The Goodness Paradox

Download The Goodness Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Pantheon
ISBN 13 : 1101870907
Total Pages : 402 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (18 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Goodness Paradox by : Richard W. Wrangham

Download or read book The Goodness Paradox written by Richard W. Wrangham and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 2019 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Highly accessible, authoritative, and intellectually provocative, a startlingly original theory of how Homo sapiens came to be: Richard Wrangham forcefully argues that, a quarter of a million years ago, rising intelligence among our ancestors led to a unique new ability with unexpected consequences: our ancestors invented socially sanctioned capital punishment, facilitating domestication, increased cooperation, the accumulation of culture, and ultimately the rise of civilization itself. Throughout history even as quotidian life has exhibited calm and tolerance[,] war has never been far away, and even within societies violence can be a threat. The Goodness Paradox gives a new and powerful argument for how and why this uncanny combination of peacefulness and violence crystallized after our ancestors acquired language in Africa a quarter of a million years ago. Words allowed the sharing of intentions that enabled men effectively to coordinate their actions. Verbal conspiracies paved the way for planned conflicts and, most importantly, for the uniquely human act of capital punishment. The victims of capital punishment tended to be aggressive men, and as their genes waned, our ancestors became tamer. This ancient form of systemic violence was critical, not only encouraging cooperation in peace and war and in culture, but also for making us who we are: Homo sapiens"--

Demonic Males

Download Demonic Males PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 9780395877432
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (774 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Demonic Males by : Richard W. Wrangham

Download or read book Demonic Males written by Richard W. Wrangham and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1996 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whatever their virtues, men are more violent than women. Why do men kill, rape, and wage war, and what can be done about it? Drawing on the latest discoveries about human evolution and about our closest living relatives, the great apes, "Demonic Males" offers some startling new answers to these questions.

Catching Fire

Download Catching Fire PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Profile Books
ISBN 13 : 1847652107
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (476 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Catching Fire by : Richard Wrangham

Download or read book Catching Fire written by Richard Wrangham and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-08-06 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this stunningly original book, Richard Wrangham argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of Catching Fire lies an explosive new idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labour. As our ancestors adapted to using fire, humans emerged as "the cooking apes". Covering everything from food-labelling and overweight pets to raw-food faddists, Catching Fire offers a startlingly original argument about how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. "This notion is surprising, fresh and, in the hands of Richard Wrangham, utterly persuasive ... Big, new ideas do not come along often in evolution these days, but this is one." -Matt Ridley, author of Genome

The Goodness of God

Download The Goodness of God PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Multnomah
ISBN 13 : 1601423535
Total Pages : 130 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Goodness of God by : Randy Alcorn

Download or read book The Goodness of God written by Randy Alcorn and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 2010-08-10 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For those times when we’re wounded by broken trust, assaulted by disease, or victimized by evil—or when we’re crushed to see such things happen to people we love—Randy Alcorn offers something solid to hold onto: God's love. In this specially focused condensation of Alcorn’s If God Is Good…: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil, we’re continually guided into a deeper glimpse of God’s loving ways and higher purposes—the very things we’re often most blinded to whenever we battle pain and anguish. Alcorn avoids superficial or sentimental responses, and instead presses forward boldly to explore all the troubling doubts and questions that agitate within us when we confront suffering and evil. The issues are far from simple, the answers far from easy—but Alcorn shows how the way of suffering—a path that Jesus himself followed more than anyone else—can ultimately become a journey into wholeness and even logic-defying joy.

