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	<title>Philosophy of religion &#8211; The Bell Bookshop</title>
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	<title>Philosophy of religion &#8211; The Bell Bookshop</title>
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		<title>The Supreme Gift</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/the-supreme-gift/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p><strong>The greatest treasure in the spiritual life is not faith, but love.</strong></p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>The greatest treasure in the spiritual life is not faith, but love.</strong></p>
<p>Love is humankind&#8217;s supreme gift and the core of internationally beloved author, Paulo Coelho&#8217;s, message. In <em>The Supreme Gift</em> he adapts the classic wisdom of the 19th century biologist, Henry Drummond St Paul, offering a powerful message that will help us incorporate love into our daily lives to experience all its transformational power.</p>
<p>Henry Drummond defined love as the culmination of 9 elements: patience, kindness, generosity, humility, gentleness, dedication, tolerance, sincerity and innocence. Reflecting on this, Paulo Coelho brings us on his own journey of deepening his practice of love.</p>
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		<title>Lost in the Forest</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/lost-in-the-forest-2/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&#038;p=53907</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[This work is a hymn to getting lost. Drawing on his experience as a troubled schoolboy, a burnt-out screenwriter at the BBC, an 'awkward' priest in the Church of England, Colin Heber-Percy reflects on the value of not belonging.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><b>&#8216;A message of hope&#8217; <i>TLS</i></b><br /><b>&#8216;Inspiring&#8217; <i>Spectator</i></b><br /><b>&#8216;A sumptuous mix of poetry, story and deep philosophical truths&#8217; FERGUS BUTLER-GALLIE</b><br /><b>&#8216;Colin Heber-Percy is a reliable guide&#8217; REV RICHARD COLES</b></p>
<p>This book is a hymn to getting lost. Drawing on his experience as a troubled schoolboy, a burnt-out screenwriter at the BBC, an &#8216;awkward&#8217; priest in the Church of England, Colin Heber-Percy reflects on the value of <i>not </i>belonging&#8230;</p>
<p>We all share a desire to belong. There&#8217;s reassurance and safety in knowing who we are and where we fit in. But at significant moments in our lives &#8211; a new job, new school or an unexpected change of circumstances &#8211; or just in the ruts and routines of everyday life, we can experience a sense of not belonging, of dislocation, of being lost in a forest. But, there is another way to approach these uneasy moments. Rather than fearing the forest, Colin discovers great value and creativity there.</p>
<p>Join parish priest Colin Heber-Percy in an invitation to get lost &#8211; to lose the labels society and institutions use to box us in &#8211; and to relish the liberation of losing our way in the world. Blending anecdotes from parish life, with philosophy, literature and tales from his local Savernake Forest, Colin argues that there is an overlooked richness, a spirituality and a freedom to be found outside the boundary lines our culture sets for us.</p>
<p><b><i>Lost in the Forest</i> is a gentle, funny, and life-affirming trail of crumbs through the woods&#8230;</b></p>
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		<title>Why We Believe</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/why-we-believe-2/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&#038;p=53413</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>A bold argument for the centrality of belief in our everyday lives.</p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Belief: surely it&#8217;s a relic from the past, a hangover from a superstitious age that is totally out of sync with today&#8217;s rational, science-led culture?</strong></p>
<p><strong>&#8216;A timely, often bracing and always highly stimulating book.&#8217;  Tom Holland,  author of  <em>Dominion  </em>and co-host of  <em>The Rest is History</em></strong></p>
<p>In today&#8217;s science-driven, rational world, belief is dismissed as an artefact of a bygone era &#8211; something absurd at best, harmful at worst. The prevailing narratives paint belief as primitive, weird, even dangerous.</p>
<p>But as life grows ever more confusing and our societies more atomised, contemplating something bigger than ourselves has never been more vital.</p>
<p>Alister McGrath offers a fresh perspective on belief, presenting it not as a weakness of rational thought but as an essential tool for navigating uncertainty. Elegant and thought-provoking,<em> Why We Believe</em> reveals how belief provides meaning in the face of existential despair, how it fosters community and offers solace.</p>
<p>As society moves beyond the dismissive rhetoric surrounding people of faith, here is a powerful manifesto for the re-enchantment of the Western mind.</p>
<p><strong>&#8216;Scholarly, compulsively readable and with gems of information on every page&#8230; a must read.&#8217; Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie, author of  <em>A Field Guide to the English Clergy</em></strong></p>
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		<title>All Things Are Full of Gods</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/all-things-are-full-of-gods-2/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&#038;p=52025</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[In a blossoming garden located far outside all worlds, a group of aging Greek gods have gathered to discuss the nature of existence, the mystery of mind, and whether there is a transcendent God from whom all things come. Turning to Eros, Psyche asks, 'Do you see this flower, my love?' So begins David Bentley Hart's unprecedented exploration of the mystery of consciousness. Writing in the form of a Platonic dialogue, he systematically subjects the mechanical view of nature that has prevailed in Western culture for four centuries to dialectical interrogation. Powerfully rehabilitating a classical view in which mental acts are irreducible to material causes, he argues through the gods' exchanges that the foundation of all reality is spiritual or mental rather than material.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><b>A world-renowned philosopher&#8217;s genre-defying exploration of the mystery of consciousness</b></p>
