Making Peace With the Universe - Personal Crisis and Spiritual Healing

In Making Peace with the Universe, Michael Scott Alexander reads diverse classic religious accounts as masterpieces of therapeutic insight. He recasts spiritual confessions as case histories of therapy, showing how they remain radical and deeply meaningful even in an age of scientific psychology.

List of contents

Part I: The Problem
1. The Path of Joy
2. Making Peace with the Universe
Part II: The Classics
3. Socrates: An Old Man and His Daemon
4. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali: The Greatest Midlife Crisis in the History of Islam
5. Qiu Chuji: Chinggis Khan Learns to Cherish Life
6. Mary Lou Williams: Jazz for the Soul
Part III: A Recent Case
7. Bobby Sichran and the Divine Presence
Conclusion: Giving Into Gravity
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Michael Scott Alexander is associate professor of religious studies and Maimonides Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of Jazz Age Jews (2001), winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

Summary

In Making Peace with the Universe, Michael Scott Alexander reads diverse classic religious accounts as masterpieces of therapeutic insight. He recasts spiritual confessions as case histories of therapy, showing how they remain radical and deeply meaningful even in an age of scientific psychology.

Additional text

This incredible book mines the spiritual insights of history's deepest souls. Alexander speaks to the reality that some truths emerge outside of a classroom or lab. From Socrates to jazz great Mary Lou Williams, we see that wisdom's pursuit is often a torturous and tear-soaked journey. Yet it's worth the ride!

Product details

• Authors: Michael Scott Alexander, Michael Scott (Associate Professor) Alexander
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.11.2020
• EAN: 9780231198592
• ISBN: 978-0-231-19859-2
• No. of pages: 288
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Guides > Health > Alternative therapies; Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology; RELIGION / Spirituality, HEALTH & FITNESS / Alternative Therapies, PHILOSOPHY / Religious, Memoirs, RELIGION / Philosophy, Spirituality & religious experience, Complementary therapies, healing & health, Philosophy of religion, Spirituality and religious experience, Complementary therapies, healing and health, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs