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Visions Of Sugar Plums (Stephanie Plum #Between-the-numbers)
by Janet EvanovichIt's five days before Christmas and things are not looking merry for Fugitive Apprehension Agent Stephanie Plum. She hasn't got a tree. She hasn't bought any presents. The malls are jam-packed with staggering shoppers. There's not a twinkle light anywhere to be seen in her apartment. <p><p>And there's a strange man in her kitchen. <p><p>Sure, this has happened to Stephanie Plum before. Strangers, weirdos, felons, creeps, and lunatics are always finding their way to her front door. But this guy is different. This guy is mysterious, sexy-and he has his own agenda. His name is Diesel and he is a man on a mission. And Diesel is unlike anyone Stephanie has ever met before in her life. The question is, what does he want with her? Can he help her find a little old toy maker who has skipped out on his bail right before Christmas? Can he survive the Plum family holiday dinner? Can he get Stephanie a tree that doesn't look like it was grown next to a nuclear power plant? These questions and more are keeping Stephanie awake at night. Not to mention the fact that she needs to find a bunch of nasty elves, her sister Valerie has a Christmas "surprise" for the Plums, her niece Mary Alice doesn't believe in Santa anymore, and Grandma Mazur has a new stud muffin. So bring out the plastic reindeer, strap on your jingle bells, and get ready to celebrate the holidays-Jersey style. In Janet Evanovich's Visions of Sugar Plums, the world of Plum has never been merrier!
Visions and Appearances of Jesus
by Phillip H. WiebeCan you imagine how extraordinary and transcendent it would be to have Jesus appear before you? For the people discussed in this book, that is just what happened. This book surveys these awe-inspiring accounts over the centuries and down to the present time.No serious doubt seems to exist that visions of Jesus have occurred and might continue today. Even those who are skeptical about the reality of religious experiences seem to agree that such visions have occurred, although they tend to dismiss them as hallucinations. However, enough reports have occurred in the history of the church to make such reports believable.Visions and Appearances of Jesus examines the remarkable fact that Jesus has seemingly appeared to people in every century. Phillip Wiebe examines this claim, highlighting details of the "encounter experiences" of 28 living people, whom he personally interviewed. He presents ongoing experiences as supporting evidence for the biblical claims that Jesus was seen alive after his death, and defends the resurrection as understood by Christian tradition.
Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics
by Monica FurlongThe women mystics of medieval Europe represent the very first feminine voices heard in a world where women were nearly silent. As such, they are striking and unusual, strange, powerful and urgent. Monica Furlong uses key selections from among these women's own writings and writings about them by their contemporaries, along with her own assessment of them, to open up their contributions to a wide popular audience. The eleven women represented in this anthology were housewives, visionaries, abbesses, beguines, recluses, and nuns who wrote between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. They include: * Héloïse, the scholar and abbess, whose letters to Abelard are treasure of medieval literature * Hildegard of Bingen, the visionary Rhineland nun * Clare of Assisi, the close friend of Saint Francis and founder of the Poor Clares * Catherine of Siena, an influential spiritual counselor whose book, Dialogue, consists of a debate between herself and God * Julian of Norwich, the English hermitess who spent the greater part of her life meditating on and coming to understand the striking visions she received as a young woman * and many others
Visions in a Seer Stone: Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon
by William L. DavisIn this interdisciplinary work, William L. Davis examines Joseph Smith's 1829 creation of the Book of Mormon, the foundational text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Positioning the text in the history of early American oratorical techniques, sermon culture, educational practices, and the passion for self-improvement, Davis elucidates both the fascinating cultural context for the creation of the Book of Mormon and the central role of oral culture in early nineteenth-century America.Drawing on performance studies, religious studies, literary culture, and the history of early American education, Davis analyzes Smith's process of oral composition. How did he produce a history spanning a period of 1,000 years, filled with hundreds of distinct characters and episodes, all cohesively tied together in an overarching narrative? Eyewitnesses claimed that Smith never looked at notes, manuscripts, or books—he simply spoke the words of this American religious epic into existence. Judging the truth of this process is not Davis's interest. Rather, he reveals a kaleidoscope of practices and styles that converged around Smith's creation, with an emphasis on the evangelical preaching styles popularized by the renowned George Whitefield and John Wesley.
