How might the life and work of Christian writer G. K. Chesterton shed light on our understanding of North American Indigenous art and history? In these discerning reflections, art historian Matthew Milliner appeals to Chesterton's life and work in order to understand and appreciate both Indigenous art and the complex, often tragic history of First Nations peoples.
"There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place." -G.K. Chesterton What, if anything, is it that makes the human uniquely human? This, in part, is the question that G.K. Chesterton starts with exploration of human history in this classic. Responding to the evolutionary materialism of his contemporary H.G. Wells, Chesterton in this work affirms human uniqueness and the unique message of the Christian faith. Writing at a time when social Darwinism was increasingly popular, Chesterton argued that the idea that society has been steadily progressing from a starting point of primitivism towards civilization, and of Jesus Christ as simply another charismatic figure, is completely inaccurate. Chesterton saw in Christianity a rare blending of philosophy and mythology, which he felt satisfies both the mind and the heart. Here, as so often in Chesterton, we sense a lived, awakened faith. All that he writes derives from a keen intellect guided by the heart's own knowledge.
NEW YORK TIMES BEST HISTORICAL FICTION OF 2020 "Only Katy Simpson Smith could have written a novel of such elegance, emotional power, and grace. The Everlasting, a quadruple love story spanning two millennia, is no less than the story of love itself—its frustrations and thrills, its blunders and transcendent glories. Meraviglioso."—Nathaniel Rich, author of King Zeno From a supremely talented author comes this brilliant and inventive literary work of historical fiction, set in Rome in four different centuries, that explores love in all its various incarnations and ponders elemental questions of good and evil, obedience and free will that connect four unforgettable lives . Spanning two thousand years, The Everlasting follows four characters whose struggles resonate across the centuries: an early Christian child martyr; a medieval monk on crypt duty in a church; a Medici princess of Moorish descent; and a contemporary field biologist conducting an illicit affair. Outsiders to a city layered and dense with history, this quartet separated by time grapple with the physicality of bodies, the necessity for sacrifice, and the power of love to sustain and challenge faith. Their small rebellions are witnessed and provoked by an omniscient, time-traveling Satan who, though incorporeal, nonetheless suffers from a heart in search of repair. As their dramas unfold amid the brick, marble, and ghosts of Rome, they each must decide what it means to be good. Twelve-year old Prisca defiles the scrolls of her father’s library. Felix, a holy man, watches his friend’s body decay and is reminded of the first boy he loved passionately. Giulia de’ Medici, a beauty with dark skin and limitless wealth, wants to deliver herself from her unborn child. Tom, an American biologist studying the lives of the smallest creatures, cannot pinpoint when his own marriage began to die. As each of these conflicted people struggles with forces they cannot control, their circumstances raise a profound and timeless question at the heart of faith: What is our duty to each other, and what will God forgive? Moving back through time from today (The Wilderness) to the Renaissance (The City) to the Middle Ages (The Grave) and finally to Rome under Marcus Aurelius (The Paradise), Tom, Guilia, Felix, and Prisca search and suffer for love in the eternal city, made vivid and familiar as they reappear in each century.
Our supreme fabulist of the ordinary now turns his attention on a 9-year-old American girl and produces a novel as enchantingly idiosyncratic as any he has written. Nory Winslow wants to be a dentist or a designer of pop-up books. She likes telling stories and inventing dolls. She has nightmares about teeth, which may explain her career choice. She is going to school in England, where she is mocked for her accent and her friendship with an unpopular girl, and she has made it through the year without crying. Nicholson Baker follows Nory as she interacts with her parents and peers, thinks about God and death-watch beetles, and dreams of cows with pointed teeth. In this precocious child he gives us a heroine as canny and as whimsical as Lewis Carroll's Alice and evokes childhood in all its luminous weirdness.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of How the Irish Saved Civilization comes a compelling historical narrative about Jesus—an obscure rabbi from a backwater of the Roman Empire who became the central figure in Western Civilization. "Divertingly instructive...gratifying...[Cahill] makes Jesus a still-living literary presence." —The New York Times In his subtle and engaging investigation into the life and times of Jesus, Thomas Cahill shows us Jesus from his birth to his execution through the eyes of those who knew him and in the context of his time—a time when the Jews were struggling to maintain their beliefs under overlords who imposed their worldview on their subjects. Here is Jesus the loving friend, itinerate preacher, and quiet revolutionary, whose words and actions inspired his followers to journey throughout the Roman world and speak the truth he instilled—in the face of the greatest defeat: Jesus' crucifixion as a common criminal. Daring, provocative, and stunningly original, Cahill's interpretation will both delight and surprise.
In this book of essays, Vizenor presents a stark but vital view of reservation life in the early 1970s, a collection that Studies in American Indian Literatures called "memorable portraits of real people who defied yet finally were overcome by the dominant society." Focusing on the people of the northern reservations, particularly the White Earth Reservation where he grew up, Vizenor puts a human face on those desperate and politically charged times that saw frequent government intervention and the emergence of the American Indian Movement (AIM). In his trademark style, Vizenor juxtaposes these snapshots of contemporary life against images and dream sequences from Anishinabe folktales and ceremonies.
Heretics, Orthodoxy, and The Everlasting Man are all three of G. K. Chesterton's Chesterton Apologetics collected in one volume. Heretics - In his defence of God, Chesterton addresses views from his time by H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Kipling, and others. It features wonderful ideas from the 1905 British edition, such these: There are many men in the current world who adhere to dogmas despite being completely unaware of them. Orthodoxy - Organized around a conundrum and its solution, it describes how Chesterton transformed from a pagan to a devout Christian. from the British Edition of 1908 In The Everlasting Man, Chesterton successfully refutes the notion that Jesus Christ was merely a human being and that man is merely another animal that has evolved. It was the most effective popular defence of the complete Christian stance, according to C. S. Lewis. It contains wonderful ideas from the 1925 British Edition, including the following: According to our understanding, even the story of God can be described as an adventure story. Atheists may still fight Christianity, but it will be on a par with their battles against other aspects of nature, such as the sky and the environment. This classic book should not be missed by any student of thinking since it is witty, insightful, and genuinely enjoyable. This edition is offered in a compact book with the entire text at a reasonable price.
In a life filled with uncertainty, former missionary Elisabeth Elliot clung to the God who never left her side. Through the deaths of two husbands, a life of travel and danger, and raising her daughter as a single parent, God provided Elliot with a security that could not have come from relying on the world. In this handsomely repackaged edition of Secure in the Everlasting Arms, you are invited to join her as she recounts how she relied on God during some of the most amazing and difficult events of her life.
With great pleasure we offer this daily devotional of meditations from the late Rev. Frans Bakker (1919-1965). His devotionals and meditations proved to be comforting and edifying to many of God's people in the Netherlands. Writing in a simple but penetrating style, Bakker emphasized the fullness of Christ for needy sinners. In The Everlasting Word, all of Bakker's published meditations have been translated and compiled with additional selections from his sermons. We trust that the result is a collection filled with great nuggets of spiritual wisdom that you will enjoy. May this devotional be both an encouragement that edifies God's people and an admonition for a life with Christ in the present age.
