If Pilate allowed the death of Jesus, it was legal if Jesus was not a member of a recognized religion like Judaism. The encomnia invented by Seneca compared two lives. If the encomia compared Jesus with recognized Jews, it was a presentation of evidence. Can it be shown that the Gospel of Luke could have been thirteen encomnia? If so, why isn't each witness isolated? Reorganizing content in the same sequence as the Pentateuch would confirm or deny his true religion. Bishop Spong has shown that the content of Luke is so arranged. The witnesses Joseph Justus, Fortunatus, Peter, Herod Philip, Matthias, Thomas, Caiaphas, Jairus, Joseph of Arimathea, Joshua ben Gamla, Zebedee and Simon ben Boethus are identified using linguistic and historical clues. Their witness is supplemented by Pilate's comparison of Jesus and John the Baptist, a recognized Jew. This work is for people who are already familiar with the Bible and who love mysteries.It can be characterized as a commentary and/or a syllabus. It is exciting.

Luke's Twelve Eyewitnesses is the most recent and thorough examination of the Gospel of Luke. It is written for those who love mysteries and have a good knowledge of the Bible. The form contained in the paperback is thirteen encomnia. Rome would have used the encomnia to determine if Pilate had 'killed' a follower of a legal religion (Judaism) or illegal (unrecognized
). Comparing Jesus Christ to recognized Jewish heroes would be considered evidence. Witnesses called to give evidence for the encomnia would be Joseph Justus, Fortunatus, Peter, Philip, Matthias, Thomas, Caiaphas, Jair, Joseph of Arimathea, Joshua ben Gamla, Zebedee and the priest Simon who blessed the infant Jesus. Pilate had been tried for the death of John the Baptist, a recognized Jew. This syllabus or study guide is exciting and worth the effort. It uses linquistics, history and traditions.

I used the book for an tourism Assignment. I must say it supplied sufficient information form me and it was a choice book to read. Thanks very much it was choice.

One of the most comprehensive and descriptive treatises on a complex hunter and gatherer society, which until recently was still pursuing a traditional lifestyle, largely unaffected by European influences. Although scholarly in intent, this work is eminently readable as it takes one deeply into the world of an ancient culture, and most particularly into the fascinating religious life of the Mardu Aborigines of Australia's Western Desert, one of the world's very last frontiers. A truly exquisite ethnography, a must read for those interested in human ingenuity in surviving and thriving in one of the world's most difficult environments. I highly recommend this extraordinary account, for its empathy and deep appreciation of the human condition.

of all the books i've read, this has to be the best by far. you have to check out this book on the indians.

About 1270 A.D., the Anasazi (now called Ancestral Pueblo) and Fremont were forced to evacuate Utah and Colorado because of a prolonged drought that lasted several decades. Scholars have studied these peoples' ruins, pictographs, human remains and artifacts to learn more about their culture. From these reports we now know what they ate and wore, where they lived and farmed, and how they made pottery, baskets and other crafts. We also have some insight into their belief systems, family relationships and how they defended themselves. Despite all this data, there are still many unanswered questions that must be resolved. Perhaps looking at the lifestyles of some of the descendants of these people will provide a few answers. Many of today's anthropologists believe Arizona's Hopi, Pueblo and Zuni people are the descendants of the Anasazi and Fremont. Helen's touching account of her childhood in a traditional Hopi village, provides a view of practices that may have been used or originated in the Great Basin more than a thousand years ago. Her narration describes the coming of age ceremonies in the kivas, the functions of the Kachinas (Kachinavaki), her parents' discipline, farming and cooking practices and her people's belief system. Sadly it also tells of the emotional pain she experienced when she was taken from her family and forced to attend the white man's schools. Despite her many challenges, she proved remarkably resilient and later describes how she and her husband struggled to teach their children an appreciation of both cultures. There is sadness in this story but no bitterness or hatred toward the white man or his culture. The "Journal of Arizona History" and the "Western Historical Quarterly" both feel her autobiography/biography is "an honest story of a life of integrity and genuine values, told with sensitvity" and "a remarkable view of contemporary Hopi life." I agree! I hope all of Utah's local and American history teachers will utilize this resource in their Native American units.

Have you ever read a book about time travel and just thought it was a good story because it has a pretty basic plot? Let me tell you something about this book. It eats your brain out. You constantly find yourself stopping to think about details of what would happen to the "future you" if this happened to you because he does so much to possibly change his current life. Yet of course, that's a good thing in this case. This book is about a sixteen-year-old kid named J.J. who is an assistant to Professor Poplov who helps him with his projects. While the professor is gone J.J. guesses the code to the security panel on the secret closet where professor Poplov keeps all of his secret projects. He discovers in the closet a time machine. Testing it out he accidentally goes back four years. He stumbles into his old self and is followed to the labs. He from then on calls this him Jacko. Jacko follows him forward to present time where they see strange people on the roof. They rush back six years to warn the professor. While there they run into Mutt. Mutt is J.J. but six years younger. After solving the problem the two older J.J.s go home.
All of the problems in this story came one after another and soon led to the end. I liked the style of writing most of all. The way the author wrote the story is the same way I write. I also liked how it made me think. It kind of confused me sometimes. The last of the story is written from Mutt's point of view. Mutt then begins to rewrite his future in a whole different way. This book really puts readers right in the story.

