Mostrando resultados por Editor "Charles River Editors" en Religión y Espiritualidad

In ancient Greece, “no other practice was so universal than the consultation of oracles.” These holy sites were found in 260 locations around the Greek-speaking world.

For centuries, Christians and Muslims were embroiled in one of the most infamous territorial disputes of all time, viciously and relentlessly battling one another for the Holy Land. In the heart of Jerusalem sat one of the shining jewels of the Christian faith, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Legend has it that this was where their Savior had been buried before his fabled resurrection. What was more, it was said to house the very cross Jesus Christ had died upon.

The Middle Ages in Europe were some of the most precarious centuries in recorded history, bristling with war, excitement, and chaos. The Western Roman Empire had crumbled, territories were rapidly expanding, and heavy ploughs, hourglasses, spectacles, tidal mills, and more pioneering inventions were popping up across the continent. It was also a time of extreme prejudice, when women were treated as second-class citizens. Their only purpose in life was to procreate by the dozen.

Cuando la gente piensa en objetos voladores no identificados (OVNIS), tiende a pensar en discos voladores pilotados por seres grises con grandes cabezas y enormes ojos. Tienden a pensar que estos avistamientos apenas comenzaron hace relativamente poco tiempo y que la creencia en los OVNIs es una especie de religión moderna provocada, quizás, por los temores justificados de una era nuclear. Pero un estudio del fenómeno revela rápidamente que la humanidad ha estado viendo OVNIS desde el principio de la historia registrada y quizás mucho más tiempo que eso.   

In Rome, on February 24, 1530, Pope Clement VII placed the ancient crown of the Holy Roman Empire on the head of the 29-year-old Charles V of Habsburg. Born in Flanders, he became Duke of Burgundy and Lord of the Netherlands at the age of six, King of Castile and Aragon at 15, Archduke of Austria at 17, and, finally, King of the Romans three months after that. The last title belonged to the ruler of Germany before he was solemnly crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope.

About 2,000 years ago, a prophet named John wrote a book about his strange visions while he was in Patmos, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. This John, the Seer, the Revelator, was long believed to be one of Jesus’ apostles, but recent historians have determined that he was a second-generation disciple. In fact, he was likely a political exile, writing for Christians under the threat of persecution by the Roman Empire, and his book, the Book of Revelation, was controversial, obscure, and rejected by many local churches as early as the 2nd century CE.

The essence of the event commonly known as the Roswell Crash is that someone saw something in the sky during the summer of 1947. Days later someone else found some odd foil, paper, and wood on the grounds of a ranch in the New Mexico desert nearly a hundred miles from Roswell. A day or two after that, the debris was taken to a military airbase in Roswell, New Mexico, where it remained overnight before the military flew it to another airbase in Ohio.

Centuries before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the leaders of Mecca established that their city was the pre-eminent holy site in western Arabia and established a truce for pilgrims to the city. One effect of this was that Mecca became a center for what might today be described as tourism. Of course, Mecca is now best known for being Islam's holiest city, revered as the birthplace of Muhammad and the site where Allah first revealed the Qu'ran to him. Within Mecca is the Ka'aba, a building housed within the Al-Masjid al-Haram (Great Mosque), considered the holiest site.

The notorious Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century, the subject of multiple documentaries, movies, and other pop culture mediums, is remembered for its oppression, barbarous torture, and religious tyranny. It was roughly around this time that a period of European exploration began.

Even centuries before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the leaders of Mecca established that their city was the preeminent holy site in Western Arabia and established a truce for pilgrims to the city. In the process one effect of this was that Mecca became a center for what might today be described as tourism, as even ancient visitors needed places for food, water, and sleep. Of course Mecca is now best known for being Islam's holiest city, revered as the birthplace of Muhammad and the site where Allah first revealed the Qu'ran to him.

Joan of Arc is one of the most famous women in history: a French folk legend, a Catholic saint, and a military heroine. Yet almost nothing is truly known about the Maid of Orleans besides her ultimate fate - being burned at the stake when she was still a teenager. Claiming God instructed her to save France from England, she convinced the uncrowned Charles to send her to the siege of Orleans, and she subsequently led the French army to a string of important victories that made it possible for Charles VII to be coronated as the king of France.

It is March 13, 2013. White smoke is seen coming out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel where the College of Cardinals have gathered to pray and vote on the election of a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. They had been sequestered for two days, and five ballots had been taken. Hardly anyone had the Jesuit cardinal on their short list. After all, he was a Jesuit who was already 76 years old and from South America.

The Christian influences of the Portuguese in Africa helped lead to conversion movements in the Kingdom of Kongo, most famously that of Kimpa Vita, a young woman whose story included striking parallels with Joan of Arc. As the leader of a Christian movement, Kimpa Vita became involved in internal political disputes within the Kingdom of Kongo, even as she set about spreading Christianity, and her ultimate fate has kept her memory alive as an ideal for later democratic and religious movements across the African continent.

In the years leading up to 2012, there has been much interest in the Maya calendar. Largely, this is because the calendar will complete its 5,200-year cycle on December 21, 2012, and this auspicious event has been misinterpreted as signaling the end of the world.

This audiobook explores the basics of Sharia law in Islam and how it is rooted in the important foundations set by the prophet Muhammad during his lifetime, as well as the traditions developed after his passing by the Caliphs. Topics are chosen to provide a broad analysis of various issues surrounding Sharia law so that a newcomer may understand law in Islam beyond the headlines and, rather, see into the lives of Muslims affected by these laws and processes.

If the world had a navel, it would be the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth where one can still stand on dry land. The photographs of this unique lake seem to be taken from a science fiction movie, or a land devastated after a nuclear holocaust. To others, the fluffy shores could remind them of Antarctica although it is in one of the warmest spots on the planet. Its white, creamy masses, scattered along golden beaches, are not ice floes or frozen water, but effervescent salt formations.

When people think about unidentified flying objects (UFOs), they tend to think of flying discs piloted by gray beings with large heads and enormous eyes. They also might believe that these sightings only started relatively recently and that belief in UFOs is some sort of modern phenomenon brought on, perhaps, by the very justifiable fears of a nuclear age. But a study of UFOs quickly reveals that people have been reporting the existence of unidentified flying objects since the beginning of recorded history, and perhaps a lot longer than that.

Although many have heard of the Crusades and some of the more famous orders like the Templars, few know about the Livonian Crusade or the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. This organization was one of many Catholic military orders that sprung up during the Middle Ages in response to the papacy’s call for holy war, and the Livonian Crusade is the term used to group together dozens of military actions undertaken by German knights in Eastern Europe. The order was also significant for consolidating the power of the Holy Roman Empire in Eastern Europe.

Inglaterra es una antigua tierra llena de historia y tradición, llena de ruinas prehistóricas, majestuosos castillos, y un paisaje esculpido de milenios de vida humana... Su paisaje ondulado está salpicado de túmulos funerarios prehistóricos y círculos de piedra. Los castillos inquietantes cuentan historias de derramamiento de sangre y honor. Las iglesias medievales han elaborado vitrales y esculturas horripilantes, reflejando una mezcla de esperanza y oscuridad. Cada aldea y pueblo tiene historias que se remontan a siglos atrás, y fiestas populares con raíces paganas.

The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is technically over 70 years old and counting but has its roots in over 2,000 years of history. With so much time and history, the Middle East peace process has become laden with unique, politically sensitive concepts like the right of return, contiguous borders, secure borders, demilitarized zones, and security requirements, with players like the Quartet, Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Hamas, the Arab League and Israel.