Journey back into Biblical times and experience your favorite stories as they come to life from new perspectives. Join the faithful as they seek out the new prophet Jesus and his disciples; travel with Roman soldiers following the mysterious guidance of an angel; witness the ministry of the Apostle Paul through the eyes of a child; and wonder at the upheaval in Jerusalem when a stranger visits during Passover and catches a glimpse of the trial of Jesus. This collection of short stories, inspired by scripture, will invite you to reimagine the world you already know so well. There's more to these Biblical tales than we see on the surface, and each story invites you to remember that these aren't merely the greatest stories ever told-they are the greatest stories ever lived.

In honor of what would have been Clarence Jordan's one hundredth birthday and the seventieth anniversary of Koinonia Farm, the first Clarence Jordan Symposium convened in historic Sumter County, Georgia, in 2012, gathering theologians, historians, actors, and activists in civil rights, housing, agriculture, and fair-trade businesses to celebrate a remarkable individual and his continuing influence. Clarence Jordan (1912-1969), a farmer and New Testament Greek scholar, was the author of the Cotton Patch versions of the New Testament and the founder of Koinonia Farm, a small but influential religious community in southwest Georgia. Fruits of the Cotton Patch,Volume 2 contains Symposium presentations that interpret Jordan's storytelling and the meaning of his prophetic voice in the areas of peacemaking in the context of historical harms, the future of the affordable housing movement, and the direction of the New Monastic movement. These essays and others invite the curious, the student, and the teacher alike to experience the life and work of Clarence Jordan and its powerful connection to the present.

For the ten generations since the evil first came to Woodcutter's Grim, the Guardians have sworn an oath to protect the town from the childhood horrors that lurk in the black woods. Without them, the town would be defenseless...and the terrors would escape to the world at large. A four-book miniseries within the Woodcutter's Grim Series, dealing with the curse on the Shaussegeny family. Moonlight Becomes You (Book 4) {romantic paranormal} Very loosely based on "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse". When her child becomes deathly ill and none of the doctors and specialists can help him, Heather Rowe rushes to Woodcutter's Grim, hoping the boy's father can explain what's happening. But Lance Shaussegeny both intrigues and terrifies Heather as much as what he's told her of his hometown does. She soon learns that nothing in Woodcutter's Grim--including Lance--is what it seems. Bewitched (Book 5) {romantic paranormal} Very loosely based on "The Little Mermaid". Glynnis Shaussegeny becomes bewitched by the mystery man who appears out of nowhere on the abandoned property across the lake from her family's estate. But does Aric Sayer have even more dark secrets than she does? One Night of Eternity (Book 6) {romantic paranormal} Very loosely based on "The House That Jack Built". The curse pronounced on the Shaussegeny clan for all time was very clear: "Because the Shaussegeny name has long been synonymous with faithlessness, even unto your own chosen mates, only one chosen mate will be allotted to each of your kin henceforth. These chosen mates must also fall under the family curse, but these pairs will know true peace when they become one. Herein lays your salvation--and your damnation. Only if each of your clan remains faithful to their chosen mates in word and deed for all of their days will they have blissful contentment. Apart, mates shall be restless and forever unsettled, gripped by a sadness and despair unlike any other. A terrible fate will come upon the one who breaks the mate covenant." Gavin Shaussegeny has broken the covenant with his wife, Marnie, by cheating on her, and the betrayal carries a harsh penalty and punishment. Although Gavin regrets his faithlessness and loves his wife more than anyone or anything else, the house that he's built for himself is rapidly beginning to tumble down around him. There is only one chance for salvation for him now: Only his mate's undeserved forgiveness will free him from his punishment to re-live his betrayal over and over for all time. Beauty is the Beast (Book 7) {romantic paranormal} Very loosely based on "Beauty and the Beast". The Shaussegeny family curse came with one final pronouncement: "And now there is but one manner in which this curse can be broken and obliterated entirely: That beauty falls in love with the beast and vice versa, that evil loves good and good loves evil. If this should happen, your family shall be released from each aspect of my curse and your alliance with evil shall be ended." Ransom Shaussegeny attempts to cure the family of the curse they live under. Instead, he becomes a werewolf trapped in his beast form and isolates himself inside the family fortress. When he meets Tess Moore, a beautiful enchantress, and falls under her spell, Ransom no longer knows who or what is real--or whether the evil in Woodcutter's Grim is about to have the last laugh by dooming him, the woman he loves, and his family for all time...