I remember reading this when I was a kid. I always thought it was a pretty neat book. Time travel is always a cool thing to read about, and this one is pretty good too. One of the best things I remember is writing a letter to the author. She wrote me a full-length letter back! For an 11-year-old kid, that's quite a thrill. I recommend this book for any children's book library.

I read this book under the title "The Mysterious Shrinking House" also. It remains one of my favorite stories of all time! I must have been about 11 when I read it the first time, and I read it over and over. I am buying it now (after searching for it forever!) because I have a 12 year old daughter and I've shared with her how much I love this story. I am going to give her the hardback for Christmas and I hope that it will mean as much to her as it did to me. It's something that I am really excited to have in common with my daughter!

I read this under the title The Mysterious Shrinking House. I was probably around six or seven the first time I read it and I still love this book. Mindy finds an old dollhouse and falls in love with it. It sure looks a lot like Mrs. Bright's old family home which strangely vanished one day way back in 1915. Soon Mindy and lively old Mrs. Bright find themselves dollhouse-sized and that's just the start. A lot of fun from Horse the dog who's hot on his missing owner's trail to the inhabitants of Lilliput U.S.A. A clever and engaging story with a few chuckles along the way.

The world looks different when you're a chicken. Your kids might know what a school looks like, even if they haven't spent much time in one, but to Minerva Louise, an inquisitive hen, that big empty building she encounters during her early morning walk is a wonderful, fancy barn. She filters everything she sees through her own experience, so that the custodian raising the flag becomes the farmer hanging his laundry out to dry, and the wastebasket at the side of the teacher's desk becomes a feed bucket. The kids' cubby holes are nesting boxes -- there's even one with an egg in it. To Minerva it's an egg, but your kids will recognize it as a baseball nestled in a ball glove. This is another great book if you need something light-hearted to calm first-day jitters. The illustrations are crisp and bright, and it's hard not to like Minerva Louise, even if she is a silly goose, er, chicken.

My 2.5 year old just loves Minerva Louise. What a funny hen...even the name is very catchy! My daughter delights in telling Minerva Louise how mistaken she is in her "know-it-all" assessments of the world! And Minerva Louise is often listed as one my daughter's "friends" whenever we're going down the list of her good friends! We read this book thru the library, but now I am ordering all 3 books on her. What a funny, silly, and love-able hen!

I thought that this book was great especially the cast of the characters, it was well thought of and hard to put down. Althought you find this with all Louise Cooper books I thought that this book was especially good.

Out of Louise Cooper's mulitudes of novels this is one of my favorites. The atmosphere is incredible, and because you step into the story at the same place as the protagonist, Kyre, every step of the way his world is revealed to you at the same rate, so you receive the same revelations. It is a great display of how history can affect the future, but not always in ways you would expect. If you like novels, that make you regret the story is over. If you want a challenging book to read that is difficult to put down, I finished in two days. If you haven't read Louise Cooper before, Mirage would be a good starting point, and will be your first of many purchases.

I've always loved reading about European history, and several times over the years I've read about the famous salon of Madame de Stael. However, none of the books ever said anything except that it was a meeting place for the great intellects of the time and that Madame de Stael was a brilliant conversationalist. I wanted to know more about this woman, and was very happy to come across this biography by J. Christopher Herold. I just finished the book, and can say without hesitation that it's one of the best biographies I've ever read. It reads like a novel; indeed, Mr. Herold has the insight into character of a great novelist. Additionally, he writes well and is extremely witty. He is not blind to the faults of his subject. Actually, her faults probably outweighed her positive traits. She was remarkably selfish. Her needs were the only thing that mattered. Everyone had to be at her beck and call. She was also extremely manipulative. When one of her numerous lovers would threaten to break off with her she would threaten to kill herself or find some other way to make them so guilty that they would come back. She was fickle. She would write to one man and tell him that her life revolved around his love. Of course, at the same time she might be writing to two or three other men, telling them the same thing! Despite her reputation as a staunch foe of Napoleon, she could sometimes put her self-interest ahead of principle. She was willing to turn her head the other way and stop criticizing Napoleon when she thought that Bonaparte, as a quid pro quo, would be willing to repay some money that the government had owed her father. One of the difficulties in remaining open-minded concerning Madame de Stael's intellectual achievements is that her rather unruly and pathetic personal life tends to color one's judgement. At her home in Switzerland she surrounded herself with various intellectuals who were either past lovers, current lovers, or those hoping to be future lovers. The scenario played out like a Marx Brothers movie, with Madame de Stael as the Margaret Dumont character. Everyone lived in the same house, yet when it came to dealing with feelings rather than with intellectual topics everyone communicated by letter rather than by discussion. Everyone engaged in histrionics- there was much swooning and talk of suicide. One man, August Schlegel, in a letter which is reproduced in the book, promised to be Madame de Stael's willing slave. Some lovers, such as Benjamin Constant, would break free but when summoned by Germaine would crawl back like a whipped dog. The home of Madame de Stael was a bouillabaisse of the debased. One thing that Mr. Herold can never satisfactorily explain is how Germaine was able to exert this gravitational grip on the men in her orbit. Despite having flashing eyes and an ample bosom, she was not attractive. Mr. Herold tells us that she had superhuman energy and was a brilliant conversationalist. Perhaps that is where the problem lies......we can't be present at the conversations, and Madame de Stael lived in the days before radio and newsreels. But, somehow, she attracted the "best and the brightest" of her day, and that was enough to worry Napoleon and cause Germaine's exile from Paris. One amusing thing about Madame de Stael is that she was always tongue tied in Napoleon's presence. Mr. Herold relates a story concerning one time when Germaine was invited to attend a function where Napoleon would be present. She vowed she would be ready for the occasion and prepared answers for every possible question. Unfortunately, on the big night Napoleon took one look at her low-cut dress and merely remarked that is was obvious she must have "fed" her own children when they were babies. Alas, Germaine once again didn't know what to say. She did get her revenge years later when Napoleon's second wife gave birth to a male heir, the King of Rome. When asked to say something "nice", Germaine thought a moment and said, "I hope they find a good wetnurse!" Score one for Madame de Stael....

