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The Sanctuary for Lent 2024
by Abigail BrowkaDevotions by Abigail Browka for each day of Lent.The Sanctuary for Lent 2024 contains brief readings for each day in Lent, from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, including a suggested Scripture, a short devotion, and a short prayer or practice—all based on the Revised Common Lectionary. This annual favorite helps readers faithfully journey through Lent as they prepare to experience the joy of the Resurrection. Along with being a great congregational resource, it is an excellent gift for family, friends, and those your congregation connects with through outreach.This is a single booklet download.
Doing Justice Together: Fresh Expressions Pathways for Healing in Your Church
by Michael Adam Beck Stephanie Moore HandTransform your church with grace.Doing Justice Together introduces a process using Scripture as a souce of inspiration and instruction for pastors and church people to move through together, to re-envision and reorient themselves away from old, harmful habits. Beck and Hand show pastors how they can, over time, lead the congregation to become a place where racial harmony, justice, and liberation are intrinsic to the structure and life of the church. The authors lay out four pathways for discerning and correcting the unjust patterns that often sneak into church life unnoticed. They also share other leaders’ stories from a variety of settings where this process has led to healing, revival, and hope.Following the pathways, pastors and congregants will be equipped to thoughtfully transform their church. They’ll make changes with grace and care, honoring and including longtime members. And they’ll begin new ministries—perhaps reaching people they could never have imagined reaching before--becoming a fresh expression of church in their community.
The Quiet House: Reflections on the Loss of a Spouse
by Ronald J. GreerFind comfort in a message of hope and healing.The loss of a spouse is a devastating experience, but pastoral counselor Ron Greer invites readers into his own grief journey with messages of hope and healing. The Quiet House calls on the image of a home silenced by absence but also speaks about the possibility of moving forward together through the heartache of loss toward hope. Through an elegant series of personal reflections, Greer, a pastoral counselor, offers steps and reflections of healing while tending to marriage memories. Pastors may find this book a profound help and comfort for grieving members.
Context Leader Guide: Putting Scripture in Its Place
by Josh ScottExploring the Chapter Behind the Verse. The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the six-week study, including session plans, activities, discussion questions, and multiple format options. Components include a book, Context: Putting Scripture in Its Place, and video teaching sessions featuring Josh Scott, making this perfect as a group study throughout the year. Context looks at verses we know by heart but may not know the people, places, and times that give them meaning. Josh Scott delves into these well-known Scripture verses, exploring their true meanings by examining them in their original biblical context. Through this process, he unveils fresh and enlightening interpretations that are often missed when these Scriptures are taken out of context.
Adult Bible Studies Summer 2024 Teacher/Commentary Kit
by Gregory M. WeeksGrow your faith. Transform your life.Cultivate a deeper relationship with God through Adult Bible Studies. This resource, endorsed by the Curriculum Resources Committee of The United Methodist Church, offers a year-round, weekly Bible study plan for Sunday school classes and other small groups.Each weekly lesson offers background and focal Scriptures, key verses, and doctrinally sound and relevant biblical interpretation and application in a readable font size. Annual plans provide comprehensive coverage of the Bible, special lessons during the church seasons of Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter, and suggestions for developing spiritual practices such as prayer, worship, community, and service, among many others. Adult Bible Studies is a reliable companion and guide for learning and growing in Christian faith.The Kit includes a teacher’s book and a Concise Commentary that are supplementary and complementary to the Adult Bible Studies student book.The teacher’s book provides biblical background, exposition, and suggestions for leading weekly group discussions and nurturing spiritual practices among class members. Small group leaders, teachers, and facilitators—both seasoned and just starting out—love the easy-to-use format and the wealth of information provided to prepare for each week’s discussion.Based on the trusted Abingdon Basic Bible Commentary, the Concise Commentary provides expert biblical Commentary for the focal Bible passages used in Adult Bible Studies. The Commentary includes each Sunday’s focal Bible passages, unit introductions, and expert Commentary on each passage. Plus, you can pronounce everything correctly with the included pronunciation guide for Bible names and places.Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enhance your preparation and teaching with the help of the Adult Bible Studies Teacher Book and Concise Commentary!With the help of the Adult Bibles Studies Student Book, and DVD, your group will embrace that it’s not just about learning - it’s about living out biblical teachings.Summer 2024 Theme: Finding BalanceThis summer, our Bible lessons follow the theme “Finding Balance.” They look at the concepts of work, rest, and celebration from a theological and biblical perspective and challenge us to find a balance among the three. The teacher book writer is Greg Weeks.Visit AdultBibleStudies.com and sign up for the weekly newsletter to automatically receive the FREE Current Events Supplement and other information about these resources and more!
