Books by Albert J. LaChance

While some scholars approach the Gospels from an historical point of view, analyzing John in the context of his own personal experience as a follower of Jesus, others focus on John’s roots in ancient Judaism. In this provocative book, Albert LaChance approaches the Gospel of John from the perspective of Eastern mysticism, drawing on indigenous beliefs and ancient global spiritual traditions originating in the Middle East, India, and China. Through this expansive approach, the book attempts to understand John’s Gospel in its richest sense—as a guide to achieving the direct experience of a universal God.Throughout the book, LaChance returns to the Gospel’s Prologue and uses it as a framework for uncovering Jesus’s message about his own identity as the Son of God and his similarities to ancient Eastern mystics. The author also discusses themes woven throughout the Gospel of John that derive from Eastern religions and other indigenous spiritual practices: individual ego versus the essential self, separation versus union, and the earthly versus the heavenly. This important book delves into the mysteries of Christian understanding to unearth universal truths, defining the very essence of religious and spiritual experience.

Addiction, argues Albert LaChance in this insightful book, affects more than the individual who suffers from it. Cultural Addiction shows how contemporary lifestyles have become addictive, consuming the planet''s resources—soil, air, water—in a destructive way that comprises earth''s life systems and endangers the survival of both humankind and other species. This book presents a 12-step program for recovery from these dangerous lifestyles. Identifying such traits as egocentricity, materialism, overeating and drinking, and apathy as products of addiction, the author draws on the world''s spiritual traditions—Hinduism, Buddhism, shamanism, Christianity, and others—to show individuals and communities how to work together to overcome these problems. The 12-step Greenspirit program empowers people to change the way they live in their environment. This “cultural therapy” in turn creates a renewed culture dedicated to protecting—and respecting—the planet.