The Jew in the Modern World

The Wordy Shipmates

Sarah Vowell · 254 pages

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Assassination Vacation and The Partly Cloudy Patriot, an examination of the Puritans, their covenant communities, their deep-rooted idealism, their political and cultural relevance in today’s world, and their myriad oddities.In The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell travels once again through America’s past, this time to seventeenth-century New England. Fro

The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller

Carlo Ginzburg · 177 pages

Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century

John Boswell · 436 pages

From back cover: Boswell's highly acclaimed study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the Christian West challenges received opinion and our own preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members, among whom were priests, bishops and even canonized saints. The historical breadth of Boswell's research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consul

In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World

Tom Holland · 526 pages

In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two venerable empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on, and one had vanished forever, while the other seemed almost finished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval so profound that it spelled, in effect, the end of the ancient world. In The Shadow of the Sword, Tom Holland explores how this came about. Spanning Cons

Jews, God and History

Max I. Dimont · 472 pages

The author tells us that twenty years of reading went into the creation of Jews, God and History. Conscientious scholarship is evident in this informative record of Jewish history from its inception 4000 years ago to the present. Mr. Dimont traces the nomadic Jewish tribes from their settlement in the ""Promised Land"" to their ultimate dispersion. He describes the Jewish ""age of reason"" under t

The Cross and the Lynching Tree

James H. Cone · 213 pages

Examines the symbols of the cross and the lynching tree in African americans daily life, spiritual life and history.

Jerusalem: The Biography

Simon Sebag Montefiore · 672 pages

Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today's clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and

Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate

Leila Ahmed · 304 pages

Explores the historical roots of the debate about women in Islamic societies by tracing the developments in Islamic discourses on women and gender up to the present. The book describes the gender systems in place in the Middle East both before and after the rise of Islam.

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet

John G. Turner

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York whose impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. He trudged around the United States and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than fifty women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. While previous accounts of his life have been disto

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew

Bart D. Ehrman · 301 pages

"In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten. All of these groups insisted that they upheld the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and they all possessed writings that bore out their claims, books reputedly produced by Jesus' own followers. Modern archaeological work has rec

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Eric Metaxas · 615 pages

From the New York Times bestselling author of Amazing Grace, a groundbreaking biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the greatest heroes of the twentieth century, the man who stood up to Hitler. A definitive, deeply moving narrative, Bonhoeffer is a story of moral courage in the face of the monstrous evil that was Nazism. After discovering the fire of true faith in a Harlem church, Bonhoef

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Reza Aslan · 336 pages

Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher walked across the Galilee gathering followers to establish the "Kingdom of God." He was tortured and executed as a state criminal. Within decades, his followers would call him God. Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history's most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

Richard L. Bushman · 776 pages

Actes and monuments

John Foxe · 589 pages

The Gnostic Gospels

Elaine Pagels · 184 pages

The Gnostic Gospels is a landmark study of the long-buried roots of Christianity, a work of luminous scholarship and wide popular appeal. First published in 1979 to critical acclaim, winning the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Gnostic Gospels has continued to grow in reputation and influence over the past two decades. It is now widely recognized as one of the mo

Our Heritage: A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Roland H. Bainton

When God Was a Woman

Merlin Stone · 265 pages

Here, archaeologically documented is the story of the religion of the Goddess. Known by many names, she reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. How did the change in women's roles come about? By documenting the wholesale rewriting of myth and religious dogmans, Stone details an ancient conspiracy that laid the foundation for one of culture's greatest shams--the legend of Adam and fallen Eve.

The Evolution of God

Robert Wright · 567 pages

In this sweeping narrative that takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archaeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy. He explains

The Everlasting Man

G.K. Chesterton · 268 pages

The Everlasting Man is inspired by H. G. Wells’ The Outline of History, which explains the history of mankind and religion as solely a product of natural selection and other material causes. In contrast, G. K. Chesterton presents the case for Christianity throughout history, by illustrating firstly, the uniqueness of man amongst the animals, and secondly, the uniqueness of Christ and the Church am

The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism

Karen Armstrong · 442 pages

"In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong shows us how and why fundamentalist groups came into existence and what they yearn to accomplish.". "We see the West in the sixteenth century beginning to create an entirely new kind of civilization, which brought in its wake change in every aspect of life - often painful and violent, even if liberating. Armstrong argues that one of the things that changed

(Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum) The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet (SAW)

Safiy al-Rahman al-Mubarakfuri · 588 pages

History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith

Lucy Mack Smith, Preston Nibley

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith

Fawn M. Brodie · 536 pages