Spanning over 2,000 years, this study looks at the complex relationship between Jewish and Catholic thought from a social and historical perspective. Examining different significant moments for both religions throughout the centuries, this book analyzes and explains the conflicts that have arisen between the two religions since their beginnings.

A practical and engaging guide to reinvigorating Jewish community life, with strategies for reviving the Jewish spiritual centers at the heart of Jewish tradition and tips on sustainable transformation, inspiring leadership and inviting sacred spaces.

This essential introduction to Judaism’s notions of spirit as they relate to God is designed to inform both Jews and Christians who are studying what it means when we say that God is spirit. Exploring the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, and other rabbinic writings, Rabbi Timoner uncovers surprising insights about how God as spirit influences Jewish ideas of creation, revelation, and redemption. Written with an accessible and engaging voice, full of stories and relevant teachings, Breath of Life speaks to lay readers and scholars alike, as it pursues a new perspective on Judaism’s sacred texts. This book promises Christian readers meaningful insights on their own notions of God as Holy Spirit while giving Jewish readers a new look at their own tradition. "In easy but deceptively profound language, Rachel Timoner deftly savors the essential unknowability of God, the ubiquity of Torah and the mystery of redemption. She’s given us an immensely literate and serious, contemporary Jewish theology. Breath of Life is a spiritual tour de force.” -Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Scholar in residence at Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco, and author of many books including Kabbalah: A Love Story "Any reader keen to cultivate a robust spirituality should read this little book. Jews and Christians may discover here something to talk about—scriptures we share and a quality of God we have in common.” -John R. (Jack) Levison, author of Filled with the Spirit; Professor of New Testament, Seattle Pacific University

“An important beginning to understanding the truth over myth about Judaism in American history” (New York Journal of Books), Steven R. Weisman tells the dramatic story of the personalities that fought each other and shaped this ancient religion in America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The struggles that produced a redefinition of Judaism illuminate the larger American experience and the efforts by all Americans to reconcile their faith with modern demands. The narrative begins with the arrival of the first Jews in New Amsterdam and plays out over the nineteenth century as a massive immigration takes place at the dawn of the twentieth century. First there was the practical matter of earning a living. Many immigrants had to work on the Sabbath or traveled as peddlers to places where they could not keep kosher. Doctrine was put aside or adjusted. To take their places as equals, American Jews rejected their identity as a separate nation within America. Judaism became an American religion. These profound changes did not come without argument. Steven R. Weisman’s “lucid and entertaining” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) The Chosen Wars tells the stories of the colorful rabbis and activists—including Isaac Mayer Wise, Mordecai Noah, David Einhorn, Rebecca Gratz, and Isaac Lesser—who defined American Judaism and whose disputes divided it into the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox branches that remain today. “Only rarely does an author succeed in writing a book that reframes how we perceive our own history. The Chosen Wars is...fascinating and provocative” (Jewish Journal).

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Human beings have never had it better than we have it now in the West. So why are we on the verge of throwing it all away? In 2016, New York Times bestselling author Ben Shapiro spoke at the University of California–Berkeley. Hundreds of police officers were required to protect his speech. What was so frightening about Shapiro? He came to argue that Western civilization is in the midst of a crisis of purpose and ideas; that we have let grievances replace our sense of community and political expediency limit our individual rights; that we are teaching our kids that their emotions matter more than rational debate; and that the only meaning in life is arbitrary and subjective. As a society, we are forgetting that almost everything great that has ever happened in history happened because of people who believed in both Judeo-Christian values and in the Greek-born power of reason. In The Right Side of History, Shapiro sprints through more than 3,500 years, dozens of philosophers, and the thicket of modern politics to show how our freedoms are built upon the twin notions that every human being is made in God’s image and that human beings were created with reason capable of exploring God’s world. We can thank these values for the birth of science, the dream of progress, human rights, prosperity, peace, and artistic beauty. Jerusalem and Athens built America, ended slavery, defeated the Nazis and the Communists, lifted billions from poverty, and gave billions more spiritual purpose. Yet we are in the process of abandoning Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, watching our civilization collapse into age-old tribalism, individualistic hedonism, and moral subjectivism. We believe we can satisfy ourselves with intersectionality, scientific materialism, progressive politics, authoritarian governance, or nationalistic solidarity. We can’t. The West is special, and in The Right Side of History, Ben Shapiro bravely explains how we have lost sight of the moral purpose that drives each of us to be better, the sacred duty to work together for the greater good,.

A rare book that combines searing passion with a subject that has affected all of our lives. "Chicago Tribune" Novelist, cultural critic, and former priest James Carroll marries history with memoir as he maps the two-thousand-year course of the Church s battle against Judaism and faces the crisis of faith it has sparked in his own life. Fascinating, brave, and sometimes infuriating ("Time"), this dark history is more than a chronicle of religion. It is the central tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reaching deep into our culture to create a deeply felt work ("San Francisco Chronicle") as Carroll wrangles with centuries of strife and tragedy to reach a courageous and affecting reckoning with difficult truths."

C. S. Lewis said that Christianity works on us like every other myth, except it is a myth that really happened. Dwight Longenecker grabs this idea and runs with it, showing that the Christian story is the greatest story ever told because it gathers up what is true in all the fantasy stories of the world and makes them as solid, true, and real as a tribe of dusty nomads in the desert or the death of a carpenter-king. In The Romance of Religion Longenecker calls for the return of the romantic hero—the hero who knows his frailty and can fight the good fight with panache, humor, and courage. Conflict and romance are everywhere in the story of Christ, and our response is to dust off our armor, don our broad-brimmed hats, pick up our swords, and do battle for Christ with confidence, wonder, and joy. Is religion no more than a fairy tale? No, it is more than a fairy tale—much more: it is all the fairy tales and fantastic stories come true here and now. “This book is witty, whimsical, and deadly serious. With panache and aplomb, Dwight Longenecker sets out to prove that Christianity is, in every sense of the word, fabulous. And does he succeed in his quest? I encourage you to read it to find out.” —Michael Ward, senior research fellow, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, and professor of apologetics, Houston Baptist University “If you've never thought about the Christian faith as romance and story, then this book will introduce you to a whole new way of thinking.”—Frank Viola, author of God's Favorite Place on Earth