Your order contract will be with Amazon.com, and Amazon.com will be entirely responsible for order processing and shipment to your doorstep or mailbox! Amazon.com uses a reasonably secure credit card payment system, and will inform you of their shipping charge before the order is confirmed.

To browse Amazon.com's database yourself, and still cause a smaller sales commission to be sent to Lake Country UU Church for any books you order, you may link to the Amazon.com homepage from here. Remember that it costs you nothing extra to direct this sales commission to LCUUC.

The LCUUC Bookstore is organized into the following categories:

1. Unitarian Universalism for Adults
2. Unitarian Universalism for Children
3. Non-fiction Recommended by Members of LCUUC
4. Fiction Recommended by Members of LCUUC

Lake Country UU Church also has a similar arrangement with Amazon.com for music CDs:

1. Music Recommended by Members of LCUUC

Beyond Belief; The Secret Gospel of Thomas , by Elaine Pagels.

This book ranges panoramically over the history of early Christianity, demonstrating the religion's initial tremendous diversity and its narrowing to include only certain texts supporting certain beliefs. At the center of her book is the conflict between the gospels of John and Thomas. Reading these gospels closely, she shows that Thomas offered readers a message of spiritual enlightenment. Rather than promoting Jesus as the only light of the world, Thomas taught individuals that "there is a light within each person, and it lights up the whole universe. If it does not shine, there is darkness." As she eloquently and provocatively argues, the author of John wrote his gospel as a refutation of Thomas, portraying the disciple Thomas as a fool when he doubts Jesus, and Jesus as the only true light of the world. Pagels goes on to demonstrate that the early Christian writer Irenaeus promoted John as the true gospel while he excluded Thomas, and a host of other early gospels, from the list of those texts that he considered authoritative. His list became the basis for the New Testament canon when it was fixed in 357. Pagels suggests that we recover Thomas as a way of embracing the glorious diversity of religious tradition. As she elegantly contends, religion is not merely an assent to a set of beliefs, but a rich, multifaceted fabric of teachings and experiences that connect us with the divine. Exhilarating reading, Pagels's book offers a model of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the lively and exciting prose of a good mystery writer.

Out of the Flames; The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World, by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone.

Early Unitarian Michael Servetus is one of those hidden figureheads of history who is remembered not for his name, but for the revolutionary deeds that stand in his place. Both a scientist and a non-trinitarian theologian, Servetus is credited with the discovery of pulmonary circulation in the human body as well as the authorship of a polemical masterpiece that cost him his life. The Chrisitianismi Restituto, a heretical work of biblical scholarship, written in 1553, aimed to refute the orthodox Christianity that Servetus' old colleague, John Calvin, supported. After the book spread through Europe, Servetus was tried and agonizingly burned at the stake by the Protestant hierarchy of Geneva, the last known copy of the Restitutio chained to his leg. Servetus's execution is significant because it marked a turning point in the quest for freedom of expression, due largely to the development of the printing press and the proliferation of books in Renaissance Europe. Three copies of the Restitutio managed to survive the burning, despite every effort on the part of his enemies to destroy them. As a result, the book became almost a surrogate for its author, going into hiding and relying on covert distribution until it could be read freely, centuries later.

The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas, by John Matthews and Caitlin Matthews.

This beautiful illustrated book by Celtic and Arthurian folklorist John Matthews presents the history of modern Christmas rituals. Trying to combat the commercialization of Christmas, Matthews explains how the solstice is celebrated around the world and how the dates of Christmas are different in different cultures. He discusses the traditions of Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, and others, including mention of a short story featuring Santa Claus's evil twin, Bob. Also included is information on the Twelve Days of Christmas, solstice animals, and celebrations. Each engagingly written chapter contains a celebration for readers to try themselves. Highly recommended for public libraries and undergraduate collections emphasizing folklore, sociology, and religion.

The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels, by Thomas Cahill.

Thomas Cahill, author of the bestselling How The Irish Saved Civilization, continues his Hinges of History series with The Gifts of the Jews, a light-handed, popular account of ancient Jewish culture, the culture of the Bible. The book is written from a decidedly modern point of view. Cahill notes, for instance, that Abraham moved the Jews from Ur to the land of Canaan "to improve their prospects," and that the leering inhabitants of Sodom surrounded Lot's lodging "like the ghouls in Night of the Living Dead." The Gifts of the Jews nonetheless encourages us to see the Old Testament through ancient eyes--to see its characters not as our contemporaries but as those of Gilgamesh and Amenhotep. Cahill also lingers on often-overlooked books of the Bible, such as Ruth, to discuss changes in ancient sensibility. The result is a fine, speculative, eminently readable work of history.

The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality, by Brian Greene.