Visions of Agapé: Problems and Possibilities in Human and Divine Love
by Craig A. BoydThis book brings together philosophical and theological perspectives on agapistic love. The aim of the text is to illuminate the nature of unlimited love by distinct and integrative approaches to the intersection of the divine and the human. Various scientific approaches to human forms of love seem to shed light on our nature as social beings. But to what extent are the natural desires for affection, sexual love and friendship augmented, revised, perfected or replaced by the gift of grace? In other words, we can ask how is it that agapé modifies or shapes the natural loves? Diverse theological and moral traditions address the question in quite startling contrast. Thomists follow the dictum that 'Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it'. Lutherans draw a sharp contrast between law and Gospel while Wesleyans see charity as the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Some feminist theorists see the idea of self-giving love as contrary to genuine self-fulfilment while the neo-Kantians see love as a duty to others, and some Kierkegaardians see the command to love as an unusual manifestation of divine command ethics. These diverse approaches, in light of contemporary research in the natural and social sciences, can provide fertile ground for the exploration of the intersection of human and divine love. To date, there is no text available that brings scholars from various theological and philosophical backgrounds together to engage in interdisciplinary dialogue on this important and much neglected aspect of research into the human and divine loves. This book offers a significant attempt to remedy the situation.
Visions of British Culture from the Reformation to Romanticism: The Protestant Discovery of Tradition (Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700–2000)
by Celestina Savonius-WrothThis book is a major new contribution to the study of cultural identities in Britain and Ireland from the Reformation to Romanticism. It provides a fresh perspective on the rise of interest in British vernacular (or “folk”) cultures, which has often been elided with the emergence of British Romanticism and its Continental precursors. Here the Romantics’ discovery of and admiration for vernacular traditions is placed in a longer historical timeline reaching back to the controversies sparked by the Protestant Reformation. The book charts the emergence of a nuanced discourse about vernacular cultures, developing in response to the Reformers’ devastating attack on customary practices and beliefs relating to the natural world, seasonal festivities, and rites of passage. It became a discourse grounded in humanist Biblical and antiquarian scholarship; informed by the theological and pastoral problems of the long period of religious instability after the Reformation; and, over the course of the eighteenth century, colored by new ideas about culture drawn from Enlightenment historicism and empiricism. This study shows that Romantic literary primitivism and Romantic social thought, both radical and conservative, grew out of this rich context. It will be welcomed by historians of early modern and eighteenth-century Britain and those interested in the study of religious and vernacular cultures.
Visions of Deliverance: Moriscos and the Politics of Prophecy in the Early Modern Mediterranean
by Mayte Green-MercadoIn Visions of Deliverance, Mayte Green-Mercado traces the circulation of Muslim and crypto-Muslim apocalyptic texts known as joferes through formal and informal networks of merchants, Sufis, and other channels of diffusion among Muslims and Christians across the Mediterranean from Constantinople and Venice to Morisco towns in eastern Spain. The movement of these prophecies from the eastern to the western edges of the Mediterranean illuminates strategies of Morisco cultural and political resistance, reconstructing both productive and oppositional interactions and exchanges between Muslims and Christians in the early modern Mediterranean.Challenging a historiography that has primarily understood Morisco apocalyptic thought as the expression of a defeated group that was conscious of the loss of their culture and identity, Green-Mercado depicts Moriscos not simply as helpless victims of Christian oppression but as political actors whose use of end-times discourse helped define and construct their society anew. Visions of Deliverance helps us understand the implications of confessionalization, forced conversion, and assimilation in the early modern period and the intellectual and theological networks that shaped politics and identity across the Mediterranean in this era.
