Download or read book Stepping Stones to a Higher Vision written by Joseph P. Schultz and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-07-29 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stepping Stones to a Higher Vision examines the development of religious consciousness from religion to spirituality to mysticism. This developmental path imaginatively described as “stepping stones” in the title of the book and as “elevators of religion” in chapter one, has its rewards but also its dangers and pitfalls. Intended for the non-specialist lay person interested in religion, as well as the scholar, the book focuses on Jewish tradition and its sources (Hebrew Bible, Talmud-Midrash, and Kabbalah), but in a broad cross-cultural interdisciplinary context. Ritual, prayer, including meditation and contemplation, ethics and morality, religious leadership, and the afterlife are analyzed in the context of sociology, science, and the history of religion.