Natural

Download Natural PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Beacon Press
ISBN 13 : 080701088X
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (7 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Natural by : Alan Levinovitz

Download or read book Natural written by Alan Levinovitz and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illuminates the far-reaching harms of believing that natural means “good,” from misinformation about health choices to justifications for sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies. People love what’s natural: it’s the best way to eat, the best way to parent, even the best way to act—naturally, just as nature intended. Appeals to the wisdom of nature are among the most powerful arguments in the history of human thought. Yet Nature (with a capital N) and natural goodness are not objective or scientific. In this groundbreaking book, scholar of religion Alan Levinovitz demonstrates that these beliefs are actually religious and highlights the many dangers of substituting simple myths for complicated realities. It may not seem like a problem when it comes to paying a premium for organic food. But what about condemnations of “unnatural” sexual activity? The guilt that attends not having a “natural” birth? Economic deregulation justified by the inherent goodness of “natural” markets? In Natural, readers embark on an epic journey, from Peruvian rainforests to the backcountry in Yellowstone Park, from a “natural” bodybuilding competition to a “natural” cancer-curing clinic. The result is an essential new perspective that shatters faith in Nature’s goodness and points to a better alternative. We can love nature without worshipping it, and we can work toward a better world with humility and dialogue rather than taboos and zealotry.

The Better Angels of Our Nature

Download The Better Angels of Our Nature PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin Books
ISBN 13 : 0143122010
Total Pages : 834 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (431 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Better Angels of Our Nature by : Steven Pinker

Download or read book The Better Angels of Our Nature written by Steven Pinker and published by Penguin Books. This book was released on 2012-09-25 with total page 834 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think this is the most violent age ever seen. Yet as bestselling author Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true.

The Trouble with Gravity

Download The Trouble with Gravity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin
ISBN 13 : 0544526740
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (445 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Trouble with Gravity by : Richard Panek

Download or read book The Trouble with Gravity written by Richard Panek and published by Houghton Mifflin. This book was released on 2019 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An award-winning science writer traces our millennia-long effort to understand the phenomenon of gravity--the greatest mystery in physics, and a force that has shaped our universe and our minds in ways we have never fully understood until now.

Surprised by Paradox

Download Surprised by Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 083087092X
Total Pages : 221 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (38 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Surprised by Paradox by : Jen Pollock Michel

Download or read book Surprised by Paradox written by Jen Pollock Michel and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Word Guild Awards Shortlist — Apologetics/Evangelism Word Guild Award — Best Book Cover Award Christianity Today's Book of the Year Award of Merit - The Beautiful Orthodoxy What if certainty isn't the goal? In a world filled with ambiguity, many of us long for a belief system that provides straightforward answers to complex questions and clarity in the face of confusion. We want faith to act like an orderly set of truth-claims designed to solve the problems and pain that life throws at us. With signature candor and depth, Jen Pollock Michel helps readers imagine a Christian faith open to mystery. While there are certainties in Christian faith, at the heart of the Christian story is also paradox. Jesus invites us to abandon the polarities of either and or in order to embrace the difficult, wondrous dissonance of and. The incarnation—the paradox of God made human—teaches us to look for God in the and of body and spirit, heaven and earth. In the kingdom, God often hides in plain sight and announces his triumph on the back of a donkey. In the paradox of grace, we receive life eternal by actively participating in death. And lament, with its clear-eyed appraisal of suffering alongside its commitment to finding audience with God, is a paradoxical practice of faith. Each of these themes give us certainty about God while also leading us into greater curiosity about his nature and activity in the world. As Michel writes, "As soon as we think we have God figured out, we will have ceased to worship him as he is." With personal stories and reflection on Scripture, literature, and culture, Michel takes us deeper into mystery and into worship of the One who is Mystery and Love.

The Story Paradox

Download The Story Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 1541645979
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (416 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Story Paradox by : Jonathan Gottschall

Download or read book The Story Paradox written by Jonathan Gottschall and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2021-11-23 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Storytelling, a tradition that built human civilization, may soon destroy it Humans are storytelling animals. Stories are what make our societies possible. Countless books celebrate their virtues. But Jonathan Gottschall, an expert on the science of stories, argues that there is a dark side to storytelling we can no longer ignore. Storytelling, the very tradition that built human civilization, may be the thing that destroys it. In The Story Paradox, Gottschall explores how a broad consortium of psychologists, communications specialists, neuroscientists, and literary quants are using the scientific method to study how stories affect our brains. The results challenge the idea that storytelling is an obvious force for good in human life. Yes, storytelling can bind groups together, but it is also the main force dragging people apart. And it’s the best method we’ve ever devised for manipulating each other by circumventing rational thought. Behind all civilization’s greatest ills—environmental destruction, runaway demagogues, warfare—you will always find the same master factor: a mind-disordering story. Gottschall argues that societies succeed or fail depending on how they manage these tensions. And it has only become harder, as new technologies that amplify the effects of disinformation campaigns, conspiracy theories, and fake news make separating fact from fiction nearly impossible. With clarity and conviction, Gottschall reveals why our biggest asset has become our greatest threat, and what, if anything, can be done. It is a call to stop asking, “How we can change the world through stories?” and start asking, “How can we save the world from stories?”

