Perrin makes a powerful case that the Gospel of Thomas was originally written in an eastern Aramaic dialect, and, somewhat less persuasively, that it is dependent on a gospel harmony written in 173 A.D. Both conclusions challenge the premises of the Jesus Seminar and other recent scholars that Thomas was originally written in Greek and predates the canonical Gospels. Although intended for academic audiences, Perrin's book is surprisingly accessible to non-specialists and well-educated laymen.

The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus contained in a 4th century Coptic manuscript that came to light in 1948. In addition, Thomas is attested in three Greek fragments that were discovered in 1898 and dated to the 2nd century. About half of its sayings parallel those in the New Testament, but others are quite different. Although scholars initially assigned the original composition of Thomas to the early-to-mid 2nd century, a recent trend in certain scholarly circles is to situate Thomas as early as 50 A.D., making it one of the earliest sources for early Christianity and the historical Jesus. As a result, Thomas has become very important in recent times.

Perrin approaches Thomas from a different angle, by concentrating on its original language of composition and using that to assess Thomas's origin. He makes a powerful case that Thomas was originally written in Syriac, an eastern dialect of Aramaic (Jesus spoke a western dialect). Perrin begins by surveying scholarship on Thomas's language of composition and notes several places where certain oddities in Thomas can be readily explained by an Aramaic or Syriac intermediary. Building on the observation that Thomas appears to be organized by catchwords (similarly sounding words that link one saying to the next), Perrin next investigates whether each saying can be connected by Syriac catchwords. He finds that Thomas has 502 potential catchwords in Syriac, but only 263 in Greek and 269 in Coptic. In addition, all but three of the sayings can be linked by a Syriac catchword to its neighboring sayings, and some of the repeated catchwords are based on puns that only work in Syriac. Perrin's case is compelling and fits very neatly with other scholars' findings that Thomas reflects an eastern Syrian provenance.

Perrin's second point, that Thomas is dependent on Tatian's Diatessaron, is less thoroughly established. Unfortunately, Perrin did not do a detailed comparison of each saying in Thomas with corresponding passages in the Diatessaron. Rather, Perrin argued that Thomas must have had written sources and the Diatessaron, as the first known source of Gospel tradition in Syriac, is the best candidate to be one of those sources. Although this argument is very suggestive and Perrin did point out a few contacts in Thomas with the Diatessaron in his initial survey, a full judgment on this issue must be withheld until the detailed comparison is made.

Those seriously interested in the Gospel of Thomas will find Perrin's book intriguing and thought-provoking. Knowledge of Syriac is not necessary to follow his arguments.

This is one of the best short story collections I have read in a long time. Sharp, clear writing leads the reader into the heart of NY. A few misses, but more hits. The best stories seem to come at the end of the book, so if you don't like the first few -- keep reading. While all the stories are about or set in NY -- they offer up details of modern life that can be applied to any city anywhere. My only complaint is they haven't published a second volume.

"Treaties and Alliances of the World" is a one-volume reference to treaties, which are grouped into chapters by category or by historical period. With it, you can learn of specific European agreements, of cold war treaties, of commodity agreements, etc. However- and this is a large failing- no treaty citations are given. Sometimes a proper treaty title and date are given; sometimes text or a text summary is given; and in some instances the treaty's depositary or an organization (and its address) or a conference or an explanation relevant to the treaty is furnished. This book is more comprehensive and up to date but less pleasant to read and use than J.A.S. Grenville's "The Major International Treaties 1914-1973." The latter does give historical surroundings plus citations with its treaties but, now, is more a history book than a reference of current treaty actions. Edward Grosek. Northern Illinois University. c60esg1@corn.cso.niu.edu

