When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty

Slavoj Zizek, Slavoj A1/2ia3/4ek

The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity

One of our most daring intellectuals offers a Lacanian interpretation of religion, finding that early Christianity was the first revolutionary collective. Slavoj Zizek has been called "an academic rock star" and "the wild man of theory"; his writing mixes astonishing erudition and references to pop culture in order to dissect current intellectual pieties. In The Puppet and the Dwarf he offers a close reading of today's religious constellation from the viewpoint of Lacanian psychoanalysis. He critically confronts both predominant versions of today's spirituality--New Age gnosticism and deconstructionist-Levinasian Judaism--and then tries to redeem the "materialist" kernel of Christianity. His reading of Christianity is explicitly political, discerning in the Pauline community of believers the first version of a revolutionary collective. Since today even advocates of Enlightenment like Jurgen Habermas acknowledge that a religious vision is needed to ground our ethical and political stance in a "postsecular" age, this book--with a stance that is clearly materialist and at the same time indebted to the core of the Christian legacy--is certain to stir controversy.

Brennan Manning

A Glimpse of Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred

6, Beloved Christian writer Brennan Manning has long been illuminating the transforming power of God's constant love for us in his bestselling books. Now he identifies self-hatred as the reason that so many of us seem unable to accept this incredible, unchanging love. By clearly examining and understanding Jesus' life, we can put self-hatred behind us forever and truly be transformed in the ways God intended.

Lee Strobel

The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity

@lt;DIV@gt;Was God telling the truth when he said, 'You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart'? In his #1 bestseller The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel examined the claims of Christ, reaching the hard-won verdict that Jesus is God's unique son. In The Case for Faith, Strobel turns his skills to the most persistent emotional objections to belief---the eight 'heart barriers' to faith. This Gold Medallion-winning book is for those who may be feeling attracted to Jesus but who are faced with difficult questions standing squarely in their path. For Christians, it will deepen their convictions and give them fresh confidence in discussing Christianity with even their most skeptical friends. 'Everyone---seekers, doubters, fervent believers---benefits when Lee Strobel hits the road in search of answers, as he does again in The Case for Faith. In the course of his probing interviews, some of the toughest intellectual obstacles to faith fall away.' ---Luis Palau 'Lee Strobel has given believers and skeptics alike a gift in this book. He does not avoid seeking the most difficult questions imaginable, and refuses to provide simplistic answers that do more harm than good.' ...