The Abingdon Worship Annual 2025: Worship Resources for Every Sunday of the Year
by Mary Scifres B.J. BeuThe go-to worship planning resource for all who plan weekly worship.The Abingdon Worship Annual 2025 is a practical, lectionary-based resource for leaders responsible for planning worship. This thoughtful sourcebook offers a weekly theme with meaningful prayers and fresh litanies following a traditional order of Christian worship: Invitation and Gathering Proclamation and Response Thanksgiving and Communion Sending ForthLiturgies and prayers are also included for special days, including New Year’s Day, Ascension Day, All Saints Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Eve.The Annual includes helpful reminders for Christian-year planning—including liturgical colors—and a scripture index. The authors also provide in-depth guidance and practical ideas for this new age of worship, helping readers understand and weigh their options for worshiping in digital spaces and unconventional places.The Abingdon Worship Annual 2025 is a must-have sourcebook offering countless opportunities for planning meaningful and insightful worship.
The United Methodist Music & Worship Planner 2023-2024 NRSVue Edition
by David L. Bone Mary ScifresA weekly worship planning book for United Methodist pastors and musicians.An all-in-one resource that helps both the music director and pastor plan the worship services for each Sunday and holy day of the year, The United Methodist Music and Worship Planner 2023-2024 is lectionary-based and places at your fingertips: Weekly pages in spiral-bound format that help you plan the entire worship year, from September through August. Eight or more suggested hymns for each service keyed to United Methodist worship resources: The United Methodist Hymnal, The Faith We Sing, Worship & Song, The United Methodist Book of Worship, and The Africana Hymnal. Complete lectionary text of the Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel readings using the NRSV translation. Reproducible worship planning forms. Resources for holidays and special days. Suggestions for prayers, solos, anthems, visuals, and much more.Also available with Common English Bible texts.
Knowing Who We Are Leader Guide: The Wesleyan Way of Grace
by Laceye C. WarnerDiscover what sets United Methodism apart. The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the six-week study, including session plans, activities, discussion questions, and multiple format options. Components include a book, Knowing Who We Are, and video teaching sessions featuring Laceye Warner, making this perfect as a group study throughout the year. A companion book, Who We Are and What We Believe: 50 Questions about The UMC, is also available.In this book, Laceye C. Warner invites you to a richer understanding of Wesleyan Christianity so you can have a clear sense of identity, better express your own beliefs, and deepen your connection with The United Methodist Church. She introduces you to important values and characteristics that make the Wesleyan way distinctive, including emphasizing God’s grace for all and sanctification as tangible transformation in your life, your community, and all creation. You’ll see how The United Methodist Church today is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition and a legacy of care, compassion, and active response to injustice in the world. And you’ll find that Christian faith in the Wesleyan tradition holds together personal faith and community life, along with a commitment to justice through ministry and service. Pick up this book and study it with your small group and discover a way of being Christian that fills you with joy, moves you to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, and spurs you to live with compassion and grace.