<p><b>&#8220;[A] masterpiece. . . . The most thorough and rigorous account of the nature of reality to be published in a century.&#8221;-James Matthew Wilson, <i>World Magazine</i></b></p>
<p> In a blossoming garden located far outside all worlds, a group of aging Greek gods have gathered to discuss the nature of existence, the mystery of mind, and whether there is a transcendent God from whom all things come. Turning to Eros, Psyche asks, &#8220;Do you see this flower, my love?&#8221;</p>
<p> So begins David Bentley Hart&#8217;s unprecedented exploration of the mystery of consciousness. Writing in the form of a Platonic dialogue, he systematically subjects the mechanical view of nature that has prevailed in Western culture for four centuries to dialectical interrogation. Powerfully rehabilitating a classical view in which mental acts are irreducible to material causes, he argues through the gods&#8217; exchanges that the foundation of all reality is spiritual or mental rather than material. The structures of mind, organic life, and even language together attest to an infinite act of intelligence in all things that we may as well call God.</p>
<p> Engaging contemporary debates on the philosophy of mind, free will, revolutions in physics and biology, the history of science, computational models of mind, artificial intelligence, information theory, linguistics, cultural disenchantment, and the metaphysics of nature, Hart calls readers back to an enchanted world in which nature is the residence of mysterious and vital intelligences. He suggests that there is a very special wisdom to be gained when we, in Psyche&#8217;s words, &#8220;devote more time to the contemplation of living things and less to the fabrication of machines.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Transcendence for Beginners</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/transcendence-for-beginners/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p><em>Transcendence for Beginners</em>Â marries a philosophy of religious life with a philosophy of the heart, and asserts Carlisle's place as one of our most innovative thinkers.</p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Transcendence for Beginners</em>  examines life writing and philosophy across certain European and Indian traditions, exploring questions of childhood and mortality, art and religion, beauty and loss. Informed by her experience as a biographer of SÃ¸ren Kierkegaard and George Eliot as well as her own life, Clare Carlisle asks what one human existence can reveal, and how writing can transmit its truth. Intellectually stimulating and deeply moving,  <em>Transcendence for Beginners</em>  enacts a philosophy of the heart, told by a generous and compelling guide. This bold, enlivening work asserts Carlisle&#8217;s place as one of our most innovative thinkers.<em><br /></em></p>
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		<title>The God desire</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/the-god-desire-2/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&#038;p=47472</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p><strong>From the bestselling author of Jews Don't Count</strong></p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>From the bestselling author of Jews Don&#8217;t Count</strong></p>
<p>&#8216; A hugely heartfelt, funny, kind, fascinating, human and clever book &#8216; <strong>ALAIN DE BOTTON</strong><br />&#8216; Magnificent. Breathtaking. And shockingly rare ? another one-sitting wonder&#8217; <strong>STEPHEN FRY</strong></p>
<p>David Baddiel would love there to be a God. He has spent a lot of time fantasising about how much better life would be if there actually was such a thing as a Superhero Dad who chased off Death. Unfortunately for him, there isn&#8217;t. Or at least, that is Baddiel&#8217;s view in this book, which argues that it is indeed the very intensity of his, and everyone else&#8217;s, desire for God to exist that proves His non-existence. Anything so deeply wished-for we will, considers Baddiel, make real. The admission of his own divine yearnings makes for a book that is more vulnerable &#8211; and more understanding of the value and power of religion &#8211; than most atheist polemics. A philosophical essay that utilises Baddiel&#8217;s trademarks of comedy, storytelling and personal asides, The God Desire offers a highly readable new perspective on the most ancient of debates.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Lost in the forest</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/lost-in-the-forest/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&#038;p=46051</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[This work is a hymn to getting lost. Drawing on his experience as a troubled schoolboy, a burnt-out screenwriter at the BBC, an 'awkward' priest in the Church of England, Colin Heber-Percy reflects on the value of not belonging.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><b><i>&#8216;</i>Colin Heber-Percy is a reliable guide&#8217; &#8211; THE REVEREND RICHARD COLES</b><br /><i><br />Where am I? Who am I? And why didn&#8217;t I bring a sandwich&#8230;?</i></p>
<p>This book is a hymn to getting lost. Drawing on his experience as a troubled schoolboy, a burnt-out screenwriter at the BBC, an &#8216;awkward&#8217; priest in the Church of England, Colin Heber-Percy reflects on the value of <i>not </i>belonging&#8230;</p>
