The Trace Of God

Derrida’s writings on the question of religion have played a crucial role in the transformation of scholarly debate across the globe. The Trace of God provides a compact introduction to this debate. It considers Derrida’s fraught relationship to Judaism and his Jewish identity, broaches the question of Derrida's relation to the Western Christian tradition, and examines both the points of contact and the silences in Derrida's treatment of Islam.

Joseph Hinman develops the notion that belief in God, while not absolutely provable, is rationally warranted and that the experience is life-transforming and vital. He utilizes a body of empirical scientific studies that go back fifty years and draws upon sociological experts including Abraham Maslow, Robert Wuthnow, and Andrew Greeley. The huge body of work includes many important advances in this scientific work (such as the M scale) this allow for carefully study of mystical experience and offers a range of evidence that warrants belief. Arguments for God based upon personal religious experience have always been considered weak by both apologists and skeptics. This has been the case due to prejudices and misconceptions about the nature of religious experiences... A vast body of data demonstrates that religious experiences, what some call "mystical" and others refer to as "peak," have positive, long term effects so dramatic it can only be described as "transformative..". Religious experience is the effect of God has upon the human heart, thus, the Trace of God. Hinman establishes that the Trace of God and religious experience -far from being caused by or related to mental or emotional instability- has an impact that is not just positive and life-transforming but vital: that belief in God is rationally warranted.

Twelve essays on the work of one of the great thinkers of twentieth-century Europe. The Face of the Other and the Trace of God contain essays on the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, and how his philosophy intersects with that of other philosophers, particularly Husserl, Kierkegaard, Sartre, and Derrida. Edited by Jeffrey Bloechl, Levinas scholar and specialist in the philosophy of religion and contemporary European philosophy, and broadly divided into two parts—relations with the other, and the questions of God—this collection includes contributions by Bloechl, Didier Franck, John D. Caputo, Rudi Visker, Rudolf Bernet, Jean-Luc Marion, Merold Westphal, Adriaan T. Peperzak, Roger Burggraeve, Michael Newman, Robert Bernasconi, and Paul Moyaert.

~Don't forget the Track and Trace Journal, also available on Amazon!Have you ever felt that your prayers were like shipping packages that are lost in the mail? You pray, wondering if your petitions reach their destination. Each day you wake with a hint of excitement- confident that today will be the day you receive an answer. But your patience grows thin as the day ends with another unanswered prayer. You begin to ask yourself, "Am I praying correctly?" and even wonder if God really exists. TRACK AND TRACE GOD chronicles my reflective journey to understand and deepen my unestablished relationship with God. Asking myself five questions- Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How- helped me establish a transparent, more profound connection with God. I discovered what happened to those prayer packages; they were never lost. Perhaps you too will find yours are not lost at all.This book outlines the effective prayer tracking tool I use for my prayers- those "packages" sent to God. As you begin to embrace journaling, it will become the database for storing your visions, hopes, dreams, direction, and, most importantly, confirmations of answered prayers. Journaling will allow you to track all of your shipments to God and pull the delivery status information as He responds to every one of your prayers. Be prepared to draw closer to God in faith by believing that He will perform every promise and by knowing that your prayer of expectation will move you closer into His presence.

Study Six Major Bible Themes with Free Companion Videos Dozens of major themes run throughout the Bible, each one pointing to Jesus in its own unique way. Discover the intriguing story contained within six of these themes as you watch them unfold from Genesis to Revelation. Trace the Themes is a free Bible study guide that includes thought-provoking discussion questions and links to companion videos that help set the stage for studying each of the six topics covered. The Word of God The Presence of God The People of God Redemption Holiness Mission Trace the Themes is perfect for small groups, family devotions, and individual study. Spence Shelton is the Lead Pastor of Mercy Church in Charlotte, NC. Spence believes God has called Mercy Church to be a part of seeing a gospel awakening in Charlotte that gets carried to the ends of the earth. Spence has authored numerous small group studies including co-authoring The Meaning of Marriage small group study with Tim & Kathy Keller. Prior to planting Mercy Church in 2015, Spence served as a pastor at the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC.

Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) emerged as an influential philosophical voice in the final decades of the twentieth century, and his reputation has continued to flourish and increase in our own day. His central themes--the primacy of the ethical and the core of ethics as our responsibility to and for others--speak to readers from a host of disciplines and perspectives. However, his writings and thought are challenging and difficult. The Oxford Handbook of Levinas contains essays that aim to clarify and engage Levinas and his writings in a number of ways. Some focus on central themes of his work, others on the ways in which he read and was influenced by figures from Plato, Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant to Blanchot, Husserl, Heidegger, and Derrida. And there are essays on how his thinking has been appropriated in moral and political thought, psychology, film criticism, and more, and on the relation between his thinking and religious themes and traditions. Finally, several essays deal primarily with how readers have criticized him and found him wanting. The volume exposes and explores both the depth of Levinas's philosophical work and the range of applications to which it has been put, with special attention to clarifying why his interests in the human condition, the crisis of civilization, the centrality and character of ethics and morality, and the very meaning of human experience should be of interest to the widest range of readers.

From the bestselling author of A History of God and The Great Transformation comes a balanced, nuanced understanding of the role religion plays in human life and the trajectory of faith in modern times. Why has God become incredible? Why is it that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God in a way that veers so profoundly from the thinking of our ancestors? Moving from the Paleolithic Age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the lengths to which humankind has gone to experience a sacred reality that it called God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. She examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. With her trademark depth of knowledge and profound insight, Armstrong elucidates how the changing world has necessarily altered the importance of religion at both societal and individual levels. And she makes a powerful, convincing argument for structuring a faith that speaks to the needs of our dangerously polarized age.

Trace the path of Joseph's life in the Book of Genesis to observe how God's sovereignty reigns, even in our darkest moments. Learn to recognize when God is working during periods of waiting, trust God's plan when life doesn't make sense, and rest in the sufficiency of His presence in every circumstance. His provision is enough, His presence is constant, and His purpose is unstoppable. (8 sessions) Features: Leader helps to guide questions and discussions within small groups Personal study segments to complete between 8 weeks of group sessions Teaching videos, approximately 35 minutes per session, available for purchase or rent Benefits: Place your hope in the God who is with you. Learn to trust God's purposes when life doesn't make sense. Recognize how God is working in your waiting. Rest in the sufficiency of God's presence in every circumstance.