Top 15 in Religion
Week of June 29, 2026
by Geshe Tashi Tsering
The first step toward a solid foundation in Buddhist thought! The Foundation of Buddhist Thought series is an excellent introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. These unique books, based on the curriculum of a popular course of the same name, were developed by Geshe Tashi Tsering, a Tibetan scholar renowned for his ability to render Buddhist teachings accessible and relevant to everyday life. Geshe Tashi Tsering's Foundation of Buddhist Thought courses are systematic introductions to Buddhist philosophy and practice. With this series of books drawn from his highly successful courses, his insights can now be enjoyed by a wide audience of both specialists and newcomers to the Buddhist tradition. Geshe Tashi's presentations combine rigor and comprehensiveness with lucidity and accessibility, never divorced from the basic humanity and warmth of his personality. In Geshe Tashi, we encounter the new generation of Tibetan monk-scholars teaching in the West who are following in the eminent footsteps of Geshe Wangyal and Geshe Sopa. This volume, the first of six, provides a complete presentation the Buddha's seminal Four Noble Truths, which summarize the fundamentals of the Buddhist worldview. Indeed, they are an essential framework for understanding all of the other teachings of the Buddha.

by Robert McQueen Grant
This study offers new translations of significant parts of his work, critically based on a complete reconstruction of the original Greek in the French series Sources Chretiennes.

by Thomas Hobbes
The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. Leviathan ranks as a classic western work on statecraft comparable to Machiavelli's The Prince. Written during the English Civil War (1642-1651), Leviathan argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Hobbes wrote that civil war and the brute situation of a state of nature ("the war of all against all") could only be avoided by strong, undivided government. Hobbes begins his treatise on politics with an account of human nature. He presents an image of man as matter in motion, attempting to show through example how everything about humanity can be explained materialistically, that is, without recourse to an incorporeal, immaterial soul or a faculty for understanding ideas that are external to the human mind. Hobbes proceeds by defining terms clearly and unsentimentally. Good and evil are nothing more than terms used to denote an individual's appetites and desires, while these appetites and desires are nothing more than the tendency to move toward or away from an object. Hope is nothing more than an appetite for a thing combined with opinion that it can be had. He suggests the dominant political theology of the time, Scholasticism, thrives on confused definitions of everyday words, such as incorporeal substance, which for Hobbes is a contradiction in terms. Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Powe

by Saint Augustine (of Hippo)
"For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee." CONFESSIONS is an autobiographical work by St. Augustine of Hippo written in between AD 397 and AD 398. The work outlines Augustine's sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written, and was an influential model for Christian writers throughout the following 1,000 years of the Middle Ages. It provides a record of St. Augustine's development of thought and is the most complete record of any single person from the 4th and 5th centuries. It is a significant theological work, featuring spiritual meditations and insights.

by Carolyne Larrington
This collection of Norse-Icelandic mythological and heroic poetry contains the greater narratives of the creation of the world and the coming of Ragnarok, the Doom of the Gods.

by J. Armitage Robinson
Overview The early church leaders were prolific in their writing and historical documentation. While some of this work has been canonized, much has been forgotten. The Text and Studies: Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature collection resurrects these documents in a renewed and focused study, attempting to glean the wisdom and insight of the ancients. These volumes dig deep into apocryphal literature with critical analyses, close readings, and examinations of the original manuscripts.

by Marvin Alan Sweeney
Although the biblical books of the prophets are based upon the careers and experiences of some of the most talented and provocative individuals of their time, the books must be read first as literature. Each book displays its own unique organization, literary characteristics, and theological outlook in presenting the prophets. In the case of Jeremiah, for example, interpreters must even consider two distinctive forms of the book in the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint. By guiding the reader through the literary structure and language of each of the prophetic books as well as the social roles of the individual prophets, this volume opens the reader to greater understanding and appreciation of the prophets of Israel and Judah.

