Religion Hurts

Author : John Bowker
Publisher : SPCK
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2018-10-18
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780281076901

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Religion Hurts by John Bowker Pdf

The world contains a bewildering variety of religions, each containing an equally bewildering variety of practices and beliefs. How have religions developed and become so widespread? Why do they matter so much to so many people? Why do some believe that their faith requires them to terrorize and kill others? Why do religions do harm as well as good? This is a book for those who ask such questions. Some of the answers we hear today seem entirely uncritical of religion, while others dismiss it as inherently toxic and destructive. John Bowker, one of the world’s most distinguished scholars of religion, delivers a timely analysis of the issues. He shows how recent research, particularly in the neurosciences, genetics and evolution, throws new light on what religions are and on the part they have played in human life and history. His explanation of why religions are a force for both good and evil offers hope as well as insight for all who want to understand the many complex interactions between religion and politics today.

Author : Laura E. Anderson
Publisher : Baker Books
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2023-10-17
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 9781493443154

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When Religion Hurts You by Laura E. Anderson Pdf

"Anderson strikes a smart, balanced tone. . . . An exemplary guide to an understudied issue."--Publishers Weekly "An exposé of the dangers of high-control religions that makes it easier to recognize and resist religious abuse."--Foreword Reviews Religious trauma is something that happens far more often than most people realize. But religious trauma is trauma. In When Religion Hurts You, Dr. Laura Anderson takes an honest look at a side of religion that few like to talk about. Drawing from her own life and therapy practice, she helps readers understand what religious trauma is and isn't, and how high-control churches can be harmful and abusive, often resulting in trauma. She shows how elements of fundamentalist church life--such as fear of hell, purity culture, corporal punishment, and authoritarian leaders--can cause psychological, relational, physical, and spiritual damage. As she explores the growing phenomenon of religious trauma, Dr. Anderson helps readers embark on a journey of living as healing individuals and finding a new foundation to stand on. Recognizing that healing is a lifelong rather than a linear process, she offers markers of healing for those coming out of painful religious experiences and hope for finding wholeness after religious trauma.

Author : Keith Wright
Publisher : Wood Lake Publishing Inc.
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 189683647X

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Religious Abuse by Keith Wright Pdf

As a pastor with 40 years of experience, Keith Wright came to realise that a dichotomy exists within the walls of many churches. While many churchgoers find the environment wonderfully embracing and supportive, the fact is that religion can offer both a positive and a negative experience. Religious abuse affects millions of church members and church leaders in every denomination. It can be blatant, but it can also be extremely subtle and unintentional. Keith Wright believes that only when we recognise and acknowledge the problem can we work toward positive change that allows us to truly benefit from the good. Individuals, church leaders, Christian educators, sociologists, psychologists and other counsellors who have experienced or witnessed the results of religious abuse will find the personal stories in this book revealing and enlightening.

Author : Timothy Keller
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2016-09-20
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780525954156

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Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller Pdf

We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

Author : S.C. George
Publisher : Fulton Books, Inc.
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2023-03-02
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781638607687

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When Religion Hurts... by S.C. George Pdf

When Religion Hurts is a story about the potentially inhibitive effects of early childhood religious indoctrination. While the story itself is fiction, many of the events are based on the real-life experiences of the author and others who grew up as Jehovah's Witnesses. These real-life experiences are expressed through the personal and professional struggles of the main character in her unconscious and then conscious fight to break free from the psychological chains of religion. Like many who have experienced the heavy weight of religious control and manipulation, she believes she has to choose between her profession and her God. A person's chosen profession can be an expression of who he or she is. Denying oneself of a beloved vocation may actually be denial of who you are. Mailin is forced to grapple with this and many other issues as she strives to find her spiritual independence. Though the story focuses on the Jehovah's Witness organization, many of the truths uncovered can and should be applied to any religious system where the rules and rituals take authority over the individual, or personal relationship one should have with his or her Creator.