Thrive Women's Bible Study Participant Workbook: Living Faithfully in Difficult Times
by Jennifer CowartWalking in Faith…even when times are tough.In Thrive, author and teacher Jen Cowart helps women develop the habits and attitudes necessary to thrive, whatever their circumstances. Leading readers through the Book of James, a letter written about enduring hardships, she lifts up six characteristics of mature Christians. From endurance and humility to controlling our words, Jen helps participants find the divine and the practical in living faithfully.Jen’s teaching has inspired thousands of women across the country. Her authenticity inspires others to open their hearts and minds. One reviewer wrote, “Her ‘realness’ and her vulnerability just work together to open your heart to dig deeper and deeper.”Through this study, women will find inspiration and tools around six traits:Endurance – Embracing obstacles as a means to maturity.Wisdom – Using a heavenly perspective on earthly issues.Action – Living a life where actions match faith.Control – Taming the tongue.Humility – Developing the attitude of Christ.Prayer – Exercising the power tool of the faith.Additional components for this six-week Bible study, each available separately, are a Leader Guide and six video sessions, 8 to 13 minutes long (with closed captioning).
The United Methodist Music & Worship Planner 2024-2025 CEB/NRSVue Edition
by David L. Bone Mary ScifresA weekly worship planning book for United Methodist pastors and musicians – Refreshed!New with the 2024-2025 edition! The Music & Worship Planner includes both the CEB and NRSVue translations in one planner, along with added space for notes.An all-in-one resource that helps both the music director and pastor plan the worship services for each Sunday and holy day of the year, The United Methodist Music and Worship Planner 2024-2025 is lectionary-based and places at your fingertips:- Weekly pages in a spiral-bound format that help you plan the entire worship year from September through August.- Eight or more suggested hymns for each service keyed to United Methodist worship resources: The United Methodist Hymnal, The Faith We Sing, Worship & Song, The United Methodist Book of Worship, and The Africana Hymnal.- Complete lectionary text of the Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel readings using the Common English Bible translation.- Reproducible worship planning forms.- Resources for holidays and special days.- Suggestions for prayers, solos, anthems, visuals, and much more.In addition, you will find more:- Emphasis on Methodist/Wesleyan theology, worship practices, and historical roots- Consistent Worship elements- Content for contemporary worship services- More innovative worship elements
Prepare! 2023-2024 NRSVue Edition: An Ecumenical Music & Worship Planner
by David L. Bone Mary ScifresA weekly worship planning book for pastors and musicians.An all-in-one resource that helps both the music director and pastor plan the worship services for each Sunday and holy day of the church year, the 2023-2024 edition of Prepare! is lectionary based and places everything at your fingertips:- New theme index! Includes themes like: assurance, doubt, family, justice, prayer, temptation, and many more.- Scripture Index.- Calendar format that helps you plan the entire choir year, from September through August.- Eight or more suggested hymns for each service keyed to 16 hymnals from at least 7 different denominations, including: Africana Hymnal, The Baptist Hymnal, Chalice Hymnal (Disciples of Christ), The Faith We Sing, Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal, The Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal), Hymns for the Family of God, Lutheran Book of Worship, The Presbyterian Hymnal, The New Century Hymnal (United Church of Christ), Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship, Songs for Praise and Worship Singalong Edition, The United Methodist Hymnal, Voices United, Worship & Song, and Worship III (Roman Catholic).- Complete lectionary text of the Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel readings, using the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition of the Bible.- Reproducible worship planning forms.- Resources for holidays and special days.- Suggestions for prayers, solos, anthems, visuals, and much more.Also available with Common English Bible (CEB) lectionary texts
Experiencing Christmas Leader Guide: Christ in the Sights and Sounds of Advent
by Matt RawleDiscover how everything changed when God was born.Everything seems different at the end of the year. We put lights on our houses to dispel the growing darkness, Christmas music floods local radio stations, apple cider and cranberry sauce are again on the menu, and wrapping paper and tape are always ready. Things just look, smell, and taste differently during the Advent and Christmas season, and these differences are a sign to us that God is about to do something radical and different. Christmas is when God surrounded the divine with senses of his own. That first noel was when God had eyes to see suffering, ears to hear our cries, and hands to hold those in need, and all of these senses were bundled in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. “This will be a sign to you,” the angel told the shepherds, and they traveled to Bethlehem and found a child. What signs do you see during the Advent and Christmas season that point you to the divine?The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the four-week study, including session plans, activities, discussion questions, and multiple format options. Additional components for the four-week small group study include the book and DVD/Video Sessions featuring Matt Rawle. The Leader Guide also includes a link to free downloadable teaching resources for children and youth.