The Ostrich Paradox

Download The Ostrich Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 1613630794
Total Pages : 133 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (136 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Ostrich Paradox by : Robert Meyer

Download or read book The Ostrich Paradox written by Robert Meyer and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Ostrich Paradox boldly addresses a key question of our time: Why are we humans so poor at dealing with disastrous risks, and what can we humans do about it? It is a must-read for everyone who cares about risk." —Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow We fail to evacuate when advised. We rebuild in flood zones. We don't wear helmets. We fail to purchase insurance. We would rather avoid the risk of "crying wolf" than sound an alarm. Our ability to foresee and protect against natural catastrophes has never been greater; yet, we consistently fail to heed the warnings and protect ourselves and our communities, with devastating consequences. What explains this contradiction? In The Ostrich Paradox, Wharton professors Robert Meyer and Howard Kunreuther draw on years of teaching and research to explain why disaster preparedness efforts consistently fall short. Filled with heartbreaking stories of loss and resilience, the book addresses: •How people make decisions when confronted with high-consequence, low-probability events—and how these decisions can go awry •The 6 biases that lead individuals, communities, and institutions to make grave errors that cost lives •The Behavioral Risk Audit, a systematic approach for improving preparedness by recognizing these biases and designing strategies that anticipate them •Why, if we are to be better prepared for disasters, we need to learn to be more like ostriches, not less Fast-reading and critically important, The Ostrich Paradox is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why we consistently underprepare for disasters, as well as private and public leaders, planners, and policy-makers who want to build more prepared communities.

The Intimacy Paradox

Download The Intimacy Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Guilford Press
ISBN 13 : 9781572308152
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (81 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Intimacy Paradox by : Donald S. Williamson

Download or read book The Intimacy Paradox written by Donald S. Williamson and published by Guilford Press. This book was released on 2002-07-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although most people physically leave home by their early 20s, emotional separation from one's family is a more difficult process that can continue for a lifetime. Now available in paper for the first time, this acclaimed book addresses the struggle of adults to establish autonomy without sacrificing family connections. Donald S. Williamson presents personal authority therapy, an approach designed to simultaneously foster individual development and family-of-origin intimacy. Therapists are taken step by step through conducting individual, couple, and small group sessions that culminate in several sessions with each client and his or her parents. Writing with sensitivity and humor, the author demonstrates effective ways to help adult children construct new personal and family narratives, resolve intergenerational intimidation, and enjoy healthier, more equal relationships with parents and significant others.

The Love Paradox

Download The Love Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Xulon Press
ISBN 13 : 9781606478110
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (781 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Love Paradox by : Karl Galik

Download or read book The Love Paradox written by Karl Galik and published by Xulon Press. This book was released on 2011-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book transforms! It surprises you. It intrigues you. Most of all it frees you! This is your invitation to value your self the way God values you, then discover the delightful impact it has on everyone else. You will experience how a Biblical love of self enhances your relationships. At first, The Love Paradox may seem absurd, but on reflection, it will actually produce a deep sense of satisfaction. Come on! Take the journey from what seems ridiculous to what is profoundly true. Lead others by loving your self. Join in the conversation at KarlGalik.com to explore the relationship between your personal well-being and its influence on your mission. Rev. Dr. Karl Galik Karl is a nationally recognized speaker, author and leadership coach specializing in the connection between personal well-being and success in life. His universal message has impacted a wide range of people including medical professionals, entrepreneurs, clergy and stay-at-home parents. He is a pastor with a Master's of Divinity and 29 years of pastoral experience. He has a second Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy as well as a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership. Karl has been married to Marilouise for over 35 years. Together they have three married children and four grandchildren.

