Offering a unique historical perspective to the study of medieval English drama, Heather Hill-Vásquez in Sacred Players argues that different treatments of audience and performance in the early drama indicate that the performance life of the drama may have continued well beyond its traditional placement in medieval history and into the Reformation and Renaissance eras.

Millions of users have taken up residence in virtual worlds, and in those worlds they find opportunities to revisit and rewrite their religious lives. Robert M. Geraci argues that virtual worlds and video games have become a locus for the satisfaction of religious needs, providing many users with devoted communities, opportunities for ethical reflection, a meaningful experience of history and human activity, and a sense of transcendence. Using interviews, surveys, and his own first-hand experience within the virtual worlds, Geraci shows how World of Warcraft and Second Life provide participants with the opportunity to rethink what it means to be religious in the contemporary world. Not all participants use virtual worlds for religious purposes, but many online residents use them to rearrange or replace religious practice as designers and users collaborate in the production of a new spiritual marketplace. Using World of Warcraft and Second Life as case studies, this book shows that many residents now use virtual worlds to re-imagine their traditions and work to restore them to "authentic" sanctity, or else replace religious institutions with virtual communities that provide meaning and purpose to human life. For some online residents, virtual worlds are even keys to a post-human future where technology can help us transcend mortal life. Geraci argues that World of Warcraft and Second Life are "virtually sacred" because they do religious work. They often do such work without regard for-and frequently in conflict with-traditional religious institutions and practices; ultimately they participate in our sacred landscape as outsiders, competitors, and collaborators.

With a new introduction, Phil Jackson's modern classic of motivation, teamwork, and Zen insight is updated for a whole new readership "Not only is there more to life than basketball, there's a lot more to basketball than basketball." --Phil Jackson Eleven years ago, when Phil Jackson first wrote these words in Sacred Hoops, he was the triumphant head coach of the Chicago Bulls, known for his Zen approach to the game. He hadnt yet moved to the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he would bring his total to an astounding nine NBA titles. In his thought-provoking memoir, he revealed how he directs his players to act with a clear mind--not thinking, just doing; to respect the enemy and be aggressive without anger or violence; to live in the moment and stay calmly focused in the midst of chaos; to put the "me" in service of the "we" -- all lessons applicable to any person's life, not just a professional basketball player's. This inspiring book went on to sell more than 400,000 copies. In his new introduction, Jackson explains how the concepts in Sacred Hoops are relevant to the issues facing his current team--and today's reader.

Robert Eaton, like most of us, is a flawed human being. He is sixty-seven years old. He is at the zenith of his career in academic psychiatry. He has practiced psychiatry for forty years. He has over two hundred publications in highly esteemed, peer-reviewed, scientific journals. He is a professor of psychiatry at one of the world's leading medical centers. He is also the medical director of a neuropsychiatric research center. Dr. Eaton should be happy. But he isn't. He is going through his midlife crisis at the age of sixty-seven, when many colleagues are starting to consider retirement. Eaton's world is academic psychiatry. He has no other world and no other life. His friends are his scientific journals. He is a man who eschews religious faith. He is starting to question whether his life has any meaning. His only solace is from walks along the East River and from his friend Chivas Regal. Into Eaton's life came Fred Leidendorfer, a seriously and persistently mentally ill person, who Eaton has been trying to stabilize for many years. While living in New York City, Fred is taken under the wings of a local parish priest. This begins a redemptive journey for Fred, much to the dismay of Dr. Eaton. To this individual conflict is added a very unsettling and chaotic time in world history. There are rumors of a New World Order, of a powerful new military weapon, of a loss in individual freedoms, and the emergence of an evil as never before experienced by humanity. The question that arises and needs to be settled is how Dr. Eaton weathers his emotional and spiritual storms. Through encounters with some very special people, Eaton is about to find the light of God at the end of a very long and very dark tunnel.

Kemetic writings found in Alexandria's libraries were attributed collectively to Hermes, a Greek conception of the Egyptian deity Djehuti, patron of science, learning, and language. She was believed to have incarnated herself as a sage several times, and in the beginnings of Egyptian civilization, in the form of Hermes Trismegistus, also known as the "thrice greatest" because he had perfected the three sacred disciplines of medicine, architecture, and astronomy. Egypt regarded Djehuti as the original teacher of sacred knowledge. His task was to write the secret books of the temples and possess the magical words of power used in temple rituals. He was known as Thoth-Hermes by the Greeks living in Egypt. Imhotep was revered as a patron saint of arcane teachings in the Old Kingdom. According to Egyptian Legend, his architectural canons constructed the Saqqara and Giza monuments. The Greeks and Romans believed these complexes were temples of initiation into the highest mysteries of religion. The Legend of Thoth/Hermes Trismegistus was thus born, with all the accompanying Hermetic attributes and historical lore derived from Graeco-Roman culture.

Shanghai, a dynamic world metropolis, is home to a multitude of religions, from Buddhism and Islam, to Christianity and Baha’ism, to Hinduism and Daoism, and many more. In this city of 24 million inhabitants, new religious groups and older faiths together claim and reclaim spiritual space. Shanghai Sacred explores the spaces, rituals, and daily practices that make up the religious landscape of the city, offering a new paradigm for the study of Chinese spirituality that reflects the global trends shaping Chinese culture and civil society. Based on years of fieldwork, incorporating both comparative and methodological perspectives, Shanghai Sacred demonstrates how religions are lived, constructed, and thus inscribed into the social imaginary of the metropolis. Evocative photographs by Liz Hingley enrich and interact with the narrative, making the book an innovative contribution to religious visual ethnography.

In the United States and Europe, membership and participation in Christian churches have steadily declined. When asked for their religious preference, increasing numbers say “none.” This is especially the case for younger adults and the well-educated. A key reason is that many find the prayers, creeds, and liturgy—and the theology that underlie these—to be incomprehensible or unbelievable. But theology need not be unbelievable, and doctrine need not be doctrinaire. This book provides a new approach to theology by drawing on sociological concepts that most people will find familiar—for example, role, social relationship, pluralism, hierarchy, and status. At the core of this theology is the concept of sacredness. What is especially new is to see sacredness as the ultimate form of status, that which is most praised and valued. Since virtually everyone is familiar with a variety of status systems—at work, in schools, while shopping, in church—this approach makes theology more understandable and meaningful. Yet we should not abandon the accomplishments of the spiritual and intellectual past. Hence, such classical doctrines as sin, the Trinity, revelation, atonement, salvation and grace, the nature of the church, and worship, are reinterpreted so that they are credible and meaningful to contemporary people. Any moderately educated person will find this book accessible. It is deliberately a brief book that will inform and stimulate laity, be helpful to clergy, and challenge scholars.