Who We Are and What We Believe: 50 Questions about the UMC
by Laceye C. WarnerClear answers to common questions.This small, simple, and shareable book about The United Methodist Church is a helpful reference guide to everything that makes The UMC distinctive. Written in a clear, accessible style by Laceye Warner, Who We Are and What We Believe: 50 Questions about the UMC contains answers to fifty common questions about who United Methodists are, what we believe and practice, and what sets us apart. Use it alone or as a companion to Knowing Who We Are: The Wesleyan Way of Grace.
Cultivating Christlikeness: Loving as Jesus Loved
by Paul W. ChilcoteAre you ready to reclaim our inheritance as United Methodist Wesleyans?Our communities and the world are crying out for empathy, authenticity, and integrity. This book helps us choose ways of living that are grace-filled and redeeming. Cultivating Christlikeness is about the bold adventure of United Methodists celebrating and living into a grand vision that includes everyone in God’s extravagant embrace. Jesus invites us to partner in the work of transformation, new birth, and resurrection in every aspect of our lives. Together we can step into a future showered by God’s multiplying love.Paul Chilcote mines his decades of study, prayer, and devotion to Christian practices to share his vision for how we partner with God to make the world more loving and just. In Cultivating Christlikeness, he weaves the threads of insight and appreciation with special attention to Wesleyan ways of loving God and neighbor that can change us and change the world. With his gentle direction, we discover with new appreciation how 18th-century John and Charles Wesley illumine our 21st-century quest to befriend Jesus, who frees us to live into and by the grace of God.Chilcote’s book is a practical guide. He guides us with a mentor’s insightful nudge as we explore essential Wesleyan teachings about God and the beloved community. He helps us know how to share these understandings with our families and neighbors, and more importantly, he points us to ways to live out our commitments with purpose, courage, and joy.The framework and flow of Cultivating Christlikeness make it easily adaptable for group discussion and individual use. It includes a plan for a two-day retreat for those eager to join in a more intensive experience of mutual engagement to renew their spirits and discover fresh ways to grow in love and grace. The book is a companion to Chilcote’s, Multiplying Love (Abingdon Press), which casts the theological vision that animates this practical spiritual guide. And it is an updated and expanded revision of an earlier work entitled, Wesley Speaks on Christian Vocation, originally published by Discipleship Ministries, then reissued by Wipf & Stock.
