Early evening, a young boy alone on his pony on the rim of the Nebraska Sandhills. Three darkening thunderclouds rising higher and higher on the horizon. An electric atmosphere, a quickening, light cooling breeze. A slight shiver and the boy wonders, "Am I being pursued by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost?" These sudden, unbidden, unexpected, strange experiences. We all have them. What are they? Mere plucking on the emotional strings of our material selves? Or do they have a deeper meaning? Do they signal the Presence of something other, maybe some Other, maybe some one Other, some thing or some one, above, below, beyond our normal waking consciousness? James W. Sire has studied a massive number of these accounts. He pairs them with his own experiences and turns to scientists, philosophers, and theologians for explanation. These experiences, he concludes, are signals of transcendence or what N. T. Wright calls echoes of a voice--"the voice of Jesus, calling us to follow him into God's new world." This book is an account of the author's journey to this conclusion.

In A Still, Small Voice, famed psychic Echo Bodine turns to a subject she knows deeply and is passionate about: intuition. Using humorous anecdotes and a positive, readable style, this sequel to Echoes of the Soul explores what intuition is, where it's located, what it sounds like, and how to cultivate it. The author, who comes from a family of psychics, exposes the various internalized voices that can mask one's intuition. These include the voices of parents, grandparents, peers, therapists, significant others, religious figures, and society, along with emotions such as anger, fear, guilt, and despair. The book challenges the cliche that psychic abilities and intuition are the same, or that they are evil. One chapter is devoted to the many practical benefits that come from listening to intuition; another looks at the "faith-building times" in life and how to cope with others' negative reactions to setting off on the spiritual path.

This book deals with profound experiences -emotional, intellectual, highly charged, usually sudden, unannounced, often odd, some weird, others glorious. Do these experiences mean anything? Are we puzzling over questions we can't answer no matter how long we try? Is that puzzling itself meaningful? If so, is that meaning significant? Are these experiences actually signals that there is something more than to human life-our human life, my life-perhaps something transcendent? The book ends with a discussion of the need for an apologetic that includes a wide range of biblical revelation--not just religious experience, but historical and scientific evidence and rational arguments involving both a positive case and a negative refutation of objections.

Why is justice fair? Why are so many people pursuing spirituality? Why do we crave relationship? And why is beauty so beautiful? N. T. Wright argues that each of these questions takes us into the mystery of who God is and what he wants from us. For two thousand years Christianity has claimed to answer these mysteries, and this renowned biblical scholar and Anglican bishop shows that it still does today. Like C. S. Lewis did in his classic Mere Christianity, Wright makes the case for Christian faith from the ground up, assuming that the reader is starting from ground zero with no predisposition to and perhaps even some negativity toward religion in general and Christianity in particular. His goal is to describe Christianity in as simple and accessible, yet hopefully attractive and exciting, a way as possible, both to say to outsides ÔYou might want to look at this further,Ö and to say to insiders ÔYou may not have quite understood this bit clearly yet.Ö

“Every time we raise our voices, we hear echoes.” Jo-Anne Elder, from the Foreword Through short stories, journal entries and poetry, the women in Voices and Echoes explore the changing landscape of their spiritual lives. Experienced writers such as Lorna Crozier, Di Brandt and Ann Copeland, as well as strong new voices, appear to speak to each other as they draw from a wealth of personal resources to find a way to face life’s questions and discover meaning in their lives. There is something familiar about these stories and poems — they echo those we’ve heard before and those we’ve half forgotten. Whether they search for a voice in a world where men monopolize or journey into painful memories to free the self from the past, they do not despair, they do not end. Individual entries become the whole story — an unending story of rebirth and reaffirmation. The book begins with an illuminating foreword that introduces readers to the cultural and philosophical background of many of the stories, and concludes with the reflections of scholars, writers and artists that are intended to provoke further discussion.

Publisher description: Is it still possible, in an age of religious and cultural pluralism, to engage in Christian apologetics? How can one urge one's faith on others when such a gesture is typically regarded with suspicion, if not outright resentment? In Humble Apologetics John G. Stackhouse brings his wide experience as a historian, philosopher, journalist, and theologian to these important questions and offers surprising--and reassuring--answers. Stackhouse begins by acknowledging the real impediments to Christian testimony in North America today and to other faiths in modern societies around the world. He shows how pluralism, postmodernism, skepticism about our ability to know the truth, and a host of other factors create a cultural milieu resistant to the Christian message. And he shows how the arrogance or dogmatism of apologists themselves can alienate rather than attract potential converts. Indeed, Stackhouse argues that the crucial experience of conversion cannot be compelled; all the apologist can do is lead another to the point where an actual encounter with Jesus can take place. "Our objective," Stackhouse writes, "is to offer whatever assistance we can to our neighbors toward their full maturity: toward full health in themselves and in their relationships, and especially toward God." In the last part of the book, he shows how an attitude of humility, instead of merely trying to win religious arguments, will help believers offer their neighbors the gift of Christ's love. Drawing on the author's personal experience and written with an engaging directness and humility, Humble Apologetics provides sound guidance on how to share Christian faith in a postmodern world.