Despite all the hoopla about Pope John Paul II, some believe he has been an unparalleled disaster in the history of the papacy and of the Church. In Crossing the Threshold of Confusion, author Andrew J. McCauley examines the record of this pope and discusses the harm he has done or has allowed to have happened not only to the Church but to Western civilization. McCauley uncovers countless faults many Catholic leaders have overlooked, including: - Pope John Paul II's failure to enforce discipline in the Church, especially against widespread sexual abuse by priests; - his statements alleging and implying universal salvation; - the destabilization of marriage caused by his theology of the body; - the conflicting messages that confuse the Church's position on capital punishment; - his stance on the nature of the Church as a result of Vatican II. This exploration of recent Catholic history studies the ideas, writings, and policies of Pope John Paul II, from his life a young priest to his final days as pope, and examines their compatibility with traditional Catholic doctrine and practice. Crossing the Threshold of Confusion presents a case against the canonization of Pope John Paul II and demonstrates how his record warrants condemnation.

Voytilla takes the mythic structure developed by Christopher Vogler in "The Writer's Journey" and applies this idea to 50 classic motion pictures. 100 original carts with mythic icons.

A big house, fancy cars, and money in the bank seldom lead to a fulfilling life, a life true to one's potential and essential nature. Ordinary life can be a prison, but it doesn't have to be that way. In this updated edition of The Craft of the Warrior, author Robert Spencer asserts that a new myth is emerging—one that guides people to a life of conscious living, where they escape the rat race and forge a new destiny based on real choice. The warrior's way leads from compulsion to freedom, from boredom to adventure, and from darkness to awareness. Synthesizing the works of Carlos Castaneda, Dan Millman, G.I. Gurdjieff, and Chogyam Trungpa, and combining personal growth processes including the Feldenkrais Method and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Spencer opens the gate to anyone with enough spunk to enter this way of life. "The amount of free will we have is directly proportional to the degree of freedom we have from our compulsions," writes Spencer. "Getting that freedom is the task of the warrior's life."

June 16, 2004, was the one hundredth anniversary of Bloomsday, the day that James Joyce's novel Ulysses takes place. To celebrate the occasion, thousands took to the streets in Dublin, following in the footsteps of protagonist Leopold Bloom. The event also was marked by the Bloomsday 100 Symposium, where world-renowned scholars discussed Joyce's seminal work. This volume contains the best, most provocative readings of Ulysses presented at the conference. The contributors to this volume urge a close engagement with the novel. They offer readings that focus variously on the materialist, historical, and political dimensions of Ulysses. The diversity of topics covered include nineteenth-century psychology, military history, Catholic theology, the influence of early film and music hall songs on Joyce, the post-Ulysses evolution of the one-day novel, and the challenge of discussing such a complex work amongst the sea of extant criticism.

This book proposes a model of reading called hyperobject reading that bridges the Anthropocene scale variance between humans and humanity by focusing on the large-scale problems and phenomena themselves. Hyperobject reading draws on narratology and reader-response theory, as well as newer developments such as the postcritical turn and object-oriented ontology. The theoretical introduction sets out the building blocks of hyperobject reading. Chapter 2 intervenes in critical disability studies and debates about the ecosomatic paradigm; Chapter 3 intervenes in debates about technological evolution, analogue vs. digital subjectivity, and affect theory; and Chapter 4 intervenes in debates about autofiction, contemporary metafiction, and the position and role of the narrator in first-person narratives where the narrator and protagonist can be distinguished. The analytical conclusion sketches the conceptual anatomy of the hyperobject and three possible responses. No part of the Earth today is free from human influence, but literary success suggests effective real-world strategies.

From the author of the bestselling Anam Cara comes a beautiful collection of blessings to help readers through both the everyday and the extraordinary events of their lives. John O’Donohue, Irish teacher and poet, has been widely praised for his gift of drawing on Celtic spiritual traditions to create words of inspiration and wisdom for today. In To Bless the Space Between Us, his compelling blend of elegant, poetic language and spiritual insight offers readers comfort and encouragement on their journeys through life. O’Donohue looks at life’s thresholds—getting married, having children, starting a new job—and offers invaluable guidelines for making the transition from a known, familiar world into a new, unmapped territory. Most profoundly, however, O’Donohue explains “blessing” as a way of life, as a lens through which the whole world is transformed. O’Donohue awakens readers to timeless truths and shows the power they have to answer contemporary dilemmas and ease us through periods of change.