Spirituality for Our Global Community: Beyond Traditional Religion to a World at Peace

by Daniel A. Helminiak

Overview

In this groundbreaking book, Daniel Helminiak provides a crucial spiritual option D a middle path between modern society's secular materialism and traditional religion's other-worldly focus and institutional dogmatism. The functional atheism of our contemporary consumer and scientific society (as championed by current best selling authors Sam Harris' The End of Faith, Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, and Christopher Hitchens' God is Not Great) doesn't satisfy our desire for lasting meaning and value. But the parochial, inflexible character of traditional religious beliefs increasingly result in personal, local, and global conflicts in our current world of pluralism, globalization, respect for science and progress. Helminiak gives us a compelling vision of a global spirituality that downplays beliefs and emphasizes the essential spiritual dynamics of the common human quest for wholeness, goodness, freedom and community. Spirituality for a Global Community builds on the spiritual facet of our common humanity, stressing wholesome living on planet Earth, and opening onto the range of religions and belief in God.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742559189
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/08/2008
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	6.05(w) x 9.01(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Daniel A. Helminiak is professor of psychology at the University of West Georgia. His books include the international bestseller What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality. His personal website is www.visionsofdaniel.net.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Current Cultural Crisis
Chapter 2 The Relevance and Irrelevance of Religion
Chapter 3 The Spirit of Humanity
Chapter 4 The Structure of the Human Spirit
Chapter 5 The Problem of God
Chapter 6 Other-worldly Beliefs and Spiritual Community
Chapter 7 The Psychological Housing of the Human Spirit
Chapter 8 A Global Community

Editorial Reviews

In search of a sustainable vision of global harmony, Daniel Helminiak offers an honest and careful analysis of the divisiveness of traditional religion as most people know it, and its failure to meet the needs of a global community. He proposes a well-differentiated analysis of our common spirituality, which lies at the core of both religious commitments and secular humanistic pursuits. This book is an important contribution to the current dialogue on human wholeness, and on what constitutes a responsible approach to life in a globalizing world.

Elena Mustakova-Possardt

This book is brilliant. The scholarship, communication, and thinking are superb. A real advance for the field of cultural psychology and for the global community.

Anthony J. Marsella

In search of a sustainable vision of global harmony, Daniel Helminiak offers an honest and careful analysis of the divisiveness of traditional religion as most people know it, and its failure to meet the needs of a global community. He proposes a well-differentiated analysis of our common spirituality, which lies at the core of both religious commitments and secular humanistic pursuits. This book is an important contribution to the current dialogue on human wholeness, and on what constitutes a responsible approach to life in a globalizing world.--Elena Mustakova-Possardt, University of West Georgia

This book is brilliant. The scholarship, communication, and thinking are superb. A real advance for the field of cultural psychology and for the global community.--Anthony J. Marsella, president, Psychologists for Social Responsibility; professor emeritus of psychology, University of Hawaii

From the Publisher