Critical Acclaim for The Roots of Transcendence... From the Scholars: "This is a powerful book.... A true picture of the cross-fertilization of human history and culture....A major book, one of the signposts of the time." -Molefi Kete Asante, PhD, Chairman, Department of African-American Studies, Temple University; Author, Afroocentricity, and Rhythms Unity From the Psychiatrists: "A PIONEERING TEXT in Transego Psychology. The author envisions the next step in the development of human psychology. He raises the 'new' question that the self is not localized in the mind but is 'non-local, ' a field of interconnected relations.... A valuable model is presented to define psychopathological diagnostic issues and therapeutic treatment issues. Truly wonderful." -Richard D. King, MD, From the Preface; Author, African Origin of Biological Psychiatry From the Consciousness Researchers: "A daring leap involving new conceptual models.... Discusses the anxieties and stresses of our time while IT PROVIDES READERS THE TOOLS BY WHICH ANXIETIES AND STRESSES CAN BE ADDRESSED." -Stanley Krippner, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies; Author, Dreamtime and Dreamwork, and Your Personal Mythology "A mighty synthesis of knowledge and feeling, science and poetry, clinical observation and spiritual insight... which SPEAKS POWERFULLY TO LAY AND PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE ALIKE.... An important contribution to our understanding of the mind and its operation in the world." -John White, MAT, Author, Future Science, and Kundalini, Evolution and Enlightenment Here is the epic adventure of the rise and unfolding of human consciousness from its earliest days millennia ago, on through the first civilizations and down to contemporary times. The mythic Mitochondrial DNA, "mother of humanity," of 10,000 generations ago is used to personalize this journey for readers, a journey seen to be an integral part of each of us. This includes not only her shared African gene pool but also the neuro-biologically interwoven evolutionary impulse. How different personalities deal with this intelligent and luminous current is the primary thrust of this groundbreaking book that readers will find of extraordinary value in the exploration of human consciousness. Edward Bruce Bynum, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, family therapist, and Director of the Behavioral Medicine and Biofeedback Clinic, University of Massachusetts Health Services. He is the author of The Family Unconscious and Families and the Interpretation of Dreams. He has published widely in both popular and professional journals. Some of his work has been translated into German, Japanese and Russian. He is a student and a practitioner of Kundalini Yoga.

This innovative collection examines the transnational movements, effects, and transformations of religion in the contemporary world, offering a fresh perspective on the interrelation between globalization and religion. Transnational Transcendence challenges some widely accepted ideas about this relationship—in particular, that globalization can be understood solely as an economic phenomenon and that its religious manifestations are secondary. The book points out that religion's role remains understudied and undertheorized as an element in debates about globalization, and it raises questions about how and why certain forms of religious practice and intersubjectivity succeed as they cross national and cultural boundaries. Framed by Thomas J. Csordas's introduction, this timely volume both urges further development of a theory of religion and globalization and constitutes an important step toward that theory.

Drawing on medieval Chinese poetry, fiction, and religious scriptures, this book illuminates the greatest goddess of Taoism and her place in Chinese society.

Transhumanism is an international movement that advocates the use of science and technology to overcome the "natural" limitations experienced by humanity through such developments as: the Singularity--the creation of machine intelligences that exceed the capacities of our biological brains the ability to replicate individual minds and put them into solidstate bodies or virtual environments individual control over mental and emotional states for enhancing functionalities and/or ecstasies Some of this is happening now. Some of it is still in the minds of dreamers. In nearly ninety AZ entries, Transcendence provides a multilayered look at the accelerating advances in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, genomics, information technology, nanotechnology, neuroscience, space exploration, synthetic biology, robotics, and virtual worlds that are making transhumanism a reality. Entries range from Cloning and Cyborg Feminism to Designer Babies and MemoryEditing Drugs. In addition, the book notes historical predecessors and personalities, both in mythology and history--ranging from Timothy Leary to Michael Jackson to Ray Kurzweil. It also introduces the culture around Transhumanism, covering all the geeky obsessions of the Transhumanist movement.

In The Roots of Pope Francis’s Social and Political Thought Thomas R. Rourke traces the development of Pope Francis’s thinking from his time as a Jesuit provincial through today. Meticulously researched, the book draws on decades of previously untranslated writings from Father Jorge Bergoglio, SJ, who went on to become archbishop and cardinal; this volume also references his recent writings as pope. The book explores the deepest roots of Pope Francis’s thinking, beginning with the experience of the Jesuit missions in Argentina (1500s – 1700s), showing how both the success and tragedy of the missions profoundly formed his social and political views. Subsequent chapters explore influences from the Second Vatican Council through today regarding culture, politics, and economics. In Pope Francis’s understanding, there is a perpetual tension between the attempts to redeem the social order through the Gospel and the never-ending attempts to dominate peoples and their lands through a variety of imperial projects that come from the powerful. What emerges is a profoundly Christian approach to the social, political, and economic problems of our time. The Pope is portrayed as an original thinker, independent of ideological currents, rooted in the Gospels and the tradition of Catholic social thought. In a time of division and violence, the writings of Pope Francis often point to the path of peace and justice.

Although Morgenthau, primarily known for his works on international relations such as Politics Among Nations (1948) and In Defense of the National Interest (1951), has been seen as a one-dimensional advocate of pure Realpolitik, Mollov (political science, Bar-Ilan U., Israel) argues that themes of transcendence are very important to his work and seeks to explore those aspects of his political thought that have been influenced by his background as a German Jewish emigre from Nazi Germany. After identifying the Jewish aspect of Morgenthau's work, Mollov uses these elements to attempt to define a Jewish approach to international politics, presumably of primary relevance for the state of Israel. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In this volume, an interdisciplinary group of scholars uses history, sociology, anthropology, and semiotics to approach Transcendence as a human phenomenon, and shows the unavoidability of thinking with and through the Beyond. Religious experience has often been defined as an encounter with a transcendent God. Yet humans arguably have always tried to get outside or beyond themselves and society. The drive to exceed some limit or condition of finitude is an eduring aspect of culture, even in a "disenchanted" society that may have cut off most paths of access to the Beyond. The contributors to this volume demonstrate the humanity of Transcendence in various ways: as an effort to get beyond our crass physical materiality; as spiritual entrepreneurship; as the ecstasy of rituals of possession; and as a literary, aesthetic, and semiotic event. These efforts build from a shared conviction that Transcendene is thoroughly human, and accordingly avoid purely confessional and parochial approches while taking seriously the various claims and behavioral expressions of traditions in which Transcendence has been understood in theological terms.