This collection of essays presents a systematic analysis of some of the foremost issues in the philosophy of religion. The focus is on the epistemology of religion, the most significant area of recent interest in the field. After developing a religious epistemology in the first half of the book, that epistemology is both further expanded, and explicitly applied to salient issues in the contemporary discussion. The central question throughout the essays is how our world-views affect our perception, especially our perception of God. The first essays set out a general epistemology of perception. The next two sets of essays build upon this in assessing the cognitive value of religious experience, and analyzing the proper epistemic foundations for belief in God. Then, in view of the role of faith developed in those essays, the final essays address the dual challenges to traditional theism of theological non-realism and of religious pluralism.

In Perceiving God, William P. Alston offers a clear and provocative account of the epistemology of religious experience. He argues that the "perception of God"—his term for direct experiential awareness of God—makes a major contribution to the grounds of religious belief. Surveying the variety of reported direct experiences of God among laypersons and famous mystics, Alston demonstrates that a person can be justified in holding certain beliefs about God on the basis of mystical experience. Through the perception that God is sustaining one in being, for example, one can justifiably believe that God is indeed sustaining one in being. Alston offers a detailed discussion of our grounds for taking sense perception and other sources of belief—including introspection, memory, and mystical experience—to be reliable and to confer justification. He then uses this epistemic framework to explain how our perceptual beliefs about God can be justified. Alston carefully addresses objections to his chief claims, including problems posed by non-Christian religious traditions. He also examines the way in which mystical perception fits into the larger picture of grounds for religious belief. Suggesting that religious experience, rather than being a purely subjective phenomenon, has real cognitive value, Perceiving God will spark intense debate and will be indispensable reading for those interested in philosophy of religion, epistemology, and philosophy of mind, as well as for theologians.

The Business of Wanting More: Why Some Executives Move from Success to Fulfillment and Others Dont is written for business professionals and anyone impacted by a culture of seeking more and more success without feeling a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. The Business of Wanting More contains the astonishing confessions of a serial entrepreneur and a CEO of one of the fastest-growing telecom companies in the world. He thought he had it all, except for that nagging feeling of...wanting more. This book also contains the highly acclaimed Q7 Process, created by Gast to coach executives to previously unimaginable levels of success and happiness. In The Business of Wanting More, readers will get recharged and refreshed as they learn to: Integrate Their Leadership with a Whole-Life View, Tap Unused Skills to Play a Bigger Game, Respond to High-Stress Situations and Generate Powerful Results. Create a Road Map to Success and Fulfillment, Get MORE of What They (Really) Want!

This is a book about the primacy and centrality of God and his unsurpassable presence, and what this means for the Church. The presence of God is the core, the sine qua non, of mere Christianity. Gods presence is what is needed to win the day over the present powers of darkness. This book shows what it means for a church to be presence-driven, and what leadership looks like in the presence-driven church.

God is not a bigger version of your earthly father. When you hear the word “father,” do you think of someone who is loving…or angry? Someone who is pleased with you…or constantly disappointed? Someone who is always available…or someone who is too busy, preoccupied, or distant? When you think of “Father God,” what images come to mind? Regardless of the type of father you grew up with—or without—it is likely that your view of God is influenced by the relationship you had with your father. Author John Bishop wants to help you discover that God is not just like your dad. Instead, God is the Father revealed in Scripture, where the truth is clear. God is a father who is: • always there • up close and personal • fully pleased • in complete control • completely safe Filled with biblical insight and practical tools for reflection, healing, and restoration, God Distorted will enable you to break free from the lies of the enemy and see your heavenly Father as He truly is.

Why is God's beauty often absent from our theology? Rarely do theologians take up the theme of God's beauty—even more rarely do they consider how God's beauty should shape the task of theology itself. But the psalmist says that the heart of the believer's desire is to behold the beauty of the Lord. In The Beauty of the Lord, Jonathan King restores aesthetics as not merely a valid lens for theological reflection, but an essential one. Jesus, our incarnate Redeemer, displays the Triune God's beauty in his actions and person, from creation to final consummation. How can and should theology better reflect this unveiled beauty? The Beauty of the Lord is a renewal of a truly aesthetic theology and a properly theological aesthetics.

Status quo Christianity has failed. The Rogue Christian provides an in depth look at where we are today, why the church has lost its salt, and what we should do about it.