Madame Germaine de Stael's epic life- from her precocious involvement with the eminent salon of her mother and her subsequent development as one of the most formidable intellectuals and dazzling conversationalists of her day, to her influential literary career, and her operatic relationships with fellow intellectuals including Benjamin Constant- all are covered with infectious enthusiasm and elan in this wonderful biography.

The historical importance of this vivid personality is explored in ways that often provide a unique perspective on the most important historical happenings and trends of Germaine de Stael's time. As a child, she was the pet of her mother's circle of friends, which included the likes of Gibbon and Diderot. As an adult, when she cultivated an even more brilliant circle of her own, she associated with many of the most important people of her day, including Talleyrand, the Schlegel brothers, and Goethe. Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun painted her portrait, and Julie Recamier, the aloof beauty known from the famous David painting, was one of her closest friends. As for her intellectual contributions, her ideas were widely influential in the development of German Romanticism, her impact on the development of Romantic literature cannot be denied, and she may very well be the first woman to be widely recognized for her contributions to political philosophy. She played a pivotal role in the French Revolution. Napoleon, perhaps a little intimidated by her powerhouse personality and unconventional ideas, despised her and persecuted her with obsessive zeal.

J. Christopher Herold may not be insensible to the force of Madame de Stael's personality, but he is not simply a devoted admirer of Madame de Stael. He gently pokes fun at the wild melodrama of her tumultuous personal life and some of her literary works, while expressing admiration for the sheer passion Germaine de Stael brought to every aspect of her life. J. Christopher Herold's effervescent and lively style complements the flamboyant, witty Madame de Stael- it's the perfect match of author and subject. Here is a rare thing- a biography that you'll actually want to re-read. Rare for me, anyway. Mistress to an Age is funny, thrilling, and as dazzling as Germaine de Stael herself was.

The Most Unusual Musical Troop is a treasure of charm and wit. It has a wonderful lilting beat and a story meant for all ages.

A fun book that musicians of all ages will love (and the rest of us enjoy). Not just for kids!

A co-worker just lent me this book after we shared a few conversations about rural Texas life and food. I didn't want to return it to him until I got a copy of my own, as it is a wonderful blend of autobiography and cookbook.

Reading it, I found myself missing the summers spent in East Texas with my great-grandparents. I particularly enjoyed the tales of my family's childhood adventures, and the wonderful smells and tastes of Great-grandmother's home cooking from scratch.

A word of caution, however; those of weak heart (both figurative and literal) should not only refrain from eating any of the foods as prepared per Mrs. Blackwell's instructions, but reading the Chicken and Dumplings recipe in the Poultry and Meat section should also be avoided (it contains rather gruesome, but hilarious and accurate instructions on how to dispatch the entree-to-be).

Whether you enjoy authentic home cooking, rural anecdotes, or simply reminiscing, you will find quite a gold mine in this little book.

THIS BOOK REFLECTS BACK ON THE SIMPLIER DAYS. AURTHOR DEENIE CARVER WORKED IN THE KITCHEN WITH HER MOM TO COOK FOR 9 CHILDREN. DEENIE JUMPED OUT OF A HAY LOFT AND BROKE HER HIP, FORCING HER TO STAY INSIDE AND NOT WORK OUT IN THE FIELD WITH THE REST OF THE CHILDREN. THE BLACKWELL FAMILY BOOST ON HER COOKING. LOUISE DILLOW HAS LIVED A JET SET LIFE AND IS AN ARTIST AND CONTRIBUTED HER ART ABILITY TO THE BOOK AS WELL AS RECIPES.