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With academic courses either encouraging commercialism, or cultivating zealots, Chittick states that it is impossible to understand classical Islamic texts without the years of contemplative study that are anathema to the modern education system. Insisting upon a return to the ways of the ancient wisdom tradition, which saw the quest for knowledge of the soul, the world, and God as a unifying spiritual discipline, Chittick maintains that the study of Islamic texts cannot be treated separately from self-understanding. Fascinating, radical, and a true challenge to modern trends in academic study, this book opens a new debate in Islamic thought.

This is a collective study, in nine new essays, of the close connection between theology and cosmology in Stoic philosophy. The Stoic god is best described as the single active physical principle that governs the whole cosmos. The first part of the book covers three essential topics in Stoic theology: the active and demiurgical character of god, his corporeal nature and irreducibility to matter, and fate as the network of causes through which god acts upon the cosmos. The second part turns to Stoic cosmology, and how it relates to other cosmologies of the time. The third part examines the ethical and religious consequences of the Stoic theories of god and cosmos.

The soul of the cosmos is about the origin of life on earth and the real soul of the cosmos. It explains the mysteries and the misunderstandings of the vast number of these religions. Each follower is wholly devoted to his faith, so devoted that he can take the life of another devotee of different religion. Why isn't this bothering us as much as it should be? We all believe that our religion is mighty big, but how did so many faiths come into play? What was the need to create so many religions when we all ultimately aim to reach the same destination? To answer these mysteries, I studied these religions, and I am sure that one will be surprised to know the underlying truth beneath each of these faiths is completely unexplainable and is a feat no man can achieve. To understand the possibilities of different realities posed by these devotions, I came to the conclusion that these religions were established by the one great god who is the soul of the whole cosmos. These religions were established by him for the sake of his children. It answers the undying questions of why different religions were established, why some people call it Valhalla and some say Swarg and under what circumstances these religions were gifted to the world.

Explaining the Cosmos analyses the philosophical and theological writings relating to the creation and eternity of the world of three Gazan thinkers, Aeneas, Zacharias and Procopius. It sheds light on Neoplatonic and Christian debates, and maps distinctive cultural characteristics of Gaza, including its schools and monasteries, in Late Antiquity.

"In this careful and closely argued book, Terence Nichols presents a vigorous challenge to naturalistic thinking. We are offered the persuasive vision of a world of many-leveled richness, whose Creator is continually active within its unfolding history." --John Polkinghorne, University of Cambridge "This is a uniquely valuable work for our time. The Sacred Cosmos takes on the ambitious task of a synthesis of the contributions of contemporary science, basic Thomistic philosophy of being and the human person, and basic themes of Christian theology on God, creation, and the relations between God and the world. The author, a theologian, brings to his task an amazing background and range of competence both in contemporary science and . . . Christian theology. . . . The most valuable part of the book is the author's powerful and cogent critique of the widely influencial 'scientific naturalism' of our day, which claims the only reliable way of knowing is that of modern science, and all that exists can be explained by the evolving interaction of material elements, leaving no place for anything of the spiritual order, like the human soul, moral values, or God." --W. Norris Clarke, S.J., Fordham University "In this sensible and solid reply to scientific atheism (or 'naturalism'), Nichols charts the way for a new harmony between science and spirituality. I recommend it to anyone interested in the interaction of religion and science." --Alan Padgett, author of Science and the Study of God: A Mutuality Model for Theology and Science

Kosmos is Abstract and Formless, because Homogeneous and Impartite, vehicle of all Universes to be. Cosmos is Receptive Nature or concrete World of Forms seemingly fragmented, “no better than an aberration of the ever-deceiving physical senses.” Kosmos is Boundless, because Omnipresent and Changeless. Cosmos is Finite, Impermanent, Self-modifying World. Kosmos is directed and controlled by the “Army” of Divine Sentient Beings. Cosmos is built and ruled by Sidereal Planetary Spirits and Deities. Kosmos is Eternal (Spiritual) Egg and Womb or Matri-Padma, Mother Lotus, of all Worlds to be. Cosmos is the Periodical (Mundane) Egg of our World fructified, yet immaculate, when a ray from the First Logos flashes from the latent Germ in the Heart of the Eternal. Kosmos is ever-concealed, unknown and unknowable noumena. Cosmos is perceptions and visible phenomena after a “Night of Brahma.” Kosmos is the “Father” Concealed and Unmanifested, the “Unknown God” of the Athenians. Cosmos is Plato’s Second God, giving birth to a “Son” or Universe.