology. Written by Annette Giesecke, PhD, Professor of Classics and Chair of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Delaware, this brilliant reference offers clear explanations of every character and locale, and captures the essence of these timeless tales.

The monsters of ancient mythology, folklore, and more contemporary urban legend have long captured the popular imagination. While most people in America today relegate monsters to just that - our imaginations - we continue to be fascinated by the unknown. Linda Godfrey is one of the country's leading authorities on modern-day monsters and has interviewed countless eyewitnesses to strange phenomena.

Are you a spiritual person? A mature Christian? The apostles do not think that you are unless you have mastered the basic principles of the oracles of God.

Richard Carrier, Ph.D., philosopher, historian, blogger, has published a number of papers in the field of ancient history and biblical studies. He has also written several books and chapters on diverse subjects, and has been blogging and speaking since 2006. He is known the world over for all the above. But here, together for the first time, are all of Dr. Carrier's peer reviewed academic journal articles in history through the year 2013, collected with his best magazine articles, research papers, and blog posts on the same subjects.

In western post-Christian society, humans are thought of less like precious image bearers and more like commodities. The canary in the coal mine of this ideological shift is often women and children, which manifests itself in the seemingly built-in disdain towards motherhood and children for their lack of production of economically valuable goods. However, the risk of this utilitarian approach to human life is not just outside the church, but within those spaces as well.

Build a deep, contemporary practice rooted in ancient Greek traditions. Whether you are Pagan or simply drawn to the Greek pantheon, this book provides everything you need to remember and rebirth these ancient practices in ways that are powerful for modern people. Gwendolyn Reece provides more than seventy exercises, rites, and prayers that help you meet and build relationships with the deities and create a vibrant and balanced spiritual practice, including pathworkings to meet the gods, creating an Omphalos stone, and seeking a healing dream.

Unlock the Secrets of Ancient Egypt Today Journey into the heart of one of history’s most mystical civilizations with "Spiritual Egypt: Kemetic Practices and The Book of the Dead Explained." This compelling two-in-one guide unveils the sacred wisdom and timeless practices of ancient Egypt, offering a transformative experience for spiritual seekers and history enthusiasts alike. Dive Deep into Kemetic Spirituality Uncover the foundational principles that shaped the spiritual lives of the ancient Egyptians. Discover how these age-old practices can bring clarity, peace, and purpose to your ...

St. Ignatius, first-century Bishop of Antioch, called the “God-bearer”, is one of the earliest witnesses to the truth of Christ and the nature of the Christian life. Tradition tells us that as a small child, Ignatius was singled out by Jesus himself as an example of the childlike faith all Christians must possess. In Bearing God, Father Andrew Damick recounts the life of this great pastor, martyr, and saint, and interprets for the modern listener five major themes in the pastoral letters he wrote.

“I didn’t think he’d do it. I really didn’t think he would. I thought he’d say, whoa, hold on, wait a minute. We made a deal, remember, the land, the blessing, the nation, the descendants as numerous as the sands on the shore and the stars in the sky.” So begins James Goodman’s original and urgent encounter with one of the most compelling and resonant stories ever told - God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

This book presents the doctrine of the pre-tribulational rapture of the church. Many prophecies are explored with biblical passages and terms explained from the scripture itself. Evidence is presented that proves the first century church believed the end times would begin with the return of Israel to her ancient homeland. More than 50 prophecies have been fulfilled since Israel became a state; several more are yet to be fulfilled.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not about what Jesus can do for your life. It is not even the answer to the question, “How can I be saved?” It is the declaration of a victory. In his coming to earth, his suffering, and his Resurrection, Christ conquered demons, sin, and death. In Arise, O God, author and podcaster Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick introduces us to the spiritual war that Christ won by his victory, how we are caught in that war’s cosmic crossfire, what the true content of the gospel is—and how we are to respond.

Pagans explores the rise of Christianity from a surprising and unique viewpoint: that of the people who witnessed their ways of life destroyed by what seemed then a powerful religious cult. These "pagans" were actually pious Greeks, Romans, Syrians, and Gauls, who observed the traditions of their ancestors. To these devout polytheists, Christians who worshiped only one deity were immoral atheists who believed that a splash of water on the deathbed could erase a lifetime of sin.

The modern world doesn't acknowledge but is nevertheless haunted by spirits—angels, demons, and saints. In our time, many yearn to break free of the prison of a flat, secular materialism, to see and to know reality as it truly is. What is this spiritual reality like? How do we engage with it well? How do we permeate everyday life with spiritual presence?

Over the centuries since the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western Churches, the two groups have diverged to the point that they often no longer understand each other’s vocabulary, let alone the fundamental concepts on which each faith is built. Know the Faith is an attempt to present Orthodox Christianity in a way Western Christians can understand, grounding each point in Scripture and patristic theology, with comparisons to what Catholics and Protestants believe.