The Great Transformation

Download The Great Transformation PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Vintage Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307371433
Total Pages : 594 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (73 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Great Transformation by : Karen Armstrong

Download or read book The Great Transformation written by Karen Armstrong and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2009-02-24 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the world’s leading writers on religion and the highly acclaimed author of the bestselling A History of God, The Battle for God and The Spiral Staircase, comes a major new work: a chronicle of one of the most important intellectual revolutions in world history and its relevance to our own time. In one astonishing, short period – the ninth century BCE – the peoples of four distinct regions of the civilized world created the religious and philosophical traditions that have continued to nourish humanity into the present day: Confucianism and Daoism in China; Hinduism and Buddhism in India; monotheism in Israel; and philosophical rationalism in Greece. Historians call this the Axial Age because of its central importance to humanity’s spiritual development. Now, Karen Armstrong traces the rise and development of this transformative moment in history, examining the brilliant contributions to these traditions made by such figures as the Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Ezekiel. Armstrong makes clear that despite some differences of emphasis, there was remarkable consensus among these religions and philosophies: each insisted on the primacy of compassion over hatred and violence. She illuminates what this “family” resemblance reveals about the religious impulse and quest of humankind. And she goes beyond spiritual archaeology, delving into the ways in which these Axial Age beliefs can present an instructive and thought-provoking challenge to the ways we think about and practice religion today. A revelation of humankind’s early shared imperatives, yearnings and inspired solutions – as salutary as it is fascinating. Excerpt from The Great Transformation: In our global world, we can no longer afford a parochial or exclusive vision. We must learn to live and behave as though people in remote parts of the globe were as important as ourselves. The sages of the Axial Age did not create their compassionate ethic in idyllic circumstances. Each tradition developed in societies like our own that were torn apart by violence and warfare as never before; indeed, the first catalyst of religious change was usually a visceral rejection of the aggression that the sages witnessed all around them. . . . All the great traditions that were created at this time are in agreement about the supreme importance of charity and benevolence, and this tells us something important about our humanity.

The Dark Forest

Download The Dark Forest PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tor Books
ISBN 13 : 1466853433
Total Pages : 513 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Dark Forest by : Cixin Liu

Download or read book The Dark Forest written by Cixin Liu and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem! Over 1 million copies of the Three-Body Problem series sold in North America PRAISE FOR THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM SERIES: “A mind-bending epic.”—The New York Times • “War of the Worlds for the 21st century.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Fascinating.”—TIME • “Extraordinary.”—The New Yorker • “Wildly imaginative.”—Barack Obama • “Provocative.”—Slate • “A breakthrough book.”—George R. R. Martin • “Impossible to put down.”—GQ • “Absolutely mind-unfolding.”—NPR • “You should be reading Liu Cixin.”—The Washington Post The Dark Forest is the second novel in the groundbreaking, Hugo Award-winning series from China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu. In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion-in just four centuries' time. The aliens' human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth's defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret. This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he's the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead. The Three-Body Problem Series The Three-Body Problem The Dark Forest Death's End Other Books by Cixin Liu Ball Lightning Supernova Era To Hold Up the Sky The Wandering Earth A View from the Stars At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Monstrosity of Christ

Download The Monstrosity of Christ PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262265818
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (622 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Monstrosity of Christ by : Slavoj Zizek

