This collection of papers from two workshops - held in Heidelberg, Germany, in July 1996 and Jerusalem, Israel, in October 1997 - is concerned with anthropological rather than theological aspects of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions, ranging from the 'primary' religions of the archaic period and their complex developments in Egypt and Mesopotamia to the 'soteriological' movements and 'secondary' religions that emerged in Late Antiquity. The first part of the book focuses on "Confession and Conversion", while the second part is devoted to the topic of "Guilt, Sin and Rituals of Purification". The primary purpose of this volume is to convey a sense of the dynamics and dialectical relationships between the various Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions from the archaic period to Late Antiquity.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1973.

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 Do you find yourself asking Why? Why are individuals experiencing uncertain circumstances? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why cant I figure out my purpose in life? Why, why, why? Trials and tribulations have always been a part of life here on earth. Even Jesus wasnt immune. Its part of our journey, our experience. Struggles and hardships challenge us to stop and ask God for help and guidance. Through these times, we grow in our faith when we trust God is with us and enabling us to persevere and overcome. Join the author as she shares her study and devotionals during her own personal walk through a transformational period. Through study of four transformational examples in the Bible, she walks us through her daily devotions and reveals her personal journal entries for those devotions, guiding you through a forty-day study and devotional. Learn how God uses the number 40 to represent a time of major change and transformation in life. In every instance, God is the rock and salvation, our strength and endurance, which allows us to put one foot in front of the other to wade through uncertain circumstances while His Son, Jesus Christ, embraces and guides us.

The Oxford Handbook of the Ends of Empire offers the most comprehensive treatment of the causes, course, and consequences of the ends of empire in the twentieth century. The volume's contributors convey the global reach of decolonization, with chapters analysing the empires of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China and Japan. The Handbook combines broad, regional treatments of decolonization with chapter contributions constructed around particular themes or social issues. It considers how the history of decolonization is being rethought as a result of the rise of the 'new' imperial history, and its emphasis on race, gender, and culture, as well as the more recent growth of interest in histories of globalization, transnational history, and histories of migration and diaspora, humanitarianism and development, and human rights. The Handbook, in other words, seeks to identify the processes and commonalities of experience that make decolonization a unique historical phenomenon with a lasting resonance. In light of decades of historical and social scientific scholarship on modernization, dependency, neo-colonialism, 'failed state' architectures and post-colonial conflict, the obvious question that begs itself is 'when did empires actually end?' In seeking to unravel this most basic dilemma the Handbook explores the relationship between the study of decolonization and the study of globalization. It connects histories of the late-colonial and post-colonial worlds, and considers the legacies of empire in European and formerly colonised societies.

This book studies the way in which medieval ways of knowing the Oriental 'other' were constructed around the idea of a utopic East as located in the legend and Letter of Prester John (c. 1160). The birth of utopic thinking, it argues, is tied to an understanding of alterity having as much to do with the ways the medieval West understood itself as the manner in which the foreign was mapped. Drawing upon the insights of cultural studies, film studies, and psychoanalysis, this book rethinks the contours of the known and the unknown in the medieval period. It demonstrates how the idea of otherness intersected in intricate ways with other categories of difference (spatial, gender, and religious). Scholars in the fields of history as well as literary and religious studies will be interested in the manner in which the book considers the formal dimensions of how histories of the Oriental other were written and lived.

Transformation is the real life, fast-moving story of David and his friends, who live and sometimes die, in the pursuit of peace. Meet David as he faces a pistol aimed at his head ready to fire, only fast action saves his life. When his mistress leaves David, look into the black pit with him as he spirals downward. Taste the metallic barrel of the shotgun in his mouth, as David decides whether to live or die. Listen to Bill, who tells David about God, and begins David’s Transformation. Feel the ground vibrate as Steve faces a huge trash grinding machine coming directly at his broken body. Ride with David and Mario as they are detained by Mexico’s Federal police armed with automatic weapons, Late at night, on a lonely stretch of road. Go with Mario, David, and Bob, as they enter the dangerous Tijuana prison, not knowing if they will leave alive. Live through the challenges, when David is finally slowed down by a stroke, followed by heart failure. Stand with Darlene, as she enters David’s critical care hospital room, only to see his eyes roll up in his head, as Death once again, calls his name. davidgoadministries.com

Kuwait, unlike most of its neighbours, has a well-established national identity and a long history as a nation, dating back to the eighteenth century. In this book, first published in 1992, Dr. Jill Crystal focuses on two recurring themes in Kuwaiti history: one, the preservation of a sense of community in the face of radical economic, social and political transformations; the second, internal rivalry over the conventions governing relations among members of the community. Crystal skilfully weaves these themes into a broad profile of Kuwait, analysing the nation’s transformation from a pre-oil to an oil economy; its social structure and composition, including the country’s tribal roots and key divisions involving class, gender and immigrant labour; political tensions resulting from the nation’s sudden wealth and the accompanying changes in social structure; and its relations with other countries in the Gulf and the Middle East.

Remote sensing is the study of a region from a distance, particularly from an airplane or a spacecraft. It is a tool that can be used in conjunction with other methods of research and investigation. This tool is especially applicable to the study of the deserts and arid lands of the Earth because of their immense size and their inaccessibility to detailed study by conventional means. In this book examples are given of the utility of aerial photographs and space images in the study of semi-arid, arid, and hyper-arid terrains. Emphasis is placed on the physical features and terrain types using examples from around the world. The authors I have called upon to prepare each chapter are renowned specialists whose contributions have received international recognition. To the general reader, this book is a review of our knowledge of the relatively dry parts of the Earth, their classification and varied features, their evolution in space and time, and their development potentials. To the specialist, it is a detailed account of the deserts and arid lands, not only in North America, but also their relatively unknown counterparts in North Africa, Australia, China, India, and Arabia.

Since the unprecedentedly effective performance of the allied air campaign against Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, the role of American air power in future wars has become a topic of often heated public debate. In this balanced appraisal of air power's newly realized strengths in joint warfare, Benjamin Lambeth, a defense analyst and civilian pilot who has flown in most of the equipment described in this book, explores the extent to which the United States can now rely on air-delivered precision weapons in lieu of ground forces to achieve strategic objectives and minimize American casualties.Beginning with the U.S. experience in Southeast Asia and detailing how failures there set the stage for a sweeping refurbishment of the nation's air warfare capability, Lambeth reviews the recent history of American air power, including its role in the Gulf War and in later conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Serbia. He examines improvements in areas ranging from hardware development to aircrew skills and organizational adaptability.Lambeth acknowledges that the question of whether air power should operate independently or continue to support land operations is likely to remain contentious. He concludes, however, that air power, its strategic effectiveness proven, can now set the conditions for victory even from the outset of combat if applied to its fullest potential.