A comprehensive and eye-opening guide to biblical topics as they are addressed in the Baha'i writings. In Light of the Kingdom, author JoAnn Borovicka explores questions relating to the Bible and its significance and meaning from a Baha'i perspective. The purpose of the book is to provide an introductory compilation of the wealth of insights on biblical topics offered in the Baha'i Writings. To this end, it starts with an overview of Baha'i teachings about the Bible in general, and then explores Baha'i guidance on a variety of topics as they arise from the first book of the Old Testament through the last book of the New Testament. The result of years of exploration and research, the book provides samples of Baha'i guidance on a wide range of biblical topics in a way that is accessible to anyone regardless of their prior knowledge of the Bible or the Baha'i Faith.
In the last forty years, but especially with Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, interest in the life and identity of the mysterious figure Mary Magdalene has reached an all-time high. In New Testament scholarship, often she is often conflated and confused with other Mary figures, to the point of being unknowable. Traditionally, she has been identified by a rigid, male-dominated Church hierarchy as the Sinner from whom seven demons were cast out. With the 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, from which Dan Brown drew much of his inspiration, the Magdalene is seen as carrying Jesus' bloodline to Provence. The earlier musical Jesus Christ Superstar dramatizes yet other variations on this theme, while still others speculate that she was an Egyptian priestess or was black and from sub-Saharan Africa. Who is Mary Magdalene? What are we to believe about her? What are we to know? What was her mission? As the Beloved Disciple, what is her relationship to Jesus? Where do we turn for answers? In this lean, accessible, and cogent book, Robert Powell sifts through the rubble of fads and distortions, through the shadows of misunderstanding and doubt, to reveal the true Mary Magdalene. He finds her in the work and visions of the German nun and mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824). A contemporary of Beethoven and Goethe, as well as the poet Clemens Brentano, who had a close relationship with and was her scribe, Sister Emmerich received the stigmata at the age of thirty-eight. She lived for another twelve years without eating solid food, except for taking daily communion. For the most part illiterate, Sr. Emmerich dictated remarkably accurate accounts, within the bounds of scholarship, of Jesus' ministry. The visions include the life of Mary Magdalene and the remarkable relationship she had with her siblings Lazarus and Martha. Although Lazarus and Martha lived the spiritual life and recognized Jesus as the Messiah, Mary lived the high life. All three grew up in a castle northeast of Jerusalem. Eventually, Mary found herself riveted by the powerful words of Jesus. He first cast out one demon, then the Seven Demons of the Bible. Joining the circle of women around the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene was prepared for the great event of discovering the empty tomb on the morning of Jesus' Resurrection. An especially stunning insight of Sr. Emmerich--covered here in an entire chapter that includes other sources, including Rudolf Steiner--centers on the mystery of "the disciple whom the Lord loved." This insight is related to Steiner's identification of the resurrected Lazarus with the author of the Gospel of John.
Winner of the 2019 Phi Beta Kappa Award for Science "A valuable perspective on the most important problem of our time." —Adam Becker, NPR Light of the Stars tells the story of humanity’s coming of age as we realize we might not be alone in this universe. Astrophysicist Adam Frank traces the question of alien life from the ancient Greeks to modern thinkers, and he demonstrates that recognizing the possibility of its existence might be the key to save us from climate change. With clarity and conviction, Light of the Stars asks the consequential question: What can the likely presence of life on other planets tell us about our own fate?
The journey that began with The Shadow of What Was Lostreaches its spectacular conclusion in The Light of All That Falls, the final chapter of the Licanius Trilogy by acclaimed epic fantasy author James Islington. After a savage battle, the Boundary is whole again -- but it may be too late. Banes now stalk the lands of Andarra, and the Venerate have gathered their armies for a final, crushing blow. In Ilin Illan, Wirr fights to maintain a precarious alliance between Andarra's factions of power. With dark forces closing in on the capital, if he cannot succeed, the war is lost. Imprisoned and alone in a strange land, Davian is pitted against the remaining Venerate. As he desperately tries to keep them from undoing Asha's sacrifice, he struggles to come to terms with his own path and all he has learned about Caeden, the friend he chose to set free. Finally, Caeden is confronted with the reality of a plan laid centuries ago -- heartbroken at how it started and devastated by how it must end. The Licanius TrilogyThe Shadow of What Was LostAn Echo of Things to ComeThe Light of All That Falls "Love The Wheel of Time? This is about to become your new favorite series." - B&N SciFi & Fantasy Blog
This momentous work offers a groundbreaking history of the early civil rights movement in the South. Using wide-ranging archival work and extensive interviews with movement participants, Charles Payne uncovers a chapter of American social history forged locally, in places like Greenwood, Mississippi, where countless unsung African Americans risked their lives for the freedom struggle. The leaders were ordinary women and men--sharecroppers, domestics, high school students, beauticians, independent farmers--committed to organizing the civil rights struggle house by house, block by block, relationship by relationship. Payne brilliantly brings to life the tradition of grassroots African American activism, long practiced yet poorly understood. Payne overturns familiar ideas about community activism in the 1960s. The young organizers who were the engines of change in the state were not following any charismatic national leader. Far from being a complete break with the past, their work was based directly on the work of an older generation of activists, people like Ella Baker, Septima Clark, Amzie Moore, Medgar Evers, Aaron Henry. These leaders set the standards of courage against which young organizers judged themselves; they served as models of activism that balanced humanism with militance. While historians have commonly portrayed the movement leadership as male, ministerial, and well-educated, Payne finds that organizers in Mississippi and elsewhere in the most dangerous parts of the South looked for leadership to working-class rural Blacks, and especially to women. Payne also finds that Black churches, typically portrayed as frontrunners in the civil rights struggle, were in fact late supporters of the movement.
Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder with cardinal motor signs of resting tremor, bradykinesia and lead-pipe rigidity. In addition, many patients display non-motor symptoms, including a diminished sensation of smell, gastrointestinal problems, various disorders of sleep and some cognitive impairment. These clinical features - particularly the motor signs - manifest after a progressive death of many dopaminergic neurones in the brain. Although currently available, conventional therapies can reduce the signs of the disease, the progression of this neuronal death has proved difficult to slow or stop, and the condition is relentlessly progressive. Hence, there is a real need to develop a treatment that is neuroprotective, one that slows the pathology of the disease effectively. At present, there are several neuroprotective therapies in the experimental pipeline, but these are for the patients of tomorrow. This book focuses on two therapies that are readily available for the patients of today. They involve the use of exercise and light (i.e. photobiomodulation, the use of red to infrared light therapy (λ=600-1070nm) on body tissues). The two therapies are tied together in several ways. First, in animal models of Parkinson's disease, they each have been shown to offer the key feature of neuroprotection, stimulating a series of built-in protective mechanisms within the neurones, that helps their survival, to self-protect and/or self-repair. There are also some promising indications of neuroprotection and many beneficial outcomes in parkinsonian patients. Further, both exercise and light therapies are similar in that they are non-invasive and safe to use, with no known adverse side-effects, making their combination with the conventional therapies, such as dopamine replacement drug therapy and deep brain stimulation, all the more feasible. Given the heterogeneity of Parkinson's disease in humans, tackling the condition from a range of different angles - with a number of different therapies - would only serve to enhance the positive outcomes. This book considers the use of exercise and light therapies, proposing that they have the potential to make a powerful "dynamic duo", offering a most effective neuroprotective treatment option to patients.
This collection of some of Elder Holland's most memorable recent talks inspires readers to maintain hope amidst personal trials, suffering, and family struggles by riveting their attention on the Savior who has the power to heal.
'And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light!' (Genesis 1:3.) Our God is the source of light and lives in light unapproachable-yet He has shone into our lives by sending his only Son Jesus, who has lit up our lives with love and salvation. Jesus became the Light of the World so that whoever follows Him 'will not walk in darkness but have the light of Life.' (John 8:12.) Barbara Fleming makes us aware of this Light in her delightful little book and shows us how easy it is for us to access this light, through the Bible that is 'a lamp unto our feet', through our worship and prayer. How wonderful it is to live in the Light of God's glorious Kingdom! As she says, 'Jesus came to light our way into this "Kingdom" of our almighty God' so that the entire world might be filled with 'His Love, His Light and His Joy.'
The most significant events in Earth's history are happening in secret. Despite official denial and tactics of derision, inquiring minds are demanding the truth. This truth is stranger than all the fictions about ETs, alien bases, and the secret government. This courageous book shines the light to expose truths that will change forever how we view our lives on this planet. It asks the reader to join in the investigations, ask the questions, and think the unthinkable. Explore the truth about the controllers of Earth and their alien allies. Discover the updated news about what is happening on the third dimension and what it really means from the higher dimensions' perspective. The revelations are shocking and enlightening. A crashed UFO leads to information on: The secret government's time travel spacecraft Renegade ETs mining on the Moon The U.S. peace-avatar president Ancient Pleiadian warships The prime directive now Underground alien bases and populations And many more startling facts The battle in the heavens has begun. Become aware of the truth and don't get lost in the drama. Be the light that you are and you will be forever free.