by Lisa Lassell Hallstrom
1. Introduction. 2. The Life Story of Anandamayi Ma. 3. Woman. 4. Saint. 5. Guru. 6. Avatara and Divine Mother. 7. Anandamayi Ma and Gender. Bibliography. Index.

by Mark U. Edwards
"One of the most important works ever written on the reception of Luther through print."--Thomas Brady, University of California, Berkeley "One of the most important works ever written on the reception of Luther through print."--Thomas Brady, University of California, Berkeley

by John Bevere
Bestselling author John Bevere challenges Christians to take a fresh and honest look at one of the most often misunderstood and avoided truths of the Christian faith--the second coming of Jesus. Through personal testimony, biblical accuracy, and practical guidance, readers will be inspired to live a life of spiritual vigilance as they prepare for the glorious return of our King. If Jesus were to return tomorrow, would you be ready? In The King Is Coming, John Bevere discusses why the Second Coming is both relevant and critical for the Christian faith. Other than salvation, it's the second most discussed topic both in the New Testament and by early church fathers in the first three centuries.
by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad
For several decades, the Muslim world has experienced a religious resurgence. The reassertion of Islam in personal and political life has taken many forms, from greater attention to religious practice to the emergence of Islamic organizations, movements, and institutions. One of the most controversial and emotionally charged aspects of this revival has been its effect on women in Muslim societies. The essays collected in this book place this issue in its historical context and offer case studies of Muslim societies from North Africa to Southeast Asia. These fascinating studies shed light on the impact of the Islamic resurgence on gender issues in Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Oman, Bahrain, the Philippines, and Kuwait. Taken together, the essays reveal the wide variety that exists among Muslim societies and believers, and the complexity of the issues under consideration. They show that new things are happening for women across the Islamic world, and are in many cases being initiated by women themselves. The volume as a whole militates against the stereotype of Muslim women as repressed, passive, and without initiative, while acknowledging the very real obstacles to women's initiatives in most of these societies.

by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn
Cardinal Schönborn, the editor of the monumental Catechism of the Catholic Church, a worldwide best seller, provides a brief and profound commentary on the first part of the Catechism, the Creed. Schönborn gives an incisive, detailed analysis of the Creed, providing a specific meditation for each week of the year on how to better live the Catholic faith as expressed in the Creed and explained in the Catechism. Through these 52 meditations, Schönborn's hope is for the reader to not just have a better grasp of Catholic doctrine and belief, but especially to grow in a greater love of and devotion to the person of Jesus Christ. "Faith is whole. It has only one heart, one center: Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ must therefore also be the center of catechesis whose object is 'putting people...in communion...with Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity' (CCC 426), for 'in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' (Col 2:3). In a certain sense, the 'essential elements of the faith' have their origin in a treasury of the heart of Jesus." -Cardinal Christoph Schönborn
by John Hardon
The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom is a Catholic library in miniature, a one-volume microcosm of what the Church's great minds have thought and said since the apostolic age. Indeed, in The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom, noted theologian Fr. John A. Hardon has compiled the works of thirty-three of the greatest Catholic thinkers and writers, representing every period of the Church's passage through time, from the beginnings of Christianity to the present day. Here are men and women, bishops and priests, religious and the laity "whose native talents were elevated by the supernatural light that God reserves for those who are most submissive to His will." Included in this extraordinary and fascinating anthology are the works of the early saints, such as Gregory, Basil, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Patrick, Bernard Francis, and Thomas Aquinas. Here, too, are the writings of the great reformers Ignatius, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa of Avila; the mystic John of the Cross; the practical wisdom of Francis de Sales, Louis de Montfort, and Peter Julian Eymard; and the modern-day reflections of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Francis Thompson, Therese of Lisieux, G.K. Chesterton, and Fulton J. Sheen. The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom is a comprehensive anthology of the outstanding Catholic literature from the first century to modern times. Mystics and martyrs, philosophers and theologians, poets and prose writers are quoted at length and in depth. They are truly representative of the spirit and substan

