The Melcovitch Coverup is a Ludlum-esque adventure centered upon a terrorist cell deeply buried in a fringe, Boston Catholic Shrine. The story begins with a murder the police mysteriously pass off as a suicide. But, Daniel Ross, the slain man's guilt ridden friend, is not fooled and sets out to investigate the many discrepancies in the police version of events. To his surprise his quest is obstructed at every turn by the very officials he thought he could trust. The police, FBI and officials from Homeland Security all know about the terrorist cell but are unwilling to root it out or prevent its ultimate mission, a planned, political assassination, the frightening partnership a devil's pact between arch enemies now threatening the very fabric of society. To survive this deadly, new "arrangement" and the jackals who finally turn their sights on him, Ross must overcome and abandon outmoded scruples, his innate sense of decency, honor and fair play - all inculcated by the very system the enemy seeks to destroy - and learn to lie, deceive and commit murder. No longer an innocent American he must master the rules of the new game. In addition to themes of deceit, betrayal and revenge, The Melcovitch Coverup also concerns friendship both old and new and love poorly chosen. For, in his gripping journey, Ross falls in love with a seductive assassin, their unique relationship part of the ultimate lie that almost destroys him.
This intellectual and social history is the first comprehensive biography of Pilgram Marpeck (c. 1495 - 1556), a radical reformer and lay leader of Anabaptist groups in Switzerland, Austria, and South Germany. Marpeck's influential life and work provide a glimpse of the theologies and practices of the Roman Church and of various reform movements in sixteenth-century Europe. Whereas many leaders of radical religious groups at the time were clerics, educators, or artisans, Marpeck came to this role as a former civil mining magistrate. Drawing on extensive archival data documenting Marpeck's professional life, as well as his numerous published and unpublished writings on theology and religious reform, Stephen B. Boyd traces Marpeck's transition from mining magistrate to Anabaptist leader, establishes his connections with various radical social and religious groups, and articulates aspects of his social theology. Boyd demonstrates that Marpeck's distinctive and eclectic theology focused on the need for personal, uncoerced conversion. It rejected state interference in the affairs of the church, denied the need for a monastic withdrawal from the secular world, and called for the Christian's active pursuit of justice before God and among human beings.
This Element focuses on how narrative is used to construct religious identity in superdiverse contexts, considering specifically how people talk about their own religious identity, and the religious identity of others. Drawing on interviews with twenty-five participants, and numerous site visits throughout the city of Birmingham (UK), the analysis focuses on how self and other positioning is used to construct religious identity in talk about beliefs, actions, and behaviours in different contexts. Additionally, the analysis shows how conflict emerges and is resolved in spaces where people of different faiths and no faith interact, and how people talk about and understand community. Finally, a model for talking about faith in diverse contexts is presented to help people find common goals and act together towards shared interests.
In this second edition of William Wordsworth: A Life, Stephen Gill draws on knowledge of the poet's creative practices and his reputation and influence in his life-time and beyond. Refusing to treat the poet's later years as of little interest, this biography presents a narrative of the whole of Wordsworth's long life--1770 to 1850--tracing the development from the adventurous youth who alone of the great Romantic poets saw life in revolutionary France to the old man who became Queen Victoria's Poet Laureate. The various phases of Wordsworth's life are explored with a not uncritical sympathy; the narrative brings out the courage he and his wife and family were called upon to show as they crafted the life they wanted to lead. While the emphasis is on Wordsworth the writer, the personal relationships that nourished his creativity are fully treated, as are the historical circumstances that affected the production of his poetry. Wordsworth, it is widely believed, valued poetic spontaneity. He did, but he also took pains over every detail of the process of publication. The foundation of this second edition of the biography remains, as it was of the first, a conviction that Wordsworth's poetry, which has given pleasure and comfort to generations of readers in the past, will continue to do so in the years to come.
The great expansion of economic activity since the end of World War II has caused an unprecedented rise in living standards, but it has also caused rapid changes in earth systems. Nearly all types of natural capital—the world’s stock of resources and services provided by nature—are in decline. Clean air, abundant and clean water, fertile soils, productive fisheries, dense forests, and healthy oceans are critical for healthy lives and healthy economies. Mounting pressures, however, suggest that the trend of declining natural capital may cast a long shadow into the future. Nature’s Frontiers: Achieving Sustainability, Efficiency, and Prosperity with Natural Capital presents a novel approach to address these foundational challenges of sustainability. A methodology combining innovative science, new data sources, and cutting-edge biophysical and economic models builds sustainable resource efficiency frontiers to assess how countries can sustainably use their natural capital more efficiently. The analysis provides recommendations on how countries can better use their natural capital to achieve their economic and environ mental goals. The report indicates that significant efficiency gaps exist in nearly every country. Closing these gaps can address many of the world’s pressing economic and environmental problems—economic productivity, health, food and water security, and climate change. Although the approach outlined in this report will entail demanding policy reforms, the costs of inaction will be far higher.
Stephen J. Hamilton attempts to create a "portrait" of "born-again" Christianity by providing a general introduction to the doctrine of regeneration, including its development in modernity, as well as short exegeses of relevant scriptural texts, followed by a close reading of four theologians – Philipp Jakob Spener, Jonathan Edwards, Friedrich D.E. Schleiermacher, and Charles G. Finney – who all associate the doctrine of regeneration with an experience of presence in the individual believer. In light of these analyses, he then traces a general theological structure of the "born-again" understanding of regeneration, including a catalogue of theological issues over which there is significant disagreement, in order to create a topography of "born-again" theologies. In the final section, he applies these results to contemporary conversion narratives of non-theologians. It is in such conversion narratives, the author argues, that theologians can discover an implicit, "lived" theology that reveals how doctrines are perceived and put into practice among Christians. Accordingly, this is to be understood as the result of the creative reciprocity between (often tacit) theological convictions and the experiences of the Christian life. The final chapter, as a coda to the entire work, offers some concluding reflections on the present cultural and political situation in the USA pertaining to "born-again" Christianity and argues against any oversimplifications of the relationship between "born-again" theologies, culture, and politics.
This will help us customize your experience to showcase the most relevant content to your age group
Please select from below
Login
Not registered?
Sign up
Already registered?
Success – Your message will goes here
We'd love to hear from you!
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.