Short Studies

In a world where not everyone believes in God, "blasphemy" is surely a concept that has passed its use-by-date. And yet blasphemy (like God and religion) seems to be on the rise. In this Very Short Introduction Yvonne Sherwood asks why this should be the case, looking at factors such as the increased visibility of religious and racial minorities, new media, and engines of surveillance (which are far more omniscient than the old gods could ever be), and the legacies of colonial blasphemy laws.

Religion: A Very Short Introduction offers a concise nonpartisan overview of religion's long history and its complicated role in the world today.

Unique among books that examine the bible as literature, this brilliantly compact introduction offers an intriguing double-edged look at this universal text - a religiously informed literary analysis. The book first explores the major sections of the New Testament - the gospels, Paul's letters, and Revelation - as individual literary documents. Keefer shows how, in such familiar stories as the parable of the Good Samaritan, a literary analysis can uncover an unexpected complexity to what seems a simple, straightforward tale.

This book provides a historical account of feminism, exploring its earliest roots as well as key issues including voting rights, the liberation of the '60s, and its relevance today. Margaret Walters touches on the difficulties and inequities that women still face more than 40 years after the "new wave" of 1960s feminism, such as how successful women are at combining domesticity, motherhood, and work outside the house. She brings the subject completely up to date by providing an analysis of the current situation of women across the globe.

This Very Short Introduction provides both the believer and non-believer with a balanced survey of the central questions of theology. David Ford's approach draws us in to considering the principles underlying religious belief, including the centrality of salvation to most major religions; the concept of God in ancient, modern, and postmodern contexts; the challenge posed to theology by prayer and worship; and the issue of sin and evil. He also probes the nature of experience, knowledge, and wisdom in theology, and discusses what is involved in interpreting theological texts.

Bush Studies is a collection of six short stories by the enigmatic Australian author, Barbara Baynton (1857–1929). Embedded in Baynton’s merciless, rugged vistas, these stories highlight the tragedy, harshness and humor of nineteenth century Australian bush life—particularly from the perspective of the women involved.

Many of us have our "go to" verses. The ones we memorize, post on social media, and hang on our walls. But sometimes we need a fresh word or promise for the season we find ourselves in - something that ignites our faith in the face of fear, doubt, loneliness, insecurity, or overwhelming circumstances. In this powerful, accessible new audiobook, author and speaker Laurie Short mines the Scriptures, revealing insights and promises from 40 verses we often overlook. Digging in to these "in between" verses, she unearths fresh wisdom, guidance, and encouragement.

Take an in-depth look at why fiction is so important to the Christian faith and to our overall biblical reading experience and spiritual growth by studying literary devices in short stories and the Bible.

Post-traumatic stress disorder was recognized as a psychiatric disorder in the latter part of the 19th century. In PTSD, Allan V. Horwitz traces the fluctuations in definitions of and responses to traumatic psychic conditions. Arguing that PTSD, perhaps more than any other diagnostic category, is a lens for showing major historical changes in conceptions of mental illness, he surveys the conditions most likely to produce traumas, the results of those traumas, and how to evaluate the claims of trauma victims.

In Polygamy: A Very Short Introduction, Sarah M.S. Pearsall explores what plural marriages reveal about the inner workings of marriage and describes the controversies surrounding it. The book emphasizes the diversity of historical polygamist societies, from the Shi'ite Muslims and Wendat men who practiced short-term marriages to the Mixteca, Maori, Inca, Algonquin, and Marta indigenous people of North America and the Pacific Islands. Pearsall also explains the divides within Christianity that led to Joseph Smith's establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In this Very Short Introduction, Robert Segal introduces the array of approaches used to understand the study of myth. These approaches hail from disciplines as varied as anthropology, sociology, psychology, literary criticism, philosophy, science, and religious studies. Including ideas from theorists as varied as Sigmund Freud, Claude Levi-Strauss, Albert Camus, and Roland Barthes, Segal uses the famous ancient myth of Adonis to analyze their individual approaches and theories.

This audiobook contains condensed versions of 28 literary works intended for study at literature lessons in 7th grade. Russian literature represented with: Alexandr Kuprin "Bely pudel", "Chudesny doktor", Andrey Platonov "Neizvestny tsvetok", "Yushka", Anton Chekhov "Dva rasskaza", Alexandr Pushkin "Grobovschik", Vasily Shukshin "Volki", Evgeny Nosov "Kukla", Ivan Bunin "Dalekoe", Ivan Turgenev "Khor i Kalinych", Leonid Andreev "Kusaka", Maksim Gorky "Larra", and more.

Dr. L.A. Davis earned her Doctorate of Education in Organizational Leadership with an Emphasis in Development in 2018. Her dissertation focused on the blind or visually impaired to understand how this population perceived employment, and how those perceptions motivated them to seek employment. In her first book, she writes about her experience as an online doctoral learner, the difficulties she faced, and how the words “Thank You” changed her journey.

Baby boomers enjoyed the most benign period in human history: 50 years of relative peace, cheap energy, plentiful grain supply, and a warming climate due to the highest solar activity for 8,000 years. The party is over - prepare for the twilight of abundance.

Considerato da molti la testimonianza più completa e importante sullo stretto rapporto esistente tra cibo e salute, The China Study è anche la ricerca più esemplare sulle abitudini alimentari, la dieta e le malattie effettuata sugli esseri umani. Lo studio in particolare contrappone la realtà statunitense con quella delle popolazioni più povere della Cina rurale.

Quando os antigos eslavos ouviam o trovão, sabiam que era Perun falando com eles; quando andavam pelas montanhas, sabiam que tinham de fazê-lo com muito cuidado, pois estavam no reino das vily, as ninfas da floresta. Quando olhavam para o fogo, ali estava Svarog, a divindade desse elemento.

Wives, businesswomen, queens, saints, mothers, daughters and a few antagonists. These brief biographies deliver unique stories of them all. Biblical Women by Cynthia Austin features 54 one minute stories of women in the bible. This is a great way to learn about women in biblical history in an hour! Every woman can relate to at least one of these women.

A Short History of Greek Philosophy takes the listener on a tour of the golden age of philosophy. Marshall shines a spotlight on the origins of Western thought, giving an elegant and concise review of the major philosophers and schools of thought in Greece.

So, what truly motivates us? Daniel Pink, in his remarkable book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us takes us on a journey to discover just that. In this review, we will discuss and analyze some of key concepts of the book. We will discover three main types of motivation, Motivation one-point-zero and Motivation two-point-zero, the latter of which still motivates us today. He later goes on to say that there is a better way, a Motivation three-point-zero. A motivation based upon the inner sense of fulfillment. Let us explore Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and learn what exactly these three types of Motivation are and how they stack up next to one another.

What does it mean to be an American? The story of the African American past demonstrates the difficulty of answering this seemingly simple question. This book illuminates the US's core paradoxes, inviting profound questions about what it means to be an American, a citizen, and a human being. This book considers how, for centuries, African Americans have fought for what the black feminist intellectual Anna Julia Cooper called "the cause of freedom." It begins in Jamestown in 1619, when the first shipment of enslaved Africans arrived in that settlement.