Saved by Song returns to print with its sweeping overview of the history of gospel music. Powerful and incisive, the book traces contemporary Christianity and Christian music to the sixteenth century and the Protestant Reformation after examining music in the Bible and early church. In America, gospel music has been divided between white and black gospel. Within these divisions are further divisions: southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, spirituals, and hymns. Don Cusic has provided background and insight into the developments of all these rich facets of gospel music. From the psalms of the early Puritans through the hymns of Isaac Watts and the social activism of the Wesleys, to the camp meeting songs of the Kentucky Revival, the spirituals that came from the slave culture, and the hymns from the great revival after the Civil War, gospel music advanced through the nineteenth century. The twentieth century brought the technologies of recordings and the electronic media to gospel music. Saved by Song is ultimately the definitive and complete history of a uniquely American art form. It is a must for anyone interested in the musical and spiritual life of a nation.

Why have so many prominent literary authors-from Philip Pullman and José Saramago to Michèle Roberts and Colm Tóibím-recently rewritten the canonical story of Jesus Christ? What does that say about our supposedly secular age? In this insightful study, Magdalena Maczynska defines and examines the genre of scriptural metafiction: novels that not only transform religious texts but also draw attention to these transformations. In addition to providing rich examples and close readings, Maczynska positions literary studies within interdisciplinary debates about religion and secularity. Her book demonstrates a surprising turn of events: even as contemporary novelists deconstruct the traditional categories of “secular” and “sacred” writing, they open up new spaces for scripture in contemporary culture.

The sacred Flower of Life pattern, the primary geometric generator of all physical form, is explored in even more depth in this volume, the second half of the famed Flower of Life workshop. The proportions of the human body, the nuances of human consciousness, the sizes and distances of the stars, planets and moons, even the creations of humankind, are all shown to reflect their origins in this beautiful and divine image. Through an intricate and detailed geometrical mapping, Drunvalo Melchizedek shows how the seemingly simple design of the Flower of Life contains the genesis of our entire third-dimensional existence. From the pyramids and mysteries of Egypt to the new race of Indigo children, Drunvalo presents the sacred geometries of the Reality and the subtle energies that shape our world. We are led through a divinely inspired labyrinth of science and stories, logic and coincidence, on a path of remembering where we come from and the wonder and magic of who we are. Finally, for the first time in print, Drunvalo shares the instructions for the Mer-Ka-Ba meditation, step-by-step techniques for the re-creation of the energy field of the evolved human, which is the key to ascension and the next dimensional world.if done from love, this ancient process of breathing prana opens up for us a world of tantalizing possibility in this dimension, from protective powers to the healing of oneself, of others and even of the planet. Embrace the expanded vision and understanding that Drunvalo offers to the world. Coincidences abound, miracles flourish and the amazing stories of mysteries unveiled arise as the author probes the Ancient Secrets of the Flower of Life.

What happens to traditional stories when they are retold in another time and cultural context and for a different audience? This first-of-its-kind study discusses Bible stories, classical myths, heroic legends, Arthurian romances, Robin Hood lore, folk tales, 'oriental' tales, and other stories derived from European cultures. One chapter is devoted to various retellings of classics, from Shakespeare to "Wind in the Willows." The authors offer a general theory of what motivates the retelling of stories, and how stories express the aspirations of a society. An important function of stories is to introduce children to a cultural heritage, and to transmit a body of shared allusions and experiences that expresses a society's central values and assumptions. However, the cultural heritage may be modified through a pervasive tendency of retellings to produce socially conservative outcomes because of ethnocentric, androcentric and class-based assumptions in the source stories that persist into retellings. Therefore, some stories, such as classical myths, are particularly resistant to feminist reinterpretations, for example, while other types, such as folktales, are more malleable. In examining such possibilities, the book evaluates the processes of interpretation apparent in retellings. Index included.