A term given to flowers of stone fruit trees and some other plants that flower profusely in Spring. Blossoms provide pollen to bees, and initiate cross-pollination necessary for trees to reproduce by producing fruit. 2. A peak period or stage of development. Covering topics including housing, health, language and culture, Riddoch looks at the way in which Scots identify themselves and how this needs to change in order for the country to blossom u as an independent nation or a strongly devolved one. Arguing that limited access to security and wealth has left Scots feeling like outsiders in their own country, this book tackles fundamental and personal issues of identity that matter to ordinary Scots. Designed to incite discussion and debate, this book will appeal to those who believe larger issues of self esteem and power lurk beneath the complexities of the independence debate and want to delve deeperBACK COVERWhat will it take for Scotland to blossom? "Imagine Scotland as a beautifully-knitted, warmth-providing sweater caught on a snag. Its wearer tries to move forward u but cannot. A pause is needed to lift the garment clear. Scotland is thus snagged. And no amount of tugging will free it from the stubborn, progress-inhibiting three-headed hook of inequality, distant control and top-down governance." Weeding out vital components of Scottish identity from decades of political and social tangle is no mean task, but itOCOs one journalist Lesley Riddoch has undertaken. Dispensing with the tired, yo-yoing jousts over fiscal commissions, Devo Something and EU in-or-out, "Blossom" pinpoints both the buds of growth and the blight thatOCOs holding Scotland back. Drawing from its people, history, and the authorOCOs own passionate and outspoken perspective this is a plain-speaking but incisive call to restore control to local communities and let Scotland flourish.

    Although the position is for which it argues was hardly new, having already taken shape in several of his theological essays written during the 1920s, it is nevertheless the classic formulation of this position and as such incomparable in the Bultmann corpus.

    Marina Warner uses her superb historical and literary skills to move beyond conventional biography and to capture the essence of Joan of Arc, both as she lived in her own time and as she has "grown" in the human imagination over the five centuries since her death. She has examined the court documents from Joan of Arc's 1431 Inquisition trial for heresy and woven the facts together with an analysis of the histories, biographies, plays, and paintings and sculptures that have appeared over time to honor this heroine and symbol of France's nationhood. Warner shows how the few facts that are known about the woman Joan have been shaped to suit the aims of those who have chosen her as their hero. The book places Joan in the context of the mythology of the female hero and takes note of her historical antecedents, both pagan and Christian and the role she has played up to the present as the embodiment of an ideal, whether as Amazon, saint, child of nature, or personification of virtue.

    It provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the New Testament. In a straightforward and understandable style--without distortion or oversimplification--Prof. Metzger closely examines the historical background and content of the New Testament and details the role of scribes and translators in handing the Scriptures down through the centuries. Utilizing the finest modern scholarship, Dr. Metzger looks at the people, societies, and events that produced the New Testament. Palestinian Judaism, Greco-Roman paganism, sources of our knowledge of Jesus Christ, essential aspects of Christ's teaching, sources and chronology of the apostolic age, the work of Paul, the general letters, and the Book of Revelation are all clearly illuminated. The Second edition of this book added an appendix on the formation of the canon of the New Testament and the work of scribes. The third edition will represent a substantial update of the 1965 text based on the New Revised Standard Version. In addition to stylistic changes, the author updates the text regarding research on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi tractates. This edition adds a glossary, 30 graphics and photos, and is resized to a larger 6x9 page.

    Yet so many people stagnate in the Christian life. Explains how to have a daily quiet time in order to know Christ intimately and grow to maturity. This book offers plenty of practical help for turning the chore of devotions into a lifechanging joyproducing habit. It outlines clearly how to seek God in the quiet time and explains the amazing benefits of experiencing God on a daily basis. With this helpful and enthusiastic book a person can have a quiet time that is much more than opening a Bible and saying prayers. It will be a time of experiencing the living Goda time of communion with the King. This book can be used both in a Sunday School classroom andor oneonone. TABLE OF CONTENTSLesson 1 Sharing Good NewsLesson 2 Sowing the SeedLesson 3 Relational EvangelismLesson 4 Looking for Open DoorsLesson 5 How to Share the MessageLesson 6 Sharing Your JourneyLesson 7 Fishing with a NetLesson 8 Meeting Needs as a GroupAppendix How to Coach Someone using this MaterialIndex

