The Sacred Calling

Women have been rabbis for over forty years. No longer are women rabbis a unique phenomenon, rather they are part of the fabric of Jewish life. In this anthology, rabbis and scholars from across the Jewish world reflect back on the historic significance of women in the rabbinate and explore issues related to both the professional and personal lives of women rabbis. This collection examines the ways in which the reality of women in the rabbinate has impacted on all aspects of Jewish life, including congregational culture, liturgical development, life cycle ritual, the Jewish healing movement, spirituality, theology, and more.

Increasingly, counselors are practicing spiritual or complementary interventions. In balance, how counselors use such interventions is under closer examination by law. This effort to protect clients is embedded in ethical and legal principles, but rarely addressed in the mental health literature. This book will fill that gap by offering a clear understanding of the context of the law. Detailed case studies are given in each chapter as a centerpiece to the understanding, interpretation, and application of the laws. The author, with his unique qualifications in legal and spiritual areas, pays critical attention to the issues of culture throughout this resource that includes handy appendices of a legal glossary, abbreviations, literature review, and an exercise on how to find the law.

"Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I may know thee." —Augustine Much is said in Christian circles about knowing God. But Christians throughout the ages have agreed that there cannot be deep knowledge of God without deep knowledge of the self. Discerning your true self is inextricably related to discerning God's purposes for you. Paradoxically, the more you become like Christ, the more you become authentically yourself. In this profound exploration of Christian identity, psychologist and spiritual director David G. Benner illuminates the spirituality of self-discovery. He exposes the false selves that you may hide behind and calls you to discover the true self that emerges from your uniqueness in Christ. Freeing you from illusions about yourself, Benner shows that self-understanding leads to the fulfillment of your God-given destiny and vocation. Rest assured, you need not try to be someone you are not. But you will deepen your experience of God through discovering the gift of being yourself. This expanded edition, one of three titles in The Spiritual Journey trilogy, includes a new epilogue and an experiential guide with questions for individual reflection or group discussion.

Our current ecological derangement is not only a biological crisis but more deeply a crisis of consciousness, culture, and relationship. The core ethical responsibility of our contemporary era, therefore, and the aspiration of this ecopsychological/ecospiritual book, is to create a mutually enhancing relationship between humankind and the rest of nature. To address the urgent concerns of global warming, mass extinction, toxic environments, and our loss of conscious contact with the natural world, psychologist Will W. Adams weaves together insights from Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and the practice of psychotherapy. Through a transpersonal, nondual, contemplative approach, Adams explores the fundamental malady of supposed separation (or dissociation): mind over body, self over others, my tribe over others', humans over the rest of nature. Instead of merely discussing these crucial issues in abstract terms, the book presents healing alternatives through storytelling, poetry, and theoretical inquiry. Written in an engaging, down-to-earth manner grounded in vivid descriptions of actual lived experience, A Wild and Sacred Call speaks across disciplines to students, experts, and nonspecialists alike.

Presented by the leading spiritual direction program in the U.S., this handbook addresses how spiritual direction leaders can present key topics in a spiritual direction program. It also provides wise guidance for individual seekers. Topics include contemplative listening, discernment, the wisdom of the body, ethics, male and female perspectives, sexuality, prayer and others. Each contribution features reflection questions and suggestions for further reading

The education of children and youth in general is an immense undertaking with personal, local, regional, and even international implications for the present and the future. While the United States' public education is based on non-sectarian, liberal, democratic values, the current challenges to public education's vision and purposes are many, and, in our current cultural milieus, they originate from multiple interacting factors. While building upon what seems to be a religious term--"sacred calling"--this "primer" (1) examines diverse contexts and directions which influence the endeavor of public education (negatively and positively); and (2) attempts to encourage and inspire the efforts of educators and citizens alike for the common good. These pages are intended for a wide audience which includes, for example, classroom educators, school administrators, school board members, parents, community groups with religious associations, civic associations which are not religious, etc. As citizen stakeholders, we all can be "coached up" through this book's balanced assessment of basic and secondary issues, which often are either forgotten, disregarded, twisted, or taken for granted.