STUDENT TEXTS & READING LIST
New Seminary Student Texts | Sacred Texts
FIRST YEAR TEXT BOOKS
The World’s Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions
by Huston Smith
With a new preface and fresh package, this completely revised and updated version of The Religions of Man explores the essential elements and teachings of the world’s predominant faiths, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and the native traditions of the Americas, Australia, Africa, and Oceania. Smith emphasises the inner – rather than institutional – dimensions of these religions and gives special attention to Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Sufism, and the teachings of Jesus. He convincingly conveys the unique appeal and gifts of each of the traditions and reveals their hold on the human heart and imagination.
The World’s Wisdom
by Philip Novak
This is a compendium of sacred texts of the religions of the world, written as a companion for Huston Smith’s classic The Religions of Man. Chapters cover Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Primal religions (e.g., Native American, African, etc.). The book whets the appetite of the student by offering tidbits from the New Testament, Tao Te Ching, Qur’an, Hebrew Bible, etc., in small, tasty portions, easily consumed. When Novak’s book is used jointly with Huston’s, it will serve as a good text and supplementary reader for any beginning student of religious studies.
The Ten Challenges: Spiritual Lessons from the Ten Commandments for Creating Meaning, Growth, and Richness Every Day of Your Life
by New Seminary Spiritual Advisor, Leonard Felder, Ph.D.
In a book that will appeal to readers of M. Scott Peck and Thomas Moore, a bestselling psychologist and author interprets the Ten Commandments in an exciting new psychological and spiritual language that makes them accessible, contemporary principles to live by. Drawing on case histories and religious parables, a psychotherapist explains how to utilize the wisdom of the Ten Commandments as fundamental precepts for the daily control and release of spiritually destructive emotions.
by Victor Daniels and Laurence J. Horowitz
Practical information and skills for better living! Now available from Waveland Press, this highly regarded edition synthesizes the psychological wisdom of such notable writers as Freud, Rogers, Perls, Jung, Skinner, and Reich as it offers readers an approach that involves the systematic development of each part of the personality. Readers of Being and Caring will find ways to move beyond limiting attitudes and assumptions, use inner resources more effectively, make outer relationships more rewarding, and live their lives more consciously than before. Being and Caring speaks directly to the reader s past, present, and future life. Instead of talking about issues, it penetrates to the heart of readers’ concerns about them. Rather than presenting knowledge that is here today but gone after the exam, it provides practical information and skills that can be put to immediate use. Through its exercises, it provides an ongoing workshop in learning to confront dilemmas of existence that every person faces. Being and Caring both informs and demystifies. What others have stated in complicated ways, Daniels and Horowitz say simply and directly. Readers will appreciate the authors warm, personal tone, the clear and sharp writing, and the coherent organization.
SECOND YEAR TEXT BOOKS
How Can I Help?
by Paul Gorman and Ram Dass
Not a day goes by without our being called upon to help one another–at home, at work, on the street, on the phone. . . . We do what we can. Yet so much comes up to complicate this natural response: “Will I have what it takes?” “How much is enough?” “How can I deal with suffering?” “And what really helps, anyway?”
In this practical helper’s companion, the authors explore a path through these confusions, and provide support and inspiration for us in our efforts as members of the helping professions, as volunteers, as community activists, or simply as friends and family trying to meet each other’s needs. Here too are deeply moving personal accounts. From these stories and the authors’ reflections, we can find strength, clarity, and wisdom for those times when we are called on to care for one another. How Can I Help? reminds us just how much we have to give and how doing so can lead to some of the most joyous moments of our lives.
Barefoot on Holy Ground:
12 Lessons in Spiritual Craftsmanship
by New Seminary Spiritual Advisor, Gloria Karpinski
There’s a new breed of spiritual seeker emerging in the world, says author and teacher Gloria Karpinski in Barefoot on Holy Ground. “I call them disciples–awake, aware, committed, and global in their worldview,” she writes. Nonetheless, no matter how spiritually sophisticated we fancy ourselves, we are still works in progress, which is why Karpinski compiled this contemporary guide to spiritual growth. Drawing from numerous traditions, she offers a vast holy ground for the new breed of disciples to walk upon. Holy Ground is comprehensive, with chapters covering spiritual topics such as love, will, faith, and creativity. In every chapter, Karpinski offers minilectures and numerous exercises. When she delves into “shadow work,” Karpinski provides a solid Jungian discussion about facing one’s dark side, listing 21 signs for “Recognizing the Shadow.” The blend of theory and application ultimately serves the reader well.
