Tells the story of three rebellious teenagers sentenced to the Bleda Reformatorary in South Africa, and the vengeance incited following the murder of one of them.
"Sin isn't relevant anymore." Alan Mann takes seriously this oft-heard assertion and instead goes in search of the real plight at the heart of contemporary Western society. What he finds there is a personal, pervasive, and self-diminishing dis-ease impacting the lives of millions of people--shame. With this insight, Atonement for a Sinless Society seeks a fresh encounter with the biblical narrative, building a more meaningful understanding of the story of Jesus and his disciples for the world in which we live; bringing the Christian understanding of atonement into the twenty-first century.
With shades of Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies and Ally Condie’s Matched, this cinematic dystopian novel—the first in the thrilling Eye of the Beholder series—is set in a near future society in which "right" and "wrong" are manifested by beauty and ugliness. In Grace Luther’s world, morality is physically enforced. Those who are "good" are blessed with beauty, while those who are not suffer horrifying consequences—disfigurement or even death. The daughter of a cleric, Grace has always had faith in the higher power that governs her world. But when she stumbles onto information that leaves her questioning whether there are more complicated—and dangerous—forces manipulating the people around her, she finds herself at the center of an epic battle, where good and evil are not easily distinguished. Despite all her efforts to live a normal teenage life, Grace is faced with a series of decisions that will risk the lives of everyone she loves—and, ultimately, her own. With each page in this electrifying debut novel, Sarah Tarkoff masterfully plunges us into a nightmarish vision of the future. Full of high drama and pulsating tension, Sinless explores the essential questions teenagers wrestle with every day—What is beauty? What is faith? Do we take our surroundings at face value and accept all that we have been taught, or do we question the mores of the society into which we are born?—and places them in the context of a dark, dystopian world where appearances are most definitely deceiving.
For anyone ready to move their life forward, from tragedy, personal failure, unfair circumstances, or just a sense of being stuck, baseball legend and bestselling author Darryl Strawberry offers transformational practices and the tangible hope that you can enjoy a future filled with power, purpose, and freedom. Darryl Strawberry has seen it all--the highs and lows of an intense career as a Major League Baseball all-star, drug addiction, marriage challenges, prison time, and battles with cancer. With honesty and transparency, Strawberry shares the same foundational principles that transformed his life from the inside out--the power of prayer, cultivating healthy friendships, weathering trials without losing heart, refreshing the way you think, and letting God change your life for good. Ultimately, he'll help you discover and trust the redemptive process of making small, daily decisions to follow God into a life of faith, health, and freedom. Strawberry weaves compelling stories from his own life with those of others he met through his speaking and ministry work across the nation. These uplifting testimonies will inspire you with the reminder that God's power can renew any life, no matter what has happened. With scriptural insights and real-life examples, Strawberry celebrates the miracles God works in us for healing, cleansing, and new beginnings. Strawberry's life story is proof that you can overcome life's adversities one decision, one step at a time. It's time to turn your season around.
The family - that small circle of beings where love should flourish - can be an arid and alienating territory where hatred and violence may ignite. On the surface, Small Circle of Beings, the novella which gives its title to this collection, concerns a family living what would appear to be an idyllic life. When the couple's only child falls ill, tension and strain begin to take their toll, and the hairline cracks and fissures in his parents' relationship gradually widen and split open until a marriage that seemed solid and secure falls irretrievably apart. Galgut's economy of style and his chilling gift for understatement and the macabre are nowhere more eloquently displayed than in this gripping story. The same sensitive and atmospheric writing can also be seen in the shorter stories - Lovers, Shadows, The Clay Ox and Rick.
An “unsettling and engaging” novel about contemporary South Africa, from the Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Promise (The Telegraph). Adam Napier leaves Johannesburg looking for a fresh start. Jobless and directionless, but with a head full of literary ambitions, he moves into his brother’s dilapidated house on the edge of a backwater town. One day he encounters Canning, a man who claims Adam saved his life in their school days. Adam does not remember him at all. But he plays along and, for a time, enjoys all that Canning has: a vast fortune and game preserve inherited from his father, and a beautiful, mysterious younger wife to whom Adam is compulsively, dangerously drawn. “An antipastoral, post-apartheid noir” (Publishers Weekly) by “a worthy heir to Gordimer and Coetzee”, The Imposter evokes a glittering world of the moneyed old guard, newly empowered black Africans, and the betrayal and obsessions hiding in the shadows of the new South African dream (The Guardian, UK).
I was back in a hospital bed, with a doctor sitting beside me. 'Try to describe how you feel,' he said. 'I feel dislocated,' I told him. 'Not part of life.' 'Whose life?' 'Mine. Everybody's. Life.' And the familiar sensation started up in my belly, the shaking spread into my arms. I covered my face with my hands, but I couldn't block out what I saw.' A year ago Patrick Winter, a young South African, was sent to Namibia to complete his military service and to defend his country against 'terrorism'. Now he is back, to meet Godfrey, his mother's freedom fighter boyfriend, and to witness the country's first free elections. But Patrick needs to confront and process much more than a country in transition, and in doing so he is forced to revisit his past and to face the pain and the demons that haunt him.
WINNER OF THE 2021 BOOKER PRIZE A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE A modern family saga written in gorgeous prose by three-time Booker Prize-shortlisted author Damon Galgut. Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt. Reunited by four funerals over three decades, the dwindling family reflects the atmosphere of its country—one of resentment, renewal, and, ultimately, hope. The Promise is an epic drama that unfurls against the unrelenting march of national history, sure to please current fans and attract many new ones. “Simply: you must read it.”—Claire Messud, Harper’s Magazine
Offering science-based information about sexuality, Sinless Sex corrects misinformation found in many religions, offering a new way of thinking, especially to those bound by religious dogmas.
Explore the Book is not a commentary with verse-by-verse annotations. Neither is it just a series of analyses and outlines. Rather, it is a complete Bible survey course. No one can finish this series of studies and remain unchanged. The reader will receive lifelong benefit and be enriched by these practical and understandable studies. Exposition, commentary, and practical application of the meaning and message of the Bible will be found throughout this giant volume. Bible students without any background in Bible study will find this book of immense help as will those who have spent much time studying the Scriptures, including pastors and teachers. Explore the Book is the result and culmination of a lifetime of dedicated Bible study and exposition on the part of Dr. Baxter. It shows throughout a deep awareness and appreciation of the grand themes of the gospel, as found from the opening book of the Bible through Revelation.