Visions of Development: Faith-based Initiatives
by Wendy R. TyndaleVisions of Development presents first-hand stories of groups and movements from many different religious and spiritual traditions that are working with impoverished communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It provides unique insights into how people's beliefs and spirituality can help to inform not only what they perceive 'development' to be but also how they go about achieving it. Through real-life examples of courageous and innovative work, the stories challenge much of the theory and practice of mainstream development agencies while also showing how religious inspiration can be a force for radical and positive change.
Visions of Peace: Asia and The West (Justice, International Law and Global Security)
by Vicki A. SpencerVisions of Peace: Asia and the West explores the diversity of past conceptualizations as well as the remarkable continuity in the hope for peace across global intellectual traditions. Current literature, prompted by September 11, predominantly focuses on the laws and ethics of just wars or modern ideals of peace. Asian and Western ideals of peace before the modern era have largely escaped scholarly attention. This book examines Western and Asian visions of peace that existed prior to c.1800 by bringing together experts from a variety of intellectual traditions. The historical survey ranges from ancient Greek thought, early Christianity and medieval scholasticism to Hinduism, classical Confucianism and Tokuguwa Japanese learning, before illuminating unfamiliar aspects of peace visions in the European Enlightenment. Each chapter offers a particular case study and attempts to rehabilitate a 'forgotten' conception of peace and reclaim its contemporary relevance. Collectively they provide the conceptual resources to inspire more creative thinking towards a new vision of peace in the present. Students and specialists in international relations, peace studies, history, political theory, philosophy, and religious studies will find this book a valuable resource on diverse conceptions of peace.
Visions of Power: Imagining Medieval Japanese Buddhism
by Bernard FaureBernard Faure's previous works are well known as guides to some of the more elusive aspects of the Chinese tradition of Chan Buddhism and its outgrowth, Japanese Zen. Continuing his efforts to look at Chan/Zen with a full array of postmodernist critical techniques, Faure now probes the imaginaire, or mental universe, of the Buddhist Soto Zen master Keizan Jokin (1268-1325). Although Faure's new book may be read at one level as an intellectual biography, Keizan is portrayed here less as an original thinker than as a representative of his culture and an example of the paradoxes of the Soto school. The Chan/Zen doctrine that he avowed was allegedly reasonable and demythologizing, but he lived in a psychological world that was just as imbued with the marvelous as was that of his contemporary Dante Alighieri. Drawing on his own dreams to demonstrate that he possessed the magical authority that he felt to reside also in icons and relics, Keizan strove to use these "visions of power" to buttress his influence as a patriarch. To reveal the historical, institutional, ritual, and visionary elements in Keizan's life and thought and to compare these to Soto doctrine, Faure draws on largely neglected texts, particularly the Record of Tokoku (a chronicle that begins with Keizan's account of the origins of the first of the monasteries that he established) and the kirigami, or secret initiation documents.
Visions of Queer Martyrdom from John Henry Newman to Derek Jarman
by Dominic JanesWith all the heated debates around religion and homosexuality today, it might be hard to see the two as anything but antagonistic. But in this book, Dominic Janes reveals the opposite: Catholic forms of Christianity, he explains, played a key role in the evolution of the culture and visual expression of homosexuality and male same-sex desire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He explores this relationship through the idea of queer martyrdom closeted queer servitude to Christ a concept that allowed a certain degree of latitude for the development of same-sex desire. Janes finds the beginnings of queer martyrdom in the nineteenth-century Church of England and the controversies over Cardinal John Henry Newman s sexuality. He then considers how liturgical expression of queer desire in the Victorian Eucharist provided inspiration for artists looking to communicate their own feelings of sexual deviance. After looking at Victorian monasteries as queer families, he analyzes how the Biblical story of David and Jonathan could be used to create forms of same-sex partnerships. Finally, he delves into how artists and writers employed ecclesiastical material culture to further queer self-expression, concluding with studies of Oscar Wilde and Derek Jarman that illustrate both the limitations and ongoing significance of Christianity as an inspiration for expressions of homoerotic desire. Providing historical context to help us reevaluate the current furor over homosexuality in the Church, this fascinating book brings to light the myriad ways that modern churches and openly gay men and women can learn from the wealth of each other s cultural and spiritual experience. "