We Are Only Ghosts: A Remarkable Novel of Survival in the Wake of WWII
by Jeffrey L. RichardsAn extraordinary, emotionally intense novel spanning World War II Europe to 1960s New York City with an unsettling psychological edge, We Are Only Ghosts depicts not only the horrors of the death camps but the toll on those who survived—powered by a story of the unexpected, complicated connection between a Nazi officer and a young Jewish boy. &“Told from the important and often overlooked perspective of a young gay man imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps, We Are Only Ghosts evocatively portrays how the things that happen to us, both tragic and beautiful, shape who we are, and how we have the power to choose who we become in spite of our suffering. This gripping testament to the strength of the human spirit will both haunt and inspire you.&” —Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook New York City, 1968: The customers at Café Marie don&’t come just for the excellent coffee and pastries. They come for the sophisticated ambiance, and the illusion of being somewhere other than a bustling, exhausting city. Headwaiter Charles Ward helps create that illusion through impeccable service—unobtrusive, nearly invisible, yet always watchful. It&’s a skill Charles honed as a young Jewish boy in war-torn Europe, when avoiding attention might mean the difference between life and death. But even then, one man saw him all too clearly—a Nazi officer who was both his savior and tormentor. At seventeen, Charles was deported to Auschwitz with his family. There he was singled out by Obersturmführer Berthold Werden, who hid him in his home. Their entanglement produced a tortured affection mixed with hatred that flares to life again, decades later, when Berthold walks into Café Marie. Drawn back into Berthold&’s orbit, Charles is forced to revisit the pain and the brief, undeniable pleasures of the life he once knew. And if he acts on his growing hunger for revenge, will he lose his only tether to the past—the only other witness to who he was and everything he endured—or find peace at last?&“I was mesmerized by this gorgeously written novel that explores the psychological cost of survival with unflinching honesty and unwavering compassion. A young survivor of the Holocaust who crosses borders, decades, and identities in an attempt to leave behind his horrific past learns he will never be whole again until he finds the courage to confront his ghosts. An astounding story that will linger in my mind and heart for years to come, We Are Only Ghosts will take you on a riveting journey through unimaginable loss and corrupted love toward its ultimate destination of healing and repair.&” —Kim van Alkemade, New York Times Bestselling Author of Counting Lost Stars &“Profound, moving, and absolutely timely, We Are Only Ghosts shows how our identity determines destiny. Charles is gay, Czech, Jewish; as a teenager, he was ghettoized and subjected to the depravity of the Third Reich. In adulthood he discovers the courage to confront the ghosts who return to haunt him, including that of the boy he himself had once been. I&’m still pondering the questions posed by this touching novel.&” —William di Canzio, Author of Alec
Wicked Dreams: A Riveting New Thriller (The Colony #5)
by Lisa Jackson Nancy BushNew York Times bestselling Sisters of Suspense Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush return to Siren Song, an isolated island off the wild Oregon Coast. Some people call it The Colony. Others whisper it&’s a cult. For a group of women with extraordinary gifts, it&’s both home and refuge. Until evil returns to burn it all down… Now in paperback for fans of Allison Brennan, Alex North, Iris Johansen, and JT Ellison. The note pinned to the dead body found on the remote beach has no name, just Ravinia Rutledge&’s phone number and the words &“Next of Kin.&” Ravinia insists she doesn&’t recognize the man on the mortuary slab, but she suspects Detective Nev Rhodes doesn&’t believe her. He can tell that she&’s one of them—the Siren Song women. Five years after moving away from The Colony, Ravinia has carved out a life as a private investigator whose specialty is helping others locate their missing loved ones. Yet sometimes, it&’s better if the missing are never found. &“Good Time Charlie&” is the name given to a monster from her past, a man she and her sisters hoped was gone forever. But the dead man on the beach is a sign that Charlie has merely been waiting, preparing to fulfill his mission to rid the world of the Siren Song women—and anyone who gets in his way. Now, despite Ravinia&’s reluctance to team up with Rhodes, it&’s the only way to stop an adversary determined to see that each and every member of The Colony will die at his hands . . .
