検索キーワード： 著者 "Popular Culture and Religion." すべてのカテゴリー

A Confession by Leo Tolstoy. Leo Tolstoy's "A Confession," written in 1882 shortly after a life-altering spiritual crisis, is a brutally sincere reflection on life, morality, and the nature of faith. Tolstoy describes in great detail the process by which he lost his faith in established Christian churches, the meaninglessness of wealth and fame, the agony of acute depression, and how he overcame misery and dread through personal study of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Along the way, he contrasts the artificial faith and arrogance of educated people with the genuine faith and humility of the ...

The Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche. A work of Nietzsche's later years, The Antichrist was written after Thus Spoke Zarathustra and shortly before the mental collapse that incapacitated him for the rest of his life. The work is both an unrestrained attack on Christianity and a further exposition of Nietzsche's will-to-power philosophy so dramatically presented in Zarathustra.Christianity, says Nietzsche, represents "everything weak, low, and botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism towards all the self-preservative instincts of strong life." By contrast, Nietzsche defines good as: "...

Candide by Voltaire. Candide, by Voltaire, is a satirical novella published in 1759 that critiques philosophical optimism, particularly the idea that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds". The story follows the naive protagonist, Candide, as he endures a series of horrific and absurd misfortunes, leading him to reject his tutor Pangloss's optimistic teachings and ultimately conclude that the key to happiness is to "cultivate one's garden". It is a sharp, witty, and often dark satire of religion, government, philosophy, and human nature.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. The Imitation of Christ is widely considered one of the greatest manuals of devotion in Christianity. The life of Christ is presented as the highest study possible to a mortal, as Jesus’ teachings far excel all the teachings of the saints. The book gives counsel to read the scriptures, statements about the uses of adversity, advice for submission to authority, warnings against temptation and how to resist it, reflections about death and the judgment, meditations upon the oblation of Christ, and admonitions to flee the vanities of the world.

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells. In 1896 HG Wells produced the Island of Doctor Moreau. After a fateful shipwreck, a chance rescue, and offer of safe harbor, Edward Prendick must contend with a dark science. A man of science, Prendick must wrestle with the ethics of its passions. His inner struggle is illuminated by the island's outward horrors. Central to the themes are ethics, principles, and the extent of human compassion. This science fiction icon argues the true question of science: Could the cure be more dangerous than the disease?

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence was born Nicholas Herman around 1610 in Herimenil, Lorraine, a Duchy of France. His birth records were destroyed in a fire at his parish church during the Thirty Years War, a war in which he fought as a young soldier. It was also the war in which he sustained a near fatal injury to his sciatic nerve. The injury left him quite crippled and in chronic pain for the rest of his life. The details of his early life are few and sketchy. However, we know he was educated both at home and by his parish priest whose first name ...

Buddhist Writings by Various Authors. An anthology of Buddhist scriptures, appropriate as an introduction to its vast literature, or as a sampler for those who want to better understand Buddhism. The selections in this anthology are primarily from the Theravada school of Buddhism.

''Tell It All'': The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism by Fanny Stenhouse. Fanny relates the experiences of a 19th century missionary as she and her young husband proselytize throughout Europe in search of converts to the new Mormon faith. Her religious zeal is sorely tested upon receipt of news from America revealing that their religion has adopted the practice of polygamy as the means to exaltation. The couple is summoned to Utah only to find themselves firmly ensconced in Brigham Young's inner circle and called upon to practice plural marriage or risk a fall from family, friends, ...

Ancient Rome (753 B.C.E. – 476 C.E.) evolved from a small Italian village into a massive Mediterranean empire, structured into three main eras: Kingdom, Republic, and Empire. Known for its engineering, military prowess, and legal systems, it transitioned from a monarchy to a republic, then to an empire under Augustus. The Western Empire fell in 476 C.E. due to instability, but left a lasting legacy on Western law, language, and culture.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue of this magazine. Wilde later revised this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters; the amended version was published by Ward, Lock, and Company in April 1891. The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty ...

