Throughout history, different civilisations have given rise to many alternative worlds. Each of them was the enactment of a unique story about the structure of reality, the rhythm of time and the range of what it is possible to think and to do in the course of a life. Cosmological stories, however, are fragile things. As soon as they lose their ring of truth and their significance for living, the worlds that they brought into existence disintegrate. New and alien worlds emerge from their ruins. Federico Campagna explores the twilight of our contemporary notion of reality, and the fading of the cosmological story that belonged to the civilisation of Westernised Modernity. How are we to face the challenge of leaving a fertile cultural legacy to those who will come after the end of our future? How can we help the creation of new worlds out of the ruins of our own?

More than any other topic, prophecy represents the point at which the Divine meets the human, the Absolute meets the relative. How can a human being attain the Word of God? In what manner does God, when conceived as eternal and transcendent, address corporeal, transitory creatures? What happens to God's divine Truth when it is beheld by minds limited in their power to apprehend, and influenced by the intellectual currents of their time and place? How were these issues viewed by the great Jewish philosophers of the past, who took the divine communication and all it entails seriously, while at the same time desired to understand it as much as humanly possible in the course of dealing with a myriad of other issues that occupied their attention? This book offers an in-depth study of prophecy in the thought of seven of the leading medieval Jewish philosophers: R. Saadiah Gaon, R. Judah Halevi, Maimonides, Gersonides, R. Hasdai Crescas, R. Joseph Albo and Baruch Spinoza. It attempts to capture the `original voice' of these thinkers by looking at the intellectual milieus in which they developed their philosophies, and by carefully analyzing their views in their textual contexts. It also deals with the relation between the earlier approaches and the later ones. Overall, this book presents a significant model for narrating the history of an idea.

The American religious scene in 1955 was a very tame and predictable world. It matched the tame, predictable world of women's clothing, where most women going out shopping wore a dress with coordinating gloves, hat, and shoes. And it matched the tame, predictable world of children's toys, where almost every young girl yearned for a baby doll that said Ma-Ma, and almost every boy needed a coonskin cap. Choices of fashions, toys, preachers, and churches were limited and domesticated. Fifty years later, the tame, predictable world of 1950s fashions and toys is long gone. Women go shopping in everything from sweatshirts and jeans to tube tops and short shorts. And both boys and girls want the latest Sponge Bob Square Pants video game. The same kind of transformation has gone on in the world of religion. It is no longer tame and predictable either. Welcome to the Wild World of Religion of the 21st Century. Explore its habitats, identify some of the inhabitants, and learn about their characteristics and customs in this Field Guide.

Bible prophecy can be a playground for fanatics or it can be green pastures for disciples. In this book, the authors show how prophecy can motivate people to holiness, inspire them to evangelism and provide them with hope. In the process, they supply answers to many intriguing questions about prophecy like the following: How should Bible prophecy be interpreted symbolically or literally? Why are there so many end-time viewpoints, and what are they? Have all Old Testament prophecies been fulfilled? How does Bible prophecy confirm the Bible as the Word of God and Jesus as God in the flesh? What happens after death? Will Heaven be an ethereal, spiritual existence, or will it be a tangible one in new perfected bodies on a new earth? What are the signs of the times, and do they indicate that we are living in the season of the Lord's return? Is the Rapture of the Church a biblical concept, and, if so, when is it most likely to happen? Is Jesus going to return to this earth to reign for a thousand years, or is His reign going on now from Heaven? Why does end-time prophecy focus on the Jewish people and the nation of Israel? What is the most likely sequence of end-time events? The 24 lessons in this book are presented in a down-to-earth, easy-to-understand language, and every point is substantiated with Scripture references. The book is designed for both individual and group study.

A book to challenge the status quo, spark a debate, and get people talking about the issues and questions we face as a country!