This is one of Amos Oz's earlier works and the reader can already notice his amazing skill with words. The book contains two stories: The first one takes place in Medieval Europe and tells the story of a crusade that begins after several ominous events spread through the villages.With his unique language Oz leads the reader through the crusade that soon becomes a horrifying descent into the darkest pits of human cruelty, primal fears and blind violence and torture unto the eventual tragic ending of the novella. The second story describes the small, uneventful life of a lonely old man and his fantasies - about the nurse in the outpatient clinic, about an Israeli military force to be sent back in time to take revenge from the Nazis etc. Reading this early book exposes the reader to Oz's virtuoso ability with words that can either pound like a sledgehammer or flutter on one's face like the wind from a butterfly's flight

Sixty-five and a widower, retired New York City homicide detective Nicholas Chase enjoys owning and running the Happy Smoking Ground, a Cambridge, Massachusetts shop. He becomes excited to learn that Melvin Chandler, multimillionaire owner of Cigars Smokers magazine, plans a book signing of his new autobiography at Nick's store. Not everyone is happy over Melvin's appearance. The Stuff Out Smoking group hates the symbol that Melvin represents and plans to disrupt the proceedings.

The day Melvin arrives at Nick's store, a riot breaks out but no one is seriously hurt. That night at the Mayflower, a maid notices a fire in Melvin's room, puts it out, and sees that the occupant died. With Nick's urgings, the police consider murder with a member of SOS as the prime suspect. However, Nick remembers what Melvin told him about the index in his book containing his most likely killer.

The third "Nothing Satisfies Like a Good Cigar" mystery is an entertaining police procedural that fans will enjoy because, though no longer a cop, Nick is a key member of the investigative team. The story line works because Nick and his cohorts, especially Professor Woolley, seem genuine so that when the star begins his own inquiries they seem real. Though a red herring or two add little to the plot except trying to unnecessarily fool the reader, UP IN SMOKE is a superb tale, but my spouse still needs to step outside when he puffs on that cigar.

Harriet Klausner

Prince Gavriil Konstantinovich Romanov (1887-1955) was the second of eight children of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich (a noted poet and playwright who published under the name "K.R."). One of his brothers was killed during World War I, and three others were murdered during the Revolution. Gavriil himself lived through the Revolution and went to France, where he eventually died. Most of the book is about his life in Russia before the revolution, with a large part devoted to World War I. There is also a long (perhaps TOO long) section devoted to his brother Oleg (the one who died during World War I). There are also two appendices-- more like essays in their own right, really. The first deals with Gavriil's grandfather, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich; the second is a dry, just-the-facts description of where the surviving Romanovs ended up after the revolution. All in all, an interesting book, and a good look at the Romanovs in Russia right before the revolution.

Although it's sad to think that there may be no more Wallace and Gromit films (the animator, Nick Park, seems to be into other projects at the moment), this comic book captures a lot of the Wallace and Gromit spirit. There are a lot of wonderful little sight-gags (check out the titles of the books Gromit reads) and the storylines in the two adventures are similar in wackiness to those of the films. Still, it's a little disappointing not to get to see Wallace and Gromit _moving_, and you have to imagine Wallace's voice (though the authors did do a good job of conjuring up things he would be likely to say). There are a few rough spots, but in general it's a very good comic-type book, very funny and rereadable. If the Aardman folks don't see fit to make more Wallace and Gromit films, I hope there will at least be more "adventures" like this.

Great reference for the warehouse manager or project manger. Provides an excellent explanation of the various warehouse activities and equipment. Very useful for project management with good walk-throughs for many warehouse / distribution projects; especially racking, WMS and RF. Also is a good reference for project management in general; provides many examples of project documentation and checklists. Detailed yet information is easy to find. I hope future editions take a closer look at scalability and tecnology that integrates the WMS with the Enterprise system. Overall a great resource for any Ops department...

This book is an old print...even though it is old it is a great story...it tells of a sacrifice and strenth of religon is the lives of many. It is hard to find...and AMAZON.COM has done a great job in providing a chance to enjoy it.

Spinner Publishing has done it again. They have pout together another timeless book that captures the very esence of New Bedford Massachusettes as the formner center of the whaling world. Anyone who like history or is interested in the people and areas of oldtime Mass must read this book