Visions of Sodom: Religion, Homoerotic Desire, and the End of the World in England, c. 1550–1850
by H.G. CocksThe book of Genesis records the fiery fate of Sodom and Gomorrah—a storm of fire and brimstone was sent from heaven and, for the wickedness of the people, God destroyed the cities “and all the plains, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.” According to many Protestant theologians and commentators, one of the Sodomites’ many crimes was homoerotic excess. In Visions of Sodom, H. G. Cocks examines the many different ways in which the story of Sodom’s destruction provided a template for understanding homoerotic desire and behaviour in Britain between the Reformation and the nineteenth century. Sodom was not only a marker of sexual sins, but also the epitome of false—usually Catholic—religion, an exemplar of the iniquitous city, a foreshadowing of the world’s fiery end, an epitome of divine and earthly punishment, and an actual place that could be searched for and discovered. Visions of Sodom investigates each of these ways of reading Sodom’s annihilation in the three hundred years after the Reformation. The centrality of scripture to Protestant faith meant that Sodom’s demise provided a powerful origin myth of homoerotic desire and sexual excess, one that persisted across centuries, and retains an apocalyptic echo in the religious fundamentalism of our own time.
Visions of Unity: The Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden's New Interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka
by Yaroslav KomarovskiThis landmark book discusses the thought of Tibetan Buddhist thinker Shakya Chokden (1428–1507) on the two major systems of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Influential and controversial in his own day, Shakya Chokden's thought fell out of favor over time and his writings were eventually repressed, becoming available again only in the 1970s. Yet, his startling interpretations of the core areas of Buddhist thought remain valuable and well worth consideration today. Yaroslav Komarovski has used the twenty-four volumes of Shakya Chokden's collected work to provide a systematic presentation of a central aspect of his thought: a reconciliation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka. Providing a detailed analysis of the two systems' mutual refutations of each other, Shakya Chokden argues for their fundamental compatibility and shared vision.In analyzing Shakya Chokden's ideas, Komarovski explores some of the most important issues of both traditional and modern Buddhist scholarship, including contested approaches to the nature of reality, the relationship between philosophy and contemplative practice, inter- and intrasectarian Buddhist polemics, and the nature of consciousness and mental processes.
Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good
by Steven GarberIs it possible to know the world and still love the world? Of all the questions we ask about our calling, this is the most difficult. From marriages to international relations, the more we know, the harder it is to love. We become cynics or stoics, protecting our hearts from the implications of what we know. But what if the vision of vocation can be recovered--allowing us to step into the wounds of the world and for love's sake take up our responsibility for the way the world turns out? For decades Steve Garber has come alongside a wide range of people as they seek to make sense of the world and their lives. With him we meet leaders from the Tiananmen Square protest who want a good reason to still care about China. We also meet with many ordinary people in ordinary places who long for their lives to matter: Jonathan who learned he would rather build houses than study history Todd and Maria who adopted creative schedules so they could parent better and practice medicine D.J. who helped Congress move into the Internet Age Robin who spends her life on behalf of urban justice Hans who makes hamburgers the way they are meant to be made Susan who built a home business of hand-printing stationary using a letterpress Santiago who works with majority-world nations in need of capital George who has given years to teaching students to learn things that matter most Claudius and Deirdre whose openhearted home has always been a place for people Dan who loves Wyoming, the place, its people and its cows Vocation is when we come to know the world in all its joy and pain and still love it. Vocation is following our calling to seek the welfare of the world we live in. And in helping the world to flourish, strangely, mysteriously, we find that we flourish too. Garber offers a book for everyone everywhere--for students, for parents, for those in the arts, in the academy, in public service, in the trades and in commerce--for all who want to discover the virtue of vocation.
Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good
by Steven GarberForeword Review's 17th Annual INDIEFAB Book of the Year Finalist (Religion)12th Annual Outreach Resource of the Year (Culture)2015 Christianity Today Award of Merit (Christian Living)2014 Leadership Journal Best Books for Church Leaders (The Leader's Outer Life)2014 Book of the Year from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds BookstoreJonathan who learned he would rather build houses than study historyTodd and Maria who adopted creative schedules so they could parent better and practice medicine D.J. who helped Congress move into the Internet Age Robin who spends her life on behalf of urban justiceHans who makes hamburgers the way they are meant to be madeSusan who built a home business of hand-printing stationary using a letterpress Santiago who works with majority-world nations in need of capital George who has given years to teaching students to learn things that matter mostClaudius and Deirdre whose openhearted home has always been a place for peopleDan who loves Wyoming, the place, its people and its cows
Visions of Zion: Ethiopians and Rastafari in the Search for the Promised Land
by Erin C. MacLeodInreggae song after reggae song Bob Marley and other reggae singers speak of thePromised Land of Ethiopia. “Repatriation is a must!” they cry. The Rastafarihave been travelling to Ethiopia since the movement originated in Jamaica in1930s. They consider it the Promised Land, and repatriation is acornerstone of their faith. Though Ethiopians see Rastafari as immigrants, theRastafari see themselves as returning members of the Ethiopian diaspora.In Visions of Zion, Erin C. MacLeod offers the first in-depthinvestigation into how Ethiopians perceive Rastafari andRastafarians within Ethiopia and the role this unique immigrantcommunity plays within Ethiopian society.Rastafariare unusual among migrants, basing their movements on spiritual rather thaneconomic choices. This volume offers those who study the movement a broaderunderstanding of the implications of repatriation. Taking the Ethiopianperspective into account, it argues that migrant and diaspora identitiesare the products of negotiation, and it illuminates the implications of thisnegotiation for concepts of citizenship, as well as for our understandings ofpan-Africanism and south-south migration. Providing a rare look at migration to a non-Western country, this volumealso fills a gap in the broader immigration studies literature.
Visions of a Better World
by Quinton H. Dixie Peter EisenstadtThe first biographical exploration of one of the most important African American religious thinkers of the twentieth century--Howard Thurman--and of the pivotal trip he took to India that ultimately shaped the course of the civil rights movement. In 1935, Howard Thurman took a trip to India that would forever change him. He became the first African American to meet with Mahatma Gandhi and found himself called to create a version of American Christianity that was intolerant of self-imposed racial and religious boundaries. Deeply influenced by Gandhi's philosophy and practice of satyagraha, his translation of the idea into a Black Christian context became one of the key tenets of the civil rights movement, influencing an entire generation of black ministers--most notably Martin Luther King, Jr. Visions of a Better Worldexplores this pivotal trip and its effect on the very shape of the civil rights tradition. Drawing from previously untapped archival material and obscurely published works, Quinton Dixie and Peter Eisenstadt outline, for the first time, Thurman's development into the towering theologian who would so profoundly influence the epochal shift in U. S. race relations in the mid-twentieth century.
Visions of a Better World
by Peter Eisenstadt Quinton DixieIn 1935, at the height of his powers, Howard Thurman, one of the most influential African American religious thinkers of the twentieth century, took a pivotal trip to India that would forever change him--and that would ultimately shape the course of the civil rights movement in the United States. When Thurman (1899-1981) became the first African American to meet with Mahatma Gandhi, he found himself called upon to create a new version of American Christianity, one that eschewed self-imposed racial and religious boundaries, and equipped itself to confront the enormous social injustices that plagued the United States during this period. Gandhi's philosophy and practice of satyagraha, or "soul force," would have a momentous impact on Thurman, showing him the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance. After the journey to India, Thurman's distinctly American translation of satyagraha into a Black Christian context became one of the key inspirations for the civil rights movement, fulfilling Gandhi's prescient words that "it may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world." Thurman went on to found one of the first explicitly interracial congregations in the United States and to deeply influence an entire generation of black ministers--among them Martin Luther King Jr. Visions of a Better World depicts a visionary leader at a transformative moment in his life. Drawing from previously untapped archival material and obscurely published works, Quinton Dixie and Peter Eisenstadt explore, for the first time, Thurman's development into a towering theologian who would profoundly affect American Christianity--and American history.