Download or read book The Monstrosity of Christ written by Slavoj Zizek and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-02-25 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A militant Marxist atheist and a “Radical Orthodox” Christian theologian square off on everything from the meaning of theology and Christ to the war machine of corporate mafia. “What matters is not so much that Žižek is endorsing a demythologized, disenchanted Christianity without transcendence, as that he is offering in the end (despite what he sometimes claims) a heterodox version of Christian belief.”—John Milbank “To put it even more bluntly, my claim is that it is Milbank who is effectively guilty of heterodoxy, ultimately of a regression to paganism: in my atheism, I am more Christian than Milbank.”—Slavoj Žižek In this corner, philosopher Slavoj Žižek, a militant atheist who represents the critical-materialist stance against religion's illusions; in the other corner, “Radical Orthodox” theologian John Milbank, an influential and provocative thinker who argues that theology is the only foundation upon which knowledge, politics, and ethics can stand. In The Monstrosity of Christ, Žižek and Milbank go head to head for three rounds, employing an impressive arsenal of moves to advance their positions and press their respective advantages. By the closing bell, they have not only proven themselves worthy adversaries, they have shown that faith and reason are not simply and intractably opposed. Žižek has long been interested in the emancipatory potential offered by Christian theology. And Milbank, seeing global capitalism as the new century's greatest ethical challenge, has pushed his own ontology in more political and materialist directions. Their debate in The Monstrosity of Christ concerns the future of religion, secularity, and political hope in light of a monsterful event—God becoming human. For the first time since Žižek's turn toward theology, we have a true debate between an atheist and a theologian about the very meaning of theology, Christ, the Church, the Holy Ghost, Universality, and the foundations of logic. The result goes far beyond the popularized atheist/theist point/counterpoint of recent books by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others. Žižek begins, and Milbank answers, countering dialectics with “paradox.” The debate centers on the nature of and relation between paradox and parallax, between analogy and dialectics, between transcendent glory and liberation. Slavoj Žižek is a philosopher and cultural critic. He has published over thirty books, including Looking Awry, The Puppet and the Dwarf, and The Parallax View (these three published by the MIT Press). John Milbank is an influential Christian theologian and the author of Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason and other books. Creston Davis, who conceived of this encounter, studied under both Žižek and Milbank.

Hell and Divine Goodness

Download Hell and Divine Goodness PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1532640978
Total Pages : 139 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (326 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hell and Divine Goodness by : James S. Spiegel

Download or read book Hell and Divine Goodness written by James S. Spiegel and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-04-16 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the Christian theological tradition there has always been a variety of perspectives on hell, usually distinguished according to their views about the duration of hell's torments for the damned. Traditionalists maintain that the suffering of the damned is everlasting. Universalists claim that eventually every person is redeemed and arrives in heaven. And conditional immortalists, also known as "conditionalists" or "annihilationists," reject both the concept of eternal torment as well as universal salvation, instead claiming that after a finite period of suffering the damned are annihilated. Conditionalism has enjoyed somewhat of a revival in scholarly circles in recent years, buoyed by the influential biblical defense of the view by Edward Fudge. However, there has yet to appear a book-length philosophical defense of conditionalism . . . until now. In Hell and Divine Goodness, James Spiegel assesses the three major alternative theories of hell, arriving at the conclusion that the conditionalist view is, all things considered, the most defensible position on the issue.

The Grand Paradox

Download The Grand Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Thomas Nelson
ISBN 13 : 0718005910
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (18 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Grand Paradox by : Ken Wytsma

Download or read book The Grand Paradox written by Ken Wytsma and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If we were made for relationship with God, why do we often feel lost and distant from Him? The life of Christian faith is and always has been a beautifully awkward reality. Following Jesus is done—can only be done—in the messiness of this world into which we were all born. Yet many Christians expect the walk of faith to be easier, neater, and relatively devoid of hassles. So perhaps it’s time for a frank conversation about the true nature of Christian faith. Maybe there are many desperately in need of a clear dialogue about how—despite living in a turbulent, chaotic world—our greatest joy is found in our pursuit of God. In The Grand Paradox, Ken Wytsma seeks to help readers understand that although God can be mysterious, He is in no way absent. God’s ways are contradictory and counter to the way the world tells us to pursue happiness. Doubt is okay, it will accompany in the life of faith. What looks like struggle can actually be the most important and meaningful season of our lives. This book is an exploration of the art of living by faith. It is a book for all those wrestling with the paradoxes that confront those who seek to walk with Christ. It’s an honest look at how faith works, here and now, in our culture, our time—and how to put down real roots and flourish in the midst of our messy lives.