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Excerpt: Chapter 1. Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us -- 2. Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word -- 3. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus -- 4. That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed -- 5. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth....

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Enchanting, powerful, horrific, beautiful, wise, deadly, compassionate, seductive. Women in Buddhist story and image are all these things and more. She takes the signs of the ancient goddess – the lotus, the sacred grove, the serpent, the sacrifice – and uses them in astonishing new ways. Her story is one of suffering and great trials, and through it all an unquenchable longing to be free. This beautifully illustrated work is as layered and subversive as mythology itself. Based directly on authentic Buddhist texts, and informed with insights from psychology and comparative mythology, it takes a fresh look at how Buddhist women have been depicted by men and how they have depicted themselves....

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1 The Lady & the Tree 2 A Myth of Origins 3 The Death of the Goddess 4 The Little Stick Collector 5 A Magic Birth 6 How Māyā Became a Goddess 7 She Who Ate the Children 8 The King Sacrificed 9 The Real Māyā 10 Let’s Play 11 Perception, Symbol, Myth 12 On Using Jung 13 The Dhamma of Gender 14 Mythic Fact, Historic Fiction 15 The Other First Bhikkhuni 16 A Buddhist Femme Fatale 17 The Weaving of the Web 18 Fears of the Future 19 The Flood 20 The Serpent 21 The Deepest Taboo 22 How to Kill a Dead Nun 23 A Very Grievous Text 24 The Hero Departs 25 The Hero Wakes 26 The Hero Returns 27 Building the Legend 28 The Wicked Stepmother 29 The Princess & the Dragon 30 The Sacred Stepmother 31 Rescuing the Hero 32 The Hard Twin 33 The Sage & the Golden Maiden 34 The Soft Twin 35 What a Woman Wants 36 The Heroine 37 That Indefinable Yearning 38 The Flowering of the World 39 Her Dreaming 40 Things Hidden Since the Beginning...

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The author has completed his own translation of the Divine Comedy and finds that it is still hard for readers to manage the whole text. He has extracted what he feels is the main spiritual thread and worked with key passages. He has then given the original Italian alongside his translation into English and provided a narrative thread and annotations for clarity. Included in this edition is a talk he gave to the Summer School at the University of Cape Town Summer School on Misunderstanding Dante....

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INFERNO V They enter the second circle, the first of Hell proper, which encloses less space, (che men loco cinghia), than the previous one, but has so much greater pain, (tanto più dolor). Minos, the judge, guards the entrance, examines all the souls who are to enter and indicates to them to which circle they will descend. Cosi discesi del cerchio primaio And so I left the first, and to the second giù nel secondo, che men loco cinghia circle went below, where girth is less, e tanto più dolor, che pugne a guaio. but greater are the howls and moans of woe....

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Misunderstanding Dante Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso

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Mohammad Amin Sheikho Birth: 1890 A.D (1308 A.H) Death: 1964 A.D (1384 A.H) Precept: Interpretation of the Holy Qur’an Early Years Scholar Sheikho was born in al-Ward district in Sarouja Quarter, one of the historical districts of Damascus, in Syria which was called mini-Istanbul during the period of the Ottoman rule. He was raised in an Arab style house situated opposite the famous public al-Ward Bathhouse. This house stands there to the present day. Scholar Sheikho was still young when his father, the merchant Ismael Sheikho, departed this world. Mohammad Saleem, the only and elder brother of Mohammad Amin, was assigned as a director of the Military School during the Ottoman rule. Education At the age of twelve the boy who was to become the great scholar was enrolled at al-Rashidiya School, he then went on to complete his studies in Amber, the Royal Ottoman Faculty in Damascus. He received many certificates of praise and commendation during the Ottoman rule and then under the reign of King Faisal in Syria. There are many copies of these certificates still preserved in trustworthy hands. Achievements During the p...

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The Song of Songs [of Solomon] (שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים Šîr haŠîrîm, ᾎσμα ᾎσμάτων Aisma Aismatōn, Cantĭcum Canticōrum) is a poetic courtship that moves from enchantment to consummation. Devoid of religiosity, it has traditionally been understood as metaphor for the relationship of the soul with the Divine – of God with Israel – of Christ with the Church – of Christ with the human soul – or humanistically, as a metaphor for psychological integrity....

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The young man: He replied: “Where I go you know, our love will lead my queen’s feet, to where paradise overflows – in plenty we’ll be replete. For you my mistress are to men as mare to noble stallion, hair bejewels your neck as a mane, bridled by golden garland.” The young woman: And thus sparked, the lady replied: “From scent you sense my presence and at the couch where you recline it moulds your manly essence. Nesting all night my breasts between like bunchéd blooms of henna ’midst verdant vines kissed by sea’s sheen you’re more to me than all men are.” ...

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n.a.

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This little book, whose design is to lead the devout Bible student into the Green Pastures of the Good Shepherd, thence to the Banqueting House of the King, and thence to the service of the Vineyard, is one of the abiding legacies of Mr. Hudson Taylor to the Church. In the power of an evident unction from the Holy One, he has been enabled herein to unfold in simplest language the deep truth of the believer's personal union with the Lord, which under symbol and imagery is the subject of The Song of Songs. (From the Foreword by J Stuart Holden)....

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Religion, Psychology, Philosophy

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The Author Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London, England on the 29th of May, 1874. Though he considered himself a mere rollicking journalist, he was actually a prolific and gifted writer in virtually every area of literature. A man of strong opinions and enormously talented at defending them, his exuberant personality nevertheless allowed him to maintain warm friendships with people--such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells--with whom he vehemently disagreed. Chesterton had no difficulty standing up for what he believed. He was one of the few journalists to oppose the Boer War. His 1922 Eugenics and Other Evils attacked what was at that time the most progressive of all ideas, the idea that the human race could and should breed a superior version of itself. In the Nazi experience, history demonstrated the wisdom of his once reactionary views.Chesterton wrote several works of Christian apologetics, the best known of which are Othodoxy, Heretics, and The Everlasting Man. (Summary from Project Gutenberg)...

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Philosophy, Religion

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As Russia goes to war against Japan, Tolstoy urges those at all levels of society, from the Tsar down to the common soldier, to consider their actions in the light of Christ's teaching. However strange this may appear, the most effective and certain deliverance of men from all the calamities which they inflict upon themselves and from the most dreadful of all—war—is attainable, not by any external general measures, but merely by that simple appeal to the consciousness of each separate man which, nineteen hundred years ago, was proposed by Jesus—that every man bethink himself, and ask himself, who is he, why he lives, and what he should and should not do. (Introduction by David Barnes, and extract from Chapter VI)...

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Instruction, Religion, Philosophy, Politics