Our library in Hewett Centre is open every Sunday after service during Coffee Hour in Hewett Centre, and our Library Team offers related reading lists based on the topic of the Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service featuring Laureen Stokes on Sunday, July 13, 2025 at 11 a.m. All are welcome in Hewett Centre after the Sunday service to check out some books and to have coffee and conversation.
VanU library books related to this Sunday’s sermon:
1. Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras, by Diana L. Eck, 1994, 291.72 ECK [Published by Beacon Press. From LibraryThing: “In the summer of 1965, …, Diana Eck was a college student learning Hindi in preparation for her first visit to India. It was a trip that would change her life, bringing her into relationships with non-Christians such as the former freedom fighter Achyut Patwardhan and the philosopher Krishnamurti, whose insights challenged her to examine her own Christian faith from a radically new perspective. Now in the 1990s the challenge of responding to the problem of religious difference is virtually universal. Is only one religion true? Is there a way ahead in a world of interreligious strife? … In Encountering God, Eck reflects on the questions posed by her own ongoing encounter with Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims. Her vivid story reminds us that interfaith dialogue “does not usually begin with philosophy or theory, but with experience and relationships.” Eck considers the spiritual questions that perplex each of us, Hindu or Christian, devout or not: Who is God? How are we to pray? What are we to believe in the face of inexplicable suffering and death? Eck insists as a Christian that her relations with people of other faiths have helped her to think about these questions and deepened her own faith. Above all, Encountering God instructs us in the urgent need for dialogue among the world’s faiths as we enter the twenty-first century. Eck believes understanding between Christians and people of other faiths is not only possible but essential to our common future. As we confront our growing interdependence in a global community, she argues that we must all reach beyond mere “tolerance” of other religions toward a genuine pluralism based on respect for religious differences and openness to mutual transformation.”].
2. Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit, by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, 2023, 304 HAU [From Amazon.com, at LibraryThing: “… cutting-edge science supports a truth that poets, artists, mystics, and earth-based cultures across the world have proclaimed over millennia: life on this planet is radically interconnected. Our bodies, thoughts, minds, and spirits are affected by the whole of nature, and they affect this whole in return. In this time of crisis, how can we best live upon our imperiled, beloved earth?”].
3. The Way of the Earth: Encounters With Nature in Ancient and Contemporary Thought, by T. C. McLuhan, 1994, 113.09 McL [From the book jacket, at LibraryThing: “This book draws upon both ancient and contemporary sources to examine the significance of the earth from the perspective of six different cultures and how these spiritual traditions have valued, perceived, and understood the earth. …, the author shows that there are many more similarities than differences – all revere mountains as a source of inspiration and holiness, all feel a spiritual connection to the soil itself, all create art and literature to celebrate their connection to the land, and all see themselves as inextricable from the land they call home. This unique volume explores how human beings across the planet and across time have felt about the earth and nature, and how they have understood it, related to it, and celebrated it in their literature, mythology, religion, and art. It demonstrates that no matter where on the planet we exist, and no matter what time period we live, we all have a profound connection to the earth.”].
4. The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion, by Ken Wilber, 1998, 215 WIL [Gift of Hal Logan. From LibraryThing: “… articulates how we might begin to think about science and religion in ways that allow for their reconciliation and union, on terms that will be acceptable to both camps. Wilber clearly and succinctly explores the schism between science and religion, and the impact of this “philosophical Cold War” on the fate of humanity. He systematically reviews previous attempts at integration, explaining why romantic, idealistic, and postmodern theories failed. And he demonstrates how science is compatible with certain deep features common to all of the world’s major religious traditions. …”].
5. The Sacred Depths of Nature, by Ursula Goodenough, 1998, 574.01 GOO [From LibraryThing: “For many of us, the great scientific discoveries of the modern age – the Big Bang, evolution, quantum physics, relativity – point to an existence that is bleak, devoid of meaning, pointless. …, eminent biologist Ursula Goodenough shows us that the scientific world view need not be a source of despair. Indeed, it can be a wellspring of solace and hope. This eloquent volume reconciles the modern scientific understanding of reality with our timeless spiritual yearnings for reverence and continuity. Looking at topics such as evolution, emotions, sexuality, and death, Goodenough writes with rich, uncluttered detail about the workings of nature in general and of living creatures in particular. Her luminous clarity makes it possible for even non scientists to appreciate that the origins of life and the universe are no less meaningful because of our increasingly scientific understanding of them. At the end of each chapter, Goodenough’s spiritual reflections respond to the complexity of nature with vibrant emotional intensity and a sense of reverent wonder.; A beautifully written celebration of molecular biology with meditations on the spiritual and religious meaning that can be found at the heart of science, …”].
6. Pilgrimage – Story Spirit Witness Place, 2013, 808.88 HIL [Chapter by Leslie Hill, VanU member. From the Pilgrimage Magazine – About Us: “… The magazine is dedicated to exploring story, spirit, witness, and place in and beyond the American Southwest. We welcome creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, translation submissions and feature one artist per issue. …”].