This book is excellent for challenging undergraduate courses as well as graduate courses in international finance. It has a unique mixture of theory, evidence and institutions. The theory is mainly delivered to you using a few equations and helpful diagrams. The "evidence" part accompanies each theoretical offering and usually takes the form of reporting the structure and results of empirical tests. As far as I know this is the only international finance text that gives so much insight into the econometrics of international finance. It is well known that MacDonald is an international expert in the econometrics of international finance, and the bibliography indicates that he has worked quite a lot with Hallwood investigating various propositions concerning the behaviour of pegged exchange rate regimes. One of the best features of the book is the way that the theory and evidence is used in the discussion of international institutions such as the operation of fixed and floating exchange rates, currency unions and development of the international financial architecture. There is also an extensive discussion of the main features of the history of international monetary systems. Finally the authors have made an effort to bring in some discussion of international finance in east Asia. Probably the book could have benefitted from more discussion of regional issues such as these. Even so there is quite a good theoretical discussion of dollarization in Latin America.

We have tried hard to keep abreast of the literature in all of the main fields of international finance - theory, evidence, institutions and policy. As we believe that scholarship requires the scholar to know the sources of ideas - every idea having its own author(s), we have not spared the student the bother of knowing about the researchers and the generation of ideas in international money and finance. We cover 'recieved wisdom' as well as the important new developments in the field. The latter include such diverse subjects as theoretical innovations in the general equilibrium theory of exchange rate determination, explanations for the relative immobility of long-term capital alongside highly mobile short-term capital, the behavior of exchange rates within target zones, theories of the best course of financial integration of transition economies and developing countries into the circuit of international capital, explanations for why real exchange rates often diverge for long periods from purchasing power parity, how misinformed speculation and speculative bubbles can cause floating exchange rates to be unstable, new successful empirical methods for forecasting exchange rates, and a reassessment of the performance of the gold standard in the 19th century and its role in the Great Depression. This textbook-monograph - written for smart undergraduate and gradute students, is widely used on three continents (the Chinese translation appeared in 1996). And we know that is it used for course work at Ivy League universities in the US, and many universities throughout Europe.

This is an enjoyable collection of Scottish folklore, history, traditions, poetry, and even a few literary extracts. Topography, place-names, clan histories, proverbs, weather and climate, law, holidays, recipes, toasts, and a Scots glossary all find their way into this book. If you are Scottish, you will appreciate this book; if you're not, you will wish you were. 'Tis a guid book, fou of lear, for a dark nicht before the gowans are bloomin'.

A good read for people of Scottish heritage. This book covers Scottish folklore. There are stories about fairies, mermaids, the Loch Ness Monster, (a.k.a. Nessie), and cats, to name a few. I got this book for Christmas in 1982 and I've read it. My advice is to buy it.

The book provides answers to the key issues on exchange rate modelling supported by empirical evidence. It gives a comprehensive overview of the econometrics technique used for modelling exchange rate from macroeconomic perspective.

It is an essential guidance for those readers generally interested in the topic and those practitians actually trying to model the exchange rate.

Christian Mythmakers is a good overview of some of the thoughts and ideas of various Christian fantasy writers. While the chapter on John Bunyan is basically little more than a summary of Pilgrim's Progress, the rest of the book is interesting and thought provoking. The chapter on Charles Williams is a "must read" for anyone interested in or confused by Williams' work.

This book is a fascinating look at ten Christian mythmakers, that is authors who have used the power of myth to convey Christian truths in a new way. The narrative begins with John Bunyan and his seminal Pilgrim's Progress, continues through George Macdonald, G.K. Chesterton, Charles Williams, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and finishes up with Madeleine L'Engle, Walter Wangerin, Robert Siegel, and Hannah Hurnard.

Professor Hein begins with a short biography of the author, and then proceeds to explain the author's work, examining its theology and significance. I found this book to be quite fascinating, with the author giving me a look at these masterpieces of Christian literature in a way that I had never thought of before. If you are a fan of any of the authors above, then I highly recommend that you get this book!

I had the privilege of taking courses under Dr Hein in the early 90's at Wheaton. He is a very knowledgeable teacher and has great affection for the people he is writing about in this book. If you have any interest in these authors, this book is a must read. I wasn't aware that he had written this book when I came across it looking for books on George MacDonald and C.S. Lewis. As an Economics major, I somehow ended up taking four Lit. classes from Dr Hein because he is such a good instructor and passionate about his subject matter.