Long Time Gone
by Charlie DonleaWhen DNA results reveal a disturbing connection to the mysterious disappearance of a famous baby nearly three decades ago, a woman&’s search for answers draws her to an ominous small town in Nevada and a dangerous web of corruption, power, and lies in this engrossing, propulsive new novel from the internationally bestselling author of Twenty Years Later.For fans of Alice Feeney, Stacy Willingham, Riley Sager, and Megan Goldin.THIRTY YEARS AGO, BABY CHARLOTTE VANISHED.TODAY, SHE WANTS ANSWERS. On the first day of an elite two-year fellowship under the renowned Chief Medical Officer Dr. Livia Cutty, Sloan Hastings receives a research assignment in the emerging field of forensic genealogy. It&’s the exciting, rapidly evolving science behind the recent breaks in high-profile cold cases from the Golden State Killer to the Cameron Young murder, and Sloan enthusiastically begins her research by submitting her own DNA to an online genealogy site. Her goal is to better understand the treasure trove of genetic information contained on ancestry websites, but the results she receives are shocking. Raised by loving, supportive parents, Sloan has always known she was adopted. But her DNA profile suggests her true identity is that of Charlotte Margolis, aka &“Baby Charlotte,&” who captured the nation&’s attention when she and her affluent parents mysteriously vanished in July 1995. Despite a large-scale investigation and months of broad media coverage, there were never any suspects in the family&’s disappearance and the case has been cold for decades. Racing to stay ahead of the media and true crime junkies ravenous to know what really happened to Baby Charlotte, Sloan&’s search for answers leads her to Cedar Creek, Nevada, a small town north of Lake Tahoe. There, the Margolis family&’s power and influence permeate every corner of the county, and while Sloan&’s birth relatives are initially welcoming, they&’re also mysterious and tight-lipped. Not everyone seems happy about Sloan&’s return, or the questions she&’s asking. The more she learns, the more apparent it becomes that the answers Sloan seeks are buried in a graveyard of Margolis family secrets. And someone will do anything to keep them hidden . . . Do YOU hold the secrets in your blood?To find out, text &“CHARLOTTE&” to 775-239-0320.
Peg and Rose Play the Ponies (A Senior Sleuths Mystery #3)
by Laurien BerensonMurder, She Wrote meets The Odd Couple in award-winning author Laurien Berenson&’s brand-new mystery series, spun off from her much-loved Melanie Travis Canine series and featuring Melanie&’s elderly aunts—tough-as-nails Peg and soft-spoken Rose—who&’ll put their differences aside to stop a killer, if they don&’t throttle each other first. The latest installment will tickle all cozy lovers, especially fans of &“senior&” sleuths in the tradition of Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher. From the moment Peg arrives in Kentucky, dragging level-headed Rose along for the week-long excursion proves a smart move. Because after she brings her canine expertise to prestigious conformation shows, next on the agenda is selling her Thoroughbred broodmare's offspring at a high-stakes yearling sale. And when the ladies arrive to meet the young horse at Six Oaks farm, something seems off about the place—especially Jim Grable, the yearling manager with serious anger issues . . . While Peg feels comfortable again judging pedigree pups over Labor Day Weekend, Rose judges a shocking new turn of events. Jim has been found dead on the farm and a young employee needs help convincing police she didn&’t kill him. As disjointed clues lead to a list of misdeeds swirling around Six Oaks, everyone connected to Jim agrees on one thing—he had it coming . . . It isn&’t until Peg guides her colt&’s journey to the auction ring that she grasps how much Jim had been manipulating the process behind the scenes. Now, unable to rely on her instincts alone, Peg must also trust in Rose&’s talents to expose the real culprit. But the two need to have each other&’s backs before tangling with a killer—a deadly criminal set on halting their dog and pony show for good!