Author : Philip Yancey
Publisher : Zondervan
Page : 539 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2009-12-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780310867074

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Where Is God When it Hurts/What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey Pdf

Award-winning author Philip Yancey takes you for a soul-searching look at two of Christianity's most important topics. WHAT’S SO AMAZING ABOUT GRACE? In this critically acclaimed, bestselling book, Philip Yancey explores the church's great distinctive--grace--at street level. If grace is God's love for the undeserving, and if Christians are its sole dispensers, then how are we doing at lavishing grace on a world that knows far more of cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy? Offering compelling, true portraits of grace’s life-changing power, Yancey searches for its presence in his own life and in the church. And he challenges us to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know, What’s So Amazing About Grace? WHERE IS GOD WHEN IT HURTS? If there is a loving God, then why is it that … ? You've heard that question, perhaps asked it yourself. No matter how you complete it, at its root lies the issue of pain. In this award-winning book, Philip Yancey reveals a God who is neither capricious nor unconcerned. Using examples from the Bible and from his own experiences, Yancey looks at pain--physical, emotional, and spiritual--and helps us understand why we suffer. Where Is God When It Hurts? will speak to those for whom life sometimes just doesn't make sense. And it will help equip anyone who wants to reach out to someone in pain but doesn't know what to say.

Author : Daniel M. Doleys
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780199331536

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Pain by Daniel M. Doleys Pdf

Despite the proliferation of pain clinics and various pain-oriented therapies, there is an absence of data supporting any substantial change in the statistics regarding the incidence, development and persistence of pain. As renowned pain clinician and scientist Daniel M. Doleys argues, there may be a need for a fundamental shift in the way we view pain. In this thoughtful work, Doleys presents the evolving concept and complex nature of pain with the intention of promoting a broadening of the existing paradigm within which pain is viewed and understood. Combining neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy of science, this book reviews the history of pain and outlines the current concepts and theories regarding the mechanisms involved in the experience of pain. Experimental and clinical research in a broad array of areas including neonatal pain, empathy and pain, psychogenic pain, and genetics and pain is summarized. The notion of pain as a disease process rather than a symptom is highlighted. Although there is a continued interest in activation of the peripheral nociceptive system as a determining factor in the experience of pain, the growing appreciation for the brain as the intimate 'pain generator' is emphasized. The definition of consciousness and conscious awareness and a theory as to how it relates to nociceptive processing is discussed. Finally, the author describes the potential benefit of incorporating some of the concepts from systems and quantum theory into our thinking about pain. The area of pain research and treatment seems on the precipice of change. This work intends to provide a glimpse of what these changes might be in the context of where pain research and therapy has come from, where it currently is, and where it might be headed.

Author : Stephen Arterburn,Jack Felton
Publisher : Shaw Books
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2011-04-13
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780307786043

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Toxic Faith by Stephen Arterburn,Jack Felton Pdf

Experiencing Healing from Painful Spiritual Abuse When religion becomes a means to avoid or control life, it becomes toxic. Those who possess a toxic faith have stepped across the line from a balanced perspective of God to an unbalanced faith in a weak, powerless or uncaring God. They seek a God to fix every mess, prevent every hurt, and mend every conflict. Toxic Faith distinguishes between a healthy faith and a misguided religiosity that traps believers in an addictive practice of religion. It shows how unbalanced ministries, misguided churches, and unscrupulous leaders can lead their followers away from God and into a desolate experience of religion that drives many to despair. Toxic Faith shows readers how to find hope for a return to genuine, healthy faith that can add meaning to life. In the words of the author, “I want to help you throw out that toxic faith and bring you back to the real thing.”

Author : Stephen T. Asma
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2018-05-09
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780190469696

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Why We Need Religion by Stephen T. Asma Pdf

How we feel is as vital to our survival as how we think. This claim, based on the premise that emotions are largely adaptive, serves as the organizing theme of Why We Need Religion. This book is a novel pathway in a well-trodden field of religious studies and philosophy of religion. Stephen Asma argues that, like art, religion has direct access to our emotional lives in ways that science does not. Yes, science can give us emotional feelings of wonder and the sublime--we can feel the sacred depths of nature--but there are many forms of human suffering and vulnerability that are beyond the reach of help from science. Different emotional stresses require different kinds of rescue. Unlike secular authors who praise religion's ethical and civilizing function, Asma argues that its core value lies in its emotionally therapeutic power. No theorist of religion has failed to notice the importance of emotions in spiritual and ritual life, but truly systematic research has only recently delivered concrete data on the neurology, psychology, and anthropology of the emotional systems. This very recent "affective turn" has begun to map out a powerful territory of embodied cognition. Why We Need Religion incorporates new data from these affective sciences into the philosophy of religion. It goes on to describe the way in which religion manages those systems--rage, play, lust, care, grief, and so on. Finally, it argues that religion is still the best cultural apparatus for doing this adaptive work. In short, the book is a Darwinian defense of religious emotions and the cultural systems that manage them.

