"During the 20th Century Sub-Saharan Africa experienced a sweeping cultural transformation. Between 1900 and 2000 the Christian population in Kenya alone grew from less than one percent to approximately eighty percent. Behind this astonishing cultural revolution were the evangelical missionary movement and the critical support network that gave the movement its energy and staying power. Central to this network were the schools established around Africa for the children of missionaries. "School in the Clouds" is the story of the oldest and largest missionary boarding school in Africa. However, as a driving force behind this dramatic larger narrative, the history of the Rift Valley Academy is more than the story of an institution and the lives that made it up. It is a microcosm of one of the most remarkable cultural transformations in world history."--Back cover
Hanne Loland studies gendered god-language in the Hebrew Bible. She offers a theoretical framework that is helpful for the interpretation of biblical language used in reference to God and for the broader theological and scholarly debate on God and gender. One of the main questions Loland discusses is whether and how gende r is salient - that is, of significance - when gendered god-language occurs in a text. This is a new line of questioning in Hebrew Bible research, which so far has been mostly concerned with mapping the occurrences of feminine god-language. The question of gender significance is debated both in theoretical discussions on God, gender and language, and in three case studies (Isa 42:13-14, 46:3-4, and 49:14-15). These texts are chosen primarily because of today's research situation, where there has been a claim that Isa 40-55 (or 40-66) differs from the rest of the Hebrew Bible in its use of feminine god-language. Loland argues that there is in principle no difference between god-language formulated in similes or metaphors. Further, there is no significant difference between male and female god-language in the Hebrew Bible. These findings are also relevant for the contemporary debate concerning god-language in academia, church, and synagogue. This volume was recognized with the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise in 2008.
Sky Island (1912) is a novel by L. Frank Baum. A sequel to The Sea Fairies (1911), Sky Island was part of a larger series of planned novels that Baum hoped would move beyond the universe he created for his Oz books. Discouraged by poor reviews of The Sea Fairies, however, Baum featured several characters from The Road to Oz (1909) in Sky Island, including Button Bright and Polychrome. A young Californian girl named Trot meets a strange boy from Philadelphia named Button Bright. Using his magic umbrella, he has managed to float across the entire country. Together with the brave Cap’n Bill, they set sail for the mysterious Sky Island, the realm of the Blues and the Pinkies. Separated by the Great Fog Bank, the two peoples live vastly different lives and never attempt to cross their borders. On the Blue side, the three adventurers face the wicked tyrant Boolooroo, who threatens to torture them for disobedience. Despite being imprisoned, they manage to escape, braving the fog to emerge in the happier Pink Country. Soon, they face a new type of danger: a strange set of laws threatens Trot, Button Bright, and the Cap’n with immediate expulsion from Sky Island. Filled with rich, detailed layers of fantasy from the mind of L. Frank Baum, Sky Island is a story about the frail innocence of childhood and the will to persevere that can be found in even the youngest of hearts. Long overshadowed by the film, Baum’s novel is required reading for children, adults with children, and adults who refuse to let life lose its flavor of fantasy. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of L. Frank Baum’s Sky Island is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.
On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more “If you’re looking for a superb novel, look no further.” —The Washington Post From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See, comes the instant New York Times bestseller that is a “wildly inventive, a humane and uplifting book for adults that’s infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences” (The New York Times Book Review). Among the most celebrated and beloved novels of recent times, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril, who find resilience, hope, and a book. In the 15th century, an orphan named Anna lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople. She learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds what might be the last copy of a centuries-old book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the army that will lay siege to the city. His path and Anna’s will cross. In the present day, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno rehearses children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege. And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father. Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders whose lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own.
A slow change in outlook dominates the book, as attitudes shift from viewing the desert as a place of sanctity, then a land to be despised or exploited, and back to an appreciation of it as a special place, an arena of highly complex natural communities, and a wild refuge for the human body and soul.