Don't Believe It
by Charlie DonleaFrom the acclaimed author of Twenty Years Later comes a twisting, impossible-to-put-down novel of suspense in which a filmmaker helps clear a woman convicted of murder—only to find she may be a puppet in a sinister game. Fans of Freida McFadden and Alice Feeney will be left breathless by this unforgettable thriller that builds to a shocking conclusion...The Girl of Sugar Beach is the most watched documentary in television history—a riveting, true-life mystery that unfolds over twelve weeks and centers on a fascinating question: Did Grace Sebold murder her boyfriend, Julian, while on a Spring Break vacation, or is she a victim of circumstance and poor police work? Grace has spent the last ten years in a St. Lucian prison, and reaches out to filmmaker Sidney Ryan in a last, desperate attempt to prove her innocence. As Sidney begins researching, she uncovers startling evidence overlooked during the original investigation. Before the series even finishes filming, public outcry leads officials to reopen the case. Delving into Grace&’s past, Sidney peels away layer after layer of deception. But as she edges closer to the real heart of the story, Sidney must decide if finding the truth is worth risking her newfound fame, her career . . . even her life.&“You can&’t blame Charlie Donlea if the ending of his novel makes your jaw drop. The title alone is fair warning that his characters are no more to be trusted than our initial impressions of them.&”—The New York Times Book Review
The Inconvenient Lonnie Johnson: Blues, Race, Identity (American Music History)
by Julia SimonLonnie Johnson is a blues legend. His virtuosity on the blues guitar is second to none, and his influence on artists from T-Bone Walker and B. B. King to Eric Clapton is well established. Yet Johnson mastered multiple instruments. He recorded with jazz icons such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, and he played vaudeville music, ballads, and popular songs.In this book, Julia Simon takes a closer look at Johnson’s musical legacy. Considering the full body of his work, Simon presents detailed analyses of Johnson’s music—his lyrics, technique, and styles—with particular attention to its sociohistorical context. Born in 1894 in New Orleans, Johnson's early experiences were shaped by French colonial understandings of race that challenge the Black-white binary. His performances call into question not only conventional understandings of race but also fixed notions of identity. Johnson was able to cross generic, stylistic, and other boundaries almost effortlessly, displaying astonishing adaptability across a corpus of music produced over six decades. Simon introduces us to a musical innovator and a performer keenly aware of his audience and the social categories of race, class, and gender that conditioned the music of his time. Lonnie Johnson’s music challenges us to think about not only what we recognize and value in “the blues” but also what we leave unexamined, cannot account for, or choose not to hear. The Inconvenient Lonnie Johnson provides a reassessment of Johnson’s musical legacy and complicates basic assumptions about the blues, its production, and its reception.
Tablets from the Iri-saĝrig Archive (CUSAS)
by Marcel Sigrist Tohru OzakiWhile each of the previously known archives from the Third Dynasty of Ur has provided distinct views of Sumerian society, those from Iri-Saĝrig present an extraordinary range of new sources, depicting a cosmopolitan Sumerian/Akkadian city unlike any other from this period. In this publication, Marcel Sigrist and Tohru Ozaki present more than two thousand newly identified tablets, mostly from Iri-Saĝrig. This unique and extensive corpus elucidates the importance that Iri-Saĝrig represented politically, militarily, and culturally in Sumer.Although these tablets were not able to be cleaned, baked, or photographed, the authors’ transliterations are based on the original tablets, often after repeated collations. Moreover, access to so many well-preserved tablets made it possible to improve upon the readings and interpretations offered in previous publications. Volume 1 contains a catalog and classification of the texts by provenance, a list of month names and year formulas, another of inscriptions, a chronological listing of the texts, and extensive indexes of personal names, deities, toponyms, and selected words and phrases. Volume 2 presents the texts in transliteration with substantial commentary.This two-volume publication preserves and makes available to the scholarly community a significant segment of Iraq’s cultural legacy that otherwise might have been ignored or even lost. It will augment and enhance our understanding of the unique civilization of Mesopotamia in the late third millennium BCE.