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland. Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749) was the first widely-read English novel in the genre “Erotica.” It was written by John Cleland as he was serving hard time at a debtor’s prison in London. Over the centuries, the novel has been repeatedly banned by authorities, assuring its preeminent role in the history of the ongoing struggle against censorship of free expression. Until Fanny Hill, previous heroines had conducted their amorous liaisons “off-stage.” Any erotic misadventures were described euphemistically...

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Amory Blaine grew up in a wealthy family and was given an Ivy League education. Without a need to learn a profession, he chiefly dabbled in literature and partying. His school chums were of similar background, and the ideas they reflected to each other grew in their minds to be of the greatest importance. Amory began to think of himself as somewhat of a character in a Rupert Brooke poem (from which the book's title is taken). World War I intervened in this happy fog and brought focus to some, doubt to others. In the rapidly changing ...

The Tao Teh King by Lao Tzu. Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King illuminates The Tao: a guiding principle of the universe and all within it. By exploring the nature of dualities and complements, Lao-Tze dissects strength and weakness; presence and absence; life and death. The Tao Teh King has served as a foundation for centuries of philosophy and wisdom.

The Dhammapada by Unknown. The Dhammapada is is a Buddhist scripture, containing 423 verses in 26 categories. According to tradition, these are verses spoken by the Buddha on various occasions, most of which deal with ethics. It is is considered one of the most important pieces of Theravada literature. Despite this, the Dhammapada is read by many Mahayana Buddhists and remains a very popular text across all schools of Buddhism.

Humility: The Beauty of Holiness by Andrew Murray. A book on the all importance of humility, how Jesus was humble, and how we also can become humble. Murray wrote "Without humility, there can be no true abiding in God's presence or experience of His favor and the power of His spirit. Without it there can be no abiding faith or love or joy or strength."

Apology of Socrates by Plato. Plato's Apology is not a novel, but a Socratic dialogue recounting Socrates' defense speech at his trial in 399 BC, where he was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth. The title comes from the Greek apologia, meaning a speech in defense, not an admission of guilt, as Socrates defends his life's work of questioning Athenians and seeking truth, famously claiming his wisdom comes from knowing he knows nothing. It's a foundational text in philosophy, portraying Socrates as a "gadfly" challenging the status quo, and is one of four dialogues (with Euthyphro, ...

What I Believe by Leo Tolstoy. "The inner working of my soul, which I wish to speak of here, was not the result of a methodical investigation of doctrinal theology, or of the actual texts of the gospel; it was a sudden removal of all that hid the true meaning of the Christian doctrine – a momentary flash of light, which made everything clear to me. It was something like that which might happen to a man who, after vainly attempting, by a false plan, to build up a statue out of a confused heap of small pieces of marble, suddenly guesses at the figure they are intended to form by the shape of...

Greenmantle by John Buchan. Greenmantle is the second of five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan, first published in 1916 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. It is one of two Hannay novels set during the First World War, the other being Mr Standfast (1919); Hannay's first and best-known adventure, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), is set in the period immediately before the war started. - Hannay is called in to investigate rumours of an uprising in the Muslim world, and undertakes a perilous journey through enemy territory to meet up with his friend Sandy in Constantinople. Once there, he and his ...

What I Believe by Bertrand Russell. Provides a brief indication of the beliefs of philosopher Bertrand Russell, focusing on his hopes for the future. The topics included are: nature and man, the good life, moral rules, individual and social salvation, and science and happiness.

The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In this third installment of the adventures of John Carter on Mars, our hero labors under sentence of death (for having returned from the land of the dead) in a heroic struggle to recover the beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. He scours the planet from pole to pole, enduring imprisonment and torture, outwitting antagonists, reveling in carnage, accepting aid from unlikely sources, and dealing tactfully with women who love him despite his devotion to his wife. Having deprived an entire planet of its false religion, he offers in its place ...