Author : Gideon Sapir,Daniel Statman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2019-01-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107150829

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State and Religion in Israel by Gideon Sapir,Daniel Statman Pdf

Discusses state and religion relations in Israel by applying a general theory regarding the role of religion in liberal countries.

Author : Stephen Mansfield
Publisher : Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2012-02-17
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781414370118

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Healing Your Church Hurt by Stephen Mansfield Pdf

If you’ve been part of a church, you have probably suffered a “church hurt”—or know someone who has. Maybe the pastor had an affair or the congregation fought over money or the leaders were disguising gossip as “prayer.” Stephen Mansfield knows how it feels. Though he is now a New York Times bestselling author, he was a pastor for more than 20 years, and he loved it—until he learned how much a church can hurt. Yet he also learned how to dig out of that hurt, break through the bitterness and anger, stop making excuses, and get back to where he ought to be with God and his people. If you’re ready to choose the tough path to healing, Mansfield will walk you through it with brotherly love, showing you how you can be better than ever on the other side of this mess—if you’re willing to start Healing Your Church Hurt. Previously published as ReChurch.

Author : Stephen Arterburn,Jack Felton
Publisher : Oliver-Nelson Books
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 0840796579

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Faith that Hurts, Faith that Heals by Stephen Arterburn,Jack Felton Pdf

Author : Randy Alcorn
Publisher : Multnomah
Page : 82 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2010-05-18
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781601423528

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If God Is Good: Why Do We Hurt? by Randy Alcorn Pdf

The encouragement we crave—when we’re most in need Out of the deepest hurts of the human condition, Randy Alcorn brings into clear focus our most pressing questions about evil and suffering—including those that wrench our souls when we or someone we love is victimized by evil or assaulted by disease. He faces these questions with seasoned sensitivity, skillful insight, and a heart of compassion. He dodges none of the difficulties, and never lapses into platitudes, hand-wringing, or oversimplification. On this troubling but inescapable topic, you’ll find frank acknowledgment of the inherent limitations that set humanity apart from the God who has none. There’s also generous, real encouragement that brings God nearer in our understanding when we need His comfort the most. And amid our heavy doubts and swirling confusion on this topic, Randy Alcorn points us ultimately toward Jesus as “the only answer bigger than the questions.”

Author : Michael R. Emlet
Publisher : New Growth Press
Page : 12 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2010-10-31
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781938267727

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Chronic Pain by Michael R. Emlet Pdf

Chronic pain is different from other kinds of physical pain because it doesn't stop. It is daily, unrelenting, soul-wearying pain for which there is no end in sight. Can you still experience God's grace and help even in the midst of never ending pain? Michael R. Emlet, physician and counselor, includes a brief overview of the physiological ...

Author : Todd D. Hunter
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
Page : 166 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2023-07-18
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781514004968

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What Jesus Intended by Todd D. Hunter Pdf

Have you lost your footing in church? Or has the church lost its footing? Many of us feel unsteady, disoriented, even crushed after an endless string of scandals within the walls of a place meant to offer compassion and safety. Others feel forced to draw back or distance ourselves from the church. All the while, our instincts tell us this is not what Jesus wanted for his people. But what did he intend? After four decades of ministry, Anglican bishop Todd Hunter is no stranger to betrayal and pain in the church. Still, he has hope. He believes more than ever that Jesus is who the world needs and that Jesus has plans for his followers. In What Jesus Intended, Hunter offers a vision for emerging from the rubble of bad religion and rebuilding faith among a community of sincere believers. By unpacking the purposes of Jesus, we can expose twisted, toxic religion for what it is and embrace the true aims of the gospel. Come for a fresh hearing of Jesus—one that offers us the healing and goodness we've always longed for.