    Avoiding the seemingly endless debates on the social impacts of religion, There Was No Jesus, There Is No God is only concerned with the evidence. The base content of this fully referenced tome of free-thought has been peer-reviewed by leading scholars in the fields of History, Philosophy, Biblical Studies and Studies in Religion. Part 1 reveals the spurious nature of the sources used to establish the truth of Christianity and the existence of Jesus, and the equally spurious methods employed by many Biblical scholars. A brief interlude then leaves no doubt that the existence of the Christ of Faith is virtually impossible, and concludes that even the existence of a stripped-down Historical Jesus is uncertain. Bayesian reasoning is shown to justify sceptical views on many topics, including the existence of God. Part 2 shifts the focus to the God of classical theism and monotheism, examining the evidence and arguments from scientific, historical, and philosophical perspectives. The inadequacy of the case for God is found to easily justify non-belief (atheism). Furthermore, considerations of alternative gods and conceptions of God, lead to game-changing concerns for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

    "God did not make us," he says. "We made God." He explains the ways in which religion is immoral: We damage our children by indoctrinating them. It is a cause of sexual repression, violence, and ignorance. It is a distortion of our origins and the cosmos. In the place of religion, Hitchens offers the promise of a new enlightenment through science and reason, a realm in which hope and wonder can be found through a strand of DNA or a gaze through the Hubble Telescope. As Hitchens sees it, you needn't get the blues once you discover the heavens are empty.

    Taking his own spiritual journey as a starting point, Professor Ayoub explores all aspects of Islam; from the Qur'an and Islamic law to the epic poetry of the Sufis; from the spread of Islam worldwide to reform movements in the US and Europe.

    Nuns were the first feminists, argues Fialka. They became the nation's first cadre of independent, professional women. Some nursed, some taught, and many created and managed new charitable organizations, including large hospitals and colleges. In the 1800s nuns moved west with the frontier, often starting the first hospitals and schools in immigrant communities. They provided aid and service in the Chicago fire, cared for orphans and prostitutes in the California Gold Rush and brought professional nursing skills to field hospitals run by both armies in the Civil War. Their work was often done in the face of intimidation from such groups as the Know Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1900s they built the nation's largest private school and hospital systems and brought the Catholic Church into the civil rights movement. As their numbers began to decline in the 1970s, many sisters were forced to take professional jobs as lawyers, probation workers, managers and hospital executives because their salaries were needed to support older nuns, many of whom lacked a pension system. Currently there are about 75,000 sisters in America, down from 204,000 in 1968. Their median age is sixty-nine. In "Sisters, "Fialka""reveals the strength of the spiritual capital and the unprecedented reach of the caring institutions that religious women created in America.

    Not only does the Benedictine lifestyle fit well within the walls of the monastery, its interpretation of life is also suitable to other forms of society. In The Rule of Benedict for Beginners, Wil Derkse reveals how elements from Benedictine spirituality and the Benedictine lifestyle may be fruitful outside the monastery to strengthen the quality of societal living and working.The Rule of Benedict for Beginners is a useful source of life orientation and lifestyle for those interested in living by the Rule. It applies the monastic vows to life within organizations and examines the valuable elements of Benedictine leadership and Benedictine time management.Chapter one sketches Derkse's own acquaintance with the Benedictine lifestyle. Chapter two examines the basic patterns of Benedictine spirituality in order to translate these patterns into nonmonastic contexts. Inspired leadership, listening decision-making, fruitfully prospering human resources, and sensible time management are themes in the remaining chapters.Chapters in Part I: A First Acquaintance with Benedictine Spirituality are a lesson from the Imagery of Hildegard's Abbey in Eibingen," "What I Learned Through My Own Acquaintance with Benedictine Life," and "Growing Toward the Oblature." Chapters in Part II: Basic Patterns of Benedictine Spirituality and First Translation to Nonmonastic Contexts are "The Benedictine Way of Life: Listening Attentively to Gain Results," "The Benedictine Vows: Directed Toward Growth and Liberation," and "Additional Aspects of the Benedictine Art of Listening." Chapters in Part III: Benedictine Leadership: Stimulating People Toward Growth are "Leadership Demands a Special Talent for Listening," "The Person of the Abbot," and "The Person of the Cellarer: 'A Man For All Seasons.'" Chapters in Part IV: Benedictine Time Management: A Full Agenda, But Never Busy are "Living a Wholesome Rhythm," and "'Bearing Fruit in Season.'"

