Short Studies

The Bible is the written word of the living God. He speaks through this word, working in and through human agents as he reveals himself to his people. His word is trustworthy, yet many Christians struggle to articulate why they believe that to be true. Centered in the words of Scripture and especially the teaching of Jesus himself, this volume unpacks the doctrine of Scripture as taught by the church through the ages, helping to strengthen listeners’ confidence in God’s word.

It's surprising that the term "heterosexuality" is less than 150 years old and that heterosexuality's history has never before been written, given how obsessed we are with it. In Straight, independent scholar Hanne Blank delves deep into the contemporary psyche as well as the historical record to chronicle the realm of heterosexual relations - a subject that is anything but straight and narrow.

Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales is an audiobook benefiting children orphaned and impacted by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, featuring Gillian Anderson, Benjamin Bratt, LeVar Burton, Ricardo Chavira, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Hayes, Hugh Jackman, Samuel L. Jackson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Scarlett Johansson,

Debra Messing, Helen Mirren, Parminder Nagra, Sophie Okonedo, CCH Pounder, Alan Rickman, Jurnee Smollett, Charlize Theron, and Blair Underwood.

Turkish mythology is comprised of myths and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation by the Turkish people. Soon, you will be immersing yourself into their culture and traditions told in an almost poetic way. The Turkish people have a love for storytelling and are masters of it. This is the reason why they have such an interesting library of fairy tales.

With faith, hope, and compassion, acclaimed religion scholar Timothy Beal shows us how to navigate the inevitabilities of the climate crisis and the very real—and very near—possibility of human extinction.

In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Richard Earl gives a sense of the more visual elements of topology (looking at surfaces) as well as covering the formal definition of continuity. Considering some of the eye-opening examples that led mathematicians to recognize a need for studying topology, he pays homage to the historical people, problems, and surprises that have propelled the growth of this field.

Yonnondio follows the heartbreaking path of the Holbrook family in the late 1920s and the Great Depression as they move from the coal mines of Wyoming to a tenant farm in Western Nebraska, ending up finally on the kill floors of the slaughterhouses and in the wretched neighborhoods of the poor in Omaha, Nebraska. Mazie, the oldest daughter in the growing family of Jim and Anna Holbrook, tells the story of the family's desire for a better life—Anna's dream that her children be educated and Jim's wish for a life lived out in the open, away from the darkness and danger of mines.

As a 41-year-old man confronts his own mortality in this collection's title story, he recalls his Spokane Indian father's chilling death from alcoholism and diabetes. Another tale features an eccentric salesman pursuing a married woman from airport to airport. And then there's the film editor who sees nothing wrong with altering footage to fit preconceived views - until he becomes the target of media distortion.

In his highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed Art Matters: Hemingway, Craft, and the Creation of the Modern Short Story, Robert Paul Lamb delivers a dazzling analysis of the craft of this influential writer. Lamb scrutinizes a selection of Hemingway's exemplary stories to illuminate the author's methods of construction and to show how craft criticism complements and enhances cultural literary studies

There are the fabled urban myths of lesbians who fill up a U-Haul on the second date and lead sweetly romantic lives of cocoa and comfy slippers. Safe and sound. A lot of cozy and not much crazy. These are NOT those stories- these are wild women with dirty minds, untamed tongues, and even the occasional cuff or clamp. A lotta crazy and no cozy slippers to be seen. These Wild Girls tell stories of their own Wild Nights (and days,) memories too hot to keep undercover.

Exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity and tracing its course over two millennia, Linda Woodhead provides a fresh, lively, and candid portrait of Christianity's past and present. Addressing topics including the competition for power between different forms of Christianity, the churches' use of power, and its struggles with modernity, this new edition includes up-to-date information on the growth and geographical spread of Eastern Christianity, reflecting the global nature of Christianity in our ever-shifting contemporary culture.

In The Call of the Wild, Buck is a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life gets turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Alaskan Yukon in the 1890s. White Fang is the story of a wolf-dog that is rescued from its brutal owner and gradually becomes domesticated through the patience and kindness of its new owner. Lost Face (Including Other Short Stories) is a collection of seven short stories by Jack London.

This Very Short Introduction audiobook offers a clear, accessible, and concise account of the apocryphal gospels - exploring their origins, their discovery, and discussing how the various texts have been interpreted both by the Church and beyond.

From the author of the phenomenally successful, New York Times best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mystery series, comes this spellbinding collection of African folktales from Zimbabwe and Botswana.

David Dark is one of today's most respected thinkers, public intellectuals, and cultural critics at the intersection of faith and culture. Since its original release, Dark's Life's Too Short to Pretend You're Not Religious has become essential for those engaged in the conversation on religion in contemporary American society. Now, Dark returns to his classic text and offers us a revised, expanded, and reframed edition that reflects a more expansive understanding, employs inclusive language, and tackles the most pressing issues of the day.

Unique among books that examine the bible as literature, this brilliantly compact introduction offers an intriguing double-edged look at this universal text - a religiously informed literary analysis. The book first explores the major sections of the New Testament - the gospels, Paul's letters, and Revelation - as individual literary documents. Keefer shows how, in such familiar stories as the parable of the Good Samaritan, a literary analysis can uncover an unexpected complexity to what seems a simple, straightforward tale.

Based upon a 10,000 year old oral tradition, these stories reflect three essential elements of the cumulative wisdom of Paula Underwood's Native American ancestors. "Who Speaks for Wolf" deals with the human impact on the Earth, "Winter White and Summer Gold" deals with planning for the future, "Many Circles, Many Paths" deals with living together in peace.

Religion: A Very Short Introduction offers a concise nonpartisan overview of religion's long history and its complicated role in the world today.

Superstition: A Very Short Introduction explores the nature and history of superstition from antiquity to the present. For two millennia, superstition was a label derisively applied to foreign religions and unacceptable religious practices, and its primary purpose was used to separate groups and assert religious and social authority. After the Enlightenment, the superstition label was still used to define groups, but the new dividing line was between reason and unreason. Today, superstitious belief and behavior remain widespread, and highly educated people are not immune.

What in the world is God doing? It's easy to wonder this. We are living in an unfolding story, and it's hard to hold on when difficult circumstances linger, or your deepest prayer hangs in the air, seemingly unanswered. Thankfully the Bible is filled with people who experienced the same thing. They had to learn to trust God's way and timing—and their stories give us insights to live that way too.