Altering economic conditions and widespread male emigration have led to a questioning of the values of peasant society in Portugal. This perceptive study of a society in transition looks at the issues of gender roles (reflected in the book's title), the notions of community and egalitarianism, religion, and burial and death rites. The author argues that, while the peasant worldview is changing, many of the old values are being preserved.

This anthology surveys more than 2,000 years of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim commentary and debate on the biblical story that continues to raise questions about what it means to be a man or to be a woman.

Annotation Fifteen essays from biblical scholars consider the reception of the biblical stories of Cain, Abel, and Seth in various Jewish and Christian traditions. They examine early rewritings and interpretations of these stories both within mainstream and more marginal or sectarian groups. Three essays examine how the stories were re-used in modern fiction, including Steinbeck's . The papers were originally presented at a symposium held at the U. of Groningen in 2001. Annotation 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Reprint of the original, first published in 1866.

Most readers of the C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia know that there is more there than meets the eye. Certain story elements have obvious duel meanings-a second layer below the surface-like the death and resurrection of Aslan the lion. But where does the name Aslan come from? What are other key Bible references in the Chronicles of Narnia? Did Lewis make up the names, or do they have a deeper meaning too? And do even Lewis's own personal feelings about prunes show up in these books? The Keys to the Chronicles will unlock the literary, linguistic, biographical, biblical, and mythological depth of Lewis's masterpiece.

What if the story of Eve and Adam was not meant to be a story about creation and the origin of life? What if Eve and Adam were not personifications of all women and men? What if the curse on the woman had nothing to do with the physical pain of giving birth? What if working by the sweat of the brow was a description of the slavery that existed under the monarchy? What if being cast out of the garden of Eden was a metaphor for the deportation of people from Judah to Babylon? The author of this book takes readers on a journey of inquiry leading to the conclusion that the story of Eve and Adam was authored by the theological school of Jeremiah in order to dissuade the Judean people never to reinstate the monarchy after their return from Babylon--a monarchy that previously was responsible for so much infant mortality, subjugation of women, and enslavement of its own people. At the heart of this journey is the discovery that Eve and Adam actually are metaphors for Israel and Judah--two nations that chose to have a king like other nations and suffered the consequences.