String theory is a recent development in physics that, by positing that all which exists is composed of infinitesimally small vibrating loops of energy, seeks to unify Einstein's theories and those of quantum mechanics into a so-called "theory of everything." In 1999, Greene, one of the world's leading physicists, published The Elegant Universe, a popular presentation of string theory that became a major bestseller and a highly rated PBS/Nova series. The strength of the book resided in Greene's ability to translate higher mathematics and its findings into everyday language and images, through adept use of metaphor and analogy, and crisp, witty prose. The same virtues adhere to this new book, which offers a lively view of human understanding of space and time, an understanding of which string theory is an as-yet unproven advance. To do this, Greene takes a roughly chronological approach, beginning with Newton, moving through Einstein and quantum physics, and on to string theory and its hypotheses (that there are 11 dimensions, ten of space and one of time; that there may be an abundance of parallel universes; that time travel may be possible, and so on) and imminent experiments that may test some of its tenets. Greene not only makes concepts clear but explains why they matter. This is popular science writing of the highest order, with copious endnotes that, unlike the text, include some math.

A History of God; The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, by Karen Armstrong.

This searching, profound comparative history of the three major monotheistic faiths fearlessly illuminates the sociopolitical ground in which religious ideas take root, blossom and mutate. Armstrong, a British broadcaster, commentator on religious affairs and former Roman Catholic nun, argues that Judaism, Christianity and Islam each developed the idea of a personal God, which has helped believers to mature as full human beings. Yet Armstrong also acknowledges that the idea of a personal God can be dangerous, encouraging us to judge, condemn and marginalize others. Recognizing this, each of the three monotheisms, in their different ways, developed a mystical tradition grounded in a realization that our human idea of God is merely a symbol of an ineffable reality. To Armstrong, modern, aggressively righteous fundamentalists of all three faiths represent "a retreat from God." She views as inevitable a move away from the idea of a personal God who behaves like a larger version of ourselves, and welcomes the grouping of believers toward a notion of God that "works for us in the empirical age."

In Search of Belief, by Joan Chittister. Joan Chittister is a Benedictine sister, past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and a social psychologist with a doctorate in speech communication theory. The renowned Roman Catholic author examines her religion's Apostles' Creed phrase by phrase, offering new interpretations of its themes and new ways of understanding its tenets.

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality Presented in Four Paths, Twenty Six Themes, and Two Questions, by Matthew Fox. Matthew Fox’s book explores the four paths "to that deep, ecstatic center which resides beneath any fear of death": Via Positiva (befriending creation), Via Negativa (befriending darkness, letting go and letting be), Via Creativa (befriending creativity, befriending our divinity) and Via Transformativa (befriending new creation/compassion, celebration, erotic justice). The treatise traces the effect of the advancement of Fall/Redemption theology and the denial of Creation-centered theology on contemporary society. Fox was defrocked by the Roman Catholic Church for the ideologies he supports in this text. This bestseller was named one of the "20 books that changed the world" in New Age Journal's Annual Source Book for 1995.

The World's Religions, by Huston Smith. This book has been the standard introduction to the subject since its first publication in 1958. Smith writes without judgment on the validity of world religions. All we can do is try to listen carefully and with full attention as each voice in turn as it addresses the divine. It is the textbook for LCUUC's monthly discussion groups in the 2003-2004 year.

Gitanjali: A Collection of Prose Translations Made by the Author from the Original Bengali, by Rabindranath Tagore. This is a graciously arranged paperback edition of Tagore's masterwork, in his own translation to English.

From Beginning to End; The Rituals of Our Lives , by Robert Fulghum. This trade-size paperback is a celebration of our everyday lives. Births, weddings, reunions, and funerals, as well as less traditional rituals that can become meaningful through greater mindfulness, are the life-events that Robert Fulghum explores. How we change from moment to moment, year to year, from one stage of life to another, is Fulghum's memorable theme in this book. The retired UU minister teaches us how to address our personal transformations, large and small, with dignity, love, and acceptance.

The Sunflower; On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness , by Simon Wiesenthal, et al. Author Simon Weisenthal recalls his demoralizing life in a concentration camp and his envy of the dead Germans who have sunflowers marking their graves. At the time he assumed his grave would be a mass one, unmarked and forgotten. Then, one day, a dying Nazi soldier asks Weisenthal for forgiveness for his crimes against the Jews. What would you do? This important book and the provocative question it poses is birthing debates, symposiums, and college courses. The Dalai Lama, Harry Wu, Primo Levi, and others who have witnessed genocide and human tyranny answer Wiesenthal's ultimate question on forgiveness.

At the Root of This Longing; Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst , by Carol Lee Flinders. Flinders identifies the four key points at which the paths of spirituality and feminism seem to collide - embracing silence vs. finding voice, relinquishing ego vs. establishing self, resisting desire vs. reclaiming the body, and enclosure vs. freedom - and sets out to discover not only the sources of these conflicts, but how they can be reconciled. This book was the subject of a local UU book discussion group.

The Demon-Haunted World; Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan. This is a cautionary set of essays by the recently deceased astronomer and popularizer of scientific thinking. He presents a history and a survey of the current state of superstition. Why is it that so many people cling to beliefs which fly in the face of scientific evidence even at the close of the twentieth century?

Walking A Sacred Path; Rediscovering the Labyrinth As A Spiritual Tool, by Lauren Artress. This is a meditational account of the rediscovery of an ancient meditational technique, the labyrinth, a "spiritual tool" that predates Christianity and was widely used in Christian spirituality until the sixteenth century. Artress, canon of Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco, combines an interesting historical account of the labyrinth and its inclusion in medieval cathedrals.