MacDonald writes of the battle between the producers of the Pastorals and the tradition embodied in the Acts of Paul (written between 150 and 190). MacDonald's unique contribution is seeing an oral tradition behind the Acts of Paul, and using folkloristics to prove it. His first chapter is devoted to showing how the Acts of Paul fits the laws of oral storytelling. I think he places too much trust in the ability of these rather vague laws to distinguish between oral and written, and he doesn't defend his assumption that oral stories are necessarily old. It should be noted that MacDonald also chooses to discuss only the three most promising episodes from the Acts of Paul, which is fair enough, but which also preserves the possibility that Tertullian is at least partially right in saying that the presbyter who wrote them made them up.

In his second chapter, MacDonald is on firmer ground. He discusses the sympathetic treatment of women and the contemptuous treatment of men in the Acts of Paul. He also points to strong evidence that the stories originated in Asia Minor. Finally, he identifies the themes of opposition to the Roman empire, city, and household in the Acts of Paul, and connects them with the rough treatment Christians received at the hands of society in second-century Asia Minor.

MacDonald then turns to the Pastoral epistles and their relationship to the Acts of Paul. He identifies the Pastorals as products of Asia Minor, written between 100 and 140. These polemical epistles were directed in part at the oral stories which would become the Acts of Paul, according to MacDonald, and were meant to silence the "old wives' tales" that glorified virginity, feminine autonomy, and rejection of the claims of society. The question of relationship is also raised by several similarities of detail between the Pastorals and the Acts of Paul. Many scholars have concluded that this is because the author of the Acts of Paul knew and used the Pastorals, while a weaker argument has been made that the author of the Pastorals used an earlier version of the Acts of Paul. MacDonald disagrees with both, and posits that the authors knew the same oral legends. His strongest argument here is the lack of polemic or even response to the charges of the Pastorals in the Acts of Paul. In chapter four, MacDonald discusses the victory of the Pastorals over the Montanists, who held to the apocalyptic radicalism, rejection of social norms, and role of women in prophecy, all themes from the Acts of Paul. (MacDonald believes that the traditional view that the Acts of Paul represent Gnostic beliefs is no longer tenable, not least because of the stories' emphasis on the resurrection of the flesh.) The Pastorals were not fighting a doctrinal heresy, but sought to affirmed hierarchical church leadership and conformity with society against the ways of the Montanist radicals. MacDonald identifies the presbyter who wrote the Acts of Paul with a priest caught in the Montanist turmoil of Asia Minor in the second century.

MacDonald's final chapter considers the lesser "victory of the legends." He describes the popularity of Thecla and the Acts of Paul in later centuries. He closes his book with a discussion of the consequences of the battle's outcome for the Christian church.

Given the intensity of the battle as described by MacDonald, and the close geographical proximity of the battling authors, I am left wondering why the Acts of Paul appeared as such a naïve recording of oral tradition. MacDonald insists that the defrocked presbyter did not use the Pastorals at all, and this certainly seems to be the case. If these Pastorals spoke to the heart of the controversy, and even had a role in deposing the author of the Acts of Paul, how could he have been ignorant of them? If the controversy prompted him to record the Acts of Paul, why are the Acts so free of controversy? The battle doesn't seem to be properly joined.

Dennis Ronald MacDonald's book is one of the earliest (1983) reviving an interest in Thecla of Iconium, an ascetic woman whose story inspired many women and some men to remain celebate and serve God. Another early book in this revival which mentions Thecla (2 pages) is Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza's _In Memory of Her_ (1983). Fiorenza's book piqued the interest of feminist theologians. In Fall 2000, Oxford University Press publishes _The Cult of Saint Thecla : A Tradition of Women's Piety in Late Antiquity_.

Early Christianity's diverse communities developed and treasured different stories about Jesus and the Apostles, including Paul. MacDonald examines certain traditions of Paul, particularly in light of the patriarchal tradition which apparently "won" the battle for Paul and a tradition which he believes originated with women, the Acts of Paul and Thecla.

MacDonald especially examines the two Pauline traditions that made the biblical canon, the deutero-Pauline (Colossians, Ephesians, and II Thessalonians) and pastoral epistles (I & II Timothy and Titus), in relation to the Acts of Paul, which was in some early Armenian and Syrian canons. The Acts were written down by an orthodox Christian in Asia Minor between 160-190 and circulated in several languages, including Greek, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Armenian.

_The Legend_ is a "readable academic book." It illuminates some of the gender politics involved in the post-Pauline church and how they fit into the over all context of the Roman concept of the family structure and the role of women. Though the more woman-positive traditions about Paul revealed in the Acts of Thecla did not make the canon, both women and men followed in her tradition for centuries afterward. To this day, Thecla is the patron saint of Tarragona, Spain; Italy, Turkey, and Syria claim she is buried in their countries; Maalula, Syria has a convent established in her name; and that's just a beginning of a list-- not to mention that some advocate that she should be the patron saint of the Internet!