Elephantine Revisited: New Insights into the Judean Community and Its Neighbors
by Margaretha FolmerThe Judean community at Elephantine has long fascinated historians of the Persian period. This book, with its stellar assemblage of important scholarly voices, provides substantive new insights and approaches that will advance the study of this well-known but not entirely understood community from fifth-century BCE Egypt. Since Bezalel Porten’s pioneering Archives from Elephantine, published in 1968, the discourse on the subject of the community of Elephantine during the Persian period has changed considerably, due to new data from excavations, the discovery and publication of previously unknown texts, and original scholarly insights and avenues of inquiry. Running the gamut from archaeological to linguistic investigations and encompassing legal, literary, religious, and other aspects of life in this Judean community, this volume stands at a crossroads of research that extends from Hebrew Bible studies to the history of early Jewish communities. It also features fourteen new Aramaic ostraca from Aswan. The volume will appeal to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism, as well as to a wider audience of Egyptologists, Semitists, and specialists in ancient Near Eastern studies. In addition to the editor, the contributors to this volume include Annalisa Azzoni, Bob Becking, Alejandro F. Botta, Lester L. Grabbe, Ingo Kottsieper, Reinhard G. Kratz, André Lemaire, Hélène Nutkowicz, Beatrice von Pilgrim, Cornelius von Pilgrim, Bezalel Porten, Ada Yardeni, and Ran Zadok. Moreover, a video recording of an interview conducted with Porten on his long career in Elephantine studies accompanies the book through a link on the Eisenbrauns website.
History Has Many Voices (Sixteenth Century Essays & Studies #63)
by Lee Palmer WandelThis volume presents essays from eight scholars who trained with Robert Kingdon, a vanguard of early modern studies. He required students to go to primary sources, yet they were free to pursue their own curiosity. No matter what their approach to the sources, students were held to a high standard of thoroughness, precision, and attention to detail. This festschrift displays something of the diversity of language, source materials, methods, and visions that Kingdon encouraged in his students during his forty-year career in graduate education.
A Vivifying Spirit: Quaker Practice and Reform in Antebellum America
by Janet Moore LindmanAmerican Quakerism changed dramatically in the antebellum era owing to both internal and external forces, including schism, industrialization, western migration, and reform activism. With the “Great Separation” of the 1820s and subsequent divisions during the 1840s and 1850s, new Quaker sects emerged. Some maintained the quietism of the previous era; others became more austere; still others were heavily influenced by American evangelicalism and integration into modern culture. Examining this increasing complexity and highlighting a vital religiosity driven by deeply held convictions, Janet Moore Lindman focuses on the Friends of the mid-Atlantic and the Delaware Valley to explore how Friends’ piety affected their actions—not only in the evolution of religious practice and belief but also in response to a changing social and political context. Her analysis demonstrates how these Friends’ practical approach to piety embodied spiritual ideals that reformulated their religion and aided their participation in a burgeoning American republic.Based on extensive archival research, this book sheds new light on both the evolution of Quaker spiritual practice and the history of antebellum reform movements. It will be of interest to scholars and students of early American history, religious studies, and Quaker studies as well as general readers interested in the history of the Society of Friends.
Destroyed—Disappeared—Lost—Never Were (ICMA Books | Viewpoints)
by Beate Fricke and Aden KumlerTo write about works that cannot be sensually perceived involves considerable strain. Absent the object, art historians must stretch their methods to, or even past, the breaking point. This concise volume addresses the problems inherent in studying medieval works of art, artifacts, and monuments that have disappeared, have been destroyed, or perhaps never existed in the first place.The contributors to this volume are confronted with the full expanse of what they cannot see, handle, or know. Connecting object histories, the anthropology of images, and historiography, they seek to understand how people have made sense of the past by examining objects, images, and architectural and urban spaces. Intersecting these approaches is a deep current of reflection upon the theorization of historical analysis and the ways in which the past is inscribed into layers of evidence that are only ever revealed in the historian’s present tense.Highly original and theoretically sophisticated, this volume will stimulate debate among art historians about the critical practices used to confront the formative presence of destruction, loss, obscurity, and existential uncertainty within the history of art and the study of historical material and visual cultures.In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume are Michele Bacci, Claudia Brittenham, Sonja Drimmer, Jaś Elsner, Peter Geimer, Danielle B. Joyner, Kristopher W. Kersey, Lena Liepe, Meekyung MacMurdie, and Michelle McCoy.