Visions of a Compassionate World: Guided Imagery for Spiritual Growth and Social Transformation
by Menachem EksteinFirst printed in 1921, Visions of a Compassionate World is a practical guide for spiritual development that addresses the whole person: mind, body, and soul. In an age of self-discovery and the search for self-awareness, this dynamic work brings clarity through meditation, guided imagery, psychology, and kabbalah. With its uplifting message of universal peace, this book reveals a spiritual path away from ego traps and self-centered consciousness and toward the pursuit of a more compassionate life.
Visit the Sick: Ministering God’s Grace in Times of Illness (Practical Shepherding Series)
by Brian Croft Mark DeverHow Do You Care for the Sick? Here’s How. One of the marks of the ministry of Jesus is his compassionate care for the sick. Jesus brought healing and hope to individuals struggling with life-debilitating illnesses. Ministry to the sick should also be a mark of his followers, but in many churches today it is neglected or pushed to the periphery of ministry concerns. To counter our modern tendency to minimize or ignore sickness, pastor Brian Croft looks to paradigms of the past and examines historical models of care that honor God, obey the teachings of Scripture, and communicate loving care to those who are struggling with sickness and disease. Part of the Practical Shepherding series of resources, Visit the Sick provides pastors and ministry leaders with real-world help to do the work of pastoral ministry in a local church. Visit the Sick gives pastors, church leaders, and caregivers the biblical, theological, pastoral, and practical tools they need to navigate through both the spiritual and physical care of the sick and dying.
Visitas desde el cielo: El encuentro revelador de un hombre con la muerte, el duelo y el consuelo desde el más allá.
by Pete DeisonUn trágico suicidio pudo haber terminado la vida terrenal de Harriet Deison, pero no terminó la historia de amor que tenia con su esposo, Pete. Su conexión continuó mediante los sueños que Pete ha tenido con Harriet desde su nuevo hogar en el cielo.Has escuchado muchos relatos de visitas al cielo, pero ¿qué hay de las visitas desde el cielo?El sábado 29 de diciembre de 2012, cuatro días después de Navidad, Harriet Deison desapareció repentinamente. Tenía una vida maravillosa con Pete, su mejor amigo y esposo de cuarenta y tres años, dos hijas hermosas y ocho nietos extraordinarios. Pero Harriet, quien había luchado con depresión clínica durante su vida adulta, se encontraba en una recaída. Ese día, la búsqueda frenética de Pete por encontrarla terminó con las palabras más desoladoras jamás escuchadas: «Señor Deison, su esposa está muerta».En un instante devastador, la esposa compasiva y amorosa, abuela y galardonada diseñadora floral había partido. Visitas desde el cielo es la bella historia de amor de un hombre y su esposa que rápidamente se convierte en un reflejo del amor de Dios por sus hijos.La narración de coincidencias extrañas, respuestas sorprendentes a las oraciones y docenas de sueños que Pete y otros han tenido de Harriet tras su muerte, ayudan a responder nuestras preguntas continuas y profundamente importantes: ¿es el cielo un lugar donde la vida continúa? ¿voy a disfrutarlo, o solo es un lugar lleno de nubes, puertas aperladas y eternos servicios eclesiásticos? ¿cómo son los habitantes del cielo? ¿saben lo que sucede en la tierra? Visitas desde el cielo responde a estas preguntas y más, presentando a los lectores con una imagen más clara de lo que es la vida de un creyente después de abandonar la tierra. También proporciona un manual de duelo para aquellos que quedan atrás.Basado profundamente en las Escrituras y en las obras clásicas de autores como C. S. Lewis, Jonathan Edwards y Dallas Willard, Pete Deison comparte verdades bíblicas y su increíble nueva perspectiva de la vida, la muerte y nuestro hogar celestial. Únete a Pete en su descubrimiento del consuelo inesperado en medio del dolor y de que las visitas desde el cielo no solo son posibles, sino que ocurren con más frecuencia de lo que pensamos.
