This 1915 account of gardening in the remote north-east of the subcontinent is both enjoyable and evocative of imperial India.

Paradise or wasteland--the wilderness has always been a challenge to Westerners. Wilderness and Paradise in Christian Thought traces the exciting theme of the quest for the wilderness--both physical and metaphysical--to create a new and important perspective for understanding Christian civilization. With a wealth of knowledge, a renowned historian presents the biblical understanding of the religious and ethical significance of the desert and how this understanding has influenced later Christian history and culture. Dr. Williams specifically applies the paradise theme to the university today and shows the continuing vitality of this ancient concept.

In this innovative work of cultural and technological history, Frieda Knobloch describes how agriculture functioned as a colonizing force in the American West between 1862 and 1945. Using agricultural textbooks, USDA documents, and historical accounts of western settlement, she explores the implications of the premise that civilization progresses by bringing agriculture to wilderness. Her analysis is the first to place the trans-Mississippi West in the broad context of European and classical Roman agricultural history. Knobloch shows how western land, plants, animals, and people were subjugated in the name of cultivation and improvement. Illuminating the cultural significance of plows, livestock, trees, grasses, and even weeds, she demonstrates that discourse about agriculture portrays civilization as the emergence of a colonial, socially stratified, and bureaucratic culture from a primitive, feminine, and unruly wilderness. Specifically, Knobloch highlights the displacement of women from their historical role as food gatherers and producers and reveals how Native American land-use patterns functioned as a form of cultural resistance. Describing the professionalization of knowledge, Knobloch concludes that both social and biological diversity have suffered as a result of agricultural 'progress.'

Wilderness in many parts of the globe is under considerable threat from human development. This has important ramifications not only for fauna and flora but also for human well-being. Wilderness in the Bible addresses this ecological crisis from a biblical and theological perspective. It first establishes the context of a biblical study of wilderness and then passes to an analysis of the attitudes towards in the canonical biblical record. This provides the biblical basis for the development of a theology of wilderness for the twenty-first century. The Australian wilderness is taken as an illuminating case study.

From A. L. Shields—pseudonym for New York Times bestselling author Stephen L. Carter—comes the thrilling sequel to The Church Builder. It began as a search for the truth about her best friend’s death. Now Bethany Barclay is caught in the ultimate struggle to keep faith alive. The Wilderness, an ancient cabal bent on destroying Christianity, has murdered Bethany’s best friend, framed her for acts of terrorism, and captured the brilliant teen hacker she vowed to protect. To ransom the girl, Bethany must traverse England and Europe to find the Pilate Stone—a mysterious first-century artifact that might not even exist. She’s not the only one who wants the stone. The Garden, a powerful group of intellectuals sworn to save the Church and help Bethany, is willing to betray her to achieve their higher goals. And a mysterious third faction lurks in the shadows, waiting for her to stumble. Alone and on the run in this international landscape of double and triple agents, Bethany’s quest becomes an ever more complex and dangerous contest against players who don’t play fair. In this riveting sequel to The Church Builder, many of A. L. Shield’s cunning characters are ruthlessly devoted to preserving a world where faith is possible. Others aim to brutally, and finally, undermine belief. Including Bethany’s.

I smiled as I walked down memory lane writing this page. It all started with an Uber ride in Cumming, Georgia, sometime in February 2017. There I was, a tad bit agitated about banking and financial matters, hoping I concealed my feelings as I rode in Pastor Denburk Gregory's car. He invited me to his church, The Full Truth Church of God Deliverance Center; and based on our very first conversation, which you will get to read inside, the letter writing began. Having gotten good responses from the church after the first letter, my work was done, or so I thought, until the Lord put more words in my heart. So there was a second letter, and a third, and this went on and on. Where am I going with this? I wondered. "The Lord says to tell you that you are writing a book," said his wife, Minister Veronica Gregory. That totally astounded me. Many a time I hear over and over, "The things we do are not ordinary." That Uber ride was clearly not an ordinary one. It was a prelude to the birth of Letters from the Wilderness, and to me, this was a clear confirmation of His Word, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Heb. 13:2). I do hope you enjoy reading this book even more than I have enjoyed writing it.