     Larry, whose career with London’s Metropolitan Police started in 1971, a time when police officers were more than a little sceptical of science, soon proved his worth and attended every kind of crime scene, from terrorism to rape and from blackmail to murder - before he became the head of the Flying Squad’s forensic team during the busiest and most dangerous period of the legendary outfit’s existence. Soon, Larry was caught up in shoot-outs, pavement ambushes, record-breaking drug deals and tiger kidnappings, confronting some of the UK’s most terrifying villains along the way. Larry’s groundbreaking work features some of the UK’s most notorious crimes - a key piece of forensic evidence from one of Larry’s murder cases is displayed at Scotland Yard’s infamous Crime Museum. At turns breathtaking, fascinating, hilarious and tragic, 999 CSI opens up a truly astonishing world that most people never get to see, a world filled with cruelty, matched only by the courage of those who work tirelessly for justice.

    He worked with - and relaxed with - scientific giants of that time such as Edward Teller, Enrico Fermi, Stan Ulam, John von Neumann, and John Wheeler, and here offers illuminating insights into the personalities, the strengths, and the quirks of these men. Well known for his ability to explain physics to nonspecialists, Ford also brings to life the physics of fission and fusion and provides a brief history of nuclear science from the discovery of radioactivity in 1896 to the ten-megaton explosion of “Mike” that obliterated a Pacific Island in 1952. Ford worked at both Los Alamos and Princeton's Project Matterhorn, and brings out Matterhorn's major, but previously unheralded contribution to the development of the H bomb. Outside the lab, he drove a battered Chevrolet around New Mexico, a bantam motorcycle across the country, and a British roadster around New Jersey. Part of the charm of Ford's book is the way in which he leavens his well-researched descriptions of the scientific work with brief tales of his life away from weapons.Contents: The Big Idea The Protagonists The Choice The Scientists, the Officials, and the President Nuclear Energy Some Physics Going West A New World The Classical Super Calculating and Testing Constructing Matterhorn Academia Cowers New Mexico, New York, and New Jersey The Garwin Design Climbing Matterhorn It's More Than a Boy Readership: A memoir for general readership in the history of science.Key Features: It contains real physics, clearly presented for non-specialists Combining historical scholarship and his own recollections, the author offers important insights into the people and the work that led to the first H bomb Personal anecdotes enliven the book

    Saint Francis of Assisi is quite possibly the most popular of all Christian saints. Perhaps it is his adoration for all living things or his unrelenting generosity that has made so many people open their hearts to him. Perhaps it is the deep conviction and piety expressed not only by the saint himself, but in his name, in the Franciscan orders throughout the centuries.Whatever the reason, in a world that is quickly developing in a direction diametrically opposite to the saint's own simple asceticism, Saint Francis of Assisi still stirs strong emotions and compassion. How close he found God, in the very nature around him, is inspiring.All books in The Life and Prayers series come complete with a Touch-or-Click Table of Contents, divided by each section. Enjoy.

    . . insights whiz to and fro like meteorites."—John Russell, New York Times Book Review

    Psychology is the only branch of learning in which I am particularly versed. To the psychologist the religious propensities of man must be at least as interesting as any other of the facts pertaining to his mental constitution. It would seem, therefore, as a psychologist, the natural thing for me would be to invite you to a descriptive survey of those religious propensities." When William James went to the University of Edinburgh in 1901 to deliver a series of lectures on "natural religion," he defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine." Considering religion, then, not as it is defined by--or takes place in--the churches, but as it is felt in everyday life, he undertook a project that, upon completion, stands not only as one of the most important texts on psychology ever written, not only as a vitally serious contemplation of spirituality, but for many critics one of the best works of nonfiction written in the 20th century. Reading The Varieties of Religious Experience, it is easy to see why. Applying his analytic clarity to religious accounts from a variety of sources, James elaborates a pluralistic framework in which "the divine can mean no single quality, it must mean a group of qualities, by being champions of which in alternation, different men may all find worthy missions." It's an intellectual call for serious religious tolerance--indeed, respect--the vitality of which has not diminished through the subsequent decades.