Visitation: Resources for the Care of Souls
by Arthur A. Just Jr. Scot A. KinnamanBecause we need God to keep coming to us, we need visitation. Members of the body of Christ need to go to one another and share the Word that opens our narrow hearts to all the blessings that come from the faith, hope, and love in Christ Jesus. Visitation serves that need and is an essential tool for comforting others in their difficult times.
Visitations
by Corey EgbertInspired by true events, this haunting yet hopeful young adult graphic novel weaves together family dynamics, mental illness, and religion—perfect for fans of Hey, Kiddo.Corey’s mom has always made him feel safe. Especially after his parents’ divorce, and the dreaded visitations with his dad begin. But as Corey grows older, he can’t ignore his mother’s increasingly wild accusations. Her insistence that God has appointed Corey as his sister’s protector. Her declaration that Corey’s father is the devil.Soon, she whisks Corey and his sister away from their home and into the boiling Nevada desert. There, they struggle to survive with little food and the police on the trail. Meanwhile, under the night sky, Corey is visited by a flickering ghost, a girl who urges him to fight for a different world—one outside of his mother’s spoon-fed tales, one Corey must find before it’s too late.Drawing inspiration from his own upbringing in the Mormon church, Corey Egbert welcomes readers on an emotionally stirring, nuanced journey into the liminal spaces between imagination and memory, faith and truth.
Visiting the Art Museum: A Journey Toward Participation (Sociology of the Arts)
by Eleonora RedaelliVisiting the Art Museum: A Journey Toward Participation is a book about the visitor experience. It is written as a companion for visitors to and inside the art museum. The volume engages readers in transforming a common experience, the museum visit, into a sophisticated epistemological inquiry. The study of the visitor experience through an epistemological approach consists of the untangling of the academic disciplines that study and inform each step of this experience: urban studies, architecture, design, art history, art education, and nonprofit management. This journey follows a transformative bottom-up trajectory from experiential to epistemological, and, finally, reveals itself as empowering. The book unfolds as an edited volume, with chapters by different authors who are enthusiastic scholars in each discipline and addresses undergraduate students as citizens, master’s students as professionals, and scholars as teachers and researchers. Each reader will discover a kaleidoscopic world made of ideas, values, and possibilities for participation.
Visits from Heaven: One Man's Eye-Opening Encounter with Death, Grief, and Comfort from the Other Side
by Pete DeisonA tragic suicide may have ended the earthly life of Harriet Deison, but it didn't end the love story she shared with her husband, Pete. Their connection continued through Pete's vivid dreams of Harriet sent from her new home in heaven. Pete and Harriet Deison were enjoying a full life of being parents, grandparents, and partners in ministry when deep depression spiraled Harriet into a darkness that caused her to take her own life. Suddenly thrust into unimaginable grief, Pete, a Presbyterian minister, turns to his roots as a student and educator in an attempt to make sense of it all. Visits from Heaven is the love story of a man and his wife of forty-three years, which quietly becomes the story of God's love for his children. The narrative of strange coincidences, amazing answers to prayer, and dozens of dreams by Pete and others affirms that there is a continued existence of a loved one that can be experienced here on earth. Is heaven a place where real life continues, or is it all clouds, pearly gates, and long church services? Visits from Heaven answers those questions, giving readers a clearer picture of what life is like for a believer after he or she leaves earth. It's also a wake-up call for those who secretly think heaven is a dry and boring place. Deeply grounded in the Scriptures and in the classic works of writers such as C.S. Lewis, Sheldon Vanauken, John Claypool, Randy Alcorn, and N.T. Wright, Deison shares biblical truths about the reality of our continued existence and the nature of our heavenly home. Visits from Heaven gently leads grieving people on an effective and insightful journey through the grief and recovery process.