Inyo County Free Library - New Acquisitions

These are books and media new to the library and cataloged by the Inyo County Free Library.

Additional information about each title can be found in the catalog (click on the title). For older acquisition lists choose from Select another list. To request any of these titles please contact your local library branch.

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Religion for dummies

By Gellman, Marc

Publishing Date: c2002

Classification: 200

Call Number: 200 GEL

A rabbi and a priest, the hosts of a daily TV talk show, explore the role of religion in everyday life, describe the various beliefs and practices of the major religions of the world, offer advice on how to deal with daily life issues and major passages in one's life, and explain how to join a religion and find one's own spiritual path. Original. - (Baker & Taylor)

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The letter and the scroll: what archaeology tells us about the Bible

By Currie, Robin

Publishing Date: c2009

Classification: 200

Call Number: 220.93 CUR

From the Publisher: For 2,000 years and more, the Bible and its precepts have shaped world culture and civilization, whether Judeo-Christian or not. The Bible is a touchstone of religious belief, literary accomplishment, morality, and history unlike any other. Biblical interpretations have changed over the millennia, but the past 100 years have witnessed some of the most important transformations in our perspective, and no recent influence has been greater than archaeology. In the mid-20th century, the unearthing of the Dead Sea Scrolls-to cite just one of many modern finds-deepened our understanding of the Biblical world, its peoples, and their beliefs. Since then, new evidence has appeared-the Tel Dan inscription, the Merneptah Stele, and the Gabriel Revelation-with each revelation providing richer insights into the scriptural narrative and the way these stories were written and handed down, confirming the details of historical events and personages, or clarifying the meaning and chronology of biblical ideas. Meticulous, scholarly, yet always accessible, this is required reading for anyone interested in both Old and New Testaments and the creeds, cultures, and civilizations of ancient Hebrews and early Christians alike.

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The spirit of the disciplines: understanding how God changes lives

By Willard, Dallas

Publishing Date: 1990

Classification: 200

Call Number: 248.4 WIL

Dallas Willard, one of today's most brilliant Christian thinkers and author of The Divine Conspiracy (Christianity Today's 1999 Book of the Year), presents a way of living that enables ordinary men and women to enjoy the fruit of the Christian life. He reveals how the key to self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines, and how their practice affirms human life to the fullest. The Spirit of the Disciplines is for everyone who strives to be a disciple of Jesus in thought and action as well as intention.- (HARPERCOLL)

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After Acts: exploring the lives and legends of the apostles

By Litfin, Bryan M.

Publishing Date: [2015]

Classification: 200

Call Number: 270.1 LIT

"What happened to all those biblical figures once the Bible was finished? We've all heard it said: "According to early church tradition Peter was crucified upside down," or "Paul went to Spain." Did Thomas found the Indian church? Or did Mary live in Ephesus? Were the twelve disciples all eventually martyred? Where do these ancient traditions come from, and how historically reliable are they? What is meant by the term "early church tradition?" After Acts opens up the world of the Bible-right after it was written. Follow along with New Testament scholar, Dr. Bryan Litfin as he explores the facts, myths, legends, archaeology, and questions of what happened in those most early days of Christianity"--

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Rough country: how Texas became America's most powerful Bible-belt state

By Wuthnow, Robert

Publishing Date: [2014]

Classification: 200

Call Number: 277.64 WUT

"Anyone seeking to examine the relationship between modern American religious conservatism and politics needs to look no further than Wuthnow's authoritative, encyclopedic survey of Texas's influence on national trends."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "In this brilliantly detailed book, Wuthnow draws on newspapers, eyewitness accounts and archival material as well as sociological theory, showing how notions of self and other emerged through institution-building practices that helped define Texan (and ultimately, national) identity."--Kirkus "In Rough Country, Wuthnow draws on an Everest of data to provide a comprehensive analysis of the connections between religion, race, and politics in the state that has given us Lyndon Johnson, George W. Bush, Ted Cruz, Roe v. Wade, FreedomWorks, a key sponsor of the Tea Party, and secessionist threats."--Glenn Altschuler, Huffington Post.

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An American Cardinal: the biography of Cardinal Timothy Dolan

By Boyle, Christina

Publishing Date: [2014]

Classification: 200

Call Number: 282.092 BOY

The most powerful Roman Catholic leader in the United States had humble beginnings. Timothy Michael Dolan was born in Maplewood, Missouri in 1950. From an early age, those around him knew that he would become a priest. Through college and seminary, his power and spirituality grew. He was formally ordained in 1976. In 2009, he was made Archbishop of New York. Several months later he was elevated to cardinal. There were clear signs that the ailing Pope Benedict XVI saw him as a bright hope for the future, and Vatican experts seriously wondered if he would be chosen to lead the Catholics of the world. Dolan is a warm and cheerful man who draws crowds, but his rise to power was not without its controversies. His handling of the sex abuse scandal was, some say, more about protecting the Church than the victims. He is a consummate player who doesn't shy away from picking a political battle. He is also caring in a way that makes him--for all of his power--seem like a simple parish priest who looks after every member of his flock. This is a book about power and the Roman Catholic church today, framed by the life of a man who might someday become the first American pope.--From publisher description.

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Oriental mythology

By Campbell, Joseph

Publishing Date: [1991], c1962

Classification: 200

Call Number: 291.13 CAM

Campbell offers an explanation of Eastern mythology as it developed into the distinctive religions of Egypt, India, China, and Japan. "The myth of eternal return, which is still basic to Oriental life, displays an order of fixed forms that appear and disappear through all time".--Joseph Campbell.

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Dreamtime & inner space: the world of the shaman

By Kalweit, Holger

Publishing Date: 1988

Classification: 200

Call Number: 291.62 KAL

Kalweit, an ethnopsychologist has collected first-person accounts and descriptions of the paranormal experiences and visions of shamans from Africa, Australia, Asia, Siberia, and the Americas, as well as descriptions of their rituals, healing techniques, and spiritual disciplines.

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Zen and the birds of appetite

By Merton, Thomas

Publishing Date: 1968]

Classification: 200

Call Number: 294.3927 MER

"Zen enriches no one," Thomas Merton provocatively writes in his opening statement to Zen and the Birds of Appetite--one of the last books to be published before his death in 1968. "There is no body to be found. The birds may come and circle for a while... but they soon go elsewhere. When they are gone, the 'nothing,' the 'no-body' that was there, suddenly appears. That is Zen. It was there all the time but the scavengers missed it, because it was not their kind of prey." This gets at the humor, paradox, and joy that one feels in Merton's discoveries of Zen during the last years of his life, a joy very much present in this collection of essays. Exploring the relationship between Christianity and Zen, especially through his dialogue with the great Zen teacher D.T. Suzuki, the book makes an excellent introduction to a comparative study of these two traditions, as well as giving the reader a strong taste of the mature Merton. Never does one feel him losing his own faith in these pages; rather one feels that faith getting deeply clarified and affirmed. Just as the body of "Zen" cannot be found by the scavengers, so too, Merton suggests, with the eternal truth of Christ. - (Norton Pub)

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Tao te Ching

By Laozi

Publishing Date: 2010

Classification: 200

Call Number: 299.5148 LAO

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