Invocation is the imagination of a deity and the subsequent identification with this imagined image of the deity. This procedure is one of the basics of magic, because through such an identification one's own possibilities of perception and action become many times greater. This technique goes back to the late Paleolithic Age, when hunters identified themselves with a panther in order to obtain the strength and speed of a panther during their hunt. Later, the grain god was invoked in the Neolithic period, and then the One God was invoked in kingship. The effectiveness of the technique of invocation, of course, like all magical phenomena, cannot be proven by words, but at least described in such a way that you may try this technique yourself. As with almost all things, patience and practice are beneficial, but there are also some methods, such as dream travel, that make the whole thing much easier and more effective.

This book has been prepared to assist and remind Muslims how to perform salah, prayer in Islam. It is ideal for new Muslims as it includes pictures, step-by-step instructions, and the words Muslims must recite during the prayer in transliteration and English.

Peter Kreeft brings his unique insights to this most important area of our spiritual lives. He claims he himself is still a beginner in prayer, and this book is for all those, like him, who feel that they are not good at praying but desire to become much better at it. Thus, Kreeft offers simple, but profound advice and practical steps for developing a prayer life based on the time-tested wisdom of the saints and great spiritual writers, especially the principles found in Brother Lawrence's classic, The Practice of the Presence of God. In short, straight-forward and unsentimental chapters, Kreeft covers all the key areas for understanding and developing that intimate form of communication with our Creator that we call prayer. He covers such areas as the necessity of prayer, various motives and methods, steps, patience, suffering, sin, faith, and grace.

This Volume contains the books: - Invocations for Beginners - Evocations for Beginners - Prophecy for Beginners - Life Force for Beginners - Magic Objects for Beginners - Elves for Beginners - Crop Circles for Beginners

This beginner's guide to prayer will guide Catholics who need help learning to pray.

Invocations and Benedictions for the Revised Common Lectionary is an ideal resource for worship leaders and planners. Materials related to the full three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary are included in this one resource, making it an excellent addition to an existing library of lectionary resources. Invocations and Benedictions for the Revised Common Lectionary supplies one invocation and one benediction for each Sunday of years A, B, and C of the lectionary. In addition, worship material for 14 special occasions and seasonal celebrations is included. A scripture index provides assistance with locating invocations and benedictions related to specific biblical passages.

JR is an extension of the Java programming language with additional concurrency mechanisms based on those in the SR (Synchronizing Resources) programming language. The JR implementation executes on UNIX-based systems (Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris) and Windows-based systems. It is available free from the JR webpage. This book describes the JR programming language and illustrates how it can be used to write concurrent programs for a variety of applications. This text presents numerous small and large example programs. The source code for all programming examples and the given parts of all programming exercises are available on the JR webpage. Dr. Ronald A. Olsson and Dr. Aaron W. Keen, the authors of this text, are the designers and implementors of JR.

Fritz Meier (1912-1998) is one of the most outstanding Orientalists of this century. His publications combine masterful philological method and precision, profound and penetrating textual interpretation, and a wide-ranging familiarity with primary sources which may truly be characterized as phenomenal. Among the numerous fields in which he has undertaken original research, Persian poetry and Islamic mysticism (Sufism) in the widest sense stand out in particular. His work on Sufism covers the whole of the Islamic world and Islamic history from its beginnings up to the 20th century. The present provides for the first time a translation of 15 of Fritz Meier's seminal articles. The selected articles deal with the history of Sufism; Sufi morals and practices such as dhikr and samā‘; the historical development of the master-disciple relationship; Ibn Taymiyya's attitude toward Sufism; pious devotional practices such as making use of the tasliya; essential sources for the history of Sufism in the Maghreb and the Almoravids. Extensive indices facilitate the use of this epoch-making work.

This volume offers a timely and dynamic study of the rise of religion in American politics, examining the public messages of political leaders over the past seventy-five years. The authors show that U.S. politics today is defined by a calculated, deliberate, and partisan use of faith that is unprecedented in modern politics. Beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, America has seen a no-holds-barred religious politics that seeks to attract voters, identify and attack enemies, and solidify power. Domke and Coe identify a set of religious signals sent by both Republicans and Democrats in speeches, party platforms, proclamations, visits to audiences of faith, and even celebrations of Christmas. The updated edition of this ground-breaking book includes a new preface, an updated analysis of the last Bush administration, as well as a new final chapter on the Jeremiah Wright controversy, the candidacies of Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama's victory.

Most commentators view the Epistle of Jude as a parenetic text. The commentary "Expecting for the Mercy" highlights its soteriological and Christological contents. This has been possible by taking a structural approach to the text and showing that its structure is chiastic, with Jude 14–15 at its centre – a description of the eschatological judgment foretold from the beginning of the world. The judgment is seen primarily as a time to show mercy to the faithful. Knowing this, the believers should also show mercy to the straying. Placing Jude 14–15 at the centre of the theological reflection has allowed us to reveal the hermeneutic perspective applied to interpret apocalyptic texts. The narrator interprets this kind of texts from the Christocentric angle, just like all other writings belonging to the Jewish tradition. In addition, he uses typology and the pesher method. The commentary is ecumenical, taking into account both Catholic and Lutheran perspectives.