<p>We all share a desire to belong. There&#8217;s reassurance and safety in knowing who we are and where we fit in. But at significant moments in our lives &#8211; a new job, new school or an unexpected change of circumstances &#8211; or just in the ruts and routines of everyday life, we can experience a sense of not belonging, of dislocation, of being lost in a forest. But, there is another way to approach these uneasy moments. Rather than fearing the forest, Colin discovers great value and creativity there.</p>
<p>Join parish priest Colin Heber-Percy in an invitation to get lost &#8211; to lose the labels society and institutions use to box us in &#8211; and to relish the liberation of losing our way in the world. Blending anecdotes from parish life, with philosophy, literature and tales from his local Savernake Forest, Colin argues that there is an overlooked richness, a spirituality and a freedom to be found outside the boundary lines our culture sets for us.</p>
<p><b><i>Lost in the Forest</i> is a gentle, funny, and life-affirming trail of crumbs through the woods&#8230;</b></p>
<p><b>PRAISE FOR COLIN HEBER-PERCY:</b></p>
<p><b>&#8216;Colin Heber-Percy&#8217;s prose is flowing and he writes amusingly, perceptively and beautifully&#8217; ? <i>KATE GREEN</i>, Country Life</b></p>
<p><b>&#8216;A gentle, generous spirit.&#8217; ? SIMON RUSSELL BEALE</b></p>
<p><b>&#8216;A Wordsworthian appreciation of nature and is full of humanity and wisdom.&#8217; ? SARAH SANDS, journalist and author of &#8216;The Interior Silence&#8217;</b></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Why we believe</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/why-we-believe/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&#038;p=45268</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>A bold argument for the centrality of belief in our everyday lives.</p>]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Belief: surely it&#8217;s a relic from the past, a hangover from a superstitious age that is totally out of sync with today&#8217;s rational, science-led culture?</strong></p>
<p><strong>&#8216;A timely, often bracing and always highly stimulating book.&#8217;  Tom Holland,  author of  <em>Dominion  </em>and co-host of  <em>The Rest is History</em></strong></p>
<p>In today&#8217;s science-driven, rational world, belief is dismissed as an artefact of a bygone era &#8211; something absurd at best, harmful at worst. The prevailing narratives paint belief as primitive, weird, even dangerous.</p>
<p>But as life grows ever more confusing and our societies more atomised, contemplating something bigger than ourselves has never been more vital.</p>
<p>Alister McGrath offers a fresh perspective on belief, presenting it not as a weakness of rational thought but as an essential tool for navigating uncertainty. Elegant and thought-provoking,<em> Why We Believe</em> reveals how belief provides meaning in the face of existential despair, how it fosters community and offers solace.</p>
<p>As society moves beyond the dismissive rhetoric surrounding people of faith, here is a powerful manifesto for the re-enchantment of the Western mind.</p>
<p><strong>&#8216;Scholarly, compulsively readable and with gems of information on every page&#8230; a must read.&#8217; Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie, author of  <em>A Field Guide to the English Clergy</em></strong></p>
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		<title>We who wrestle with God</title>
		<link>https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/we-who-wrestle-with-god/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Emma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&#038;p=44671</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Jordan Peterson guides us through the ancient, foundational stories of the Western world, analysing the Biblical accounts of rebellion, sacrifice, suffering and triumph that stabilise, inspire and unite us, culturally and psychologically. Adam and Eve and the eternal fall of mankind; the resentful and ultimately murderous war of Cain and Abel; the cataclysmic flood of Noah, the spectacular collapse of the Tower of Babel; Abraham's terrible adventure, and the epic of Moses and the Israelites: What could such stories possibly mean? What force wrote and assembled them, over the long centuries? How did they bring our spirits and the world together, and point us in the same direction? It is time for us to understand such things, scientifically and spiritually; to become conscious of the structure of our souls and our societies - to see ourselves and others as if for the first time.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><b>The revolutionary new offering from Jordan B. Peterson, renowned psychologist and author of the global bestseller <i>12 Rules for Life</i></b> </p>
<p>In <i>We Who Wrestle with God</i>, Jordan Peterson guides us through the ancient, foundational stories of the Western world, analyzing the Biblical accounts of rebellion, sacrifice, suffering and triumph that stabilize, inspire and unite us, culturally and psychologically. Adam and Eve and the eternal fall of mankind; the resentful and ultimately murderous war of Cain and Abel; the cataclysmic flood of Noah, the spectacular collapse of the Tower of Babel; Abraham&#8217;s terrible adventure, and the epic of Moses and the Israelites: What could such stories possibly mean? What force wrote and assembled them, over the long centuries? How did they bring our spirits and the world together, and point us in the same direction? </p>
<p>It is time for us to understand such things, scientifically and spiritually; to become conscious of the structure of our souls and our societies &#8211; to see ourselves and others as if for the first time.  </p>
<p>Join Elijah as he discovers the Voice of God in the dictates of his own conscience, and Jonah, confronting hell itself, in the belly of the whale, because he failed to listen and act. Set yourself straight in intent, aim and purpose, as you begin to more deeply understand the structure of your society and your soul. Journey with Jordan Peterson through the greatest stories ever told. </p>
<p>Dare to wrestle with God.  </p>
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